Chapter 344 - 335: "One Billion" Life Sign, Su Lingyi

Chapter 344: Chapter 335: "One Billion" Life Sign, Su Lingyi

"From the sound of it, you haven’t had it easy either."

Fu Juemin said slowly.

"But things will be much easier now that I have you, Young Master Ling."

Shen Yijun’s business instincts kicked in, and he offered a bit of flattery with a sycophantic smile.

Fu Juemin ignored his remark, casually picking up the gift box Shen Yijun had just brought and opening it nonchalantly.

Inside the box, which was lined with red satin, lay five sticks of black incense.

Each was about a finger’s length, completely black, and looked plain, even a bit shabby.

"What’s this?"

Fu Juemin picked one up, twirling it between his fingers and examining it.

Seeing Fu Juemin open his gift, Shen Yijun’s spirits lifted. He quickly sat up straight and explained, "Soul Fragrance."

"This is a true rarity. Even the nobles of the Lower Five Banners can’t afford it. A single stick is worth at least two Hundred People Pills."

"Light one up and take a puff, you’ll see. It’s an ecstatic feeling, so good it feels like your soul is about to fly out of your head..."

"Another one of the Nine Banners’ concoctions?"

Fu Juemin tossed the Black Incense back into the box, his tone cold.

Shen Yijun, however, shook his head. "This is where you’re mistaken. Soul Fragrance is a specialty of the Dark River. Even the Nine Banners covet its refinement method, but they can’t replicate it."

"So you know about the Dark River."

Fu Juemin’s eyes flickered. "Who exactly is in control of the Dark River?"

"I don’t know."

Shen Yijun hesitated for a moment before saying, "I only know that the master of the Dark River seems to have a very powerful background, with intersecting interests across all the major powers."

"You know of the Black Tower, right? It’s said the master of the Dark River is the Black Tower Lord, and the Black Tower has sixteen Vice Tower Masters in total."

"And the Black Tower is just one small branch of the Dark River’s power..."

Shen Yijun glanced cautiously at Fu Juemin’s expression and said in a low voice, "It would be great if I could get in on the Dark River’s business, too."

"For now, you can only do business with me."

Fu Juemin shot him a glance, finally steering the conversation to the main topic.

He placed his hands lightly on the armrests of the main seat. Looking down from his elevated position, his tone was calm, yet it carried an undeniable pressure. "I have five Demon Corpses. I need you to trade them for equipment and firearms."

"You know the quality I’m looking for. If you try to pass off inferior goods as high-quality ones, then there will be nothing left between us..."

As Fu Juemin spoke, Shen Yijun had already risen from his chair. He stood respectfully with his hands at his sides, listening intently to every word and nodding continuously.

Fu Juemin continued, "I don’t care where you sell these five Demon Corpses, but they cannot end up in Yingjing."

"Also, I’ve had some of the more valuable parts of the Demon Corpses marked. I want you to find a way to have them crafted into armor or weapons."

"Your Jiangnan Shen Family is a massive enterprise with business all over the world. You must have plenty of master craftsmen under your employ."

"That shouldn’t be a problem, right?"

Back on the Luan River, his second uncle, Fu Guoping, had used the skin of a Black-Scaled Snake Demon to make him a pair of gloves and a bulletproof vest.

Now that Fu Juemin’s Martial Arts and Demon Body had matured, ordinary demon-based armor and weapons were of little use to him.

But even if he couldn’t use them, his subordinates could—it was another way to quickly boost the combat strength of his people.

Only Shen Yijun himself knew the immense weight of Fu Juemin’s seemingly casual words.

However, after a flicker of expressions crossed his face, Shen Yijun said nothing and simply nodded in agreement.

Fu Juemin was quite satisfied with his attitude.

"Take as much of the profit as you want."

"If you handle this well, I can give you the business of the Nine Banner Races under my command..."

Fu Juemin rose from the main seat and, while speaking, slowly paced over to the Profound Wood Long Table at the side. "Do you remember the question I asked you back in Shenghai?"

"You still haven’t answered me."

"Huh?"

Shen Yijun looked up at the sound of his voice, a blank expression on his face.

Fu Juemin said deliberately, "I asked you about that ’five hundred million’ fortune-bringing Life Sign your mother got for you at the Guanyin Temple. How many hundred million have you earned so far?"

Shen Yijun looked embarrassed but still answered honestly, "Over the years, with the cash flow from all the Shen Family’s businesses, big and small, passing through my hands... it’s been like a river of money."

"A rough estimate would put it close to five hundred million..."

"No wonder your luck suddenly took a downturn. Turns out you’ve almost ’earned’ the full five hundred million from your Life Sign..."

Fu Juemin sighed softly, picked up a sheet of decorative paper from the table without looking up, and asked casually, "To compete for the position of head of the Jiangnan financial magnates, how much money do you need to earn for the Shen Family?"

Shen Yijun bit his lip and said in a low voice, "If I could land a tangible deal worth at least one hundred million silver coins..."

"That position would be mine for the taking!"

Fu Juemin looked up, gave Shen Yijun a slight smile, and casually tossed the paper in his hand toward him.

The dark paper flew like a black arrow, landing squarely in Shen Yijun’s hands.

Shen Yijun looked down and saw two words written on the paper in dazzling gold powder, with forceful, elegant strokes—"One Billion"!

"From now on..."

Fu Juemin looked at Shen Yijun and said calmly, "You will use this ’Life Sign’ that I have approved for you."

Shen Yijun’s body trembled slightly.

After a moment, he carefully tucked the "One Billion" Life Sign into his coat and said respectfully, word by word, "Yijun... thanks Young Master Ling."

...

It was called a business discussion, but in reality, it was just Fu Juemin talking and Shen Yijun listening.

Excluding the digressions, it only took a few minutes to lay everything out.

Times had changed. The same Shen Yijun who used to sling his arm around Fu Juemin’s shoulders in Shenghai and call him "Lingjun" now didn’t even dare to remain seated in his presence.

After seeing Shen Yijun off, Fu Juemin sat alone in the room, lost in thought.

’I want to start building my own power base, and Shen Yijun would be a good tool for that.’

’The man was once the face of the younger generation of the Jiangnan Shen Family. His abilities in various aspects should not be underestimated. He’s just down on his luck at the moment.’

’With his help, I can save myself a lot of trouble.’

’But businessmen chase profit. Shen Yijun might not be completely reliable. It’d be best to find a way to keep him firmly in my grasp.’

After thinking for a while, Fu Juemin prepared to leave as well.

This top-tier private room on the eighth floor of the Moon Embracing Tower was reserved for Prince Profound Banner, Helu. Fu Juemin couldn’t be bothered with such details; he had used Helu’s Prince’s Decree to forcibly "borrow" it.

’It wouldn’t matter if Helu found out. The Wuchen Grand Competition is about to start, so he wouldn’t dare to turn against me right now anyway.’

Stepping out of the room, he saw Ning Yu waiting by the stairs. Upon seeing Fu Juemin, Ning Yu quickly came forward to greet him respectfully.

When Fu Juemin subdued the Lower Five Banners and the Nine Families, Mu Tingzhou received a great deal of his "appreciation" and was often praised. Of course, that was mainly because the kid was a bit of a loose cannon—bold and willing to risk it all.

Ning Yu had always felt he was on a different level than someone like Mu Tingzhou, but under Fu Juemin, his spotlight had been completely stolen by Mu Tingzhou.

Mu Tingzhou was a real piece of work, too. Every time he got some recognition in front of everyone, he would deliberately drag Ning Yu into it for a put-down, leaving Ning Yu filled with frustration and resentment he couldn’t vent.

’This time, he’s earned some merit with his recommendation, a chance to finally hold his head high. When he meets Mu Tingzhou again, there’s bound to be a good show.’

Fu Juemin led Ning Yu down to the seventh floor when someone suddenly called out from behind him.

"Hey!"

The voice was clear and melodious, but held a hint of rudeness.

Fu Juemin turned to see a beautiful, fair-skinned girl standing gracefully on the eighth-floor landing, looking at him.

"You..."

Hearing her shout, Ning Yu instinctively stepped forward to question her.

But in the next second, he abruptly remembered where they were—the eighth floor of the Moon Embracing Tower!

The word had barely left his lips before his face paled and he retreated sheepishly.

The girl, however, paid him no mind at all. She trotted down the stairs—TAP, TAP, TAP—and stopped right in front of Fu Juemin.

"Who are you calling ’hey’?"

The girl was a full head shorter than him. Fu Juemin looked down at her with a calm expression.

"I was calling you, of course."

The girl was dressed in a lotus-pink dress, and a faint, fresh lotus fragrance seemed to linger around her.

Standing in the warm glow of a palace lantern, her skin was dazzlingly white, so beautiful she looked as if she had just stepped out of a classical painting of court ladies.

The girl was, of course, none other than the one who had poured tea and brought snacks for Fu Juemin outside Panxiang Temple—the Commandery Princess Panxiang!

As they were speaking, Zhong Yin, the Martial Artist who had once crossed swords with Fu Juemin, also emerged from the eighth-floor landing, a complicated expression on his face as he trailed behind her.

....