Data-Driven Daoist

“Does the Great Xia Dynasty have income tax?” Yu Han asked.

“What’s that?” Fang Zhao paused, punching the air. His form shifted from fist attacks to leg swipes.

“Tax on all income generated by individuals or businesses.”

Yu Han elaborated on it.

As he listened, Fang Zhao paled. He stopped his practice and took a step back. “Why would our Great Xia Dynasty have something so diabolical? Peasants would die. Ministers would resign. Sects would rebel!”

“Got it.” Yu Han took out his pen and notebook and scribbled.

Until now, he had identified a few existing tax systems.

First were sales or commercial tax on products sold in the sect’s marketplaces. This was simple. A percentage would go to the sect.

Then there were taxes on goods passing through the port at Great Barrier City. Tariffs or customs duties, so to say.

Similar tariffs were imposed on resources harvested from the Hidden Realm too, which came through the Realm Crossing Passageway. For example, the 15 stalks of Lesser Nurturing Bloodferns they had paid to the sect, for which they did not receive and contribution points.

An exact tariff in percentage was impossible to regulate because of storage artefacts. The sect didn’t have a controlled price for all Hidden Realm products either. Hence, they set tariff brackets in specific amounts and required disciples to take on external missions just to access the Hidden Realm. For example, a disciple taking a mission to harvest Lesser Nurturing Bloodferns must hand over a specific amount either in goods, or in spirit stones with a fine, and whatever else they acquired in the Hidden Realm was not taxed. They would also have to exchange a minimum number of goods for contribution points, and failure to do so would result in a higher fine.

This tax amount increased based on realm Level, again sliding scale so to speak. To go to the Hidden Realm, a normal disciple needed to have an external mission. That was both the ticket, the permit, and the receipt. Yu Han didn’t doubt that sect members with higher clearance could dive in without such permits. Like Song Yinuo and Shi Miao’s masters.

There were also fixed port tariffs regardless of the amount of goods brought in via sea route. Such as, every ship had a tonnage tax. The bigger the ship, the higher the duties paid. After which, the specific amounts of goods would also be subject to sales tax. For pioneering villages and towns, they had a lesser version of this for fishing and trade boats. Similar taxes applied to merchant carts and caravans.

There were also tax for land. And finally, mandatory missions for all sect members, both internal and external. Perhaps this was analogous to labour tax.

But no income tax.

Good, good. Yu Han checked a box in his notebook. If he was a dictator’s evil adviser, this might have been one thing to whisper. Or perhaps not. The amount of ire attracted might have made him ascend to ghosthood directly.

Yu Han gave the confused Fang Zhao a hug. If he could, he would kiss the stone ring too, but not to show loyalty.

Fang Zhao wasn’t a bucket of spirit stones. He was the whole factory. The road, the trucks on the road, the ships at the port. He was the reincarnation of a supply chain.

Fang Zhao kicked him away with a creeped out face, escaping further signs of appreciation.

Yu Han continued his market research with Huang Niuniu. Nowadays, noble scions avoided them as if they had contagious skin disease.

Outer Sect disciples murmured the incident with the Mad Bloodhounds for some time. But soon enough, other stories captured their attention.

A rookie had reached Level 5 in record time.

Three Outer Sect bullies had ganged up to ambush a new rookie Courtyard, only to be ‘accidentally’ crippled.

Another rookie had refined an Earth Grade Body Tempering Pill on her first month in the sect. A Core Formation Elder of the Alchemy Hall immediately took her as a direct disciple.

Yu Han’s group of four weren’t the only ones busy making waves.

This year’s newcomers were monsters. Made sense, since the last few years there were no newcomers from the outside world at all. Internal recruitment had also be stagnated, though not fully stopped as Yu Han had later learnt.

Achievement after achievement stacked up. Betting had already started for the next Rookie tournament. Yu Han’s crew wasn’t even in the top five hundred, though they seemed to be in the top thousand.

Yu Han trained his Martial Art in real life, focusing more on fasting and cardio. In his dreamscape, he trained his Psychic Art and rote Cultivation.

Fang Zhao got challenged by the lackey of a certain Core Disciple.

Li Yao found out about his previous butchery supervisor’s weakness and spread a malicious rumour.

Huang Niuniu’s Bloodline Trait Flickering Sea Wisp Lineage was at the threshold of evolving to the Elite Grade. But it was stuck. She needed an epiphany or an elixir, but did not have the contribution points for the latter. She didn’t want to pay an exorbitant amount of Spirit Stones as premium either.

Unlawfully taken from NovelFire, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

They consulted Elder Chang. “Excellent progress, Huang girl. If only you had Elite Grade Qi Affinity, the sect would hold no resource back to nurture you.”

He could not give out valuable resources without a proper cause. Perhaps he could, but he chose not to.

Huang Niuniu wasn’t his disciple.

But he made a promise to get her some less-valuable Alchemy guides. They would be the most common ones that already circulated the marketplace, but it would be boon to her nonetheless.

Most importantly, he gave her a rudimentary guide on how to train the Qi Awareness Trait. His own notes, not a book by any measure. Yet helpful nonetheless.

Entering the Qi Gathering Realm would automatically give a Cultivator the Qi Manipulation Trait. For Foundation Building, it was the Qi Sense Trait.

Qi Awareness was a nascent version of Qi Sense and at Foundation Building, it would merge back. It gave a Cultivator the ability to be aware of Qi within limited contexts, without the ability to manipulate it.

Body Tempering Realm Cultivators couldn’t intentionally manipulate Qi unless it was with an Art of some kind. Most commonly with Bloodline Arts.

But with this Trait, they could become aware of it inside their bodies, even if slightly. It would make them more intimately aware of their Lifeforce too. It had to be at a high level to be aware of external Qi.

It’s a must for all production-related Cultivators like Alchemists, Healers, Formation Masters, and Artefact Refiners.

Yu Han’s group got together to finalize their establishment plans.

“I’m not against it,” Li Yao said while scratching his head. “More money is always a good thing. But we need a fifth person. Who’s it gonna be?”

“That’s where you come in,” Yu Han said.

Li Yao put his hand down. “So finally my talents shine. Who do you want me to blackmail?”

“What? No. Where’d that come from?”

Li Yao shrugged.

“You’re a people person,” Yu Han said. “You know how to make fast friends. Share a drink, get them talking, to do stuff.”

“Come on,” Li Yao bit his lips. “The first part makes me sound good. The last makes me sound like a sleaze.”

“If Fang Zhao or Huang Niuniu talk too much, they’ll get punched,” Yu Han said. “You won’t!”

The two in question showed a rare moment of solidarity and protested.

“People underestimate me because of my size,” Yu Han said. “In the mundane world, I could pretend to be rich. But three seconds into a conversation here and most normal people will become suspicious of me.”

“So you’re self-aware?” Li Yao said. “Tubs was so pure and honest back in the days. Now you scheme better than a snake. Why not trick someone into joining? Or fix a problem. Make them indebted to you like you did with Red-eyes, the Crab, and Cow Girl.”

“That won’t work,” Fang Zhao interrupted. “Fei Rui and I had a neatly packaged issues Brother Yu could solve. Others might not. Most people will never share intimate details like how I did. It was only because I had no other options left that I opened up.”

Someone else is quite self-aware too, Yu Han nodded along Fang Zhao’s words.

“I don’t think Brother Yu wants to wait months before starting the Courtyard,” Fang Zhao said. “Brother Li has a lot of friends. Brother Yu and Sister Huang are loners, they only have each other and Fei Rui.”

“If you say that much, can’t refuse now can I?” Li Yao slammed his knee. “I know someone. Met him recently. End of options too. We help him, he helps us. He can be trusted.”

“I want to leave future recruitment to you too,” Yu Han said.

“Hold it,” Huang Niuniu chopped the air between the four. “We don’t have a vice-leader.”

Yu Han looked at Huang Niuniu with confusion. Fang Zhao and Li Yao’s face turned grim.

“We don’t have a leader either,” Yu Han said as a matter of fact.

“Brother Yu is going to be the leader. If he can solve my problem, he can do anything. He also has Fei Rui.”

“Tubs, you have the brain of a traitorous minister. I’ll trust you to fuck others over for our sake. You also have Fei Rui.”

“Han’er, you’re my idea-man. Mother said the smart one has to be at the top!”

The three boys gave her a blank look.

She leaned away, hands going for her knife. “Han’er also has Fei Rui.”

“You want to be the vice-leader?” Yu Han interrupted the weird atmosphere.

“Yes!” Huang Niuniu puffed up her chest.

“Why—”

“I object,” Fang Zhao said. “I can beat you in a fight with my eyes closed.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Huang Niuniu said. “And you can’t!”

“I’m the strongest. If the leader is the face of our Courtyard, then the vice-leader is the fist. I can be that,” Fang Zhao said.

“You can be the foot!” Huang Niuniu said. “A stinky, infected foot. Besides, a vice-leader has to be about trust. Trust, get it? Who does Han’er trust the most here? Obviously me.”

Li Yao coughed into his fist. “Fei Rui.”

“Huh?” Huang Niuniu’s head snapped in his direction.

“Tubs trusts Fei Rui the most,” Li Yao said.

The conversation stopped.

The crab was outside, digging a hole. He was making another stash in Yu Han’s front yard.

“Can you beat Fei Rui in a fight?” Li Yao asked Fang Zhao.

The Red-eyed boy paled.

“Tubs trusts Fei Rui even more than he trusts you,” Li Yao said to Huang Niuniu.

The girl received critical damage.

“Fei Rui made friends with both Feral Spot and Mistress Miao,” Li Yao said. “If I’m a people person, then he’s a Spirit Beast Spirit.”

“…a-a crab can’t be vice-leader!” Huang Niuniu shouted.

“We can all be,” Li Yao said. “I don’t think there’s a rule against three vice-leaders.”

Yu Han went through his notes. “There isn’t.”

Just like that, possible future backstabbing was solved.

Temporarily.

Yu Han was worried about Huang Niuniu’s pettiness and Fang Zhao’s competitiveness.

Why is she fixated on him, though. Wait, Yu Han felt his heartbeat drop. Does she—? No. Nope. Not going to jump to conclusions. I’ll ask her directly.

“A Courtyard is, in part, a business entity,” Yu Han said, forcefully pushing his distracted thoughts aside. “It needs a way to make money. I looked into it, and the most Courtyards rely on the Hidden Realm at first. They go with a good external mission, hunt a haul, and sell it to the sect.”

“Makes sense,” Fang Zhao said. “The demand for Hidden Realm goods is nigh limitless. Not just inside the sect, but in the outside world too. Since the Inverted Mountains Hidden Realm has so many ruins, disciples can hunt not only for herbs and beasts, but relics and artefacts. There are smaller countries, sects, and clans without access to Hidden Realms. They need a never-ending supply of cultivation resources.”

Originally, Fang Zhao was a member of a Courtyard. He was kicked out though because of orders from a Core Disciple, someone who knew of Fang Zhao’s past and had a dislike for the boy. Fang Zhao then approached Yu Han because as a member of the Night Alchemists’ Yard, Yu Han could also get mission passes.

“Most Courtyards sell their haul to the sect. The sect will always buy, but at a lower price,” Yu Han continued. “Half with spirit stones, the rest with contribution points. This goes for most harvested treasures like spiritual herbs, plants, fruits, beast cores, meat, and ores too. Treasures from ruins like artefacts, relics, and ruin trinkets sell for higher, though ruin trinkets might be treated as trash depending on what it is.”

Yu Han stopped, scanned his friends. “We could also sell to the disciples and foreign merchants directly.”