Chapter 48 : Using the System to Make a Ruthless Fortune
Chapter 48: Using the System to Make a Ruthless Fortune
Then, before Long Tao could organize his words and say anything further, True Person Mingzhu faded away from before his eyes like a wisp of green smoke, vanishing without a sound or a trace—as if saying even one more word would have been a waste.
Long Tao stared at the spot where she had disappeared, stunned for a moment.
Then he let out a bitter smile and shook his head.
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the jumble of thoughts in his mind, before returning to the table.
Spreading out paper and brush, he carefully recorded the various pills, special artifacts, antidotes, evil-repelling talismans, and other supplies that might be needed to explore the Azurewood Demon Forest Secret Realm, based on what he had researched earlier.
Once he finished copying down all the key points, he immediately stood up and hurried back to the small courtyard he was renting without a moment’s delay.
As soon as he entered, he did not say a single extra word.
He directly hoisted the heavy redwood small box Nan Yuchen had given him onto his back, pushed open the courtyard gate, activated the Lightness Technique, and raced straight toward Qixia Town at the foot of the mountain.
……
About one shichen later, inside a private room in the most secluded corner of a teahouse they frequented in Qixia Town.
Long Tao and Dong Jiayuan, who had rushed over after receiving the news, sat facing each other.
At that moment, all four of their eyes were fixed unblinkingly on the open redwood small box on the table.
Inside, rows of pill bottles and heavenly treasures dazzled the eye, almost blinding to behold.
“So… you urgently called me out of the workshop with the sound-transmission array, saying there was some earth-shaking matter…” Dong Jiayuan struggled to tear his gaze away from the box and looked at Long Tao.
His voice sounded slightly hoarse from shock.
“This is what you meant?”
He had originally been buried in work at the workshop, refining a spiritual artifact.
After receiving Long Tao’s urgent-sounding transmission, he had not dared to delay at all and rushed over at top speed.
The moment he pushed open the private room door, the contents of the box stunned him into speechlessness for quite a while.
“How could this be fake?” Long Tao patted the box, his tone solemn.
“Here—everything I got from that massive fortuitous opportunity I ran into at Windless Cliff last time is all in here. In the entire Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect, aside from you, Old Dong, I can’t find a second person I can trust completely.”
Hearing this, Dong Jiayuan’s gaze swept over the items in the box again, his expression complicated as he rapidly estimated their value.
To be honest, even a rough calculation showed that the total worth of what was inside was absolutely enough to support a cultivator of decent aptitude steadily cultivating from Qi-Refining First Layer all the way to the early stage of Foundation Establishment.
This kid Long Tao had truly placed his entire fortune on the table without holding anything back.
“Alright!” Dong Jiayuan was also a straightforward man.
He stopped asking questions and nodded heavily.
“Then say it. What kind of big matter is worth you hauling out your entire life savings to gamble on?”
“That mysterious senior I met back at Windless Cliff suddenly passed me a top-secret piece of information earlier today.” Long Tao leaned forward, lowering his voice to ensure only the two of them could hear.
“The entrance to the Azurewood Demon Forest Secret Realm has already appeared. At present… it should not have been discovered by anyone else yet.”
Different people naturally required different explanations.
To True Person Mingzhu, he had used the excuse of an itinerant merchant from his hometown.
But to Dong Jiayuan, a fellow hometown native who knew his background inside and out, that “itinerant merchant” story would be far too easy to poke full of holes.
A mysterious senior expert of profound cultivation was undoubtedly a much better pretext.
In the Cultivation World, there was an unspoken rule: people usually did not pry deeply into others’ fortuitous opportunities or intelligence sources.
Simply being willing to share a secret already counted as showing respect.
“What?!” As Long Tao had expected, Dong Jiayuan did not question the origin of that “senior” at all.
His entire attention was instantly seized by the words “Secret Realm entrance”! His face was filled with shock, yet he still tried hard to control his volume, practically squeezing the words out through clenched teeth.
“Is this information… reliable?!”
“I wouldn’t dare say ten out of ten,” Long Tao said, his gaze blazing.
“But… there’s definitely a fifty percent chance!”
“Fifty percent…” Dong Jiayuan took a deep breath, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes.
“To learn in advance about a Secret Realm entrance opening, even with only a fifty percent chance, is worth gambling everything on! Speak—what exactly are you planning to do?”
“First of all, with just our level of cultivation, entering the Secret Realm ourselves would be outright suicide.” Long Tao was exceptionally calm as he tapped the list he had just written on the table.
“But I just went to the Scripture Pavilion and thoroughly checked the background of the Azurewood Demon Forest. I’ve identified all the pills, equipment, antidotes, and specific artifact talismans that might be needed.”
“You little brat!” Dong Jiayuan immediately grasped Long Tao’s intention.
Excitement burst forth in his eyes.
“You want to take advantage of the fact that the news hasn’t spread yet to buy these supplies at low prices, then sell them at high prices once word of the Secret Realm opening gets out and prices skyrocket?”
“Old Dong, you really are quick on the uptake!” Long Tao grinned broadly, his smile carrying a gambler’s frenzy.
“I plan to go big! Sell everything in this box! Convert it all into Spirit Stones, then immediately sweep the market—buy as much as we can! These things are definitely cheap right now, but once the news spreads… doubling in price will just be the starting point!”
“More than doubling!” Dong Jiayuan added excitedly, clearly far more familiar with the market.
“The Azurewood Demon Forest is a Wood-aspect Secret Realm, packed with spiritual plants and poisonous herbs! When the time comes, not just the teams organized by major sects—even independent cultivators and private squads rushing in to try their luck will be countless! I estimate… the prices of these specific supplies will stably triple! They might even go higher!”
The two exchanged a look, both seeing the uncontrollable excitement and greed in the other’s eyes.
A fifty percent chance for more than triple the profit! In the peril-filled Cultivation World, this was absolutely a staggering windfall worth risking one’s head for!
“The only problem now is this,” Long Tao said as he reined in his smile and grew serious.
“We need to liquidate everything in this box as fast as possible. I don’t have the connections to move such a large batch quickly, and the target is too big—it would easily arouse suspicion… I can only rely on you, Old Dong.”
“Leave it to me!” Dong Jiayuan agreed without hesitation, a shrewd light flickering in his eyes.
“Perfect timing—I’ve also accumulated some decent stock over the years. I’ll sell it all together this time! If luck’s on our side, we can clear it tonight through the black market and a few familiar major shopkeepers. However…” His tone shifted, showing caution.
“Moving such a large volume so urgently, they’ll definitely take the opportunity to force the price down. I estimate… the actual price we get will probably only be around eighty percent of the items’ true value.”
“That’s enough! Even if the news turns out to be fake and the Secret Realm doesn’t open, we’ll at most lose a bit over twenty percent! If we’re too scared to take even that kind of risk, we might as well hurry back to our hometowns and farm the land!”
Dong Jiayuan nodded heavily as well, reaching out to close the box.
But Long Tao suddenly seemed to remember something and hurriedly asked,
“Right, Old Dong! There’s one more critical thing! Didn’t the sect previously develop a special protective coating specifically to resist the spiritual energy overflow from the Azurewood Demon Forest Secret Realm, preventing Cloud Vessels and wooden artifacts from being corroded? Do you remember that?”
Hearing this, Dong Jiayuan froze for a moment, then suddenly slapped his thigh hard, his face showing a mix of annoyance and relief.
“Damn it! If you hadn’t reminded me, our profits would’ve been cut by at least thirty percent! How did I forget about that?!”
He sat back down, speaking rapidly.
“When that coating was developed back then, Old Man Liu participated as well. I even helped out a bit a few years ago, handling some leftover materials. But since the Secret Realm’s opening time was completely unpredictable, the project was really just to fulfill a sect assignment. After the samples were made and handed in, no one took it seriously.”
He stroked his chin, recalling carefully.
“I remember… that batch of successfully refined samples was called something like ‘Wood-Repelling Lacquer’… or something along those lines. The name was just slapped on temporarily anyway. Half was turned over to the sect, and the other half was tossed into storage at the Treasure Pavilion to gather dust. That stuff is basically useless except against Azurewood Demon Forest spiritual energy. I doubt anyone would buy it—its price should still be hovering around the original cost!”
“Good! Then I’ll leave all of this to you. When the time comes… the money from selling your items is entirely yours. For my side, I’ll give you fifteen percent of what I make as compensation for your trouble. How does that sound?”
Dong Jiayuan only did a rough mental calculation before immediately putting on the expression of a man about to strike it rich.
He left behind just a single, simple sentence:
“Leave everything to me.”