Base of Operations (2)

Mina and Ryu quietly followed Kai out of the room. They had just been simple villagers a few days ago who would rarely even see a copper coin. They found it difficult to be in a room where people were talking about hundreds and even thousands of gold.

"Sister, did you hear that?. That building costs 100,000 gold coins!... ", Ryu whispered to Mina as they walked out.

"I know, even the cheaper one was almost 1000 gold. I feel like we've gone to a whole new world...", Mina looked over at Kai and wondered what other amazing things they would experience while following him. "But can I keep following him as I am?...", Mina looked over to Old Lao and Ryu.

Old Lao was already becoming Kai's financial and strategic advisor, while Ryu was training to become their intelligence specialist. "I also need to find my role so I can be useful to him". Mina clenched her fists as she made up her mind.

The group left the Administrative building and headed to the stables. Mei Lee entered a luxurious-looking carriage drawn by a majestic looking [Cee-Horn] with a well-maintained golden mane.

Kai and his group followed the carriage on with Qiulong, who was half the size of the [Cee-Horn]. The [Cee-Horn] snorted and sped gradually while Qiulong tried her best to keep up. When they arrived, the [Cee-Horn] looked down condescendingly a Qiulong. Qiulong hissed at it and seemed ready for a fight, but Kai got her under control.

"Don't worry my sweet Dragon, your time will come. Just add him to your list of things to eat when you become a deity..." Kai whispered while patting her scales.

Qiulong hissed again as she stared at the [Cee-Horn] like it was a piece of meat. Kai could feel Qiulong's ambition rising through his connection whenever he mentioned her becoming a dragon so he knew she understood him. "Good, keep that fire in you!"

Kai left the now pumped-up Qiulong and headed to Mei Lee who was waiting by the building's entrance.

This is the place. She said while holding a silk handkerchief over her mouth.

Kai looked around and saw that the streets were moderately clean. The buildings looked a little dilapidated but other than that, this was a perfectly good neighborhood.

Kai looked at the building in question which was sandwiched between two other buildings. The exterior was made out of brick as well as a tiled roof.

Kai walked through the door and found a small open space inside. The space was around 60 square meters at most, which wasn't too big or too small for a shop. At the back of the room were stairs leading to the second floor.

Kai checked out the second floor and found three moderately decent rooms with no furniture. "This place is pretty good for a starter base," Kai thought to himself as he explored around".

Kai went back downstairs but noticed a trap door right under the staircase. He opened it and found a decently large storage basement. "This place is pretty big, I could add a few more rooms down here if I had to..."

Kai had decided. He would offer to buy the place but didn't know how to go about it. Would they be able to exchange his Qi-Crystals for gold?.

Kai went to speak to Mei Lee who was still standing outside while Kai's companion's explored the place. Kai noticed Old Lao inspecting the backyard and discreetly called him over. He planned on buying the place and didn't want to be cheated.

Old Lao quickly arrived at Kai's side and they went out to speak to Mei Lee.

"Miss Lee, let's proceed with the paperwork"

Mei Lee was again shocked. Why would they want this terrible place? it didn't make any sense. But she didn't let her thoughts show on her face. She pulled out a contract from her purse.

"This is the contract deed for the property. Please pay the amount in full as well as the first month's upkeep fee".

Kai pulled out a Qi-Crystal again which confused Mei Lee. "As I said before, I have no interest in mortal's currency, but I'm willing to part with one of my crystals..."

Kai said this while testing the waters. Old Lao had said that the Crystals were worth over 500 gold, but that was for the Southern region where cultivation was more widespread, so they probably had a lot more Qi-Crystals in circulation.

A remote place like this likely had a limited amount, so Kai was betting that he could get a lot more than that for one crystal.

Mei Lee looked at the Qi-Crystal as a flash of greed appeared in her eyes. She knew that a mortal owning a Qi-Crystal was extremely difficult and dangerous. Once an Internal Cultivator learned that she had one, there was no way she would be able to keep it. She quickly came up with an idea and shared it with the two men.

"My family is holding an auction in a few days. If you agree to have the Crystal be part of the main attraction, I promise to give you the gold you need to buy this property. You would only need to pay me back with the proceeds you receive from selling the Crystal..."

Kai thought about it and didn't think it was a bad idea. She would loan him the money and he would pay it back after the crystal was auctioned off. Just having a Qi-Crystal in their action would be a big deal for her family and would do a lot to raise their standing.

"Oh?, How much do you think you can get for it?" Kai asked nonchalantly but was secretly curious.

"Qi-Crystals are always in high demand in the cultivation world but there is a limit to their value. I would expect you can comfortably get at least 1000 gold for it, more if a bidding war starts".

Kai looked at Old Lao who nodded his head. 500 gold was the minimum that Old Lao had mentioned. The Crystals would usually sell for way more than that anytime they appeared.

"I see...". Kai was slowly becoming decensored to talking about large amounts of gold coins.

Kai agreed and Mei Lee handed him the contract. All he had to do was add a single drop of blood and the deed would be registered under his name. Kai signed the contract and the business was concluded. Mei Lee didn't take the Qi-Crystal as she had no real way of protecting it.

Despite being from an affluent family, hers was still just a normal rich family. Any random cultivator would be able to snatch the crystal away from her, so it was best left with Kai seeing as he had some way to protect himself and the crystal.

Mei Lee left the street quickly and headed back to her family's residence. She had to let them know about the big news.

Old Lao and Kai walked back into the building as Mina ran down the stairs.

"Master, this place is amazing. Did you just buy it?"

"Of course, this will be our main base of operations in Huang City. I'm even thinking of opening an alchemy shop on the first floor."

"My Lord, you practice alchemy?!". Lao Ren was shocked. Internal Cultivators lived for a very long time, but most of that time was spent cultivating, so very few had the time to master other pursuits like alchemy. The few who did were always highly regarded for their ability to combine Qi with alchemy, making their products beyond valuable.

"Well not yet, but I do plan on picking it up soon". Kai still needed to get the alchemy basics from the Hunter's Lodge. This was his current main goal seeing as he had temporarily paused his breakthroughs.

The last breakthrough had almost killed him, so he wanted to gather as much information as possible before trying to break through to the Seventh Level of Qi-Condensation.