I strode back into Rishi Sutton's office, a leather pouch clutched tightly in my hand. Twenty minutes had passed since our first meeting, and my patience was wearing thin. Michael Ashworth's body wouldn't last much longer without proper treatment.
"Mr. Sutton, I apologize for the intrusion, but time is critical," I said, my voice tense with urgency. "I need those Grandmasters immediately."
Sutton looked up from his papers, his expression carefully neutral. "Mr. Knight, these arrangements take time. Grandmasters aren't street performers you can summon on a whim."
I placed the leather pouch on his desk and opened it. Inside lay a translucent pill that emitted a soft golden glow, alongside a withered herb with faint blue veins running through its stem.
"This is a Vitality Enhancing Pill," I explained. "It can extend a cultivator's lifespan by fifteen years. And this herb is over five hundred years old, virtually extinct in the wild."
