'God of Wealth?' Bruce was surprised when he heard about Sean's new goal.
"Sean, are you sure you want to become the God of Wealth?"
No one has this title in the continent currently but it's certainly a real title that belonged to someone from the past. The god of wealth is a somewhat well-known figure to cultivators. Talent and background can bring one to greatness, and so can immense wealth. Though it's true that anyone stronger than you can kill you and steal your wealth, that wasn't the case with the God of Wealth.
God of Wealth had mediocre cultivation, but he was able to learn the dirty secrets of his opponents. He used extreme means to find materials to extort his enemies and always had strong people protecting him. Should he die, all of his enemies' secrets would be leaked to the public.
God of Wealth was able to accumulate so much money that some people estimated his net worth to be higher than the combined empires in the continent. Apparently, he disappeared thousands of years ago, and no one knew where he went.
"I'm a straightforward person. If I don't know what I aim to reach, I won't be able to start my journey" Sean doesn't know if he'll become the God of Wealth in the future, but he needed a goal to motivate and improve himself.
"That makes sense, I'm glad you found something other than being a bandit to increase your wealth" Before leaving, Bruce was thinking to convince everyone to quit being bandits. It's not a good idea to keep gaining bad karma to expand one's wealth. Eventually, the heavens will churn out judgment one way or another.
"What do you mean teacher? I plan to keep being a bandit" Sean didn't want to give up being a bandit just yet.
"You honestly think you can protect this group of young men with your meager cultivation?"
"If you keep robbing people in the future, you'll create endless enemies. You will die one day soon!" Bruce's face darkened after hearing from Sean that he didn't want to stop being a bandit. After all, his entire lecture was around making money, not banditry.
"Well, it's just very hard for all of us here to start over fresh. We don't have any place to settle down and start a business to make money" Sean brought up the reason why they had to remain bandits. With nowhere to go, it was difficult for the group to increase their wealth without reverting back to being bandits.
"Speaking of that, why are you even the leader of this group? With your cultivation, you should have been able to make a decent chunk of income by being anything other than a bandit" Bruce finally pointed out the elephant in the room.
"I have a decent talent in cultivation and was able to reach Soul Manifestation when I turned 30 through resources of my sect. However, my sect stopped supporting me since I am too old to advance to Divine King. They offered me a position as a guard, but I turned them down" Sean began to narrate his past.
"It's funny really. I joined the sect when I was 14 and stayed there until I was 30. I thought my talent was pretty good because I was able to keep up with my peers. But everything stopped working for me when I hit the wall of Soul Manifestation."
"After 15 years, I managed to reach Soul Manifestation eventually, but it was too late for me" Sean sighed in regret as he recalled his peers advancing to higher realms as he was stuck in Elemental Profound. He didn't want to stay in the sect and bow to his peers, so he left.
"When I left the sect, I stumbled upon the village that these young men were at. I saw myself in them as they struggled to make ends meet with all the corruption at the higher-ups"
"All of their families struggled to find food to eat and were forced to work in the crystal mines nearby to live." As Sean explained the young men's background to Bruce, some of them teared up when they remembered their families back home.
"I gathered the young men who had low cultivation and offered them an opportunity. It's been one month since we became bandits, but we were able to make enough that the guys were able to feed their families without working in the mine."
"Wait, hold on a minute. Why the hell did you lead them to the life of banditry instead of doing something else?" Sean was clearly a bad influence on the young men.
"I thought being a bandit was a good career at the time. Very flexible hours, good pay, and good benefits." Sean truly thought being a bandit was a respectable profession.
'My god, how did this guy even reach Soul Manifestation with this kind of thinking'
After Sean finished the story, Bruce felt pity for everyone in the group except for Sean. Life was not fair after all because it threw Sean into their lives. Nevertheless, he wanted to help them before leaving as this might be the last time that he will see them.
"Thank you for telling me this. I know it wasn't easy to share your life experience with a stranger"
"Nonsense! You're our teacher. You're not a stranger at all." Sean refuted.
"Now that we're no longer strangers, I'll help you guys out one last time before I leave for my destination" Bruce stood up and looked at the group.
"Let's take back the village and remove the corrupted dogs at the top!" Bruce unveiled his plan to get everyone back on their feet.
"That's not possible Bruce. The mayor of the village has a backer that we cannot afford to offend" Sean also thought of this when he came by the village but after knowing details about the mayor, he didn't do anything rash.
"Oh. What's the background of the mayor?" Bruce asked but his confidence still remained.
"The mayor is the son of a Soul Manifestation late-stage expert. His father currently works as an official in the Stellae Family, the one that rules the country" Sean did not want to offend someone who was much stronger than him and has a background in the Stellae family. The Stellae family rules over the country and could easily kill him at any time.
"Oh, his background is no big deal to me." Bruce laughed after hearing that the scary backer of the mayor is someone his family employs. His family would have no problem removing a corrupted official from its backyard.
"Do you guys trust me when I say that we can do it?" Bruce asked the group once again.
"Teacher, we trust you!" The group exclaimed as they had complete faith in Bruce after everything that happened.
"Good. As you guys know, a theory is nothing without practical experience" Bruce picked up the stash of gold that they obtained from the robbery today and led the group out of the restaurant.
"It's time for you all, my pupils, to apply what you learned today to the real world"
"What do you plan to do Bruce?" With his spirit fired up, Sean was ready for a fight.
"We're going to the casino!" Bruce pointed to the vibrant Casino in the city.
Everyone: "Huh?"