Sect Leader's Rise to the top!

Kai stretched his body while playing with the surrounding Wind-Qi. There was not much of it in the basement but, Kai still wanted to use the little he could find to improve his Qi-gather efficiency.

When the Wind-Qi in the basement was depleted, Kai moved upstairs to look for more. Kai quickly noticed that the higher he went, the more Wind-Qi there was, which actually made sense.

"Looks like cultivation locations are also important. I need to find high places to absorb wind Qi. I'm sure the peak of a mountain should have a lot of Wind-Qi". Kai found himself back in his assigned room which was located on the highest floor of the building. He rarely used it since he would usually hole himself in his basement workshop, but this room actually had the highest concentration of Wind-Qi within the small building.

When Kai was about to sit down, he noticed Old Lao standing awkwardly in the corner of the room with a broom in his hands.

"Hehe, Old Lao, my apologies, I did not notice you there. I was too caught up in my own thoughts".

"Hoho, no need to apologize, master, I was just about to start cleaning but I can come back later".

Kai felt bad for Old Lao who had been doing all the cooking and even cleaning lately. Kai liked Old Lao's work ethic, but didn't want the old man to feel like a servant anymore.

"Old Lao, I also want you to focus on your cultivation so why don't we look for a maid-servant to take care of the little things around the house?. Your time is better spent on cultivation after all"

"Hmm, well since Master is planning on expanding operations in the future, it would be a good idea to get a servant early on that we can properly train to be loyal. I have some experience in this regard. If Master allows it, I can take care of this matter personally."

"Sure, go ahead. Use some of the money I gave you last time to hire someone reliable.", Kai said while giving him a thumbs up. He wasn't sure what experience Old Lao was talking about, but he seemed quite confident, so Kai left him to his own devices.

Old Lao bowed to Kai before leaving the room while Kai got back to his cultivation. Time flew by quickly and evening fell.

Kai had gathered enough Qi to break through to the 8th Stage of Qi-Condensation, but he decided against it for the time being. He didn't know what the consequences of successive breakthroughs would be so he would rather wait a few days just to be safe.

Kai walked downstairs and was surprised to see two young girls wearing ragged clothing, quietly standing in the living room.

Ryu and Mina were also there starring at the two young girls. When they noticed Kai's arrival, the two girls quickly looked down while Ryu and Mina turned to greet him.

Kai nodded his head and then turned it back to the two girls. "And they are?...", he asked in a hushed tone, but the two girls had obviously heard him and started to shiver slightly, seemingly in a panic.

Ryu quickly whispered back to Kai. "Master, Old Lao said you approved him buying some servants and so he did just that".

"Buying?", Kai was confused. He had assumed that Old Lao would go hire a servant, but by the looks of it, the old man had bought slaves instead...

At that moment, Old Lao came down from upstairs holding a pair of custom-made clothes in Kai's unique style. Old Lao had been in charge of commissioning their clothes so he had quite a few spares from different prototypes.

Old Lao saw the look on Kai's face and immediately decided to explain. "Master, I know you abhor this practice, however considering your situation and the...secrets you are hiding, I believed this to be the most practical way of gaining servants whose loyalty and silence could be guaranteed...".

Kai remained silent and only looked at the two young girls. They had bruises on their necks, wrists, and ankles which showed that they had been shackled until fairly recently.

Kai was saddened by the sight but decided to look at it from a positive perspective. "Old Lao, I'm assuming that these were the only young girls there?", Kai asked knowing that Old Lao understood what he meant.

"Yes Master, the rest were men of varying ages..."

Kai sighed and patted Old Lao on the shoulder. He obviously had a soft heart and couldn't help wanting to help the two girls when he saw them.

"They will be your responsibility from now on. Train them to be loyal and hard-working, but most of all...treat them well. They look like they've been through a lot...".

Kai didn't have the power or resources to go around saving every forsaken soul that he came across, but he so wasn't so heartless as to throw them out either. As such, Kai decided to accept them knowing that had he been in Old Lao's shoes, he would have wanted to save them as well.

Mina and Ryu smiled at Kai's answer while Old Lao gave Kai a deep bow. "Thank you Master!", he said with teary eyes.

Kai patted him on the shoulder then walked over to the two young girls. They both seemed to be around his age but half his height. They looked very similar to each other, however, their eye color was different with one girl having green eyes while the other had an interesting pair of purple eyes.

"Hello there. My name is Kai. Can you tell me your names and where you originally came from?", Kai asked them in a friendly voice and an amiable smile on his face.

The two girls seemed nervous but the green-eyed girls spoke, albeit in a hushed voice. "G...greetings my lord, My name is Jian Yi and this is my sister Jian Na. I...we...", said the girl was obviously recalling some painful memories so Kai decided to stop it there, he turned back to Old Lao, hoping the old man had some more information.

"...Their family's convoy was raided and their family...was all lost. These twins were taken by the man-hunters to be sold far away. Luckily, I was able to find them in the local black market before they were shipped away.". Old Lao said while handing Mina the clothes he had brought with him.

"Miss Mina, if you don't mind, can you please help them get changed?..."

"Sure," Mina said with a gentle smile then lead the nervous girls up the stairs towards her room.

"They'll be safe with us for now. Ryu, I want you to start looking into their incident and see if you can find any living members of their family. Now that they're with us, let's do our best to help them out", Kai said as he began to give instructions on the way forward.

"Understood Master". Ryu said in an excited voice. He was eager to get back to his intelligence gathering since all they had been doing was fighting lately.

When they finished talking, Kai sighed while walking down to the basement, seemingly in deep thought.

"...As long as the group's gender balance stays even, then it's technically not a harem...right?". Kai mumbled to himself while walking down the basement stairs.

Old Lao and Ryu looked at each other in confusion, secretly trying to figure out what strange things Kai was mumbling about this time.