Immortality Starts With Generosity

The days began to blend until almost a month had passed since he found himself in this world.

After Lan Fen received her ‘dowry’ she quickly went to work ingratiating herself with the staff, greasing palms, and buying secrets. In the mornings Manager Lin came to him with fresh complaints and suspicions while in the evenings Lan Fen informed him of common knowledge he’d be expected to know as the Young Master and, at his request, things the Young Master preferred hidden. As it turned out the predecessor had quite the rap sheet and Lan Fen always dug out some new scandal he was involved in or tragedy he had inflicted.

Between all this, he cultivated and practiced. The vision of the yellow dragon appeared again when he recited the sutra of the Yellow Dragon River Refinement. It wasn’t nearly as intense as the first time which, he was informed, was typical. It wasn’t enough to just flow your energy a specific way you also had to change the properties of the qi directly. The sutra acted as a sort of self-hypnosis to guide them in properly doing so. The Canyon Carving Sword was the same, Chen Haoran was embarrassed to admit it but he had skipped over the sutra at first since just flowing his qi gave him incredible results. In reality, it was a rather crude way of attacking with his qi, including the Canyon Carving sutra added a whole dimension of power to his esoteric fumbling.

He was now practicing in an isolated training ground outside the manor as his private one in the inner courtyard was ruined when he properly used the Canyon Carving Sword for the first time.

Unlike him who never left the estate, Lan Fen split her time subverting the loyalty of the servants in the manor and sneaking out under the guise of the night on secret tasks. Usually, this involved her bringing back some kind of delicate purchase or a new face to be included as part of her retinue. The latter was a particular goatee-pulling nuisance to Manager Lin, apparently as Lan Fen told it they were her people when she had still been powerful in the Lin family. While most of her allies deserted her after her accident some remained loyal and were left adrift when she had been forcibly married to him, now that she had a foundation again she quickly brought them back under her fold.

Manager Lin had practically been frothing at the mouth over Lan Fen’s actions. So it was a good thing Chen Haoran saddled him up with gold and had him searching high and low for cultivation aids.

Naturally, they all went to Lan Fen. She had been surprised to find out he had been telling the truth that money had not been an issue but took it in stride and quickly commandeered an isolation room located in its own separate building in a far corner of the estate.

Received Hundred-Fold: 100-Year-Old Mountain Ginseng

Received Hundred-Fold: Spirit Gathering Pill

Received Hundred-Fold: Cleansing Meridian Springwater Elixir

Lan Fen practically guzzled down all the herbs, pills, and tonics as fast as they could come in. The only thing keeping Manager Lin silent on the consumption was Chen Haoran’s rapid rise as he quickly returned to the Fifth Layer of the Qi realm.

Things were starting to look up.

---------------

It was funny how things could become increasingly annoying in two weeks. Lan Fen had closed herself off in the isolation room and allowed none to disturb her unless it was to deliver more cultivation aids.

Aids that were becoming increasingly difficult for Manager Lin to source as he had bought up all the stock that money could buy. Or rather all the stock their money could buy. Chen Haoran had once heard back on Earth that businesses only look at the color green, who owned it didn’t matter.

He could now say that was a damn lie.

Oh sure, the merchants they were buying from liked their gold but not enough to let them budge in on the supply channels controlled by the aristocratic families even when they offered double the price.

He didn’t think having more cultivation resources would help him at the moment though. While he felt fine physically, whenever he attempted to cultivate it was a laborious affair that left him feeling bloated like he had eaten too much. Thus Chen Haoran’s cultivation was stalled until Lan Fen came out of isolation.

“Young Master you’ve received another invitation,” Manager Lin said.

Right there was that too. Even Chen Haoran had friends he hung out with and fairly regularly too as he had received invitations out every other week. Recently though invitations had been coming in daily without fail, and judging from the places they wanted to go these friends had a particular definition of fun. Even if he didn’t have a secret he needed to keep, going to a brothel wasn’t his idea of a good time.

Chen Haoran lazily waved at Manager Lin to take it away and turned back to his book. It supposedly depicted the history of the empire he was now a citizen of but even with superpowers existing some of these accounts sounded ridiculous-

Manager Lin coughed behind him. He looked sheepish as Chen Haoran gave him a critical glance but was undeterred.

“It’s from Lan Junjie, Young Master.”

By the sound of it, that name was supposed to mean something to him. Given that he had the name Lan he probably had something to do with Lan Fen’s situation. He definitely didn’t want to meet anyone from the Lan family right now though. Still, he had to wonder how exactly Lan Fen intended to get revenge against them.

Manager Lin finally dropped the matter and left but Chen Haoran was in no mood to read anymore. Seeing as how nightfall was approaching he decided to go train instead.

When it came to the landscaping of the estate the most detailed work had been focused on the inner courtyard’s garden. That wasn’t to say the exterior was shabby however, trees and tall bushes were strategically placed along the grounds to break up the line of sight and create pockets of privacy filled with flower gardens, pavilions, or training fields. It was one such training field that Chen Haoran was heading to now. Sword in hand he bumped its sheathed edge against the trees as he walked. A proper swordsman would probably be frothing in rage at how he was treating the weapon but given his cultivation level, it would become a toy sooner or later for all that it was made of iron.

The cultivation room where Lan Fen was secluded came into view. A building the size of his old house on Earth dedicated solely to training in isolation for long periods. Chen Haoran had to admit he was feeling lonely without Lan Fen around. While he certainly wouldn’t call them friends she was the only person he could be honest with. Ever since she started training the fact he was surrounded by strangers he had to constantly fool was beginning to wear on him.

He turned away before he could get any more distracted only to feel the cold tip of a blade poke his spine. Three shrouded figures had rushed out of the treeline behind him before he could react. Their qi was muted and difficult to notice which explained how they snuck up on him. Being this close though he could barely make out their level.

Qi Realm. Stronger than him too. He couldn’t put a name to the level but they had to at least be two layers above his own. Chen Haoran felt fear prickle it’s way down his spine and back up again in its own messed-up version of qi circulation.

“Gentlemen-” He began but was cut off when the blade at his spine pressed harder and another dagger was brought to his throat.

“Do as we say or your life is forfeit,” a gruff voice sounded from the shrouded figure. Standing to his side Chen Haoran could just barely make out a covered face only exposing two cold eyes.

“Of course,” he said.

“You will open the door of that building over there. If you resist you die, if you make a sound you die.”

Without waiting for him to agree they dragged Chen Haoran over to the cultivation room. Even as his heart threatened to beat out of his chest his thoughts raced to piece together the situation.

Assassins. Confident ones too, Chen Haoran still had a white-knuckled grip on his sword but they did not attempt to remove it. They could kill him before he ever had the chance to draw it. Their qi was hidden, standing on the other side of the door Lan Fen would only feel him coming to disturb her cultivation. She’d be caught by surprise.

He didn’t know what to do. The blades pressed in closer as he laid his hands on the door. Going slow just would just delay the inevitable. Fast at least gives him a chance. He flexed his qi and the doors ripped open but the opening he was hoping for didn’t happen as his knees were kicked out and a hand viciously grabbed his hair and slammed his face to the ground.

“Run-”

His slurred warning choked in his throat as he gazed into the open room.

The empty room.

Lan Fen wasn’t here.