novelraw Chapter 205
Chapter 205
The channels provided by Jin Miaoshan could only be used in emergencies. For both him and the Jade Spirit market, they were no longer sufficient.
Besides, for the healthy development of the entire city, the more business giants there were, the better. A monopoly under Golden Abundance Tower was not a good thing.
“I understand.”
Qingyang nodded, then added.
“Going to Ink Mountain City can indeed solve some of the equipment problems. However, those people may not agree to travel with me. Moreover, the Ink-Water Sect Master…”
“That’s not a problem.”
Wang Yu reached into his storage pouch and took out several boxes. Inside them were high-grade Soul Essence Pills.
Using his perfected Cold Chi Alchemy Technique, he had practiced a few times. After all, he had a thousand sets of materials, and if he refined them all into supreme-grade spirit pills, he would not be able to use them all.
After several trials, he obtained over ten high-grade Soul Essence Pills and more than twenty mid-grade ones. There were no supreme-grade or low-grade pills.
With his current alchemy realm, no matter how difficult the refinement, the results would never be poor.After refining four or five furnaces, he stopped. These pills would now serve well to win over these Core Formation cultivators.
Soul Essence Pills were extremely rare—precious elixirs capable of enhancing divine sense power. Even for Core Formation cultivators, they were beneficial. The value of a high-grade Soul Essence Pill was considerable.
He merely wanted them to accompany him on a short trip, mainly to demonstrate Jade Spirit City’s potential customer base to the Heaven Treasure Pavilion. After all, Wang Yu’s personal financial power was limited.
Once the Heaven Treasure Pavilion was drawn in to compete with Golden Abundance Tower, everything else would follow.
For newcomers wanting to quickly devour the market share of old rivals, a price war was the best method.
He was practically benefiting all Jade Spirit cultivators—shouldn’t they build him a monument for his meritorious governance of the city?
So, he sent Qingyang to make the trip.
With Soul Essence Pills as gifts, even the Ink-Water Sect Master might not refuse. Considering his long-standing friendship with Real Personage Qingyang, he would likely agree to cooperate.
After a conflict, reconciliation should be the first priority—not turning into lifelong enemies.
“These items will go on my account, deduct them from my offering resources.”
“No need. This concerns Jade Spirit City itself. Why deduct your personal resources? Besides… if I really deduct it, you won’t see a single spirit stone for the next ten years.”
Qingyang: “…… (o_0)!”
Wang Yu waved his hand, unconcerned with such small expenses.
In the past, when he was poor, he calculated every spirit stone carefully. Now that he was wealthy, he could afford to achieve his goals while also cultivating relationships. There was no need to be stingy with rightful spending.
After all, in the end, he was the one who benefited.
The Soul Essence Pills were easy to make, and they didn’t even give him a sense of loss.
Now that Jin Miaoshan was in seclusion due to an accident, it was the perfect time to bring the Heaven Treasure Pavilion into the picture. He had no intention of delaying serious matters.
After sending off Qingyang, Wang Yu returned to his cultivation.
He was currently immersed in comprehending the Lesser Asura Killing Fist. His Idle Slots were insufficient, but with the Killing Intent Cultivation Chamber assisting him, his cultivation speed was still very fast.
Whenever he reached a bottleneck, he used the Idle Slots to “grind” through it.
This state continued until two months later, during the twentieth year and seventh month of his tenure as City Lord of Jade Spirit City.
……
……
“City Lord Wang, it is truly an honor to finally meet you. Your name is famous throughout Cloud Ridge Prefecture. The Heaven Treasure Pavilion has long regretted not being able to establish a branch in Jade Spirit City.”
Wang Yu smiled and gestured for the guests to take a seat.
“Well, you’re here now. May I ask how I should address you?”
“Han Jia, one of the elders of the main pavilion of the Heaven Treasure Pavilion in Cloud Ridge.”
Hearing this, Wang Yu was slightly surprised. Elders from small regional branches were often of little note, but an elder from the Cloud Ridge main pavilion was at least a late-stage Core Formation cultivator.
For the Heaven Treasure Pavilion to send such a powerful figure to open a branch in Jade Spirit City was indeed an impressive show of force. In contrast, neighboring Golden Abundance Tower was managed by Ye Qing, merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Moreover, Han Jia’s life force was vigorous, his appearance dignified, and he carried a professional, composed aura.
His mature demeanor gave him an amiable yet commanding presence, far better than Ye Qing’s by several levels. He was accompanied by a young man and woman.
He introduced them as well.
“City Lord Wang, these are my children—Han Jinlong and Han Yinfeng.”
Wang Yu said, “...Excellent names, full of spirit.”
“Haha, when my wife gave birth to twins—a dragon and a phoenix—we chose the names Jinlong and Yinfeng, symbolizing gold and silver. But we cannot compare to City Lord Wang, such a young and promising man.”
Han Jia’s attitude was excellent, though he had the typical flaw of a proud father—belittling his own children.
The two young ones, who had come to Jade Spirit City in high spirits, immediately looked displeased—not only at Han Jia, but also at Wang Yu.
“Long’er, Yinfeng, greet the City Lord.”
“……”
Silence was their form of stubbornness.
Wang Yu quickly tried to smooth things over. “It’s fine, just an introduction will do. I’ve prepared a banquet in the inner hall. We can eat and talk.”
Han Jia was a late Core Formation cultivator. Although Wang Yu was the City Lord, their cultivation gap was far too great. For Han Jia to treat him as an equal was already giving great respect, not to mention being so courteous.
After all, the Heaven Treasure Pavilion was also a hegemonic force equal in standing to the Blood Reversal Sect.
You have your backing, and I have mine. My cultivation is even one major realm higher than yours, so it’s only natural that you show respect.
Thus, Wang Yu kept a friendly attitude. Even if the two juniors showed some attitude, it did not matter to him.
Youngsters are just like that. There are no wrong forms of address in this world.
Moreover, the ones giving attitude were directed at Han Jia, not him.
As expected.
During the banquet that followed, Han Jia continued showing goodwill and even urged the twin brother and sister to learn from him more. These two young ones should be people of the same generation as he.
They seemed to be at the second layer of Foundation Establishment, around fifty years old. That was considered talented already, possessing dual spiritual roots at minimum.
In his mind, Wang Yu repeatedly compared them with Golden Abundance Tower and immediately concluded that the Heaven Treasure Pavilion was the true commercial organization. They embodied the saying, “Harmony brings wealth.” By the end of the meal, nearly every matter had been settled.
Land, taxes, auction schedules, City Lord Mansion policies, market promotions—all discussed.
Especially the auction.
The sub-pavilion that Heaven Treasure Pavilion planned to establish in Jade Spirit City could host auctions up to third-rank spiritual items. Such events would attract massive crowds and boost the city’s fame.
More people meant a larger market, higher spending, and therefore more taxes.
The City Lord Mansion’s industries covered everything—food, clothing, housing, transportation, birth, aging, illness, death, and even dueling and exploration—all connected to its enterprises.
Thus, the spirit stones Wang Yu could earn each year would naturally rise. He could occasionally refine a batch of high-quality cultivation pills to enrich the City Lord’s treasury.
The City Guards and Patrol Forces could also gradually increase their average cultivation level.
“By the way,”
As the banquet neared its end, Han Jia took out a ring inlaid with a blue diamond-shaped gem and handed it to Wang Yu.
“This is the item entrusted by Fellow Daoist Qingyang. Everything written on the scroll has basically been gathered.”
Wang Yu was startled.
“So fast?”
“Hahaha, our Heaven Treasure Pavilion is renowned for its complete inventory. Talents from both regions prefer to shop with us.”
At that moment, Wang Yu clearly saw the difference between both sides.
“This ring is a high-grade Heaven-and-Earth Ring, called the Sea Heart Ring. The space inside is vast enough to hold the entire Jade Spirit City. All the spiritual materials are stored within. City Lord Wang may check them.”
“Alright.”
Wang Yu did not stand on ceremony and began inspecting on the spot.
At his current stage, he was not lacking in resources. Most of what he purchased was to prepare for the future. It was foreseeable that by the time his term as City Lord ended, he would have accumulated almost everything needed for Core Formation cultivation.
That was the benefit of being backed by the Blood Reversal Sect and supported by a Nascent Soul clan.
He was currently holding his position quite securely.
The contents were few in number but all of high quality.
Ten sets of ingredients for refining Ice Spirit Pills, enough for him to reach the bottleneck of pill formation.
Third-rank Yin-attributed material: Ten-Thousand-Year Locust Tree Bark.
Third-rank Ice-attributed material: Ice Soul Stone.
Third-rank Ice-attributed material: Snow Mountain Heavy Iron.
Third-rank spiritual material: Treasure-Nurturing Ascension Liquid.
Four items in total. Adding the value of the Sea Heart Ring itself, Wang Yu painfully yet gladly handed over all his savings.
Five million five hundred and sixty thousand spirit stones!
Except for eight hundred pieces of high-grade spirit stones that remained untouched, City Lord Wang Yu of Jade Spirit City was practically emptied out.
The most expensive items were the Sea Heart Ring and the Treasure-Nurturing Ascension Liquid. Especially the latter—it could upgrade a potential artifact from supreme-grade second-rank to a third-rank magic treasure.
It could take effect without a refiner. Such an item was extremely rare even within the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain.
Only the Blazing Sun Sect, a major refining sect of the Taihu Spiritual Region, with fourth-rank artifact refiners, could produce it. Golden Abundance Tower did not have such an item at all. Naturally, Wang Yu bought it for the sake of upgrading his Ghost-Weeping Flute.
Most importantly, after using the Treasure-Nurturing Liquid to upgrade the artifact, it could still undergo secondary refinement to awaken all material potential before finalizing.
The high price was well justified.
Receiving such a huge sum of spirit stones, Han Jia was also surprised. He had thought Wang Yu would pay gradually since he had not been in Jade Spirit City for very long.
He did not expect him to have saved so much wealth. Did he not need to pay tributes upward?
Having received full payment, Han Jia certainly said nothing further. Instead, he took out another white jade token engraved with the words “Heaven Treasure.”
“This is the Heaven Treasure Pavilion VIP Token. It is only issued for purchases exceeding five million spirit stones. From now on, wherever City Lord Wang visits our Pavilion, you may directly enter the VIP trading rooms.”
“You will also have private rooms and hidden exit passages for all future auctions.”
Accepting the token, Wang Yu inspected it briefly and said, “Thank you.”
Here again, the difference was clear. The Heaven Treasure Pavilion issued VIP tokens based on spending amount, while Golden Abundance Tower issued them based on cultivation level. The one he had was given by Jin Miaoshan, who had clearly stated that the token granted Core Formation cultivator privileges and a five percent discount.
In this regard, the Heaven Treasure Pavilion valued the transaction itself more.
After the meal, with all matters discussed, Han Jia stood to take his leave. He carried a construction-type magic treasure refined within the Pavilion. Upon reaching the plot of land granted by Wang Yu, he only needed to flatten the ground slightly, activate the treasure, and toss it out.
Very convenient indeed.
As for the twin brother and sister, they sulked for the whole night, much to Wang Yu’s amusement. Truly interesting.
After personally sending them out of the City Lord Mansion, Wang Yu especially instructed Xu Ruzhou, “From now on, I will be in seclusion for a period. No matter who comes, I do not wish to be disturbed.”
Xu Ruzhou nodded repeatedly.
At the same time.
When Han Jia and the other two arrived at the granted land, they were completely stunned. Not only was there another building nearby, but right next door stood Golden Abundance Tower.
The three of them exchanged glances, speechless.