Chapter 17

  Plans Manfiest(?) (III)

  The undelivered things were delivered within an hour; how amazing was this? Will I ever get to the point where my mere name alone scares the crap out of someone like Elder Zhou?

  Forget it. It's better to be low-key in this world. Isn't there that saying that goes: the star that shines the brightest dies the fastest? Or something like that. Anyway, I've always been a low-key person, even back on Earth. Besides, I have Long Tao--he can be the brightly shining star. And if he refuses, I'll find some other knucklehead who won't.

  First things first--the dwelling!

  Now, look, I'm not an architect, or a builder, or any of the vocations even remotely in the realm of construction. But I was a teenager a few years before the internet exploded onto the scene and made me entomb myself within four walls.

  There was a forest some ways behind the suburbs that I lived in, and Jackie, Taylor, Greg, Simon, and I used to spend almost every waking hour we were allowed to be out just trouncing around the wooded area. Over the years, we've built like sixteen tree houses, each better than the last, and even if tree houses and, you know, ordinary houses weren't the same thing, so what? Trial and error, baby! The principle upon which the modern world was built!

  So, first things first... foundation. Since this peak is as stable as any place on Earth (based on the memories, there had never been an earthquake strong enough to shake this place in all the time Lu Qi has lived here), it doesn't have to be perfect. Plus, it will be a small 'hut', essentially, so there's probably no need to dig out massively.

  Maybe start with some shallow stone pads? Maybe timber posts? No, stone pads are better. After all, there's a bunch of scattered stone all over the place, and I don't have to pay for any of it.

  After that, the frame itself--vertical posts and horizontal grits. The big question is how to make them stick together. I vaguely recall us 'sawing' the wood in such a way that they perfectly fit together; I think it was called wooden joinery? There's probably a fancier term for it, but I can't remember. Anyway, that's one option.

  This world did have nails, or at least an ersatz of the invention, but they did not use it as a means of keeping pieces of wood stuck together but for formations and arrays. Joinery is probably a better option and a far cheaper one. I'll just have to be careful; even though I don't have a saw, I can actually use Qi to finely cut it. This body's at least capable of that much. Lastly, the roof frame should follow the same principle.

  Hmm.

  So, there are a lot of bamboo trees outside the sect. I can probably fetch a bundle or two by my lonesome, which should be enough to fill out the gaps, after which I can use plaster to keep it all tightly coated. Unfortunately, plaster is all one gray color, so it might look ugly, but... well, Long Tao seemed to have no issues with living in a pigsty, so this would be much better.

  Lastly would be the roof covering; shingles are out of the question—those things cost an arm and a leg—and thatch will be good enough, as it rarely even rains. If I insulate it well enough, it shouldn't leak. Eaves and drainage should be relatively easy with a hollowed-out piece of lumber.

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  Floors, interior, doors, and windows... hmm, I need to leave gaps for those things. Two windows, one for each room, should be enough. I also need to account for the fact that Long Tao's dwelling will become a 'communal' dwelling soon enough. Every disciple should have their own room, but other areas will be shared. But that's easy enough to do; I'll leave a secondary doorframe that will lead to a hallway connected to a bunch of identical rooms to Long Tao's.

  I can always just say that the position of his room is a privilege of my most senior Disciple.

  "What are you thinking so hard about?" speaking of Senior Disciple!

  "I plan on building a small place for you to live," I said.

  "Oh? You know how to do that?"

  "... you don't have to sound so befuddled."

  "Apologies, Master. It's just that everything about your reputation contradicts every word of what you just said."

  "..."

  "..."

  "If I give you that cloaking art, can you use it to sneak out of the sect and never come back?"

  "No."

  "Humph," forget it; I'm an adult; I should behave like one--no, wait! That dude is probably hundreds, if not thousands of years old! Compared to him, I'm a toddler! I should be allowed to throw tantrums... wait. This is going in a strange direction. Khm. "I'm not sure myself. I have a plan in mind, but I haven't built anything in a long time, so I'm sure it won't be perfect."

  "I'll help."

  "Really?"

  "That's what disciples do, no? Help their Masters?" tsk. Sly bastard.

  "Of course," I nodded as certainly as I could. "Good. Filial disciple."

  "Can you share your plan?"

  "Yes," I said and slowly shared everything I've deduced with him.

  Long Tao didn't interrupt or show much of a reaction on his face; it was persistently indifferent and apathetic, as though his self was wholly divorced from this reality. Well, he kind of was; to him, this was likely the part of the memories that would be shoved into the 'irrelevant' category once he grew up.

  "Wow," he exclaimed softly after I finished. "You actually do know."

  "Wow. Elders are allowed to beat their disciples silly, you know that?"

  "Master would never," he dismissed it with a faint grin. "Most of it is fine, but the premise is flawed."

  "Hm?"

  "You want to use shallow stone pads for the foundation, which, if you were making it just for me, would be fine, but considering your thoughts of expansion in the future, it doesn't work."

  "Ah!"

  "Besides, from the sounds of it, no matter how well you decorate it, it will look like crap," he added. This was the chattiest he'd ever been thus far; does he have some entanglement with construction from his past life? "You should know, Master, that while functionality in the world of martial arts is fine, appearances are far more important. Shallow, vain, petty, and obsessed, they would rather their attack look intimidating than actually do anything. That extends to the dwellings. Won't they mock us relentlessly if they see we live like that?"

  "They mock us already."

  "No, they mock you. I doubt more than four people know I even exist."

  "... what's your point?"

  "For now, just construct me a single-room house as planned," he said. "So that the Sect sees you're trying. Once I win the competition, instead of taking in a new disciple, just ask for a shitload of resources."

  "... are you afraid to face competition from a fellow junior?" I probed mostly because I was a bit angry that he sounded so smug and self-assured. Even if he was 100% correct, who gave him the right!? I'm the Master here!

  "Yeah, sure," he gingerly rolled his eyes. To my surprise, his form of speaking was rather reminiscent of people on Earth. While that was the general theme, as even Elder Qin sounded more like someone from the 2000s rather than from the 900s, his was even more pronounced. "If you think there's someone as talented as me among the Disciples, take them ten times out of ten. If not, just take the resources.

  "And once we have the resources, we'll demolish this thing you call a home to the ground and construct a proper palace. Not by ourselves, of course; just hire people to do it."

  "..."

  This bastard.