~3 Days after the Chimera event.
Xin Fu, the gatherer who witnessed the emergence of Yāo Dan stepped out of the cart feeling ill at ease, it wasn’t normal for him to be near this side of the market, but the warehouse district was busy with workers and guards, even at this time of night, so he did not stand out in his nondescript robes.
Something Fu didn’t put past Yāo Dan to engineer.
He didn’t know what to expect when entered the side door, but it certainly wasn’t what he saw.
Xin Fu had long since learned to scan his environment constantly from his time in the Fallen Valley, and it wasn’t something he could exactly ‘turn off’.
The warehouse was like Fu had expected in some senses, despite never having been in one before, one expects large amounts of containers.
That there was in the 100 chi by 100 chi building, but he doubted many of the goods were like this. Ingots of metals were stacked 8 chi tall and held together by together by weak wards.
Warders, practitioners who knew spiritual techniques that allowed the formation of qi arrays that produced barriers of qi that exerted force onto the realm were rare around these parts, though Fu had no doubt that the demon did it himself. The capabilities of his new apparent master still baffled him.
Besides the wards, what separated this warehouse from that of a wealthy merchant was the sheer verity of the objects shown.
Even just among the metals, Fu was able to spot the labels of iron, steel, copper, bronze, brass, gold, and silver before the heaping stacks. Aside from that, there was the dizzying array of wealth that was stored that Fu passed by on his way to the array of tables on the other side of the warehouse, salt, spices, gemstones, huge stacks of paper, tools, large paddocks of manufactured goods like baskets and toys, and most notably floor to ceiling shelves that held tens of thousands scrolls. Hells, Fu even spotted large stacks of Qiquàns sitting on a table in the corner of the warehouse.
Even more than all the wealth accumulated in these walls, Fu was more impressed by the knowledge promised. The scrolls were promised things like philosophy, history, alchemy, warding, spiritual techniques, martial arts, musical scores, tradecrafts, politics, psychology, ‘self-help’, and the list went on and on.
Fu stopped walking to the commotion happening by the group of tables and chairs when he realized that a full half of the shelves were simply labeled ‘pornography’. Fu stood dumbstruck for a few moments, contemplating how that was. Even if only half of the scrolls here where labeled as such, that was still well over 10,000 scrolls, perhaps 20,000!
‘Even if there are many copies, how in the world could there be that much unique porn?!’ Fu wondered, aghast. It took a moment, then two, but Fu snapped out of it quickly and moved to go to the end of the warehouse. He’d seen far stranger when concerning the demon, and yet, he had never felt better than after he had started practicing the breathing techniques given to him, so perseverance of the unknown was little price to pay.
Such an unknown had presented to himself in the strange scene he witnessed. Yāo Dan was standing over a man who looked like a torture victim twisting his arm in odd directions while a man wearing plain robes and a woman wearing trousers and a tunic were having a heated argument.
“Unh, Ah-ah, this feels so weird!” The man on the ground with needles sticking out of his skin in odd locations intoned in a similar matter to the demon, though he just sent language instead of concepts themselves.
‘Yeah, yeah. You’ll be fine.’ Dan intoned as he aligned the man’s bones once again and gave a single flash of qi to the needles.
“How dare you dictate how I address our lord!?” The man all but roared at the woman.
“You tempt the heavens with your familiarity!” The woman shot back, refusing to back down.
Fu was about to break up the fight when he was interrupted when a surge of qi came from where Yāo Dan was. Fu looked at the demon, but he was just looking downwards with an expression of idle interest.
It wasn’t until Fu looked at the cultist until he got it. “Great circle, qi gathering.” He noted while clapping politely. “Congratulations.”
The needles pulled themselves out of the man, allowing the man to stand up.
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“You advanced my cultivation?!” The man intoned with tears in his eyes.
‘Hm?’ Dan intoned while he yawned. ‘Nah, it was probably just your injuries stopping you.’
Dan turned to walk over to what was apparently his place at the head of a central table with one chair at the head and two to either side. ‘I told you Li, overwork is a bitch.’
Guo Li, the clay laborer turned cultist, looked at Dan like he was an avatar of the deity of salvation himself.
Fu got it, if the man was a mute, then Yāo Dan just gave him the ability to speak and advanced his cultivation. But now that Dan wasn’t doing anything, he just had to ask…
“So, uh, your demonic greatness,” Fu laughed awkwardly at his attempt to break the ice as the woman in work clothes glared daggers at him. “...what is all of this?”
Dan looked around the warehouse stuffed full of what most would consider treasures. ‘Eh, just a little something I did while brainstorming ways to recruit followers the last couple of days.’
Every one of the cultist looked at their demonic idol in shock, Dan didn’t seem to care. ‘Until we can subvert enough of Spiritual Wings province’s leadership and markets we’ll need to rely on things like subverting individual merchants, falsified documents, shell businesses, and black markets to discretely raise funds for our cult.’
Dan continued to explain nonchalantly while the cultists were still in the throes of disbelief.
‘The best way to do that,’ Dan gestured to the wares. ‘is by diversifying our assets.’
“Deities above.’ Wei, the tax bureaucrat, swore. “That’s 5% of the towns annual tax revenue…”
Dan just tilted his head. ‘If we’re using the same numbers, I think you’re underestimating the value of the scrolls, this all could easily be 20% if we find the right buyer.’
Dan shifted his eyes to the scrolls. ‘Though to be fair, it might be difficult to find those buyers while still remaining anonymous, so an argument could be made for 10~15%.’
“Lord Dan,” Yue spoke up meekly, which gave Wei the biggest case of mental whiplash since he had literally been plucked from a gambling floor and sat down in front of a local crime boss.
“If I may ask, why do you have so much…” Yue blushed fiercely before refusing to elaborate.
‘Porn?’ Dan, of course, didn’t care. To Dan, the literal knowledge demon, social norms only mattered when there was something to gain or lose from them.
He just waved his hand at her, dismissing her concerns. ‘It sells well and people don’t normally advertise that they bought it.’
‘Now,’ Dan stated. ‘If everyone is here…’ Dan snapped.
Everyone in the room jumped as a huge amount of ever-shifting qi appeared across the floor, ceiling, and walls.
“What is..?” Someone asked.
‘Just a few wards, enchantments, and glyphs. The wards and enchantments were always active, but the glyphs…’
Fu had heard of glyphs, the chaos script that was used by demons and their ilk to achieve what was achieved by others through the work of runes. But felt like a fool for not realizing that his new master would be able to use them.
But enchantments, the process of applying, combining, and sequencing various aspected qi to apply effects was new to him. New and fascinating.
‘...allows me to do this.’
Fu felt faint as he felt it again. The swirling vortex of chaos that felt as if if could pull the entire realm and tear it asunder, yet did not exert a single iota of force into existence.
Everyone had different had different reactions.
Fu felt as if he was back in the clearing with the demon and the chimera again, hiding behind a tree for his very life.
Li felt as if a tornado had spawned next to him and was relaxing 2 chi away from his face.
Wei felt as if the time a core formation cultivator had become enraged in city hall and set off a qi blast, demolishing a section of the building, was happening continuously.
Yue, however, was enraptured in the sudden change. This, this is what was wrote about in the demonic texts she had found. Worshiping a demon brought about so many surprises, so many opportunities, that no manner of living could ever compare to.
Dan, however, was oblivious to the reactions his stunt had caused. He knew they would happen, but he meant no harm, and that actually would translate to how the qi felt to his new cultists.
‘Ah.’ Dan sighed out. ‘It really is true.’ Dan didn’t fight the feeling and sagged into his chair.
‘It’s like a weight was lifted from my shoulders and a bind was released from my chest.’ Dan breathed deeply before looking to his cultists.
The moment had passed, and they were all slowly adapting to truly being in the presence of a powerful demon.
‘Xin Fu.’ The gatherer stood at attention. ‘I’ve noticed your talent and adaptability. You will be one of my new head cultists. You will be the head of projects. You will oversee the results of my dictations, and see that my word is followed.’
‘Zhang Wei.’ The bureaucrat paled. ‘Your skill and expertise is noted. You will be the head of finances. You will receive requests for funding, which you will itemize and deliver to me, advise me and the other heads in matters of financing, and keep records of cult assets.’
‘Guo Li.’ The laborer smiled. ‘Hardships have blessed you with a distinct understanding of the needs of people, along with the tools I have given you, you will be the head of communications. You will gather and report the needs and wants of the cultists under our umbrella.’
‘Xing Yue.’ The business owner fell to her knees. ‘Your faith is the strongest I have seen in this entire city. You will be the head of faith. You will co-ordinate the rituals of our cult, lead the masses in their worship, and spread my teachings to the rank and file.’
Once Yao Dan was finished speaking, he just sat and waited. Xin Fu was the first to bow in supplication, the others soon following.
And now that the moment had truly passed, Dan just snorted, smiled good-naturedly, and beckoned with his hand. ‘Come on now, what are you doing down there? We have much to discuss.’