Chapter 33: Real Estate (1)

Chapter 33: Real Estate (1)

It took a few days of travel before he began to recognize the hills and valleys surrounding Li Village. The landscape looked different in winter, but something about it still felt comfortable to Muchen. He wasn't an official resident yet, but this was a place he'd be willing to make his home.

They bypassed the village proper to head for the cabin on the mountainside, arriving just as the sun was beginning to set. Muchen felt a bit of guilt at showing up unannounced, but he hadn't had much of a choice. A rural town like this barely enjoyed postal service, let alone the convenience of email or text messaging that Muchen had been accustomed to in his previous life.

Contrary to his fears, both Yize and Chuhua seemed downright eager to see the two of them once more. Yize went so far as to welcome them to his home by taking a deep, submissive bow.

"Benefactors," he said, "I'm relieved to have the chance to express my gratitude."

Muchen stepped forward and took Yize by the shoulder, guiding him to stand up straight. Standing so close, he could feel a certain energy about Yize that hadn't been present before. "No need for thanks between friends."

"Even so, I-" Yize began, before Muchen interrupted.

"If you must thank us, then please let us stay at your house for a while," Muchen said.

"Of course," Yize said. "You can stay here as long as you like."

Muchen smiled, grateful for the easy agreement. Of course, he wouldn't let Yize and Chuhua lose out. He knew that getting them to accept silver would be difficult, but they could hardly stop him from providing his fair shareand perhaps a bit moreof the daily necessities.

Yize escorted the two of them inside. Chuhua had just started preparing dinner, and was happy enough to add two additional plates. The hardest part of the whole process was convincing them to take a sack of rice from Muchen's cart. Muchen prevailed in the end, weathering Chuhua's pout as she carried the ingredients over to the kitchen to cook.

With the immediate business taken care of, Muchen took a moment to look Yize over. It wasn't just his intuition telling him Yize had changed. Before, the teenager had been nothing but lean muscle, wiry to the point of looking unhealthy. Now, while he was still obviously in good shape, his body had filled out. His face was rounder and looked more his age. Chuhua too, now that Muchen thought about it, had put on some healthy weight in the time they'd been apart.

"You're looking well," Muchen said.

"It's thanks to your teachings," Yize said, offering another grateful bow towards Xinyi.

She accepted it as though it were only natural. "Three meridians? I suppose you haven't slacked off too badly."

Muchen raised an eyebrow. To be able to advance so far after a single lesson, Yize could have joined a sect by now. Maybe not one of the hegemon sects, but plenty of respected sects should have been willing to take him in.

Of course, whether they would have been willing to provide for his younger sister was another question. At least it looked like Yize was using his abilities to make both of their lives more comfortable already.

"Hunting has been easier?" Muchen asked. So far his own personal benefits from cultivation had been limited to quicker loading and unloading of his cart. It made sense that it have a larger impact on somebody in a life-threatening occupation. He didn't know how much of a difference three open meridians would make.

"I can roam this mountain as I please," Yize replied. "I've even been able to venture further west a few times."

"What's out there?" Muchen asked. He had come into Li Village the first time from the south and the second time from the north. He knew there were other small towns to the east, growing larger as one approached the capital, but as far as he knew there was only untamed wilderness to the west. Maybe that made for a better hunting ground.

"What do you mean?" Yize asked.

"We didn't come back here just to visit," Muchen said. "I have plans. To start, I'll be buying this mountain."

Although Yize and his sister lived on the mountain, it was technically common property of Li Village. Any villager had the right to harvest the mountain's bounty, even if practically speaking only the two of them ever exercised that right.

"You and Chuhua will of course be welcome to stay," Muchen continued. "I need somewhere spacious to build a production facility. I need it to be close to useful natural resources, and I need it to be convenient to ship my products to big cities. Most importantly, I need people I trust."

Muchen wouldn't have bothered coming to Li Village if the natural conditions didn't set up well for the factory that he had in mind, but that last point was the most important. After all, he wouldn't get much of a benefit out of setting up a factory if he was the only one working in it. Taking another step back, he also didn't want to spend all day supervising an assembly line. His technical knowledge from the modern world offered him a competitive advantage, but no business could truly thrive without capable subordinates.

"When I build up my business, I will take everybody with me to get rich," Muchen said. "What we make here will sell to every corner of the Qianzhan Continent."

He could see that Yize and Chuhua were both skeptical, even if they were too polite to say anything. That was understandable. It was hard to imagine that four people could build a business that would stretch to all corners of the continent, but everything had to start somewhere. Besides, it wasn't like the four of them were just any random people.

"I almost forgot," Muchen said, "Chuhua, you could try cultivating yourself."

Muchen wanted to encourage her for two reasons. First of all, he didn't want brother and sister to drift apart because one of them cultivated and the other didn't. More importantly, to build the greatest business the Qianzhan Continent had ever seen he would need everybody working for him to reach their full potential.

Chuhua mostly focused on working around the house right now, but she approached every task with a diligent, serious attitude. Given time, Muchen was confident that she would excel at more profit-oriented activities.

Chuhua looked startled at the suggestion. "I don't like to fight."

"What does that matter?" Muchen asked. "Cultivation improves health and longevity... really, being able to fight better is a small part of it."

Both Yize and Chuhua looked dubious, while Xinyi's expression was difficult to decipher. Muchen couldn't help but feel a flare of irritation. Sure, the most obvious thing you could do after cultivating was beat people up to assert dominance and take their stuff, but to behave as though that was all there was to it was to take a very cramped view of the potential of superhuman capabilities.

"Are you planning to start a sect?" Yize asked.

"Not at all," Muchen said. "I'm starting a business."

"What's the difference?" Yize asked.

"I want to make money. Helping people cultivate will help me make more money," Muchen said. "Sects want to cultivate. They might try and make money, but only so they can cultivate better."

As the scope of his business grew, of course, he wouldn't be looking solely to earn silver. There were plenty of other valuable resources that he would need to accumulate. And in the end Muchen did want to progress in his cultivation. He needed to do it for his personal safety, not to mention the increased life span. He had his priorities straight, though: where the cultivators he knew of wanted to progress in their cultivation so they could hit harder and fight better, Muchen didn't have any interest in fighting for its own sake.

He knew it would take some time to talk the others around to his point of view. That was fine. Seeing the silver start pouring in would be more persuasive than anything he had to say.