Chapter 10, Journey Again, Prank

After entering the county town, Cheng Pan made contact with a coal boss from the Yuan Dynasty. In fact, it was nothing unusual; after arriving in the county town, Cheng Pan would ask everyone he met if there were places to buy coal. Soon, someone took the initiative to approach him.

A beautiful young girl stepped out from behind the screen in the room, followed by two middle-aged men in their fifties with pale faces. The girl softly said, "Mount Everest? This is not a Chinese term." She lowered her head, thought for a moment, and asked, "Elder Xuanming, this person is only twenty years old, could it be true that he possesses over sixty years of skill as you said?" "The princess is not mistaken; this person has a strong breath, light steps, and his clothes are free of dust, his skill definitely exceeds sixty years," came the reply. "Have you heard of Mount Everest?" Zhao the young girl asked again. Elder Xuanming's second elder replied, "I do not know the meaning of the term Mount Everest, but I have heard it mentioned by high monks from Tibet." "The princess is not mistaken; this person has a strong breath, light steps, and his clothes are free of dust, his skill definitely exceeds sixty years," came the reply. "Have you heard of Mount Everest?" Zhao the young girl asked again. Elder Xuanming's second elder replied, "I do not know the meaning of the term Mount Everest, but I have heard it mentioned by high monks from Tibet."

Cheng Pan arrived at a large courtyard, marveling at the opulent mansion resembling a Suzhou garden, reflecting that coal barons have always been wealthy regardless of the era. After taking a few steps, he entered a room where a well-dressed individual awaited him. As Cheng Pan stepped inside, he suddenly sensed something unusual with his heightened perception. He quickly composed himself and walked in without changing his expression. The person in the room stood up, cupped his hands, and said, "I am surnamed Huang. May I ask if the young Daoist and the scholar are here to purchase coal?" Cheng Pan also cupped his hands and replied, "Indeed, I am here on the orders of my master to buy some coal to take back." "If I may be so bold, may I ask where your esteemed Daoist sect is located?" Cheng Pan pondered for a moment and decided to play a prank, saying, "My master has long resided on the summit of Mount Everest in the Himalayas." The merchant surnamed Huang was momentarily taken aback, seemingly about to speak again, but Cheng Pan feigned impatience and said, "Manager Huang, may I see the coal?" "Shall we go?" Cheng Pan said, and the two of them exited the room.

On Mount Ma'anshan, Cheng Pan, dressed in a Daoist robe, appeared quite cheerful under the autumn's late sun and the early winter's light. Over the past ten days, Cheng Pan traversed the entire Ma'anshan area, inquiring in over a dozen villages, and finally located a vein of ferric oxide.

At this moment, Cheng Pan and Manager Huang arrived at the coal yard, where several piles of coal were located. Cheng Pan pointed to one large pile and said, "What is the price of these?" "This is probably around seven or eight thousand stones, approximately eight hundred taels. You are a master, you only need to—" Before he could finish, Cheng Pan tossed out a pile of gold. "This is one hundred taels of gold, count it." Manager Huang showed a look of surprise; he did not know how the young Taoist in front of him managed to carry one hundred taels of gold. He squatted down, picked up a gold bar, and bit it to confirm it was real gold. Then he asked, "Daoist, the price is correct, should I prepare a convoy for you?" Cheng Pan replied, "No need," and with a wave of his hand, a pile of coal disappeared. Manager Huang stood there in a daze for a while before realizing that Cheng Pan had already walked to the entrance of the coal yard and hurriedly shouted, "Immortal, please wait!" Cheng Pan did not turn back but called out loudly, "Manager Huang, do not see me off. I calculated a fortune for the young master behind your family's screen. She schemes against others, but she will also be schemed against by a woman surnamed Zhou."

A quarter of an hour later, Steward Huang knelt before Zhao Luoli. "What you said is all true?" Zhao Min asked, although her tone was very serious, her childish voice was quite pleasant. Steward Huang lowered his head and hurriedly replied, "Every word I say is true, not a bit of falsehood; that large pile of coal has just vanished." At that moment, the leader of the two old men from Xuanming walked in from outside and said to Zhao Min, "Your Highness, I asked the people at the coal yard, and Huang San was not wrong; the search has already been conducted throughout the city." Zhao Min said, "That Taoist is a master; you won't be able to find him. Stop searching." The leader of the two old men from Xuanming continued, "But what he said in that divination..." "He is plotting against me; I would like to see for myself," Zhao Min confidently replied. Then she said seriously, "Now quickly find out where Mount Everest in the Himalayas is located." "Yes, Your Highness," everyone in the room replied in unison.

Carrying the iron ore he had acquired, Cheng Pan enlightened his future as a miner. He left Ma'anshan and traveled downstream by boat to Wuwei County. Wuwei County has a long history of coal mining.

After two months of running around the village, Cheng Pan finally managed to arrange most of the tasks in the village. Most of the land has been cultivated, and the houses in the village have been built. The village defense team can now form a neat line and march in step. The actions of thrusting with bamboo have also begun to standardize, and now the defense team is training eighty men during the agricultural off-season, with loud shouts and curses echoing throughout the village on a larger scale. Cheng Pan reflects on the hardships of being a lord in reality, which is entirely different from playing real-time strategy games, as there is no moment to rest. However, Cheng Pan is extremely dissatisfied with the productivity in the village. After consulting with two old blacksmiths, he left most of the grain in the village and set out again. (Supplementary explanation: The skill of 'Perception of Objects' requires one to concentrate on the object being perceived for about 5 to 10 seconds. This means that high-speed moving objects aimed at the protagonist, such as arrows, cannot be perceived, so the protagonist is not invulnerable. Additionally, objects that come into direct contact with people are influenced by their will, so the protagonist cannot disarm an opponent from a distance. However, weapons carried on the body and concealed under clothing can be stolen.)

Cheng Pan smiled slightly as he looked at the middle-aged man at the forefront of the dozens of mountain villagers and said, "My master needs to refine a magical artifact and requires the obsidian from this place. As for the transportation, I have just learned a spell called 'Sleeve Universe.' Please take a look." With a wave of his large sleeve, the fragments of iron ore within a ten-meter radius of Cheng Pan vanished. The villagers, witnessing this miraculous sight, knelt down and exclaimed in awe. Cheng Pan quickly clasped his hands and said, "Everyone, please rise. I am not a master; I merely possess some minor techniques. Do not harm me." After some persuasion, Cheng Pan began to negotiate prices with the villagers. After demonstrating his "immortal techniques," the pace of business followed Cheng Pan's lead. Cheng Pan and the villagers agreed that the broken "obsidian" should not exceed the size of a fist, with a payment of one tael of silver for every ten stones (approximately six hundred kilograms). Cheng Pan would come to collect once a month, and after one month, he would provide each villager involved in the mining with an iron hammer. Additionally, for every extra hundred stones mined, he would give an additional two taels of silver. Cheng Pan did not restrict the number of people who could participate in the mining, meaning that the villagers could recruit from other areas. Cheng Pan also presented an enticing offer: after three months, if there were more than three hundred adult men, defined as those aged between 18 and 40, he would send someone to tally the amount of work done by each individual. Anyone who mined twenty stones of "obsidian" in a single day, regardless of age or gender, would be provided with meals. Under such a significant incentive, the village chief, Luo Datu, who was the middle-aged man that had inquired at the beginning, patted his chest and assured, "Rest assured, long."

At this moment, the middle-aged man beside Cheng Pan pointed to the black stones on the hillside and said, "Little Daoist, you want us to break these black stones every day, yet you do not want us to carry them down the mountain. We find this payment somewhat unclear."

From a map perspective, the southeastern shore of Xiaohuangzhou is home to the renowned Ma'anshan. The reason Cheng Pan initially chose Xiaohuangzhou was because of this mine. However, it now appears to be a mistake. Although the Yuan Dynasty's governance over Anhui was inadequate, many heroes and outstanding figures emerged from the region of Shanghuai during the late Yuan period. Nevertheless, the Ma'anshan chosen by Cheng Pan is very close to Nanjing. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, as the economic center of China shifted southward, every dynasty has placed great importance on the tax-rich regions of Jiangnan. The Yuan Dynasty's governance over Anhui may have been lacking, but the late Yuan period saw many heroes rise from the Shanghuai region. The proximity of Ma'anshan to Nanjing is significant. Nanjing is particularly crucial in the regions of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Historically, Zhu Yuanzhang spent several years in Jiangnan before finally capturing Nanjing. Now, with the Yuan Empire largely stable, Cheng Pan feels as if he is trembling in the presence of a giant beast. Currently, Cheng Pan has no opportunity to reopen the main base.