Through a broker's introduction, Lu Bian rented a secluded little courtyard on the outskirts of Dongjing and settled in.
He was reluctant to part with the donkey that had accompanied him all this way.
If he were living alone, Lu Bian wouldn't have needed to rent a place with a courtyard.
"Stubborn Donkey, you'd better be properly grateful to your master."
Lu Bian spoke to the donkey.
"I'm rather fond of you, you know. Your coat is sleek and glossy, and you're fatter and stronger than the donkeys I've seen on the road or working in the shops. The broker asked if I wanted to sell you, but I turned him down on the spot."
The stupid donkey looked at Lu Bian and brayed twice. It couldn't understand a word its master said, anyway.
He didn't dare leave the donkey home alone. He'd only just arrived in Dongjing and didn't know anyone there; it could easily attract thieves. So whenever Lu Bian went out, he took the donkey along.
He didn't want to test the security of the Great Song's capital.
After four or five days in Dongjing, Lu Bian had familiarized himself with the area around his lodgings, as well as a few important markets and streets. Once he knew his way around, he started looking for work.
He couldn't keep relying on the "relief" sent by the big brothers in the Chat Group. Earning an honest living through steady work made Lu Bian feel more at ease.
Lu Bian had a donkey. He wasn't penniless.
With Stubborn Donkey's help, Lu Bian could pick up day jobs hauling cargo at Dongjing's harbor, earning a few dozen coins each time.
One copper coin was worth one wen. A bowl of lamb offal soup at Dongjing's night market cost twenty wen. After a full day's work, Lu Bian earned just enough for two or three bowls of soup... and that was on a day when there was plenty of work.
Lu Bian was a stranger in Dongjing, with no acquaintances who could vouch for him. Finding hauling work at all was already good, especially since the cargo only had to be moved within the city and other porters worked alongside him.
He'd seen what manual labor paid.
As someone who'd had little experience of society before, Lu Bian was astonished that he'd managed to put down roots in a city like Dongjing.
Perhaps it was because he didn't have to worry much about food. He was only working hard to earn enough for the donkey's fodder and his rent.
He only bought food because he fancied a snack.
He disguised himself as an ordinary man, letting people see nothing more than someone with a bit of strength when he hauled cargo. Lu Bian lived very discreetly. As long as trouble didn't come looking for him, he had no desire to reveal any of his formidable power.
Shi Tianwu: [Lu Bian, do you still want to continue your cultivation?]
Lu Bian: [Of course I do.]
Shi Tianwu: [I have a great idea.]
Lu Bian: [Go on, brother. No need to beat around the bush with me.]
Shi Tianwu: [Become a stonemason. Learn to use a chisel to carve things.]
Lu Bian: [A stonemason. Got it.]
Shi Tianwu: [You don't need to find a master and work as an apprentice. I've uploaded stonemasonry knowledge to the group.]
Lu Bian: [Brother, are you tired of seeing me doing manual labor? Is that why you want to get me a different job?]
Shi Tianwu: [No, I don't mind you hauling cargo all day. I just thought you might be getting bored.]
Lu Bian: [It's definitely boring, but it has its moments. Listening to the dockworkers talk about what's happening in other places makes me feel like I'm getting firsthand news from this era.]
Lu Bian: [I've downloaded it...]
Lu Bian: [I wonder if stonemasonry can make any money.]
Lu Bian knew little about the work or wages of stonemasons in the Great Song.
But after looking into it, he felt that Shi Tianwu's suggestion had been absolutely right.
Stonemasons worked stone of all kinds, shaping and carving it.
Stone statues and engraved steles were both the work of stonemasons.
There was huge demand for such work in the Great Song, and Lu Bian threw himself into the trade.
From then on, Stubborn Donkey's loads were made of stone. Every day, Lu Bian left home and went outside Dongjing to find stone, then hauled it back to carve.
At daybreak, when the neighbor next door left for work, the sound of chisels striking stone began to ring through Lu Bian's courtyard. The crisp blows continued until dusk, when the sun sank in the west.
At first, Lu Bian couldn't control his strength. A few strikes would open a great crack in the stone. The material wasn't completely ruined, though; he would simply change his design and keep carving.
Before long, the small courtyard was piled high with stone. Even the unusable pieces had their purpose. In the prosperous metropolis of Dongjing, you could sell anything; there was always someone who needed it. Lu Bian contacted a broker and sold the scraps and broken stone.
Before he'd even mastered the craft, Lu Bian was already making a little money.
How long would it take him to hone his stonemasonry until it came naturally?
Two months was enough.
But this was still only an entry-level stage of "cultivation" as far as Shi Tianwu was concerned.
A stonemason who had mastered the craft could carve stone for buildings. Shi Tianwu wanted Lu Bian to go further: to carve sculptures and become an artist.
What could he cultivate by using stone carving to train his magnetic-field power?
The answer was the [Perfect Realm].
Magnetic-field power was an all-around system of enhancement. It didn't just increase a person's combat strength; it also enhanced their ability to think.
Every magnetic-field powerhouse was a magnetic-field scientist, with thinking abilities that surpassed those of ordinary people.
Another three months passed, and Lu Bian's Perfect Realm improved tremendously. His secret stonemasonry skills had left every other stonemason in Dongjing far behind.
Shi Tianwu was somewhat satisfied with the statues Lu Bian had carved, so Lu Bian prepared to show the people of the Song his astonishing stone-carving art!
Lu Bian wanted to make a name for himself.
Only once he was famous would people seek him out and offer him stonemasonry work and money.
Lu Bian left Dongjing to search the mountains for a large, fine stone. Once he'd found the right one, he set it down along the main road leading to the capital, then began carving the massive stone into a Buddha statue right beside the road.
Lu Bian had seen temples and Taoist sanctuaries all over the Great Song. The gods and Buddhas enshrined in them were made of clay, wood, or stone.
The Great Song government strictly forbade the people from making statues out of bronze or iron.
"Huh?" Passersby watched Lu Bian carving the statue with great curiosity.
"Whose statue is that?"
"Look at the shape. It seems to be a Bodhisattva."
"A Bodhisattva? It must be Guanyin, the one who saves the suffering~!"
The statue Lu Bian was carving was indeed Guanyin Bodhisattva.
Day after day, he carved along the main road used by travelers to and from Dongjing. Crowds of passersby stopped to watch, and people from the city came out to see the spectacle...
Little by little, Lu Bian began to gain a reputation.
A strange man was building a statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva beside the road outside Dongjing. Day by day, the stone figure grew more lifelike, its eyes lowered and kind, a smile on its lips, making people want to fall to their knees and worship.
Why had Lu Bian chosen Guanyin Bodhisattva?
He thought that he'd crossed over into this world at Guanyin Zen Temple. Sister Guanyin probably wouldn't mind him.
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