Chapter 227 - Busy

After mentally flogging Su Jinxuan’s corpse one more time, Xu Yuan reined in his wandering thoughts, slapped Lou Ji’s hand away, and said calmly, “I need you to investigate two sects.”

Lou Ji rubbed the back of her hand as she asked with a smile, “Which two?”

“The Divine Machine Sect and the Limitless Medicine Sect,” Xu Yuan replied softly.

Lou Ji raised an eyebrow, a trace of puzzlement in her voice. “Haven’t those two sects always behaved themselves?”

“I came across a few opportunities during my travels and heard certain things about them,” Xu Yuan said in a low voice. “But I can’t be sure they’re true, so we’ll need to investigate first.”

Lou Ji considered it briefly. She did not press him for details and agreed without hesitation. “All right. Big Sister will arrange it afterward.”

Xu Yuan smiled faintly.

In Azure Point, one of those two sects was conducting pharmacological experiments in a pit filled with ten thousand people, a ripe target for a quick and ruthless windfall. The other had discovered an important secret realm.

More importantly, both sects were located along the route he had supposedly traveled before.

Lou Ji spoke again, her voice still gentle. “Is there anything else?”

Xu Yuan looked up. “Aren’t those two matters enough?”

Lou Ji’s beautiful eyes flickered, and her brows slowly drew together. She was just about to offer him a word of warning.

However, Xu Yuan continued at an unhurried pace. “Intelligence and leads will be extremely important over the next two years. If necessary, we may also need to stir up internal struggles within certain sects, or even provoke conflicts of interest between different sects. All of that will require your Blackscale Guard, Big Sister. So fifteen million taels really isn’t that much.”

Lou Ji fell silent for several seconds. Then she sighed and rose to her feet. “But Changtian, how are you planning to explain this to everyone else?”

Only 20 million taels of the compensation could be diverted in total. If Lou Ji alone took 80% while every other faction had to split the remaining twenty, wouldn’t they tear Xu Yuan to pieces?

Xu Yuan smiled and pointed at the contract on the red rosewood table. “Haven’t you already read the contract?”

Lou Ji glanced at it and nodded. “I have. What about it?”

Xu Yuan picked it up. “All this says is that the Chancellor's Manor will help the Myriad Manifestations Sect train its troops under the listed conditions. Of course, aside from what’s written in black and white, we also made certain private arrangements, such as handing over the evidence we possess.”

Lou Ji’s eyes flickered. “You plan to use the wording here to squeeze them for more?”

Raise the price after the deal was struck. Once someone compromised once, they could be forced to compromise a second time. But the Myriad Manifestations Sect would never tolerate being blackmailed forever.

Xu Yuan shook his head. “We can’t push them on this. If we mishandle it, the Myriad Manifestations Sect may decide to drag everyone down with them. That’s something we should avoid for now. The losses would be enormous.”

Everything had gone so smoothly only because the Myriad Manifestations Sect had been caught completely off guard. Its true elites were still inside the mountain stronghold, and it had not even had time to transfer its war beasts from elsewhere.

The 40,000 Blackscale Army could certainly wipe out the Myriad Manifestations Sect, but they would pay dearly for it.

According to Yuan Hao, even under the best possible circumstances, more than 10,000 soldiers would die.

Lou Ji pondered for a moment before asking, “Then what are you planning to do, Changtian?”

Xu Yuan raised a hand and pointed at the thick green spirit-suppressing slime coating the town walls.

“Xinyao said this stuff can only be removed with a specially prepared solvent. Otherwise, they’d have to scrap the formation patterns along with all the materials beneath them. A townwide defensive formation like this must have cost a fortune. I doubt the Myriad Manifestations Sect would be willing to throw it away.

“All the Myriad Manifestations Sect’s warehouses in the eastern town are in our hands now, but transporting the goods inside would be a tremendous hassle. The defensive equipment we seized from the walls isn’t worth much to us either. The maintenance molds used by the Myriad Manifestations Sect are different from those of the Chancellor's Manor. Converting everything would cost more than it’s worth.”

At this point, Xu Yuan tapped the table and grinned. “More importantly, if possible, I’d like to station troops here in Myriad to safeguard the interests of our merchant associations.”

He looked up and met Lou Ji’s beautiful eyes. “Every one of these matters will have to be settled with money. We should be able to pry another few million taels out of the Myriad Manifestations Sect. After all, these sects are far richer than we imagined.”

A smile gradually appeared in Lou Ji’s eyes. “Changtian, are you... planning to raise the price now that they have nowhere else to go?”

Xu Yuan gave an amused laugh. “What do you mean, raise the price? You read the contract yourself. I never agreed to any of these things, not in writing, and not verbally. Besides, even if we don’t pull any tricks, the Myriad Manifestations Sect certainly will. Will they pay in banknotes or actual silver? If it’s silver, what purity will it be? What happens to the permanent workers and hired hands in the shops and medicinal gardens? How will the properties be transferred? There are far too many little details they can exploit. Big Sister, the real negotiations are only beginning now.”

He stretched, rose from his seat, and gazed into the distance with a sigh. “It looks like we’re about to get very busy.”

The day after the contract was signed, a group of flying demonic beasts descended upon the eastern town of Myriad.

They carried the shopkeepers Hua Hong had dispatched to negotiate all the finer details. Yet even with these experienced hands taking care of the work, events unfolded exactly as Xu Yuan had expected. For the next stretch of time, he was so busy he barely had time to sleep.

He wished he could split every quarter-hour in half and use it twice. He was either reviewing the latest reports on silver payments and property transfers, haggling endlessly with the Sect Master and Grand Elder, or dealing with violent incidents caused by the Blackscale Army inside the town.

Even after finally falling asleep at night, he would often be dragged out of bed to meet secret envoys sent by senior officials of the Chancellor's Manor, each of them demanding their share of the money.

Xu Yuan truly could not imagine how Xu Yinhe had managed to cultivate while handling this endless mountain of tedious affairs.

People bickered in his ears from dawn until dusk. There was never a moment’s peace. He wanted to delegate some of his authority to the people beneath him, but unfortunately, there was no one he both knew well and trusted.

Have Lou Ji handle it? Forget it. That auntie spent every day sitting nearby with her legs crossed, enjoying the show.

Xu Xinyao wanted to help, and she was certainly capable, but she was too gentle in how she handled people. There was also the risk of exposing her identity.

As for that iceberg of a woman... Mhm. Let’s go back to talking about Xu Xinyao.

ᯓ➤

Another morning arrived.

Inside the elegantly furnished room, Xu Yuan sat in a white sleeping robe, his eyes lowered as he sipped a cup of tea meant to clear the mind and listened to several shopkeepers give their reports.

Only after the entire group had left did he slowly raise his eyes toward the sole middle-aged man still standing nearby. Exhaustion clouded his gaze. “What were they just talking about?”

Bai Zhao, or rather, Bai Jingtian now... thought for a moment and gave him a concise summary. “Many account holders came to the Cloudrose Bank we took over yesterday and demanded to withdraw their money. The total sum is considerable.”

“Can you handle it?” Xu Yuan asked wearily.

Bai Jingtian’s eyes sharpened. He cupped his hands and dropped to his knees. “This Bai is willing to lighten Young Master’s burden.”

Xu Yuan paid no attention to the kneeling and waved a tired hand. “If you can handle it, then go. Someone will accompany you for protection. If you do well, there will be work involving the merchant associations this afternoon.”

Bai Jingtian clenched his fists. He understood that this was an opportunity. For a man like him, it was an opportunity larger than life. He slammed his forehead against the floor in a heavy kowtow, rose, retreated two steps, then turned and hurried away. “Yes, Young Master.”

Watching his departing back, Xu Yuan let out a long sigh. “I hope he doesn’t disappoint me...”

“Indeed.” Lou Ji lay on her side atop the bed nearby and said with a beaming smile, “Because if he does disappoint you, then I’m afraid your judgment really is only worth that much, Changtian~”

Xu Yuan glanced sideways at her. “Big Sister, can’t you help me for once?”

Lou Ji covered her lips with a smile. “Didn’t Big Sister help massage you last night?”

Xu Yuan tapped the mountain of documents in front of him. “I meant with these.”

Lou Ji giggled. “Big Sister is the examiner. I can’t personally enter the competition~”

Xu Yuan rolled his eyes and ignored her, returning his attention to the documents being passed up for his review.

Lou Ji seemed to suddenly remember something. “Still, Big Sister did help by bringing over someone who can comfort you.”

After so many days, Xu Yuan had long since grown accustomed to this seductive older sister’s teasing. His hand did not pause as he continued reading. “One of the brothel’s top courtesans?”

“Mmm... Big Sister can arrange that if Changtian wants.” Lou Ji rolled onto her stomach and propped her chin on her hands. “But that isn’t who I brought this time~”

“Then who is it?” Xu Yuan asked casually, paying little attention. “Su Jinxuan? Come to think of it, there hasn’t been any news from her in quite a while.”

“It’s Ran Qingmo.”

“What?” Xu Yuan’s hand froze.

Lou Ji did not answer immediately. At an unhurried pace, she reached over, pulled the quilt around herself, and covered her body.

Xu Yuan watched her movements in confusion.

Only then did Lou Ji slowly extend one smooth, pale arm from beneath the quilt and point toward the door. “There.”