Chương 87: 86. Nine-Century Pickles

The days after the meeting pass quickly. The sect does not transform all at once. There are no new halls, grand construction projects, or sudden changes visible from the mountain road. Most of the work begins with moving old boxes, emptying rooms that have been used for storage longer than anyone remembers, and deciding which spaces belong to which part of the sect. Jun helps me inventory the unused rooms. Mei Lin organizes the disciples into cleaning groups.

Old Chen carries his cleaver back to the kitchen and begins using it within the hour. I assign Shen Qiao a room of the library and give Wei Zheng the old repair workshop, though he spends most of the first day complaining about the condition of the benches. The servants clear two side rooms for books and records. The younger disciples haul broken furniture into the yard, where it becomes obvious that some of it has been repaired so many times that no original wood remains.

At some point, the process begins to resemble spring cleaning, despite winter still covering the mountain in frost. I contribute by finally sorting through my storage ring. Most of what I remove is expected: tools, manuals, spare clothing, preserved materials, and enough miscellaneous purchases from Celestial Jade City that I no longer remember why I bought all of them. Then, beneath two folded robes and a pile of horseshoes, my hand closes around something round and ceramic. I pull out a jar.

Old, heavy and perfectly sealed. For several breaths, I simply stare at it. I do not remember putting this in my ring. That is not unusual. My life has become the kind of life where mysterious sealed containers among my belongings is no longer immediately alarming. The jar is finely made, its glaze faded but intact, with a pattern of blue reeds circling the base. A yellowed talisman-seal clings to the lid, its characters still faintly glowing.

Nine-Century Pickling Jar - Grade: High Type: Container / Preserved Food Age: 914 years Condition: Excellent Contents: Preserved mountain vegetables Effect: Vegetables have continued fermenting under unusually favorable conditions and are safe to eat. Strong flavor. High salt content. Verdict: The jar was made well enough to survive centuries inside stable storage. Best consumed in small portions. Then, like a delayed blow to the back of the head, I remember the journal.

'The recipe.' The one Elder Frostheart called his true legacy. I slowly close my eyes.

"Of course." Of course I forgot. Somewhere between the tomb, Ling'er breaking every known rule of cultivation, Celestial Jade City, and raccoon-related escalation, I forgot about the dead senior's pickled vegetables. If he kept raving about his recipe, it was reasonable to assume he'd have some in his storage ring.

'Still. Waste not.' I write the copied recipe among my notes, fold it together with the jar, and bring both to Old Chen. He is in the kitchen when I arrive, overseeing three bubbling pots. The moment he sees me holding the jar, his expression shifts from mild concern to professional interest.

"Sect Leader?"

"I found this while sorting through my storage ring." I set the jar on the table.

"It belonged to the Nascent Soul in his tomb. There was also a recipe in his journal. I copied it down and thought you might find it useful." Old Chen freezes. The kitchen quiets slightly. I realize, too late, that saying belonged to Elder Frostheart and recipe in his journal may have made this sound more significant than intended.

"It is just pickled vegetables," I hastily add. He does not seem to hear me. He reaches for the jar with both hands, reverent as a disciple receiving a sword manual. Then he carefully peels back the talisman. The smell reaches the doorway; sharp, salty, and sour. Deep in a way ordinary food should not be. Old Chen inhales once. His eyes widen. He takes a clean pair of chopsticks, reaches inside, and removes a single strip of dark green vegetable. It glistens faintly in the kitchen light. He tastes it.

For a long moment, he says nothing. Then his expression changes.

"Sect Leader," he says quietly, "this is extraordinary."

"It is?"

"This balance…" He stares at the jar.

"The salt preserved the body, but did not kill the vegetable. The sourness has depth without rot. Whoever made this understood preservation, fermentation, heat, season, and patience to a level I have never seen." I glance at the jar. It continues to be pickles. Old Chen looks at the folded recipe beside it. His hands are very still.

"A senior's lifetime refinement, entrusted to our kitchen."

"That feels like a strong way to describe—" Old Chen bows. Deeply. I become very aware that several servants are now watching.

"Sect Leader," Old Chen says, voice thick with emotion, "you have always cared for this sect in ways others do not understand. Manuals for the disciples. formations for the mountain, resources for cultivation, and now this. You did not forget those of us in the kitchen. You brought back a legacy and placed it in these old hands." My mouth opens. No correction comes out. Because how do I explain that I found it under my spare robes in the storage ring? Old Chen straightens, eyes shining with terrifying sincerity.

"I will not disappoint you. I only know a few characters, but I will learn to read properly. So I don't misunderstand a single instruction because of my own ignorance." I look at the jar. I look at the recipe. I look at the old cook now holding both like sacred objects. Then I do what any wise sect leader would do when trapped inside a misunderstanding of his own making. I nod.

"I trust you." Old Chen clutches the recipe to his chest. The younger servants look moved. I leave the kitchen before anyone can praise me further. By dinner, the pickled vegetables appear beside the rice and broth. Old Chen cuts them thinly and serves only a small portion to each person. He sets a separate bowl of Frostheart's pickled vegetables before me. The disciples react with more enthusiasm than I expect. They are extraordinarily good, with enough sourness and salt to cut through the heavy winter meals.

By the second evening, several younger disciples are asking whether there will be more. Ling'er tastes one strip, chews it, and reaches for more meat instead.

"It's just vegetables," she says.

"Pairs well with the boar, though." The sect's meat supply has become another problem. We had been consuming it steadily before leaving, and Xiao Zei's raids had reduced what remained. Old Chen begins stretching meals with grain, preserved roots, and broth while Ling'er prepares to hunt again. I stop her before she leaves.

"The forest needs predators. Hunt prey as well, especially where the population has grown too large. Rabbits, squirrels, ordinary snakes, and anything else common enough that removing some will not create another problem." Ling'er considers this.

"May I still hunt predators?"

"Yes, but not every strong one you find. Leave their young." Her next hunts are much less dramatic than the ones before Celestial Jade City. She returns with rabbits, squirrels, ordinary snakes, and several small boars. By her standards, most are hardly worth mentioning. Old Chen accepts the new supply without complaint. Xiao Zei watches every carcass brought past its cage and behaves with impressive discipline whenever Ling'er is nearby. Shen Qiao insists that the guardian arrangement should be written down.

The contract he produces is longer than necessary. It lists food allotments, storehouse boundaries, expected duties, prohibited behavior, consequences for theft, and a clause allowing the sect to revise the terms if Xiao Zei develops new abilities. The raccoon sits across from him while he reads the document aloud. Its attention follows the page. When Shen Qiao reaches the section concerning food, its ears lift. When he mentions the kitchen, it glances toward Old Chen.

At the end, it places both paws together and nods with such gravity that I'm impressed. Coiling Dragon Guardian Beast – Qi Condensation (Third Stage) Name: Xiao Zei Age: 4 Spirit Root: Water (D-grade) Constitution: Moon-Masked Physique (C-grade) Cultivation: Qi Condensation (Third Stage) - Stable Verdict: Does not understand written language. Has inferred that cooperation will result in regular meals and reduced danger. I place my handprint at the bottom of the contract.

Ling'er guides Xiao Zei forward, and the raccoon presses one inked paw against the paper beside it. With that, Xiao Zei officially becomes Coiling Dragon's first guardian beast. The disciples remain reluctant to work with their former enemy, though none openly refuse. Ling'er serves as its handler while trust is still limited. She appears able to communicate through gestures, tone, and pressure that Xiao Zei understands more readily than speech. When she points toward the storehouse, the raccoon patrols it.

When she points toward a formation flag, it tests the edge of the detection field. When it begins moving toward the kitchen, one look from her sends it elsewhere. Shen Qiao's introduction to the Finance Hall is less successful. The room assigned to him had once been part of the library. At some point, it became a storage space for mortal records, broken writing brushes, damaged shelves, and documents no disciple considered important enough to organize. Dust covers the floor.

The single desk is cracked along one corner. The shelf leans slightly to the left. A large spider watches us from the upper wall with the confidence of a long-established resident. Shen Qiao stands in the doorway for several breaths.

"This is temporary," I say. He looks at the chair behind the desk.

"We will renovate once the sect has the resources and income to justify it." He steps inside and tests the desk with one hand. It creaks. I bring out the sect's records. The older ledgers are thin. Monthly income came from a few low-grade spirit stones produced by the mine, small tribute payments, minor protection fees, and irregular mission rewards. Most months barely covered food, repairs, basic medicine, array maintenance, debt payments, and tribute owed outside the mountain.

The emergency reserve existed more as an accounting category than a meaningful amount of money. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Shen Qiao reads in silence. He checks several pages twice, then begins reorganizing the ledgers by date and source.

"This was the entire operating income?"

"For most months." He nods and continues reading. Then I show him the updated records. Elder Frostheart's inheritance changes the shape of the ledger immediately. Spirit stones, cultivation materials, weapons, manuals, and valuable objects appear in quantities the old sect could never have accumulated through ordinary work. Shen Qiao stops turning pages. He looks at the figures, then at me, then back at the figures.

"You described this as enough to stabilize the sect."

"It is."

"This is a fortune."

"Yes." His eyes move slowly across the inventory again.

"You have materials worth more than centuries of the sect's recorded income sitting in storage."

"That is why I brought you here." Shen Qiao leans back in the only chair in the Finance Hall. It creaks beneath him, though he no longer seems to notice.

"If we repair every roof, expand the library, construct a workshop, purchase materials, improve the formations, and increase food allowances, anyone familiar with this sect will notice. The mine cannot support that spending. Neither can the tribute or mission income."

"A poor sect that suddenly begins spending like a wealthy one will attract attention."

"It will attract questions first," Shen Qiao says.

"Questions about hidden patrons, inheritances, illegal trade, stolen resources, or discoveries beneath the mountain. Once people begin asking, they will also begin looking." He closes the ledger and rests both hands on it.

"We need visible income before major spending begins. Something regular enough to explain gradual improvements and ordinary enough that outsiders will not investigate too closely." That decision limits what we can do immediately. The roofs can be patched, tools distributed, and existing rooms reorganized, but large renovations and hired labor will have to wait. The Finance Hall's first mandate becomes clear before its first full day of operation.

Shen Qiao must create legitimate income streams for a sect that has never possessed them. Shen Qiao's preliminary plan has three layers. The first is internal recordkeeping. Within two days, the cracked desk in the Finance Hall disappears beneath ledgers, loose receipts, old mission slips, and handwritten inventories gathered from every corner of the sect. Shen Qiao enlists Jun immediately.

Jun understands the existing stores better than anyone, and his habit of recording quantities makes him the closest thing the sect already has to an accountant. Old Chen is summoned because the kitchen consumes most of the sect's regular supplies. He arrives carrying a sack of grain beneath one arm and looks at the ledger Shen Qiao places before him.

"You will record what enters the kitchen, what is used, what spoils, and what remains," Shen Qiao explains. Old Chen stares at the page.

"I… cannot write." Shen Qiao is silent for a moment. Old Chen folds his arms.

"I know enough characters to recognize salt and rice. The rest were never needed to cook." The discovery delays the system rather than stopping it. Jun begins marking kitchen expenditures while Old Chen begins learning the characters and basic tallies he needs, motivated by both the kitchen records and Frostheart's recipe. The servants responsible for grain, tools, and storage are given simple tally sheets.

Every sack of rice, medicinal purchase, repaired hoe, spirit beast hide, mission reward, and broken formation flag receives a place in the records. The process reveals that the sect loses more resources through carelessness than anyone realized. Tools being used, lost, or broken without being reported. Meat and vegetables sit out until they spoil. Small purchases forgotten because no one considers them large enough to record.

None of the losses are ruinous on their own, but Shen Qiao treats each one as evidence of a habit that cannot continue. Jun assists him in the afternoons, after training and patrol duties. Shen Qiao intends to train clerks from among the servants eventually, though the first candidates still need to improve their reading and arithmetic. The second layer of the plan is easier to explain because the sect already possesses most of what it requires. The meat-selling business. Ling'er hunts.

The disciples help process the animals. Old Chen preserves and seasons the meat. Xiao Zei keeps other animals away from the drying racks under Ling'er's supervision. Shen Qiao begins with small quantities. He selects the cleanest cuts, has them wrapped and sealed, then asks Mei Lin to escort him to Greenstone. The sight reminds me of the first time I saw him there: a mortal carrying goods, trying to turn scraps into an opportunity.

This time, he walks into town with a disciple beside him, several packages of preserved spirit beast meat, and the authority to negotiate for an entire sect. They return before sunset. Mei Lin carries fewer packages than when they left. Shen Qiao carries three signed agreements and a grin he tries unsuccessfully to hide. Two inns agree to purchase regular deliveries in small quantities. A caravan kitchen places an order for preserved meat suitable for long journeys.

None of the contracts are large, but they establish predictable demand and give Shen Qiao prices he can use in future negotiations. More contracts follow over the next several trips. The quantities remain controlled so the sect does not hunt recklessly or flood Greenstone's market. Mei Lin escorts him at first, followed later by Wei Chen and some of the younger disciples.

The trips provide escort experience while allowing Shen Qiao to build relationships with kitchens, merchants, and innkeepers who value reliable deliveries more than occasional bargains. The third layer is the pressure cooker, which becomes his first major experiment. He insists that the design has more potential than the meat itself. I agree, though I avoid encouraging him too openly until we know the pots can be produced safely and consistently.

Wei Zheng examines the original pot between sessions repairing Frostbite. He improves the clamps, adjusts the seal, and replaces Ling'er's simple pressure release with a valve that can be reproduced by an ordinary craftsman. Old Chen tests each version in the kitchen, using tough cuts of meat, grain, and dried beans while recording how much fuel and time each meal requires. Once Shen Qiao has numbers, he begins bringing a cooker on his trips to Greenstone.

He demonstrates it during meat negotiations, showing innkeepers that difficult cuts can be softened quickly and traveling merchants that less fuel is needed to prepare meals on the road. The first sales lead to more orders within the week. Ling'er can produce several identical pots without difficulty, allowing Shen Qiao to meet the early demand. That solves the immediate problem, though both of us understand that a business cannot depend forever on a Core Disciple personally manufacturing kitchenware.

While Shen Qiao builds income, I begin organizing how the sect will distribute what that income provides. The manuals in the library, the improved tools, cultivation resources, pills, and future training opportunities cannot be handed out according to whoever asks first or happens to be standing nearby. The sect is still small enough that favoritism can hide inside familiarity, especially when everyone has known one another for years.

Shen Qiao and I spend several evenings working through the first contribution system. His Abacus Mind allows him to compare dozens of values without losing track of how they affect one another. I provide the activities the sect needs encouraged. He assigns provisional values, then adjusts them when I point out that some duties take longer or carry more risk than others. A week later, the sect gathers again in the training yard. This time, no one expects punishment.

The disciples notice the large board beside me and begin whispering among themselves. Shen Qiao stands near it holding a ledger, while Jun has several smaller sheets prepared for each working group. I wait until the yard settles.

"The sect now has more techniques, tools, and resources than it did before," I say.

"That does not mean everyone will receive everything immediately. Some resources are limited. Others require preparation before they can be used safely. We need a system that rewards work without relying on personal preference." Shen Qiao removes the cloth covering the board. Rows of duties have been written across it, each with a contribution value beside it.

Patrol shifts, escort assignments, formation maintenance, mining support, kitchen work, successful hunts, teaching younger members, assisting with training, completing missions, repairing sect property, and other necessary work all appear on the list. A murmur passes through the yard.

"Contribution points will record what each person adds to the sect," I continue.

"They can later be exchanged for access to manuals, pills, equipment, special training, and other resources. Dangerous or difficult work will generally receive more points, but routine work also matters. A sect cannot function if everyone accepts missions while no one maintains the formations, carries grain, repairs tools, or helps in the kitchen." One of the younger disciples raises his hand.

"Will cultivation progress earn points?"

"No. Cultivation benefits you directly. Helping others train, teaching a technique, or completing an assigned cultivation task for the sect may earn points, but advancing your own realm is not a service performed for everyone else." That answer produces several thoughtful looks. Wei Chen studies the values beside patrol and escort duty. Mei Lin reads the sections concerning teaching and training assistance. Lian immediately notices the entries for formation repair, testing, and design.

The servants remain farther back, uncertain whether the system includes them.

"It applies to everyone working under the sect," I say.

"Disciples, servants, miners, laborers, and craftsmen may all earn contribution points through approved work. The rewards available may differ depending on what each person can use, but the work will still be recorded." That draws a stronger reaction from the people behind the disciples. Shen Qiao steps forward with the ledger.

"The listed values are provisional," he explains.

"They will be reviewed as we learn how much time, effort, and risk each task actually requires. Work must be confirmed by the person responsible for that area. False claims will result in deductions. Repeated false claims will result in punishment." Jun begins distributing the first sheets. Each records a name, existing duties, and an empty column for points earned. The system is crude compared to what I eventually want, but it gives the sect a shared measure for work that had previously passed without recognition.

Questions continue as people crowd around the board, comparing duties and asking what rewards will be available first. Shen Qiao answers most of them, occasionally pausing to revise a value or make a note in the ledger.

"Does raccoon defense count?" The yard quiets as several people turn toward Shen Qiao. He looks down at the ledger.

"Going forward, patrols and defensive assignments will earn contribution points."

"I mean the previous defense." Wei Chen steps forward before Shen Qiao can answer.

"The Night of Seven Scratches involved repeated combat, formation work, injury, protection of sect resources, and the successful capture of a spirit beast. It should qualify for full combat contribution."

"The system begins today," Shen Qiao insists.

"Previous work will not be counted retroactively." Several disciples complain, particularly those who still have visible scratches. Old Chen argues that defending the kitchen should qualify under both combat and kitchen support. Shen Qiao refuses to reopen the question. For the first few days, the system works as intended. Wei Chen takes patrols, escort assignments, and training assistance whenever his schedule allows.

Mei Lin earns points through teaching, garden work, and helping the younger disciples refine their new techniques. Jun divides his time between the Finance Hall, storehouse records, and organizing work groups. Other disciples begin with simple duties, then learn to combine them. A morning spent clearing snow from the training yard can be followed by gathering herbs on patrol. Disciples assigned to the gardens carry firewood back from the lower slopes.

Hunting groups bring assistants who can learn processing while earning points of their own. The board fills steadily. Shen Qiao adjusts several values after discovering that some tasks take twice as long as expected, while others are being divided into pieces small enough that three disciples can claim credit for moving a single barrel. He closes that loophole before the end of the first week. Ling'er creates a larger problem within four days.

Her first hunting trip under the introduction of the system produces several spirit beasts, ordinary prey, usable hides, cores, bones, meat, and medicinal organs. Shen Qiao records the material value, adds the contribution for completing the hunt, then includes the food supplied to the kitchen and the resources delivered to the sect stores. That alone puts her far ahead of everyone else. Then Jun reminds him that Ling'er has been teaching the disciples.

Lian points out that she moved several large stones needed to repair a formation node. Old Chen adds that she supplied most of the week's meat. Five new techniques appear in the library, written and adapted by her during the evenings, even though technique creation is not included anywhere on the board. Shen Qiao spends most of an afternoon recalculating. When I enter the Finance Hall, he is sitting behind the cracked desk with several sheets arranged around him.

He has the strained look of someone who has discovered that mathematics can be very hostile.

"What happened?" He slides a page toward me.

"Ling'er."

"I assumed as much."

"The system has no category for creating techniques, but those manuals have permanent value. Her hunting contributions alone exceed the combined total of the other disciples. Once I include training assistance, material recovery, construction support, and everything else she has done since the system began, the numbers stop being useful."

"She is exceptional. That was always going to affect the totals." Shen Qiao points to the final figure on the paper. I look at it. Then I look again.

"... Huh." Even after discounting her work heavily for internal contribution purposes, she has earned enough points to redeem resources worth several middle-grade spirit stones. Trying to convert the full amount into manuals, pills, equipment, or cultivation materials would consume more than the system was designed to distribute in its first several months. I stop calculating before my headache turns into qi deviation. Ling'er is called into the Finance Hall.

She listens while Shen Qiao explains that she has accumulated more contribution points than the current reward structure can reasonably support.

"I do not need most of them," she says. Shen Qiao's shoulders loosen.

"Can I exchange some for more meat during meals?" Old Chen is consulted. After some negotiation over portions and kitchen supplies, Shen Qiao adds a special reward available only at a much higher point cost than ordinary meal additions. It guarantees Ling'er several plates of meat during daily meals without requiring her to ask the kitchen each time. She studies the new entry.

"Can contribution points be exchanged for Master's time?" Shen Qiao looks at me.

"What kind of time?" I ask.

"Arts and crafts." She wants two uninterrupted hours in which I will sit with her, help build or paint whatever she chooses, and not leave because of sect business unless the mountain is genuinely under attack. Shen Qiao creates another special reward. It costs more than the meal allowance, partly because he considers a sect leader's time valuable and partly because he is trying to prevent Ling'er from purchasing every hour of my remaining life.

Ling'er spends enough points to secure extra plates for the next month and one arts-and-crafts session each day for a week. Even after those redemptions, her balance remains higher than everyone else's combined. Shen Qiao closes the ledger and decides that future contribution values will need limits, categories, and special review whenever Ling'er is involved. The system continues to function largely because she is merciful.