Dual Cultivation System: My Cultivation Was Crippled, So I Rely on Intimacy to Level Up

Chapter 196: Sitting at Home as Spirit Stones Rain from the Heavens

The meeting hall was utterly deserted. Zhou Kai strode in and settled into a chair adjacent to the main seat.

After waiting for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, two figures finally arrived together.

Mo Qianyuan was still wearing her plain, light-colored Daoist robe, though a visible trace of weariness lingered between her brows.

In stark contrast, Gao Feiyang was dressed in a dazzling, ostentatious brocade robe. He vigorously fanned himself with a jade-bone folding fan, a smug, self-satisfied smirk plastered across his face. Anyone who didn’t know better might think he had just ascended the throne of some immortal dynasty.

“Junior Brother, you’re here,” Mo Qianyuan said first, her tone as efficient and businesslike as ever.

Zhou Kai lifted his eyelids slightly, looking entirely unimpressed. “The message said it was an extreme emergency. I thought Demon Beasts had overrun Shangqing City.”

Mo Qianyuan wasn’t bothered by his attitude. She went straight to the point: “The Zhao Family wiped out the Sun Family. They uprooted them completely and seized the Sun Family’s ancestral land and Spirit Vein.”

Zhou Kai’s finger, which had been tapping rhythmically on the armrest, paused for a fraction of a second before resuming its cadence. His face remained completely expressionless. “Is that all?”

His voice carried a heavy undercurrent of, Are you seriously wasting my time with this?

“This kind of dog-eat-dog nonsense is worth calling me over for?” Zhou Kai scoffed. “You wouldn’t even bother managing this yourselves, would you?”

Mo Qianyuan glanced at Gao Feiyang, who was still busy striking a dramatic pose beside her.

Gao Feiyang snapped his fan shut with a sharp swish, chuckled, and leaned in.

“Senior Brother Zhou, don’t be so impatient. The political shifts in Shangqing City still need to be reported. Besides, I haven’t been idle these past few months; I’ve accomplished something earth-shattering!”

Zhou Kai shot him a side-eye. “Speak plainly.”

“Ahem,” Gao Feiyang cleared his throat, adjusting his expression into something slightly more serious.

“I, Gao Feiyang, leveraged Elder Yunmian’s reputation and allied with the Qian Family—which is subordinate to my Gao Family—to stabilize the morale of Shangqing City with thunderous force! Furthermore, I’ve enacted two new rules worthy of being recorded in the annals of history!”

He held up two fingers triumphantly.

“First, the old rule stated that as long as you didn’t fight within the city walls or the marketplaces, anything goes. Well, not anymore! The rules have changed. Within a radius of 300 li, everything is a Pure Land! If you want to settle grudges, get the hell beyond the 300-li border!”

Gao Feiyang tapped his chest with his fan. “Anyone who dares to draw a blade within this zone is slapping my face, Gao Feiyang, and disrespecting Elder Yunmian! What do you call this? This is called creating a harmonious, stable, and prosperous major environment for Cultivation!”

“Second,” he continued eagerly, “with a better environment, services naturally need an upgrade. In the past, Shangqing City was free and unregulated, not collecting a single copper coin. Now, anyone doing business within Shangqing City’s territory, whether running a grand pavilion or a street stall, must pay 10% of their earnings as a management fee. We will collect this uniformly to maintain this hard-won, excellent situation!”

Gao Feiyang spoke with animated gestures, spittle flying from his lips. He was clearly extremely satisfied with his own masterful maneuvers.

Zhou Kai listened in silence, somewhat surprised.

This kid seemed like an absolute clown, but when it came to extortion and politics, he actually had some real talent.

However, Zhou Kai’s focus immediately shifted to a glaring flaw in the plan.

“Shangqing City has at least 80, if not 100, Foundation Establishment Cultivators living here,” Zhou Kai pointed out flatly. “Among them are quite a few old, slick veterans in the late stages, and even over a dozen at Foundation Establishment Grand Perfection. You’re only at the Foundation Establishment 2nd Layer. How on earth did you manage to hold down the fort against them?”

The smugness on Gao Feiyang’s face instantly evaporated. He let out a dry, awkward laugh. “Well… originally… I definitely couldn’t have held them down.”

He quickly changed the subject, his tone turning conspiratorial and mysterious.

“But by sheer coincidence, two major events happened. First, the once-in-ten-thousand-years genius disciple of Calamity Abyss Valley—namely yours truly, Gao Feiyang—while training in the wild, personally insta-killed a Ghost Wolf King with strength comparable to Foundation Establishment Grand Perfection!”

“Senior Sister Mo can vouch for this; I told her about it myself,” Gao Feiyang boasted, wearing an expression that practically screamed, I did it, believe me.

Zhou Kai’s eyelid twitched violently.

Mo Qianyuan added expressionlessly from the side: “I told him that you killed the Ghost Wolf King, Junior Brother. He wasn’t shy about it at all. He said that since you prefer to keep a low profile, he would ‘reluctantly’ accept this genius title for the greater good.”

Zhou Kai: “…”

He had seen people with thick skin before, but never someone so shamelessly self-righteous about stealing credit.

“And the second event?” Zhou Kai asked with a sigh.

“The second one is even more incredible!” Gao Feiyang slapped his thigh, his face flushing with excitement.

“Right after the rules were announced, someone was obviously unhappy. A Foundation Establishment Grand Perfection Cultivator known as the Black Fiend Daoist thought he had some backing. Believing the law couldn’t punish the masses, he took the lead and jumped out to oppose us. Guess what happened?”

He paused for dramatic effect. Seeing that Zhou Kai wasn’t going to play along, he eagerly revealed the answer himself.

“Senior Brother Zhou, your Dao Companion, the Sword Immortal Shen Hanyi, somehow got the news and went directly to his door. That scene, tsk tsk…”

Gao Feiyang gestured wildly, his eyes filled with absolute awe and religious fervor. Even his voice trembled slightly.

“At that time, the Black Fiend Daoist was spitting with rage, acting extremely arrogant. But Sword Immortal Shen is a woman of few words and absolute ruthlessness. She didn’t even utter a single greeting—she just drew her sword! Just one strike! A dim yellow sword light flashed, so fast no one could even react!”

Gao Feiyang shuddered. “By the time we came to our senses, that Black Fiend Daoist… along with his Dharma Treasure great shield, had been neatly split in two from the crown of his head to his heels!”

He mimed a bisecting chop. “Blood and entrails splattered all over the ground! The dozen or so Cultivators who had joined him in the clamor instantly turned as white as a sheet. A few of the more timid ones went weak in the knees and collapsed right into the dirt! And just like that, the new rules were established.”

Mo Qianyuan chimed in. “Those people saw that Master never even showed her face, yet just two juniors under her were so formidable—one capable of killing a Ghost Wolf King, the other capable of slaying a Grand Perfection expert. How could they dare harbor even a sliver of dissatisfaction after that?”

Zhou Kai frowned slightly. “How did Hanyi get dragged into this?”

Mo Qianyuan looked at him, an indescribable glint in her eyes.

“Weren’t you in Secluded Cultivation those few days? We couldn’t find you, and Master refuses to handle administrative affairs, so naturally, we had to go ask your Dao Companion for help.”

Mo Qianyuan shook her head in admiration. “When your Sword Immortal heard that someone was trying to wreck your territory and cut off your financial path, she didn’t even ask a single question. She just said two words: ‘Wait for me.’ Then, she picked up her sword and went.”

Hearing this, Zhou Kai couldn’t help but feel a deep warmth spread through his heart.

“Alright, the job was done well,” Zhou Kai looked at Gao Feiyang, finally giving him a word of genuine approval. “What about the profits?”

Gao Feiyang immediately perked up, rubbing his hands together greedily. “Elder Yunmian said that, as a Golden Core expert holding down the fort, her reputation does the heavy lifting, so she takes 50%.”

This 50% was perfectly reasonable in the Cultivation world. Power ruled all.

“And the remaining half, how do we three split it?” Gao Feiyang asked, looking between them.

“Junior Brother Zhou has the greatest strength, and he also has Junior Sister Shen backing him up. In my opinion, you should take 30%,” Mo Qianyuan stated, setting the tone directly.

Gao Feiyang nodded repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice. “Exactly! Senior Brother Zhou must take the lion’s share! As for the remaining 20%, Senior Sister Mo and I will take 10% each. Running errands and doing odd jobs, that’s about what we’re worth.”

Zhou Kai pondered for a moment, then nodded. “Agreed.”

He calculated the real numbers in his mind. His Master, Li Yunmian, took 50%. He took 30%. That added up to 80%.

In other words, 80% of Shangqing City’s future massive profits were going straight into the pockets of the Zhou Kai household.

Sitting at home, Spirit Stones fall from the sky. This Gao Feiyang really knew how to handle things. Zhou Kai secretly gave the kid a thumbs-up. This was an incredibly cost-effective deal.

The three of them then ironed out the minor details of the city’s management, such as who would physically collect the taxes, how the accounts would be managed, and how to deal with probes from rival Sects.

With the matters settled, Mo Qianyuan—always the efficient one—stood up and took her leave.

Inside the meeting hall, only Zhou Kai and Gao Feiyang remained.

Zhou Kai took a slow sip of his tea. His earlier impatience had long since dissipated. Shifting into a more comfortable posture, he asked in a flat tone, “Where did you arrange for those two surnamed Wang, my external women, to go?”