Chapter 678 – Coming to a Stop, Having a Think (2/2)
Sun Fubai smiled. “This was fate as well as great luck for us. I’ll definitely do everything I can to not leave you disappointed, Qingshan. I’ll tell you in detail when we get back, but the school of Novels also has brilliant prospects!”
Returning to Cloudwisp island with the new disciples, the three of them said some words of encouragement, explained a few rules of the school of Novels, and allowed them to stroll around before they returned to the bamboo loft to discuss official business.
Out of the dozen or so new disciples, the oldest was already twenty, while the youngest was only nine. After the three of them left, everyone let out a sigh of relief. The pressure from Foundation Establishment cultivators was far too great. Even just the aura they gave off unintentionally was enough for them to hold their breaths.
The young man who was the oldest said excitedly, “It really is him!”
The youngest, the nine year old child, tilted his head in confusion. “Who?”
“The one who spoke at the end. The one with the largest stature. That’s senior uncle Li Qingshan! Haven’t you heard of him?” The young man stifled his voice, basically amazed by how he had not heard of Li Qingshan before.
“Of course I’ve heard of him! He’s the Scarlet Hawk commander of the Clear River prefecture. Originally, he was a cowherd, but after around a decade of cultivation, he defeated a whole group of Foundation Establishment cultivators from the school of Novels during the Exhibition Matches of the Nine Prefectures! He’s already close to breaking through to Golden Core, and he’s not even thirty yet! He’s the most outstanding genius of our Clear River prefecture- no, the entire Ruyi commandery!” a young girl said immediately.
The young girl was so proud that it seemed like she was describing these feats as her own. Her eyes were filled with admiration.
The young man sighed. “Sigh, I don’t want anything else. I’d be happy if I can establish a foundation before the age of thirty.” The others all showed admiration and anticipation too, becoming filled with confidence over their future lives in the school of Novels. The power of role models was endless.
Although Li Qingshan was still a fair bit off from his goal of shaking up the world with his name, shaking up the Ruyi commandery with his name was no longer an issue. Before he knew it, he was already becoming something like a legend.
In the bamboo loft, the three of them sat together. Li Qingshan picked up a tea cup and said to Sun Fubai, “Fubai, it’s been tough on you. Please accept my toast of tea instead of alcohol!”
Liu Chuanfeng picked up his cup too, thanking Sun Fubai. If he had not rushed about outside, the Cloudwisp association would have never achieved its current accomplishments.
Sun Fubai replied with a smile, “My junior brother and I should be the ones to thank you. Qingshan, do you happen to have any money on you?”
“Money? You mean spiritual stones?”
Sun Fubai shook his head with a bitter smile. “No, just money. Gold and silver.”
Originally, golden and silver were basically no different from scrap metal to cultivators at their level. However, when he tried to expand the Cloudwisp association and carry out Li Qingshan’s plan to organise private institutions throughout the Ruyi commandery and teach the children of poor families how to read so that he could pave the foundation of the school of Novels, he discovered that they were truly short on money.
Across the expansive territory of the Ruyi commandery, just building these private institutions would probably take hundreds of million taels of gold and silver. Coupled with recruitment and the fees to maintain the operations, it was an astronomical sum, and he would earn no money from these operations either.
Sun Fubai had plenty of ways to gather money. He already had many salterns and gold mines under his control, which all poured with profits. However, if he insisted on carrying out a grand plan like this, there was still quite a large gap he had to make up for.
After hearing Sun Fubai’s explanation, Liu Chuanfeng said, “Since we don’t have money, then we can just develop slowly. Why do we have to be in such a rush?”
Sun Fubai shook his head. “But that’s far too wasteful. It’s just like if we have an empty plot of land. The more seeds we plant now, the more we can harvest in the future. Each year we miss is a year of harvest lost, so the more we invest right now, the better it will be.”
Li Qingshan rummaged through his hundred treasures pouch and found a lot of silver notes and gold sycees. They were worth tens of thousand taels of silver.
“Then I’m not going to hold back. If only we had more.”
Li Qingshan contemplated and said, “Regular sects won’t save up too much gold and silver, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptions. The Parlours of Clouds and Rain accept customers from far and wide, and most of them are just regular people who use gold and silver. The Sect of Clouds and Rain should be quite wealthy!”
Li Qingshan told them about Liu Zhangqing’s suggestion, and Sun Fubai said immediately, “That’s a good idea. A single Parlour of Clouds and Rain is worth even more than ten money houses!”
“Alright then. I’ll go put in a word with prefect Liu,” Li Qingshan said. It had been quite some time since he last saw Qiu Haitang. He wondered how she was doing right now.