I sat in my room, writing letters after letters, and going through a heap of docunts. Sohow, even after the auction had ended, my work had only continued to grow. Even superhuman strength, speed, reflexes and a general lack of need to sleep and eat no longer felt enough. I felt like I needed two more arms at the very least. Had I still had my twin around, wed likely be working together on this.
Still, even though the work was never ending, the task was done. The auction had gone better than Id expected, was all I could say. I still didnt have the final tally, lots of contracts and agreents and paynt thods that had all been arriving over the last week, but the number was substantial. The five families had replied quickly too, and not a single one had held back from my offer. Huo and Yue had not so subtly tried to outbid the others, and the Zhao had used their authority to try and get more than one of the books for themselves, but the other families had protested as Id anticipated and Id managed to regulate things so that each family ended up with one of the books, in the end. I did not want to skew the power balance of things this early on and those books were ticking ti bombs in many ways. Each passing day strengthened their influence in the world and whatever spirit would co to exist within them, I was happy to have it off my hands and soone elses problem now.
I sighed, though the good kind of sigh, if such a thing even existed, as I felt the weight on my back starting to slowly lt away. I almost wanted to lt in a puddle, and if I could, I would, but I settled for just leaning on my desk with my head down and feeling the relief of getting this giant burden off my back.
Still, my job was not yet complete, one last step still needed to be done before I could finally breathe freely.
Before my thoughts could get wrapped up in the upcoming last hurdle, I heard a knock on the door. Co in, I said, sitting back up straight. Yu Lan strutted forth into the room, hair swaying behind her as she walked up to and bowed.
Master Lu Jie, the final preparations are complete and we have the tallies ready, Yu Lan said. For so reason she called master now, but I didnt question it.
Oh, its done? I asked, glancing back at the woman. In a rare display, she looked up, a bright smile on her face. Yes.
What about the contracts? I asked.
Weve gotten all the contracts readied and filed for official permits, the noble lords have all agreed to the terms, and the agreent will be enforced and backed by the five families, Yu Lan said.
Good, I replied. It had taken a lot of work to settle out the exact terms. Outside of the items sold, the information had to be sold on terms, and the rchants that possessed it had agreed to different terms based on how much they paid and what the item was. The term only extended to a maximum of fifteen years for exclusive rights, with the general right of usage being a hundred years. I didnt mind that, I definitely needed to give them sothing for the amount being paid, and others will be able to reverse engineer things over ti on their own. It was partly why I made sure a single person couldnt just grab it all and establish a monopoly with ease and had distributed different key elents required for the overall network to flourish across different groups.
What about the agreent with the five families? I asked.
For the five families, they will possess the divine texts and will not freely share them with anyone outside of their inner clan mbers. They have also agreed to solely work through you, for implentation of said information, and have all collectively agreed to enforce this. The Jade Court has given its mark on the contract as well, implenting it under the emperors na, Yu Lan said.
Alright, that was the best case scenario that I couldve hoped for. Having them check each other and the Jade Court settling disputes would make matters a lot easier for . Having the families utilize to make good use of the texts also allowed to have so control and make sure they couldnt just abuse the information and gave opportunities to my sect to grow via this trade.
With all of that done, only one more thing remained to be seen.
So, how much is it? I asked. At my words, I almost felt like I could see gold coins flashing in her eyes. She shivered a little, and I couldnt tell why.
Master- I think I think its better if you see it for yourself. Weve brought it to the manor, she said.
I raised my eyebrow, wondering if there was sothing wrong. Alright, show , I said, standing up as I followed behind Yu Lan. Walking outside I made my way out and saw flustered servants running around everywhere. Even Guoren looked nervous and sweaty. Lord Jie, this this is a bit much. I know youd told us to expect the sum but to have this he trailed off. I noticed a dozen ard n moving around, keeping their eyes out as they moved large chests around into an inner chamber.
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Whats happening here? I asked, glancing at Yu Lan.
The womans face was flushed, an excited look on her face. There was another way to describe her expression as well, but I chose to remain polite, even in my thoughts. She looked at and bowed her head.
Those are the chests with the proceedings that belong to your share, she replied.
Huh, I said, glancing at the chests. Did a lot of them pay in gold or sothing?
Actually, we got paynts in a lot of different forms. So families even tried to sell us so artifacts to make up for so differences, but for your convenience and after so managent, I sorted it all into a uniform setup, keeping only gold and spirit jade, Yu Lan said, as we walked up to the room with the chests sorted together. Powerful wards humd, and two ard ns stood guard, even within the estate, at the entrance of the gate.
Well, youve got intrigued now. And I can tell that youre trying to string along. You got , Im curious. How much is it?
Yu Lan bit her lips, looking at , and then spoke with a quiver in her voice. We got forty seven thousand, six hundred and ninety two spirit jade as the final sum.
I frowned, the number not parsing imdiately. Silently, I converted it to gold, and I almost stumbled back. 4.76 million gold pieces. Id once done so calculations to equate the worth of a gold piece in this world to money back ho, and had roughly settled on a conversion of one gold being equal to about ten grand. And if that conversion remained accurate then I had just earned forty billion over night.
I looked at Yu Lan, and the woman truly seed lost in thought. I turned towards the chests and could feel the powerful aura of Qi emanating from all the spirit jade, like a torrential storm. No wonder there were guards standing everywhere. This much money was enough to tempt the emperor.
Is is that accurate? I asked, looking at Yu Lan.
We redid the tally thrice. Its entirely correct. What you see here is forty thousand spirit jade, and fifty three thousand eight hundred twenty gold coins, the woman said.
Jesus christ, I cursed, forgetting myself for a mont.
I thank you for bringing this opportunity to us, Master Lu Jie. If ever you need to do anything, rely speak my na and I will be here at your service, Yu Lan said, bowing her head deeply.
I nodded to the woman, simply taking in everything for the mont as I looked at the amount of money.
I will, thanks, I said, and Yu Lan bowed, taking her leave. The doors to the chamber closed behind , and I stood in front of the chests, still taking everything in. Id had plans, and Id had the vision for things, but it still felt strange to see it actualized like this in front of . It almost felt unreal, like I was dreaming or sothing. Yet I knew that this was real, that this really was happening.
I walked up to the chests, putting my hand on it. What would past think, if he could see right now? The answer depended on which I was talking about. The before I rembered my life on earth would simply faint from the shock, and the who did rember the life and had arrived here might also just faint from the shock, after I told him exactly how much this money was worth.
The thought brought a smile to my face. In many ways, I felt like Id only truly arrived in this world about a year ago. But at the sa ti, it felt like this was sothing Id been working towards for almost twenty years now. Maybe, in so ways, even longer. Yet, sohow, in just one year, Id gone from a no na waste in a provincial sect to all this. Ti didnt feel like it made sense anymore. It felt like it had been so much longer, and yet also, simultaneously a blink of the eye.
This was the culmination of all my efforts.
As I stood here, simply thinking, I couldnt help but want to do just one thing. A desire I think everyone had of doing at least once in their lifetis.
I walked around, opening each chest one by one and being blinded by the shimring spirit jade and gold counts inside. As I did, I began to dump their contents out, a smile plastered on my face that began to extend into a wide shit eating grin as I finished my money mountain.
I looked upon it with the pride, joy and emotional connection of an artist gazing upon his masterpiece and without further ado, I ran into the pile, leaping into the mountain. I laughed, and swam through the midst, though it was rather suffocating and the spirit jade hurt my skin, so I wouldnt really recomnd doing this. After pulling myself out, I simply sat on top of my pile of money, as I watched over the room.
Even with all the will power in the world, I couldnt stop the cackling laughter that burst forth from inside of . I laughed and laughed forgetting that the guards outside could probably hear as I sat atop the money mountain, feeling on top of the very world. I almost felt bad, like I was so evil villain plotting the end of the world and empire.
I guess in so ways I was certainly working hard to put the current empire into the grave. And right now, if I wanted, I felt like I could take over the empire.
But as the exhilaration faded and the laughter died, the weight of the money slowly began to sink in. This wasnt just for fun, this wasnt for to spend on luxuries and I didnt care for those things either.
This was to prepare for war, a grim one, that could spell the end of this empire if we were not careful. This money was the bonfire I had worked really hard to create, which I would light on fire to herald a new age into existence. It wasnt mine to spend, in many ways, this moneys worth, I owed it to the people whod all helped co this far.
Sliding down my money mountain, I dusted myself off. I had my fun, and my plan worked. Now only one thing remained.
Going to the Alchemy Halls.
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