Chapter 2- Time to Make some moolah
-The southern border of the Howling Forest
A group of 10 people were travelling to the Zhou Prefecture from the Tang Prefecture. Inside a carriage, sat a delicate young girl of 13 Yin Yue, she was the daughter of the old general Tang Zhuge. As she drinks with elegance from a tea cup she murmured about the supposed husband she was going to meet, "Boo hoo, father is making me marry a fat lazy good for nothing son of the Zhou prefecture, hmmph guess I'll just have to resign to my fate?" She cried internally as she has a mini mental breakdown again. She was actually adopted by General Tang at the age of five when he found her on a casket floating down the Huang river on the border of the Tang Prefecture. He found out that she had a powerful constitution given by the heavens.
The morning sun, the vibrant grass with the dense patches of trees, and the rustling and clanks of soldiers walking in heavy armor created a tranquil vibe for anyone that looked at them. That is until it was disrupted by a sudden intruder who ran out of the forest looking wild and unkempt. Five guards near the front of the carriage immediately rushed in front of Lucius (Liang Chen).
"Who goes there! State your name and background!" shouted the guard who adorned a different armor than the rest as he stood with importance. His hands was next to his Iron longsword hilt that was glowing slightly, vigilant for any suspicious moves from the stranger who came out of nowhere.
"Fear not! I'm just a… ah yes a student of the Mount Hua Sect of the Zhou Prefecture disciple ah… disciple Liang Chen!" Lucius replied calmly while slowly stopping his tracks just several chi (3)* away from the guard with his hands out. He had to quickly search through his memories of the previous Liang Chen. He decided to just use Liang Chen as it is a good name and no one in this world would understand what 'lucius' is.
"Alright then, we will not cause you any trouble if you stay clear away from us!" spoke the captain as he moved his hand away from his sword. He then signalled his men to continue onward their journey. Meanwhile on a horse behind Yin Yue's carriage sat an imposing youngster, a young cultivator of the Tang Prefecture, Li wei, he was entrusted by his sect master to protect the daughter of General Tang. He was bored for days as he only fought weak bandits and monsters so he was itching for a fight. Unable to see through the cultivation level of the newcomer he decided to request a duel, "You there, don't hurry to leave just yet! How about we have a duel I see that you have a high cultivation level, perhaps you can give me some pointers!" The name Liang Chen also sounded somewhat familiar to him as Yu Yan and Tian Ming had mentioned someone like that. They asked him for the poison to drug someone and in return he received 30 refined spirit stones.
Say what now? I just cleared any misunderstandings and now that poor-ass man 'requests' for a fight. Who do you think you are?? Only a couple hours earlier Liang Chen had consumed the reddish orb into his dantain and reached Peak Mortal Realm-2. With his newfound power he quickly dealt with many low-levelled Mortal Realm monsters while cowardly running away from those above Mortal Realm-4. Thus, he consumed a few other orbs as not every monster had formed one in their dantian. As of right now he has reached Mid Mortal Realm-3. The foolish youngster in front of him was only Low Mortal Realm-3 as indicated by the system. And from the system map, there wasn't any hidden powerful figures within several hundred li. "Alright, I accept your challenge, but in return you must compensate me with refined spirit stones."
Li Wei jumped off his horse, slowly walked towards the so-called Liang Chen, while narrowing his eyes. He was having a hard time remembering who was it Yu Yan mentioned, "How much?". Li Wei had heaps of spirit stones in his spatial ring but he did not have much refined ones, "And if I win how will you compensate me?"
"I only ask for 25 spirit stones if I win, If you lose then I will give you this jian," replied Liang Chen as he majestically drew out his inscripted copper sword, "Although it is a mere copper jian, it is inscripted with a low-level 5 elemental inscription." He did not mind giving away his sucky starter pack sword as he knew that there are better ones in the system store.
"Alright I accept the terms. Lets start!" Shouted Li Wei as he draws out his thick whip from his spatial ring. It was made from the Peak Mortal-Realm-5 snake serpent's scales and entrails. So Li Wei considered it to be nigh impossible for any random person to resist its attack. In his head he thought that it was unbelievable that some random person actually had an inscription and on a cheap copper sword too! Are inscriptions as common as trees? Of course not, thus Li Wei believed that he had truly found a true opponent.
Jiang Chen unleashed his brand new technique he bought from the system [Unrelenting Stabs] it was a Peak martial art that focused on uniform attacks to an opponent leaving no room to dodge. In return Li Wei focused on the blade that was reaching him, he lashed out his own technique and cry. He underestimated the opponents technique as he was only able to master peak martial arts for a Peak Mortal Realm-3. In front of a Peak Mortal Realm-4 master, he stood no chance.
-AHHH!!
The painful cry of Li Wei emphasized the injuries caused by Liang Chen technique. Suddenly he remembered the name and face, it WAS Liang Chen! How did he survive, wasn't he a wasteral? Why is he so powerful?! Li Wei was full of questions and fear. He quickly used his long-distance talisman to inform Yu Yan and Tian Ming. He hastily drank a thousand year sage root brew from his spatial ring. He threw the 25, no 30 refined spirit stones in hopes of luck that Liang Chen would really stay far away as possible. Meanwhile Yin Yue was fast asleep for the entire fight, waking up several hours later asking questions about the stranger.
Liang Chen was secretly shocked as he watched his power unleashed on Li Wei, he didn't realize that it would be that powerful. He watched Li Wei pathetically drink a concoction while giving him five extra refined spirit stones and quickly scrambling away not even saying the formalities. He watched Li Wei's group run away as he just shrugged it off. At least he got more than what he wanted. He had also earned some gold by selling cores to the system and got an auxiliary technique for movement.
He sped around the group and made a straight beeline to the Borders of Zhang city south of the Zhou Prefecture. Travelling a thousand li in just a mere two hours he had reached the gates of the city. Not bothering to look into details of the city, he wanted to find out more about the city.
*Ding!*
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ZHANG CITY
[Population]: 157,677
[Location]: Zhou Prefecture of the Tian Empire
[Owner]: City Lord Zhang Tai
[Power]: Ranked 3rd/10 cities in Zhou Prefecture
[Capital]: Tianming Square, Tianming Tower
After he paid the entrance money, he quickly went to buy a plot of land so he can finally begin building his own Empire! He found a building that allocated land for nobles, sects, businesses and the common people. He decided not to return to Mount Hua Sect as a disciple because he was soon to be ruler, and he's got the system to teach him. With no hesitation he crushed his name-plate, however he did not know that the sect would soon find out. He bought a relatively small sized plot of land about 10 by 10 li for 2000 gold.
He immediately left the city as soon as he gave them his name and spiritual imprint and received his proof of ownership steel inscripted name-plate. His plot was actually not too far from the city only 20 li away. It was mostly flat with a few trees here and there. He used to his spiritual sense to find its borders and bought several Spirit Statues that guarded the borders of his land. They were about 20 foot in length and 4 foot thick. They looked like sleeping taoties (4)*. Then he proceeded to buy various buildings needed as a foundation for his soon to be city.
*Ding!*
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BUILD OPTIONS
45 refined spirit stones deducted
Balance: 9800 Gold, 10 refined spirit stones
[Government buildings] [Utility buildings] [Alchemy buildings]
[Blacksmith buildings] [Mines] [Farms] [Houses]
He bought a city tower and various government buildings then placed them smack dab in the middle of the square land. Then he bought a power plant, water plant, lumber mill, mine, multiple farms for various crops, and several houses enough for 100 people to live spaciously. After the spending spree he only had 100 gold left saved for special occasions. He also bought strong stone walls reinforced with steel rebars circling around his establishments. It came with several towers and 4 gates. All of the resource buildings were all connected to a main storehouse that is also connected to the inventory space. The farms and such didn't actually need anyone to cultivate food or resources. Everything automatically generates over time and are transported to the warehouse. There other people collect resources from the warehouses. Liang Chen can actually use those generated resources and trade/sell them for money and other precious items that can be used to gather experience to upgrade the system.
System show me my stats again
*Ding!*
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STATS
[Age]: 16
[Cultivation Level]: Peak Mortal realm-4/9 gates
[Martial techniques]:
-Unrelenting Stabs Perfection
-Flying Chain attack Perfection
[Auxiliary techniques]
-Jumping Clouds Perfection
-Immortal System Practice
[System Level]: 1/???
[Strength]: 120
[Agility]: 37
[Stamina]: 45
[Intelligence]: 9
[Wisdom]: 7
[Vitality]: 17
[Charisma]: 8
Seems like my cultivation level directly links to my power and increases it quite a lot however i'm still kinda dumb. Wait! What is this Immortal practice thing?
[The Immortal System Practice allows for the host to be able be able to fight those above host's current cultivation level. Host will also 100% become immortal without any training or outside resources]
Huh, guess I'll have lots of adventures. At the same time it might be a curse to live forever… what am I thinking being immortal is one of the ultimate goals of humans since ever! It's amazing! Liang Chen decided to go back to the city to set up a stall and get PTSD (Potential to stack dough).
While he was waiting in line to enter the city, he quickly ran through the previous Liang Chen's memories to learn more about this new martial arts world. He found fresh memories of his previous friends that set his heart to turn ice-cold. From what he could infer, his 'friends' basically conspired to kill by first drugging him and set him free in the forest. Before he never wanted to set foot in Mount Hua ever again, but now he has to go back and get revenge for his body's previous owner.
"Pardon me sir, but could you lend this old lady a few coins?" spoke a hunched hag covered by dirty rags and a small rucksack, "I need to enter the city to see my daughter, you see."
Suddenly interrupted by an old hag, Liang Chen was shocked that he didn't even notice her presence the whole time. I should've had my system map on, what if this old hag turned out to be a top assassin sent by Yu Yan and Tian Ming? I should really be careful! At first Liang Chen wanted to ignore the lady as he had more important things to do, like thinking. But now he was vigilant careful not to offend this old lady. Even with the system he could not read her cultivation level.
"Of course young miss hehe, here take these gold coins," answered Liang Chen sweetly as he turned to his ring to hand out exactly ten gold coins, "Of course, you don't have to pay me back." As soon as he handed to her, he paid the guard and walked into the city.
"It seems like this young isn't so simple either, able to see through my cultivation level," thought the old hag as she disappeared into a thin flying straight to the city center, "I can't even see through his cultivation."
(1)* A chinese sword
(2)* Miles, search up Li to miles
(3)* foot, search up chi to feet
(4)* World devourer, watch the great wall of china