Chapter 105: Harvest
At this moment, Zhao Ning was going through account books when a middle-aged man suddenly approached him.
"Innkeeper, I have a Spiritual Object I want to sell. Do you accept such items?" the man inquired.
"Oh! What kind of Spiritual Object is it?" Zhao Ning became intrigued. The boss had instructed him that any peculiar Spiritual Objects or Spirit Plants should be accepted without worrying about potential losses.nove(l)bi(n.)com
The middle-aged man took out a Jade Box, opened it slightly in front of him, allowing Zhao Ning a glimpse. He then promptly closed the lid and looked around.
"Please come inside," Zhao Ning understood and quickly led the way to a secret chamber.
Once inside, Zhao Ning closed the secret chamber door and activated isolation formations. Then he turned around...
"You... Boss! You're back!" Zhao Ning was both surprised and delighted, never expecting Wang Hong to return in such a manner.
"Don't spread the news of my return for now. This time might be a bit dangerous. Send messages to everyone to strengthen defenses. The residences must activate protective formations. Don't worry about wasting Spirit Stones; we can afford the cost to maintain the formations."
"Who are these people?" Zhao Ning asked.
"I don't know either. Currently, I'm in the light, and the enemy is in the dark. The overall strength of the other party should be much stronger than ours. Of course, it might be a false alarm, but it's better to be prepared."
Wang Hong handed a token with "" (Personnel Department Fifty-Eight) written on it to Zhao Ning, briefly explaining the attack he had suffered and asking him to discreetly investigate.
"Don't go out alone on regular days. It's best to be in groups of two or three. Also, don't leave the city recently. We shouldn't engage in battles within Azure Void City. Unless absolutely sure, the other party probably won't make a move."
After that, Zhao Ning presented the profits from the Elixir store during this period. The sales had increased, and the earnings reached three hundred thousand Spirit Stones, finally catching up to the profit of the Spirit Wine store.
Although Spirit Wine had higher profits, Elixir could be consumed daily, while Spirit Wine was mainly used by cultivators during battles. Only a few cultivators indulged in Spirit Wine for leisure.
After Wang Hong left the Elixir Pavilion, he visited the Spirit Wine store. Business was still booming, but Skinny Monkey was not found. He learned that Skinny Monkey had gone to the brewing workshop.
The brewing workshop was in the original large courtyard they had rented. Inside, there were over a dozen wine cellars, employing dozens of people to brew Spirit Wine.
Skinny Monkey was using a green bamboo basket to pour wine from a large wine jar into a glass, ready to taste it.
Before placing each new batch into the cellar, he personally came to inspect and evaluate. Only qualified new wine would be stored in the cellar for a lengthy aging process.
Similar to Alchemy, both brewing Spirit Wine and Alchemy had a possibility of failure. Failed Spirit Wine could have strange tastes and even harmful substances.
The newly brewed wine contained violent Spiritual Energy, was hard to absorb, and had some impurities, resulting in flavors like spicy, strong, astringent, and bitter.
After a long period of aging, the Spiritual Energy would become mild. If aged in a place rich in Spirit Qi, the Spirit Wine would absorb some of the Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi, making the Spiritual Energy more abundant, and the taste smoother and more aromatic.
"Boss, there's a man outside who says he wants to see you, claiming to be familiar with you," a gatekeeper reported quietly.
In the past six months, in addition to keeping some working capital, Skinny Monkey had a remaining balance of 350,000 Spirit Stones, all of which he handed over.
After Wang Hong left the brewing workshop, he transformed back into Wang Kun. He gathered the shopkeepers from various Immortal Path Trading Alliance stores in his mansion.
"Everyone! In the coming days, I will be heading to the headquarters of the immortal way trading company for assessment. If I pass, I will be promoted from a Ninth-level Executive to an Eighth-level Executive. My authority will increase, and you all will benefit more. Therefore, for some time, I won't be able to supply goods to you. It would be best for you all to stock up on merchandise during this period."
For the next period, he decided to stay in the sect and not come out. He didn't believe anyone would dare to directly attack him in the sect. This reason was pre-planned and had been hinted at before. Wang Hong couldn't tell people he was afraid of death and needed to hide for a while; otherwise, the formidable image of his constructed immortal way trading company would collapse instantly.
"I wonder how long Manager Wang will be away?" Li, the manager of the Elixir store, asked, standing up and cupping his hands.
"I don't know the specific time. How can we low-level managers know about headquarters matters?" Wang Kun sighed helplessly. "So, I've applied for various Tier-One Elixirs, a total of sixty thousand, and countless Tier-One Spirit Herbs. In the past, the limit for purchasing Tier-One top-grade Spirit Wine was one hundred jin per person. This time, due to special circumstances, you can buy two hundred jin."
"I want two hundred jin!" Qian Gui was most interested in Spirit Wine, so he rushed to make a purchase, afraid there wouldn't be any left later.
"I want..."
Soon everyone had purchased two hundred jin of top-grade Spirit Wine. These more than ten shops had earned quite a few Spirit Stones following Wang Kun these years. Wang Hong alone received over six hundred thousand Spirit Stones for this item. If it were in the past, he would have already emptied their coffers.
However, when it came time to buy Elixirs and Spirit Herbs, these people were a bit financially strained. They wanted to buy more, but their liquid capital was insufficient.
In the end, many Elixirs and Spirit Herbs remained unsold. However, the thirteen managers couldn't even find one Spirit Stone from their pockets.
This disrupted the internal exchange process, making it impossible to proceed. Without a single Spirit Stone, how could they manage?
Everyone reported the items they had for exchange, and if there was a need, they could trade after the meeting.
"I'll leave the remaining Elixirs and Spirit Herbs with Director Zhao. When your Spiritual Herbs are depleted, you can buy from Zhao's Pill Shop," Wang Hong, in front of everyone, handed over the remaining items to Zhao Ning.
This time, he had drained all the managers, harvesting a total of eight hundred thousand Spirit Stones. Adding the previous earnings from his two stores, he had collected a total of one million four hundred and fifty thousand Spirit Stones.
After concluding the gathering, Wang Hong once again changed his identity secretly and entered his residence in Azure Void City.
This time, in the secret realm, he had slain many cultivators, obtaining numerous Magical Weapons and Jade Scrolls. He left these items here, placing Jade Scrolls in the Library for everyone to borrow using contribution points. Magical Weapons could be exchanged using contribution points or distributed as rewards.
He spent two days with his subordinates, guiding them on some cultivation difficulties and also imparted some Alchemy techniques to the Ma Brothers. He taught them how to refine multiple pills in a single furnace to improve Alchemy efficiency.
As for the subsequent practice, it would be up to them.
After staying for two days, he changed his identity again and quietly left Azure Void City to return to the sect.
On the way back, he didn't encounter any dangers and smoothly returned to his small courtyard.
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