Chapter 243 · Private Rights to Salt and Iron, Xiao Wu’s Spirit Tool Collar

By making use of his connection with Qian Renxue, Chen Ming successfully obtained three special privileges.

First, Chen Ming now had the legal right to produce and sell salt. With this right, he could openly mine salt deposits, distill sea salt, and sell salt within the borders of the Heaven Dou Empire.

Second, Chen Ming gained the right to produce iron and mine ore. He could openly make iron tools, discuss mining with local officials, or buy metal first from the Heaven Dou Empire's state-owned mines.

Third was the right to become a royal supplier. If the quality was the same, the things Chen Ming made would be chosen first by the Heaven Dou imperial family as royal-exclusive tribute goods.

Aside from the third right, the first right to sell salt and the second right to produce iron were both things that would get someone beheaded in a normal unified feudal empire.

After all, salt and iron had always been the lifelines of feudal dynasties, especially salt.

A person could go without clothes, but they absolutely could not go without salt. Salt was tied to survival. It was indispensable.

In a feudal world, no matter how good Chen Ming's relationship with the crown prince was, trying to make these rights private would get his head chopped off.

But this was the Douluo world.

This was the Heaven Dou Empire.

In a fantasy world, royal power was not that centralized to begin with. The Heaven Dou Empire, in particular, had even weaker central authority.

The rights to sell salt and produce iron were actually things that every duchy already had.

Even individuals privately selling salt, making iron, or even secretly producing iron armor—things that would lead to execution or even the extermination of nine generations in a feudal era—were not illegal across Douluo Continent.

Even in the Star Luo Empire, where imperial power was stronger, salt and iron were not controlled too strictly. As long as someone was not foolish enough to destroy the entire empire's salt or iron prices, the authorities would basically turn a blind eye.

After all, this world had always worshiped the idea that the strong ruled everything.

As long as one's fist was big enough, everything else did not matter.

And because Martial Souls had traits passed down through bloodlines, there truly was a gap similar to a racial difference between the lower classes and the upper classes. This made those in power look down on common people even more.

But this happened to give Chen Ming an opportunity.

After obtaining these privileges, Chen Ming could finally let loose and work on a large scale.

Although he had taken great advantage of Qian Renxue, if he simply accepted everything without giving anything back, Chen Ming still felt a little uneasy.

So he took out a quarter of the several thousand storage soul tools he had produced and handed them to Qian Renxue.

Looking at so many standardized soul tools, Qian Renxue's eyes almost popped out.

To her, these soul tool cards gave her an even bigger shock than the steam engine from before.

On Douluo Continent, the craft of making soul tools had already been lost. All current soul tools had been dug out from ancient ruins.

Because their number was limited, even the top forces did not necessarily have many soul tools in their hands.

But now, Chen Ming had not only solved the method of making soul tools, he had even mass-produced so many at once.

Although each one only had one cubic meter of space, Qian Renxue did not dislike their small size at all.

One had to know that things stored inside a soul tool could almost ignore their original shelf life. Once grain was placed inside, it would basically never spoil. Its convenient transport ability made it a strategic resource.

A large storage soul tool was equal to a portable strategic warehouse. Even at the empire level, it was a precious treasure.

With this many storage soul tools, Qian Renxue grew excited just thinking about how many people she could buy over and how many things she could accomplish.

After the trade, both Chen Ming and Qian Renxue were very satisfied. Then Chen Ming dismantled his steam engine again, placed it back into his storage Spirit Ring, and left the Crown Prince's Residence with the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud.

The technology inside the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud was the predecessor of Douluo Continent's soul tools. Chen Ming had already cracked some soul tool technology, so with his knowledge and computing power, he could fill in part of the missing evolution between the two and localize some extra technologies in his own direction.

After spending about a day, Chen Ming followed the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud's ability to hide aura and made a collar-shaped soul tool.

This soul tool had the ability to hide and change one's aura. When fully activated, it could completely cover the user's presence. When used on a smaller scale, it could hide part of the user's information.

However, to prevent this thing from being used against him, Chen Ming added a little metal that had been soaked in his own flesh and blood into the soul tool.

This way, even when the soul tool's aura-concealing ability was fully active, he could still rely on this backup method to sense its direction within a certain range through spiritual power.

Aside from that, the soul tool also had twenty-five cubic meters of storage space, enough to hold most personal items and luggage.

The collar soul tool had a Spirit Power lock built into it. Only Chen Ming and the people whose information Chen Ming registered could use it. Outsiders could not activate any of its functions.

And because this soul tool was specially custom-made, its material was extremely tough. As long as a Titled Douluo-level attack did not directly hit the collar soul tool, its functions would not be damaged or destroyed.

As for what would happen if a Titled Douluo-level attack really did land on the collar soul tool...

Considering that this thing was meant to be worn around Xiao Wu's neck, Chen Ming felt that Xiao Wu's neck probably was not as hard as the soul tool.

If a Titled Douluo's attack hit someone's neck, forget an ordinary Spirit Master. Even another Titled Douluo would be lucky to survive. Whether the soul tool still existed would be a secondary issue.

When Chen Ming handed this carefully made collar soul tool to Xiao Wu, Xiao Wu looked at the collar with a puzzled expression. She wondered if Chen Ming had some strange thoughts about her.

But when she saw Chen Ming's expression of take it or leave it, Xiao Wu immediately put the collar around her neck. Then, following the method Chen Ming had told her, she injected Spirit Power into it and bound her own Spirit Power to the soul tool.

As the soul tool's aura-concealing function activated, Xiao Wu could clearly feel the aura leaking from her body completely disappear.

Not only the unique aura of a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast, but even the aura fluctuations she gave off as a living being were fully covered.

Although she could still be seen with the naked eye on the physical level, normal perception methods could no longer sense her existence.

Chen Ming and Xiao Wu adjusted it bit by bit. In the end, after the soul tool was tuned, it specifically concealed Xiao Wu's aura as a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast, making her seem like a true human even under Chen Ming's Extreme Douluo-level spiritual perception.

"Yay, yay, yay! Sister Xiao Wu can finally go out and play!"

After confirming that even if she stood face to face with a Titled Douluo, her true body would not be seen through, Xiao Wu instantly jumped three feet high. She excitedly circled around Chen Ming, while countless scenes had already appeared in her mind.

Scenes of her eating all kinds of snacks in big bites on the snack street, feasting in the restaurants of Heaven Dou City, and picking out clothes she liked in the clothing shops of Heaven Dou City.

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