Eldric did not need to roll out invitations for the new district. He only needed to put a date on the pricing boards, and the city carried it the way it carried rumors of war.
People repeated it like it was important news in their own lives.
Prescriptions and Recovery District.
Most were not excited. Healing was not glamorous. It did not cut enemies in half or turn stone into gold.
People preferred pills and elixirs because they were instant, and because belief was a stubborn thing.
Bandages ant half crippled. Rest ant weakness. That was the sort of superstition, was the most common in this era of dark ages and middle ages.
Radeon and Calyx had plans anyway.
They had chosen this side of the mountain for reasons that were not pretty but were very true.
There were countless people crippled by ruptured ridians, cores broken in life and death fights, geniuses ruined by one unlucky day and a thousand small betrayals.
The world was full of broken pieces that still breathed. Radeon understood politics well enough to see the simple truths underneath.
If soone’s relative was healing here, they would protect this district with their life.
One careless rumor, one misheard gossip, and they would spill blood for the Radeon Terraces without needing to be asked.
And there were more Heaven children out there. Goldkeep Crownmarkets held the largest population in the north of Emperia, and a Samsara Realm was not a short walk.
It was worlds stitched together, crowded with chances for talent to appear and be wasted.
Eldric sat on a cultivation mat, elevated by a small stone pillar, not a throne, just enough height to be seen.
Grass and stone surrounded him. The air slled of herbs, damp soil, and clean water.
"Everyone sit down," he said.
The five Summit Emperors obeyed and sat on the grass like disciples, their dignity folded carefully.
Others settled nearby. Curious faces lingered at the edges, tuning in as if healing could beco entertainnt if they watched hard enough.
"Friends," Eldric said, "I thank you for coming. Here in this new district, I can only guarantee one thing."
He paused, letting the word arrive like a verdict.
"To heal."
The crowd did not gasp. They did not cheer. So even looked bored. Healing was not what they ca to the Terraces for.
Eldric kept going anyway.
"We will not sell dicine unless our dical experts have seen you."
Jalin nodded faintly. She had noticed the herb gardens and the shelves of pills and assud Eldric was simply expanding into another market. Hearing this steadied her.
The other Summit Emperors watched with tighter eyes. They saw incos in this, yes, but not peerless profit.
That made them suspicious. When a man like Eldric built sothing that was not maximized for coin, he was either honest or planning sothing deeper.
Eldric lifted a hand and the boards responded, displaying services in neat lines.
"There are many things we can heal," Eldric said. "Crippled ridians. Lost limbs. Lack of sensation in part of your body."
The list glowed in the air, and for the first ti a few bored faces sharpened, because everyone knew soone who had been broken and left behind.
[General Check-Up] [Starts at 1 Spirit Stone]
[ridian nding Treatnt] [Starts at 599 Middle Grade Spirit Stone]
[Limb Regrowth Treatnt] [Starts at 699 Grade Spirit Stone]
[Soul Patching Therapy] [Starts at 67 High Grade Spirit Stone]
The list kept going. Hundreds and hundreds more services, lines of treatnt that made even hardened cultivators sit up straighter.
Eyes sharpened. Seriousness settled in. Everyone here had a friend, a family mber, acquaintances who had been broken and quietly put aside.
Then Eldric said sothing no one expected to hear from a place that wanted business.
"If your loved one or sworn brother is too sick, we won’t take them. I apologize for that."
A murmur rolled through the grass.
Eldric lifted his hand and began slapping his own cheek, crisp and audible.
Not hard enough to redden the old face, but sharp enough to sting the air.
"The reason is simple. Face," he said.
People stared. It was too direct. Too blunt. Too honest for soone his age.
"I also don’t want to waste any man’s ti," Eldric continued. "If I do not have the skill, I will say so and see you off. That does not make less than a man."
Reverence rose in a way money could not buy. Cultivators who had lived long enough to distrust kindness found themselves looking at Eldric like he was an idol.
Talismans began flaring, ssages sent out, funds unlocked, contacts summoned.
Money was no problem. What were stones to cultivators. Decoration. Life was more important.
Then Eldric’s face shifted again, the familiar warning that a joke was coming.
He cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Well. This is also a business. If you don’t want the money, don’t beg this old man. I am poor."
Laughter broke out, hearty and relieved. People knew him now. It was hard not to laugh when he delivered it like that.
A man who owned half the west of Goldkeep Crownmarkets claiming poverty. Ridiculous.
Still, the words lodged in minds. Nobody wanted beggars at their door.
Most people stayed. Curiosity did the rest. The rates were cheap enough to feel like a dare.
General check up. One spirit stone. What was that? A cup of tea.
Radeon closed his eyes. His mind opened and connected to the ghosts in the realm.
Eldric could have done this, yes, but Radeon needed to train his Crystal Brain.
He started with five hundred ghosts, dividing his attention into five hundred consciousnesses.
It was a thod, like drilling a wrist until it learned the sword. The strain was quiet, deep, and constant.
Through each ghost body, he guided qi with delicate control, probing patients vein by vein, ridian by ridian.
Most cultivators showed the sa pattern. Thinned ridians, starved and stretched.
The result of rushing breakthroughs, the spiritual version of malnutrition.
Then Almsgiver arrived with Goldman. They lined up quickly. An attendant had guided them here with a simple gesture, as if the boy had been expected.
A ghost attendant placed a hand on Almsgiver’s shoulder, and Radeon recognized the child. He smiled, unseen.
Using the attendant as his mouth, Radeon spoke.
"Congratulations. Your son has a constitution suited for both body cultivation and qi cultivation."
Goldman’s heavy heart lurched. It felt like a heart that had been dragged through hell and suddenly canonized in heaven.
Almsgiver smiled up at the ghost attendant, grateful in the simple way children were grateful, as if good news was just another kind of weather, warm and ordinary.
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