Chapter 483.1: Where Did He Come From? (1)

Li Banfeng was at Freewind Wharf, busy drawing a map of Vilefolk Hillock.

Wan Jinxian had witnessed him use A Parting Across Ten Thousand Miles, which meant that the old fellow knew he had reached the ninth level of Wanderlust Cultivation. This had been weighing on Li Banfeng's mind ever since, and there was only one way to put his worries to rest. He had to find Wan Jinxian and get rid of him.

Li Banfeng had sent Wan Jinxian to Ghostblade Ridge, which was currently located in Vilefolk Hillock.

In the past, the Sage's Neverending Peaks ability had made Vilefolk Hillock a nightmare to navigate. The entrance was hard to find and the exit could never be found. In Vilfolk Hillock, the directions also made no sense. The terrain overlapped in strange ways, making it easy to get hopelessly lost. That was why no one in Puluo Province had ever managed to draw a complete map of the place.

Now that the Sage was gone, the effects of his Neverending Peaks ability had vanished as well. Unfortunately, Vilefolk Hillock had become the territory of the Toilblade Ghosts, and ordinary folk wouldn't dare set foot inside. Getting a proper map of the place was now even less likely.

Fortunately, Li Banfeng had already visited every village in Vilefolk Hillock. With his Wanderlust Cultivator's natural gift for judging direction and distance, he soon had the basic outline of a map drawn up.

There were still a few details he needed to think over, but just then, Ma Wu burst through the door. "Old Qi, we have got a big business opportunity!"

"What sort of big business opportunity?"

Ma Wu had been so busy managing Qi Qiu City and Yellowclay Bridge lately that he wished he could split himself in two. Whatever had happened today, it must have been important to bring him rushing back to Freewind Wharf in such a hurry.

Ma Wu answered, "A merchant surnamed Chen came looking for me. He wants to do business with us! Old Qi, we are taking our business all the way to the Outer Provinces!"

Li Banfeng couldn't quite understand this whole business. He had heard that the Great Families did business with the Outer Provinces, but what business could the people from the Outer Provinces do with the people in Puluo Province?

Ma Wu explained, "In the Outer Provinces, they call cultivation 'dark energy,' and enchanted artifacts, spirit-bound items, and pills are known as 'dark energy vessels.' All the dark energy vessels they have over there are bought from us here in Puluo Province. That's exactly the sort of business this merchant surnamed Chen is in."

Li Banfeng frowned. "Isn't that the same as supplying the Outer Provinces with weapons?"

Ma Wu raised his eyebrows. "Old Qi, we are businessmen. That's not our concern, and there's nothing we can do about it anyway. Even if we refuse to sell to them, the other families will."

Li Banfeng put away his map. "I will call all the Great Families together tomorrow. Starting today, this trade must stop. Anyone who keeps doing this business with people from the Outer Provinces is making an enemy of me."

Ma Wu tried to talk Li Banfeng out of it. "Even if you stop the Great Families, it won't make much difference. The Border Control Office is still around, and they have their own ways of getting enchanted artifacts and pills. Sometimes they would even hire hunters to venture into the New Land."

Ma Wu had a point, but that only made the whole business seem even stranger.

"If the Border Control Office has its own ways of getting these things, why would they need some merchant surnamed Chen to do business with us? What's the point of bringing in a middleman who takes a cut from both sides? How does that benefit the Outer Provinces?"

Ma Wu explained, "Well, this merchant is a special case. He's not from Huan. He comes from the Amikan Kingdom. Huan has agreed to let him handle the trade with Puluo Province, and in return, the Amikan Kingdom will open up its own markets to Huan. It's an arrangement worked out after a lot of bargaining between the different parties."

Bargaining?

Very few people in Huan even knew Puluo Province existed. Before coming here himself, Li Banfeng hadn't had the faintest idea there was such a place.

Puluo Province, dark energy, and Dark Ability Users were among Huan's most closely guarded secrets. Would they really let a foreign merchant get involved in negotiations over something so sensitive?

The more Li Banfeng thought about it, the more this whole matter made no sense.

"Old Wu, I think this merchant with the surname Chen might be a scam."

Ma Wu nodded. "I suspect there's something fishy going on too, but he came with a letter from the Border Control Office, and the letter is genuine. I even checked with our inside man, and he confirmed that the deal is real. Old Qi, we are talking about a huge business opportunity here. We can't just let it slip through our fingers."

As Ma Wu spoke, he glanced around the room and signaled to Li Banfeng, silently asking whether there were any hooks listening in.

Li Banfeng shook his head. He had swept the room several times using Wifey's ability, so he was certain there weren't any hooks listening in.

Ma Wu lowered his voice. "You are from the Outer Provinces, so you know how things work over there better than I do. We will have to negotiate this deal together."

Li Banfeng supposed there was no harm in having a talk. He had no intention of going through with the deal, but he wanted to find out what this merchant Chen was really after.

Two days later, Ma Wu hosted a banquet at Freewind Wharf to specially welcome the merchant with the surname Chen.

Once everyone had arrived, Ma Wu made the introductions. "Old Qi, this is Mr. Dick Chen from the Amikan Kingdom."

Dick Chen looked like a typical East Asian man, and a rather young one at that. He was probably around twenty-five or twenty-six years old. He had delicate, almost too-perfect features that suggested he had likely gotten plastic surgery. A faint smile never seemed to leave his face, though there was something rather smug and mocking about it.

When introducing Li Banfeng, Ma Wu made a point of emphasizing his position. "This is the CEO of our Qi Qiu Corporation. He will have the final say in this business deal."

CEO? Li Banfeng glanced at Ma Wu, wondering when on earth he had gotten such a title.

Ma Wu came from a wealthy family. Although he had never been to the Outer Provinces for various reasons, he wasn't entirely unfamiliar with how things worked there. He was simply trying to communicate with Dick Chen in a way the man would understand.

Dick Chen looked at Li Banfeng and gave a slight nod, but showed no intention of shaking Li Banfeng's hand. That suited Li Banfeng just fine. He wasn't in the habit of shaking hands either. In fact, he didn't even bother nodding back. He simply stood there, watching Dick Chen in silence.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Ma Wu got straight down to business. "Mr. Chen, we have gone through the list of goods you requested and worked out a price quotation. Of course, if our cooperation goes smoothly, we would be happy to offer you some discounts."

Ma Wu was a businessman, but this wasn't how he usually conducted business. He had put a good deal of effort into learning how to deal with someone like Dick Chen.

Dick Chen glanced over Ma Wu's proposal and casually set it aside. That same faint, mocking smile remained on his face. "This is my first time visiting... visiting... what's this place called again?"

His secretary quietly reminded him, "It's called Puluo Province."

Mr. Chen's secretary was a rather attractive woman, with fair skin, full cheeks, and neatly cut hair that reached her ears. She wore rimless glasses, and only a third of her plump, rounded bottom rested on the chair. She had the sharp, capable air of a career woman, along with a cool, aloof beauty.

"Puluo... Province," Dick Chen repeated, struggling to get the words out. "What a mouthful! I think I will just call it Pu Province for short. Nobody minds, I hope?"

Hearing this, a muscle twitched in Ma Wu's cheek.

The last time they had met, Dick Chen had claimed he couldn't remember the name Puluo Province. Now, here he was saying exactly the same thing again. And as if forgetting the name weren't bad enough, he had gone and changed it himself!

The tip of the bookkeeper's pen trembled as he sat nearby. Even he was struggling to keep his temper.

Dick Chen, however, saw nothing wrong with what he had said. "I know Pu Province is a very isolated place, but I never thought it would be quite this backward. Mr. Ma, you have already laid out your prices. Were you hoping we could settle this entire deal in a single round of negotiations?"

That was exactly what Ma Wu had in mind, and there was nothing wrong with it. After all, Dick Chen had approached him about doing business in the first place, so naturally, this was how the negotiations should go.

Dick Chen, however, saw things differently. "We live in the age of information and data. I need to compare all sorts of information before I can decide whether you are worth doing business with."

Ma Wu asked, "If you don't think I am worth doing business with, why did you come to me in the first place?"

Dick Chen spread his hands. "Because there aren't many people to choose from in Pu Province. To be precise, there's not a single person here who knows the first thing about modern business practices. I had no choice but to pick someone who was a little less ignorant than the rest.

"Mr. Ma, if you really want to take your business to the next level and expand beyond this isolated little province, I suggest you get out and see more of the world. At the very least, you need to understand the basic concepts of data and information."

Ma Wu had only a vague idea of what "data" and "information" meant, and the same was true of everyone else in Puluo Province. Yet somehow, having only a vague understanding of these two concepts was enough to make Ma Wu seem inferior. Ma Wu was so furious that the veins on his forehead bulged, but he couldn't get a word out.

Li Banfeng wasn't angry. Instead, he asked Dick Chen, "How do you usually get your data and information?"

Dick Chen smiled. "Let's start with something simple. You have probably never even heard of the internet. That's where I get most of the information I need."

Li Banfeng said, "We have our own ways of getting information. We have newspapers."

Dick Chen shook his head. "That's terribly outdated! Newspapers are a relic of the last century. They should have been put in museums long ago. Besides, I have seen your newspapers, and they are full of exaggerated claims and unreliable information. You can hardly believe a word they say."

Li Banfeng nodded. "I will admit our newspapers aren't all that reliable. Out of ten stories, perhaps only three are true. But on this internet you are so proud of, you might not find a single true story out of a hundred. If that's where you get your information, what have you got to be so proud of?"

Dick Chen frowned slightly. "And what makes you say that? Have you ever even used the internet?"

Li Banfeng smiled. "Here in Puluo Province, not just anyone can get their words printed in the newspapers. But in the Outer Provinces, any fool can go on the internet and spout nonsense. So tell me, how reliable do you think the internet really is?"

Dick Chen shook his head. "You seem to have some basic understanding of the internet and the world wide web, but I must say, your way of thinking is astonishing! The fact that you would even compare newspapers to the internet shows just how old-fashioned and backward your thinking is. Now, I might sound a little blunt, but I mean no offense. I am simply expressing what I am really thinking.

"Mr. Li, the way I treat you people from Pu Province is a direct result of how backward and isolated this place is. That's an objective fact, not some personal prejudice on my part. Do you understand what I am saying?"

Li Banfeng shook his head. "Sorry, Mr. What's-Your-Name, I still don't understand what you are getting at."

Dick Chen frowned and said, "I have a name. Don't call me Mr. What's-Your-Name. The least you could do is show me some basic respect."

Li Banfeng looked perfectly serious. "And what was your name again?"

Dick Chen's cheek twitched, but he managed to keep that faint smile on his face. "My name is Dick Chen. I hope you'll remember it this time."

"So your surname is Dick?"

Dick Chen's cheek twitched again. "Mr. Li, perhaps you have never come across the languages of other countries, but in my language, we put our family names after our given names."

"Oh, so your surname is Chen?" Li Banfeng shook his head. "That's not a very good name. It's neither properly Chinese nor properly foreign. Just an awkward mishmash of the two. Since you are so keen on being a foreigner, why don't I give you a nice foreign name instead? How about Sucka Dick? You don't mind, do you?"

Dick Chen stopped smiling. "Sucka Dick" was an insult, and he knew it. "Mr. Li, I am not sure whether you said that on purpose or by accident."

"On purpose," Li Banfeng answered frankly. "I wasn't trying to offend you. I am deliberately humiliating you. Couldn't you tell, Sucker?"

Dick Chen clenched his fist, ready to slam it against the table.

Li Banfeng warned him, "If you slam your fist on that table and break it, I will cut your hand off."

Dick Chen clenched his fist even tighter.

Li Banfeng smiled. "And if you keep pointing that fist at me, I will cut your hand off for that too. I am not singling you out, and it's nothing personal. This is simply how we do things in Puluo Province. We are very direct in everything we do."

Dick Chen unclenched his fist, got to his feet, and left with his secretary.