Chapter 27: Chapter 27 – Xiulan the Altruist.

Temple Gorge was again buzzing with excitement. The city had become much more interesting recently. The duel, the fall of the Kang Clan and now this interesting compound that had been built at the eastern entrance to the Gorge.

It was too far from the commerce of the city to be another trading hub. The building was modest and large at the same time. Most of its expense came from its size and none could work out what so much space was needed for. On the gates to the building a golden coin symbol was embossed on to the wood.

Half of the city that could be spared from their work at the docks had turned up when fliers advertising the grand opening of the Collaborative Combine were handed out. Part of the mystery was that nobody knew what the Collaborative Combine was only that this was the building that would house its operations.

The murmuring of a crowd rose as the doors opened and Xiulan walked out with guards. The guards were richly dressed for the occasion in white tabards with gold accents. Each carried a spear and short sword made by Fu Jinjing. At Xiulan’s request she had managed to tint the metal slightly golden as well.

Xiulan was herself wearing a diaphanous dress of gold with white highlights. She wore her hair up to give herself a sense of authority. Her hair was held in place by golden hair pins, and she had several delicate chains circling her head.

She had the appearance of wearing a crown without actually wearing one. Xiulan did not exactly cut and imposing figure, she was too petite for that, but she did look dazzling.

The guards placed a podium on the ground for her so that she could speak to the crowd while still being seen. When she moved up to the platform and the whole crowd could she her the crowd gasped a little.

Yanlin had ensured that there were many farmers from the area surrounding Temple Gorge there. Some of these people had never seen such opulence and were already certain that Xiulan must be one of those fabled young ladies from a wealthy cultivation family.

After letting her presence take hold over the crowd Xiulan raised her hand for silence. The crowd became mostly quiet.

“Today,” she began, “I have three announcements. Each more ground-breaking than the last. First this building and golden coin symbol will officially mark the founding of the Collaborative Combine. It will be a commercial group headed by me that has the explicit goal of promoting the well-being of the common people of the Blue Crane Kingdom. As part of its business structure master Fu and Doctor Zheng Ling, of whom I am sure you have all heard have already joined.”

This was not massive news but still received some attention. The size of the building implied that Xiulan intended for this to be a large commercial undertaking. The association between Doctor Zheng and Xiulan was well known after the duel and many also knew of the fact that master Fu was remarkably similar to a slave that Xiulan had liberated from artisan row.

Xiulan continued, “The second announcement is this. Since the introduction of Doctor Zheng’s qi gathering pill the general cultivation level of the city and surrounding area has risen. This is the kind of change that we as the Collaborative Combine hope to bring about. However, there is one major flaw in what we have done so far. Doctor Zheng is only one woman and there is a limit to the number of pills she can produce. Therefore, we have decided to release the formula for the pill for free to anyone who wants it.”

The crowd went into an uproar at that. It seethed violently like a boiling ocean. Nobody could fathom giving away that kind of knowledge for free. It was unheard of. Most cultivators and sects guarded knowledge like that as a tressure. There were shouts of joy and confusion, but Xiulan could also see looks of disappointment on the faces of those without spiritual roots. This would not help them, they could not cultivate in the first place.

Xiulan raised her hand for quiet again and the crowd fell into stillness. “The third and most shocking revelation is this. Through tireless research and effort, the Collaborative Combine had discovered a cultivation method for those who lack spiritual roots.”

The crowd drew in a sharp breath and then rioted even more than they had before. If giving away pill formulas was unheard of this was simply impossible. It had been known for centuries that somebody without spiritual roots could never cultivate.

Xiulan had to wait for several minutes before the crowd could be corralled to peace once again.

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Xiulan dropped the biggest bombshell yet the one that this whole speech was designed to achieve, “This cultivation method will be taught at the Combine behind me but unfortunately cannot be taught for free. Kingdom law prevents the founding of any school where cultivation is taught freely.  I am afraid that the minimum price for cultivation methods as provided for by Kingdom law is one hundred gold.”

This was originally put into place by the kingdom to prevent people with no resources or talent wasting their efforts on cultivation. It also ensured that any cultivators who arose from the masses were diverted to the army and not to several thousand half-baked sects. Sects had to pay at least that much for every new disciple they took in.

This damped people’s spirits somewhat. For most of the population that was confined to a mortal life of farming one hundred gold was an unimaginable sum.

Xiulan smiled brightly, “have no fear however if you sign a contract to exclusively sell your produce or other products to the Combine for a period of years then the cultivation methods can be taught to you. Rest assured we are not asking for your produce for free only that you sell exclusively to us.”

The crowd burst into tears and laughter. Then there came a rolling cheer. This was amazing, if they could sell to the Combine then they could learn the cultivation method essentially for free.

Xiulan held up four coloured pieces of cloth with gold coins on their tips, “she shouted at the crowd. If you join the Collaborative Combine, then you will be taught how to cultivate and be given on of these white sashes. If you reach the first level of Qi condensation, then you will be given the green sash and be called an awakened. If you reach the second level of qi condensation you will be given a yellow sash and be called an ascended. If you reach the third level of qi condensation you will be given a black sash and be called teacher. If you are interested go home to discuss it with your families and come back to register tomorrow morning.”

Xiulan left the podium to cheering and applause. This was truly a revolution to the common man.

Xiulan was sure that the wealthy families would not feel threatened. Any person who thought about it carefully would realise that with the aid of qi gathering pills the wealthy families would soon far outstrip the third level of qi condensation on average. They could still keep their control over the city.

Hopefully they would not notice that Xiulan had just created a monopoly over the food supply. Cultivation clans tended to overlook the functioning of ‘mundane’ life and the price of bread was not something they thought much of.

The system trilled out happily, “well done hosts cults such as the one you have just founded are an excellent way to make money. Perhaps the host is not such an incompetent merchant after all.”

Xiulan shrugged and thought back, “For now I still need to avoid the notice of the capital and the wealthy families. The third level of qi condensation as a maximum should not threaten them and most will only reach the first level. The Bai clan will be distracted by the pill formula for a while as well. I just need to amas enough to buy my way to foundation establishment before they seriously confront me.”

The Bai clan had deep roots in Temple Gorge and several of their family members had travelled to the capital to join a sect. They also had a foundation establishment elder in the family here in Temple Gorge. Xiulan needed to make sure that she and her lovers were ready to face that.

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