The next morning.
The four of them, refreshed after a night's rest, rose full of energy.
They went to Xingcheng Wharf and boarded a boat for Jiangzhou.
They rocked along on the cargo ship.
Along the way, they took in all the scenery of Jiangnan Prefecture.
Six days later.
They arrived in Jiangzhou.
Jiangzhou, the most prosperous prefectural capital in Jiangnan Prefecture, already had a population of over ten million.
Jiangzhou City was crisscrossed with waterways, and water transport was highly developed. There were dozens of wharves alone.
The cargo ship docked at a small wharf in Jiangzhou City, and the four of them filed ashore one after another.
Perhaps because he had taken up martial arts, Lu Changfeng's seasickness from his previous life had disappeared.
During the journey, he had actually found life aboard the ship quite pleasant.
"We're in Jiangzhou, Changfeng!"
The most excited person as soon as they got off the boat was Chun Zhu.
The Jiangnan Prefecture locals passing by wore stylish, brightly colored clothes, and Chun Zhu could hardly tear her eyes away.
Lu Changfeng had already made plans while they were on the road.
Now that he possessed the inheritance of the Giant Elephant Woman in terms of cultivation techniques, there was no need for him to rush to join any faction.
Lu Changfeng decided to first open a martial arts school and cultivate in seclusion. On the one hand, it would conceal his identity; on the other, it would let him interact with Jiangzhou's martial arts world.
In his spare time, he could also discover disciples with exceptional talent and innate potential.
Of course, Lu Changfeng did not expect a newly opened martial arts school to recruit many disciples or make much money.
For the time being, he booked rooms at an inn.
Then Lu Changfeng took Black Ox out to look for a suitable site for the martial arts school.
After making some inquiries, Lu Changfeng secretly clicked his tongue at the price of land in Jiangzhou.
Fortunately, he had his master's inheritance, along with some of Lu Changfeng's usual earnings, which was enough to purchase a modestly sized property.
If absolutely necessary, Lu Changfeng had also stored up a great deal of Silkworm Meat Jerky over the past two years. Selling it would bring in a considerable sum.
With the help of a broker, Lu Changfeng spent tens of thousands of taels of silver to purchase a property on Five Horse Street, Jiangzhou's martial arts school district.
The property covered roughly five or six mu of land.
Its layout was well suited to a martial arts school. Two-thirds of the area was the front courtyard's martial training ground.
Apart from the main hall in the center, the middle courtyard had eight side rooms on either side, for a total of sixteen rooms.
The rear courtyard was a small garden. It was spring, and the garden was filled with the fragrance of flowers. The previous owner had planted many vivid, famous blossoms there.
The place could also serve as Lu Changfeng's usual cultivation grounds.
Lu Changfeng also planned to dig a cellar beneath the small garden to store the Silkworm Seeds.
After purchasing the property,
the next day, Lu Changfeng ordered some weapons, weapon racks, and a plaque bearing several large characters: "Changle Martial Arts School."
By the time everything had been fully arranged, ten days had already passed.
On an ordinary day, a martial arts school quietly opened on Five Horse Street in Jiangzhou.
There were no gongs or drums, nor any visiting guests.
Some curious people stepped inside to look around. The training ground was empty, save for a dark-skinned man practicing a fist technique.
A young man lay lazily in a reclining chair, basking in the sunlight.
The place was so deserted that people turned around and left at once.
For half a month after the martial arts school opened, not a single disciple came to register.
Lu Changfeng did not mind in the slightest. He devoted himself to practicing martial arts. In any case, he still had enough money to spend.
Chun Zhu, however, grew anxious. She felt that Lu Changfeng had forgotten what it was like to suffer through hard times.
Such profligate behavior was unforgivable!
Thus, under Chun Zhu's urging, Lu Changfeng finally found a newspaper office in Jiangzhou.
The Jiangzhou Anecdotes newspaper office.
It was on the street neighboring Five Horse Street.
Among Jiangzhou's many newspapers, Jiangzhou Anecdotes was not highly ranked.
Its advantage, however, was that its content catered more toward ordinary commoners.
And ordinary commoners were precisely where martial arts schools found their disciples.
When the newspaper office's female clerk saw the tall Lu Changfeng enter, clearly a powerful martial artist at a glance, she immediately rose to greet him. In a gentle, pleasant Jiangnan accent, she said, "Welcome to the newspaper office, sir. How may I help you?"
Lu Changfeng looked down at the female clerk, who barely reached his waist, and got straight to the point. "How much does it cost to place an advertisement in the newspaper?"
The female clerk was highly practiced at her work.
She turned around and took a newspaper template from beneath the counter.
The template had no words on it, only boxes of various sizes.
Each box contained a number.
"This is the latest woodblock template for our Jiangzhou Anecdotes newspaper."
"The numbers in these boxes correspond to the prices for the respective positions in the newspaper. Advertisements will run for three consecutive issues, and the prices are very reasonable!"
Lu Changfeng thought that it really was simple and clear. After looking over the newspaper template, he pointed to a spot on it. The position was reasonably priced and fairly well placed.
"Sir, you have an excellent eye!" The female clerk gave Lu Changfeng a thumbs-up, then said, "The total is thirty taels of silver!"
"Write down the content, and you'll be able to see it in tomorrow's Jiangzhou Anecdotes!"
"Of course, the content can't involve gambling, pornography, or drugs!"
Lu Changfeng took the paper, brush, and ink the female clerk handed him and simply wrote out an advertisement for the martial arts school.
Earlier, Lu Changfeng had made some inquiries about the fees charged by the martial arts schools on Five Horse Street.
Generally speaking, a small martial arts school whose owner was a Blood Tempering martial artist charged around ten taels of silver for half a year, including one meal a day.
Of course, if the owner had good martial talent and was exceptionally skilled in a particular branch of martial arts, the fee would rise by five taels or more.
If the owner of a large martial arts school was an Inner Energy Martial Master, the fees would soar to between thirty and fifty taels of silver for half a year.
As for martial arts schools whose owners were Bone Forging Realm Martial Sects—
There were actually three such schools on Jiangzhou's Five Horse Street, but the prerequisites for selecting disciples at those three schools were astonishing.
They were choosing disciples, rather than disciples choosing a martial arts school. The two simply could not be compared.
Lu Changfeng thought that although he was only a Blood Tempering Realm Martial Artist, he was still someone who had slain an Inner Energy Martial Artist.
Thus, he stated in the advertisement that the fee was twenty taels for half a year, or a discounted rate of thirty-five taels for one year.
That was quite reasonable, right?!
As for why martial arts schools all charged by the half-year at minimum, it was because in the path of martial arts, without half a year, one could not even get started.
After thinking for a moment, Lu Changfeng added to the advertisement that the school owner was exceptionally skilled in swordplay.
Lu Changfeng decided that, from now on, he would publicly operate in Jiangzhou City under the identity of a supreme swordsman.
That way, he could display his maximum combat strength.
At present, the Heavenly Blade Technique was still in the Blood Tempering Realm accumulation stage of the Heavenly Body Tempering Blade Technique, and had not yet displayed its later-stage combat power.
The Storm Sword Intent was currently Lu Changfeng's strongest combat method.
He handed the written note to the female clerk.
After paying the advertising fee, Lu Changfeng left the newspaper office amid the female clerk's enthusiastic farewell.
Thus, Lu Changfeng spent thirty taels of silver to place an advertisement for his martial arts school in a corner of Jiangzhou Anecdotes, a newspaper aimed at ordinary commoners.
Jiangzhou Anecdotes went on sale every morning at five or six o'clock.
He had no idea what effect the advertisement would have tomorrow.
If it attracted someone with High-grade Swordplay Talent, Lu Changfeng would have gathered four Sword Technique Talents of the high-grade level and could fuse them into his first Super-grade Talent!
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