Chapter 10: Tenant and Landlord

Although this world is one of cultivation, based on Lu Xingzhou's observations and understanding over so many years, he feels it can at most be classified as Low Profound or Low Immortal.

With Lu Xingzhou's current standard of a Seventh-Rank Dao Cultivator, he is still far from being able to fly; treating a mere broken leg is like a matter of life and death... Those so-called moving mountains and filling seas exist only in legends, let alone exploding stars or exploding planes. The very top cultivators are all pursuing "ascending to become Immortals," and only after that can they truly be called Immortals.

Whether Immortals have sects, and how those sects operate resources, is currently unknown. In any case, with the current Low Immortal standard, everyone is just a mortal; gold and silver currency are still very useful most of the time. Every sect or guild naturally needs to earn money and resources, and individuals also need to "work" to accumulate resources for their own cultivation.

If Lu Xingzhou were to describe it, guilds are similar to various companies, while sects are similar to various private universities. Disciples who graduate from sects enter various guilds or join various departments of the imperial court; of course, many also "stay on campus" to take up a post or continue their studies.

Merchant associations also belong to the category of guilds; their main business is conducting various businesses involving the circulation of resources, and high-end ones involve heavenly treasures and earthly gems.

Of course, these are the Righteous Paths. There are also Demon Dao sects and guilds, which engage in burning, killing, and plundering, or some gray industries. The principles of the two worlds can still interconnect.

Previously, the organization Lu Xingzhou assisted Yuan Muyu in establishing was the "Yanluo Hall," the most terrifying assassin organization in Great Qian today, which is a typical Demon Dao path.

The Yanluo Hall assassin who suddenly came to assassinate him earlier was definitely hired by the Danxia Gang; if it were an enemy within Yanluo Hall wanting to kill him, they certainly would not have sent just a low-level assassin. Speaking of which, the Danxia Gang is quite interesting; they kicked the landlord, and hired an assassin to kill a founding elder of their own organization. This unlucky guy's luck is truly solid.

And Tianxing Sword Sect is a very orthodox sword path sect; many disciples who graduate from within choose to join imperial court departments. Given the cultivation direction of swordsmen, they mainly concentrate in the Demon Suppression Bureau and the army. Therefore, Tianxing Sword Sect has certain influence officially, but on the surface, it appears relatively grassroots.

Shen Tang knew what Lu Xingzhou meant by asking about the "business model," so she said, "In the past, Tianxing Sword Sect was secretly one of the Royal Merchants, helping the royal family handle goods and manage their private treasury."

Lu Xingzhou was extremely surprised by this answer, and his heart stirred: "So your so-called offense against someone leading to your sect's extermination was actually getting involved in a royal succession struggle? I heard the Eldest Princess went missing last month; is this related to that?"

The soft smile that Shen Tang had always worn finally stiffened a bit: "Your information is indeed sharp; the imperial court has not made this public. How did you know?"

"I have my own channels. That is not important; what matters is whether you were involved in the royal succession struggle?"

"The reason is unknown; the imperial court is also investigating this case. In any case, we dare not openly seek shelter in the capital, fearing that entering the capital would only lead to an unclear death." Shen Tang sighed: "Currently, only I know the channel to contact the royal family, so however unwilling they are, they can only treat me as their master; otherwise, how would it be my turn, a cripple like me?"

"This channel is not easy to hide; the royal family transporting goods to you, and you remitting wealth back to them, this line is too obvious."

Shen Tang originally thought Lu Xingzhou's questioning about the succession struggle indicated a stronger desire to retreat, but seeing his attitude was not like that, she breathed a sigh of relief: "Not only that, I also do not want to be targeted by enemies again. So in the short term, I will not contact them over there; I need to open up the situation myself first."

"At least clear out the internal enemies first?"

"Exactly."

"So your so-called merchant association currently has no source of goods... Perhaps you have some money, and you plan to purchase medicinal herbs in Xiazhou to refine pills yourself, essentially starting from scratch. For this, you specially hired the alchemist Bai Chi, who comes from the famous alchemy sect Incense Tower, and the next phase of plans revolves around him. As a result, the Danxia Gang intercepted you?"

"Yes." Shen Tang gave a bitter smile: "Bai Chi is from Xiazhou, originally quite suitable. But we didn't expect him and Liu Yan'er to be childhood sweethearts; a few words and he was lured away..."

Lu Xingzhou gently patted the armrest of his wheelchair and pondered, "The Danxia Gang has its own medicinal mountains, yet you need to purchase medicinal herbs; the alchemy costs for both sides are not on the same level. If you try to compete with them from this angle, you are bound to fail. If you trust me, my suggestion is to abandon the alchemy plan and find another solution."

Shen Tang sighed, "How could I not know that... But in the short term, we truly have no other solutions available."

"Since I brought this up, I naturally have another solution to let you establish yourselves. In fact, there are too many people in Xiazhou doing this kind of business; even if Bai Chi were still here, he could at most make you the second Danxia Gang. What use is that... Your original plan was wrong."

Shen Tang nodded: "We do understand the logic; originally we just thought it would be good to settle down first. Since we arrived in Xiazhou, of course, the first reaction was to relate to medicinal herbs."

"This is a thinking error; who says places with high medicinal herb output must do business related to medicinal herbs?"

"But if doing something else, why choose Xiazhou?"

Lu Xingzhou smiled: "Xiazhou is one of Great Qian's medicinal herb bases, yet there are few skilled alchemists here. Do you know why?"

Shen Tang said, "Naturally because the medicinal herbs here are just ordinary crops, suitable only for refining low-grade pills; high-grade alchemists look down on this place."

"But correspondingly, low-grade alchemists like me flock here in large numbers; the quantity of low-grade pills produced here tops Great Qian, and prices drop lower and lower with competition. Many merchant associations purchase pills here to sell elsewhere for the price difference; local cultivators even treat low-grade pills like candy beans." Lu Xingzhou blinked: "Here comes the question: since people in Xiazhou eat so many pills, why is their cultivation not faster than elsewhere?"

Shen Tang blurted out, "First, eating too many of the same type of pills reduces their effect. Second, their accumulation of pill poison is too great!"

All medicines have some toxicity; pills are naturally the same.

The reason why supreme and excellent quality pills are worth more than ordinary good quality ones is that stronger medicinal effects are secondary; the true key lies in having less pill poison. The so-called supreme quality belongs to the category of having almost no pill poison, something that can be encountered but not sought. However, supreme quality is rare, excellent quality is expensive, and the vast majority of people still eat normal good quality pills.

Pills in other places are much more expensive than in Xiazhou; even good quality ones are not eaten too much, so pill poison can basically be expelled by oneself, and the problem is not too big. But people in Xiazhou eat too much; they have all accumulated some pill poison deep within their bodies to some extent, yet because the atmosphere is like this, very few people reflect on this point.

Actually, it is not just people in Xiazhou; the vast majority of Dao Cultivators are extremely dependent on pills, knowing they are toxic yet enjoying them as if they were sweet. Sword Cultivators, on the contrary, are more averse to this.

Indeed, Lu Xingzhou said, "Sword Sects emphasize purity the most; sword bones like jade, sword hearts clear and bright, they often disdain relying on medicines the most and have more experience than others in expelling these messy impurities. If your sect uses some special mental technique to achieve this, could this technique be engraved onto talismans or magical artifacts and ornaments, allowing people to carry them long-term to purify pill poison?"

Shen Tang was stunned, ran it through her mind, and her eyes gradually became bright and sparkling.

Pill poison can naturally be resolved by antidote pills; for severe accumulation, using high-grade antidote pills is enough; it is not a difficult problem, the issue is that it is expensive.

But creating such purification sword talismans is very cheap; it just requires people to carry them long-term, not as immediately effective as antidote pills, but it fits Xiazhou's situation perfectly.

This idea sounds very simple; many sects could do it, not limited to Sword Sects. But other places do not have the characteristic of treating low-grade pills like candy beans like Xiazhou does, so pill poison is not a big problem, and naturally no one studies these. This is a specific strategy tailored to Xiazhou's local conditions, yet Xiazhou people themselves lack the awareness to do it!

That is to say, they would be the first to do this business; as long as it can be promoted, this would be a business with huge profits.

Shen Tang took a deep breath and couldn't help asking, "Actually, using our resources to refine pills and go head-to-head with the Danxia Gang would be more satisfying for you, wouldn't it? Why do you always refuse to do that, and instead give me such a priceless idea?"

Lu Xingzhou smiled: "You have never realized that the alchemy competition is not going head-to-head with the Danxia Gang, but sinking into the vast ocean of pill competition in all of Xiazhou. For the Danxia Gang, at most you make them a bit uncomfortable; it has no practical significance."

Shen Tang asked curiously, "Do you really not intend to deal with them?"

"Originally, the anger I wanted to vent has already been vented; if they don't trouble me, I really am too lazy to deal with them." Lu Xingzhou smiled very warmly: "But now that they don't want me to live in Xiazhou, I have no choice but to make them unable to live first."

Shen Tang clearly saw that while the man's face wore a smiling expression, a terrifying killing intent flashed in his eyes.

He wants to make the Danxia Gang unable to live?

His cultivation is not high; he is alone with a child. How can he achieve this?

Shen Tang hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice, "With our current situation, it is difficult to start armed conflicts with other gangs."

"When did I say you need armed conflicts..." Lu Xingzhou's killing intent had already vanished; he was still smiling: "If Miss Shen thinks my idea just now is worth some money, then you might as well help me purchase a batch of Cold Glowing Grass; the more the better."

Cold Glowing Grass is quite effective at removing rot and generating flesh; it is often crushed and applied externally to treat skin ulcers, corrosion, burns, and so on. Since it is not very useful for alchemy, not many people plant it in Xiazhou, and the price is not high.

Shen Tang didn't know what Lu Xingzhou needed this for alchemy, but she said nothing, only nodding: "I will arrange it. Thank you, Mr., for your guidance."

After speaking, she turned her wheelchair and headed out the door.

Lu Xingzhou watched her slowly moving away, silent for a long while.

A-nuo's voice finally sounded from beside him: "Master, what are you doing, Master? You actually started teaching..."

Lu Xingzhou came to his senses, his face stern: "That gentle look, speaking words of compromise and understanding... I am the landlord, yet it feels like she took me in. Don't you think that's infuriating?"

A-nuo scratched her cheek: "If the result of being angry is giving the other party a priceless idea, then please, Master, get angry at me."

Lu Xingzhou reached out, grabbed her cheeks on both sides, and pulled them sideways, then suddenly let go. With a "boing" sound, they snapped back, the fat flesh trembling.

Under A-nuo's resentful gaze, Lu Xingzhou said expressionlessly: "That was just to put myself back in a high position. This idea sounds simple, but in reality, they probably can't implement it themselves; there will be more things later where they need to ask me."

A-nuo sighed: "Why bother, Master..."

Lu Xingzhou said coldly: "Because I never want to experience the taste of depending on others for shelter again in my life."

A Nuo said softly, "Master, since you understand the game of human hearts so well, you must have many girlfriends, right?"

"Bang!" The Little Daoist was coiled into a lump and tossed out the door.

(End of this chapter)