Chapter 111 – Florida Man Evicts 100-Year-Old Elders from Nursing Home and Forces Them to Work in Sweatshop
After making up with the dao avatar, Leo shifted his attention to the crowd. When he turned toward them, they gazed at Leo with sparkling eyes.
"V-Venerable Florida Man. Could you teach us what kind of dao you were talking about? Also, Yao Qiqi, can you see Venerable Florida Man's dao avatar?!"
Xu Nuan had heard a myth. Soul formation cultivators and genies could see another cultivator's hidden dao avatars, thus giving them an edge in combat over regular cultivators.
She had long noticed that Yao Qiqi always looked at empty spaces and talked to herself a lot. Xu Nuan was finally convinced that she was one of the gifted children who could naturally see dao avatars that normal people couldn't.
Before Leo or Yao Qiqi could reply, the sound of footsteps came from the upper floor. Hua Jiashan and Dongfang Mei finally arrived.
Hua Jiashan was surprised when he saw Han Hao and others on their knees. He was even more astonished when he saw a wooden dao avatar of Leo, which he couldn't detect before.
Dongfang Mei, on the other hand, frowned at Xu Nuan and her subordinates. She stared at Leo, suspecting that he bullied her people.
"What's going on here?" Dongfang Mei circulated her Qi to push her wheelchair forward.
Leo shifted his gaze to Dongfang Mei and stroked his beard. Leo had run into the woman and Hua Jiashan a few days ago, but he forgot about her.
"Who are you?"
"I'm… Eh?"
Dongfang Mei frowned as she noticed the dao avatar of Leo, who had the same face as him.
The dao avatar also looked at her. As soon as the avatar and Dongfang Mei faced each other, the former sensed the terrifying pressure of ten thousand immortal monster beasts beyond the 10th grade.
The mannequin spirit's aura represented the entire mystic realm. At a glance, he carried a bottomless amount of wood and earth element essence. But as Dongfang Mei looked at him carefully, she noticed his Yang Essence, which ceaselessly evolved and gave birth to new droplets of earth and wood essence droplets.
Dongfang Mei finally realized that Leo was not a mortal. No mortal's dao avatar could be this strong!
As Dongfang Mei already sat in a wheelchair, she couldn't kneel like the others. She lowered her head.
"This old woman is getting senile. Please forgive me for not recognizing you, Lord Immortal."
"Meh," Leo rolled his eyes as he got used to being called immortal. "Immortal this, venerable that, make up your mind. I'm tired of having too many titles!"
"T-Then, what should we call you?"
"Just Florida Man is fine!"
"O-Okay, senior Florida Man…"
Leo refused to tell them his real name. After all, he enjoyed it when people called him by that nickname. Moreover, it hid the fact that Leo had no surname.
He totally forgot about it. Even the system failed to search for the memory in his brain.
"Anyway", Leo looked at the two leaders. Since they were together, it was the right time for business. "I've talked to your subordinates, and I'm planning to migrate your people to my domain. I'll pay you accordingly. What do you think?"
Hua Jiashan already heard the detail from Han Hao. He was still reluctant as his mentors and ancestors entrusted the sect to him. He couldn't simply abandon it.
To make sure, Hua Jiashan asked Leo, "By migration, do you mean you will take all my sect's people? Are you trying to merge your domain with my sect, senior?"
"Yes, everybody. And yes, this is a takeover."
"Including the city?"
"Well, claiming the ownership of your city is too much. I only need workers, not citizens. But hey, if those people want to work for me, they have to get their resume ready. I don't have too many spots."
"…"
Hua Jiashan bitterly smiled. He looked at his people for a moment before he shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Sir Florida Man. The Life Sword Sect has a long tradition and inheritance. It belongs to the sword saint, and I can't disband it. I have to refuse. Even if I have to be the only member of my sect, I cannot join you."
Leo smirked. As a fellow old man, he knew exactly how other old men react when a stranger evicted them from their home. Obviously, they would always reject and resist.
It was not about the inheritance. Everything had to do with emotional attachment.
Leo nodded and crossed his arms. "But who said that I want to disband your sect. All I want is freaking manpower! Your goddamn sect can be a branch of my domain, and you can be the general manager if you want to cherish that inheritance."
Hua Jiashan was surprised. As long as he could protect the sect's name and continue its legacy, he had no problem with it. However, Hua Jiashan needed more insurance and detail.
"What about the sect's facilities and the portal, sir?"
"Meh, you can still keep doing what you have been doing, but the organization structure and the personal allocation will change. Some of your workers will be assigned to my domain."
"…Oh."
Hua Jiashan lowered his head. He deeply sighed and lamented his powerlessness.
He misunderstood Leo. He thought that Leo was the same as others.
'He's the same as Death Sword Sect and other sects. Well, this is what happens when the sect master is too weak. All my disciples and elders will be taken away, and the sect will be left abandoned in a few years. Hah…'
But Leo hadn't finished yet. He told Hua Jiashan the perks of merging the Life Sword Sect with his company.
"As compensation, I'll pay the wage of your elders, disciples, and workers. Your sect can keep whatever resources you have initially. All the wages will be essence stones."
"Eh?"
"As for you, the chairman of the Life Sword Sect, I'll pay you for the takeover. In my world, company board directors and owners sold their SHARES of their business for money. I won't rob you of your business."
While talking, Leo scanned through his spatial ring and searched for something to give to Hua Jiashan. He found several books, strange mirrors, and weapons in there. A few dimmed essence stones were in there as well.
After coming up with an idea, Leo pulled out a ring that he stole from Situ Nantian. There were plenty of talismans, essence stones, cultivation books, and random artifacts that Leo didn't know how to use.
"Take this first. When we get home, I'll pay you… 100,000 essence stones for the trouble. That should be enough for you to retire, right?"
"!!!"
Han Hao, Han Meng, and Tiger Swordsman looked at Hua Jiashan in envy. With that many essence stones, Hua Jiashan could live in luxury for the rest of his life.
Hua Jiashan was also taken aback and surprised. He didn't expect compensation for the takeover. Still, he accepted the ring and scanned through it.
When Hua Jiashan noticed the talismans and several artifacts of Situ Nantian, he sweated profusely.
"I-Isn't this killing array talismans of the Situ Clan? S-Sir Florida Man. How did you get these?"
"Oh, that?" Leo snickered as he thought of Situ Nantian, "A thief tried to steal my 10th-grade monster core from me, so I blasted that mofo's hand to pieces. I got these rings from him, you see?"
Leo showed them the four rings on his fingers.
"…"
The crowd went silent. Everybody's face lost all color as they connected the dots and learned something terrible.
Situ Clan was even bigger than the Ouyang Clan. Many of their ancestors were immortals, and they sometimes visited the clan to help them. Therefore, provoking the Situ Clan was worse than provoking the Ouyang Clan.
Hua Jiashan was scared that Leo might have harmed one of the Situ Clan's elders or members to get those rings. He rescanned the spatial ring in his hand to investigate its owner.
It wasn't hard to find the real owner of the ring. Among the artifacts, there was a personal item of Situ Nantian in the mix.
The sentient fishing pole that he loved the most got stuck in the bottom of the treasures.
"Umm…" Hua Jiashan pointed at the ring, "By chance, does the ring belong to Situ Nantian, sir?"
"Sitto, who? Sit on someone's face? What kind of mother names their child like that?"
"…"
Leo had no idea who Situ Nantian was, but the crowd had heard the name. It belonged to the previous Chancellor of the Imperial Court, who retired years ago. Moreover, Situ Nantian had a deep connection to the higher realm as his parents and children had already ascended.
The bystander of the conversation, Dongfang Mei, also had a lot of concerns. She couldn't stop sweating as this old man already poked a hornet's nest.
There might even be war!
Hua Jiashan facepalmed as he regretted joining Leo's pirate ship. Unfortunately, it was too late to change his mind since Leo already gave the ring to him.
The sect master made his decision. He took several deep breaths and voiced his thoughts, "Are you trying to make us join you so that we can fight in your war, sir?"
"What war?" Leo scratched his face, "What are you on about? Did you snort some coke on the way here?"
"Huh?"
Both Leo and Hua Jiashan were confused. The former didn't understand why Hua Jiashan mentioned war while the latter thought that Leo had everything planned.
Noticing that Leo was clueless, Hua Jiashan tried to affirm him.
"Umm, you've just provoked the Situ Clan, and they have many immortal backers. If they learn about it, they will come down to hunt you down, sir."
"REALLY?!"
Leo's pupils dilated. He bashfully rubbed his hands and grinned from ear to ear, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? Actually, let them come! I'll gladly welcome those idiots with a snap… I mean, with hospitality and hostility."
"…"
"You know what? Y'all should be happy since I'll be HARVESTING a lot from this little… visit. I won't pay you commission for inviting idiots to my domain, though."
"…"
"Anyway, back to the topic," Leo changed the subject. "In case you're worried about your mystic realm portal, you can still keep it if you can. Once you migrate to my domain, you can always access my domain's portal. Oh, have I told you that there will be a permanent portal linking to this realm? There will be no requirement or limit since this planet is already mine."
"WHAT?!"
Hua Jiashan and Dongfang Mei's brains couldn't digest all the information at once. Their eyes span, and their minds went blank.
While the crowd was silent, Leo kept talking. He briefly explained the payment, working days, and employee welfare.
