Future Ambitions

After eating and drinking his fill, Li Ye left Hongbin Tower amid the owner's ingratiating smiles and watchful gaze.

Before leaving, he not only gave the man the recipe for Eight Treasure Chicken, but also gave him detailed instructions on how to make soy-braised beef.

The owner's face bloomed with smiles.

"Brother Li Bai, how do you know so many things?"

On the street, Zhou Bao felt as if he were dreaming.

Not only had he eaten at Hongbin Tower, a place reserved for the rich and powerful, without getting beaten up, but he had also been treated like an honored guest.

Li Ye replied, "My family used to run... run a restaurant too."

He hadn't lied.

It was just that the family in question belonged to his previous life.

Zhou Bao was astonished. He hadn't expected Li Ye's family to have once been so well off. He had no idea how they'd fallen into ruin, leaving Li Ye to become a lowly Corpse Incinerator.

"Wait, Brother Li Bai. Are we heading to South City?"

"Where else?"

"But what are we going to South City for?"

"Beyond South City, there are vast stands of Bay Laurel Trees, Fragrant Osmanthus Trees, Wild Star Anise, and more. I announced what these things are used for at the restaurant just now. I'm sure people will catch on soon. Then everyone will go out to gather them, and before long they'll become scarce."

"I get it. We're going to gather them first, then sell them to people who need them? Heh, that owner only had eyes for Brother Li Bai's Eight Treasure Chicken recipe and overlooked the value of Bay Laurel Trees and all the rest. Brother Li Bai, you're brilliant."

"Exactly! As the saying goes, scarcity makes things precious. The two of us can't gather it all, but we have five hundred taels of silver, and there are countless starving people in South City... We have to get it all within two or three days. Whatever's left after that, we burn."

The two walked and talked.

Before long, they arrived at a money house.

Li Ye exchanged some of the silver for copper coins, filling a large bundle to use for wages later.

Then they headed for South City.

South City was mostly home to ordinary people. Its living conditions and surroundings were nothing like those of North City.

As far as the eye could see, dilapidated houses stood in rows, with the occasional stately residence among them.

Many streets were lined with migrants from other regions, sitting or lying on the ground.

"Hey, which of you is in charge?"

Zhou Bao came to a street corner, nudged a man sitting on the ground with his eyes closed, and asked.

"...What is it?"

The man looked puzzled.

"Something good."

Zhou Bao said, then explained the job to him.

All the starving people opened their eyes in unison.

What? They could get paid just for going outside the city to dig up leaves and bark? Two copper coins per pound?

Two copper coins could buy a steamed corn bun.

Although the migrants had eaten nearly everything edible in the wilderness, the fragrant leaves, cinnamon bark, and Wild Star Anise were too strong in flavor and almost impossible to swallow.

Besides, this wasn't a severely stricken region, so there was plenty to be found outside the city.

"Sir, is that true?"

A man's eyes shone.

"Of course it's true. You heard me, didn't you?"

Li Ye said, then patted the bundle on Zhou Bao's back. The sound of clinking copper coins rang out from inside.

The crowd had no more doubts.

"Meet in this alley before dusk. Keep a low profile, and don't draw attention."

Li Ye instructed them.

He was helping Zhou Bao find a way forward, but there was still one thing to take care of.

A house.

They needed to buy one as a base. They couldn't afford a mansion, but a modest farmhouse wouldn't cost much.

"This house on Seventh Street is thirty taels."

"This one on Ninth Street is thirty-three taels."

A real estate agent, a man in his fifties, showed the two of them around.

After inspecting the area in person, Li Ye and Zhou Bao finally chose a modest, rather secluded old house.

Thirty-seven taels of silver.

They paid on the spot and received the deed.

"Brother Zhou, this business will bring in a lot of profit. You probably can't handle it alone."

"Let's make a big pile of money first. After that... we'll see."

In the courtyard, Li Ye handed Zhou Bao the deed and spoke gravely.

His plan for Zhou Bao was to sell the goods gathered beyond South City, then look for supplies elsewhere. They could even open branch shops in different regions, or rent land to grow the plants on a large scale and distribute the harvest.

But the chain of profits was too big. Li Ye was afraid Zhou Bao couldn't shoulder it alone.

The most direct solution was to find a powerful backer and have them provide labor, resources, and the like.

Still, they would have to think carefully about who to approach.

Zhou Bao took the deed from Li Ye, looking bewildered. "What do you mean? Brother Li Bai, you're going back to the Corpse Refining Courtyard? You're not staying with me?"

"But we already have silver! And we'll earn even more later."

Li Ye smiled. "Don't worry. I'll come see you whenever I have time."

"If anything comes up, you can come find me at the Corpse Refining Courtyard."

Zhou Bao couldn't understand why Brother Li Bai would leave a good life behind and return to the dangerous Corpse Refining Courtyard.

Li Ye didn't explain. Zhou Bao was quick-witted and not stupid. He was sure Zhou Bao could handle what came next.

As for the Corpse Refining Courtyard, of course he had to go back.

What did silver matter? It was nothing but an earthly possession.

What he wanted was a cultivation base that could look down on all under heaven.

The two talked a little longer. Seeing that it was getting late, Li Ye said goodbye to Zhou Bao and returned to the Corpse Refining Courtyard.

As for Zhou Bao, he had already arranged things with the Corpse Refining Courtyard before coming down the mountain. A Reserve Corpse Incinerator could fill his vacancy.

Looks like even if I can't cultivate, I can still make a fortune in this world, then surround myself with wives and concubines and live free and easy...

Li Ye thought happily.

But that was only a passing fancy. Silver and women were fleeting clouds; strength was what mattered most.

Li Ye intended to keep lying low, stay invisible, and grow stronger in secret.

Night fell, and a mass of Black-Clad Academicians streamed inside.

After returning, Li Ye had dozed off for a while before getting up to wash his face, eat, and heat the furnace.

Before long, two Corpse Deliverers carried in a corpse on a stretcher.

Click!

The room was locked.

Li Ye calmly lifted the Corpse Wrapping Cloth and saw a middle-aged man with a bloodless face.

He was a Taoist. Red spots showed faintly beneath his skin, signs of Corpse Transformation. Red hair would eventually sprout, but the process was slow.

Li Ye didn't rush.

He followed the proper procedures, tidying the man's appearance and body, lighting candles and incense, and burning paper offerings.

Only after completing the whole ritual did he push the middle-aged man into the Corpse Incineration Furnace.

Before long, the body began to break down, and scenes from his life blossomed forth.

The Taoist had come from a small Taoist Temple. He had flouted convention since childhood and immersed himself in the Art of Alchemy and the Divination Art.

In fact, he had made some achievements in both fields. He simply hadn't put them to use on the Righteous Path.

Then Li Ye saw a few scenes that were too vile to look at.

In the visions, the Taoist used fortune-telling as a pretext to lure one female worshipper after another into his room, then made them swallow pills he had refined.

The women would lose consciousness, and the Taoist would have his way with them.

One day, while the Taoist was up to his usual misdeeds, he got unlucky. His master caught him in the act, and the truth came out.

The old Taoist flew into a rage and unleashed his full might, crippling the Taoist's cultivation on the spot and casting him out of the sect.

After leaving the Taoist Temple, the Taoist still prospered and made a fortune by relying on his Divine Divination Art.

The final scene showed the Taoist fooling around with a prostitute. Unable to perform, he took medicine again and again, then suffered Yang Depletion after a night of vigorous activity with her.

"Could it be the woman I saw at Yihongyuan this morning?"

Li Ye was utterly surprised.

So they still hadn't managed to save the man.

What a coincidence. He had witnessed the whole thing that morning, and the man had been carried in that very night.

It was karma, too.

What Li Ye hadn't noticed was that he had been so focused on the Taoist's fate in the visions that he'd overlooked the fact that he had seen the woman in bed before.

Buzz!

A wisp of white mist drifted out of the Corpse Incineration Furnace and darted into Li Ye's body.

The next moment, Li Ye felt his Mental Magnetic Field change.

A stream of information surfaced in his mind.

Daily Divination: Calculate all Heavenly Secrets except your own, once per day.