Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty Three – Spending Jing Like Dirt
Hearing that Big Boss Zuo Mo needed to buy large amounts of talismans, Liao Qi Chang proactively came to visit with many talisman specimens. One of the things that had left a deep impression in his mind, on his last trip to the island, was that there were a lot of people. Zuo Mo clearly said that he was going to buy large numbers this time would be to outfit his battalion. This was major business!
The Cloud Pavilion usually sold on the high-end products to the market but there was no reason to not take such a large order like this. Liao Qi Chang had come personally with the additional hope that he could forge a good relationship with Zuo Mo.
The hall was full of people. When Lei Peng and the others heard that Boss was going to be buying talismans for them, they became alert and squeezed around to watch.
Liao Qi Chang displayed the talismans he had brought along to Zuo Mo one by one.
“This Blue Soul Cold Light Armor is intermediate fourth-grade, it can form a very thin but outstanding space shield, and can greatly decrease the damage caused by flying swords and talismans to the wearer. Because this space shield’s nature is cold and icy, it is even more effective against fire element spells and flying swords. The formation techniques on it [Slight Flow] [Strong Ice] can increase its defensive power.”
Inhales sounded inside the hall, Lei Peng and the others staring at the light blue ling armor in Liao Qi Chang’s hands as though they wanted to swallow it up. The light blue ling armor seemed to be woven beautifully from fragmented ice.
Space shields, wasn’t that something only fifth-grade yao beasts would have? Everyone know how powerful that was! This was something good, something good!
Liao Qi Chang was very satisfied with the expressions of Zuo Mo’s subordinates. This showed that his hawking had stirred their interest.
“This set of Cloud Wings were forged with a secret method using the top grade cloud souls of our Cloud Sea Jie. Its greatest attribute is its speed, as fast as wind, and would greatly increase your speed! I believe I do not need to speak more on the importance of speed. The elite of the battalion, especially scouts should have this essential item! How fast is it? Why don’t one of these men here try it on?”
Even Zuo Mo was moved as he listened. He turned and asked, “Who wants to try?”
Many pairs of hands instantly rose up.
In the end, he chose Nian Lu. Nian Lu’s display was extremely fast and caused exclamations. Everyone were people that stayed long times on battlefields, and they compared it in their minds. If the two sides were equal in power, and they had the advantage in talismans, then they really had a great advantage!
For Liao Qi Chang, this was just the beginning!
“For a battalion, long distance campaigns occur regularly, how can one lack a good steed? They can help save ling power for you, allow you to fly for longer distances, they should be your most trusted companions! The Cloud Wings are fast, but they are not suited for long distance flight. Here, let me recommend to everyone the best steed that is produced by our Cloud Sea Jie, Nimbus Cloud!”[i]
Like magic, a snowy-white ball of cloud appeared in front of him.
“The Tumble Cloud is forged by harvesting Flower Sinew Cloud. It reaches intermediate fourth-grade, and can travel three thousand li in a day! It does not need you to feed it, does not require you to spur it along, it is hard-working, uncomplaining, the best companion for you to travel the world and for long distances!”
Liao Qi Chang’s words were like a river that flowed endlessly and emphasized spectacular feats. Zuo Mo naturally would not be fooled by him, but the talismans this person put out were, truly, good talismans and people’s hearts would be uncontrollably moved.
At the end, after Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha discussed it, Zuo Mo placed, what could be called, a colossal order!
When Liao Qi Cheng took the order list, he almost fainted!
The order included entire armor sets. Each set included one set of Blue Soul Cold Light Armor, one pair of Cloud Wings, one pair of Tiger-Style Flowing Light Boots, one Serene Heart Intelligence Hat, and a Nimbus Cloud.
The abilities of this armor set were versatile, and any item in it was fourth-grade, making this a true fourth-grade armor set! No fourth-grade set was cheap. The least expensive item in this was sixty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi and the entire set would cost five hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi!
This kind of set on the market would not be considered high-end but it definitely was not low end either! Those that had the ability to buy something like this would be xiuzhe on the cusp of entering jindan and had accumulated some wealth! Those jindan that were not very wealthy might also wear a set of armor similar to this.
What truly caused Liao Qi Chang to feel dizzy was the number at the end—two thousand sets! An entire two thousand sets!
Momma-mia!
That was one million fourth-grade jingshi, or one thousand and five hundred fifth-grade jingshi, or one sixth-grade jingshi!
Even a person like Liao Qi Chang used to seeing big business couldn’t help but become excited!
One million pieces of fourth-grade jingshi!
A rich man! Definitely a rich man! He rejoiced that he had come this time, it was worth it!
Look look, to spend jingshi like dirt, the other didn’t even bat an eyelash!
Xu Zheng Wei who had also come was left in shock. He had never expected Boss Zuo who did not seem so eye-catching was this extravagant. Boss Zuo was also really generous to his people. He had never heard of someone spending so much!
A completely fourth-grade talisman outfit. If this kind of battalion was put into public, just the treasure light on their bodies would be enough to tempt other people!
Xu Zheng Wei’s eyes turned red!
He might be a jindan and didn’t really lack jingshi usually, but to spend a thousand jingshi, no, a million jingshi, he could not imagine it! How many talismans could that buy! He could even buy many fifth-grade talismans! He didn’t even know if he could ever make so much over his entire life!
He had several good fourth-grade talismans and one fifth-grade talisman that Liao Qi Chang had given to him. Look at these people, they were ningmai and were wearing fourth-grade talismans all over!
It was frustrating to compare!
Xu Zheng Wei shook his head as though he was the one paying the jingshi.
Zuo Mo’s heart also hurt slightly. One sixth-grade jingshi! That was more than nine-tenths of his entire wealth. Before, his total wealth had been one thousand and thirty or so fifth-grade jingshi, no he had just over thirty fifth-grade jingshi! But he thought that everyone’s lives were more important. He gritted his teeth! Buy them!
Having made the decision, Zuo Mo quickly finished paying the deposit.
Hmph! Compete based on talismans?
Ge will let you see what is called competing on talismans!
Fantasizing about battling in all directions with such an extravagant troop, Zuo Mo was in both pain and ecstasy!
Liao Qi Chang naturally provided all the services for such a large order. He didn’t just agree to deliver the shipment to the island as quickly as possible, he had also agreed to provide a batch of materials for repairs free of charge. Talismans would be worn down and broken, but some slight damage could be repaired. Of course, if the damage was too great, then it would be scrap.
Everyone in Vermillion Bird Camp was excited. Each set was five hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi! As expected, they had to follow Daren to live good days! With their cultivation, in any normal place, they probably didn’t have to think about making five hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi without seven or eight years of work.
Everyone had admired the outfit of the Golden Armor Guards for a long time but no one had thought about owning a set. It was too expensive! In other places, only the personal bodyguards of those large personages could experience such grandiose treatment! But when they truly possessed such a set, many people felt as though they were dreaming! Even more people planned on passing this set of talismans to the next generation, even though none of them had descendants at this point!
Zuo Mo’s move caused everyone to be moved. The quality of a boss depended on how good he was to everyone! Look at Boss, he took out ninety percent of his own wealth to buy talismans for everyone!
They had never heard of a boss as good as this!
They were all xiuzhe that had survived in Little Mountain Jie, a place that was selfish, cunning and full of schemes. They saw the realities of the world clearer than everyone else, and could feel the warmth in Zuo Mo’s actions better than anyone else. To a boss that could take out ninety percent of his wealth to outfit his subordinates, no matter if it was to buy their hearts or any other goals, how many could actually do this? And, more to the point, he did not have to do this at all!
Following a boss like this, what more could they ask?
No one said words of gratefulness and thanks, but no matter how difficult the times were in the future, none of these people would abandon Zuo Mo.
———
“Old Xu, what do you feel today?”
On the return back, Liao Qi Chang suddenly asked Xu Zheng Wei.
“I feel I’ve lived half of my life for nothing,” Xu Zheng Wei said emotionally. “Today really broadened my visions!”
“Truthfully, I was also frightened today!” Liao Qi Chang grimaced, and said, “I had thought that I had seen the world before, didn’t think that I would be frightened today. Two thousand sets! This really is a headache!”
“What?” Xu Zheng Wei was shocked. “It is a good matter to have such a big order!”
“It is good! But I hadn’t expected him to demand so much. Now I need to spend effort to gather it all.” Liao Qi Chang said, “I had assumed that it would be pretty good if he wanted two or three hundred sets. This time, I would probably have to borrow inventory from other places!”
Xu Zheng Wei knew the abilities of his good friend and said with a smile, “Don’t be outrageous! This kind of problem isn’t something that a daren like you needs to be worried about. You have so many subordinates, what do you need to worry about?”
”Daren?” Liao Qi Chang grimaced again and said, “He’s a true daren! Young, and with such power, it really isn’t luck! To be able to do something like this, his breadth of chest and his generosity, this is the first I’ve seen it in my life! We cannot be enemies with this person!”
“The Tian Family have made a great adversary this time!” Xu Zheng Wei said emotionally. Although Shang Wei Ming could not find the information on the mastermind, but for people on Xu Zheng Wei’s level, even if he did not know every detail about what was happening below, he would know the general shape of events.
“The Tian Family have been too used to being proud these few years.”
Liao Qi Chang said this lightly and then stopped speaking. He was a businessperson, and he didn’t want to be drawn into these conflicts! He suddenly thought about what Zuo Mo had said before they left, that the business definitely had to be kept a secret. His heart shook!
At the start, he had felt that the other did not want to attract attention, but thinking about it now, it didn’t seem so simple!
This Boss Zuo wasn’t a simple person!
[i] The “Tumble” Cloud is also known as the Nimbus Cloud or the magical cloud that Sun Wu Kong rides in Journey to the West.
Translator Ramblings: So continuing on from the last chapter rambling, Gu Xiang Tian is dead but the one controlling the disk essentially shouted an empty threat and then ran away. The thing about the illusions on the disk is that while Zuo Mo was sucked in, he might have been able to force his way out through brute force. Sucking him in was to trap him so Gu Xiang Tian could deal the blow while Zuo Mo couldn’t run away.