After a week of hospitalization Rex had finally healed completely and had been discharged. It was an uneventful discharge with him beeing shown the back door of the Sect and having the door closed immediately. That's when it finally had sunk in that he was no more a disciple of the Millennium Forest Sect, but Rex just got over it with a shrug.

' Meh, I thought that it would be more heartfelt, but it seems like it's not. Well, I can't really blame anyone though as I didn't  have any friends in the Sect and was an unremarkable NPC for the duration of the time I was here in order to not trigger a Karmatic response, but now that my soul has finally blended with this body it's time.....'

Rex moved his attention to the lines of text  to  the edge of his vision and read them with a snicker. ' C-I Mart, we put the I in Immortal. Haha....it never gets old....haha...'

After having his fill of laughs he took one last look at the tall and intricately carved door of the Millennium Forest Sect and moved on. With only the clothes on his back, and his most precious things he left the Sect. He first spent the night at a cheap Inn that wasn't far from the Sect before traveling the next morning to the second biggest city of the region, North Blue City. 

This city was a pretty prosperous city with more than 50000 residents, and was mainly know for the blue gems that were mined in the mountain located north of the city. The gem's brought great profit to the town as it was a type of gem that contained inside it an amount of Immortal Qi, and was widely used by the Cultivators of the 'Meridian' stage. This gem which was categorized as a 'Qi Stone' was also used as currency by the locals, and that's why Rex, or more accurately Zhong Jinhai choose this place.

' Opening shop here is the best course of action. It's not far from the Sect so it's safe enough, but it's also prosperous enough for me to make profit on. Now I only got to choose the location.' 

Rex f spent the first half the day looking for the best spot, thinking about renting a shop at the business district at first, but soon enough he found out he didn't have enough money as even one months rent cost more than 1500 gold bars( the mortal currency of this world). So a little irritated he chose to go for the next best option and choose to open shop in the edge of the red light district. Rex spent the next week asking around for a good place to rent and he finally found a place he wanted, a two story building that was once was a gambling house and partly an Inn.

"Hehehe, dear sir, did you think about the price of the rent?" said a sharp-eyed middle aged man to Rex who was staring at the building.

"Yes, I have thought about the price of it Mr Wen, and I've decided to rent it."

"Great, you just have to sign the paperwork and....

As Mr Wen was speaking , he was suddenly interrupted by Rex as he put his hand forward.

"I wasn't finished, Mr Wen! I'll rent this place from you, but I want for the price of the rent to extend to the furniture also."

"This....I....

Mr Wen looked at the young man before him and saw that he was serious. His rough face and deep eyes showed that he wouldn't back of on this.

" I want an answer Mr Wen!"

Mr Wen though about if for a while and finally agreed. "Sigh....fine, fine! Yes, you can also rent the furniture with the property, but if anything is damaged or stolen it'll be compensated. And I hope that you don't do anything funny,or you'll end up as the previous owner."

Rex just smiled at Me Wen's words" Don't worry , I'm not stupid, I know what to do and not to do. Now, the paperwork Me Wen......" said Rex as he extended his other hand.

Mr Wen gave one last look at Rex's face and found something unique in this unassuming young man. His rough face was like that of a farmer's, his hands full of calluses and his hair short and messy. He couldn't understand where this young man had found the money for this property.

"Right!" said Mr Wen as he got in out of his stupor " The down payment is 200 gold bars and it'll also include the furniture. The next month shall be the same at 200 gold bars, but after six months the price may change.

Agreed?"

"Agreed!"said Rex as he finally completed the next  of his plan.

................

Two more days passed as Rex closed himself inside the shop. He thoroughly cleaned the building, repaired what he could and spent the rest of his time thinking about what customer's to attract.

' Hmmm, this city is a pretty prosperous one and Cultivators aren't that rare, but there is a problem. Most of them are tied to a sect or organization and I'm not in the mood to deal with that kind of heat right now.  What I need right now is to be as subtle as possible, acquire some loyal customers and from that I can continue to expand my reach.

One step at a time.....'

And so, as the veil of the night night fell and the red lanterns were lit, the red light district begun to boom with people; horny people, drunk people, people all kinds. Rex just watched this happen with a melancholic smile as he remembered his old world, but soon snapped out of it and went to the second floor.As soon as entered the first room on the right he smiled as he and only he could see what lay before him. 

Three neet rows of beautiful dark-blue wooden shelves that were filled with different products were sitting there. Some held packages of rice, some contained ginseng and other medicinal herbs, and some even contained pills and weapons. There were also a variety of medicinal wines that were quite delectable to the tongue, and lastly there was bonsai like plant that was only two cm tall.

"Heh, if anyone else could see this I would definitely be robbed, killed and even gutted. Fortunately I have rented a good conceelement -illusion formation , but why the fuck does it have to be so expensive? It costs me 2 Karma points a day to rent it or 100 Qi-En.... sigh.....

Rex sighed as he looked at the corner of his eye and saw his assets.

[ Karma Points : 58

Qi-En: 3 ]

"Fuuuuuu...

As he saw his values he couldn't help but almost curse out. Although his Karma Points were decent his Qi-En was to cry about. 

' Damnit, if I didn't use all my accumulated Qi-En to open a portal for the goods to go through, I wouldn't be in this situation. Not even being in the Meridian stage, sigh.....

Rex took another look at the bustling streets and just calmed himself and waited for his prey/customer to come. He sat in a lotus position and used his cultivation technique to calm down.

...........

At the same time, less than 100 m away Liang No a bear-like mercenary that had just returned from a job was splurging to his hearts content. He drunk jar after jar of wine, played with the hostesses and sung stupid song's that were painful to the  ear, but that was his reality, his life. As a Cultivator that was stuck to the 3rd Meridian and couldn't find a way to advance further his life seemed so disappointing, but he couldn't do anything about it. Because he had taken so many low-quality Qi boosting pills when he was young his Qi was very turbid and viscous so it was hard to circulate, and even harder to try to open another one of his meridians. So as a result he surrounded himself with pleasure to dull the pain, but even that had it's limits. His money soon ran out and he was forced out into the street , but he didn't mind. This had happened to him numerous times so he just smiled at his misfortune and began to walk the streets.

He stumbled and stuttered word's only he could understand and wallowed in his pain, but when he was about to turn the corner he noticed he was in front of a two story building that shined a golden colour. It's apperance stunned him and he began to think it was just a dream and he had fallen asleep on the street, but it felt so real. He unconsciously approached the building and when he was 5 m away he noticed with his watery eyes a sign.

It showed a faceless human sitting crosslegged on a golden lotus, and above the man's head were two halos, one golden and one red.

"Huh, did someone open a.....

*Creeeeee......

As he was about to finish his words the wooden doors of the building slid open and someone came out of it. It was a human wearing a lose golden robe with his face obscured by some type of smoke.

"Welcome dear customer, welcome to C-I Mart. " said the figure as he bowed slightly , but Liang No was so stunned that he could only let out a hiccup.

*Hick Hiick....