Chapter 4: Spirit Rice (2)

Chapter 4: Spirit Rice (2)

It was late in the afternoon when they reached a town. The place was hardly a bustling metropolis, but compared to the tiny villages that they had passed on the way in it at least had a market street and two different inns to choose from.

Muchen arranged for lodging at the slightly nicer of the inns, happily paying a few extra wen to have a warm bath sent up to his room. He double checked to make sure that his cart was locked up securely before he made his way upstairs. He tossed his travel pack on the bed and disrobed before settling into the wooden tub with a satisfied sigh. Soaking in hot water made him feel like he had finally returned to civilization.

"Weren't you planning to sell the rice to mortals?" Xinyi asked.

Muchen started upright, sending a handful of water sloshing out of the tub. He had seen a perfectly inert turtle shell resting on the front of his cart before he made his way upstairs. There had been no indication that he had been followed on the way to his room.

He relaxed after the initial shock passed. One shouldn't use mortal standards when judging cultivators. A woman who could change form to a turtleor a turtle who could change form to a womanwas accomplished enough that she could come or go as she pleased without tipping off his merely human senses.

Also, now that he had a minute to think about it, his modesty was fairly well preserved as long as he stayed in the tub. At the very least, he figured that if Xinyi had any prurient interest she wouldn't have spoken up.

Still, he took a moment to let his breathing even out before he replied.

"I will sell it, but not here," he said. "In order to get the best possible price, I need to find a place where there is plenty of silver but little spirit rice to be had."

He could sell his wares in this town. He'd even make a profit. But he wouldn't be able to make a killing. Considering that he had only gotten ahold of his cargo through great effort and not a little bit of personal danger, he wanted to get as much silver out of it as possible.

This town was only two day's travel from the Cloudy Peaks Sect. The sect didn't sell spirit rice on the open market, but he expected that a trickle of the low grade stuff found its way into the mortal world one way or another. Also, while a town of a few thousand people would have a few local tyrants ready to splash out on a fancy meal, it wouldn't have the steady stream of rich customers that would make a restaurant comfortable buying his entire cartload of rice for a premium.

He could do better per unit if he were willing to sell one bag at a time, perhaps, but that would be a waste of his time. Not to mention that he'd be left with less spirit rice on hand once he did finally find a rich whale of a customer.

"So you'll be traveling away from the Cloudy Peaks Sect," Xinyi said. "I might as well tag along."

Muchen nodded. It wasn't like he'd get anywhere by disagreeing.

"The sects have claimed the best locations, but the Qianzhan Continent is a big place," she continued. "Once I find a suitable location I will go into secluded cultivation."

Muchen nodded again. It didn't cost him anything to give her a ride. From her perspective, traveling on his cart let her pass smoothly through towns and settlements without leaving any traces for the Cloudy Peaks Sect to find. As much as she disdained the sect, she clearly wasn't ready for a full scale battle with them at the moment.

It was a mutually beneficial exchange.

After that, she remained silent while he focused on rinsing off the last of the dust from the road. By the time he was ready to get out of the bath, Xinyi had retreated back inside her shell. He took advantage of the moment of privacy to dry himself off and get dressed before ringing the bell the inn provided to request assistance. A few moments later, the tub had been cleared away and Muchen was ready to turn in for the evening.

Well, almost ready. First he sat cross-legged by the bed and ran through his breathing exercises. He wasn't sure if he was actually accomplishing anything, but cultivation involved the gradual accumulation of the results of constant effort. His inability to judge his progress made it all the more important that he put in the effort every day.

"Are you... cultivating?"

Small farming villages were the little-appreciated foundation of mortal prosperity on Qianzhan Continent. Each was a small cluster of houses, occupied by perhaps a hundred different households, surrounded by rice paddies. None of the men that Muchen saw laboring away in the fields were ever going to have their names recorded in the history books, but it was the work of those men that provided the surplus of food that kept the Qianzhan Empire well fed. These small villages also produced the surplus of young men that kept the empire's army well filled out.

Of course, while Muchen appreciated the importance of the rural population on the whole, he didn't intend to have anything to do with them on this leg of his trip. Nobody who worked in the fields for a living would be able to afford a single meal's worth of a luxury like spirit rice, let alone a whole cartload of the stuff.

The towns where they spent most evenings were closer to the mark, but still not quite what he was looking for. After all, the main economic driver of those towns was the trade in the product of the fields in exchange for finished goods that the villagers could use. There were always a few prosperous local merchants around, but none of them operated on the scale that Muchen wanted to see.

As the days went by, Xinyi spent most of her time meditating, withdrawn into her shell. She hadn't found the auspicious spot for seclusion that she was looking for, and she seemed to have lost interest in Muchen's affairs. Muchen took it as that he had happened to pick up a fortuitous talisman to ward off bandit attacks and focused on taking care of his own business.

He was diligent about doing his own cultivation every evening. Xinyi didn't offer to enhance his vision again, and he didn't ask. He still remembered what he had learned that night. Every evening he enjoyed a meal of spirit rice before doing his best to replicate that sort of detached confidence along with the correct posture and breathing process. He could feel the energy in his body building up day by day.

His efforts were already showing some benefits. He was a little more energetic in the mornings, and he hadn't woken up with any sort of aches or pains since he'd made progress in his cultivation. Unfortunately, he was still far away from making active use of the energy. According to the scroll he'd read, what he needed to do next was build up energy and then connect to the Great Dao.

The energy kept building up, night after night. He had no idea what it meant to connect to the Great Dao, though. He'd never been much for philosophy back in the modern world. His focus had always been on learning practical skills that would help him make money. From what he'd seen, most cultivators weren't particularly philosophical, so he was hoping that there was some sort of trick to taking that first step into true cultivation.

He was also hoping that Xinyi would take pity on him and share the trick, but so far she was keeping quiet. He couldn't really complain. The nudge she'd already given him along the path of cultivation had already more than paid off any favor he was due for his accidental help.

While Muchen was diligent in his cultivation, for the moment that was nothing more than a nightly hobby. His real focus was on making money. Once they left the rural hinterlands behind and reached the more developed area along the Dahuang River, he could practically smell the silver in the air.

The river was one of the major arteries of trade within the Qianzhan Empire. A dizzying array of goods moved up and down the river every day. Even just driving his cart along the path by the riverbank, he could clearly see the prosperity brought by the waters. The development along the river was on a whole new level compared to the small towns and villages back in the hinterlands.

It was when they reached Heshan Town, the third major settlement they'd passed by while following the river, that Muchen finally got the answer he'd been hoping to hear.

"Best food in town? It's down to the Plum Blossom Kitchen or the Hidden Fragrance Pavilion," the inn's hostess explained. "I'd say the Hidden Fragrance Pavilion is a touch better overall, but at the Plum Blossom Kitchen you can order a dish with spirit rice."

Muchen smiled and asked for directions. Once he'd settled his luggage at the end he dressed up in his nicer set of robes.

"Finally trying out one of those fancy restaurants?" Xinyi asked as she watched him check his appearance in the mirror.

Muchen had been asking about the fine dining options available at every stop along their route, just to check out their menus on his way out of town. This was the first time he'd be spending his own money on a fancy meal.

"I think I may have found my customer," he replied.

"Really?" she asked. "I thought you'd want to keep going to the provincial capital. They're swimming in silver."

Muchen fiddled with his outer robe, trying to get it to drape right. This was his first time trying out the fancy dress of the Qianzhan Continent. "More silver, yes, but also plenty of spirit rice to be had."

Spirit rice was a supernaturally charged ingredient that he'd only gotten his hands on by bribing a low level member of a sect of magical warrior monks, but at the end of the day it was like any other product. In order to get the best possible price he needed to find a market that had an appetite for the product and the ability to pay for it but lacked a steady supply of the stuff.