Chapter 99 - Final Preparations (2)

Kai watched his disciple excitedly experiment with their new cultivation manuals. These manuals were based on Elemental Qi which was a lot more difficult to master, but he was confident that they would be able to do it.

While their excitement was high, Kai pulled out another bunch of scrolls from his bag. These new scrolls were a plain grey and seemed to be exact copies of each other.

When the three saw Kai placing the scrolls on the table, they quieted down and stood in attention while waiting for him to speak.

"You can each take a scroll. This is a special Martial Arts Technique that I've created to go along with your new manuals. I call it [Dragon Subduing Art]!"

As Kai watched his disciples pick up the manuals, he projected the details of the manual into his head.

>[Martial Arts Manual] [Dragon Subduing Art] [D-Rank] =

[Active]: Speed and Damage are slightly increased whenever you launch an attack. (Stacks up to 5 times)

[Cost]: 5 Qi per stack

[Duration]: 1 minute per stack

[Active]: External and Internal Defenses are slightly increased when you receive an attack (Stacks up to 5 times)

[Cost]: 5 Qi per stack

[Duration]: 30 seconds

[Additional Trait] Agile: base movement speed is increased by 10%. When in combat, this is increased to 20%.

Kai had combined [Primordial Dragon's Armament] with [Blood Dragon's Rage] and [Shroud Dragon's Step] to create [Dragon Subduing Art]. Kai had originally expected a manual that would be more powerful than the sum of all three manuals, but instead got a manual that combined small portions from each of them to give an all-rounder type manual.

It did not excel in attack, defense, or speed, but also did not lack in either attribute. This made it beneficial for all types of scenarios. Kai received the prompts that his disciples' wanted to absorb the scrolls which he accepted.

With this, Kai's disciples were now equipped with powerful D-Rank Internal Cultivation manuals as well as D-Rank Body and Martial Arts manuals. Kai was confident that after some training, they would become peerless internal cultivators.

"Thank you Master!", the three said in unison as they bowed deeply. He waved off the formalities with a smile then noticed the twins, Jian-Yi and Jian-Na, standing quietly behind them. When the two girls noticed Kai's gaze, they immediately dropped their eyes.

Kai could only sigh. "Looks like they're still not used to me. Ryu, have you been able to gather any information on them?" Kai asked through the telepathic link so that the girls wouldn't hear him.

Ryu heard Kai's voice in his mind and responded seriously. "Yes Master, I dug into their incident as you instructed. It turns out that their entire family was killed by a beast horde on their way to Huang City. The few survivors were later captured by bandits in the wilds and subsequently killed or sold off. These two are the only known members of that Jian family. Theirs was a family of traveling merchant family with no static properties or wealth, so they have nowhere else to go..."

Kai nodded his head and looked back at the two girls before he spoke. "You two are welcome to remain with us permanently", Kai said with a warm smile. "But, I have a few rules that all my followers must abide by. I'm sure Old Lao has already gone through them with you?". Kai asked in a friendly yet somewhat stern tone. He couldn't afford to have anyone leaking his cultivation secrets, so he had to make it clear from the start.

The two girls shivered slightly then looked towards Old Lao who nodded his head with a smile. When they saw this, the two girls took a deep breath and began reciting in unison. "We pledge to be Master's loyal followers for life. We pledge to never share any information about you to anyone. This we swear on our lives!".

Kai was a little shocked by the sudden pledge. He turned to Old Lao who was looking at the girls with pride. Kai could only shake his head in defeat. He appreciated the sentiment but was long past the point of trusting people based on their words alone. He needed a reliable way to be sure that they didn't betray him.

Kai wanted something similar to the sub-cores inside of his disciples. Thanks to those, Kai could guarantee their loyalty since he could feel their emotions through it. If any of them even thought about betraying him, Kai would know it. However, he couldn't just give sub-cores to everyone since they were limited.

For now, Kai decided to leave them in Old Lao's care. This would also double as his supervision over them until he figured this out.

Kai patted the girls' heads with a smile and accepted their pledge. The twins sighed with relief and thanked Kai for taking them in. They still seemed nervous around him, so he decided to wait for them to come out of their shells.

Kai turned around and headed to the shop front located at the main entrance of the building. The area had been remodeled per his instructions. The store area was now completely separated from the residential area. Kai inspected one of the empty glass display cases and approved.

"Old Lao, I think it's time we set up shop", Kai said with a grin. He turned to the old man and pulled out a bunch of pill bottles from his bag.

"I have a total of 10,000 high-grade [Basic Healing Pills] that we can sell. I also have 1000 superior-grade [Basic Healing Pills] with me, but I won't sell those for the time being. There is no need to draw more attention to ourselves". Kai said while tossing one of the pill bottles to Old Lao.

Old Lao quickly caught it and walked over to Kai with a shocked expression. "Ten thousand high-grade pills?...and did you say one thousand superior-grade pills?!!", he said incredulously.

"Give or take...", Kai answered in a carefree fashion.

"Anyway, what should we name the store?. I was thinking something like [Heavenly Medicine Pagoda]". Kai said while also thinking about possible designs for the store's signboard.

Old Lao looked at Kai like he was a monster.

"I must be the only person in this room who understands how insane it is for him to have made that many high and superior-grade pills in such a short period...". Old Lao thought to himself. "Any Alchemy-Master who could create such an amount would be furiously fought over by almost every small and medium-sized sect throughout the continent. Even some of those proud large sects would be intrigued!".

Kai handed Old Lao a stack of pills and told him the general cost for the materials he had used to price the pills appropriately. Everything had cost Kai less than 500 gold coins to make. Kai expected to make at least one gold per pill, which meant the profit would be over 9500 gold!.

Next, Kai gave Ryu a list of places and things to investigate. This was to give Ryu some more experience with intelligence gathering, but also because Kai was curious about a lot of things in this world, but didn't have the time to look for all the answers himself.

Lastly, Kai gave Mina the task of going on a few solo hunts. The girl was talented in cultivation, so Kai wanted her to be the backbone of his fighting force. Kai felt that any extra combat experience would prove invaluable in the future. Kai instructed her to take Qiulong with her as both transportation and backup in case anything went wrong.

After a few more words with his disciples, Kai dismissed them and went upstairs to get some sleep. The pocket dimension would open in a few days and Kai wanted to be well-rested for it. Kai was eager to test his new manuals and had even come up with a series of plans and backup plans for the occasion.. All that there was left to do now was wait.