Chapter 91 - 88: What is a Steward?

With Spirit Stones, Zhang Deming could finally start rapidly increasing his Cultivation.

He was currently about 40,000 Experience Points short. One Spirit Stone provided ten Experience Points.

At his current Cultivation level, combined with his Cultivation Technique’s extraction speed, it would take half an hour per stone.

’If I tentatively plan to cultivate for ten hours a day, does that mean I’ll need twenty Spirit Stones daily?’

’Ugh... that’s a bit difficult. With ten hours of Cultivation, I can make at most two Spirit Nurturing Balls a day, which only earns me about ten Spirit Stones.’

And that was if he worked non-stop at high intensity.

After a moment of thought, Zhang Deming decided to cultivate for five hours a day, a consumption of ten Spirit Stones.

This would make things much easier. Once his funds started flowing, the pressure wouldn’t be too great. He just wouldn’t be able to save up many Spirit Stones.

Ten Spirit Stones a day meant one hundred Experience Points. 40,000 points would take four hundred days—about a year.

Zhang Deming could accept this timeframe.

’Well, since I can accumulate enough Experience Points in a year, I need to start preparing for my promotion to the Tai Chi Stage.’

After all, it wasn’t an easy feat. The main issue was acquiring the primary materials for condensing the Tai Chi Rune.

If it were easy, Feng Mingyou wouldn’t have spent a full twenty years preparing for it and still not have gathered all the resources.

Materials. Another huge expense.

’What a headache. Why does everything cost money?’

Thanks to his Spirit Nurturing Technique, once his cash flow was stable, his daily income would rival that of some wealthy Masters of Tai Chi or even some poor Duality Ancestors. So why did he still feel so poor?

’Am I sick or something?’

Besides, the resources for promotion weren’t something that could be solved with just a bit of money.

’Forget it, I’ll worry about it when the time comes. The Tai Chi Stage requires Rune Core Creation, which completely solidifies one’s major path of Cultivation. For now, I should think about which path to take.’

By the way, many people might wonder, why not just buy potions to level up?

Zhang Deming wasn’t stupid; he had tried it long ago. It wasn’t worth it; it was a losing deal.

That’s right. For Zhang Deming, using potions to advance was a money-losing proposition.

A potion worth three Spirit Stones only provided eighteen Experience Points—a net loss of twelve points.

And even for potions like these, demand far outstripped supply. If he wanted to buy in bulk, he’d have to settle for even lower quality ones.

It wasn’t just a loss of Experience Points; it also increased his resistance to potions. All in all, it was a massive loss.

After his initial attempts, Zhang Deming knew that leveling up by chugging potions was not for him. In this life, he was destined to level up by spending money.

The reason for this was his cultivation script, which allowed his utilization rate of the Spiritual Qi from Spirit Stones to reach its maximum.

When others cultivated with a Spirit Stone, they might only gain a single point of actual cultivation progress. He gained ten.

As a result, the potion-chugging method, which was cost-effective for the average person, was utter garbage for Zhang Deming. It couldn’t compare to the pay-to-win method at all.

Lost in a jumble of thoughts, he didn’t pay much attention and found himself back at the Sect before he knew it.

But when Zhang Deming arrived at the entrance to Qingyou Pool, he stopped, slightly taken aback.

At the entrance to the mountain stream, several senior brothers were directing some stone Giants and Earth Puppets, looking busy as they seemed to be laying a foundation.

To the side, some senior brothers who were at the Entry Level for the Object Control Technique had various logs flying through the air, assembling them into pillars, Roof Beams, and the like.

’Is this the construction team from the miscellaneous affairs department?’

’But what are they building here at the entrance?’

Zhang Deming watched as the senior brothers—practitioners of either the Summoning-style or Object Control-style—worked with practiced ease, a flicker of confusion in his mind.

Just as Zhang Deming was feeling puzzled, someone walked out from within the Qingyou Pool Array.

Zhang Deming was a bit surprised to see who it was. He walked up and asked in confusion, "Zong En, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, right. Have you gotten your assignment yet?"

"Or are you planning to just slack off for a while longer?"

Zong En was also very happy to see Zhang Deming. He stepped forward and said, "Brother Ming, I got it. I’m here to report for duty, aren’t I?"

’Report for duty?’

Zhang Deming asked, surprised, "You were assigned to Little Hui Peak too?"

Zong En nodded. "Yeah, lucky me. I get to stick with you."

"You mean you were also assigned to Qingyou Pool?" Zhang Deming asked.

Just then, another person walked out from beside Zong En. Luh Jingsun spoke faintly, "Yes, he has also been assigned to Qingyou Pool. Are you satisfied?"

Zhang Deming smiled. "Steward Luh, you came without giving me a heads-up."

"What, do I need to report my movements to you now?" the stone-faced Luh Jingsun said flatly.

Hearing this, Zhang Deming frowned slightly. He had gathered a good deal of information on Luh Jingsun. The man’s persona was supposed to be the stoic, icy type, with a deadpan face.

’He rarely shows emotion, right?’

’So why was I detecting a hint of dissatisfaction now?’

This was not a good sign. The man was the stoic type, not someone who got angry easily. For him to show dissatisfaction was a big problem.

Moreover, he had looked after him so much before, and now he was his direct supervisor.

Zhang Deming smiled and said, "Senior Brother Luh, you jest. I was just afraid of being a negligent host."

Luh Jingsun shot Zhang Deming a bland look, not seeming to care about the change in address.

Seeing this, Zhang Deming turned his head to look at the rapidly assembling building nearby and changed the subject. "Senior Brother Luh, what’s this?"

Luh Jingsun replied, "The previous Outer Disciple residence... hmm... it fell into disrepair and collapsed. Now that we have a newcomer, of course we need to rebuild it."

"It used to be built inside Qingyou Pool, which affected the environment somewhat, so now we’re just building it out here."

Hearing this, Zhang Deming said, "Oh, I see. In that case, I’ll go back and pack my things in a bit."

Luh Jingsun turned to look at Zhang Deming. "Why would you pack your things?"

Zhang Deming asked, confused, "To move out here, of course. Isn’t this being built for Outer Disciples to live in?"

With his face a mask, Luh Jingsun looked at Zhang Deming and said, "Out here... out here, there’s not enough lumber. We can’t build that many houses."

Zong En suddenly cut in, "Steward Luh, didn’t you just say we should build five whole sets, so we don’t have to go through this trouble again next time?"

His tone was filled with confusion and profound bewilderment. The air suddenly fell silent.

Zhang Deming: "..."

’Has this guy spent too much time on Little Qing Mountain? Did his brain turn to mush? A line like ’not enough lumber’ was clearly just a flimsy excuse!’

Luh Jingsun, his face a complete blank, turned his head expressionlessly toward the senior brothers from the construction team. "Oh, is that so? Did I say that?"

The senior brothers all shook their heads in unison. One of them spoke up, "Huh? What?"

"Didn’t I say before that because my Spiritual Power is limited, the summoned puppets can only lay the foundation for one house? And Steward Luh, didn’t you say that was acceptable?"

Another one nodded. "It seems I only have enough lumber for one house, too."

Yet another chimed in, "Yeah, building one is already pushing our limits. Any more and it might take us years."

Luh Jingsun turned his head blandly to look at Zong En, his eyes tinged with a hint of puzzlement. "When did you get such a mistaken impression?"