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Chapter 623: Background of the Redeye Bandit
🕑 Added 2024-04-28 04:04:36 +0000 UTCImmortal Path Space : Table of Content/Chapter List
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This time's transaction with the Southern Region Sect yielded tremendous gains, nearly doubling the wealth on the books of the Great Chu Immortal Nation.
After Wang Hong finished reviewing the ledgers presented by Xu Lun, he couldn't help but feel a sense of regret. Unfortunately, the Great Chu Immortal Nation currently only had this one exclusive trade route.
If they could open up a few more routes like this, the Great Chu Immortal Nation's prosperity would be just around the corner.
However, such opportunities were rare to come by. Previously, due to the barrier of the Desolate Spirit Sea and the relative remoteness of Hezhou, it hadn't attracted the attention of major powers. Besides, major powers weren't lacking in such sources of wealth anyway.
As for the smaller factions, their strength was limited, and it was easy for them to be wiped out entirely. Losing both money and soldiers, or even being raided by Hezhou cultivators working together, was not out of the realm of possibility.
"Your Majesty, do we need to prepare the next batch of trading goods now?" Xu Lun asked after seeing Wang Hong had finished reviewing the ledgers.
"Not for the moment. After this transaction, it will take at least a decade for the Southern Region cultivators to consume these spiritual objects. Even if we were to send another batch now, they probably wouldn't be able to come up with a few Spirit Stones," Wang Hong replied.
This transaction had already depleted the assets of the five sects in the Southern Region. They needed time to recuperate.
Moreover, the Southern Region cultivators wouldn't be able to immediately use up such a large amount of cultivation resources. It would take at least a decade to slowly digest them, during which time their strength should see a substantial increase.
Wang Hong had long had a plan for the next steps of operation. After a brief moment of contemplation, he said, "Let's invest the Spirit Stones and resources we've acquired into the development of Fengwu Continent. Xu Lun, you'll continue overseeing this matter. Your goal is to expand the presence of the Great Chu Immortal Nation's shops throughout Fengwu Continent. How is the progress going?"
"Your Majesty, currently, the Great Chu Immortal Nation's operations in Fengwu Continent cover six cities. We have a total of thirty-eight pill shops, thirty-two spirit fruit shops, eighteen Spirit Wine workshops, and forty-two Spirit Meal pavilions..." Xu Lun provided a detailed report on the Immortal Nation's current industries in Fengwu Continent.
Over the decades, the Great Chu Immortal Nation had accumulated hundreds of shops, each with its own name and unique projects. Sometimes, two shops even seemed to be in competition on the surface.
This made it difficult for outsiders to connect these inconspicuous small and medium-sized businesses together.
At the same time, each city also operated a Guardian Hall, which could accept Spirit Stones, hire people, and provide services like disaster relief for a fee.
The main purpose of the Guardian Hall was to ensure the safety of the shops in each city, but it appeared as an independent organization on the surface, unaffiliated with any major faction.
Over the years, some of their shops occasionally encountered trouble. Those issues that could be resolved openly were dealt with openly, while those that couldn't were handled by the Guardian Hall.
These small and medium-sized shops wouldn't attract opponents from major powers. Dealing with them was relatively easy.
Over the years, these hundreds of shops had earned a considerable amount of resources for the Great Chu Immortal Nation to sustain its domestic consumption.
Otherwise, how could the limited resources of Qizhou Island support the consumption of millions of people?
The vast wealth gained from this transaction wouldn't be fully utilized for a while. Storing it in the warehouse would be a waste, so it was a good opportunity to invest it in expanding their business.
After receiving Wang Hong's instructions, Xu Lun went to mobilize manpower and prepare to open new shops in other cities.
On Fengwu Continent, cities like Lin Hai City existed in the hundreds. They had only developed six cities so far, indicating a long road ahead!
To open up new territories, Xu Lun once again mobilized a large number of people, ready to send them to Fengwu Continent.
For this, Wang Hong spent several days arranging Divine Sense restrictions for each person.
After personally seeing off his subordinates, Wang Yi rushed over to him in a flurry.
"Brother! Look! Look at this!" Wang Yi proudly waved his hand in front of him.
"What happened to your hand, are you injured?" Wang Hong asked.
"Take a closer look," Wang Yi deliberately gestured with his middle finger.
"It's just an iron ring, what's so exciting about it?" Wang Hong remarked.
At Wang Yi's words, he directly rubbed the ring, and a small bottle appeared in his hand. Then, one after another, various items appeared in his hand until Wang Hong's living room was filled with them.
"I made a fortune recently, and these are for you," Wang Yi said.
Wang Hong scanned the treasures filling the room with his Divine Sense. Surprisingly, not a single item was below the fourth tier. Then his gaze fell on the black iron ring in Wang Yi's hand.
"So, you've struck it rich. Is this a Storage Ring?" Wang Hong asked.
"Yes, I got it from the Redeye Bandit."
Originally, Wang Yi wanted to tease Wang Hong a bit, but he had forgotten about it. So he casually took off the ring and handed it to Wang Hong for inspection.
Although Wang Hong had used large-sized storage magic weapons to cover space before, this was the first time he had observed a storage magic weapon up close.
"Brother! I also found a secret from the Redeye Bandit's Storage Ring this time. Take a look at this," Wang Yi said, taking out several jade scrolls and handing them to Wang Hong.
The jade scrolls contained some transaction records of the Redeye Bandit.
What surprised Wang Hong wasn't that the pirate liked to keep accounts, but that the most frequent transactions were with the number one sect on Fengwu Continent—the Celestial Maiden Palace.
From these transaction records, it could be inferred that the Redeye Bandit's backstage supporter was likely the Celestial Maiden Palace. However, the exact extent of their relationship was unknown.
There had long been rumors in the cultivation world that many pirates were actually manipulated by other forces behind the scenes.
One reason was to accumulate wealth, and the other was to help the affiliated forces carry out some shady activities.
"After you return, immediately issue a gag order within the Taihao Sect, prohibiting anyone from discussing encounters with the Redeye Bandit at sea. I will also issue an order immediately from my side."
Fortunately, their caravan didn't fly the flag of the Great Chu Immortal Nation, and their base had never been publicly disclosed. It wouldn't be easy for the Redeye Bandit to find them for revenge.
With the original strength of the Redeye Bandit, if they roamed between Qizhou Island and Fengwu Continent, they would have no chance of doing business.
Moreover, the Taihao Sect was no match for them. Currently, only Wang Yi and Zhou Yuan had reached the Nascent Soul stage, which was no match for the Redeye Bandit.
As for Wang Yi's Dao Companion Feng Ai, she was still in seclusion. Whether she could break through to the Nascent Soul stage in one go was uncertain.
"We've already arranged it in the Taihao Sect. Before I came here, strict orders were issued to all cultivators who went to sea this time, and I immediately came to inform you."
"Just wait a moment, I'll send out a few orders." Wang Hong consecutively sent out several Transmission Talismans, each to the responsible subordinates of the caravan this time.
As a king, he naturally didn't need to personally handle such matters. A few messages were enough; his subordinates could handle them properly.
"With so many Spiritual Objects, are you sure you want to give them all to me? Shouldn't you keep some for yourself? You know, I'm not really lacking in Spiritual Objects at the moment," Wang Hong asked after sending the messages, looking at the pile of Spiritual Objects on the ground. After all, he had always been quite well-off.
On the contrary, the Taihao Sect had been a bit impoverished in recent years, and even Wang Yi, as a Nascent Soul ancestor, couldn't get many resources.
"Brother! I still have plenty. You can keep these for yourself to use," Wang Yi replied.
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Next Chapter >>Chapter 624: Sword Forging
