One month later, Gu Lingzhi had finally concluded the training experience and brought several Spirit Tribe disciples back to the Gui Yuan Clan.
As Hunting Cat already knew their secret, although Gu Lingzhi did not lock him up, she still sealed his spiritual energy and settled him down back at the Gui Yuan Clan. As long as he did not have the intention to leave, the people monitoring him would not do anything to hurt him.
The Thousand Mountains Range was definitely the best place to increase one"s strength. Every time they got out of there, they would always feel their cultivation improve.
After settling a few official matters, Gu Lingzhi was ready to close herself with Rong Yuan in seclusion, to stabilise her cultivation.
Before she could begin anything, a s.h.i.+ning gold guest arrived at the Gui Yuan Clan.
Zhuo Haotian did not change a single bit. He was still like a moving gold mountain that came to the Gui Yuan Clan.
Looking at his serious face, Tianfeng Jin, who was listening to reports about the Gui Yuan Clan, rushed out.
“What happened? Who made our Young Master Zhao unhappy?” Xin Yi joked around.
Zhuo Haotian"s cheeks bulged as he looked at the people around him. In a sulky voice, he said, “No one!”
Even an idiot could tell that he was angry from his tone.
Xin Yi blinked. Something must definitely be wrong to cause someone like Zhuo Haotian, who was usually so timid he would not even say what he thought to act this way. He then beckoned Zhuo Haotian over with his finger to follow him.
Zhuo Haotian took a look at Tianfeng Jin and confirmed that she did not have time to listen to him complain before pursing his lips and following Xin Yi to the main hall.
Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan were chit-chatting in the main hall when they saw Zhuo Haotian and hesitated slightly. They then smiled, “Haotian, why are you here?”
When they chose the address for the clan, they had done it without his involvement. When he knew about it, he became sulky and said that he would not come to the Gui Yuan Clan to play. They never thought they would actually see him here.
Zhuo Haotian"s lower jaw protruded out, “Why can"t I come?”
“You can, of course you can.” Gu Lingzhi was amused by his arrogant look, “Your family is our business partner, it won"t be a problem even if you stayed here and did not leave.”
Hearing that, Zhuo Haotian actually lowered his head to think before asking, “I can stay here?”
Gu Lingzhi raised her eyebrows, “As long as no one is staying in it, you can take your pick.”
“Then I want the most extravagant one.” Zhuo Haotian did not hold back.
“Okay, how can we not fulfil Young Master Zhao"s request?” Gu Lingzhi casually agreed as her eyes brushed over Zhuo Haotian and saw that there was something going on with Zhuo Haotian. It was only when Rong Yuan started to look jealous did she ask unhurriedly, “You came today specially to find a place to stay in the Gui Yuan Clan?”
“Of course not.” With Gu Lingzhi"s reminder, Zhuo Haotian thought of what made him fidgety.
“The Li Family are b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!”
Gu Lingzhi was curious, “The Li Family?”
“Which other Li Family can it be? Of course the Li Family that owns the largest store in the Realm of G.o.ds, the Tianbao Store!” Zhuo Haotian huffed.
Knowing that the reason why Xin Yi brought him into the main hall was that the people in there were all reliable, he did not hold back. He vented all his frustrations to Gu Lingzhi, “He is already the top conglomerate in the country, what more does he want? Will he only be satisfied when he stops all other businesses in the Realm of G.o.ds? It is enough that the Feihong Clan and the Qionghua Clan stopped doing business with us. Now, even the smaller clans also refuse to give us any products. They are trying to push the Zhuo Family to the edge!”
Gu Lingzhi frowned, “How did you know that the reason for them not selling you their products is because of the Li Family?”
“Is there even a need to ask? My father checked.” Zhuo Haotian pursed his lips. “Other than the Li Family, which other family in the Realm of the G.o.ds has enough power or money to get so many people to not work with us? Being first isn"t enough, they still want to bring us down. They are too cruel!”
As he thought to this point, his stomach was filled with anger. What angered him even more was that although his father had investigated and found out that it was the Li Family that was causing all these, he did not let Zhuo Haotian say anything. He wanted to silently bear the pressure from the Li Family.
“Calm down, maybe your father has his own plans, that"s why he doesn"t want you to talk about it,” Gu Lingzhi comforted him.
Who knew that this sentence would make Zhuo Haotian go even crazier, “What plans? My father does not even intend to do anything to them. I overheard him talking outside his study room. My father is currently working with our subordinates on shrinking the distribution of our Yinyang Stores around the Realm of the G.o.ds. He wants to concentrate our business in the Juluan City. From now on, our Yinyang business won"t be the second best store in the Realm of the G.o.ds anymore.”
Zhuo Haotian"s voice slowly faded away as he spoke, expressing indignance and helplessness.
“What do you think my father is afraid of? Isn"t it just the Tianbao Store? In the past few years, our Yinyang business managed to expand so much, if we had more time, we would even surpa.s.s Tianbao Store and become the first store in the Realm of the G.o.ds, why do we need to be so afraid?”
The inside of the room fell silent as no one knew why Zhuo Rong made his decision as such.
Like what Zhuo Haotian said, the Yinyang business was a later addition to the Realm of the G.o.ds. In just a few generations, it had become the second top store in the Realm of the G.o.ds. With this start, the Yinyang Store was sure to surpa.s.s Tianbao Store in no time. Zhuo Rong really did not need to be afraid of what the opponent might do next. Unless…his opponent was backed by someone that he could not risk offending.
“The Li Family is supported by the Deity King…Pan Luo.”
As the group fell silent, Hunting Cat suddenly added in, “I have seen one of the members of the Li Family in the Deity King"s Palace before. He had…the same slave imprint as Lady Ye.”
Everyone was shocked. It was no wonder.
With Pan Luo as their backing, who would dare to offend them? Zhuo Rong must have also found out the relations.h.i.+p between the Li Family and Pan Luo and decided not to pursue the matter.
Compared to everyone else"s shock, Hunting Cat"s emotions were even more intense. This was because he had remembered that ever since the ancient times until now, there had never been anyone better than the Li Family"s business. There were several Martial Artists that were as good with business as the Zhuo Family in the past. However, whenever they reached a certain level, they would all face different kinds of setbacks. Hence, after so many years, the Tianbao Store"s position was cemented as the best and no one has ever surpa.s.sed them.
Now it seemed like it was not that no one had the ability to surpa.s.s the Tianbao Store, but that Pan Luo did not allow anyone to be richer than him!
Having thought this through, the hatred Hunting Cat had for Pan Luo grew deeper. How could he have looked up to someone like him that was so selfish and could never stand anyone being better than him? Did his father know what kind of person Pan Luo was?
“Who is this Pan Luo you all are talking about? Why does he sound so familiar?” Zhuo Haotian frowned as he asked, unable to recall where he heard this name before.
“Pan Luo…of course it"s Pan Luo. You just have to know that your father has his reasons for asking you not to do anything.” Xin Yi patted Zhuo Haotian, “You can complain to us, but be careful not to say this to outsiders.”
It was sufficient that they knew Pan Luo was supporting the Tianbao Store. If this news were to spread, it would not be good for anyone.
Zhuo Haotian bit his lip, “Hmph, fine, I won"t say anything.” His biggest merit was knowing how to take a step back and reading people"s expressions.
Knowing Pan Luo was the mastermind, Gu Lingzhi could not do anything to help them for the time being. All she could do was try her best to provide more goods for the Yinyang Store. Luckily, all the Spirit Tribesmen possessed all five Spiritual Roots. Anyone she picked would be excellent to become an Alchemist or Weapon Forger.
Normally when they were practicing, Gu Lingzhi did not forget to bring out the Alchemy and Weapon Forging manuals from the Inheritance s.p.a.ce for them. Now, they were finally put to good use.
Creating two regions in the Gui Yuan Clan for medicine cultivation and weapon crafting, the entire Gui Yuan Clan became busy with creating and making weapons and medicine.
By integrating the techniques pa.s.sed down through the Spirit Tribe on weapon crafting with the unique weapon crafting ways of the Lost Lands, there were quite a few changes with their final product. They need not be afraid of people recognising who they were from their goods.
With the immense support from the Gui Yuan Clan, the Yinyang Store, which had reduced the number of stores, overcame the crisis of not having enough goods. Due to the medicine and weapons from the Gui Yuan Clan being of extremely high quality, it created a high demand for their products.
This was especially the case for a small group of ugly-looking Spiritual Weapons that no one seemed to want to buy. One person had bought one of the weapons out of curiosity and realised how extraordinarily useful it was and was praised by quite a few people. In less than ten days, the hundreds of Spiritual Weapons that Gu Lingzhi had provided for the Yinyang Store had sold out. At the same time, the name "Black Thorn" was slowly becoming famous as a Weapon Forger in the Realm of the G.o.ds.
On this day, the Gui Yuan Clan was functioning as per usual, in the midst of producing medicine and weapons. However, they were greeted by an uninvited group of guests.
The disciple that was in charge of guarding the door was a Martial Lord Spirit Tribesmen. After receiving a piece of identification paper from the group, he took one glance at the name on it and retrieved his Communication Conch. He called out to the disciples that were guarding the main hall.
“The a.s.sistant manager of the Tianbao Store from the Juluan branch has come to visit.”
There was no need to guess why the people from the Tianbao Store were here at this time.
Rong Yuan"s eyebrow rose as he breathed out, “They are finally here.”
“That"s right.” Gu Lingzhi chuckled as she instructed her members, “Let them in.”
If they wanted to just support the Yinyang Store"s business, Gu Lingzhi could very well not have involved herself personally. However, the decision to sell the hundreds of weapons that she made by herself were a result of her discussion with Rong Yuan.
Pan Luo stayed in the Deity King"s Palace, which was the centremost point of the Realm of G.o.ds. The exterior of the palace was huge and beautiful, with numerous guards stationed around. If they wanted to barge in with their abilities alone, they would have died before they could reach Pan Luo.
Now, the best way was to lure Pan Luo out of the Deity King"s Palace. The only way to get Pan Luo to step off his high horse and get out of his beloved palace was only by those few things – a world altering gem or an extremely superior G.o.dly Weapon.
The first was natural and would only come once every ten thousand years. The second one, was however, man-made!