Chapter 72 – Florida Man Mistakes Emperor Envoy as Ohio Man, Offends the Officials
Leo guided the disciples and Han Hao to the store's ground floor.
"Welcome to Narnia," he cackled.
"…"
The crowd dropped their jaws as the space in the building was massive, and there was a second floor. They believed that it was as big as the entire cleared land.
However, one thing puzzle them – Aside from a partitioned room, the rest of the store was empty, including the other 19 blank rooms.
"Senior, something is wrong with your building. How come it's empty?" Han Hao couldn't help but ask.
"That's because the workers will be very busy here."
Leo looked at the young men behind Han Hao. He counted their heads. Coincidentally, there were 19 of them, which was equal to the number of available partitioned rooms.
"See the empty lots?" Leo pointed at the empty rooms, "These will be the place for you to stay. Pick one to be your temporary home. I'll build a proper abode for you later. By the way, you have 100 breaths to unload your belongings and pick your place. Gather here when you're done."
"EH?!"
The disciples were taken aback. They thought that they would have to build their own shelters or live in the forest. Instead, they got a place to sleep under the rooftop.
Because of the time limit, the disciples started running around to choose their place. As they wore straw sandals and cloth shoes, they brought a lot of mud and dirt from the forest to the store, dirtying the floor.
Leo glanced at the floor. Then, his expression was dark. A moment later, he beamed Han Hao with a bright smile as he remembered that he got free henchman.
Han Hao noticed the creepy smile. He cupped his fist and excused himself, "Since I've delivered the manpower, I'll be taking my leave."
"I see. I won't send you off. Be careful on the way back. There are too many eyes around here."
"… I can tell."
Han Hao left the building and flew back to the sect.
.
After the disciples finished picking their places, they gathered in front of Leo. They were ready to work and earn their keep.
Looking at the young men, Leo summoned their status menu to see their names and lifespan. They also got to see their value for the first time.
<Remaining Lifespan: 137 Years…>
<Remaining Lifespan: 171 Years…>
<Remaining Lifespan: 145 Years…>
Their lifespan varied, depending on their cultivation base and talent. As most of them were still Qi Condensation cultivators, none of them surpassed 200.
Leo thought of Yao Qiqi as that girl who had better potential than these disciples. He wondered how much lifespan she would have if once she reached the pinnacle of her potential.
PA
Leo clapped his hands once to remove the thoughts and get the disciples' attention. He briefed them about the nature of this store.
"As you can see, everybody has a lifespan, and I can let you see them. My store also uses lifespan as a currency. Oh, don't worry. We accept spirit stones too, but my items are very expensive."
The disciples dropped their jaws and gawked at the floating system screens in front of them. They also compared their lifespans with their colleagues, and they made fun of each other for having fewer years to live.
"AHEM!"
The disciples stopped making fun of their friends and looked at Leo after the cough. Then, Leo resumed the briefing.
"For now, I want you to start mobbing the floor. I'll provide you with the tools, of course. Also, next time you enter the store, take off ya goddamn shoes!"
"…"
Everybody looked at the floor and found their dirty footprints on the white marble floor. They gulped as the mud and dirt were everywhere.
Meanwhile, Leo secretly purchased mops and water buckets. Then, he passed them to the disciples.
"Start cleaning. I'll be back in a few hours. Oh, if you need water, you can get some in the public toilet next to the storeroom, aka my freaking bedroom. Oh, nobody should be in my room, or you're fired."
"…"
The public toilet that Leo had longed for appeared along with the new rooms. It came with five unisex toilet stalls and two face-washing basins. A water faucet for utility also existed under the basins, and it provided tap water even though Leo had never installed any water system.
As the disciples were confused, Leo led them to the toilet and pointed at the faucet under the basins. He showed an example by pushing the lever.
ZAAA
Clean water came out, and the disciples were shocked.
"HUH?!"
"A WATER ARTIFACT?!"
"But I don't sense Qi! HOW?!"
Leo rolled his eyes as these country bumpkins had never seen a running water system. He felt like he had time-traveled to the medieval era.
"Instead of getting surprised by everything, get your mops wet and start cleaning! DON'T FORGET TO TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES! THIS AIN'T MURICA HOUSE!"
"…"
Everybody wanted to retort that putting shoes on and off was troublesome. Still, they complied with the order and cleaned their feet with the tap water. Then, they started working.
.
After two hours of cleaning the ground floor and the second floor, Leo gathered the disciples for another task. He taught them the daily routine.
"This is the first day, so there won't be a lot of work. Still, I'm gonna teach you what you will be doing every day from now on. First, I want you to look outside the window."
Leo guided the disciples to the display window on the second floor, which had a better view of the farmlands. The disciple followed Leo to the second floor and gazed outside.
On the farmlands, three mannequins awkwardly harvested giant potatoes from the field. Then, they witnessed the massive crops that the golems pulled from the ground.
"I-Is that really a potato?! For real?!"
Leo nodded, "Real potato, damn straight."
"… Wow."
"Those wood golems are working non-stop, but they can't harvest everything by themselves. Because of that, helping those golems will be your daily job. Now, put on the boots and follow me outside."
Leo provided them with rubber boots, which he had bought from the online store. The disciples admired the texture of the orange boots and put them on. Some of them laughed as the boots were a lot bigger than their feet.
The crowd visited the farmland. Then, Leo ordered them to help the mannequin farmers.
The disciples were stronger than average adult men. They dug giant potatoes out, and they carried them to the granary. With their help, Leo managed to clean up the three farms of potatoes, allowing him to plant something else.
Leo ordered the first golem to continue growing potatoes. The second farm was allocated to grow tomatoes, while the third was assigned to plant chilies.
As soon as the mannequin dropped the tomato seeds and chili seeds, the timer came out.
23 Hours, 59 Minutes, 57 Seconds…
Strangely, both types of crops had the same timer. Leo was relieved that it took a long time to grow as his granary was almost full even though Cat was there to sabotage his food reserve.
After the potatoes were dealt with, Leo allowed the disciples to have their free time to wander around. However, he refrained from getting out of the domain boundary as the stalkers were still lurking in the woods.
The disciples cheered and rushed toward the alchemy workshops behind the store.
.
.
The lurking stalkers from the Ouyang Clan stared at the disciples while they smirked. They believed they had found Leo's weaknesses.
One of them suggested to their colleagues, "Let's take a few of them to the clan and blackmail that alchemist."
"Agreed."
Everybody let out a long sigh as they could finally go home after this mission.
The Ouyang's spies weren't the only ones with this idea. The Fatui cultists among the lurkers also had an eye on the disciples and Gao Yan. They also communicated with their superior officers in the Cauliflower City.
"We've discovered Florida Man's weaknesses. We shall take some of his disciples back to the cult."
On the other hand, the Situ Clan's agents were wary of Leo. They consulted with their people for hours before Situ Nantian gave them an order. One of them relayed the instruction to his colleague.
"Grand Elder has given us a decree. Do not touch the disciples. Let the foolish people from the Ouyang Clan and the Fatui Cult take the brunt. Once they're gone, we will try to form an amicable relationship with the alchemist and get on his good side. If that doesn't work, we'll think of another approach."
Although Situ Clan had a close tie with the Fatui Cult, they weren't friendly allies. Situ Nantian made a clear stance that they were simply a group of customers to their clan, and they didn't need to avenge their comrades.
The Situ Clan's agents received the order and withdrew from the area.
.
WHOOSH
WHOOSH
While the lurkers from three major organizations made their moves, another group of underlings arrived at the Sword Saint Forest. They rushed toward the cleared area and hid at the border.
They were the agents of the imperial court. Moreover, they brought big shots along with them. Among the nascent soul cultivators, two of them were absurdly stronger than the others.
One of them was the aide of Yan Zhu, the third prince. He went by the name Ye Tianxie, and he was a soul transformation cultivator. Another one was none other than the Imperial Chancellor Tang Xuan, the quasi-immortal.
They had one purpose – investigating the new source of essence stones.
Chancellor Tang didn't bother hiding. He took a long stride and walked out from the shades, approaching the store. His followers hesitated for a moment, but they also came out. Everybody ignored the spirit grasses around them and enter the store domain.
.
.
"Hmm?"
Leo stopped watching over the disciples. He noticed a large group of people coming out from the South, and they had fancy clothes.
The kind-looking old man in front of the group reminded him of his uncle from Ohio. They used to visit a shooting range together and got banned because his uncle accidentally shot the ceiling by mistake. In addition, one of them had a similar rainbow aura to him.
"A comrade?" Leo brightly smiled. "Or dumbass morons? Either way, welcome!"
Leo turned toward the new guests and waited for them to get closer. The crowd crossed the farmland field and arrived in front of the store unhindered.
Chancellor Tang gazed at Leo for a moment. Then, he announced and brought out a golden scroll from his spatial ring.
"Accept the emperor's decree!"
"Hmm?"
Leo was confused. He stood still, waiting for the old man to finish his sentence.
He didn't know. According to the custom, he was supposed to kneel as the scroll represented the emperor's presence. Not bowing to the decree was equivalent to an insult to the monarchy.
The crowd behind Chancellor Tang was enraged as Leo didn't show them courtesy. They unsheathed their swords and pointed at Leo's face.
"KNEEL, PEASANT!"
"KNOW YOUR PLACE!"
Leo widened his eyes in astonishment. A few seconds later, it turned into a bashful smile.
"Well, well, well. This is going to be exciting again. Welcome. Please continue."
