Chapter 365 - Sky Snow Manor

"I'm glad that you are satisfied with it. When Sir Licong told me that it is for an important client, I was still worried that you would not be easy to please. I guess my worries were unnecessary!" a middle-aged lady smiled in relieved as she addressed Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue.

"Don't mention it," Lu Tianzi shook his head. "If anything, I am grateful for your help. We wouldn't have been able to find a suitable residence this quickly if not for you."

"If you are pleased with my service, then make sure to look for me next time you wish to transact in properties within Sacred Cliff City as well! I will give you a discount in terms of the commission charges," the middle-aged lady gave him a thumbs up. "If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave for now."

"Farewell," Lu Tianzi said, and Nanlan Qianxue gave her a slight nod as well.

After the middle-aged lady took her leave, Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue finally turned their attention to the manor behind them.

The beautiful manor covered a square area of around a hundred metres on each side.

The three-storey main building took up the majority of the space, while a front yard and a back garden together took up around ten percent of the total area.

A low wall the height of two men lined the borders to block out curious eyes, and a simple concealing formation shielded the inside from any martial artist's perception.

Considering the fact that this was within Sacred Cliff City where every bit of land area was expensive, this was a rather impressive personal residence.

Of course, it was still nothing compared to the Sacred Lotus Treasury Headquarters or the Silvercloud Hall, but those were true behemoths within the city.

Lu Tianzi stepped through the main gate and entered the front hall with Nanlan Qianxue in tow.

There, a goateed man who looked to be in his fifties stood waiting in front of three young ladies, all of them facing Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue.

The three young ladies looked to be teenagers, and had their heads hung low as though they dared not meet Lu Tianzi's gaze.

"Greetings, Master," the goateed man bowed slightly. "I am your housekeeper, Changyu. Behind me are Ningxi, Linrou, and Fengfei. Please feel free to pass us any orders, and we will carry them out as per your instructions."

As he spoke, the goateed Housekeeper Changyu snuck a few curious glances at Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue.

"You can call me Lu Tianzi, and this is Nanlan Qianxue. From today onwards, we will be in your care," Lu Tianzi introduced himself. "For starters, why don't you tell me more about yourselves?"

Lu Tianzi had only barely mentioned to Old Juan about his intention to purchase a residence when the latter immediately asked Licong for help regarding the matter.

With Licong's connections as a member of the Sacred Lotus Treasury, he linked them up with a property agent lady, who quickly managed to find them this manor at an affordable price.

Having been in the business for a while, the property agent lady obviously understood that a residence as big as the manor would need some form of regular maintenance.

That was why along with the manor, the housekeeper Changyu and the maids Ningxi, Linrou, and Fengfei, were all arranged for Lu Tianzi in advance.

This saved Lu Tianzi quite the amount of work, but hiring them was just the start.

From now, whether to retain or dismiss the servants would be up to him, as he would be the one responsible for paying their wages.

Therefore, the first thing Lu Tianzi wanted to do was to get to understand these servants better.

Since Lu Tianzi had already asked, the four servants naturally told him about themselves.

The goateed Housekeeper Changyu was a martial artist at the Peak Essence Condensation realm. He had once pursued the martial path, aiming for the peak of the martial world. Unfortunately, his talent was lacking, and he was never able to break into the Origin Core realm no matter how hard he tried. He used to work as a mercenary over the past few decades but had tired of such a life after getting a wife. Now, he did not mind earning less than before as long as he could have a stable job; all he asked for was to be able to visit his family at least once every fortnight.

As for the three teenage girls, their stories were much simpler. They had been sold as slaves since young because their families were too poor to raise them, and ended up here after a series of transactions. Their slave traders made sure to train them in terms of housework, and they were rather competent in what they do. However, their background also made them rather timid and afraid of getting into trouble. All three of them were only at the Essence Building realm.

After hearing their stories, Lu Tianzi dismissed them to get busy with their chores. The manor had been left empty for a while before this, so there were quite a lot of things to tidy up.

In addition, Lu Tianzi found nothing suspicious about their stories, and saw no need to get rid of any of them for the time being.

Of course, he would still keep his guard up until he was sure of their personalities.

But while Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue were trying to understand their new servants better, the servants similarly had their own thoughts about their new masters.

"What do you girls think of Sir Lu and Lady Nanlan?" Housekeeper Changyu secretly gathered the three girls and asked.

"They seem nice?" Ningxi said with a tinge of uncertainty.

"Yeah, it might be because of their age, but at least they were not fierce like most others. That's a good start," Linrou agreed. "And Lady Nanlan is so beautiful!"

"She really is!" Ningxi chimed in.

Fengfei merely nodded.

"Is that all that you girls thought about?" Housekeeper Changyu let out a helpless sigh.

The girls were too young and inexperienced after all, so their focus was completely off.

Choosing to serve a new master was equivalent to taking a gamble with their lives.

Their fates from now on would depend almost entirely on their new masters, so how could they be focusing on their masters' temperament and looks?

All right, perhaps their temperament mattered a little, but their looks?

"Does Housekeeper Changyu think otherwise?" Ningxi asked after seeing the look on Changyu's face.

"It is not that I disagree. It's just that my focus is on something else," Housekeeper Changyu lowered his voice before sharing his thoughts. "When I first heard from the property agent lady that it was someone from the Sacred Lotus Treasury who had instructed her to arrange for the residence and servants, I thought it is definitely meant for someone with a significant background. But now that I have seen them in person, our new masters don't seem to look all that impressive."

"They don't?" the three teenage girls leaned forward, eager to hear his thoughts.

"Their cultivation levels are certainly decent for their age, but their dressing is what I am focusing on here," Housekeeper Changyu explained. "Don't misunderstand, I am not saying that they looked shabby. However, I have to admit that I was expecting something much more extravagant from someone who has connections with the Sacred Lotus Treasury."

Housekeeper Changyu fell into deep thought as he spoke.

When he came across this job opening, he had agreed immediately because he saw it as the perfect opportunity to come under the wings of a big shot.

But now, Housekeeper Changyu was thinking that he might have been mistaken.

Perhaps the person from the Sacred Lotus Treasury have helped them out merely because he was smitten by the beautiful Nanlan Qianxue?

The three maids exchanged glances, not knowing what to say.

As slaves, they had been sold to the property agent lady, who then tested them for their competence before assigning them to this residence.

Unlike Housekeeper Changyu, they had never been given a choice when it came to whether they wanted to take on this job, so the background of the master did not matter as much.

All they hoped for was to have a decent master who did not ill treat them in any way.

They had been slightly worried when they heard that the master was a young man. As female servants, serving a young man would usually mean that they would be subject to physical abuse of a decadent nature.

But now that they had seen just how beautiful their Lady Nanlan was, such worries were already thrown to the back of their heads.

Even if Sir Lu had any such needs, surely he would choose Lady Nanlan over any of them!

Seeing the naive look on the three teenage girls' face, Housekeeper Changyu let out yet another helpless sigh.

This was going to be a lonely job...

Housekeeper Changyu used to be one of the leaders when he was still in a mercenary group, so he was familiar with taking care of a group. This made him adept at looking at the big picture and delegating work for the three teenage girls.

It took them the rest of the day, but the four of them eventually managed to tidy up the residence as per Lu Tianzi's preferences.

Just as they thought they were done and could finally rest a little over the next few days, an important guest visited the manor the first thing next morning.

"Ningxi, come with me! Linrou, hurry and go inform Sir Lu! Fengfei, go prepare some tea!" Changyu ordered while tidying his clothes in a hurry.

Only after Housekeeper Changyu was sure that he looked presentable did he step into the front hall to greet the guest.

"Welcome!" Housekeeper Changyu greeted with a smile. "We have already informed Sir Lu of your arrival, and he should be here shortly."

"Mm," Licong's response was cold. He was here for Lu Tianzi, and did not see any reason to interact with mere servants.

Seeing that Licong did not intend to speak much, Housekeeper Changyu could only stand by the side awkwardly.

Thankfully, it did not take long before Lu Tianzi arrived.

"Sir Licong," Lu Tianzi clasped his fists in greeting as he entered the front hall.

"Young Brother Tianzi," Licong stood up from his seat and nodded.

"Please take a seat," Lu Tianzi gestured before sitting down. "I heard from Old Juan that you are the one who arranged for the manor. Thank you for the help!"

"Don't mention it, this much is nothing," Licong waved it off nonchalantly. "Pardon me but I don't have much time left before my next appointment, so I will get straight to the point. I am here to hand you what I promised."

"Oh?" Lu Tianzi's eyes lit up in surprise. "You mean..."

"Here, take a look," Licong tossed over a spatial ring.

Lu Tianzi easily caught the spatial ring and eagerly probed its contents with his perception. When he did, Lu Tianzi could not help but feel his heart thump in excitement.

Within it were around ten different jade slips, as well as a large amount of various items.

As an inscription master, Lu Tianzi could tell with a glance that these items were all sorts of common and uncommon inscription materials. With just the materials in the spatial ring alone, Lu Tianzi would be able to complete most inscriptions!

Licong smirked in satisfaction when he saw the look of surprise on Lu Tianzi's face. "As you have probably guessed by now, the jade slips contain information on the art of inscription as I have promised. Since you will probably be practising quite a bit in order to improve, I am willing to provide the materials required for your practice purposes. But in return, the usage must be recorded."

"So that's why there are so many materials in here..." Lu Tianzi smiled politely. "Thank you for the help so far, Sir Licong. But if the usage of the materials need to be recorded, then I'm afraid that I will not be deserving of these materials. Perhaps you can have them back."

"Oh?" Licong raised an eyebrow in surprise.

After hearing about Lu Tianzi's relatively low budget for his residence, Licong had thought that Lu Tianzi would be lacking in funds, and was thus trying to use this as a way to earn the latter's gratitude.

As for the recording of usage, it was so that Lu Tianzi would not misuse the materials by giving them away or even selling them. Of course, it would also help Licong track the inscriptions that Lu Tianzi was capable of drawing.

It was supposed to be a win-win situation for both of them, but who knew that Lu Tianzi would outright reject him?

It seemed that Lu Tianzi's situation might be a bit different from what he had imagined!

That's right, Lu Tianzi had Old Juan as a fixed client, so he would have a regular source of income. Getting enough beast cores to obtain the inscription materials was just a matter of time!

"All right then, as a show of my friendship, I will not ask any questions about the usage of the materials," Licong said after a short moment of hesitation. "Go ahead and use whatever you need. If you need anything else, just let me know. Though I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide them, I will try to the best of my ability. Of course, I hope that Young Brother Lu will not abuse my trust in any way..."

"Don't worry, Sir Licong. I assure you that these materials will go to good use," Lu Tianzi did not stand on ceremony.

If it were anyone else, Lu Tianzi would have rejected the materials altogether since he did not want to owe others a favour for no reason.

As Licong had guessed, Lu Tianzi had Old Juan's support, and it was only a matter of time before he could obtain the resources he needed.

But since Licong had already done him a favour for passing him the information pertaining to the art of inscription, adding this to the list would not change much.

"Well then, I guess I am done here," Licong stood up from his seat. "Before I leave, let's exchange communication marks. It is a hassle to always have to go through Brother Juan."

"Sure," Lu Tianzi saw no harm in doing so.

He could foresee that he would be liaising with Licong a lot more in the future as well, so having a way to contact each other would make things much simpler.

"That's right, have you thought of a name for your residence?" Licong asked casually while they were recording each other's communication marks.

"Yeah," Lu Tianzi nodded with a smile. "From today onwards, this place shall be named the Sky Snow Manor."