Chapter 33 - Foothold (2)

Lin Feng

Moving around showing the product sample Blood Refining Cult have for sales can be delegated to Lin Feng's subordinates. As a precaution, it is best for him to send out envoys with only cultivation at the intermediate or proficient stage of the first major realm. Given how unpredictable and treacherous evil cultivators can be, his subordinates will be able to quickly regain their cultivation even if they ended up dead due to betrayal.

As for the price for Blood Refining Cult goods, Lin Feng has instructed that all goods will only be traded for slaves. Slave trading has always been one of the most atrocious and inhumane industries on Norozza. Slave traders will never keep any slaves that can't be sold. This has led to a lot of senseless killing especially when it comes to old and infirm slaves. Now that Lin Feng is willing to offer a price for any living slaves albeit at different price point, he hopes this will reduce the amount of such senseless killing. Given the utilitarian nature of evil cultivators, there is a high possibility of them selling their old slaves just to squeeze the last bit of benefit out of them.

The old and the infirm might be a major burden to a feudal economy but this might not be true when it comes to a modern industrialized society. With an abundance of cheap food and severe shortage of manpower, there are always tasks that can be assigned to them, freeing up the younger workforce for other roles that have a higher demand for stamina and vigor.

Within the local region now Lin Feng holds sway, loose cultivator settlements are the most numerous. At the same time, they are also easiest to be dealt with since the highest cultivation in such settlements are only in the first major realm. Next up on the food chain are other local powers that can rival Lin Feng's group combat power. There are exactly twenty such local power and will also mostly likely be Lin Feng's main trading partners. At the very top of the local food chain is the Corpse Refining Cult. As a deviant sect, one can expect their leadership to be corrupted, similar to those corrupted regime back on Earth. Aside from paying the tribute due to the Corpse Refining Cult, Lin Feng will have to choice but to bribe at least a few of their leaders if he doesn't want the local hegemon to regularly come look for trouble.

Setting up the local region trade network is the easy part. At the regional level, Lin Feng will need to be at the top of his game given the complex relationship and politics between the regional hegemon. For one, trading with the enemies of the Corpse Refining Cult is just asking for trouble. Even if Lin Feng are willing to risk such deals, it will have be done clandestinely. What will stumble other small rootless organization will not be an issue for him. In Norozza, evil practices are the norm while the anything orthodox in other part of cultivation world are the deviant path. As such, his claim of being a minor branch of a much more powerful and mysterious "deviant" sect is not entirely a lie. Behind him stands the People's Republic Of China. With the support of an army of analysts, planners and strategist back on Earth, the chance of him managing those delicate relationship wouldn't be an issue. In fact, his team back on Earth has already began plotting how to sow further discord and conflict across Norozza.

*****

Bai Xue

The revelation behind Lin Fu survival within has not only significantly altered Lin Feng's life trajectory. Ever since Lin Feng's reassignment by the government, Bai Xue has to take over the family's leadership role. As the new matriarch of the family, she needs to rally all Lin family members and its in-laws to consolidate their foothold in . As the gateway to the cultivation world, the importance of to change their families' fortune has gone beyond their wildest imagination.

Priority in life has to be realigned. Bai Xue and her husband has sold their business to fully focus on . Ever since has been made public, the big capitals has been aggressively soliciting the guilds that have made their presence known and especially generous with their wallet. Bai Xue is very well aware of the threat brought about by this big capitals. Take pig rearing as an example, those large capitals are willing to invest hundreds of millions into constructing a building with more than twenty floors to raise pig with economics of scale in mind. What small or medium size pig farm are able to compete against such goliath in the long run? However, Bai Xue has no intention of asking these big capitals to invest in their family. Big capitals are not saints. A single misstep by her could risk her family's business being swallowed up by these big capitals. 

Fortunately for Bai Xue, she has her own source of financing without needing to rely on this big capitals. The country has been generous in supporting the Lin family alliance endeavor in . Bank loans guaranteed by the state, speedy official approvals, as long as it is legal and within reason, the country will provide them with all the convenience needed to achieve success. Taking care of the Lin family is a way for the country to reassure Lin Feng everything is well back at home and he can wholeheartedly commit to the national cause. Off course, the Yang family has also been lobbying for the Lin family to given a few extra privileges returning the favor to Lin Feng for roping Yang Wenming into early. Off course, this is contingent on the fact that the Lin family alliance members have a clean background and the most severe transgression ever recorded are fines for speeding and illegal parking.

Taking everything into consideration, the country's investment in the Lin family alliance is a safe bet. Their family is after all one of the few knowing the truth and the importance behind . Unless the entire Lin family alliance members are mentally unsound, they will never squander such a precious opportunity and pull all their stops to achieve success in the cultivation world.

The first major decision Bai Xue made in is diverting all their family resources originally meant for developing their holding on Ovina to Xinyuan, the new minor world bought by the country from Immortals Ascension Pavillion. As a new frontier, access to Eldorin will be sparse until a gateway is successfully built. After emptying all the wealth at their disposal buying the resources needed on Xinyuan, she and her husband join the first batch of pioneer to enter the new minor world along with all the family's contracted workers. Lin Yi has been left behind back on Eldorin to continue securing more contracted workers and whatever resources Bai Xue lacks. Although Lin Fu has also been sent to Xinyuan, he will most likely be so busy fulfilling his public duty that he won't have much time for family affairs. 

Bai Xue might have relocated the family's focus to Xinyuan but her overall strategy has remained the same. She will start laying her family's foundation in the hospitality industry by owning a chain of restaurants. The flagship restaurant is located on Xianjing, the future administrative capital of Xinyuan. With her husband's assistance, her restaurant is one of the few restaurants that are able opens daily in Xianjing, quickly becoming one of the most popular haunts for immortal bone cultivators. It is a good start to the family's grand ambition of building a successful hospitality empire in the cultivation world.

Aside from the main restaurant serving spirit food to cultivators, she has also began operating a chain of restaurants serving the mortal population brought back from other worlds in the lower realm. Profit might be marginal but it is much easier to expand a mundane restaurant's operation. Even then, "easy" is a relative term.

Xinyuan being a world poor in cultivation resources meant wild demonic beasts aren't too powerful and the strongest are only at the second major realm. With the weapons invented by Earth cultivators, those wild demonic beasts are never much of a threat enabling the country to pursue an aggressive expansion strategy. Since level one spirit gathering array is the easiest to complete, the country has chosen the strategy of building hundreds of small town with level one spirit gathering arrays to increase access slots. China has a population size that is four times larger than America, meaning it will need to build four times more facilities too. This also means that their country has to work much harder than any other countries to ensure all citizens can access the cultivation world.

With Xianjing being the center, the government has been rapidly building small settlements outward. The rate of new settlements cropping up are so rapid that Bai Xue has to pick and chose which settlements her restaurants will expand toward. Even with access to more bank loans, she has to make her money count. A bank loan is not free money and every dime needs to be repaid with interest down the road. The family's future prosperity will now be dependent upon her ability to assess which settlement will develop into tier one and two cities while avoiding settlements with limited economic growth prospect.