Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The corners of Su Yu’s mouth twitched. He had picked a store that had never made any profits and would soon be shut down. He really had bad luck!
“If you had come in two months, then you may have had another choice, but since you have come now, there is nothing to be done about it. Other outer sanctum disciples came here to gain merit points, but for someone like you, who chose the worst shop, you will probably end up following the steps of the past shopkeepers and lose all of your merit points.” The middle-aged guard was quite warm-hearted, and he really felt sorry for Su Yu.
“Senior, many thanks for your guidance. However, since I am already here, then I will just do my best,” Su Yu said.
The middle-aged guard laughed. “It’s good that you have that attitude. Your identity badge has already been examined, so you can come with me to meet the Deputy General Manager.”
He then led Su Yu into the hall of an eight-story building, which was the Deputy General Manager’s official workplace. Su Yu had assumed that this building would be empty and that he would meet the Deputy General Manager easily.
He didn’t expect that it would be filled with a large number of people of varied ages, who were sitting in it calmly. All of these people were wearing expensive clothes, and they didn’t seem like ordinary people.
“Those are all shopkeepers, who are waiting for the Deputy General Manager to receive them. You should look for a place to sit here, then wait patiently,” the middle-aged guard said.
Su Yu nodded. There were several places in the hall that were empty, so Su Yu walked towards them. However, the middle-aged guard stopped Su Yu hurriedly.
He then said, “Don’t go there. Those places are reserved for the three high-grade stores’ shopkeepers. Didn’t you notice that no one dared to go over there? A shopkeeper of a low-grade store, like you, better not have any conflicts with them. Otherwise, they will make it difficult for you to make a living in Tianya City.”
Su Yu knew that Tianya City’s stores were divided into high, middle, and low grades and were classed according to their monthly profits. Stores that had monthly profits that ranged between 300,000 and one million were middle-grade stores, and as for those with profits higher than one million, they were considered high-grade stores.
Any stores with a profit less than 300,000 were all low-grade stores. Su Yu had received a store that was at the bottom of all of the low-grade stores.
“The three shopkeepers are in charge of the demonic beast materials store, a restaurant, and an elixir store. Each one of them has the most prosperous store in his industry, and they all have the right to initiate a meeting at any time.”
Su Yu’s eyes flickered as he spoke, “Are we obliged to obey all of their orders?”
The middle-aged guard said, “If you don’t want any trouble, then you should accept all of their orders, as long as they aren’t outrageous.”
“Then, what would happen if I refused to obey them?” Su Yu asked.
The middle-aged guard surveyed his surroundings before he replied, “They have a broad network of people, and just a word from them could prevent all of the elixir merchants from selling any elixirs to you. Similar matters have happened many times in the past, so you shouldn’t offend them.”
“Many thanks senior. I know what should I do now.” Su Yu nodded, then looked for another place to sit and wait quietly.
Creak!
At this moment, the door of the side hall opened and three people came out of it. They were two men and a woman, who were all middle-aged and walked in a grand manner. All of the middle-grade shopkeepers looked at them at the same time, without daring to show any disrespectful expressions on their faces.
At that moment, a low voice rang out near Su Yu’s ear, “Those are the three great shopkeepers. They talked with the Deputy General Manager for such a long time, so they must have been discussing some important affairs.”
“That’s most likely the case, as according to the rules, it’s once again time for the Desolate Ancient Vicious Forest’s sacrifice, and the Deputy General Manager should be worried about whether they will end up losing some profits. After all, according to the rules, we must give a part of our industries in Tianya City to the central prefecture’s people,” another shopkeeper commented.
“You don’t need to speculate about anything, as that’s surely the case. This is because the central prefecture won a part of our industries during the past Desolate Ancient Vicious Forest’s sacrifices. It then used those industries to expand and strengthen itself, while our Red Blood Palace was greatly affected by our losses, and our elixir industries were suppressed by them heavily. This resulted in the profits of many elixir stores plummeting!” yet another shopkeeper chimed in.
“The monthly profit of the greatest one, the Heavenly Fragrance Elixir Store, went down by thirty percent, almost falling down to the middle-grade store ranks! Take a look at how unsightly the Heavenly Fragrance Elixir Store’s shopkeeper’s expression is! He must surely have been berated by the Deputy General Manager just now,” someone else surmised.
“Hehe, even a person like Shopkeeper Fei is having such a bad day! He is usually the one stirring up trouble and hindering all of the other elixir stores. In fact, many middle-grade elixir stores, which had hopes of becoming high-grade stores, were all stopped by him! But now, he almost got kicked out of the high-grade stores’ ranks! It’s really disgraceful!” another shopkeeper exclaimed.
“Don’t laugh at him, as with his bad temper, there is a great chance that he will start an elixir stores meeting and rob other elixir stores to make up for his losses. In this way, he will be able to keep his store at the high-grade store level,” one shopkeeper warned.
When Su Yu heard them discussing these things, he followed their gazes and looked at the middle-aged man, who was walking behind the other two. The expressions on all three of the shopkeepers’ faces were unsightly, but his was the worst. In fact, it was downright gloomy.
Su Yu furrowed his brows. It seemed like he had come here at a bad time.
After the three shopkeepers left, the other shopkeepers entered the side hall to meet with the Deputy General Manager. It was only after half a day had passed that Su Yu finally got his turn.
After Su Yu entered the side hall, he saw an aged old man, who was reading an old, worn book. He was concentrating quite hard on it, and he furrowed his brows and wore a pensive look. He was so engrossed in the book that he didn’t even notice Su Yu’s arrival.
Su Yu took a look at the old book’s cover and saw several strange letters on it. He didn’t disturb the old man, but just waited quietly. Even after several minutes passed, the Deputy General Manager was still furrowing his brows, while pondering over something intensely. It seemed like he was puzzled by something that he was incapable of understanding.
Su Yu felt like continuing to wait for much longer here wasn’t an acceptable solution, so he finally said, “I’m an outer sanctum disciple, Su Yuxian, and I’m sorry for disturbing you while you are studying the Wood Clan’s Mysterious Spirit Nine Transformations Canon.”
The Deputy General Manager was quite displeased at being interrupted, and he let go of the book and looked at Su Yu coldly. Then, he suddenly realized something and his eyes lit up.
He quickly asked, “Can you please repeat what you just said?”
Su Yu replied calmly, “Deputy General Manager, I said that you are reading the Wood Clan’s Mysterious Spirit Nine Transformations Canon.”
Swoosh!
The Deputy General Manager stood up suddenly and asked in amazement, “Do you know the Wood Clan’s language?”
Su Yu replied calmly, without being intimidated by him, “When I was young, I found a torn book in a cave, and there were some of the Wood Clan’s characters recorded in it. That was how I got some knowledge about it.”
This was obviously just a made up story, as Su Yu had studied the Wood Clan’s language that was present in Yun Yazi’s research. The Wood Clan was a powerful species of Spirit Wood, and such clan members possessed an unborn Plant Spirit Body and had high intelligences. They also made their own language, which was the Wood Clan’s language.
The Deputy General Manager passed by the table and sized up Su Yu, while clicking his tongue in wonder. “My Red Blood Palace unexpectedly has a junior who knows the Wood Clan’s language. I really didn’t expect this!”
“How many characters do you know?” The Deputy General Manager then asked Su Yu curiously.
Su Yu replied modestly, “I have a basic knowledge of several of them.”
The Deputy General Manager’s eyes flickered slightly. “Fine, then do you know what this sentence means?”
He immediately opened the Mysterious Spirit Nine Transformations Canon and pointed to a sentence on one of its pages. Su Yu took a look at it and replied instantly, “Taking its essence and revealing heavenly essence’s mysterious image… And scattering the blue mist…”
“Stop there.” Shock appeared in the Deputy General Manager’s eyes as he examined Su Yu as if he was sizing up a precious treasure.
His eyes became full of expectation as he flipped over to another page and asked, “And… What about this sentence?”
Su Yu spoke calmly after he took a look at it, “The blue silkworm came out of its cocoon and turned into a butterfly. It was reborn after shedding its mortal shell, and then it turned into a fairy. Horned snakes turned into flood dragons…”
“Enough!” The Deputy General Manager closed the canon excitedly, while his face became filled with excitement as he looked at Su Yu with a shining gaze. He examined Su Yu for a long while before he laughed heartily and said, “Hahaha, I really didn’t expect that the Wood Clan’s language expert I’ve been looking for was unexpectedly in the Red Blood Palace!”
It seemed like he was in a good mood now.
“What’s your name?” the Deputy General Manager came over to him and asked him enthusiastically.
Su Yu cupped his fists at him and replied, “I’m an outer sanctum disciple. My name is Su Yuxian. Greetings, Deputy General Manager.”
“Su Yuxian…” the Deputy General Manager muttered his name, but didn’t have any impression of it. “Fine, since you are proficient in the Wood Clan’s language, then you fit my standards. I have a great affair that you must participate in.”
Su Yu furrowed his brows and wondered… Will it be some troublesome matter?
“Haha, be at ease, as this matter is related to our Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands’ profits in Tianya City’s partition. In fact, billions of crystals are at stake! Since you are proficient in the Wood Clan’s language, then you will have an extremely important role, and once you have made a great contribution, you will get benefits that will surpass your expectations!” the Deputy General Manager explained.
Su Yu was quiet for a moment. He then decided that, if what he was saying was true, he didn’t really need to reject him. So, Su Yu responded, “Since it’s an affair of the Red Blood Palace, then I will surely do my best.”
The Deputy General Manager was quite delighted to hear this. “There has been so much bad news in the past few days, so it is good that there is finally something delightful to be excited about!”
He then asked, “What did you say just a moment ago? Did you come here to take the Tonglin Store’s mission? If so, you can stay in Tianya City for just this month first, then I will take you to that place after a month to showcase your skills.”
The Deputy General Manager took the broken wooden fish in Su Yu’s hand before throwing two badges from his sleeves. One of them had ‘Tonglin Store’ written on it, and it was his certificate as its shopkeeper, while the other had ‘General Manager’ written on it, and that badge was emitting an ice-cold aura.
“Deputy General Manager, what is this?” Su Yu was referring to the badge that had “General Manager” on it.
The Deputy General Manager chuckled. “It’s the Deputy General Manager’s identity badge. If you have any troubles in Tianya City, then you just need to show this badge to Tianya City’s industry people, and they will all obey your orders.”
He then added, “This badge is just a precaution to protect you from any dangers. It’s only to be used to ensure your safety, so you shouldn’t use it at will or bother our industries’ people with it.”
Su Yu was delighted, as he could take care of any matters quite easily with this badge in his hands!
