Fang Hu had solved a problem while he was cultivating his new and improved snake technique. He could get plenty of food and gold by using some low-tier healing technique, but how would he get spirit stones and other cultivation resources? It's not like immortal cultivators are lining up to be healed. Those fuckers almost never get injured, the qi in their bodies disallowing anything but combat and qi-related ailments. Even when they do, the people with real money keep healers in their sect/clan/nation or whatever.

Fang Hu had raked his brain for any way that he could make money. His experiences in this world had failed him, which wasn't that surprising if you considered his life to be around 3 months so far, with a good portion of that time being in a cultivation trance. So Fang Hu turned to his experience with xianxia novels to find his way out. He couldn't rely on finding ancient ruins like that time before. The tower had been a heaven-defying occurrence, and Fang Hu didn't have the skill set for that anyways. He couldn't hunt spirit beasts in good conscience. Not because he really cared for animals or whatever, but because most spirit animals have, or will develop, sentience. Since killing sentients is the literal definition of murder, that was right out.

When Fang Hu came to the answer, he smacked himself on the head. It was so simple that he didn't know why it didn't come to him sooner. What was Fang Hu? He was a scholar. What did scholars do in this world? They gathered, sold, and used knowledge. That might make them sound like walking encyclopedias or something, but Fang Hu's world doesn't have an equivalent of what they do. They say knowledge is power, but that phrase isn't as direct as it is on a cultivation world. What they do might be comparable to arms dealers, but that's not entirely correct. Not all scholars are arms dealers, and most techniques aren't actually weapons. They are more akin to mad scientists in superhero worlds. Mad scientists go about using their knowledge however they please. They create a superhero here, a mutant there, sometimes they take over the world, and sometimes they just make bank. Knowledge in those worlds have a direct link with power, as they do here. In Fang Hu's world, knowledge could lead to all sorts of power, but no matter how many degrees you get, you can't smash a car with your bare hands.

Now, it might go against Fang Hu's morals to sell cultivation techniques to the highest bidder, but as much as Fang Hu was a pacifist, he was also a visionary. He believed that better cultivation methods being available would directly lead to a better life for the people. Especially when he gets to be powerful enough to control who gets that information. The German scientist might've mourned when his rockets landed on the wrong planet, but you can't deny his contributions to rocket science, and, by a lesser extent, the human race as a whole. He wouldn't go to some dictator and start selling him techniques, but, in Fang Hu's mind, there wasn't any trouble in releasing a new cultivation technique into the free market.

There wasn't any moral problems with selling the techniques. There were, however, many problems with regularly selling techniques. If it comes out that he is a genius who could make new techniques from old ones, then he'd either be recruited or eliminated. He could get away with doing it a few times by downplaying the difficulty of what he was doing, or just lying about where he got them. Eventually, however, they'd figure out that it was just pure talent. By the time that happened he'd need one of two things. Power or backing, it was power that had stopped him from being mugged at the front gate of the city, and it was backing that made him flee the weakling cultivators at Jiahao's hometown. He still didn't know when they'd find a way past the clauses he'd set and inform their sect of the incident. If it had already been broken, then they had done it after they had gotten far enough away that they couldn't send pursuers.

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Fang Hu had no faith that the oath would last forever, the oath forces people to remember its clauses, and they had an indefinite amount of time with plenty of motivation, after all. Fang Hu's only consolation was that they probably wouldn't go after the village. The Wei Dynasty hunts down anyone who torches their villages like dogs, no matter how remote the village is. They also couldn't be much crueler than they already are without raising the ire of the Wei Dynasty. Fang Hu had discussed the problem with Jiahao at length after they had gotten to know each other. It was one more thing that convinced Jiahao that Fang Hu had a kind heart.

Getting back on track, Fang Hu didn't have enough power or backing to go against the city leader or any of its main factions. The city leader was at early stage core formation, and the powers that be, including the auction house, all had foundation establishment elders. Fang Hu knew he was stronger than other people his cultivation level, but he doubted he could go against anyone past their second bottleneck.

But that wasn't a problem until later, as long as he didn't pull out something like 'Gale Force Body' or his new 'Snake Breath' than he'd be fine. Scholars improved and collected techniques all the time, that was their literal job. As long as they didn't know that his powers made him a match for once-a-generation heaven defying talents, then no one would go after him. In the novels that he'd read, the protagonist would sell his most valuable techniques, get his hands on the top techniques the auction house. The MC would then deal with the problems that arouse from such actions using a combination of his big dick energy, charisma, cruelty, and plot armor.

That, however, was for those protagonists. Fang Hu knew he didn't have big dick energy, charisma, and wasn't cruel. He also didn't think he had any sort of plot armor, but hell, he was reincarnated into another world, who knew what the fuck was happening. With that, it was decided that they'd return to the auction house tomorrow.

'We've gained enough strength to play a good role.'

~~~

Jiahao

67 yrs old

Roots: Non-elemental 18.26%

Cultivation: Qi Gathering 3/13 20.83% Trash

Body Cultivation: Qi Gathering 0/13

Techniques: Basic Lower Dantian Cultivation

Basic Fist Reinforcement

Powers: Hardy

Background: A disciple of a loose cultivator, picked up because of his potential and circumstances.

Potential: Mid-Mid

~~~

~~~

Fang Hu

15 yrs old

Roots: Non-elemental 18.01%

Cultivation: Qi Gathering 6/13 0.05% Average

Body Cultivation: Qi Gathering 0/13

Techniques: Serpent's Breath Cultivation Technique

Spiral Snake Striking Fist

Powers: Understanding

Theoretical Test

Background: An exiled disciple of the Spiral Snake Scholar Sect, now wanders as a loose cultivator. Scholar.

Potential: Low-High

~~~

The duo's progress in ten days time was astonishing for where they were at. Though, in some areas, the cultivators would laugh at the mortals for considering that cultivation at all. Fang Hu and Jiahao didn't know of anything like that. Besides the black sludge/burst of energy combo that is cultivating a significantly better technique, their ten days was normal. To Fang Hu, blazing past the qi gathering stage was normal. It was the next three stages that would normally take centuries to cultivate. They may think nothing of it, but Xinyi was in for a surprise.