Going through the streets, I felt like I was back in a modern city. All the steel, glass, and grim looks from people moving through the streets. I had seen such sights before, but I was still going through culture shock right now.
There was a mortal doorman at the entrance to the 20 floor building. Rickshaws, carts, and people moved in a constant flow in the street behind me. “Name and purpose of visit,” he said in a bored tone.
“I am Yuan Zhou, here to see Zheng Ting,” I explained and the man nodded.
“She is on the 15th floor. Stairs are free, but for an honored cultivator like yourself, the elevator is only 10 tael to use.” I nodded at this and took the elevator, wanting to experience it. It was just like elevators back on Earth. Except there was someone there inside to hit buttons.
Of course I should have realized all of this. The games were a clue, but anyone with Earth knowledge would sell it to the Imperial and Blazing Sun sect. They would in turn exploit it for all it was worth. I reached the floor, and the mortal elevator person gave me a nod as I left. It would be another 10 tael to go down.
I made my way to Zheng Ting’s door and knocked. It was opened and I saw her for the first time in years. She looked much older with graying hair, but smiled when she saw me. “Young Master Yuan Zhou!” She bowed deeply.
“Zheng Ting,” I said and bowed my head to her in return.
“Please, come in. I will put on some tea,” she replied, and I entered her apartment. It was quite small. “I am glad you have made it.” I took a seat at the table in her kitchen. At first I had thought she would have a small store or something, but it was just her in an apartment.
“I am glad as well. How have you been?” I asked.
“It is tough. I have had to budget carefully since everything is so expensive. But I have compiled quite a bit of research on the market and other issues you will run into. It is not good, to say the least,” she got up and returned with a stack of books.
She then laid a sheet of paper in front of me on top of the books. It was a summary sheet, just like I had showed her how to do, condensing information to make it quick and easy to consume. “Nothing? None of the ideas I had?” I asked after looking through the sheet.
“Everything is made by certified masters of the Imperial Sect. There is some market for lesser items, but the top of the market is completely locked up,” she said.
“With permits?” I asked.
“You can sell and craft. But you would have to buy a store. Since you aren’t part of the Imperial Sect, you would not get favored rates and property is not cheap. There are collective stores. Where cultivators have banded togeather, but they struggle to get by or act as embassies for their sects within the city,” she explained.
“Clothing, games, drinks, even hot sauce?” I asked.
“They have their own production. Hot sauce has taken off slightly since there have been imports from various cities, but the imports struggle to get traction. The city takes in raw goods and produces finished goods,” she explained. I got that, but it seemed that the issue was one of supply.
“The energy of the heavens and earth,” I muttered. Everything came back to that bottleneck.
“Even mechanical devices are quite complex. Look at this,” she put a radio on the table and began to fiddle with nobs. A voice began to come over the radio. I wanted to cry. No wonder the Sect Leader believed I had no chance here for business.
Looking at her sheet, gambling was strictly controlled. “What about food?” I asked as she turned the radio off.
“There are restaurants that serve rank 4 beast meat and several lesser restaurants,” she replied.
“Of course,” I muttered. “What about a green ocean lily or red sun rose? Are either of those for sale?” I asked.
“The red sun rose is for sale for 400 rank 3 spirit stones.”
“That much?” I asked with a sigh.
“It is imported and has to be kept alive. It goes for only a tenth of that in the Blazing Sun Sect,” she replied. It was only supposed to cost 20 rank 3 spirit stones “As for the green ocean lily. You are looking at the equivalent of 30,000 rank 3 spirit stones. Or at least that is what the last one sold for.”
“The Sect Leader said 20,000,” I muttered, but he was just estimating.
“Well that is what it sold for two decades ago.”
“Any martial tournaments?” I asked with my last bit of hope, and she shook her head.
“No. They are forbidden. There is underground fighting between mortals with low rank cultivation resources on the line or bet on the match itself,” she said.
“I am a businessperson, not a gambler,” I muttered.
“There is a lot of business, but nothing I have been able to find at the wealth range you are looking at. You could easily get a job or do something small scale, but that isn’t what you want.” She got up and prepared tea for both of us. “I have been looking extensively, but the Imperial Sect has manufacturing tied, up. Selling raw materials is the best option.”
“But a poor option,” I muttered while looking at the electric light above me, illuminating the kitchen. “How much to replace the light?” I asked.
“A tael,” she replied. “Bronze coins are only used with children.” I wanted to puke blood at all of this. I felt ill. Even the delicious tea wasn’t helping.
“Plays?” I asked.
“There are two playhouses in the city,” she replied. I really didn’t want to gather raw materials. I wanted to sell services.
“What do cultivators spend money on?” I asked.
“Equipment and cultivation resources, but the market is very limited. Most of the large scale transactions occur between large companies or families with the Imperial Sect. These factions maintain the standard of living for the city,” she replied. I sipped my tea and then got up. Zheng Ting showed me about her apartment, explaining various devices and their respective costs.
It was on par with on 21st century Earth apartment. Ovens, microwaves, lights, carpets, solid walls. There was electricity, which powered everything. This energy came from inside the center of the city, which the Imperial Sect controlled directly. There were strict export laws as well. Another permit was needed to export items. Most caravans only stopped at the outer towns, and not the inner portion of Imperial City due to that reason.
Zheng Ting then invited me to look around the area. Just like when I was a kid, only it cost 10 tael to take the elevator down and then 20 tael to rent a rickshaw from a mortal rickshaw puller. I noted the occasional cultivator flying overhead as well in the distance around the central portion of Imperial City.
When we passed by a gun shop, I ordered the rickshaw to stop. I got out and checked the store out. I just couldn’t believe it. “Welcome Cultivator to the Imperial Gun Shop. We offer many amazing options for your needs,” a clerk said.
“How much and the cost to fire?” I asked as I saw various makes and models
“Just one rank 4 spirit coin for our basic model and it costs one rank 1 one spirit coin to fire. But that is our basic model. A cultivator of your standing, would want something for the elites. A rank 7 rifle,” the man said and gestured to a stand in the middle of the room. I felt myself puke in my mouth a little bit. It was an intricately carved piece of wood and metal. Something that looked as impressive as powerful as it was.
It was like I had been in a third world country in Africa and then suddenly in the middle of a major American city. I understood it, but my mindset was taking a beating. “While rank 7, the techniques used have been streamlined. Only 5 rank 6 coins to purchase such a treasure and you can use rank 1 to rank 5 spirit stones to power its attack. It will last you your entire cultivation journey. Definitely a steal at that price.”
“I...forgive me. I am interested but overwhelmed, I will need to think on this,” I quickly left the shop and got back in the rickshaw.
“Now you see,” Zheng Ting replied with a depressed tone.
“I do. I was a frog in the well, but this is insane,” I muttered.
“I know how you liked focusing on your cultivation, wait until you see this,” she replied. We went more towards the center of the city. We stopped at a major street that looped around the inner portion of the city where the Imperial Sect resided. There was no wall, but no one dared go into the inner portion of the city. I could see Imperial Sect members moving about beyond the unspoken barrier.
So great was their power, they didn’t even need a wall. Just the threat was enough to keep any riff raff out. I was that riff raff as hard as it was to accept. We went into a towering building. The sign at the base of the building labeled this shop as Cultivation Guidance.
The clean-cut modern lines, too much white, and bright lights, made me think of an apple store. “Greetings honored cultivator to Cultivation Guidance. We use the latest techniques to assess your cultivation plan and to assess any issues.”
“For a fee, I am guessing,” I replied.
“Of course. Just one rank 3 spirit coin, and we will perform an evaluation. Completely confidential of course. We have an elder from the Imperial Sect on staff, who will not share your secrets. We will identify any problems or issues,” they replied.
“All for one rank 3 spirit coin?” I asked. That seemed awfully cheap.
“That is not expensive at all. For the evaluation we do, it is quite impressive,” the clerk said.
“Forgive me, I thought it was cheap,” I replied, and their face had some shock but quickly smoothed out. “An elder of the Imperial Sect’s time is probably quite valuable.”
“That is true. So, you can understand the deal you are getting.” I looked at Zheng Ting who shrugged at me.
“You always said your cultivation was complex. I thought this would interest you,” she replied. The clerk jumped back into the conversation.
“Indeed. We are the premier shop for consultations on cultivation methodologies. Soul, body, and even mind. We can evaluate anything,” he replied. The lack of business clearly showed this was a passion project of an elder, or a service the Imperial Sect offered lesser cultivators.
“Very well. Let’s see what the Imperial Sect has to say about my cultivation,” I replied and pulled out a rank 3 spirit stone and held it out. The clerk took it like they were handling something dirty and it quickly disappeared into the fold of their robes. “Come with me,” the clerk said. Zheng Ting followed along as we were led to another room.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Unlike the stone chambers of the Cloudy Moon Sect, this one was a simple room, with white walls, and white lights, and lots of inscriptions on the floor around the chair. There was a large stand with inscriptions off to one side of the room. “You sit in this chair. The scanning rings will move around you to analyze your cultivation. Then a display will come up over here, which I will look at and the elder will add in their notes.” There was no elder looking at things. It was partially a scam. My guess was they had some formation, or even a computer type system that was set up by an elder that would perform an analysis.
I lay down in the oversized chair, that clearly wasn’t child size. I wasn’t afraid of my cultivation being known. As the Sect Leader pointed out, if the Imperial Sect wanted to take me in, he would be more than happy to give me up to let them stuff expensive cultivation resources down my throat. Zheng Ting and the clerk stood to the side as intricately carved metal rings rose up from around the bed and began to spin around me. They had to be at least rank 7, possibly rank 8.
“Hmm, it is taking a while. You are at the first to fourth rank?” the clerked asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Hmm, odd. Well let’s wait,” he said.
“Problem?” I asked as the rings kept spinning around me.
“Just taking longer than I thought it would take.” There was a chime, and the rings slowed down and then went back into the floor. “And now it is done.” A three dimensional display popped up and it was fuzzy. “That shouldn’t happen. I apologize. Please let me contact the elder,” the clerk said and quickly left. I got up and went over to the holographic model.
Some of motes could be seen, but the area with the astral soul stabilizer above my groin and my heart were fuzzy. The clerk came back and a younger looking man who had an annoyed look on his face came as well. “See honored disciple, the display has errors,” the clerk pointed out. The young looking man looked over the display. He had to be in his early twenties, but was fourth rank.
“Small too. Too small,” he muttered as he stared at me. The clerk gave a light cough and nodded in my direction. The Imperial Sect member frowned as he looked at me. “I am member Xiaosi of the Imperial Sect. Who are you, I don’t recognize those robes.”
“I am Yuan Zhou, personal disciple of the Sect Leader Jiang Fengge of the Cloudy Moon Sect. My papers,” I pulled them out of a spatial ring and held them out. He took them, glanced over them and handed them back. He then looked back at the glitched holographic display.
“Why is he here?” Xiaosi turned to the clerk and glared. “It is clear that he has standing, and unique cultivation methods based on his size and age.”
“A thousand apologies-“
“You may remove yourself from the premises and yourself from Imperial City. Your mistake has annoyed me and I will have to handle your responsibilities, since you are clearly incapable of using your eyes,” Xiaosi said. The clerk paled, but didn’t say anything as they rushed off.
“So many useless mortals running about. My apologies for not executing him for his mistake,” Xiaosi said but didn’t bow his head. That was the sign this was not really a mistake in my mind.
“It is not a problem senior. I have already forgotten the mistake,” I replied, and he smiled at me.
“Good, then come with me. It is clear you need a much more advanced array to assess your cultivation. It takes more power to run and the elder in charge is very busy cultivating. It would take 5 rank 3 spirit coins to continue,” he replied. I instantly saw the scam.
They would check out boring cultivations for a huge price, give some cursory information. But anyone with a unique cultivation, the array would have issues. They would have a cultivator come in, berate the clerk who would probably be back, or moved to another business. I would feel grateful and ashamed for causing trouble. Then they would do a higher-level evaluation for more, since I was clearly a big fish on the hook.
My cultivation indicated as much. The real question was if I wanted to keep playing along. I only had so many rank 3 spirit stones. It also didn’t escape my notice they used coins, but using stones was a clear sign I was a rube from outside Imperial City.
But I had come this far, so I decided to double down. “I have no issue, as long as there are results equal to what I am paying for. Would give the word on behalf of your elder and the Imperial Sect?” I asked with a smile. At this Xiaosi’s smile decreased slightly and they stared at me intently. My cultivation was so inordinately complex and the fact I was paying out so many rank 3 spirit stones, I was going to use this to leverage an in with the Imperial Sect.
“Of course. There will be no issues, as long as you are not a demon in disguise?” he challenged me. I smiled back at him even more.
“I was inspected in a soul reflecting chamber, and have a letter verifying my identity from my Sect Leader and Master himself,” I countered.
“Then there is no issue, the funds please,” Xiaosi asked, and I paid them over and was brought to another room. Zheng Ting kept following me, letting me take the lead.
This time there were even more arrays in a much larger room. I laid down on the reclining chair. Rings descended from the ceiling and my chair actually floated up into the air. I felt pressure on my cultivation as they spun. I was pulling on a tiger’s tail by doing this, but it was necessary in my mind.
I needed an elder of the Imperial Sect to take an interest and support me. That was the only way to do business. Being only rank 2, I had to tempt them with the only thing interesting about me, my cultivation. The rings went back into position and the chair settled down. A holographic display popped up at the side of the chamber where Xiaosi and Zheng Ting were.
Going over there, I had to restrain my smile. It was a much more detailed scan, and the outer portions of my motes had been observed, but around my lower abdomen and heart the blur was still there. I guess they didn’t have many people with unique cultivations come through. I could see Xiaosi frowning heavily at the display.
I was silent as I waited for him to say something. I was honestly curious what he would do now. After a couple of minutes, he turned towards me. “My apologies, I will have to contact the elder in charge of this building to handle this,” he said.
“Not a problem, I don’t mind wait,” I replied.
“Please follow me to a waiting room, we have refreshments for you and your companion,” he said. The waiting room was very nice on the second floor and overlooking the street outside. Small sandwiches and fruit juice were served. I only had one to be polite while waiting.
Zheng Ting didn’t say anything and I was content to wait. This entire situation was amusing to me. After an hour an older woman entered the waiting room. I quickly stood up and bowed my head the moment I saw their robe. “Junior Yuan Zhou, greets elder of the Imperial Sect,” I replied. Zheng Ting bowed even more deeply but didn’t say anything.
“Raise your head Yuan Zhou. I am elder Xu Xiaoli,” she said in a kind voice, and I brought up my head. “Let us sit, you clearly have a unique cultivation, and I would offer my insight with a personal consultation.”
“Thank you, elder Xu Xiaoli,” I said and sat, only after her. Zheng Ting remained standing to the side of the room.
“With your appearance and being at the second rank, you started cultivating at around four years old?” she asked.
“Six years old elder is when I first started cultivating,” I replied, and she looked thoughtful at that.
“Your cultivation must be immense, to lock you into the appearance of a child of twelve. A million motes?” she asked me.
“1,788,606 motes elder,” I responded. Her eyes went slightly wide at that.
“How bold!” she said with a small chuckle. “I doubted Jiang Fengge put you up to this? So Liu Chen?” she asked me.
“They have offered advice, but I chose this path of defiance myself,” I replied. She asked several questions about my cultivation. I brought out notebooks and diagrams from my spatial ring. It got dark outside, but we kept discussing all the plans that had been worked out for my cultivation. After going over everything she gave her judgement.
“You clearly have figured out the optimal known choices. I might have rearranged your channels slightly from their current layout. I would estimate they are 97% efficiency, so decent, but the lengths vary a bit too much to my liking. The valve design of Liu Chen is something we know about. The real issue is pursuing multiple cultivation paths,” Xu Xiaoli said, and I listened intently.
“It has been attempted two times before. One of those times by another sect. It failed in the third stage. Attuning to a specific aspect for your channels and meridians is not as simple as you make it out. A force chamber can work, but the input needed is much higher than you think to get perfect grade. I would put the cost at around 100,000 level 3 spirit stones.” I winced at that.
“I won’t get into needing a refraction crystal and null metal to carve your unique valve structure. Such an item would be considered a sect treasure. The one individual that the Imperial Sect sponsored for a cultivation plan that pursued multiple paths failed to collect enough drops,” she replied.
“They had great backing, but the sheer amount of drops you will need is insane. I suspect you will find a way past the Meridian Attunement, but Core Formation will be your end. The end of all geniuses like yourself,” Xu Xiaoli said and shook her head.
“Do you have any changes to recommend or to make my cultivation base better?” I asked.
“No. Liu Chen’s advice is sound if completely impractical. You did enlighten an old woman with a triangular channel carving method. That combined with my failure to offer you any useful advice, you may make one request of me,” she said. I already knew what I would request. The most important thing one could have on this continent.
“I would like to request your support and backing to start up a business,” I said.
“You aren’t going to ask me to acquire a green ocean lily? Or give advice on the type of force chamber you should use?” she asked me, clearly surprised I didn’t request something more material. That was what an idiot cultivator would do. But I needed to leverage this rare chance for business, not cultivation.
“No elder. The green ocean lily is far too expensive for the information I have provided, even getting a favored price for me to purchase one is too much to ask. As for the force chamber, I will trust in my sect. For now I need to accumulate a tremendous amount of wealth, which means a business,” I replied.
“And what source of business?” she asked with curiosity. I had been using this time to think about what kind of business to start for a while. If I was stuck in Beijing, what kind of business would I start? Anything with cultivation, using the energy of the heavens and earth was out. That meant pills, formations, or anything that the Imperial Sect could do was off the table. I had thought of a restaurant, but it would have too much competition. Entertainment was another area I would struggle in. Cultivators were aesthetic monks for the most part and hated to part with their wealth unless it was for cultivation resources.
I needed a business I could break into their heavily restricted market without stepping on toes and I needed backing. Before I had my father and the Cloudy Moon Sect, but here I needed the Imperial Sect. There was no need to reinvent the wheel either. Rocking chairs would be laughed at and go nowhere.
“I want to be able to open up new mines, authority to manage mines, and favored status to ship refined metal and process ore across multiple cities with a headquarters being established in one of the outlying downs of Imperial City. A multi-city permit, Imperial City permits, and a letter of support,” I explained.
“You want to be able to start a multi-city business involving ore. That wouldn’t seem very profitable?” she asked while considering me carefully.
“But there are refineries. Getting higher ranked metal is just a question of combining lower ranked metal. Imperial City takes in shipped goods and processes them into finished products, but the demand is quite high for metal. High ranked metal for weapons and equipment. I want to operate at scale across the domain of the Imperial Sect and have done quite well managing the mines around my home city of Half Moon City,” I replied.
“Boldness, hmm. That is the domain of youth. Two options then. I can get you the permits and sign them, and no more. I would not assist you beyond that. Or I could back you officially and take twenty five percent of your revenue,” Xu Xiaoli said.
That was highway robbery, but I would not get such a chance again. I was also lucky she wasn’t asking for fifty percent. I would have had to say yes to even that much. Greed was good, but too much and one might choke on it. The power of the Imperial Sect was immense, and I didn’t understand their internal politics. Better to get an elder on my side while I had her attention.
Even if she just sat around and did nothing, her very presence, and the ability to reference my backing to her was more than enough to give her a cut. I couldn’t wait until I was an old monster and people had to give me loads of money to get some nebulous backing. But that was the way things were done. When in Rome, pay the Roman taxes as cost of doing business.
It would be complicated, but I would create a franchise model. Get various cities mines under my management, process iron bars up to rank 2, then ship them to Imperial City. This was to keep transport manageable.
In addition, I would set up a headquarters in one of the outlying towns to process the rank 2 iron bars into rank 6 steel bars. It would take around 10,000 rank 2 bars to make one rank 6 bar and 100 rank 3 spirit stones for the arrays and formations needed. A single rank 6 steel bar would sell for 3 rank 6 spirit coins.
All told I would spend about 120,000 rank 1 spirt coins to get 300,000 rank 1 spirit coins. That was with shipping and everything else. There would be a massive investment required, but I would start up an official company to process ore.
That was the thing about the energy of the heavens and earth. While it wasn’t completely balanced in the earth, it accumulated over long periods of time. Hence the spirit ore, which could be refined down. Such a scale of operation across multiple cities and selling in Imperial City, wasn’t possible without their support.
The demand for metal was quite high. I noted the guns were mostly wood, not metal. I knew mining and had experience in it. The consulting business was also one of the most profitable. The hardest part would be setting this all up without stepping on toes of other sects. Which was where guaranteeing escort contracts, and the backing of the Imperial Sect came into play.
Zheng Ting could keep an eye on things in Imperial City for me and manage the first decade of the company before retiring to an advisory role. Zhou Holding Company Limited was about to get a huge multi-city, multi-national expansion.
“I would be honored to give you twenty five percent of all profits, the business earns, and any issues will come out of my share,” I said with a deep head bow towards the elder. No matter what I couldn’t mess around with her.
If I had to admit it to myself, while it was highway robbery, I was getting a steal. An elder of the Imperial Sect would not back just anyone. The heavens smiled upon me once more, I would just have to make the most of this opportunity.