Two weeks later, Cha Ming sat at a small restaurant in a tiny rundown neighborhood in Bastion. He’d taken the afternoon off after three successful innovations on the project and substantial headway in his smithing abilities. His progress was astounding, if judged by a normal craftsman’s standards.
Little did they know that he’d actually spent much more time secluded in his Clear Sky World, frantically working to improve his smithing skills. Fortunately, he was strong with metal despite his weakness with fire, and runes were second nature to him. He was busy, but he still had time to cultivate.
He also found time to watch a young woman who’d just opened a shop across from the restaurant. Mo Ling, an industrious salesperson, had somehow scraped up enough spirit stones and found someone to lend her money. Using these funds, she’d opened up a small weapon shop, similar to what she’d managed for Pai Xiao but of a much lower grade. She’d also convinced two weaker smiths to work for her, despite not knowing anything about smithing.
Maybe I don’t need to check up on her so often, Cha Ming thought, thinking about his next steps in the Blackthorn Conglomerate. Although he wanted to foil Zhou Li’s pet project, he owed it to Wang Jun to have the Wang family fall out with the Spirit Temple. If possible, he wanted to drag Bastion’s Blood Master Monastery and the Ji Kingdom’s royal family into it as well.
But how to do it? Cha Ming thought. He couldn’t just show up and break things in those places. Not only would that give him away, his chances of success would probably be minimal as well. Any incriminating interactions he had with them would have to be using his identity as Pai Xiao and the services he provided for the Wang family. He’d need to build something for these groups, and what he built had to have consequences so serious these organizations would turn on the entire Wang family.
The Ji royal family is easy, Cha Ming thought. The Breaker was a project commissioned by them and not directly through Zhou Li as he’d initially suspected. A major failure with the weapon would draw the ire of the Ji Kingdom. The difficult ones to act on would be the Blood Master Monastery and the Spirit Temple.
The Blood Master Monastery regularly deals with the Blackthorn Conglomerate, so there’s an opening, Cha Ming thought. As for the Spirit Temple, it seems they only provide contractual assistance to the Blackthorn Conglomerate in the South. Their soul trade is overt and much less lucrative than in the North. It was also much less efficient. In the South, countless more deaths were required to produce the same amount of high-quality souls.
Cha Ming sighed. He had much to do and little idea of where to start. He wished he had clearer and more definite goals like Mo Ling did. The young woman, despite being young and pregnant, seemed to know exactly what to do. Two weeks after selling spirit weapons from a blanket, she was already the owner of a store and an employer of two. Her needs drove her to accomplish what most men would think was a foolish fantasy as they toiled away for lords who didn’t care for their hopes and dreams.
On his end, Cha Ming had two enmities to instigate, a trap to plan, and a whole lot of guilt to resolve. He wanted to incriminate the Wang family and the Blackthorn Conglomerate, but what of its members? Wouldn’t they be implicated in the fallout? And what of his newfound research companions He Yin, Shao Qiang, and Pan Su? What about Boss Tian?
He had many decisions to make, and none of them were easy.
Chapter 18: Opportunity
“Good morning, Grandmaster Pai Xiao,” an attendant said with a bow as he entered the Blackthorn Conglomerate’s administration office. “How can I help you today?”
It was a fine morning, and the building’s peculiar construction allowed light to trickle through the lobby’s ceiling windows. The lady at the desk, a wide-eyed foundation-establishment cultivator, practically trembled in excitement as she spoke.
“I’m just here to collect my wages,” Cha Ming said, ignoring her fidgety expression. It was common for cultivators, be they male or female, to revere more powerful ones. Some people just weren’t very good at hiding it.
The young woman scrambled to a back room and returned with a storage disk. Cha Ming looked inside, confirmed the number of spirit stones was accurate, then transferred all of them to his storage ring in one smooth motion.
“Thank you,” Cha Ming said.
“Don’t mention it,” the attendant said. “Can I help you with anything else?”
“Yes, I was wondering if Boss Tian was in today,” Cha Ming answered. As the head of the research and development group, Grandmaster Tian Zhi wasn’t always in the workshops. He often had to take care of administrative tasks and meetings. If possible, he liked to lump them all in the span of a few days.
“Yes, he’s in today,” the attendant said. “He has a fifteen-minute opening in five minutes. Would you like me to book it?”
“Sure,” Cha Ming said. “Seventh floor, right?”
“Seventh floor,” the woman confirmed.
Cha Ming proceeded up the stairs. The administration building didn’t have a lift like the research and development building did. Not only was such a contraption extremely costly, but there simply wasn’t a need to shuttle large quantities of heavy materials in a simple office. Here, people only did paperwork and had meetings. Or, heaven forbid, interviews. He shuddered at the thought of Southern interviews. The process was likely thorough and rigid beyond belief.
Though the building didn’t house many expensive materials, it did house many important people. As such, it was the tallest building in the complex. Cha Ming took in Bastion’s city layout as he climbed the steps. Each building sat neatly in its precisely measured position. Citizens lined up for whatever services they required, with higher-ranking members cutting to shorter lines if allowed by
