Seeing that Miao Yi didn’t have any other particular requests, Luo Ping laughed, "Rest a.s.sured, Brother Miao. The Chamber of Commerce will be sure to deliver your order over as soon as possible."
Miao Yi nodded and took twenty million crystals out of his storage ring on the spot. Then, he drew out the account records of the funds he had previously stored in the Chamber of Commerce and had Luo Ping transfer another ten million over.
Since all the money was already prepared, there was nothing else to be said. After he was finished with the procedures, Luo Ping asked again, "Does Brother Miao still require anything else?"
Of course Miao Yi still had things he wanted. He wanted to obtain a third grade transcendent artifact, but a single Third Grade Yao Core was already worth a million Orbs of Will. Even if he piled together all the things he had sold in this transaction, he wouldn’t be able to exchange them for a single Third Grade Yao Core.
Regardless, as Yao Ruoxian told him, even if he had a third grade transcendent artifact, he wouldn’t be able to control it with his cultivation.
Miao Yi smiled bitterly and he shook his head.
Luo Ping nodded, then immediately turned to Uncle Hua and Old Dong with cupped fists, "Uncle Hua. Old Dong. I will have to trouble you both to make another trip and deliver Brother Miao’s goods over posthaste."
The two nodded in acknowledgement.
After the discussions were over, the four who had been cooped up in the silent quarters for around the past twenty days finally came out.
Both Uncle Hua and Old Dong didn’t exchange pleasantries with anyone and immediately flew off after stepping out of the living room.
Luo Ping and Senior Liu decided to stay in Mount Calming Sea for the time being while they waited for the other two to deliver over the goods that Miao Yi ordered. They would only leave once that was settled.
The large gate that was so tightly guarded all this while was finally opened. Luo Ping walked out beside Miao Yi engaging in friendly banter.
At the pavilion outside, Wen Fang could tell from a single glance at the wholly cheerful expression on Luo Ping’s face that he had earned a large sum. She was absolutely envious.
Miao Yi was surprised to see Wen Fang. ‘It’s been so many days, yet this woman is still here? She sure has grit. Alright. I suppose I could offer her a few business deals if the opportunity presents itself.’
Tian Qingfeng had been standing guard just outside the gate. He stepped forward and reported, "Milord. Master has brought the School of Blue Jade disciples over."
‘Tong Renmei personally brought the men over?’ Only after asking did Miao Yi find out that Tong Renmei had arrived since a long time ago. However, Miao Yi had been cooped up in the silent quarters negotiating his business deal all this while. Everyone else couldn’t reach him either. Even so, Tong Renmei was quite patient and waited all this while.
Miao Yi immediately said, "Quick. Ask them to come over."
Soon after, with his chalk-white hair and youthful complexion, Tong Renmei came over with quick strides under Tian Qingfeng’s escort.
"Brother Luo. Please make yourselves at home for now. I have guests to attend to." Miao Yi informed Luo Ping.
"No trouble." Luo Ping smiled and nodded. Together with Senior Liu, they brushed past Tong Renmei as he approached.
Miao Yi’s fists were already cupped as he said, "My apologies. I didn’t realize that Elder Tong had personally come. I hope Elder Tong will forgive me for the wait."
"The Mountain Chieftain’s affairs are of grave importance. I wouldn’t dare to hold it against you." Tong Renmei very courteously replied with cupped fists.
Not only had Miao Yi’s status soared, just the fact that he helped so many of the School of Blue Jade disciples rise up to their new positions was enough to cause the entire School to go abuzz with excitement. This was why Tong Renmei had personally come over to congratulate Miao Yi on his promotion on behalf of the School of Blue Jade.
He never expected that Miao Yi would be too occupied to attend to guests as soon as he arrived. Not to mention, Tian Qingfeng secretly informed him that Miao Yi had a few Red Lotus realm friends over. Tong Renmei didn’t dare to interrupt them, and neither did he let his patience run short and leave. He stubbornly persisted in waiting for about twenty days in Mount Calming Sea. At the same time, he made arrangements to improve the gift meant to congratulate Miao Yi on his promotions by a few notches.
Just moments ago, he noticed the two Red Lotus experts flying off and couldn’t help being astonished. He never expected Miao Yi to be acquainted with individuals of such caliber.
Since Miao Yi had such an impressive background, at this rate, it seemed like the day when Mountain Chieftain Miao would become a distinguished Manor Head was all but a matter of time.
With such thoughts in his mind, Tong Renmei obviously felt the need to cling onto such a reliable backer as soon as he could. If he didn’t do it now, it would be too late once the other person was promoted.
Miao Yi invited him inside to take a seat while Qian’Er and Xue’Er served tea. Tong Renmei immediately stood up and cupped his fists, "Please don’t trouble yourselves, Elder Auntie. Little Auntie."
These two women were Miao Yi’s closest aides. After all, hadn’t Xiong Xiao ended up like he did precisely because of a single personal handmaiden of his? It was obvious how compelling pillow talk could be. Tong Renmei obviously wouldn’t dare to be discourteous.
Once he sat back down, Tong Renmei took out a decorated box and presented it to Miao Yi. "Our Sect Master ordered me to offer Milord his congratulations for your promotion on behalf of the School of Blue Jade. This is but a small symbol of our sincerity."
Miao Yi glanced at the box and realized that it was filled with over ten different types of spiritual herbs overflowing with rich spiritual aura. He didn’t have the eye for these kinds of things, so he couldn’t tell if they were good or bad. However, since the other party dared to show it off in front of his face, it shouldn’t be a simple gift. He courteously replied, "Such a lavish gift."
He was a poor man right now, so he obviously wouldn’t reject if gifts were sent his way. Giving a nod, he accepted it. Qian’Er immediately came over and brought it away.
Then, Tong Renmei handed a jade archive over, "These are the men that Milord requested. I have personally brought them over."
"How could I have troubled Elder Tong to personally make the trip for something so trivial?" Miao Yi said courteously, taking the jade archive. Seeing that there weren’t any problems after reading through it, he approved it on the spot then handed it to Xue’Er. "Send this over to South Edict Manor immediately to request the Manor Head’s approval."
"Understood!" Xue’Er acknowledged the order and brought the jade archive away.
After that the two spoke for a while. As the Chief Elder, it wouldn’t be too good for Tong Renmei to be away from the School of Blue Jade for too long. Since he already met Miao Yi, it wouldn’t be wise for him to continue staying much longer, so he was about to take his leave.
The prestigious Chief Elder of the School of Blue Jade personally came all this way. As the host, Miao Yi naturally had to do his part and invite Tong Renmei to stay for a banquet personally hosted by himself, before letting Tong Renmei go.
After he sent Tong Renmei off, Miao Yi sent orders for Yan Xiu to be summoned. Then, asked him about the recent situation of the various Caves.
As he expected, things were not very peaceful in the various Caves. The disciples from the three major sects weren’t very willing to comply with orders. Although they could do nothing directly before a Blue Lotus realm Cave Master, they still caused their respective Cave Masters trouble under the guise of obedience, given the Cave Masters’ lack of experience in overseeing a single domain.
Originally, Miao Yi only needed to keep an eye on situations like these and nothing more. His forces had greatly expanded already and he needed to manage a million followers in this vast land. He couldn’t do everything himself; he would exhaust himself to death that way. All he needed to do was oversee the overall state of affairs. It was also necessary for him to let go and train those working under him.
However, he wanted to stabilize Mount Calming Sea as soon as possible right now. To do so, he had no choice but to directly interfere in the affairs of his subordinates and mediate between the two factions.
After he understood the situation of his subordinates, he immediately ordered Yan Xiu to bring the twenty School of Blue Jade disciples that Tong Renmei had brought over.
After meeting those disciples and giving them their instructions, he immediately wrote out an official decree and handed it over to them. They were ordered to report to the Caves in need of manpower as soon as possible and a.s.sist the Cave Masters in stabilizing the situation. At the same time, he was transferring the more troublesome members of each Cave over to his side. Simply put, he was swapping those members out with these disciples.
Once those troublesome members were at Mount Calming Sea, against a bunch of Blue Lotus experts like Tian Qingfeng and the rest, they wouldn’t be able to stir up any trouble even if they wanted to.
Miao Yi also wanted to strengthen the forces of Zhou Huan and the rest. He couldn’t oppress them to the point of no relief. It wouldn’t be wise to allow Tian Qingfeng and the other School of Blue Jade disciples to monopolize Mount Calming Sea. Otherwise, his information network would be at risk of being manipulated. There was merit in having an opposing force with regards to the stability of Mount Calming Sea.
As such, the twenty men that had just reached Mount Calming Sea immediately departed on their dragon steeds once again.
Not long afterwards, the City Lord of Mount Calming Sea’s va.s.sal city arrived in a horse-drawn carriage, bearing a large pile of gifts for the newly appointed Mountain Chieftain.
Upon noticing the endless flow of people coming and going from Mount Calming Sea, Luo Ping and Wen Fang, who had been staying over for the time being, realized that Miao Yi was practically occupied day in and day out. There wasn’t time for him to entertain them at all. They couldn’t help but sigh to themselves, ‘So being a Mountain Chieftain and overseeing a single domain is such a taxing occupation! It seems like it isn’t at all easy to manage one’s territory …’
South Edict Manor — Miao Yi’s name list already arrived. At almost the same time, another secret report came in as well.
Yang Qing paced around inside the pavilion. He came to the railing and leaned on it, silently gazing into the distance.
He had spies in Mount Calming Sea, and already received secret reports on the recent influx of Red Lotus experts into Mount Calming Sea. He was deeply astonished and wary. He didn’t know anything regarding the ident.i.ties of those Red Lotus experts, why they had cooped themselves up with Miao Yi in his silent quarters for over twenty days before coming out, and how Miao Yi became acquainted with these Red Lotus experts.
Before, he was still rather puzzled why an esteemed Suppressing Second Hall Master would personally draft Miao Yi into the Sea of Constellations Subjugation Crusade. ‘If I were to base my deductions off the current situation, could it be that the Hall Master have realized something beforehand?’
Once he approved the name list sent by Miao Yi, Yang Qing personally wrote out another jade archive, and handed it to Qing Ju. "Send this to Elder Wu of the School of Imperial Beasts."
Meanwhile in Mount Calming Sea, Uncle Hua and Old Dong didn’t make Miao Yi wait too long and quickly returned the next day.
They moved back into the silent quarters and continued their meeting in private.
After Miao Yi inspected the goods, he confirmed that not a single piece was missing from the one hundred and fifty urns of Crystallized Obsidian that the two sent over. The thirty-three Second Grade Yao Cores, and one hundred First Grade Yao Cores were also of decent quality.
Miao Yi was somewhat surprised. Luo Ping had informed him earlier that there was a chance that Yin Cores and Inner Cores might be used as subst.i.tutes instead. It seemed like the other party was trustworthy after all. He had tried his best to gather up as many Yao Cores as he could for Miao Yi.
Now both sides of the bargain were complete. The four of them each created a proof of receipt. Thus, this business deal was finally done.
The four left the silent quarters and Luo Ping, who had been staying here for several days now, finally announced his leave.
Miao Yi was also aware that Luo Ping had been away from the capital city for too long and didn’t try to make him stay longer. He escorted everyone to the courtyard and watched as they flew off.
Just after he sent them off, a gloomy voice could be heard from the pavilion, "Are you free, Big Brother?"
"Ah…" Miao Yi turned around and saw a beautiful girl pouting her lips as she walked over. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he said, "Wen Fang. Do you not have to attend to your business deals back in South Edict Manor anymore?"
Wen Fang feigned anger and said, "I can’t believe you still have the gall to mention this, Big Brother. You’re so cruel. You knew that I am in the trade as well, but you didn’t even think to take care of your Little Sister for such a major transaction. Even if it’s a minor deal from Big Brother, I think it would be worth it even if I don’t attend to my business deals in South Edict Manor for a year."
The business deal he just completed with Luo Ping was a rather substantial one indeed. After a bout of sales and purchases, Luo Ping had closed a deal worth almost 200 million Gold Crystals. Even without mentioning the commission he would gain, a deal of this proportion alone would be enough for the Chamber of Commerce to promote Wen Fang to the major city in Suppressing Second Hall if she was the one to complete it. Then, she wouldn’t have to set up shop in this desolate land.
The more desolate the land, the worse it was for one’s future!
Miao Yi noticed this woman quite liked to act as if they were very familiar with one another, and she was rather thick-skinned as well, inevitably pulling their relationship closer. If a stranger who didn’t know any better heard this, they would definitely think the two were actual siblings. Even Miao Yi didn’t know how he should respond to that.
Miao Yi awkwardly rubbed his nose and laughed dryly, "It’s not that I don’t want to take care of you. But your South Edict Manor branch is a little too small. I’m just afraid you won’t be able to handle it."