Free Web NovelChapter 433: Chapter 241: The Jade Stone Market Opens
In the Wilderness World, at the entrance to the small cabin.
Cheng Zongyang told Luo Dingran what he had learned, wanting to verify its authenticity.
Luo Dingran nodded.
"What you heard about Huangfu Ren is correct. When the news of his death during seclusion spread, it shocked the world. After all, he was a genius who had reached Innate Great Perfection by the age of seventy. The fact that he failed to achieve another breakthrough before dying of old age naturally drew the attention of countless factions and Martial Artists.
"However, I don’t know anything about the ancestral land. Your only option would be to try and find some elders who used to live in Jade Peak County. You should focus on asking if anyone died sixty years ago and had an especially grand funeral."
But Cheng Zongyang shook his head. "The Da Yi Commerce Association has probably tried that already. ’I’m even starting to think their agreement to open a branch in Jade Peak County was also so they could monitor and investigate the ancestral land and the grave. It wasn’t entirely because of the terms I offered.’"
Luo Dingran said, "Then you have nothing to worry about. It doesn’t affect you, does it?"
Cheng Zongyang smiled. "That’s true. I’ll find some time later to go check on Cyan Ox and Cyan Cloud. For now, I’ll take my time getting to know Jade Peak County. We’ll be bringing in nine hundred people later, which means we can add three hundred more Soul Slaves. How many usable Crystal Stones do we have right now?"
Luo Dingran responded, "Yesterday, we put in a purchase order for fifty Low Tier Soul Crystal Stones at 300 Points each, and they have yet to be used. You’ve sent in a total of thirty-one Middle Tier Crystal Stones, of which twenty-seven are currently available."
Cheng Zongyang nodded. Due to the sudden need to increase the number of Soul Slaves, he had lowered his requirements and was no longer focusing on purchasing Middle Tier Crystal Stones.
The twenty-seven Middle Tier Soul Crystal Stones were to be used on Martial Artists. Since the people arriving later would be mostly commoners, there was no point in using them on civilians. Doing so would only lower the Soul Slaves’ overall Attributes, and there was no need for that.
Therefore, he opted to use Low Tier Crystal Stones for all of them. This would allow a rapid increase in manpower for tilling farmland, mining, and excavating ruins.
’In other words, the priority right now is quantity over quality. I’ll focus on improving the quality of the Soul Slaves later.’
Besides, he didn’t have enough Points to purchase more Middle Tier Crystal Stones anyway.
Luo Dingran continued, "Sir, the Jade Stone Market and its consignment section will open in about ten days. We should have enough time. We’ve also managed to accumulate quite a few things during this period, which should sell for a lot of Points. At that point, we can continue purchasing Crystal Stones. But you’ll need to speed things up on your end, out there."
Cheng Zongyang understood what Luo Dingran meant.
He had already sent someone to personally deliver a batch of Crystal Stones to Ma Yue, specifically to reduce the Elf Bird’s round-trip travel time. After all, the greater the distance, the longer the Elf Bird had to fly. That meant time wasted on the journey, and the bird couldn’t carry much to begin with.
Cheng Zongyang said, "Give me those fifty Crystal Stones. I’ll have someone take them over to him. He should be at the border between the two prefectures right now. The recent war there caused a lot of casualties, so it shouldn’t take long to fill them."
"Yes, sir." Luo Dingran cupped his hands and went to the warehouse, returning with a small box. Inside were fifty Low Tier Soul Crystal Stones.
’If only he had more Points, he could have purchased even more.’
With no other matters to attend to, Cheng Zongyang left the Wilderness World.
As expected, the Elf Bird returned again that evening, bringing back another fully charged Middle Tier Soul Crystal Stone.
Cheng Zongyang fed it a Little Red Blood Pill, set the Crystal Stone aside, and looked at the small slip of paper.
Anfeng County, south of Taiping Prefecture. All is well.
Cheng Zongyang immediately took out a map of Xiangyang Prefecture to check.
Li Yihuo had procured the maps from the Commandery City; besides this one, there was also a map of the former Da Liang.
Cheng Zongyang compared the information to the map and finally located a place named Anfeng County in a small corner of Xiangyang’s southeastern region, near the border with Linchuan Prefecture and the Land of the Thirteen Royal Families.
This location was also some distance from Taiping Prefecture. It was practically a triangular zone, a borderland region.
Ma Yue had mentioned he was preparing to head there last time. ’I just didn’t think he’d be so fast.’
The fighting along the border back then was so fierce; one could only imagine the number of Souls to be found. Cheng Zongyang also estimated that there should be a considerable number of Martial Artist Souls there too.
He considered it for a moment, then put it out of his mind.
In any case, the priority now was to gather the required number of Soul Crystal Stones. He then summoned Xu Dong, instructing him to take the Crystal Stones to Ma Yue in Anfeng County, and to be quick about it.
Afterward, he wrote another letter and placed it in the Elf Bird’s small bamboo tube. Since the bird wasn’t carrying a Crystal Stone this time, he could write a longer message.
After writing out his instructions and reminders in the letter, he released the Elf Bird.
After making some preparations, Xu Dong departed that very night, riding a fast horse.
Compared to the journey to Xiangyang Prefecture City, the distance from Jade Peak County to Anfeng County could be covered in five or six days at a fast pace.
With the Crystal Stone matter settled, Cheng Zongyang had Li Lu’s Ministry of Works Hall begin construction on the Da Yi Commerce Association’s transit warehouse and storefront, following the blueprints.
The Ministry of Works Hall had many professional artisans who were perfectly capable of building according to the blueprints.
After all, the blueprints Chen Kaishan had provided were extremely detailed; there was no need to ask questions, just to follow them step-by-step.
Once the order was officially issued, the Ministry of Works Hall began a large-scale recruitment of workers the very next day, preparing to head out of the city and begin construction.
At the same time, another group went to the chosen location to clear the site, demolishing some existing structures to make way for the Commerce Association’s storefront.
Many materials could be sourced on-site. Any shortfalls could be directly requisitioned from the Da Yi Commerce Association, with the costs billed to the Celestial Break Gang. After all, since the gang was fully responsible for the project, they had to pay what was due. It wasn’t free.
