Immortal Realm’s Smuggling Kingpin

Chapter 21: My Shop (Part 1)

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

“Old Luo…” Du Lengning charged in like a blaze and hugged Luo Qian. “Haha, you are really a ghostly genius!”

Luo Qian pushed him aside and asked, “Why is it that my ideas are either ghostly ideas or lousy ideas. And why is my talent also a ghostly genius? Why can’t you just describe me as a genius?”

“Hehe, genius, genius. You are a genius!” Du Lengning winked mysteriously and said, “Guess what the result of the appraisal is?”

Seeing his expression, Luo Qian knew it was good news. His originally down mood due to not being able to derive Tri-color Elixir’s formula also lightened. “What’s the result?”

“Poison and Miasma Prevention Pill. Spirit Accumulation Pill.” Du Lengning held a pill in each hand, telling Luo Qian the result of the appraisal.

Luo Qian’s eyes went wide. Leaving Du Lengning on his own, he immediately went inside the warehouse. “Damn, both are good stuff. If I can’t derive the formula for them, I will definitely regret it…”

Du Lengning’s father had quite the number of friends in the Immortal Realm. However, his reputation wasn’t very good. After all, he was the third most miserly person in the Immortal Realm. However, Du Lengning was different from his father. He had already received Luo Qian’s teachings—one must first give something to gain something.

Du Lengning carried ten beautifully packaged Spirit Accumulation Pills and stood in front of the hall. His face full of smiles as he called, “Uncle!”

“Oh, you are Zhongping’s child. Hehe, quick, take a seat. No need to be courteous.” On the main seat was a ruddy old man with a jade hairpin in his hair. This was the old acquaintance from the Commerce Association that Du Lengning mentioned—the supervisor of Commerce Association, Qi Rongwei.

Du Lengning presented his gift with both hands and sat at one side. Although Qi Rongwei’s words were polite, he didn’t think highly of the son of the third most miserly Immortal in the Immortal Realm. It wasn’t that the Du Family lacked money. On the contrary, they were very rich. After all, Faraway Garment Hall was the No. 1 garment workshop in the Immortal Realm. On Mountain Ning Yao, even land the size of a mat could be sold for 30 million standard Immortal Jades. Therefore, it wasn’t that the Du Family were too poor to give expensive presents, but that Du Zhongping was too stingy.

Therefore, in Qi Rongwei’s eyes, Stingy Old Du’s son naturally became ‘Stingy Young Du.’

The jade box looked beautifully decorated, but Qi Rongwei didn’t hold any hope that there would be something good in it. Soon, Mrs. Qi’s expression confirmed his guess.

Chey, only ten superior-grade Spirit pills? Mrs. Qi sighed inside her heart. The son of the third most miserly Immortal in the Immortal Realm is really similar to him!

Mrs. Qi had cared for her body well. When her white jade-like fingers were about to close the jade box, she inadvertently scanned the lettering in the jade box. Spirit Accumulation Pill—how come I have never this name heard before…

Looking further, Mrs. Qi’s face changed slightly. If this description of the pill proves to be true, then this gift is not light. The function of the Spirit Accumulation Pill lies in its accumulation over time. Taking one dose does not show obvious effects; after all, this kind of pill is just a Spirit Pill. Its effects are slight. However, if a person persists in consuming it, the user would accumulate slightly more Immortal air than the average person every time they cultivate. Over time, the gap would be reflected.

If it is consumed by an Immortal who has just reached the Foundation Establishment stage, that Immortal would overtake their peers right from the beginning. If it is taken by an Immortal who has already cultivated a vast amount of Immortal air, the efficiency would be calculated by percentage. For such people, every time they cultivate in the breathing of Immortal Air, they would gain more benefits from the pill than those at the Foundation Establishment stage. They will accumulate much more Immortal air by consuming the pill. This means that the stronger the Immortal, the more obvious the pill’s effects would be!

Mrs. Qi couldn’t help thinking of the Commerce Association’s vice-head position her Qi Rongwei was currently fighting for. Currently, the other two Immortal officials fighting for the position were evenly matched with him. If Qi Rongwei’s cultivation level could advance one during this period, his chances of winning would increase greatly!

Mrs. Qi carefully picked up a Spirit Accumulation Pill, her heart beating rapidly, and couldn’t help but nod her head.

Qi Rongwei felt a bit strange. At first, he thought that the present wasn’t something valuable because of his wife’s expression. However, her expression changed very quickly; it seemed like the present wasn’t simple after all. After a while, she actually took out the present and played with it in front of their guest. She even nodded towards him!

He was very aware of his wife’s character. She had seen numerous gifts because of their official position, but he had never seen her lose her bearing like this before. Qi Rongwei was also very curious and wanted to see what Stingy Young Du actually gave him. Therefore, he picked up the teacup.

Seeing this, Du Lengning hurriedly stood up and bowed. “I shall take my leave now. As for my matter, I will need to trouble Uncle to help me with it.”

“Yup, no problem…”

Right after Du Lengning stepped out, before Qi Rongwei started asking, Mrs. Qi excitedly placed the jade box in front of Qi Rongwei with shaking hands. “Master, there is hope in obtaining the position of vice-head!”

“Quiet!” Qi Rongwei stared at her angrily. This was the front hall after all, not their room. Some words couldn’t be spoken aloud in such places.

Mrs. Qi hurriedly pushed the jade box closer toward Qi Rongwei as if he was short-sighted.

Taking a look inside the box, his beard shook as he laughed. “Hahaha…” After a long laugh, Qi Rongwei closed the box heavily and said, “You are right. I never thought that Stingy Old Du’s son would actually give away such a precious gift!”

Mrs. Qi said, “Master, there are only ten Spirit Accumulation Pills inside. It’s enough for a month’s usage. It’s obvious that Stingy Young—Young Master Du is planning to give you more after you helped him with his matter. What did he ask for?”

Qi Rongwei frowned. “Oh no. I was only paying attention to your expression and didn’t actually hear what he said to me… Giving me such a precious gift… It looks like he is aiming for something big!” Qi Rongwei was momentarily caught in a dilemma.

Du Lengning exited the Qi Manor, bowed towards the housekeeper, and said, “Hehe, I shall take my leave now.” He took out a document from his pocket, with a Superior Immortal Jade covered under it, and placed them into the housekeeper’s hand. “This is the information about the shop. Please pass it to Sir Qi.”

The housekeeper’s fingers moved, and the Superior Immortal Jade slid into his sleeve. The housekeeper laughed heartily and said, “Of course, of course!”

Du Lengning felt quite depressed. He gave away ten precious Spirit Accumulation Pills but was chased out before the seat could even warm. He couldn’t even explain the matter and pass over the document. He had boasted to Luo Qian that he would definitely succeed. If he failed, what face would he have to continue cooperating with Luo Qian? After all, Luo Qian did everything. He was just following behind and receiving money. Du Lengning’s face reddened; he hurried back to Mountain Ning Yao, preparing to think of another plan.

…

No matter how hard he pondered, Luo Qian couldn’t figure out where the problem laid. The formula for the Spirit Accumulation Pill was correct. Following the procedures, he could succeed six out of ten times. However, why did he always fail to produce the Tri-color Elixirs?

Luo Qian had already experimented seven times, following the formula step by step, but he didn’t even succeed once. Rice cookers surrounded him as he sat on the floor, looking quite comical. “There must be something wrong somewhere!”

A flash of inspiration suddenly came to his mind. The ratio! That’s right! There must be a problem with the formula’s ratio. He measured the material’s quantities using the simplest method: one portion was equal to one scoop of the jade bowl. However, there were two half portions in the formula. This might be where the problem laid.

Having figured this out, Luo Qian excitedly stood up and disappeared with a ‘peng’ sound.

In his base in X city, Luo Qian comfortably laid on his S-shaped deck chair as he used his newly-bought mobile phone to dial Pei Sefei’s number. No matter what this lass was planning, he was paying her a salary of 5,000 RMB a month; it would be a loss not to order her around.

“Hello, it’s me. Help me buy a precision electronic scale… hm, better buy two instead.”

In less than an hour, someone knocked on his door. Pei Sefei then barged in, while carrying two plastic boxes.

Luo Qian didn’t help, only holding the door open with one hand as his other hand rested on his hip. He looked at Pei Sefei—who seemed to be tired out—smilingly.

The girl frowned and said, “Even if you are my boss, you should help out too. You are not gentlemanly at all; the girls nowadays won’t like people of your type. It’s no wonder you are still single now.”

Luo Qian closed the door and said, “I am just quite puzzled. Why is the current most popular celebrity star, the future diva, doing a part-time job here? You should normally be quite busy, right?” As he said this, Luo Qian walked to her side and pulled out a silver cloth from under her skirt.

Pei Sefei was alarmed. She jumped away and shouted, “Pervert, what are you doing?”

Luo Qian smiled and said, “What a joke. If I wanted to do something ‘bad,’ I would pick somebody who can interest me. You must have rushed over from a shooting studio; you didn’t even check what you changed into.”

What Luo Qian meant was that even if he wanted to molest someone, that person must at least be a female Immortal. However, his words had a different meaning in this girl’s ears. The always confident Pei Sefei glared at Luo angrily, a seed of defiance growing inside her heart rapidly.

Pei Sefei was a rising star. She was a small diva-level celebrity after making her debut for less than a year. Her agency assigned her three life assistants to care for her daily needs. She had indeed been rushing to shoot a print ad in the afternoon. After Luo Qian called her, she instantly took off the advertisement clothes that took her an hour and a half to wear and started changing, asking her assistant to buy the scale. She then rushed over to Luo Qian’s house. When she reached the place, her assistant had also arrived and was moving the scales down from the car.