It took only a day more of travel for the pair to reach their first destination: White River Pavilion.

Aki and Winter Gale had passed from the dense woodlands into more open terrain. Here, broad fields covered the landscape next to a dense network of rivers. White River Pavilion itself was located at the crossroads of two rivers, where they combined into the eponymous White River.

The place resembled a bazaar: goods were displayed openly with cultivators browsing through the many wares. Some of the cultivators wore robes denoting their allegiance, but the vast majority had no identification at all. These types of places were especially important for rogue cultivators with no sect backing after all.

Aki wanted to browse the wares for a bit before getting to any business, so he sent Winter Gale off to arrange a meeting for him and got busy examining the many goods available.

Pills were one of the most plentiful things sold – countless varieties being on display for all sorts of uses. There were even mass-produced sets of basic pills for rather affordable prices. Aki took a closer look at those.

Concocted by the Aho clan, huh? They’re one of our vassals if I recall correctly, a clan famous for their very efficient pill concocting. One of the top possible candidates for outsourcing our common pill production certainly.

Next Aki took a look at the higher quality pill selection – these were all sold individually. They were arrayed inside small glass display cases, with descriptions of their use and maker listed below.

A large part of the higher quality pills available were actually manufactured by the Thousand Lakes Sect, which made Aki feel a bit proud. For some reason, it just felt good to see products made by his sect on sale.

Aki moved on to examine some of the talisman offerings, but only very basic ones seemed to be on sale here. I guess organisations guard their most valuable secrets closely, only letting more common things get to outside circulation.

Aki also did not see any jade slips containing techniques on sale, which seemed to corroborate his theory.

The largest part of the wares available were raw materials – Spirit beast parts and cores, different types of spirit herbs and various other useful materials. His sect was probably also the largest supplier for these. Aki hoped that one day places like this would have a dedicated section for the many bottles of drinks sold by his sect.

He however did not get to dream about his ideal alcohol shop for long before his disciple returned with news that upon hearing of his arrival the leader of this place had agreed to an immediate meeting.

Ah, I would have liked to explore this place a bit more, but I guess having your direct overlord show up in person for a sudden meeting would spook most people...

Sighing at his lack of foresight, Aki followed his disciple to a meeting room.

It was not some temple of merchant decadence that Aki was brought to, but instead a rather simple office space. It reminded Aki rather much of the corporate offices back home – filing cabinets full of jade slips, a simple table and a set of chairs. A laptop was really all it was missing.

Aki somehow had the image of fantasy merchants generally being portly fellows, so he was honestly a bit disappointed to find a reed-like man with his long brown hair in a neat ponytail. Outwardly he did not seem nervous, but Aki did suspect that was only the calm surface of a raging river. He rose up from his seat to offer a very proper bow.

“White River offers greetings honoured elder, to what do I owe this pleasure? I trust that our tribute payments have been handled according to the specifications.”

Aki sat down and examined the man closely. What manner of man is he? This may get difficult depending on that... I suppose I should just open up with a question then.

“At ease. I have not come with complaints, but rather to offer an opportunity to you, which could bring great profits for you and your disciples. However first I would like to ask you a question.”

Aki thought he saw the man relax just a tad bit in his posture, he was certainly good at keeping his feelings neutral.

“A question, elder?”

Aki leaned back in his chair, and fixed the man a piercing gaze.

“If you had to choose between wealth and power, which would you take?”

This time the man’s expression shifted slightly, showing just the hint of a smile.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“A simple question sir. After all, wealth is power”

Aki smirked. Looks like this is going to be easy. Convincing a fellow compatriot of the [Dao of Money] should be the one thing my modern financial knowledge is good for.

Aki used his [PowerPoint] technique to open up a simple presentation and stood to give a lecture.

“I’ll just be sharing a few pointers with a fellow compatriot. Have you ever heard of compound interest? Consider the case of giving an elder who one can expect to head into closed door cultivation for an extended period of time. What if you were to give them a loan with a very reasonable compounding 0.5% annual interest...”

As Aki began talking, he saw the calm facade on the mans face fade, replaced by a raptured expression of pure desire.

Looks like this one is in the bag.

Aki proceeded to give a 20 minute lecture on some basic modern financial theory. He spoke on banking, explained the basics of fractional reserves and some of the amusing things they could lead to, he even outlined some of the basics of a stock-shareholder system.

During his presentation, Aki proceeded to give subtle hints that this was merely a fraction of his knowledge, and that by mastering his methods one could attain unimaginable wealth in this world. The topics he covered were actually a significant part of his education, but Aki was a man who was able to make that seem like only the merest trickle of his true knowledge.

This was one of the few things where he did not have to rely on making things up out of thin air, which led a certain extra credence to the set. Of course, Aki took advantage of his extensive persuasive skills, and during the presentation he saw the man gradually growing more and more enthralled. Finally, he moved away from his last [PowerPoint] slide.

“There. I felt like trading some pointers with the younger generation, but further knowledge can naturally only be known to my inner circle. You understand right?”

The man did not hesitate for a second before throwing himself into a deep kowtow in front of Aki.

“Please make me one of your disciples! I am in awe at your knowledge honoured elder!”

Aki smirked. All according to plan. He beckoned the man up to his feet.

“Stand up. Naturally, I am willing to take you under my wing, as that is part of my purpose in coming here. There are however certain matters that I need to see to first, regarding your little Pavilion here.”

The man rose up, gaze still reverential.

“Do you wish to incorporate our organisation into your sect? It would be a great honour! I can handle matters very swiftly!”

Aki shook his head and gave the man a mysterious smile.

“You are close, but not quite there. I am going to be using your organisation for something much more interesting, which should prove very educational to you.”

“Something close, but not quite? What is that you intend?”

Aki walked over to a cupboard and leaned against it, then gave a conspiratorial grin.

“You see, I’ve grown rather tired of the tributes we are always forced to pay to the Liquid Sword sect, as I’ve yet to see evidence of them being put to good use. Our tributes are fixed at 30% of our income, so it would be very convenient if I could find a place to discreetly move that income to...”

The man’s eyes widened open with realization.

“You mean our Pavilion...”

Aki smiled approvingly.

“Yes, indeed. Your organisation is already one of our vassals, but I would like to somewhat deepen that bond. You would lose some of your independence and take more direct orders from us, but nominally you would remain an independent organisation.”

Aki then gave sly grin and moved closer to the man.

“And isn’t it convenient that your overlord is me, making your financial matters strictly my responsibility, not the Liquid Sword sect’s?”

“You intend to hide away your trades using our organisation... How daring! How outrageous! Master, may I call you master already? You are truly cunning!”

“Indeed. Currently our tributes are based only on direct spirit stone exchanges for the sect, so if instead of trading things, we merely gave some pills for you to sell, and you conversely then gave us some of the materials we needed, the purchases could conveniently disappear from our records, and move into yours.”

Yes, Aki’s plan was to use White River Pavilion as a sort of tax haven shell organisation. Aki was in charge of the taxation for White River Pavilion, so it was not difficult to arrange matters conveniently on that front. Convincing the Liquid Sword sect that no tomfoolery was going on would require some more work, but Aki was confident he could manage it.

First off, he would not move all sales and purchases immediately, making it a slow transition instead. Second, he had already thought of many plausible explanations and excuses he could use if someone came knocking.

Quite frankly Aki did not have much respect for the financial institutions of this world, so he had severe doubts someone would even notice his little tricks. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.

Surely there is no such thing as a sect tax inspector, right?

Aki sat back down on his chair, then beckoned the man to do the same.

“So, do you wish to formally accept my proposition? Outwardly nothing would change, but you would have to relocate closer to our direct lands and start taking orders from us more directly.”

The man sat opposite and did not have to ponder on his answer.

“Master, for your knowledge I would be willing to do much, and this is the least I can give. Will you be staying with us longer to make preparations?”

Hmm, there’s not that much left to do here, and the possibility of hot wings is still awaiting me at the end of this journey, so I think I’ll have to decline.

“I will not be staying here longer, as I have extremely urgent business to go attend to. You can however begin making your preparations to leave immediately. Once you reach our sect, take contact with my apprentice Passionate Seeker – she has been briefed on what to do regarding you.”

Aki was rising to leave, but just then remembered another matter. Oh, right. I had those plans for outsourcing pill production... probably best get started on that already. He turned back.

“Also, start making preparations for the purchase of a year’s supply of low-grade pills, and start looking for possible avenues to secure more for cheap in the future. That trade will be experiencing significant changes soon.”

“Your orders will be carried out, master.”

As the man gave a proper bow, Aki left the room.

Excellent, operation [tribute evasion] is a go.

Aki did not linger at the place long, as he was eager to reach his next destination: the city of Ko Vola.