Year 11, Day 88

Beneath shade, beneath sun

Root could feel the headache that this was going to be. Ever since he was reborn in this world, he had a feeling that dealing with other Cultivators that weren't part of his family was going to be a hassle, but this surely takes the cake! He felt almost like the parent of a stubborn child that was looking at him like he did the worst sin in all of existence as he spoke to him- Apparently his name was Jhin De Zhi, or that was the name that Elder Ahmi Chiang gave him: “...so, you're angry that I stopped you from stealing from my home and locked you and your little subordinates away after you killed mortals in my home, mortals that were under my protection…” 

Let me tell you what happened~ 

Flashback~

After being isolated to these poorly built homes- Jhin De Zhi reckons these are the best these mortals can do, considering that most homes from where he comes from are made of stone and rarely have any wooden parts, with the exception of the City of Dreadful Ash, where the Rottenwoods lived. The entirety of the home was made from wood and clay, he could tell that although the craftsmanship was basic, it used the rarest material that he could think of- Wood. Sure, because of the Boundless Bountiful, wood wasn't that rare for a short period of time, but the problem here was that wood was hard to keep due to the lack of Nature Qi for long periods of time! Without constant Nature Qi, the wood would turn to dust and ash in a matter of weeks, which made wood a very valuable and rare material for using in buildings and even in a few other things. 

To him, this meant that he had more things to sell. 

“...Ghun De, check the shadows outside, see if there's anyone out there.” Jhin De Zhi said as he looked outside. He waited till nightfall to tell his “younger brother” to use his Dark Qi to look outside and search for any sort of security. “Yes, Brother Jhin.” His “younger brother” Ghun De was a Dark Qi Cultivator, he was one of the best subordinates that he had, mostly because of the amount of techniques that he knew and the sheer ability he had of surviving. Sure, Dark Qi wasn't that useful in combat, but it sure had a lot of potential whenever used to escape or survive. Ghun De easily slipped his consciousness through his Qi into the shadows in his vicinity, jumping from shadow to shadow, anchoring his sight through them as he used the technique he had learned from his Gloomrose relative- the Blossoming Shadow Eye Technique. 

If you were really careful and able to see in the dark, you would notice this small flower-like pale white eye with a single dotted red iris. This technique was developed by the 19th Patriarch of the Gloomrose family, and with this technique one could grow an “eye” out of shadows to watch for any incoming threats or to watch over an area. “...I see nobody, Brother Jhin De.” Ghun De's true full name was Ghun Gloomrose, but thanks to the connection the Gloomrose Family has to the Golden Greed Guild of Merchants, they were able to send a few of their kids to learn at the Gollan City, where the Golden Greed Guild of Merchants had its main branch. Ghun De was taught a lot of things at the Golden Greed's main branch, a bunch of things that were really important for a merchant to know. He learned about the culture of various families of cultivators spread around the Coazin Continent, he learned four other languages that other Cultivators and mortals spoke in a few different regions- Those of the Veloah Region spoke Veloan (It had a bunch of flowery words to describe various things), those of the Laonni Region spoke Laonian (Short words with flat pronunciations), those of the Raohna Region spoke Raonian (Really aggressive words for simple things), and those of the Gaonni-Haonni Region spoke Gahonian (Really soft words or really hard words, no in-between) -besides learning languages, he learned how to calculate the price of products, how to lie, how to survive, how to escape, and much more. 

“Good.” Jhin De Zhi smirked- It seems like these people don't really understand just how much this place was a golden mine. Well, if they are not going to protect this treasure, then they can't blame him if he takes a little hit of it for himself! “Oh Zhi, Oh Zhen, Oh Zhu, look down beneath this home, analyze everything and see if you can find raw minerals or gems beneath our feet. Phozu, use your Water Searching Resonance Technique to see if you can find anything that you think will sell well… We will leave and collect everything we can get our hands on.” 

His subordinates nodded, a small smirk on their lips that fell flat as they started to concentrate. Their eyes closed as the triplets took each other's hands and soon they started looking and feeling the Earth Qi beneath their feet- it was a shock to feel such pure Earth Qi! You see, these three are Oh Zhi Enkian, Oh Zhen Enkian, and Oh Zhu Enkian. The triples were sent, like Ghun Gloomrose, to learn anything and everything they could from the Golden Greed Guild of Merchants. They knew very well about their shortcomings as Enkians and Earth Qi Cultivators- you see, all Enkians used the same Cultivation technique that was called Purifying Black Mountain Peak Technique, a technique that relied on the purity of the Earth Qi around them. 

Now, although redundant and really slow- even to Cultivator standards -this technique had the benefit of purifying the earth around them. The Enkians have been cultivating and purifying their grounds for countless generations, various Cultivators wasting away their entire lifetime in those lands, purifying the earth of everything they could as they cultivated, but even so… This earth was much purer than anything they had ever seen. It was soft and weirdly tingly? The triplets have done this technique together a lot of times, they used this technique- called Deep Perception Underground Sight Technique -to search for Demonic Beasts in the Endless Desert whenever they were going to camp in the desert, detecting the perfect place to set camp and make their tents by shaping the earth and solidifying it into stones to make stone tents or stone homes with some preparation time. 

Meanwhile, Phozu, a Cursed Kin Water Cultivator with long and sharp ears and a few scales spread over his neck and back, started to follow his leader and older brother's instructions. He used his Water Searching Resonance Technique, a technique that relied on his affinity to Water Qi and his ability to feel Water Qi around him- it was thanks to his Desert Fish Cursed Kin Core that he was able to feel and have an easy time detecting and finding water! His consciousness fell deep within himself as he called for that familiar sensation of sinking deep into an abyss of darkness before he reached out to feel Water Qi from his surroundings- 

Immediately, he felt a huge flow of Water Qi all around him- These blue lines that were beneath him, spreading out everywhere, looking like blue flowing threads of a spider. “...beautiful…” he had never seen so much water before! Sad, really. He really wanted to visit the Laonni Region, but due to the distance and the time it would take for him to reach that place, it would take months and maybe one year or two before they could reach that place- that was the only reason he joined Jhin De Zhi in the first place! “...there's a huge reservoir of water deep down-” He turned to look, eyes still closed, when he felt this calm lake of Water Qi. He saw this large lake with a lot of water, still and reflective like a mirror, and in the middle of it slept this beautiful pale blue skinned beauty. A woman of majestic proportions- Unlike the other Cultivators of his merchant group, Phozu was not from a cultivation family. He has seen a few beautiful women from cultivation families from afar, sure, but they could not compare to the beauty of the sleeping water nymph that appeared before his eyes. She had her head rested above something, he couldn't exactly tell what it was, as all he could see was Water Qi. “-a spirit.” That was the only plausible option- unless he has gone insane and is now seeing a goddess! He was so distracted by her beauty that he didn't hear his boss’ questions until a hand smacked him in the head, breaking him out of his stupor and his Water Searching Resonance Technique. 

“What did you see, Idiot Phozu?” Jhin De Zhi asked, a hint of impatience in his eyes as he easily could feel that Phozu had seen or had found something interesting. Momentarily, Phozu paused to consider his words, but ultimately decided not to tell Jhin De Zhi about the beauty he had just witnessed: “I saw the roots guiding water, I saw the deep water reservoir beneath this land, and I saw small water spirits.” He could still see these small blue animals that floated around, they had Water Qi within them. 

“Water Spirits? This place surely is a gold mine!” Jhin De Zhi grinned widely- surely, with these many treasures, he can become rich and finally take his seat as the Patriarch of the Gollan Family! “Oh Zhu, Oh Zhen, Oh Zhi- Start collecting every single thing you can. Me and Ghun will go and steal some Nature Spirits and keep them hidden. Phozu, go and take some fruits- Whatever you can take. Those things can be sold for a fortune too- don't worry about them going rotten, I can just turn them to gold for a few weeks until we reach Gollan City.” This was his trump card and why he was so confident that he could take things away from this forest- not only did he have a technique to temporarily turn things into Gold, he also had an escape ticket in the form of a Life Saving Butterfly Ring, a rare ring that only a few Cultivators are able to make- it turns the user into this Qi Butterfly before sending them away to a safe location, it automatically breaks apart and sends the user away once they are attacked by an attack that would have taken their life. (Chapter 13)

“What if a mortal tries to get on the way?” Ghun De asked- they had experienced such a thing. A few mortals tried to get in their way when they were stealing things, but they usually dealt with them in the same way- 

“Kill them.” 

-yeah, killing them. Death was normal in this world, and if he wanted to kill Mortals, so what? Its not like others give a fuck about mortals and their pathetic short lives! He certainly doesn't, he cares about the profit they can ultimately grant him. 

“Take everything you can, but don't act too harshly, we need to at least be subtle about it… If you end up killing a mortal, hide the body.” 

With these instructions given, every single one of them left the home they were housed in. The Oh Z triplets to the back, Phozu went out towards the trees while Jhin De Zhi and Ghun De started to explore their surroundings. 

They were ready to get rich. 

DaoOfGay

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