After the mortified Xiao Lian had left, Xiao Yun sat there in his tub with his herbal water. He looked at the destroyed door and the mess in his room from all the wood fragments and decided that it was a problem for later. He needed to finish his bath before the water got cold. This world had so many inconveniences. He scrubbed his back with a rough fibrous loofah, wincing slightly. "If only I had a bar of decent soap." he muttered to the steam and woodchip-filled room. "Or even just a cheap, generic one. Anything to get a proper lather."

  The average resident of this world only used plain water, plant ash, crushed seeds of some plant he couldn’t identify and rice water to wash their hair. The richer locals used various fragrant herbs mixed with warm water to wash themselves, which produced a thin, unsatisfying suds that smelled vaguely of wet leaves. It simply wasn't cutting it.

  He dunked his head under the water, came back up and resumed scrubbing his arm with the loofah, his privacy completely gone. He grumbled to himself, "Three days of grime. and I can't even get a decent lather. On earth, a long hot shower with some shampoo and bar of scented soap could solve at least a quarter of your problems. This is just moving dirt around with warm water. If I was a higher level cultivator I could use my spirit sense and clean myself in an instant like they do in martial arts novels. What I wouldn’t give for some actual hygiene products.”

  He stopped scrubbing.

  His eyes, which moments ago were filled with weary resignation slowly widened. The loofah slipped from his grasp and bobbed gently on the surface of the water. A small thought began to blossom in his mind.

  ‘Soap doesn't exist here.’

  Not real soap. Not fragrant, lathering, cleansing bars of handcrafted goodness. The nobility, the wealthy merchants, the high-and-mighty cultivators (those below the Golden Core Realm anyways), they were all just as grimy as the peasants, only they covered it up with expensive perfumes and cleaner robes.

  The potential was staggering. He wasn't a cultivation genius. He wasn't a master strategist. He was someone ordinary guy from earth with a diverse field of knowledge, a jack of all trades if you will, and he had the basic knowledge of how to make soap, something he’d learned from a random YouTube video he watched one boring day. But here in this world, that knowledge was a superpower.

  ‘Lye. It can be made from wood ash. Animal fat. The kitchens should be full of it. Plant oils… olive, coconut… well, whatever equivalent they have here. It’s basic chemistry. It’s not alchemy, it’s not some profound secret of the heavens. It’s just soap.’

  This was it. This was his path. Not just to a cleaner body, but to improving the Xiao family’s finances. He could make soap. Simple soap for the masses. And for the upper class? Oh, the possibilities were endless. Rose-petal infused soap and shampoo for the ladies. Sandalwood and ginseng for the distinguished gentlemen. Exfoliating bars for the warriors. He could build a commercial empire on the simple concept of being clean. The "Degenerate Young Master Xiao Yun" would become the Baron of Bathing, the Sultan of Suds, the Emperor of Cleanliness!

  His bath forgotten, his new purpose blazing in his mind, Xiao Yun scrambled out of the tub like an inventor who had suddenly found the answer to a difficult problem. Unlike Archimedes however, he first dried himself hastily and threw on a clean set of silk robes. The fabric felt different now, no longer just clothes but the uniform of a future tycoon. He strode confidently towards the gaping hole in his wall, stepping over the debris without a second glance. The broken door was no longer a problem.

  He had to tell someone. He needed a partner. Someone with capital or at least, access to it and a deep-seated appreciation for the… finer things in life. His mind immediately went to one person and that person was already close by.

  He found the said person in the main garden, which was more weeds than garden. He was sitting at a stone table laden with two roasted chickens, some side dishes, a platter of glistening dumplings and a large jug of plum wine. As Xiao Yun approached, Fatty Wang was in the middle of tearing a greasy leg off the chicken with his bare hands.

  "Ah, Brother Yun!" Fatty Wang said through a mouthful of food, gesturing with the chicken leg. "There you are! I was about to send a search party. Or, you know, finish the chickens myself. You look a little shiny. Did you fall into the fishpond?"

  Xiao Yun pulled up a stool, his tired eyes gleaming with an intensity that Fatty Wang had never seen before. It was a look that went far beyond the simple anticipation of a good meal.

  "Wang Jun, my friend." Xiao Yun began. "Forget the chicken. Forget the wine. I am about to tell you about an idea. An idea that could not only make us filthily rich but will also quite literally wash this entire city clean."

  Fatty Wang paused the chicken leg halfway to his mouth. He looked at Xiao Yun’s manic grin, at the fire in his eyes and then back at the glistening, perfectly roasted chicken. For a moment he genuinely couldn't decide which was more interesting.

  Wolfing down the chicken leg quickly, Wang Jun downed a cup of plum wine before wiping his mouth with his sleeve and curiously asking, “And how exactly are we going to accomplish Xiao Yun?”

  "What is the one thing every person in this city does? From the city lord to the lowest stable hand?" Xiao Yun asked, his tone was that of a lecturer.

  "Breathe? Eat? Curse the high price of healing pills?"

  "They get dirty." Xiao Yun stated simply. "Cultivators get splattered with beast blood. Alchemists get covered in soot and medicine stains. Merchants sweat from haggling. Ladies of high society... well, they probably just glow but everyone else gets dirty."

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "And so? We have fragrant herbs and beans for that." Fatty Wang said gesturing vaguely. "You mash them into a paste and it foams a bit. Does the job. Smells like wet dirt but it works."

  "It works?" Xiao Yun scoffed, a flicker of his old world's soapy disdain showing. "It's inefficient. It's messy and the smell is atrocious. What if I told you I have a way to create something better? Something truly groundbreaking."

  He got up and picked up a small, smooth river stone from the gardens’ edge before returning. "Imagine this, but made of... well, let's call it a 'cleansing essence'. It's solid. You can hold it in your hand. When you add water and rub it, it creates a thick, luxurious and fragrant lather that washes away every speck of grime. It doesn't just clean you; it makes you smell like a field of blooming flowers. It makes your skin feel smooth."

  Fatty Wang stared at the stone in Xiao Yun’s hand, his brow furrowed in deep concentration. "A solid cleansing talisman? That recharges with water? That’s high-grade stuff brother Yun. The materials alone would cost a fortune. On top of that, which master would we hire? We don’t have the funds for it. It’s not like you or I know anything about crafting such things."

  "No, no, no." Xiao Yun said shaking his head, trying to simplify a basic saponification process. "The materials are laughably cheap. The cost to make one bar would be less than a half of bronze tael."

  Fatty Wang's chewing slowed then stopped entirely. The gears in his merchant-family-honed brain began to turn, grinding with a rusty screech of disbelief and dawning greediness. "Less than bronze... and how much would you sell it for?"

  "We start low to hook them." Xiao Yun said, his eyes gleaming. "Ten bronze taels a bar. Once everyone is addicted to not smelling like a wet dog we’ll introduce a finer line. 'Jade Beauty Soap' with crushed pearls for the ladies. 'Warrior's Valor Soap' with sandalwood for the cultivators. We can sell those for a silver tael each! Maybe more!"

  The half-eaten bun fell from Fatty Wang's fingers, landing on the plate with a soft thud. He was breathing a little heavily now. "By the Ancestors... every household, every person, the market is everyone who’s not a Golden Core cultivator..."

  "Exactly." Xiao Yun said with a triumphant grin. "Market control of one hundred percent. The common herb sellers will be out of business in a month. We'll have a monopoly on cleanliness itself."

  For a moment Fatty Wang's face was a mask of pure unadulterated greed. He looked like he’d just seen the path to the celestial heavens paved entirely with spirit stones. Then just as quickly the light in his eyes dimmed. The flush on his cheeks faded and he slumped back in his chair looking once more like a deflated balloon.

  "It's a brilliant plan Brother Yun. Truly. The kind of thing my grandfather would dream of." he said, his voice losing its booming quality. "But you’re asking the wrong person for help."

  Xiao Yun frowned. "What do you mean? Your family has three large shops in the city right? The three branches of the 'Sunlit Treasures Pavilion'. They’re perfect for distribution and advertising."

  Fatty Wang let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh. "My family has shops yes. But I have no say in them. To my father I am Wang Jun the third son, the cultivation failure, the frivolous brat who spends more money on just wine in a week than our three shops make in a day. My two older brothers, they are the talented ones. They manage the ledgers, they negotiate with suppliers. If I went to my father and told him I wanted to sell a magical 'cleansing talisman' invented by the equally useless Young Master Xiao..." He trailed off shaking his head. "He would laugh me out of the room. He might even cut off my allowance for daring to waste his time."

  Xiao Yun could see the deep-seated insecurity swirling within Fatty Wang. His fragmented memories were coming back to him bit by bit. Wang Jun, much like the original Xiao Yun was deemed useless and lived drowning his sorrows in food, wine and women. He was the same age as Xiao Yun, but only marginally better, still mewling at the fourth circle of the Qi Condensation Realm, a stage most heirs of well off families achieved at thirteen or fourteen years old. His talents were overshadowed by his brothers, both in business and cultivation. He saw his father’s disappointed gaze, heard his brothers' condescending laughter at a dozen family dinners. He wanted more than anything to prove them wrong but the fear of yet another failure, of confirming their low opinion of him was a cage around his heart.

  Xiao Yun watched his friend, his expression softening. He remembered his own troubled background, the loneliness of his own cubicle, the feeling of being an insignificant cog in a massive machine. He understood the desperate need to be seen as something more.

  "Fatty," he said, his voice firm but kind. "Listen to me. What are we right now? You said it yourself. I'm the useless heir to a destitute clan. You're the frivolous third son of a merchant family. In the eyes of the world we're a pair of jokes, biding our time until we fade into nothingness."

  He leaned across the table, his gaze intense. "But they are wrong. You are not just a frivolous layabout. You are my friend. You know people. You know this city's underbelly and its high society. You know what people want and what makes them happy. You have a charisma that your stiff-necked brothers could only dream of."

  Xiao Yun tapped the stone on the table. "This isn't just about me asking for your help. This is about us. The two 'useless' young masters. This is our chance to build something from nothing. To build an empire of cleanliness!" He almost laughed at the absurdity but managed to hold it in. "When the wealth start rolling in, when every person in this city is clamoring for our product do you think your father will still see a failure? Or will he see the son who brought the family a golden goose? Your brothers won't be laughing then. They'll be begging you to teach them your secrets."

  The words struck Fatty Wang like a perfectly aimed Qi blast. It wasn't just a business pitch anymore; it was a path to redemption. It was a weapon to be used against a lifetime of doubt and condescension. The fear was still there, a cold snake in his gut but now it was joined by the blazing fire of ambition.

  Slowly a grin spread across Fatty Wang's face, this time not from wine but from pure unadulterated audacity. It was the grin of a man who had just been given permission to be more than he was.

  "An empire of cleanliness." he repeated, the words tasting strange and wonderful. He picked up his wine cup. "To hell with what they think. If we fail we'll be no worse off than we are now. But if we succeed..."

  "When we succeed" Xiao Yun corrected, raising his own cup.

  Fatty Wang’s grin widened until it threatened to split his round face. He clinked his cup against Xiao Yun’s with a resonant chime that seemed to cut through the garden's mournful silence.

  "When we succeed" Fatty Wang boomed, his voice once again full of life, "We’ll start our own faction. Bowing to no one, asking permission from no one. We’ll live life exactly the way we want!”

  Xiao Yun wanted to roll his eyes at the rather heroic declaration of the drunken Fatty, but he felt it was strangely appropriate. After all the shame and disdain these two friends endured, it was fitting for them to burn with ambition after given a way forward, a way that they could actually walk.