Master Feng and Lu Wen stood frozen in the main hall, their minds still reeling from the sheer audacity of the plan. In their hands, they held two pieces of paper that felt heavier than a mountain. One was the key to a kingdom-wide alchemical revolution. The other was a business model for lipstick. Together, they represented a river of gold so vast it was impossible to comprehend.
It was Feng, the old alchemist who had spent his life in pursuit of knowledge, not wealth, who finally found his voice. He looked at the small, calm boy before him, his face a mask of profound confusion.
"Master," he began, his voice barely a whisper. "This… this is a fortune that could build nations. I do not understand. What is all this for?"
Li Xuan, who had been patiently waiting for their slow minds to catch up, turned to him. "For?" he asked, as if the concept were foreign. "It is not for anything. It is a resource. And a resource must be utilized." He began to walk slowly around the hall, his clear eyes inspecting the dusty shelves and old furniture with a critical gaze.
"Feng, what is the greatest weakness of this Alchemist Association?" he asked suddenly.
The question caught the old man off guard. "Weakness? Master, we are the only association in the region. We have no rivals…"
"A lack of rivals has made you complacent," Li Xuan cut him off. "Your workshops are small. Your library is pathetic. Your apprentices are incompetent. You are a big fish in a tiny, stagnant pond. That is your weakness."
He stopped and looked at them. "So, you will use the money to fix it. Buy the surrounding buildings. Demolish them. Build new, larger workshops. Build a library that contains every alchemical text in this kingdom. I want this place to be a true center of knowledge, not a dusty old shop."
Feng's eyes widened, a flicker of a lifelong dream igniting in his expression.
"But a grand building is useless if the people inside are fools," Li Xuan continued, his tone sharp. "Your apprentices… they are a disgrace. You will use the money to train them. Give them unlimited access to common ingredients. Let them fail a hundred times, a thousand times. The lessons learned from failure are more valuable than a thousand lectures. My methods require a higher standard than what this place currently produces."
Lu Wen was stunned. The Master wasn't just planning to hoard his wealth; he was investing it, building an institution. But the next command shattered their understanding of him completely.
Li Xuan stopped his pacing and turned to face them, his expression unreadable. "Tell me," he said, his voice quiet. "What is the most overlooked, most loyal, and cheapest resource in any city?"
Lu Wen, thinking like a merchant, spoke up. "Unclaimed land, Master? Or perhaps raw, unprocessed ore?"
Li Xuan just stared at him, a look of profound disappointment in his eyes that made the young man feel like an idiot. "No," Li Xuan said simply. He looked out the window, at the dirty streets of Yan Town.
"Orphans."
The word hung in the air, chilling and strange. Feng and Lu Wen stared at him, utterly dumbfounded.
"You will establish a new division of this association," Li Xuan continued, his voice as cold and hard as steel. "It will be dedicated to the forgotten. You will find every orphan in Yan Town. Every starving child, every street rat living in the alleys. You will bring them here. You will provide them with food, shelter, and a basic education."
For a moment, Feng and Lu Wen thought this must be an act of unprecedented kindness, the hidden compassion of a disguised master. But the look in Li Xuan's eyes was not one of charity. It was the look of a master craftsman selecting his raw materials.
'Gratitude is a tool,' his internal voice was a flat, objective assessment. 'Loyalty is a weapon. You cannot buy it from the rich and powerful, but you can forge it. Give a starving dog a bone, and it will die for you. Give a forgotten child a future, and they will conquer the world for you.'
"You will test their talents," he commanded, his voice leaving no room for argument. "Those with even a sliver of aptitude for alchemy will be brought into this association and trained. I want a new generation of loyal, skilled alchemists who owe their lives and their futures to this institution, and to me."
He paused, letting the true, terrifying scale of his ambition finally reveal itself. "If, during your testing, you find any of those orphans with significant martial talent, you will send them to the Yan Clan. Clothed, fed, and with a recommendation. Tell the Patriarch it is a gift from me. An investment in our… alliance."
It all clicked into place. The business empire, the expanded association, the training, the charity—it was all interconnected. This wasn't a plan to get rich. It was a plan to build a faction. A plan to take a small, backwater town and, using its most destitute and forgotten people, forge it into a personal power base that was loyal to him and him alone.
Having laid out his grand blueprint for their world, Li Xuan's focus snapped back to the present. He looked directly at Feng.
"Now, you," he said. "Your foundation is unstable. You are no use to me as my manager in this state. You will go into seclusion. Immediately. Do not come out until you are a true, stable Rank 3 Alchemist."
He looked the old man up and down. "And Feng… I expect you to have grown when you emerge. Stagnation is a sign of a failed investment. Do not fail me."
"Yes, Master!" Feng said, a new, almost terrifying fire in his eyes. He now had a goal worthy of his full, fanatical devotion.
With his servant dismissed, Li Xuan turned to a still-speechless Lu Wen. "While he is gone, you will oversee the initial acquisitions. Start buying the properties. Set up the framework for the orphan program. Report to me daily. You are dismissed."
Li Xuan turned and walked away, leaving the two men standing in the middle of the hall, holding the blueprints to a new era for Yan Town, their minds completely overwhelmed by the scale of the seven-year-old's ambition.
(Author Note - Li Xuan thought's
Important Update - Read or Be Left Behind
Alright, you've had your fun. The "mass release" free trial period is over. Now, we begin the real business.
Here is your new Service Level Agreement:
* Monday to Friday: You get ONE chapter. Be grateful.
* Saturday & Sunday: I am feeling generous.
You get TWO chapters each day.
>This is the standard service. You want premium content? You pay the premium price.
The rule is simple: You want a bonus chapter? The Power Stone numbers need to go up. You give me energy, I give you a story. It's a transaction. Your comments are amusing, so keep them coming. Adding this to your Library is the only logical choice.
Don't test my generosity. You won't like the results.
- Li Xua.
By MythicNovelist)