Doing business

The night sky was dark as ink, the moon shone bright, and stars dotted the heavens.

The disciples of the Cloud Radiance Sect had all finished their evening lessons and returned to their dormitories to wash up and rest. The buildings blazed with light and bustled with voices.

Shen Leyan sat on Zheng Ziheng's sword, with Qingli following behind them as they searched the entire sect for somewhere deserted where they could talk in peace.

Their first stop was a small grove in the Outer Sect.

Before they could use Sword Flight to get any closer, Qingli called out to them in surprise, "I see a male cultivator and a female cultivator in the grove! They're hugging and kissing!"

Alarmed, Shen Leyan hurriedly asked Zheng Ziheng to cast a Silencing Spell on Qingli, afraid the pair of cultivation partners kissing in the grove would fly up on their swords to curse them out.

Embarrassing themselves was one thing, but they couldn't ruin Senior Brother Zheng's good name in one fell swoop.

Their second stop was a classroom where the instructors held lessons.

This time, Shen Leyan could see candles still burning inside. Several Outer Sect disciples, their palms swollen from being struck with bamboo rods, wore miserable expressions as they stayed up copying scriptures, cursing their instructor for being heartless enough to beat their hands.

The sight stirred up some unpleasant memories.

They had better not disturb anyone's studying...

For their third stop, Qingli insisted on going to the Spirit Perch Pavilion.

Zheng Ziheng said gently, "Disciples patrol the Spirit Perch Pavilion at night. It wouldn't be suitable."

Qingli said, "Then if we sit on the roof, nobody will see us, right?"

And so, a little while later, the three of them sat on the roof of the Spirit Perch Pavilion.

The roof was broad and flat, with an unobstructed view. There was even enough room for all of them to lie down.

Shen Leyan lay back with his hands behind his head and his knees slightly bent. Qingli soon copied him, reclining against the roof ridge.

He glanced at Zheng Ziheng. The other young man's back remained straight as a pine, his posture impeccable. Clearly, he was already accustomed to sitting that way.

He briefly explained how Sect Master Lu had given him the Azure Shadow Profound Art, then asked a question.

"Senior Brother Zheng, I heard our Cloud Radiance Sect is a little short on money. Is that true?"

He remembered the original novel mentioning that although the Cloud Radiance Sect was one of the cultivation world's four great sects, it regularly took in orphans and donated money to help the Imperial Court with disaster relief, so its expenses had always exceeded its income.

Cultivation was expensive to begin with. Buying cultivation arts cost money, buying magical treasures cost money, buying spiritual pills cost money, and staying at inns while traveling to slay demons cost money too...

Although ridding wealthy local gentry and high-ranking dignitaries of demons paid handsomely, they always seemed to encounter impoverished commoners suffering at demons' hands whenever they went out.

They couldn't just leave those people to their fate, could they?

Over time, the Cloud Radiance Sect's expenses had mounted.

Zheng Ziheng nodded, then quickly smiled and reassured him.

"We are a little short on money, but Master and the elders occasionally sell the Pills they refine. The sect still has enough money to keep its disciples fed."

High-grade Pills were indeed valuable, but becoming an Alchemist was even harder than becoming a cultivator. That wasn't something he could help with.

"I have an idea for making money. I just need some startup funds. Would you like to hear it, Senior Brother Zheng?"

A flicker of surprise crossed Zheng Ziheng's tea-brown eyes, and he answered earnestly.

"Please go ahead, Junior Brother."

"I want to open a restaurant in the Cloud Radiance Sect. I made some food today. Qingli tried it, and so did Sect Master Lu—Qingli, tell him, was it good?"

Qingli smacked those lips at the memory. "Delicious!"

Zheng Ziheng said, "Could it be that smell of chili oil..."

"That's right, that was the smell of Hot Pot. Hot Pot is great in every way, except the smell tends to cling to your clothes afterward—how did you know, Senior Brother Zheng?"

Zheng Ziheng said, "..."

"...Master told me."

"I want the restaurant to mainly serve Hot Pot, with some desserts and drinks on the side. Of course, if cultivators from the Inner Sect want to eat there, we can stock meat from rare and exotic beasts to help with their cultivation."

"But most Inner Sect disciples practice grain avoidance and don't need to eat. The Outer Sect dining hall provides free meals for its disciples. Would anyone really come to the restaurant?"

Shen Leyan had already studied the makeup of the Cloud Radiance Sect's disciples. Half came from ordinary families like his, while the other half were young masters and young ladies whose families had money, or even considerable influence.

Those people had plenty of money to spare. They would buy dozens of different foods for their spirit pets, so as long as his restaurant's Hot Pot tasted good enough, they would certainly be willing to spend a little money on a meal.

It was just like university students in the modern world. The campus dining hall might be cheap, but how could it compare to ordering takeout?

Besides, Outer Sect disciples could work at the restaurant and have it count as sect assignments.

He could make money for the Cloud Radiance Sect while finding jobs for its Outer Sect disciples. How great was that?

Luckily, the modern world had plenty of food bloggers and even more short cooking tutorials. Making some Hot Pot Seasoning was well within his abilities.

He explained all of this to Zheng Ziheng, talking until his mouth felt a little dry. "I'll write up a detailed plan for opening the restaurant over the next couple of days. How about you take a look then, Senior Brother Zheng?"

"I don't know much about business, but once you've written your plan, I'll give it to Master and the elders to review."

That meant things were beginning to take shape.

"What made you suddenly want to open a restaurant and earn money, Junior Brother?"

"Well..." Shen Leyan patted the Azure Shadow Profound Art tucked inside his robes. "When someone does you a favor, you ought to repay it. There isn't much else I can do for the Cloud Radiance Sect."

Something seemed to occur to Zheng Ziheng. His gaze softened, and he gently stroked the top of Shen Leyan's head.

"If you want to do something for the sect, Junior Brother, there is actually a problem right now. I wonder if you might have any ideas."

"Hmm?"

"Lately, the sect's disciples... have developed a habit of spreading rumors. Today, Qingli took human form from the Spirit-Testing Stone and flew out of the Spirit Perch Pavilion in full view of everyone.

"On my way to find you, I heard quite a few disciples saying... saying things like, 'Could the elder in charge of the Spirit Perch Pavilion be some old pervert who likes little girls? He clearly heard the Spirit-Testing Stone speaking in a cute little girl's voice.'

"And because you used a Voice Transmission Talisman, Junior Brother, quite a few disciples are discussing whether you might be the illegitimate son of Master and some woman outside the sect.

"As for the other rumors, strange claims crop up every month. The elders and disciples of the Law Enforcement Hall truly don't know how to deal with them."

Qingli bristled. "The elder at the Spirit Perch Pavilion is so kind! Those people are talking complete nonsense!"

Shen Leyan found it rather funny, but Zheng Ziheng looked so serious and spoke so earnestly that he felt too awkward to laugh. Holding it in made his stomach hurt.

Only after pinching himself to stop the laughter did he slowly speak.

"Is that supposedly perverted elder at the Spirit Perch Pavilion an old man?"

"No. She's a female elder with a family."

Shen Leyan said, "..."

He had still underestimated the imaginations of the Cloud Radiance Sect's disciples.

"Does the Cloud Radiance Sect have its own newspaper? Something like the Imperial Court's Court Gazette?"

The Court Gazette was used by the Imperial Court to announce imperial edicts, officials' promotions and demotions, and major events in the capital and the various prefectures.

"Well... no, we don't."