Grandpa Vremya glanced at the large sack Azalea was handing him. He picked it up, and it disappeared into his necklace. “Thanks.”

“You better thank me,” Azalea said and snorted. “Do you know how many spirit stones my father spends on buying your wine every year? It’s almost a third of the yearly budget.”

Grandpa Vremya nodded. “It’s good wine. If I had access to better ingredients, I could probably make him spend another third of the budget.”

Azalea’s expression darkened. Was Grandpa Vremya trying to run her dad out of business? In the first place, her dad wasn’t running a business; he was running an empire! Empires weren’t allowed to go out of business and especially not because of wine. Azalea shook her head. It had been ten years since Grandpa Vremya had gone to the Frostwind Empire and won the wine-brewing contest. In those ten years, he must’ve made what her empire made in three years. It was quite impressive to see a single person own so much wealth, but for some reason, Azalea didn’t think Grandpa Vremya was that rich. She suspected he used all of the spirit stones for cultivation.

“Was there anything else?” Grandpa Vremya asked.

Azalea cleared her throat. “Yes.” Her brow furrowed. “According to the sect rules, you have to accept a mission every ten years are a core disciple. Do you know what mission you’re going to take?”

“I’m going to manage a mine,” Grandpa Vremya said. Managing a mine was the easiest way to earn spirit stones as a core disciple, but at the same time, it was also the easiest way to lose money. The disciple who chose to manage the mine was making a gamble. If the mine produced more spirit stones than the year before because of the disciple’s leadership, then they kept the profit. If the mine produced less spirit stones than the year before, then they had to pay the difference. Other than that, the disciple was given the sect’s mission-completion reward which gave them contribution points they could spend elsewhere.

Azalea’s eyes lit up. “That means you have to bring along three helpers,” she said. “Other than me, who else are you taking?” She cleared her throat. “That is, I assume you’re taking me, right?”

“Of course, I’ll take you,” Grandpa Vremya said. Did she even have to ask? She was so darn useful that he’d be stupid not to take her. Thanks to her efforts, he had probably gained a few years of time for cultivation because he didn’t have to do any miscellaneous things. “As for the other two….” Grandpa Vremya paused. Even though he had been in the sect for over a century now, he still didn’t know anyone else’s name. “You can decide.”

“Great!” Azalea beamed. “Then I’ll use your token and set everything up for you.” She skipped towards the exit of Grandpa Vremya’s abode, but when she stepped outside, she switched back to walking.

Grandpa Vremya nodded to himself. That was what he was talking about. With her around, he didn’t have to focus on anything else other than cultivation. After ten years had passed, he had surprisingly created another foundational pillar. Since his pillars were so large, they required an enormous amount of spiritual energy, but thanks to his first foundational pillar, the one he had used to defeat Ruby with, spiritual energy entered him quite quickly. The ability of his first pillar was to attract things within a certain radius, and while it sat in his dantian, it naturally drew in spiritual energy. As for the second ability he had created his next foundational pillar with, it was a combative ability but could also be used in everyday life.

It was the ability to compress. He could surround a region with his qi and compress the things inside. As for its main usage, he crushed grapes with it to make wine. Using it over and over allowed him to become more familiar with the sensation of compression, and at the same time, it saved him a lot of time. The grapes had to be crushed and juiced with spiritual energy to get the best effects. Rather than hiring workers, he juiced the grapes himself. To Grandpa Vremya’s surprise, compression and attraction were nearly identical in how they worked. The only real difference between the two was the intensity of attraction. The cultivation technique he was using was handcrafted by his godly self, and it had very specific instructions without giving the reason as to why the instructions had to be followed. However, upon following those instructions, he would understand why they were given. It was an easy way to increase the number of things his godly self could store in a baby avatar. It also left him chances to be surprised and become enlightened.

Grandpa Vremya stopped his introspection and took a few suits of armor out of his interspacial necklace. Along with the armor, Grandpa Vremya took out the sack of spirit stones Azalea had brought him earlier. He picked up a spirit stone with his left hand and laid his right hand on top of a suit of armor’s helmet. The spirit stone gradually shrank, and golden lines were etched on the armors surface. As the stones shrank into nothingness, Grandpa Vremya would pick another one up and continue the process of golem creation. The mines were a peaceful environment, but the most important part was their ability to make money. Grandpa Vremya’s goal was to create a ton of golems and strip the mine clean.

***

Lance sharpened his blade against a whetstone. Afterwards, he polished it with a layer of oil before wiping and sheathing it. He buckled the blade’s sheath against his belt, and he climbed to his feet. He approached the exit of his tent and placed his hand against the flap. With a grunt and a flick, he tossed the flap open, the material smacking loudly against the side of the tent. He stepped out of the tent, and as expected, all eyes were on him. This was the attention he deserved. As the leader of the Vine Slaying Gang, he was respected and feared from the north to the south. What he was most infamous for was his willingness to rob even the sect members of the top sects.

Recently, thanks to the moles placed in the Moon Lotus Sect, Lance knew there was going to be a change in personnel guarding the sect’s mines. Usually, it didn’t mean anything to him because the danger of robbing a mine was too high. However, there was something special about the mines this time. One of them was going to be run by a mere foundation-establishment disciple. Lance was a nascent-soul expert, and while he was wary of a golden-core cultivator, he wasn’t afraid of someone in the foundation-establishment stage. As far as he was concerned, the disciple was given the position due to nepotism. In their advertisements, the Moon Lotus Sect claimed nepotism no longer existed in their sect, but Lance knew it was bullshit. People in power would never want to get rid of nepotism.

The personnel at the Moon Lotus Sect’s mines changed once a year. In that time, he could unite the other gangs, persuade them to join his cause, and attack the mine while still having plenty of time left over. The weaker gangs loved working with him because the Vine Slaying Gang would draw all the ire while they walked away with free profits, but Lance didn’t mind. The ability to control the other gangs was worth much more than the little benefits he gave away. As Lance was about to call for a meeting, a box of text appeared in his vision.

[Vigilante Justice System Installed]

[New Mission: Join the Side of Justice]

[Robbery? Pillaging? You were granted so much power, yet this is what you do with it? Have you no shame? Is it because the benefits aren’t tangible enough for you to conform to justice? Well, here are some benefits then! Capture and turn in ten large-sized gangs’ leaders to the authorities. There is a time limit of one year.]

[Rewards: Ten Heaven-Grade Spirit Stones]

Lance blinked hard. What was this? Someone or something was trying to convince him to destroy gangs instead of lead them. His brow furrowed. What if it were true? Perhaps he should give up his current plan of attacking the mines.