Chapter 4: Entering the City

"Guest Appraiser?"

Lin Chuan arched his brows, struggling to keep his lips from curling upward too obviously. His heart was performing a tap dance within his chest, but he maintained an air of breezy indifference on the surface. "And the compensation?"

Li Ming rubbed his hands together, forcing a professional smile onto his stern, square face. "Master Lin, our appraiser hierarchy at the Heavenly Fortune Pavilion is divided into five tiers..."

"Wait," Lin Chuan urgently signaled Little Fatty in his mind. "Why does this grading system sound so familiar?"

"Duh," Little Fatty’s voice was brimming with pride. "This is exactly what I taught my disciple thirty thousand years ago. He’s the one who popularized it across the Cangxuan Continent! The grading system was inspired by Earth's professional title evaluation system. How about that? Isn't it nostalgic?"

Lin Chuan nearly choked on his own saliva. "You’re a titan of the cultivation world—why were you dabbling in corporate grading systems?"

"It’s called scientific management!" Little Fatty said righteously. "Did you think cultivators didn't need KPI assessments?"

Seeing Lin Chuan’s strange expression, Li Ming mistook it for dissatisfaction with the policy and quickly explained, "Master Lin, although you identified a treasure as rare as a star core fragment, according to our rules, all new appraisers must start at the fifth tier..."

"Understood, understood," Lin Chuan waved a hand, thinking to himself that this was no different from a probationary period on Earth.

Li Ming breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "A fifth-tier appraiser is only required to oversee appraisals four days a month, with a base salary of five taels of gold..."

"Only five taels?" Lin Chuan’s eyes widened. "That’s not even enough to cover the city entry fee!"

"Don't be so hasty," Li Ming smiled mysteriously. "That is merely the base salary. If you identify high-value treasures, the commission is uncapped. For instance, for today’s star core fragment, you will receive a commission of one hundred taels of gold."

Lin Chuan grumbled frantically in his mind: "Listen to that! Base salary plus commission! Isn't this just a sales job? Little Fatty, did you really bring the whole capitalist package to the cultivation world thirty thousand years ago?"

Little Fatty was smug. "It’s called an incentive system! Back then, under my disciple’s management, the Cangxuan Continent entered a golden age!"

Seeing Lin Chuan drift off again, Li Ming gave a light cough. "Master Lin, what do you think?"

Lin Chuan came back to his senses and put on a thoughtful look. "Hmm... it sounds reasonable enough. However, I have a question—"

"Please, go ahead."

"The value of a star core fragment is surely worth more than one hundred taels of gold, isn't it?" Lin Chuan narrowed his eyes.

The smile on Li Ming’s face stiffened for a split second before returning to normal. "Master Lin truly has a sharp eye. However, the Heavenly Fortune Pavilion must bear the costs of promotion, storage, transactions, and a series of other overheads..."

"Bullshit!" Little Fatty fumed inside the ring. "A star core fragment is worth at least fifty thousand low-grade spirit stones! One hundred taels of gold isn't even a fraction of a percent! This kid is ripping you off!"

Lin Chuan understood, but he only offered a meaningful smile on the surface. "Understood, understood. In business, one must always make a profit."

***

Li Ming felt relieved and quickly produced an ivory pendant with silver edges from his sleeve. "This is your credential as a fifth-tier appraiser, please keep it safe. Your commission of one hundred taels of gold is ready; you may collect it at any time."

Lin Chuan took the pendant; it felt warm and smooth to the touch. The front was engraved with the archaic characters for "Heavenly Fortune City," while the back bore the small characters "Fifth-Tier Appraiser." The edges were inlaid with a ring of silver thread, and the craftsmanship was exquisite.

"By the way," Lin Chuan suddenly remembered something, "if I identify higher-level treasures in the future, can I get promoted?"

"Of course!" Li Ming nodded. "We hold assessments every quarter, and those who perform exceptionally can jump multiple tiers. A fourth-tier appraiser has a base salary of fifty taels of gold, third-tier is five hundred, and second-tier is as high as five thousand!"

Lin Chuan whistled in his mind. "Listen to that salary bracket! Little Fatty, did you also have your disciple host an 'Annual Gala' and hand out trophies to the top KPI performers?"

Little Fatty was shocked. "How did you know? I actually did have my disciple do that!"

"...I knew it."

After completing the paperwork and collecting his heavy bag of one hundred taels of gold, Lin Chuan stepped out of the Heavenly Fortune Pavilion with a light, jaunty gait.

Once he was out of the guards' line of sight, his true colors emerged. He tossed the bag of gold into the air and caught it, grinning like a two-hundred-pound child. "I’m rich! I’m rich! One hundred taels of gold! The entry fee is only twenty taels! Little Fatty, we’re wealthy now!"

"Look at your lack of ambition," Little Fatty said with disdain. "You’re happy even after being ripped off by Li Ming? That star core fragment is worth at least fifty thousand low-grade spirit stones. At the current exchange rate, that’s equivalent to fifty thousand taels of gold!"

"And that’s a conservative estimate," Little Fatty huffed. "If it were auctioned to a cultivator who needs star power, the price could double."

Lin Chuan immediately felt the money bag in his hand lose its luster. "Li Ming, that crooked merchant! A middleman taking a cut! If we weren't on his turf, I would've drawn a circle with him at the center and his eighteen generations of ancestors as the radius!"

"Save it," Little Fatty poured cold water on him. "That’s just how the industry works. When you were a real estate agent in your past life, didn't you often take a cut too?"

Lin Chuan was rendered speechless. After a long while, he muttered, "That’s different... that was a reasonable commission..."

"Forget it," Little Fatty gloated. "The Heavenly Dao is a cycle; who has Heaven ever spared?"

Lin Chuan sighed and weighed the money bag. "Fine, at least we have one hundred taels, enough to enter the city. Let’s go get the entry permit."

The West Gate of Heavenly Fortune City was bustling with people, and the line to process entry was over a hundred meters long. Lin Chuan waited for nearly an hour before his turn arrived.

"Name? Cultivation level? Purpose of entry?" the city guard commander asked mechanically without looking up.

"Lin Chuan, commoner, purpose... er, looking for work?" Lin Chuan didn't know how to explain his intent.

The commander finally looked up, his gaze sweeping over Lin Chuan’s simple, coarse cloth robes. "Twenty taels of gold."

Lin Chuan counted out the twenty taels with a heavy heart and handed them over. The commander took the gold and pulled a cyan jade pendant from under the counter, beginning to carve characters into it.

"Drop your blood to bind it," the commander pushed a jade tray forward.

Lin Chuan followed the instructions, pricking his finger and letting a drop of blood fall onto the pendant. The blood was absorbed instantly, and the pendant emitted a faint glow.

"Done," the commander handed it to him. "This is your entry permit. It is valid for one year, but you must pay an additional twenty taels of gold or twenty low-grade spirit stones every seven days. After eleven such payments, you must leave the city until this time next year. Lost permits will not be replaced."

Lin Chuan took the pendant and was surprised to find it almost identical to the one he had just received from the Heavenly Fortune Pavilion—same shape, same material, just lacking the silver edge and the "Fifth-Tier Appraiser" inscription.

"Huh? This design..." Lin Chuan was about to ask, but Little Fatty in the ring suddenly fell silent.

***

"Little Fatty?" Lin Chuan called out in his mind. "Why is this pendant so similar to the appraiser’s one?"

"...Coincidence, probably." Little Fatty’s voice was uncharacteristically evasive.

Lin Chuan found it strange, but he took out the silver-edged pendant and asked the commander, "Sir, may I ask the difference between this pendant and the entry permit?"

The moment the commander saw the silver-edged pendant, his eyes widened like copper bells, and he sprang from his chair. "A fifth-tier appraiser?!"

Before Lin Chuan could react, the commander was already beaming, circling the counter and enthusiastically shaking his hand. "Oh my, Master! You should have said so! Why would someone like you need an entry permit!"

As he spoke, the commander nimbly took the twenty taels of gold Lin Chuan had just paid and stuffed them back into his hand. "Appraisers don't need entry permits; that's the rule! My apologies for the offense earlier, please don't take it to heart!"

Lin Chuan was left bewildered by the sudden warmth. "Ah? No permit needed? Then this pendant..."

"Just keep it with you!" The commander’s eyes crinkled with a grin. "Whenever you enter or leave the gates, just carry your appraiser pendant, and you can pass through the spiritual barrier freely."

Lin Chuan was escorted out of the registration area with the commander’s arm around his shoulder, still in a state of shock. He didn't come to his senses until he had walked quite some distance away.

"What just happened? Are appraisers that well-regarded?" Lin Chuan asked Little Fatty in his mind. "Did the system you designed include privileges for the elite class?"

Little Fatty was silent for a moment before becoming unusually serious.

"Chuan, I have to warn you—don't be too flashy. I originally thought the entire Cangxuan Continent would be flourishing under my disciple’s leadership, but some things now don't match my original design, and I'm not clear on the current state of the 'Dao Court,' so..."

"Relax, relax," Lin Chuan waved his hand. "We’ll stay low-key and get rich quietly."

As he spoke, he weighed the money bag, the hundred taels of gold clinking melodiously. "Now that we’re rich and have status, it’s time to go into the city and enjoy ourselves, right?"

Before Little Fatty could reply, Lin Chuan had already started walking toward the West Gate with a swagger, humming a little tune: "We common folk, we’re so happy today~"

When the gate guards saw the silver-edged pendant Lin Chuan displayed, they immediately straightened their backs and saluted. "Greetings, Master Appraiser!"

Lin Chuan nodded reservedly and strode into the city. Just as he was about to step into Heavenly Fortune City, Little Fatty’s voice echoed in his mind:

"Friendly reminder—the way you're walking right now looks exactly like a penguin that’s just learned to walk upright."

Lin Chuan stumbled, nearly performing a face-plant on the flat ground in front of everyone.