Chapter 764: Bad News Before the Day of Opening
“Why do you say that?” Wei Jie’s heart suddenly pounded when he heard Jiang Chen’s serious tone.
Jiang Chen had been considering this matter along the way and a.n.a.lyzed it repeatedly. When he added w.a.n.g Teng and his group’s behavior at the auction to his a.n.a.lysis, he couldn’t help but smell a thick sense of conspiracy, one that had to do with him. “Young master Wei, don’t you think w.a.n.g Teng’s actions were a little strange today?” Jiang Chen asked. Surprised, Wei Jie pondered for a moment, but couldn’t figure out Jiang Chen’s meaning.
“Why did w.a.n.g Teng try to induce Sikou Nan and young master Ji San to bid for the Longevity Pill? Moreover, w.a.n.g Teng didn’t look like he was just trying to anger or embarra.s.s young master Ji San. It felt that he was trying to build marketing momentum for the Longevity Pill,” Jiang Chen’s tone was serious.
Wei Jie’s expression changed the moment he heard this. He was quick to pick up on things, and he immediately comprehended Jiang Chen’s implied meaning. “Brother Zhen, you mean… that the auction of the Longevity Pill was planned by w.a.n.g Teng all along?” Wei Jie was quite shocked by this revelation.
Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke in a frigid tone, “I hope it’s just my imagination, but I just couldn’t shake off this idea when I noted w.a.n.g Teng’s actions. Although I disrupted his plans at the end and stopped him from embarra.s.sing young master Ji San, if this is true, he still managed to achieve his goal.”
“Brother Zhen, don’t you think that your a.s.sumption is a little too farfetched?” Wei Jie still looked a little doubtful.
Jiang Chen nodded, “It’s just an a.s.sumption so far, but think about it, the Eternal Celestial Capital has the ability to refine the Longevity Pill. However, would Veluriyam Capital allow the Eternal Celestial Capital to openly corner their pill market? Of course not, not to mention that the Eternal Celestial Capital themselves wouldn’t dare do so. But despite this obstacle, they still wish to enter the market. What do you think they would do to achieve that goal?”
The doubt on Wei Jie’s face slowly disappeared as he listened to Jiang Chen’s reasoning. Instead, it was replaced with a look of gravity. “They would find an intermediary, a powerful force who’s willing to cooperate with them in Veluriyam Capital.”
“That’s right,” Jiang Chen nodded, “Now, the Longevity Pill has been successfully auctioned off at Joined Ridges Pavilion. Do you think they could’ve built such an enormous momentum in such a short time if they weren’t aided by someone from within Veluriyam Capital? Which power is the most suitable to become an agent in Veluriyam Capital? The Coiling Dragon Clan? It is true that the Coiling Dragon Clan stands as the most obvious candidate, but they are currently embroiled in their own troubles and suffering from internal strife. In that case… an ambitious clan who has every intent to compete for the status of number one clan in Veluriyam Capital would undoubtedly be the most suitable candidate.”
With this deduction, that the Majestic Clan was this candidate was almost a certainty. Combining his understanding with w.a.n.g Teng’s performance today, Wei Jie believed Jiang Chen’s deductions almost completely. “The Majestic Clan… the Longevity Pill…” Wei Jie muttered and sighed to himself, “If that really is the case, then the Majestic Clan is seriously going to earn a fortune this time.”
“If this is true, this fortune will also become a central pillar in the Majestic Clan’s attempt to challenge the Coiling Dragon Clan in the future,” Jiang Chen’s irritation reached a new high. It would be stranger still if he wasn’t infuriated by the fact that something belonging to him was being manipulated by the Eternal Celestial Capital and the Majestic Clan as they liked.
Jiang Chen returned to his own accommodations after parting ways with Wei Jie. There were only two days left before the opening of Taiyuan Tower. He had made preparations on every front. Everyone had gone through a series of strict training regimens and acquired new ident.i.ties. Now, the only thing they needed to do was await Taiyuan Tower’s opening. Huang’er was very happy for Jiang Chen, seeing that all of his preparation were proceeding smoothly.
Taiyuan Tower’s signboard was installed in the last two days, and several recruitment notices were put out in serious fas.h.i.+on as well. All of these preparations were of course, a smokescreen for his subordinates so that they could openly and justly enter Taiyuan Tower with their new ident.i.ties and not be discovered by House Sikou.
All of his Regal Pill Palace sect members had been a.s.signed to work behind the scenes on logistics and finances. Jiang Chen had pa.s.sed the authority over finances completely to Rong Zifeng. This was also a show of great trust in Rong Zifeng. Rong Zifeng himself didn’t think that Jiang Chen would trust him this much, so he was overflowing with pride, excitement and grat.i.tude towards Jiang Chen. In reality, the person Jiang Chen trusted the most was Shen Trifire, but Jiang Chen’s plans for Shen Trifire were set on him becoming a pill king as soon as possible. Therefore, there was no need to put Shen Trifire in charge of such affairs. The other ten sage realm cultivators were handpicked by Jiang Chen to guard the store, welcome customers and receive items.
The fact that a newly established pill store had ten sage realm guards obviously meant that it was no ordinary store. But it wasn’t that eye catching either, since there was no emperor realm cultivators present. Jiang Chen didn’t bother worrying about opening day decorations, popularity and attractions. He had almost no connections in Veluriyam Capital, so naturally he had no channels he could draw on. There was nothing he could do about it even if he wanted to, so he simply entrusted all that to House Wei.
Taking House Wei’s current situation in account, Jiang Chen didn’t feel like his situation would improve by much. After all, the current House Wei had almost no weight in the pill industry, not to mention House Wei itself was currently in decline. Many people believed that House Wei would find it very difficult to maintain their status as a ninth rank aristocratic house in the near future. Moreover, while House Wei was still blindly loyal to the Coiling Dragon Clan, in the public’s eyes, the Coiling Dragon Clan had lost trust in House Wei since a long time ago.
Therefore, there really weren’t many who were willing to build a close relations.h.i.+p with House Wei. The number of people willing to show up on the day of the opening would likely be few and far in between. After all, everyone knew that House Wei had become a thorn in the Majestic Clan’s side. Veluriyam Capital was a place where news spread quickly. It was now common knowledge that House Wei had refused to rent their store to House Tong, refused w.a.n.g Teng’s invitation and even eliminated a pill king spy that Majestic Clan had sent into their midst...
The day before the opening, Jiang Chen led his people and officially entered the Farmer G.o.d Market.
He had to admit that House Wei’s store at the Farmer G.o.d Market was an excellent location. It was large and quite strategically located. It was so good that it even exceeded his expectations. Even Jiang Chen felt a tinge of excitement the night before the opening. After arriving at Veluriyam Capital for such a long time, he was finally taking the first step in establis.h.i.+ng his own force here.
The next day morning, Jiang Chen woke up very early. The team he brought over the previous night was already busying themselves. Considering how big their store was and that today was their first day of business, there were naturally many things to do. House Wei’s men also showed up one after another. Wei Jie was the first person to show up. However, he also brought rather bad news with him.
“Brother Zhen, House Tong has gone too far! I’m not sure how, but somehow they managed to buy the store across from Taiyuan Tower and turn it into a pill store too. They’ve also chosen to open today. They sent their invitations to all the reputable factions in Veluriyam Capital last night.”
Jiang Chen was surprised when he heard this. Everything about the news was just too startling. House Tong had chosen today of all days to open their store? It was obvious they were purposely b.u.t.ting heads against House Wei. This was surely the first sign of a string of attempts to beat down Taiyuan Tower! A slow burning anger rose inside Jiang Chen’s heart. He had been quite low key since he arrived at Veluriyam Capital, and truly hadn’t provoked anyone on his own accord. But even then, trouble just kept coming in droves.
He could pretend it was nothing if House Tong had only opened a pill store on the opposite side of Taiyuan Tower. But the fact that they had chosen to open their store on the same day and sent out their invitations overnight was a blatant display of their true intentions. They were absolutely trying to make life difficult for Taiyuan Tower and drag them into an open confrontation! As fury started to ignite within him, Jiang Chen cast a glance at Wei Jie. “When did we send out our own invitations?”
“We’ve sent out our invitations three days ago. Every letter reached their destination..” Wei Jie smiled wryly, “However, it would seem that the situation is still extremely disadvantageous to Taiyuan Tower. Brother Zhen, this isn’t your fault. The real fault lies on us, House Wei and our situation for the past few years…”
Jiang Chen waved his hands and said, “Save such disheartened words for later!”
Naturally, Jiang Chen knew that House Tong hadn’t done this to b.u.t.t heads with ‘Pill King Zhen’. In the eyes of those aristocratic families and great clans, ‘Pill King Zhen’ wasn’t really all that important. They might not even think much about him at all. The reason House Tong had done this was to attack House Wei! The mastermind behind their actions was definitely the Majestic Clan. House Tong was a core subordinate for the Majestic Clan. While it might appear on the surface that House Tong was leading the charge, there was a high probability that the Majestic Clan was the one pulling the strings in the dark.
“What do we do?” Wei Jie himself wasn’t quite sure what to do. He was most worried about his guests running over to the opposite store, leaving an empty Taiyuan Tower behind. If that happened, it would be an enormous stain on House Wei’s reputation. It would also be the biggest blow to the newly opened Taiyuan Tower.
The Majestic Clan had seriously infuriated Jiang Chen with this tactic, and he sneered, “What do we do? We do nothing at all! This is the perfect opportunity for us to see who we can trust, who are just opportunists, and who can’t be trusted!”
Wei Jie smiled wryly, “That’s true. Today’s situation is the best chance to test their loyalty.”
House Lord Wei Tianxiao also arrived while they were talking. As he greeted them, he wore a forceful smile on his face. When he, Jiang Chen and Wei Jie were alone in a room, Wei Tianxiao’s expression immediately dissolved to utmost seriousness. “Pill King Zhen, I’ve just received confirmation that the neighboring pill store is controlled by the Majestic Clan. Even though House Tong is its apparent owner, they are just the p.a.w.n. Most importantly, they will also be revealing a most astounding pill for sale today.”
“What?” Jiang Chen frowned as a bad premonition rose in his heart.
“The Longevity Pill!” Wei Tianxiao couldn’t help but cast a glance at Jiang Chen when he said this. The Wei father and son were the only ones who knew of Jiang Chen’s true ident.i.ty in the entirety of House Wei. Naturally, they knew where the Longevity Pill had really come from as well. The Longevity Pill had came from the Regal Pill Palace, but it was Majestic Clan property now. Both Wei father and son was very unhappy with the injustice Jiang Chen was being served. Surprisingly, Jiang Chen didn’t look astonished at all. Instead, a look of understanding crept across his face as he cast a knowing glance at Wei Jie. Wei Jie let out a long sigh, “Just as we thought, this is the worst case scenario.”
Jiang Chen had already suspected earlier that the Majestic Clan was colluding with the Eternal Celestial Capital. Now, reality had proven that everything was progressing towards the worst case scenario! The Majestic Clan’s momentum would be doubled with the Longevity Pill. It was an important card in their plans to replace the Coiling Dragon Clan as the foremost clan. If the Longevity Pill were to dominate Veluriyam Capital’s market, the income it would bring would be astronomical. Flames of fury leapt and roared within Jiang Chen. He absolutely couldn’t accept this outcome.