"Ow... thank you."
Xie Suyao's trembling voice rang out as white cotton soaked with alcohol dabbed onto the wound on her arm. She looked at the bruises and scrapes on her body listlessly.
Hui'er, who was treating the wounds, smiled awkwardly. The little child had just returned in time to see Grandmaster Xie jump into joining Liu Yianfei and Zheng Renyi's hellish training session without looking first.
"How's the northern situation?"
Liu Yianfei lifted a healing elixir for bruises to sip. Tang Yeye had bandaged him until he looked nearly mummy-like.
As for the Sword Master, he was luckier because he had his own granddaughter giving him first aid. His condition was considered the best among all three.
"All settled. The ones who wouldn't listen are all in the hospital now." She could say something brutal with a straight face.
"Looks like they'll keep causing trouble until someone decides on the Federation President."
While saying this, Xie Suyao secretly glanced at her Elder Sister, who was sipping tea while playing with a laptop at her table.
Xie Suyao was another person who strongly supported Bai Fanxian taking this position.
But Bai Fanxian still wasn't interested. Her current goals had something greater.
Since there was no burden of the children's competition and she'd been free lately, she had been consulting with Huang Zihuan about something for a while now.
"What do you think about this place?"
Bai Fanxian pointed at an image on her screen. It was a map showing a large island located far away at sea.
"...It's outside the country's waters. I don't think you can buy it."
"Then what about here?"
"That's a national park... I don't think you can buy it either."
Master and servant were conversing at the computer screen, with Bai Fanxian pointing at the map and Huang Zihuan explaining the characteristics of those areas.
"What's Elder Sister doing?"
Xie Suyao had been staring for a while and asked out of curiosity. Bai Fanxian's demeanor was like she was deciding something important.
Not just her—even Liu Yianfei and Zheng Renyi were curious too.
"My lady is looking for a place to build a residence..."
It was the old butler who explained with a dry smile. When Bai Fanxian first asked him about this, he was shocked.
Before this, he tried helping find empty, open land for her to choose. But no matter where, none pleased her at all. Recently she tried searching herself and came to ask him instead.
"Is my lady serious about this?"
Zheng Renyi was one of those who had heard Bai Fanxian mention this. But he didn't think she'd be this serious.
"..."
Bai Fanxian didn't answer. But from her demeanor, it was clear she was serious.
"If so, what kind of land does Elder Sister want?"
Xie Suyao asked curiously. She was ready to use the Xie clan's power to help. For an existence like one of the four great clans, buying a single piece of land wasn't difficult at all.
"...Um... my lady wants an island."
"...What?"
"An island. A private island for building a large residence. And it still has enough space for cultivating herbs."
"...That's difficult."
Xie Suyao understood why Huang Zihuan made that expression. Right now, the Tang clan's power was growing steadily in the east. Tang Tianjie was gradually swallowing the Han clan, which was a great clan in the past, bit by bit. Since there was no existence like Han Junpo anymore, it wasn't difficult to do at all.
So buying a piece of land for Bai Fanxian wasn't difficult for the Tang clan either. But when it came to a "private island," it would become another matter immediately.
Because of the territorial policy revolution many years ago, the government needed to consolidate unclaimed archipelagos and islands as official land to use for economic and tourism development. Some became conserved national parks. This made land prices for islands that already had owners skyrocket many times. And very few owners were willing to sell.
"Have you tried looking at other areas?"
Xie Suyao tried to persuade. She stood up and leaned over to look behind Bai Fanxian's screen, which had information about land both for sale and not announced for sale everywhere.
"Elder Sister doesn't like northern mountain areas?"
Xie Suyao pointed at the map. In the north, there were many plots of land with good locations and beautiful views for sale.
"I want a place that's somewhat private..."
That was Bai Fanxian's main reason. Because after this, if she started building a residence, what would follow was many ancient texts including various techniques she'd bring out from storage.
And there were strange experiments and herb cultivation that required privacy. Even if she spread out a Border, sometimes it was annoying to become a point of attention unnecessarily.
So if she got a private space entirely, she'd be more comfortable and could own that island fully and proudly.
*Ting!*
On the website page for selling houses and land, suddenly a notification popped up. Bai Fanxian was slightly surprised and clicked in to find an announcement selling a private island area in the east.
"Eh? This island isn't far from here?"
Xie Suyao raised her eyebrows while comparing the map with the sale listing. Huang Zihuan, who had more expertise, also leaned in to look. Upon seeing the area announced for sale, he confirmed as well.
"It's about two kilometers south of this house, then another two kilometers out to sea."
The old man explained. But he was surprised this area was announced for sale.
He'd worked for the Tang clan for many years. He was familiar with stories and areas in the east. The island he mentioned was the private island of an elderly tycoon who bought it and moved to live there over ten years ago. Because it wasn't far from land, travel to and from the island was convenient. Especially in this cultivator era, for an existence like his lady, flying across two kilometers of sea would be extremely easy.
He never dreamed it would be announced for sale like this.
"...Try contacting them."
Bai Fanxian looked at the island's condition from many photos. The more she looked, the more she liked it. So she turned to ask Huang Zihuan to call the phone number left there.
The old butler didn't refuse. He disappeared for about five minutes, then walked back with a slightly troubled demeanor.
"What happened?"
Xie Suyao could sense the abnormality in the old butler's expression, which was as expected. Huang Zihuan answered back with a troubled face.
"The price is a problem..."
The old man tried contacting the Tang clan to confirm something. And once certain, he sighed again.
"...How much?"
Even Zheng Renyi wanted to know. If it really wasn't enough, he had some savings set aside for treating Mei Ying from his years as a Grandmaster. But now Mei Ying had both recovered and was growing daily. He didn't need to use that money anymore.
"They're asking four billion yuan. Non-negotiable."
The old man nearly choked on his own saliva. He thought the roughly one hundred million yuan in his account was plenty. But compared to the price the other side wanted, it wasn't even a fraction.
"That expensive?" Xie Suyao frowned. Private island prices in this era were truly skyrocketing. Although she had the Xie clan behind her, the money she could take out without troubling the clan right now was also at the hundred million yuan level.
Don't think great clans were endlessly wealthy. Although they owned many businesses and had enormous assets, those were assets circulating in business cycles. It was hot money that came in and had to be paid out to sustain that clan's system.
If spent recklessly, it would definitely cause blockages in every sector.
Moreover, what was important was that the Xie clan had just gone through a crisis period too. Before this, her younger brother had to spend enormously to sustain the Xie clan. It wasn't wrong to say the Xie clan account was currently in the red.
It would take a while longer to prop it back up. The Xie clan definitely couldn't help with this four billion yuan.
Same with the Tang clan experiencing the same problem. They were developing themselves to replace the declining Han clan. So their account money was wearing thin. Although it wouldn't affect daily life, if they really had to fork out over four billion yuan, Tang Tianjie would definitely have to sell businesses.
As for Bai Fanxian, she'd just received about three hundred million yuan from the Medicine Association as payment for those ancient herbs. But it was still far from the goal.
"...This time I won't trouble you all."
Bai Fanxian shook her head. She decided that land—she would buy it herself properly with her own money without borrowing from the Tang and Xie clans. This way she'd be more comfortable and could own that island with full pride.
Bai Fanxian didn't think she'd encounter a money shortage problem again like this. If she thought to just stay idle doing nothing, the assets she had would be enough to live comfortably. But since she thought to act, she needed to do it thoroughly.
Now she thought back to when she just woke up in this era. Back then, she and Hui'er walked in to sell a ginseng root to use for living expenses before meeting the Tang clan people who facilitated for her until now.
That's right.
"...Can I sell the herbs I have?"
Bai Fanxian had herbs stored in her dimension at a certain level. If she brought them out to sell wholesale compared to the ginseng price she'd sold before, she thought it should be enough.
But her thought was stopped by the old butler immediately.
"My lady, if you release many valuable herbs into the market all at once, their prices will drop and affect demand..." Huang Zihuan warned with good intentions.
"If you're really going to sell, I recommend you sell gradually instead."
"...I see." Bai Fanxian nodded. She could understand these matters from books she'd read. Moreover, if she sat and thought carefully, the herbs she stored were all rare in this era. Some types couldn't be found anymore. So if she sold them out and needed to use them later, she feared finding them back would be difficult.
"Besides, I'll need even more money than that. Construction and everything else will cost money too, right?"
Bai Fanxian understood this era's work processes well. No matter what was done, it was all money. She'd need to find an additional way to make money.
"How about opening a clinic to treat people? With your fame as a Tier 4 alchemist Grandmaster, it'll definitely attract many people."
Liu Yianfei helped offer an opinion. And it seemed like a good idea. Bai Fanxian could choose to treat with her pills and charge expensive fees. It was definitely more worthwhile than dumping herbs for nothing. The young man believed there were many people in this country willing to pay millions to receive medicine from the Alchemy Empress.
Moreover, there were still cultivators who wanted her to refine cultivation pills for them.
"But I'm not a doctor..." Bai Fanxian sighed. Although she had studied medical arts from many books, it still didn't change the fact that she was an "alchemist," not a "doctor." Or should she do like in the past where her Goddess Alchemy Palace focused on receiving requests from many great existences to refine pills in exchange for enormous resources?
*Caw!*
Suddenly at the beach balcony appeared two large black birds big enough for people to ride comfortably. On their backs sat one man and one woman as passengers. The black birds were powerful. But when they swooped to land at the balcony, they were suddenly caught by the little red one's displeased stare. They trembled like fledglings.
"This place is still crowded as always..."
The man on the bird's back jumped down. At the same time, he extended his hand to support the other young girl down too. That they could pass through this boundary meant they must be Bai Fanxian's acquaintances for sure.
It would be none other than Divine Doctor Wu Jia and his female disciple, Lin Xiaoting!
"Time to treat you finally." Wu Jia lit herbs he produced himself and held them in his mouth while turning to talk with Liu Yianfei.
But he was surprised when no one would speak with him. Wu Jia tilted his head curiously—it was the same moment Bai Fanxian disappeared then appeared before him. Her gaze was intense, as if she'd found exactly what she needed.
"...Are you interested in doing business with me?"