The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

The first order of business had been working with the auction house, and Genrou had proven vital in arranging things. The man was like an older and kinder version of Qiao Ying, but somehow even more efficient which I hadn’t thought was physically possible. I stood in the receiving chambers of the Lord, meant to entertain guests. It was a bit strange, given that I was a guest myself, but it worked well enough for my purposes. A woman wearing robes that hugged her body with much shorter cuts than I was used to seeing, a hairpin tied up her hair in a ponytail that gave her a masculine sort of appearance, while also accentuating her beauty in an androgynous look.

“My name is Yu Lan, it is a pleasure to meet you, Baron Jie,” the woman said, lightly bowing her head.

“A pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Yu Lan. I’ve heard good things about your business,” I said, giving her a light smile.

“Indeed, the Jade Orchid aims to be nothing but the best. You can expect us to treat you well,” the woman replied smoothly, far more used to polite talk than I was. Thankfully, I didn’t have to be too wary of politics here. Yu Lan would be the equivalent of a wealthy merchant mortal in any other place in the empire. Though here she boasted a cultivation of the fourth realm.

“I’ve already mentioned some things about the items that I’m bringing here and their rather… peculiar nature,” I said.

The woman gave me a nod. “Indeed, you have me quite excited as to what these artifacts are. Rest assured, I have been working in this field for over three decades now, so my ability to appraise items is second to none. Whatever you have, we’ll likely have seen something like it before, and know how to value it,” I said.

I managed not to snort at that. The woman meant well. It wasn’t everyday that someone walks in with technology stolen from an entirely different and more advanced world and then dumps them in front of you.

“In that case, why don’t I show you what I have?” I said, glancing toward a nearby servant, who bowed her head and began to lead us to the storage room where they’d stored all the auction items.

Well, not all. I kept some of them under much stricter watch. The books were placed under permanent seal for example, lest they try and cause a ruckus. And the void bomb I had… kept that hidden in a place I was fairly certain only I would think to look. But even if someone found it, the box was sealed, and anyone under the seventh realm wouldn’t even be able to scratch the surface of those.

Guided by the servant, we arrived in a storage room, with various objects kept hidden away from sight using white cloth. Yu Lan looked around, trying to take things in and probably making assumptions of her own.

“This is quite a varied assortment,” she said, looking at the stored items. “Lots of Qi, but a lot of… mundane items as well?” she said as if surprised, before looking at me. “Not to be rude, but auctioning mundane items in our house… will be difficult, given the stature of the people who will be arriving. Even the simplest auctions only hold masterworks of formation artists or other skilled craftsmen.”

I smiled at the woman. “Well, why don’t you take a look first,” I said, walking up to one of the items as I raised the cloth. Underneath, was a rather ordinary looking box made of metal, containing two doors.

“What… is that?” Yu Lan asked, walking closer, as she tried to inspect the box. She looked around from the outside all around, trying to take a guess. “Is this some sort of safe, Baron Jie?” she asked, at last, looking at me.

I smiled. “Not quite. It’s a cold box. Or, a refrigerator. It can be used to keep things cold, or to make ice,” I said, opening the door as mist poured out from the inside, sending a small chill out. Inside there were lines carved into the walls, channeling Qi across the box, keeping it cold. From within, I took out a bowl of shaved ice laden with honey, milk and syrup. Extending the bowl, I handed it to Yu Lan who looked down at the bowl in fascination. “It’s… cold. Like freshly cut ice.”

“Take a bite,” I said, and the woman hesitantly grabbed the spoon, looking at it curiously before using it to take a bite. Her eyes widened in surprise, as she looked down at the bowl. I couldn’t help but grin. I had just about introduced the most delicious dessert known to humanity into this world.

“Is this box… this… refrigerator? Was this how you brought this with you?” Yu Lan asked.

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“Yup. That’s ice-cream. It’s made of milk, honey, ice and some fruits. Well, it’s more shaved ice, but you can make it finer and it becomes even more delicious. The box runs on spirit crystals, and uses about one a day. It’s definitely not cheap to run. But it’ll keep things cold even if it runs out of power for at least an hour or two,” I said, patting the box. “Can be quite helpful in alchemy too.”

Yu Lan nodded, putting the bowl of ice-cream back inside as she closed the door. “I admit, I’ve never seen anything quite like this before. The weather of the Azure city is perpetually wonderful, but ice is a rare delicacy that even the emperor himself cannot always have. They bring it from the north, using fast carriages and cultivators that keep it cold using many arts. But this device… I think even the royal court would want to have this.”

“Oh, I’m not trying to auction just this device,” I said.

“There are more?” Yu Lan looked at me, eyes wide.

“Not yet. But there can be a bunch more. I’ll be selling this, along with the blueprint on how to make this,” I replied.

“Will the craftsman who made this be okay with that?” she asked. “And will they be willing to create more?”

“You’re speaking to him,” I replied.

Yu Lan looked at me in surprise, before bowing her head. “Forgive me for my ignorance. I did not know you possessed such skills, baron,” she replied.

“Raise your head, I didn’t take any offense. And I wasn’t the one who crafted this really. I came up with the design,” I replied.

“Then who crafted it?” she asked.

“One of the many mortal craftsmen who works in my sect,” I said.

“A… mortal?” she looked at me, showing me the most shocked expression I had seen from her yet.

“Yes, a mortal. Everything you see here is something brand new that did not yet exist in the world, which I came up with the idea of, and had a mortal craft,” I said, pulling a few more sheets back as I began to reveal a plethora of items. Hand lamps, printing machines, a prototype for a steam engine run carriage, my pristinely crafted rifle, Qi crystals, pills with potent powers, elixirs and a bunch more. As I revealed, I gave her a smile. “And I intend to sell not just the items, but the knowledge on how to create them.”

Yu Lan’s jaw dropped in surprise at what I showed her. She walked around the place, looking at the different things, and already I could see her mind running faster and faster as she did calculations.

“This… I will need to appraise it all but… the size and scale…” she trailed off, mumbling some numbers under her breath, before she turned sharply towards me and bowed deeply.

“Forgive me for treating you like some provincial lord, I will immediately send my men to make a list of all the items present here and bring scholars to appraise their value, and then the value of the knowledge for their creation methods as well,” Yu Lan said. “We will make sure this event is the grandest auction seen in the Azure city and that people hear talks of it for months on end.”

I nodded my head, satisfied by her words. “So, what kind of deal are we talking about here?”

“Normally, for an auction of this scale, the house takes twenty five percent of the proceedings, but for this one, I’m willing to do twenty,” Yu Lan said.

“Let me present a hypothetical for you, Yu Lan. You said twenty five, I’ll say ten , you’ll say twenty and I’ll say fifteen and we’ll shake on it. I don’t see this selling for any less than five thousand spirit jade. So even at fifteen, you’ll be earning seven hundred and fifty spirit jade at least. A win-win, in either case,” I said.

Yu Lan frowned, clearly not used to such straightforward negotiations. She looked at me, then looked back at the items next to her, thinking over something. The woman bit her lips, so I pushed one last time.

“How about this? If you do not earn at least five hundred spirit jade from this, I’ll make up the difference for you.”

“That… is acceptable,” she finally spoke at last.

“Great, we have a deal then,” I said, smiling at her. A spirit jade was a hundred gold pieces, and the currency used for big deals. The sect in total had about two thousand right now, which accounted for our entire on hand amount after costs. I tried not to think how I’d casually just said I’d make up the price for fifty thousand gold pieces, if I failed.

“I will begin sending out invitations soon,” Yu Lan said.

I stopped her, bringing out some paper. “I’d like to have you use these, we can print- create any design on this so a symbol of your auction house can be put onto these,” I said.

Yu Lan held the paper in her hand, gently rubbing it between her fingers. “This… is quite the luxurious paper. Are you sure?”

I nodded my head, smiling. “Yup. I can have those made en masse, it’s no issue. Just let me know how many you need,” I said.

“Understood, as you wish,” Yu Lan said.

“Oh, and one last thing,” I added quickly as she was about to turn. “So, all this you see is just one portion of what I intend to auction. This is the public event, the bait, so to speak. The real auction will be a private one, simultaneously taking place behind closed doors.”

“Oh- we can arrange that. Who will be the attendees?” Yu Lan asked.

My smile widened as far as it could as I turned away to look at the many inventions seated in front of me, the whispers of a new era. And the tides I brought with me. “The five great families.”