Dao of the Deal

The usually cheerful disciple looked rather the worse for wear. His right arm was in a sling, the pain visible on his face as he forced himself to keep walking. As he drew closer Muchen could make out his bloodshot eyes and just the hint of unshaven stubble on his chin.

"Should you be walking yet?"

"Probably not," Junfeng replied, before gesturing to his broken arm. "But after Hong has escalated this far, I figured it was safer to take my chances outside of the Iron Bones sect."

Muchen gave the boy a closer look. He hadn't showed himself because he was looking for a conversation. Loose cultivators had a short life expectancy on the Qianzhan Continent. If Junfeng didn't feel safe in the Iron Bones sect, he would naturally try to jump ship.

"Why approach me?" Muchen asked. The Flower Mountain sect was recently founded and hardly had any foundation at all. As much confidence as Muchen had tried to project, there was still no solid reason for Junfeng to take a chance on them unless his situation was truly dire.

"I had a good feeling," Junfeng said. "I'd rather join a new sect with a bright future and new friends than keep struggling in that place."

Muchen hummed, not committing one way or the other. He was badly in need of competent cultivators. Adding a new member with eleven meridians open would be a major improvement in their sect's fighting ability, leaving Xinyi to the side.

Taking Xinyi into consideration, she had mentioned that she liked training talents. For Junfeng to flourish despite drawing the hatred of at least one of the sect's higher ups, his innate talent had to be pretty good. On the other hand, taking in another sect's disciples wasn't something to be done lightly. It wasn't illegal and it wouldn't automatically lead to war, but it was something of a slap in the face. If nothing else, it would bury Muchen's already dim hopes of landing a sweetheart deal for spirit stones. Assuming they figured out what had happened.

"Why should I take a chance on you?" he asked.

"My talent isn't bad," Junfeng replied. "If you help me out when I'm in dire straits, naturally I know how to be grateful. From here on out, if you say to go east, I'll never go west."

Muchen tapped his chin in thought. Adding combat power to the sect was all well and good, but it wouldn't bring any immediate benefits to the bottom line. It wasn't like they had access to a guardian space that would let them turn fighting ability into cash. And even if adding another disciple was only adding another pair of chopsticks... he couldn't help but glance down at Junfeng's gut.

He shook off the thought. The cost of food wasn't the issue. The real problem was whether Junfeng could make himself a positive asset for the sect.

"Did you come here straight from your sickbed?" Muchen asked.

Junfeng grinned. "I hit the treasure pavilion on the way out and spent all of my contribution points."

Muchen nodded. "At least you're not a complete fool."

If there was one thing Muchen needed to see in his subordinates, it was the ability to seize every opportunity before them. If Junfeng had simply sneaked out of the sect, not willing to risk cashing in his contribution points, Muchen would hardly have condemned his decision, but it would have dampened his interest in bringing Junfeng onto his team.

In the Qianzhan Continent, you couldn't get ahead without taking some risks.

"I bought every healing supplement that I could," Junfeng said, tapping on his sling with his free hand. "Although I still need time to put them to best use."

Muchen sighed. "You can at least tag along with me back to Li Village. I'll keep the wildlife off of you."

Junfeng may have been in mortal danger in the Iron Bones sect, considering that he and Hong had shed all pretenses of a cordial relationship. If Muchen sent him back after he'd tried to defect, then he would certainly die. If he forced the badly injured boy to make his own way through the wilderness, dodging animals and sect patrols alike, he would almost certainly die. Muchen had lived on the Qianzhan Continent for long to harden his heart on some things, but he still had a bottom line he wouldn't cross.

This much help was still something he could deny if the Iron Bones sect ever asked him about it. They would know he was lying, of course, but they would have the choice to pretend to believe him and they could still enjoy a harmonious relationship. If he took the next step and admitted Junfeng to the Flower Mountain sect, of course, there would be a higher price to pay.

"What are you good at, besides fighting?" Muchen asked, then held up a hand to forestall Junfeng's immediate reply. "And eating."

Junfeng grinned at him, spreading his good arm out to the side with an innocent shrug. "I know a bit of alchemy and I'm a good talker."

Muchen raised an eyebrow. He was a good talker, to so casually claim a talent in alchemy. Alchemists were core members of the sects they graced with their presence. Lessons in alchemy were tightly controlled, and anybody marked with a future in alchemy would have received enough high level backing that nothing like yesterday's fight should ever happened.

Despite that, Junfeng's expression was as placid as ever after setting forth his claims. He was a good talker, and shameless besides. Maybe he could start Junfeng out in sales.

Although, now that he thought about it, besides checking to see if Junfeng was a good fit for Flower Mountain, he should also make sure that Flower Mountain was a good fit for Junfeng. Right now Junfeng might be happy enough to jump ship to any sect that might shelter him from the Iron Bones sect, but that gratitude wouldn't last forever. In the long run, he would leave if he wasn't a good fit. Unfortunately, when he left, he wouldn't take the grudge along with him. If Muchen was going to do permanent damage to his relationship with the Iron Bones sect, he wanted to gain some kind of permanent advantage to offset it.

"At Flower Mountain," he said, "we do not have access to any guardian spaces. Nor do I anticipate we will be getting access any time soon."

"That's fine," Junfeng said, waving his good hand dismissively. "I don't like fighting anyway."

Muchen would be happy to add a pacifist recruit. That didn't mean that he was willing to close his eyes and take on a lazy recruit.

"We still expect disciples to earn their keep," Muchen said. "You won't be able to spend all day cultivating."

"That's fair," Junfeng said. Muchen gave him a skeptical look. It was easy to make promises when you were in a pinch, but hard to follow through. "What kind of work will you have for me?"

He was already talking past the sale. Muchen didn't love that his potential recruit was already trying to manipulate him, but his instinctive grasp of sales techniques could be an asset if everything went well.

"Sales," Muchen said, "and delivery."

"Delivery?" Junfeng asked.

"We produce alcoholic spirits and scented oils," Muchen said. "We can't expect customers to make the trip out to the sect, which means that we need people to take the product to them. While you're out there, I'd also want you to try and dig up new customers as well."

Besides Junfeng's apparent talent for sales, sending him out on the road was also for his own protection. The Iron Bones sect didn't mingle much with the mortal world. As long as Junfeng avoided their recruiting spots during recruiting season, he'd be able to go about his business safely. If he was at Flower Mountain, there was a chance that a visitor from the Iron Bones sect could run into him.

Muchen didn't expect that he would be able to keep Junfeng's presence in the sect a secret forever, but he'd still like to keep it quiet as long as he could. Poaching disciples was a touchy subject on the Qianzhan Continent.

"Sounds like something I can do," Junfeng said, then paused for a moment before continuing. "Traveling would cut into training time, though."

"Your schedule wouldn't be that tight," Muchen said. "You'd have plenty of time to cultivate, though you would probably have to cut back on your martial training."

Most people's bodies could only absorb and process so much spiritual energy in a twenty-four hour period. After the first hour or so of cultivation, the efficiency fell to the point where it wasn't worth carrying on. It was a little frustrating that you couldn't put in extra time to catch up if you missed a day, but on balance Muchen thought it was a blessing not to be caught in some kind of cultivating rat race.

There were special cases, like Xinyi, where a person with an artificially diminished cultivation base could benefit from every possible minute spent cultivating, but those examples were few and far between. A former outer disciple at a low profile place like the Iron Bones sect was not going to be an exception to the rule.

"I won't complain about doing less exercise," Junfeng said, cocking his head. "You really don't plan on getting into a guardian space, do you?"

Martial training, of course, paid off just like any form of exercise. It could be harmful or counterproductive if trainees were pushed beyond their body's limits, but for cultivators with any real achievements under their belts, a full day of training was better than a half day of training which was better than an hour of training. If Junfeng spent his life on the road, he'd naturally transform over time from a fighter to a peddler. Which was exactly what Muchen wanted.

"You should also think about your dao," Muchen said.

Junfeng gave him a curious look. Most people were reluctant to volunteer information about their dao. Under the circumstances Muchen could push for some detail, but he had no plans to do so. After all, he wasn't any kind of guru, able to decipher and improve daos on command. He simply wanted to provide a bit of guidance to help his employees move towards more productive interpretations of their dao.

"Every dao is personal. Unique," Muchen continued. "Of course, there are some similarities."

He took a bite from his trail mix, then cupped his hands and took a drink of water from the stream. He used the time to sort out his thoughts.

"I won't dictate your dao to you. The precise nature of it isn't important to me," Muchen said. "I've found, though, that most dao can be interpreted in at least two ways."

Muchen patted his hands dry, then started preparing his pack for travel.

"Fire can warm, and fire can burn," Muchen said. "At Flower Mountain, we encourage you to try to find the most constructive use of your dao."

In a way, it was good that Junfeng was just an outer disciple. Sure, he wasn't as big of a prize, but then he also wasn't as much of a hot potato. The Iron Bones sect wouldn't be happy to see him joining another sect, but they were less likely to respond with violence than they would be in the face of a defection by an inner disciple.

Also, as he was still working through the meridian opening stage, his dao ought to be somewhat flexible. Muchen was still feeling his way along when it came to such philosophical questions, but as far as he could tell outright changing your dao was always extremely difficult and became impossible once you began building your foundation. Simply changing the emphasis or interpretation of your dao was much easier, although even that became more challenging as one progressed farther along the path of immortality.

Junfeng probably wasn't willing to outright change his dao just on Muchen's say-so. That was fine. As long as he could accept some reasonable advice and start interpreting things in a more productive direction, he'd be that much more valuable to the Flower Mountain sect as he developed.