An Insane Solution

Momo had noticed the commotion at Cifer's house and rushed over. But she wasn't nearly as fast as the Grand Elders or her father. She only made it in time to hear Oji detail the four basic methods available to Cifer to attempt to survive.

"It's because he's a monster that nobody dares to take in." Oji was summarizing grimly.

"He isn't a monster!" Momo screams. "Father, why are you being so pessimistic??"

Her father looked like he'd aged 10 years. He made a small room with his Essence to make them private. He was able to make it stoutly enough that nobody would break in and no sound would escape, but he and the other 2 were visible.

"I am not strong enough to hold back the people who will want him dead. Once people notice the speed of his rise they will fear him, and destroy us to get to him." Clan Leader Aoi explains in a sigh.

Momo nods. She'd already come up with another idea. "Than we slow his rise and seem to sever ties with him."

Oji barked a sharp laughed. "How do you plan to do that?"

"By making the Clan sever ties with me." Momo says firmly.

Both men immediately objected. She let them, knowing that they would. Oji gave the scarier point in his objection. "How do you plan to survive without the resources of your Clan? Cultivation is a fast way to burn money. More bottlenecks are a lack of resources than talent, and if you leave than regardless of him following you'll lack both."

Momo winced internally. The Ring of the Horses was a godlike item that allowed the bound wearer to Cultivate 5 times while allowing the wearer 4 extra forms with different strengths and the main body received the benefits of the other 4 in addition to its own work.

But it was considered a cursed item instead of a treasure. The main reason being exactly what Oji just pointed out. A steeper demand on Potential to get started and to breakthrough fast enough to reap the benefits of multiple Cultivations. And an amount of resources that beggared belief.

There were a variety of resources that had a specific type of Essence tied to them, but the universal commodity that was used as money was the Essence Pearl. They could be found all over the world in nearly identical sizes and a vast number of colors and and several had natural designs.

The color and design connected with the layer of the Essence Sea the Pearl originated from, and indicated the pressure under which the Essence of the Pearl was condensed. And since the Pearls were the same size that showed the amount of Essence within it that could be used for Cultivation.

The Pearls had to be broken to release the Essence inside and absorbed quickly into the body before it dispersed. This process was easier when using a Pearl from the depth or a shallower depth than your Manifestation. That was just one advantage to a powerful Manifestation, increased efficiency in Cultivation.

Typically each improvement in the quality of a Pearl would increase the Essence inside by nearly triple. But due to the higher rarity and the fact that it could have such marked effect on a genius's Cultivation, the market value was five fold each step up in quality.

Which made things tough fast after a person had needs that exceeded a certain limit. Each Stage would require a bit more Essence for Cultivation than the last. And by the time a person raised up a Tier they needed double what the breakthrough did to get to the next Stage. Oji was completely right to call Cultivation a good way to burn money.

But Momo needed an much tougher amount of resources at each level. Each form cultivated separately, which meant each form needed resources separately. And while it was a tiny increase, Momo had already noticed each form to reach Beginner Broken Origination had needed a bit more than the last. It had added up to her needing 10 times as much to move up to Beginner Broken Origination 5 times than the worst of her Clanmates had needed to do the same once. If that trend held, or got worse, than she'd need as many resources to reach somewhere in High Origination as most needed to achieve Skeleton Foundation!

Of course, with the strength of a High Origination expert 5 times over she might have the capability to compete with a Initial Broken Skeleton Foundation surely. Hopefully.

"Dad, you know as well as I do that the Clan won't be able to maintain my Cultivation once I hit Mid Tier due to our heirloom." Momo reminds Clan Leader Aoi.

"Are you seriously planning to go with him and hope that he can provide for you as well as the Clan can!?" Her father was furious.

"I know that he has always valued people standing up for him, and that he will do anything for those he cares about." Momo shot back. It was easier to argue with her father than to confront the tangled mess her reactions to Oji had been making.

Oji on the other hand had a piercing question. "What's this heirloom that limits the Cultivation of its bearer and why would you give it to your daughter?" He was ignoring Momo again.

"Did you mean what you said when you claimed you personally were willing to take in Cifer even though the Crimson Sect would never do so?" Momo demanded. "If so, than I have a few requests and I'll tell you what the heirloom is."

Oji's gaze turned towards her. Momo smiled her brightest for him and felt happy when his eyes went vacant for a moment. Somehow it vindicated her of his ignoring her so much earlier and that obviously was pleasing to her. It didn't last long before his face turned icy cold. "And what are those requests?"

Momo shivered. "Play the part of the unreasonable villian who causes the Clan to need to cast out the Clan Leader's daughter after she attacked you to defend her friend." She never realized just how dark his eyes were, and the abyss within them was starting to suck her in.

"Fine. And I am more than willing to bet on the dark horse here. Which means I assume you will tell him that it was all an act for the sake of the Clan?" Oji remarks. Momo blushes as she realizes her oversight in not having already planned on doing that. If Cifer really thought that Oji was the bad guy than he'd be aiming to take down Oji in the long run.

She wasn't going to admit that though. "Of course I won't forget something that important! Who'd be that stupid!?"

The Clan Leader cut in. "You fail to realize something. I'm standing right here and I will not allow such a thing to happen!" His face was red with anger. But Momo knew things were already out of his hands and that they needed to be out of his hands.

Oji ignored him with as much ease as Momo did. "What is the heirloom? How do you plan to slow Cifer down?"

Momo smiled and held up her hand. "It's called the Ring of the Horses. In short, it makes me need tons more cultivation resources than others my level, but gives me the ability to display enormously higher strength."

Oji's eyes sparkled. "How much higher?"

Momo giggled. "I could beat Perfect Broken Origination experts from your Sect. In the Clan I'm maybe as strong as the Early Stage of Bottom Tier. On average. It'll only get more lopsided in comparing what my highest Cultivation is and what my maximum strength level is."

Oji laughed. "This actually could work. You are a terrifying trap for any of his assassins and he is dazzling enough that even holding back he could get insane resources. If he were to split them in half with you... than he'd appear if anything a bit slow while you'd get enough to keep slogging upward."

The Clan Leader had had enough. "Both of you stop! I will not allow Momo to leave with the Cifer on some half baked scheme that could go wrong in a thousand ways!"

The two glanced at him. Then Oji told Momo to crack his skull with the mace she'd carried with her when she rushed over.