Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 232 - 232 0207 Uncle Shi Its Him

Chapter 232: Chapter 0207: Uncle Shi, It’s Him Chapter 232: Chapter 0207: Uncle Shi, It’s Him Chapter 0207: The Uncle Master, It’s Him

Upon Qi Tian’s return to the Imperial Master Mansion, he visited the Kunpeng Hall and found that the Mansion Master, Xiao Xiaowu, was still doing his closed-door cultivation. This made Qi Tian somewhat puzzled. The closure time for the master of the mansion this time was unusually long, but as a cultivator in the Gold Core Stage, it was common to have a few years, or even decades, of closed-door cultivation. From this point of view, it was not necessarily abnormal.

Qi Tian could only shake his head. To become a formal County Master as the acting one, he still needed to wait for a while. There seemed to be no end in sight.

Qi Tian then returned to his room in the Sky Eagle Hall, dismissed the guards sent by King Zhangbei Manor to look after his residence, and went back to his room for a good sleep, truly relaxing himself. During his time at King Zhangbei Manor, he hardly ever rested day or night. He would meditate at most to restore his spirit and mana. Then he would start studying the Gold Rune Volume again. Although he managed to handle it, he was somewhat exhausted deep down. It was an excellent time to rest.

When he woke up refreshed, Qi Tian planned to check out the advanced single cultivation room and see if the advanced single cultivation room was available for rent. However, as he was leaving the building, he saw a familiar face.

An adolescent who was a little older than him saw Qi Tian arrive and threw himself onto the ground on his knees, “Guan Xun pays homage to his master.”

It has been a long time since Qi Tian had last seen Guan Xun, so long that he almost forgot about Guan Xun. Qi Tian waved his hand, saying, “Guan Xun, get up. Haven’t I told you before? When you see me, you do not need to kneel. Just do a simple greeting.”

But Guan Xun was quite meticulous. He said, “As your servant, I must show proper respect to my master.”

Qi Tian didn’t say anything more. He didn’t value these rituals at all, but if Guan Xun really insisted, he wouldn’t purposely stop him or correct him. Qi Tian asked, “Do you need something from me?”

The reason Qi Tian originally took in Guan Xun was because he felt sorry for him, not because he thought Guan Xun was worth noting, or because he felt that Guan Xun was of great use to him. Especially now, when he had reached the Foundation Establishment Stage, and Guan Xun was still at Qi Cultivation First Level, Qi Tian could undoubtedly destroy Guan Xun with just one finger.

Guan Xun said, “Master, I came to see you a few times, but I didn’t find you each time. Actually, I didn’t have any other matters, and I just wanted to ask you one thing. You will soon become a County Master. Do you plan to prepare some dependents and hire some domestic servants and followers in advance? If you want the locals to respect you as a County Master, you can’t do without support. And you can’t possibly handle everything personally. Hiring some servants and followers is also a reasonable matter.”

Reminded by Guan Xun, Qi Tian realized that he’s not adequately prepared for this aspect. When the Imperial Master Mansion assigned a County Master, it didn’t mean you could just focus on cultivation after arriving at the designated place and ignore everything else. In reality, the role came with many responsibilities. For instance, when local issues involving demon beasts and evil cultivators arose, or when natural disasters such as droughts occurred, and the local government was unable to cope, the County Master would need to step in. There were many other similar responsibilities.

The County Master could choose whether to get involved, but maintaining peace in their jurisdiction required the County Master’s active participation. Many County Masters demonstrated their power to the local populace and government to earn more cultivation resources, not necessarily for the welfare of the locals, but often for their resources.

At present, Qi Tian was not short of cultivation resources. However, this was only for the current situation. If one were to look at the longer term, there would definitely be a shortage of cultivation resources. Therefore, he could not just idly fill a post after arriving at the local county. He had to take some initiatives. If he were to handle everything himself, it would exhaust him to the point of vomiting blood, rendering the cultivation resources provided by the locals useless.

The best method, as summarized by the County Masters from the Imperial Master Mansion, was to appropriately recruit some followers, servants, and other attendants to help handle some trivial matters. Therefore, the County Masters could allocate more time for their matters.

After a brief pause, Qi Tian told Guan Xun, “Well, you can take charge of this matter. Check within the Imperial Master Mansion to see if anyone is willing to follow me. If there is no one willing inside, we can search outside. Also, make preparations for some support. It does not need to be the best, mediocre is sufficient. I don’t want to draw too much attention.”

As he spoke, Qi Tian took out some gold and silver notes and handed them to Guan Xun. He still had plenty of these in his storage bag.

Guan Xun eagerly accepted the cash notes, reassuring respectfully, “Master, please rest assured. I will handle these matters for you properly.”

“Alright, report back in three days. Now, off you go.” Qi Tian was not worried about Guan Xun not being dedicated to his tasks. As long as Guan Xun still wanted to continue practicing, he wouldn’t do something so foolish. Of course, whether Guan Xun could get things done well was not of much concern to Qi Tian. If all else failed, he could personally recruit people. Hiring recruits directly within the Imperial Master Mansion rather than outside would only require spending a bit more money.