(Thanks to PunchedHaddock5 for the gift)

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“Xiao Wei, take good care of yourself.”

“I will, Aunt Li.”

“This is for you,” said the middle-aged woman, handing him a little sachet with coins. “Although it is not much, it should help you.”

“Thank you.” Wang Wei directly accepted, knowing she would insist and refuse his refusal. Furthermore, he knew she would not suffer from this slight loss of money. To repay the Karma of the livestock and vegetables he stole, he would give a share of his hun to the village while sharing some knowledge about agriculture, allowing the village to yield more in the previous reaping season.

“Good boy,” said Aunt Li as she liked that Xiao Wei was not like other boys, trying to be modest; he knew when to accept help and refuse. Many other villagers came to bid him goodbye while also giving him some gifts–mostly some money or items in their family they believed would bring luck and prosperity.

Wang Wei thanked everyone before bidding them goodbye. Then, he hopped on the caravan he had paid that would take him to Spiral Leaf City, a middle-tier city size-wise of the Great Lu Dynasty. The journey took half a month, and they encountered a few bandits. However, the caravan had trained bodyguards armed with weapons.

Wang Wei observed the bandits and guards to see if there was any power system–mostly martial art. And there was. But, it was nothing like training the body to increase strength. The system evolved around the moves or martial skills.

The head guard and one of the bandit leaders were very adept at the weapons they used, and Wang Wei could detect they had spent years training. Of course, he did not come up with conclusive evidence as of yet since there was the possibility these people were not privy to this world’s power system.

After arriving at Spiral City, Wang Wei began to act. He chose this city because it was larger than the smaller ones, far away from the capital they could not easily reach, and it was a port city. The ocean was excellent for business.

After settling in an inn, Wang Wei acted. There were three families with the most influence in Spiral Leaf City: Liao, Qi, and Yun. With his martial skills, he infiltrated these families’ mansions to access their library.

Knowledge was precious in ancient times, and he could barely get some information from the surrounding villages. And by reading these old and powerful clans’ knowledge, he could analyze the overall situation of this world.

‘I guess I should have expected this,’ thought Wang Wei as he placed a scroll back where he found it. There was no cultivation or power system in this world, and as he previously observed, martial art was based purely on skills and practice.

Extraordinary powers only appeared in the form of certain individuals born with inhumane strength. These people often become generals that can slaughter hundreds of soldiers on the battlefield. He also read of some people who ate weird herbs in the forest and became extremely powerful.

Wang Wei sighed in disappointment as he could easily explain these phenomena. The people with inhumane strength are people born with Divine Strength due to their luck; at birth, they were lucky to absorb some Spiritual Qi, nourishing their bodies.

As for the people who became experts after eating herbs, that’s even easier to answer. These people were lucky to acquire the rare spiritual herbs of this world.

Wang Wei quietly left the Liao clan’s mansion with the reaffirmed belief that he must rely on himself to achieve longevity.

‘If I want to make money, there are a few paths before me. The first is to become a scholar and use the government’s power to acquire wealth. This path is too long and full of too much uncertainty.’

In this ancient times, a person could not become a scholar simply because they were talented. Scholars–especially ones from low backgrounds–needed to attend schools built by noble clans. And after years of serving them, they can get recommended for government positions.

‘If only this world had the Imperial Examination,’ thought Wang Wei, even though he knew this might not help. Throughout history, the noble clans have also corrupted the Imperial Exam.

‘The second path is through the military. With my strength, becoming a mighty general is not a problem. However, if possible, I would like to avoid large quantities of battles.’

Battles often injure the body. And with the scarce resources in this world, repeated injuries will lead to a decline in lifespan–which was contrary to Wang Wei’s goal.

‘So, that only leaves me with the commerce path.’

Wang Wei studied business in his past life and could create a successful one as long as he analyzed the needs and wants of this city. However, there was a problem.

‘Backing. In this ancient time, doing any business without the proper backing will result in it being taken, or worse, killed.’

He could predict that if he created a successful business, the three families, the government, and a bunch of other people would target him. So, he needed backing.

The easiest one is to either use his charming face and marry one of the main branch daughters of the three families. But he did not dare. Or, become an underling of the city’s mayor, joining the side of the government. And there was no way he would do that.

So, he took the third option: create one for himself. And the method was simple and rude: he used his overwhelming martial prowess to conquer all the city gangs–both small and big.

He thought a small group of elites his Essence Refining Technique to create a powerful force under him. Then, after stabilizing his power as a gang leader, he entered the business field.

Wang Wei did not go for the obvious shipbuilding and transportation since Spiral Leaf City was near the ocean. The royal family banned shipbuilding out of fear of people creating private navies, and Wang Wei did not want to get on the wrong side for now.

He went for the salt business, which was also outlawed. However, he knew this ban was not from the royal family but the result of a few powerful clans in the capital who had monopolies in the salt business.

Since he was far away and had less scruple dealing with these clans than the royal family–which was still in its prosperity age–he did not mind slowly taking over the salt business. With his new method of refining seawater into salt and a better purification process, he rapidly swapped the surrounding cities’ markets.

And when some people tried to intervene, they were in for a rude awakening. Nevertheless, this was not all of Wang Wei’s business plan. The next step was the casino and red light districts.

Wang Wei revitalized these two industries. He added new games to the casino along with marketing tactics to get more people to participate. He did the same for the red-light districts. In the brothels controlled by his gang, the woman no longer sold their bodies but art.

He taught these girls how to read, write, sing, dance, play instruments, calligraphy, and poems. People came to the brothels to witness these girls’ talent, not for their bodies. Of course, it helped they were all attractive and had beautiful skin because of a herbal lotion he made (another business) after trying to create a herbal bath for his training.

Wang Wei was a man who liked to do this well and thoroughly when he began something. So, he went above and beyond in his business path. He created roads that facilitated more accessible travel from other cities to Spiral Leaf.

He conquered the surrounding bandits and turned them into an escort service. As long as merchants paid a specific price, they would be escorted without worrying about their merchandise being robbed. And when merchants realized it was guaranteed to arrive in Spiral Leaf City with their products, more of them traveled there, turning the city into a hub of merchants.

And they were not the only people attracted. Many scholars rushed to this city, rumored to give birth to countless era-passing poems. Wang Wei had no shame in embezzling the famous poems from his past life. Plus, with his intelligence and experience, he could create many literary masterpieces; copying them was easier.

In just a few years, Wang Wei became the wealthiest man in the Great Lu Dynasty, spreading to many fields across the nation. He had his hands on every business possible. However, he also ensured he did not have a monopoly on all of them to prevent people from rioting and to partner against him.

As expected, he acquired the ire of many clans and factions. Unfortunately, everyone who tried to intervene in his business would not end well. Even the royal family suffered many losses after they attempted to deal with him.

Of course, Wang Wei did not care about his “abundant” wealth as in terms of real value, his current worth was not as good as the pocket money his grandma used to give him when he was a child. Nevertheless, wealth served its purpose.

With money and a large group, he did not have to hunt for meat for his martial art training. Furthermore, he had many people searching for spiritual herbs in every corner of the dynasty, using any means to acquire them.

Bang!

Wang Wei threw a punch, generating a small shockwave.

“The strength of 9-ox. Is this the body limit of a weak world?”

He shook his head. It took him 20 years and countless resources to reach the limit of tempering his body, making him 35 years old. And the result was 9 Ox of strength, which was on par with the Body Refining 2nd Layer in the Origin System.

Thinking about how much time he spent on the toilet, Wang Wei felt it was not worth it. Luckily, after reaching a certain stage where he had complete control over his body, he could expel impurities from his pores.

He also developed some cooking methods to reduce animal meat impurities.

“It doesn’t matter. With the Essence Refining Technique completed, I can live for 120 years. The next step is Qi Refining.” He looked in the distance, thinking about the next step in his plan.