I Can See Your Combat Power

“No time.” Tang Luo activated the Immortal Wind Cloud Body Technique, flying into the sky and casually leaving behind those two words.

As the son of a dignified sage family, how could he accept such rejection? A gigantic sword of air materialized beneath Elder Xu Ying’s feet, shooting straight towards the firmament.

“What’s gotten into you, cousin? Why are you angry?” The young swordsman seemed clueless, unsure of what had upset the other.

With hands clasped behind his back, Tang Luo’s youthful face remained as composed as still water. He hovered in mid-air and turned to Xu Ying, asking, “Is it a common problem among you noble heirs? You want Mi Bai to become a calligrapher, so he must comply with your wishes? Have you ever asked Mi Bai what he thinks?”

He was a somewhat passive person. Other than pursuing martial arts, where he showed strong initiative, he would only take action if asked and if it didn’t conflict with his wishes. Despite his high-standing birth and lofty position, deep down, he still believed in equality amongst all. Though class differences were unavoidable, basic respect was necessary.

“Couldn’t you have asked Mi Bai’s intentions before deciding? If his own aspirations are subject to manipulation, he wouldn’t be happy even if he did become a calligrapher.”

These words profoundly shook Elder Xu Ying. He suddenly realized he had committed a monumental mistake. He had made decisions for the other without consulting him, even integrating Tang Luo into it.

It was him, not Mi Bai, who had been obsessively fixated on this. In the time they had spent together, the other never insisted on becoming a calligrapher. It was merely due to his concern towards Mi Bai’s calligraphy skills.

Tang Luo ignored his thoughts and carried on, “Also, besides the Gong Zheng matter, I need to lift the cultivation ban at the end of the month. I don’t have time to plan for Mi Bai’s affairs.”

These words left Xu Ying stunned again. Pushing down his guilt about Mi Bai, he asked in curiosity, “I thought it would take you years to do it. Can it be done now?”

As a representative of the Sage Family, he wasn’t the type to boast about his achievements. However, he knew that planning to repeal a prohibition required tremendous efforts. Bribing and connecting with those eligible to vote wasn’t an easy task. To his surprise, only a few days had passed, and Tang Luo claimed it could be abolished. This astonished him greatly.

Tang Luo nodded and modestly said, “If it works this time, you greatly contributed to it.”

“Eh, Eh?!” Xu Ying was pleasantly surprised. “Did I contribute?”

Tang Luo nodded, telling him, “I have something to attend to back at the mansion this afternoon, I won’t accompany you. You should ask Mi Bai what he truly desires.”

“Right, I should ask him,” Xu Ying agreed. He turned his air sword towards West City and swiftly flew off.

Tang Luo shook his head and continued towards North City.

Honestly, he was quick to plan this matter due to the inspiration he gained from Xu Ying’s fusion techniques. When he began studying the mutual generation and fusion of spiritual properties, he achieved considerable results. These findings were not particularly beneficial due to their high spiritual power consumption but they were lethal for the peak cultivators of the Mortal Realm, significantly enhancing their combat abilities by two or three levels.

The scholar in his previous life was quite clear. The world of children is about right and wrong, but the world of adults is about pros and cons. To convince those elders with voting rights, emotions, social status, potential talents, and everything else mean nothing without substantial benefits. For them, tangible benefits must be inheritable. Common items such as exclusive martial arts techniques, powerful spiritual armor or weapons and at the least, fierce spiritual beasts, were essential. Once these items were donated, the elders would consider supporting your proposal.

When Tang Cunfu intervened to oppose Tang Zhi, he had spent countless resources and made great effort to sway people on that scale. Yet, the difficulty of what Tang Luo was planning was significantly lesser in comparison because the cultivation prohibition was merely a means to control Xiling’s people whilst acquiring wealth.

Indeed, the most profitable businesses involve the seemingly inconsequential things such as cloth, herd, grain, and oil trades. Everyone needs these items. Brothel businesses earn a lot, but the number of patrons amongst Xiling’s three million residents was far fewer and they wouldn’t frequent brothels daily. The same goes for gambling houses.

However, food was different. Even if you were a formidable warrior, you still need to eat. Three million people consumed a massive amount of food in a year.

Therefore, this cultivation ban was a means for clans to continuously withdraw money. If everyone was allowed to freely cultivate land, who would buy grains from the grain business?

Despite the prohibition, some brave commoners secretly cultivated some wilderness fields in the mountains to grow vegetables and fruits to eat. The police knew about it but turned a blind eye.

It wasn’t out of kindness, but because the appearance of the Wancheng Treasure Ship revealed to both Tang and Mi families that the profit from the business and piracy on the ship was comparable to an annual grain sale. Hence, as long as the common people didn’t blatantly cultivate fields outside the city, both families didn’t fuss about it.

Under such circumstances, Tang Luo felt that the cultivation ban could be lifted. Without the income from the Wancheng Treasure Ship, he would not have been able to plan out this matter, no matter how hard he tried.

Now that the new city had a few hundred thousand more residents, the grain that was originally supplied for sale by the grain business had to be allocated to these newly-arrived refugees who had yet to establish a sense of belonging. If the cultivation ban was not lifted, the lives of Xiling’s citizens would inevitably become harder due to skyrocketing grain prices.

People wouldn’t starve to death, but they would have to deal with hunger. This is why Tang Luo was determined to resolve this matter before spring harvest starts. He wanted to give the people enough time to cultivate the wilderness. By the time summer harvest comes, they should be able to gather the first batch of crops.

After spending an afternoon writing frantically in his study, Tang Luo prepared fourteen envelopes. Holding these envelopes, he found the steward and instructed, “Deliver these letters to the residences of the thirteen elders and the head of the academy mountain according to their names.”

The steward accepted the envelopes and left after making a bow. Tang Luo sat back in his chair, stretching lazily. As he looked at the setting sun outside the window, he curled up comfortably.

He had done everything in his power, and now all that was left was to wait for the reply. He only hoped that they wouldn’t all be sent back.

Despite offering tantalizing benefits, some will always stubbornly defend a set of outdated rules. Such occurrences were not uncommon in any era..