Calculating Cultivation

“You requested my help?” Elder Xu Xiaoli gave me a look as she spoke.

“Yes, elder. I have acquired a green ocean lily and want to sell it,” I replied. Her eyes lit up at that.

“You did well to come to me. The fact you were able to return so quickly and unharmed, perhaps the heavens truly have blessed you,” she said. I smiled slightly. While many people would have tried to control their reaction, that would have been a mistake here. I just had to not think of Aoyin. That was that this was business. I had to separate the two situations at the moment.

“Thank you elder Xiaoli. I would be willing to sign over at least twenty percent commission for your support, and the vast majority of the value will be going into our joint business,” I added and she nodded at that.

“The reports that have been sent have been an amusing diversion. But the start up costs are quite a bit. A green ocean lily will certainly put things into overdrive for your business plans. “The sample box?” she asked me and I removed it from my spatial ring.

She looked it over and then put a hand on the box. “Under high pressure. Very high pressure. But that is good, so the flower doesn’t degrade. At least you know your handling procedures, so the value hasn’t degraded in the slightest. Thirty percent of the profit, will be my percentage. I didn’t forget you mentioned profit not revenue in our last discussion. I will handle the sale directly,” she said.

“Thank you elder,” I replied.

“While an auction is always a possibility, that normally happens with subpar items. A direct sale would be best. We can get a total of at least 50,000 rank 3 spirit coins,” she said the last bit with a nod. This is why I came to her and didn’t try to go another route.

First it would have been an insult to her as my supporter. By bringing the green ocean lily to sale through her, I was strengthening our partnership. If I tried to go through someone else, I would be touching on the politics of the Imperial Sect which I wanted to stay out of.

The second big reason was to get the best price. For incredibly rare items like this, elders wouldn’t quibble over a 10 to 20 thousand difference in the price. Sure, there was a market price, but I didn’t have a green ocean lily that had washed up on shore. This was one retrieved from the soil, completely intact, and under high pressure to preserve it perfectly.

Finding the right buyer would be impossible for me. Instead of drawing negative attention to me with an auction it would be better to do a direct sale. The Imperial Sect would do something similar. Their published rate was forty percent. It hurt to give up thirty percent, instead of twenty percent, but the increase was also a rebuke.

“That sounds perfect Elder Xiaoli. If I could have a document of some sort verifying all of this,” I said and she nodded. I relaxed at that. It was entirely possible she could have scammed me out of the green ocean lily. But with a document in hand, it would be too much of a loss of face for her to steal from me so blatantly.

“We will use a standard one of the Imperial Sect,” she said and pulled out three sheets of paper. Some fields were quickly filled in, saying the name of the item I was handing over, the percentage the elder would take, and a clause that another ten percent would be taken for an immortals of the Imperial Sect to give their backing to the transaction.

It would be nice to sit around and just earning money from deals and people using my name. But that guarantee also promised protection for 10 years and confidentiality with the transaction. If people could just rob anyone doing business with the Imperial Sect, it would be a slap across their face. The time period of 10 years was considered a small period of time, but long enough for someone weak like me to get more backing, or for someone to run and hide.

I would keep one document, elder Xu Xiaoli would keep another, and then the Imperial Sect would keep the third copy. As an elder of the sect, she had authority to sign on their behalf. As much as I liked to think this was a special situation, there were only two sects cultivators could sell these high level ingredients through, the Imperial Sect, and the Blazing Sun Sect.

Five days later, the payment was finalized through the Imperial Sect, and I was sitting with Zheng Ting reviewing the planned rollout strategy and the challenges she had faced with her test city.

“The biggest hurdle is communication and leaving people to their own devices. I have ten city level directors ready to roll out and handle mining tasks, but getting more people is a challenge,” Zheng Ting said, and I nodded at this.

“You did my test idea?” I asked and she nodded at that. Communication was always going to be an issue. We just thought of many different scenarios and made a guidebook for her people to memorize and follow. Then they would be tested.

“Yes. But Imperial City is not a good place for recruitment. People here are too stubborn. Also, some were hesitating about the lack of investment,” she said.

“Well use your best judgement? But we are ready to roll out? No issues with permits or anything else?” I asked.

“Minor issues, but things I have worked out the last couple of years. The biggest challenge will be as things get further away from Imperial City. There will be a lot more independence. A rotating senior director to help get things set up and stabilized, before moving into traveling about picking up ore as part of their travel itinerary,” Zheng Ting explained.

“You have things well in hand,” I said, while relaxing slightly.

“It hasn’t been easy, but your return stabilizes things. So, 30,000 rank 3 spirit coins?” she asked me. I chuckled at that. That had been the planned goal, and my eyes had gotten bigger at the higher numbers. But in the end, I got the amount I had heard here in the city. But that was incorrect, since the amount Zheng Ting had given me, was the sale amount from the auction house. The final payout to the person in question had probably been around 12,000 rank 3 spirit coins. You don’t advertise a smaller number. You hype that number up to appear larger.

“Yes. After the fees and payment to elder Xu Xiaoli, that is how much is left. I saw your prosed budget. A third for expanding. A third for building an ore compressor formation. A sixth for operating the array and general operating expenses,” I said while tapping on the sheet of paper in question.

“Each new city is going to cost 80 rank 3 spirit coins. It is more expensive, but there might be competition. We will need to outbid,” she replied.

“Wait, competition? Why haven’t you said this before?” I asked.

“Since there are only rumors. But we don’t have a monopoly. If someone from the Imperial Sect moves in on our business model, we need cash on hand to get cities. Hence the bigger budget,” she replied.

“That is 125 cities. No where near enough,” I replied.

“The main value is in the compressor array we will purchase from the Imperial Sect. With that, I can buy up spirit ore, and ship it at cost to turn a profit,” she replied.

“That will work?” I asked.

“There is one other operation that does something similar. But caravans go to them, to sell ore at set rates. I won’t be directly competing with them in Imperial City, but rather out in all the other cities.”

“Their backers?” I asked the most important question.

“The Han family. They are the biggest family in Imperial City. One of the immortals holds that family name,” she said. Thank you, Zheng Ting, for telling me the obvious. I closed my eyes as I processed this.

“This didn’t come up before?” I asked.

“They are using a branch family with a different last name. The Han family is insulated from casual knowledge. This only came out in the last few days with your return and Zhou Holding Company Limited, moving into full gear,” she replied.

“Set up a meeting. We might be able to come to an agreement,” I replied. I had Zheng Ting break out the details on the compression array, since that was the big bottleneck.

The fact was, it wouldn’t be active all the time. I could easily guess that from all the reading I had done. Running an array like that full time would be too costly. The issue was that there just wasn’t enough ore to run the array on a regular basis, it was underutilized. They had too much capacity, but not enough supply.

It wasn’t even their fault. A longer time period of compression, might have saved a little bit in terms of spirit stones needed to operate it, but the amount would be negligible for the size of the array. If we were compressing rank 4 spirit steel, then a long term array would be more reasonable to help defer the cost. But for rank 6 and higher spirit steel, there was no reason to drag things out for an extra percentage point in efficiency.

Building a second array, would create way too much capacity, and step on too many toes. There were cost savings to be had by renting out their array if an arrangement could be made. The cost to have my own made, was 10,000 rank 3 spirit coins. Still, they had a monopoly right now and might get more incensed with me meeting them.

It took another three days for a meeting to be arranged. I didn’t know who I was meeting, just they would be my proxy in the Han family. I was also invited to the top restaurant in the city in one of their towers.

I had to spend 10 rank 3 spirit stones just to get a new martial robe in my sect colors just for this event. Sure, it was something I would keep going forward, with all the useful anti-wear features. But this was the first step into the deep waters of the Imperial Sect. I didn’t really count elder Xu Xiaoli.

The elevator ride up was long. With my invitation, I didn’t need to pay an elevator fee, since that was covered by the invitation. Stepping off the elevator, I instantly put the Soaring Tower Restaurant as a place that would easily put any high-class restaurant on Earth to shame.

“Greetings Master Yuan Zhou,” a mortal host greeted me with a deep bow. “Your guest is waiting for you in one of our private rooms.” I had discreetly inquired at the cost of eating at this place. Prices started at 10 rank 3 spirit coins. This was one of the foremost cultivator restaurants in the city. Each meal was custom made by a cultivator who was also a chef.

I followed the host to a private dining room. I noted that there were about 20 or so people in the restaurant eating. All of them cultivators. Whomever was running this place was making a killing.

I entered the private room and for the second time in my second life, I was completely shocked. “You are dismissed,” the young girl said to the host. They quickly left, as I took my seat across from her. She appeared to be even younger than me.

“Granddaddy said I had competition,” she said with an imperious tone while looking at me, up and down. “I don’t see anything that special. You might be a bit younger, but a genius peasant has no chance against a genius who has connections.”

The battle had already begun. If I hadn’t run into Aoyin, then I would have been thrown off a lot more by this meeting. Now, I was nowhere near as shocked. I also noted the table and chairs were sized for me and her. I couldn’t tell if they would give larger chairs to other cultivators, but I would guess not, to put people off kilter. It was time to fire back so I wasn’t trampled over. “It is easy to succeed when you get everything handed to you.”

“Indeed,” she said without a hint of shame. I still hadn’t gotten her name. I had probably not earned it. I wasn’t going to show weakness by asking. “The green ocean lily, will be quite perfect for making a Pill of Peace.”

“Mind cultivation?” I asked.

“Yes. Triple cultivation, and the drops you need for the fourth stage? Hah! I will laugh as you fall behind and die,” she said. This girl was more evil than Aoyin. At least he was up front about it. She was just bratty, which for some reason irked me much more.

“So, your grandfather is an immortal?” I asked to confirm that this girl was a princess in every sense of the word. And she wasn’t really a girl, despite how she looked. She was a granny disguised as a young girl. Well maybe not granny, if she was around my stage of cultivation, but not a child.

“Of course. I am Han Xingjuan the 69th Descendent of Immortal Han Jiayi of the Imperial Sect.” I had to bite back laughter at that number. Apparently, I wasn’t that successful. “Is my name amusing to you?” she asked. I couldn’t even say it was the number either, since there was a different cultivation writing system. I couldn’t say that the Arabic numerals from Earth were what was amusing me.

“No, just smiling since I have the chance to meet with someone like yourself. Thank you for honoring this Yuan Zhou,” I inclined my head.

“Hmmpf! Of course you should be grateful. A peasant from nowhere, being allowed to look upon me and share a meal. Business first,” she said.

“Yes Han Xingjuan,” I replied allowing her to go first and set the tempo of the meeting. I was completely outclassed in this instance.

“You wanted to split the use of our family’s compression array, designed by the Immortal himself. You would be willing to pay a small fee for use including operational cost. Half,” she said.

“I am afraid you have to be more specific,” I replied.

“Half, since we have the array. We get half,” she replied.

“That is a bit excessive, since your array isn’t in use all the time. You would be getting spirit stones for free with this deal. I think operational cost plus 2,000 rank 3 spirit coins per compression,” I countered. Han Xingjuan whipped up a butter knife from the table and pointed it at me.

“And if I get nasty?” she asked. Her features that had been pleasant to look at took a much more sinister turn at that statement. The needles holding up her black hair, exposing her face, seemed much colder now. She had gone from young beauty, to ice beauty in a moment. Any possible attraction that might have been there quickly went away and died a quick death.

“And what would that say about you, getting nasty with a peasant?” I challenged her, while trying to think of a way in this situation. What was it and young cultivators screwing me over?

“That I know a scam when I see it. I can block the construction of a competing array. Since it would harm grandfather’s personal interests. Zheng Ting, your mortal helper, I can get five just like her,” she said with a snap of her fingers.

That was when five servers entered the room and began pouring drinks and laying food out on the table. Her gaze never left mine. That was a power move if I ever saw one. “No,” I replied, easily enough as I picked up a glass of some sparkling liquid, that actually sparkled a bit. The water was sparkling and all the food and water had traces of energy in it.

I sipped the water, and it was more than water. It was what water wanted to be. Purer than the best bottled spring water. It was more invigorating than coffee.

“No?” she said quietly, like a beast about to strike. It was like a little house cat snarling at me when I had already been in the jaws of a tiger. It was just amusing. The fact she was here and not someone more experienced said this was a test.

If my reading on her personality was right, she had probably pushed through any obstacles with sheer force of will. There was no real pushback if she had an Immortal’s favor, but I would take the risk he wouldn’t interfere directly. I could be wrong, and she could be his beloved descendent, but being the 69th person removed from me, that was a very long period of time.

The Han branch family had probably pulled her out here to counter me and my backing from elder Xu Xiaoli. It was a test of her ability to handle real world circumstances. She needed this deal much more than I did to prove her competence. A cultivator that couldn’t make deals and speak with other cultivators was useless. Her technique might have worked with friends and family, but not with me.

“I don’t need a deal with you. You need a deal with me. The array is under utilized and while you could copy my business model, it would be an expensive investment. Promises were most likely made and expectations are in place if you got that green ocean lily,” I replied and she was silent at that.

There were no communal dishes, so I cut right away into my meat. Whatever the chef had done and gotten the taste remarkably pleasant.

“Spit it out,” she said. I looked at Han Xingjuan as she gestured threateningly with her butter knife. “If you won’t even talk sense and insult me, then you can leave with an empty stomach.” I blinked as I tried to process this. What kind of business meeting devolves into the host telling you to spit out your food?

If she wanted to play this game, then fine. I opened my mouth and spat the delicious food back on the plate. Before she could say anything, I jabbed my fingers into the back of my mouth and puked up the water onto the table. I took a napkin and wiped off my mouth before sitting back down. She was staring at me with an open mouth, probably in shock I had followed through.

Who would spit out food in front off her? That would be rude. So, they would ignore her, swallow, and then she would probably go into a tirade on how the person couldn’t do anything right and that was why she was right. No one would punish her, and she probably had a high social IQ.

Like the most toxic of internet personalities. But her sponsor, the immortal, or her parents, put up with it all, since she picked her targets well. Unfortunately, she had miscalculated this time. “My apologies for spitting up on my plate and throwing up on the table, but I wanted to make sure to comply with your demand princess.”

I also didn’t dare spit on her. That would be going too far. But no way could she object when I spit and then threw up back onto my plate. Who was I kidding? Of course she would complain, that was her personality. I could already feel a headache descending on me.

“A pig. Throwing up as well,” she finally said and shook her head. “You should be grateful you even got to taste some of this cooking. How had the conversation gone so off the rails? I sat there in silence as she began to rant and talk about all my defects.

How my cultivation plan was sub-par. How I had no true backing. How I was a complete idiot. How I was born to pigs in the forest and raised by beasts. I sat there calmly taking all of the verbal abuse. It was amusing and I was curious to see where she was going with all of this.

She had even eaten her meal while gesturing at me and ranting. I had my line in the sand. I would obey all minor requests, but I wasn’t going to agree to anything major, and about any business deals I wasn’t backing down.

She snapped her fingers again and servers cleared out the plates. I got several dirty looks, but no one said anything. I decided to take a gamble. “Please tell the chef what little I could taste before being told to spit it out was delicious and most appreciated,” I said. Everyone paused at this. I then pulled out five rank 3 spirit coins. “For the wait staff as an apology for the hassle.”

“Thank you Master Cultivator,” one of the servers said and took the money, before rushing off. “Sorry to interrupt you. You were saying something about how my parents must have been part pig?” There was silence at this, and I noticed the servers were listening much closer to the exchange. Han Xingjuan was looking much more nervous now.

“Go, speak of this to no one,” she said. They all nodded and finished clearing the table before leaving. That ensured they would speak, at least to their boss.

“That you think the food is so nasty I needed to spit it out?” I asked with a smile.

“No! That isn’t what I said. Stop twisting my words. Ahhh!” She let out a scream and threw the butter knife at me. I saw it coming thankfully, and moved my head to the side and it sank into the side of one of the mortal servers who was leaving. They let out a scream and collapsed. Han Xingjuan looked surprised at what had happened. You throw things at home much?

The server was quickly carried out of the room and there was silence and the faint smell of blood in the air. “Going to attack me too?” I asked. At least it was only a light wound on the server. But actual violence here at the heart of the Imperial Sect, should have been cracked down on. Her connections would save her, but I needed to step lightly with such craziness.

“No. He should have dodged, and you shouldn’t have,” she told me.

“Well, I think we are done. I draw the line at getting attacked. Even if the array was free to use, I wouldn’t want to do business with you,” I said and stood up.

“No!” she yelled out and then mumbled something.

“I missed that last part,” I replied.

“I am sorry. But this needs to go well,” she countered. I was at a crossroads. I could walk out of here and get the crazy out of my life. But that choice would cost me thousands of rank 3 spirit coins and create a deep grudge from this cultivator towards me.

Even if I was insulted, bullied, or hassled, she still had the martial robe of the Imperial Sect on her and was clearly favored to be such a young cultivator, with the knowledge she had. She was crazy, and I was crazy for even considering this. I sat back down.

“Half is impossible. If the costs are too high, it is cheaper to build my own array,” I countered.

“Ah, but ours is a rank 8 array. We don’t advertise it, and it is rare we make something so high grade, but it is possible,” she said.

“I need to be able to sell the spirit metal and profit. I am investing and doing the work. I am more than happy to invest in an array of my own. The offer of 2,000 rank 3 spirit coins plus operational costs was more than reasonable,” I countered, and she grew pensive at this.

I was also incredibly annoyed at being bullied and attacked while trying to work this out. “Thirty percent and you cover operational costs. We can help you sell the metal,” she countered.

“I plan to handle the selling portion through elder Xu Xiaoli.” I brought up my backer to give her pause. “I can agree to ten percent of profit made and operational expenses, since elder Xu Xiaoli owns twenty five percent.”

She opened her mouth and then closed it. I had thought about this, but I was willing to go this far. It was better to get her side invested into this venture then start a pointless and cost feud. They had the compression array to make high rank spirit steel from low rank spirit iron. I had a business model to get all the ore.

I also brought up elder Xu Xiaoli, since I couldn’t give her family more than what I was giving the elder. It just wasn’t possible. If the Han family had sent in someone with more cultivation to this meeting, then I would have had to give up more of my share of the profits. But ten percent for literally doing nothing but share their infrastructure that wasn’t in use was more than enough.

“Fifteen percent,” she countered with much more business savvy than I thought she would have. The fact she didn’t ask for twenty percent showed she understood the position she was in.

“And your side assists with the compression of the spirit iron and using the array, but we aren’t charged for that assistance,” I countered.

“Deal,” she easily replied.

“You can speak for the Han family?” I asked.

“Puh-lease, I am Han Xingjuan, the 69th descendant of Immortal Han Jiayi.” My guess was that it was a status thing, how close they were related to the immortal in their family. And while the number 69 was amusing it was quite far away from the number one and being the main descendant of the Immortal. Like someone saying they were 69th in line for the British throne. While an amusing thing at a bar, and the person was probably well off, it wasn’t like they got to have tea at Buckingham Palace.

Still, if she really did buy the green ocean lily, combined with her youthful appearance, meant she was cultivation focused and had backing I couldn’t ignore as much as I wanted to. Even if she had a more toxic personality than an actual demonic cultivator.

“Well goodbye peasant. Hopefully we never see each other again. I will have someone send over a contract on what we agreed to,” she replied.

“Perhaps. But I won’t accept any additions or tricks you plan to sneak in. I will be asking elder Xu Xiaoli to read through it,” I countered any shenanigans before they could happen.

“I just need to wait for you to die. Your cultivation is a mess, and you should be ashamed of yourself,” she said as she got up. It might be a mess, even more so with Aoyin’s actions, but she was telling people to spit food out at a business meeting and stabbing people.

She didn’t give me a moment to reply as she walked out of the private dining room. I just sat there for a moment and a server came back in. “From the chef personally. He hopes you enjoy it,” the man said as he set down a single serving black cake in front of me.

“The server, will they be okay?” I asked.

“They will be,” he said.

“My apologies. That shouldn’t have happened. While I cannot take responsibility for Han Xingjuan’s actions, please give this to the server.” I pulled out another rank 3 spirit coin. “For any treatment he might need.”

“I…thank you,” the sever said and hesitantly took the coin before rushing away. Since the chef in charge of this place was going to be nice to me, I was going to show some care back to his staff. People would talk and get a reputation. I would have to make a point of following up with an information broker about Han Xingjuan.

I had no doubt I would be seeing her again and our paths would cross. What a truly obnoxious individual. As I ate the incredibly delicious cake, whose taste I couldn’t place, it reminded me of chocolate and home.

The chef doing the cooking was amazing. I should have become a cultivating chef, not a business person as my side job to cultivating.

My mind drifted back to Han Xingjuan and her about face at the end. Was it all a ploy? It could very well be. Well as long as the deal wasn’t bad, I could handle fifteen percent of the profit. That still left me sixty percent, once everything was finalized.