Immortal Realm’s Smuggling Kingpin - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Nine Realms of Smoke and Chaos (Part 1)

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

Du Lengning’s fingers were flying over a golden abacus, causing tapping sounds to be made.

“Old Luo, for today’s opening of business, counting both money made from business and the presents, we have a total income of 831 Superior Immortal Jades. I didn’t count in the small numbers. The cost of the ceremony is 260 Superior Immortal Jades. Canceling out, our profit is 571 Superior Immortal Jades—571 million Standard Immortal Jades!”

Du Lengning’s voice was shaking from excitement as he said, “Old Luo, I never thought that opening a shop can earn so much money. Why don’t we open a few more shops?”

Luo Qian laughingly scolded, “This is only a one-off deal. Do you think this will keep working a few more times? You good-for-nothing fellow. If you keep thinking of earning money through this method, the shopkeepers will leave Mountain Ning Yao in no time.”

Luo Qian paced two steps in the office, giving a picture of having everything under his control. “To sum up our recent work, our comrades have worked hard. The results are remarkable, the benefits are outstanding, and the gains are huge. Luo Medicine Hall has opened up, the smuggling business has improved, and we already have a VIP customer base…”

Du Lengning was very uncooperative. “VIP customer base?”

“Ahem, I’m referring to Ling Xiaose’s mysterious cousin.”

“Can one person be called a base?”

Hearing this, Luo Qian frowned, and Du Lengning quickly raised his hand to surrender. “Alright, please continue; I’m listening.”

“The next thing we need to do is expand our reproduction line first. We can’t just rely on our current resources, my comrade brother. The underground medicine house needs to be expanded. In addition to smuggling rice cookers from the Human Realm, we also need to buy power supply cases from Xiao Xiangzi in bulk order. Besides our own use, my customers are waiting in line to buy them too.”

Du Lengning said, “This isn’t a problem. I’ll go find him right now and order 50 units. Is that enough?”

Luo Qian had other plans in his mind and instead asked, “Do you think Xiao Xiangzi is reliable?”

Du Lengning was dazed. “Why, are you planning on bringing him into the team?”

Luo Qian shook his head. “No, I want him to become our customer too.”

“That’s easy. We can sell our pills to him at a 20% discount. He will definitely be happy about it,” said Du Lengning.

Luo Qian shook his head. “That’s not what I mean…”

Du Lengning looked at him and suddenly realized: “Y-you don’t intend to sell him prohibited items, do you?”

“That’s why I asked you if he is reliable.”

Du Lengning lowered his head and pondered for a while, then said, “It’s hard to say, but…”

Luo Qian said, “Let me talk to him. If something happens, don’t let it involve you.”

Du Lengning thought for a moment, and reluctantly agreed. “Alright. If something goes wrong, I can figure out a way to fish you out from the outside. However, what item do you have that can tempt him?”

Luo Qian smiled confidently and took out something. “What do you think about this?”

…

Silk Cliff.

Luo Qian carried a piece of baggage on his back, stood outside Xiao Xiangzi’s courtyard, and shouted, “Little Bear, Little Bear…”

Xiao Xiangzi heard someone shouting ‘Brother Xiao’1 and came out with a smile on his face. “Oh, it’s Brother Luo. We have been neighbors for quite a while. You finally thought of coming to visit me.”

They were more familiar now and started joking with each other.

Luo Qian smiled craftily and said, “Hehe, that’s right, Little Bear. I am here to pay you a visit. I was so busy the other days that I hit the back of my head with my heels.”

Although Xiao Xiangzi thought Luo Qian’s accent today was a bit strange, he didn’t think too much and enthusiastically welcomed Luo Qian inside. “Brother Luo, please come in.”

The room was still the same as last time. While Luo Qian sat down, Xiao Xiangzi had already placed a cup of hot tea in front of him, and said, “Brother Luo, you came to visit me with a purpose, am I right?” He looked at the bulky baggage behind Luo Qian and guessed in his heart: Immortal Jades? It’s such a big bag; there must be a lot in it. It seems that a big deal has come!

Luo Qian laughed, put down the baggage, and said, “That’s right. We have already been friends for quite a while. I have a big business deal, but I don’t know if you dare to do it.”

Xiao Xiangzi instantly focused his attention on Luo Qian. “If I dare? Being a Soul Immortal, what is there for me to be afraid of? What is there that I don’t dare to do…”

Luo Qian smiled strangely and scanned the surroundings casually. At least, it looked casual on the surface. Then, he insipidly said, “Little Bear, without your permission, ordinary people can’t enter the house, right?”

Xiao Xiangzi nodded confidently. “Unless the person is a Sixth-Order Immortal or stronger. Otherwise, I will know if someone comes in.”

Luo Qian couldn’t help but chuckle again. “Hehe, it’s still not safe enough.”

Xiao Xiangzi couldn’t help but become cautious. It seemed that the big business deal Luo Qian was going to talk about this time wasn’t simple. He considered for a while, then got up and said, “Brother Luo, please follow me.”

The back of the house was connected to the cliff, and there was a cave under the cliff. Luo Qian followed behind Xiao Xiangzi and entered the cave. Once inside, his sight went dark, and there was the sound of wind in his ears. Next, he felt the ground under him disappear. He was about to use Sky Leap when he felt his feet already on the ground again.

“Brother Luo, this is where I usually do my crafting. Without my permission, even if the Immortal Emperor is here, he also won’t be able to come in.” On each of the stone room’s four walls was an ever-bright lamp. A stone bed was directly opposite of where they stood. Other than that, there was nothing else.

Luo Qian nodded with satisfaction. “Little Bear, I have a question, but don’t be angry when I ask it.”

Xiao Xiangzi said magnanimously, “Brother Luo, feel free to speak up.”

“Can I know what your success rate in crafting is?”

Xiao Xiangzi frowned. However, he had agreed to let Luo Qian speak freely just now. “Not high, around 50%.”

“Fifty percent isn’t low. As far as I know, the success rate of many craftsmen is within 30%. But have you ever thought about increasing the success rate?”

Xiao Xiangzi didn’t know where Luo Qian was trying to get to. “What do you actually want to say, Brother Luo?”

Luo Qian smiled and said, “What is the reason for such a low success rate?”

Xiao Xiangzi, slightly displeased, said, “Of course it is because my cultivation level isn’t enough, humph.”

Luo Qian wasn’t concerned about his attitude and continued probing. “Other than that?”

Xiao Xiangzi angrily said, “Luo Qian, what are you trying to beat around the bush for! If you have something to say, just say it directly.”

Luo Qian wasn’t infuriated by his words and just said, “Hehe, for me, refining medicine is about the combination of raw materials. If the ingredient portions in the formula are slightly more than it should be, the whole furnace of pills will be ruined. I think it should be the same for your item crafting, right?”

Xiao Xiangzi was naturally more aware of the problems involved in crafting than Luo Qian. He knew that Luo Qian was right; this was indeed one of the reasons for the high failure rate. After all, the accuracy of the Immortal Realm’s scales was limited. Sometimes it depended entirely on the experience of the craftsman. It was inevitable that younger craftsmen made more mistakes.

“What solution do you have?” asked Xiao Xiangzi.

“I have an Immortal Artifact with high precision in measuring,” said Luo Qian as he opened the baggage.

Xiao Xiangzi immediately felt a wave of mortal aura rushing towards his face. He exclaimed, “Prohibited items, y-you…” He pointed to Luo Qian in surprise, but Luo Qian didn’t answer and instead took out a power supply case that Xiao Xiangzi himself had made and softly plugged it to the electronic scale’s port.

Xiao Xiangzi’s body went soft and slumped on the ground with a bleak expression. He muttered, “I had sensed that something was not right last time. Indeed…”

Although Luo Qian didn’t say any threatening words but seeing this, Xiao Xiangzi instantly understood that he would also get in trouble if he exposed Luo Qian. After all, the power supply cases were made by him.

Luo Qian insipidly said, “I have a big business deal for you: this high-precision electronic scale in exchange for 200 power supply cases.” Xiao Xiangzi looked at him with a murderous look, but Luo Qian turned his back on purpose as if he didn’t see it.

“I’ve been in this business for some years. If I didn’t have any precautions, my soul would have been wiped out long ago,” said Luo Qian, seemingly unintentionally.

Behind him, Xiao Xiangzi’s body trembled slightly. His left hand was raised, and energy had already accumulated around it, but he put his hand down after some hesitation.

“You are too ruthless.” Xiao Xiangzi said angrily, “Two hundred! I can’t make this amount, even if I sell everything I have.”

Luo Qian thought about it and said, “Alright, 180 then.”

Xiao Xiangzi gritted his teeth. “One hundred! This is the limit. Although this thing is extremely useful to me, it isn’t worth that much money.” He hurriedly put away the electronic scale, fearful that some of the mortal aura would leak out and caused a mishap to fall upon himself.

Luo Qian laughed and said, “On the account that we are old acquaintances, I shall agree to just 100. When will I pick up the goods?”

“With this thing, I can make 15 in three days. Come collect them every three days.”

“Okay.”

As soon as Luo Qian left, Xiao Xiangzi hurriedly cast a ‘Seven Planets Desert Sky Formation,’ concealing the electronic scale’s mortal aura. He then pinched his thumb and middle finger, and a little blue light flew out from behind. It revolved in front of him and turned into a cyan jade bowl. Xiao Xiangzi murmured a spell, and the cyan jade bowl shed a cyan light, covering the ‘Seven Planets Desert Sky Formation.’ After doing all this non-stop, Xiao Xiangzi breathed a sigh of relief. He then cursed the female members of Luo Qian’s family one by one.

After leaving Silk Cliff, Luo Qian didn’t return to his cave abode in Fushan. He made a turn in the sky and went to Mountain Ning Yao. He didn’t go there to find Du Lengning but to buy things.

Twenty-one rice cookers were placed in the underground palace. If they were discovered, it would be enough to make a sensation in the Immortal Realm. He didn’t dare to be careless. Although the underground palace entrance was extremely covert, there was still no guarantee that it wouldn’t be discovered. He still felt that it was necessary to buy something and place it at the underground palace entrance to cover it.

With Luo Qian’s current financial resources, it wasn’t impossible to buy some Immortal Artifacts to guard the underground palace entrance, but… that would cost his entire fortune. If he only used Imperial Artifacts, they would be easily broken by anyone with a decent capability. Therefore, in the end, Luo Qian locked his target on maze formations.

After visiting a few shops, he noticed that the craft shops’ business was all quite good. The shadows in front of the cloth banners swayed, and rays of light sent the guests to the distant shops. The flow of customers was non-stop, and so was the light. It was so bright that it caused Luo Qian’s eyes to hurt. Don’t be mistaken, he wasn’t dizzy from the dazzling light transmitted, but because he was jealous of other people’s good business. With so many customers, even if only one-tenth of them actually bought something, that’s still a lot of money! When will my shop be so prosperous?

He casually walked below one of the banners. On the back of the banner, the business scope was written: Immortal Artifacts, Imperial Artifacts, Treasures, and various flag array formations.

Luo Qian nodded and poked the bottom of the banner. After a ray of light passed, he was placed in a spacious room. There were supermarket-like shelves on all sides of the room; the shelves were filled with all kinds of artifacts. Of course, these were just molds; the real ones could only be seen after buying them. Take precautions before they happen; there were many powerful people in the Immortal Realm. Of course they had to be careful.