Everything Except the Boss and the Shop Assistants

People said that when women were unhappy, a wild shopping spree could ease their gloom.

Actually, it worked for men too. And if they were spending someone else's money, it was even better for relieving stress.

"Ma Liang!"

"Here!" Ma Liang, the lucky general, jumped out from among the disciples.

"I'm going to buy a few things in Yu City. Find out which chamber of commerce is the biggest here now and have them come over. I'll need them to transport what I buy back to the Vast Heaven Sect."

"Huh? Senior Brother Xinghe, we have storage rings..." Ma Liang waved a hand, but Chu Xinghe shook his head.

Ma Liang didn't ask another word. He would simply do whatever Senior Brother Xinghe arranged.

Before long, Ma Liang found the city's largest chamber of commerce. Good grief... the biggest one here now was actually their own Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce...

The man who came was in his forties. When he saw Chu Xinghe, he bowed with utmost respect.

His name was Qin Xiangqian, and he was the western branch president of the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce. Out in the world, he was definitely a formidable figure.

Ordinarily, everyone in Yu City called him Master Qin when they saw him.

But today, Master Qin was the picture of deference when he met Chu Xinghe.

That was because Ma Liang had already told him in detail exactly who Chu Xinghe was.

He was the Grand Elder's personal disciple, the recipient of the Vermilion Bird Spirit Fire and the Medicine Saint Inheritance, and the master of the Haotian Sword Casket. The sect master had wanted to take him as a personal disciple, only for Senior Brother Xinghe to turn him down outright.

Yet not only had the sect master not been angry, he had also taught him Haotian Battle Intent and even given him the Haotian Token. Senior Brother Xinghe had also become the first disciple in the Vast Heaven Sect's history to misuse the Haotian Token and receive only three months of confinement. So Ma Liang told Qin Xiangqian to judge for himself what sort of person Senior Brother Haotian was.

Did he really need to fucking think about it? Qin Xiangqian hadn't become the western branch president just because he had a big belly!

Although Qin Xiangqian had started as an outer sect disciple, the Vast Heaven Sect arranged other work for its many outer disciples who failed to enter the inner sect after a certain number of years.

Joining the chamber of commerce was one such path.

Qin Xiangqian had worked his way up from an outer sect disciple to western branch president of the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce. It wasn't hard to imagine how adept he was at dealing with people from all sides.

So after hearing Ma Liang's introduction of Senior Brother Xinghe, Qin Xiangqian knew... there was absolutely nothing wrong with treating this man as though the Grand Elder himself had come. He wouldn't dare say for certain that this man would become the next master of the Vast Heaven Sect, but the position of master of the Spirit Crane Palace was surely his.

"Qin Xiangqian, western branch president of the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, greets Senior Brother Xinghe!"

Qin Xiangqian addressed him that way the moment he spoke, though there was nothing wrong with it. No matter how imposing Qin Xiangqian was, he was only an outer sect disciple. It was perfectly appropriate for him to call a personal disciple like Chu Xinghe "senior brother."

"President Qin, I really can't accept being called senior brother." Chu Xinghe was at a loss as he looked at Qin Xiangqian, whose hair was already starting to turn white.

"Senior Brother Xinghe, you jest. You're from the inner sect, and I'm from the outer sect. Outer disciples are required by Vast Heaven Sect rules to call inner disciples senior brother. Though I, Qin Xiangqian, don't often visit the sect, I've never dared forget its rules." Ma Liang nodded at his words.

Chu Xinghe was helpless, but he had no intention of pursuing the matter. Instead, he went straight to what he had planned for the day.

"President Qin, I'm planning to buy a few things in Yu City... well... gifts to take back for my fellow disciples and the elders."

"Huh? How many gifts? I can help you choose."

"One for everyone, including the outer sect!"

Qin Xiangqian: "???"

This time, Qin Xiangqian was truly shocked. One for everyone?

How many people were in the Vast Heaven Sect? The inner sect alone had eighteen palaces, and with Haotian Palace, that made nineteen. The more populous palaces had tens of thousands of people, while the smaller ones had several thousand, nearly ten thousand.

By that reckoning, the total number of inner disciples alone was an unimaginably huge figure.

It was no exaggeration to say that in the Haotian Mountain Range, where the world's foremost sect was located, every peak and every palace was like a city.

A gift for everyone, including the outer disciples? Honestly, Qin Xiangqian couldn't even work out the cost in his head.

"It's all right... we'll use blind boxes. We'll buy plenty, and everyone can pick one when the time comes. Whatever they get is what they get." Seeing the bewildered look on Qin Xiangqian's face, Chu Xinghe explained his plan.

Blind boxes? Qin Xiangqian didn't understand, so Chu Xinghe explained.

They would mix up all the gifts, then put them in boxes of different sizes but identical appearance. Everyone would choose for themselves, and whatever they picked would be theirs.

The unusual way of giving gifts left Qin Xiangqian stunned. He had thought Chu Xinghe meant to bring back a few valuable gifts for the sect master and the elders, but he had never imagined...

Ma Liang was shocked too. No wonder Senior Brother Xinghe wasn't using a storage ring. With that many things, a storage ring couldn't possibly hold them all.

Although Qin Xiangqian didn't understand why Chu Xinghe was doing this, he immediately had people prepare the boxes Chu Xinghe had described.

Qin Xiangqian himself followed Chu Xinghe as he began shopping in Yu City.

He brought Chu Xinghe to the city's largest shopping street, in its biggest trading district.

But a few minutes later, Qin Xiangqian saw for himself what Xinghe-style shopping meant!

"This shop looks good. I'll take it..."

"Take it? Take what?"

"Everything except the boss and the shop assistants!"

"Huh? All... all right..."

"This shop's good too. It's all gold and silver jewelry. I'll take it all!"

"This jewelry shop will do too. I'll take it all!"

"The clothes here... never mind the clothes. Buy all the accessories!"

Other people bought things by the piece. Chu Xinghe bought them by the shop!

In no time at all, the whole shopping street was in an uproar.

A super-rich man had come to Yu City. He didn't pick out individual items at all; he bought an entire shop's stock at a time!

He swept all the way down the shopping street. Apart from a handful of shops that failed to catch his eye, Chu Xinghe cleared out practically every bit of merchandise he could.

None of the shopkeepers stayed inside their shops today. Every one of them stood outside to welcome him. They had seen rich people before, but this was their first time seeing someone this rich.

Qin Xiangqian was sweating with embarrassment too. In the Vast Heaven Sect, if you asked which palace was the best at fighting, none would concede to another.

But if you asked which was the richest, and the Spirit Crane Palace claimed to be second, the other palaces would certainly curse it for being shameless.

But just how rich was the Spirit Crane Palace? Today, Qin Xiangqian had seen it.

Because Chu Xinghe said all of this was paid for with the pocket money his senior brothers had given him...

Just listen to that... pocket money... could your family's pocket money buy out one street and then another?

If there had been any need, Qin Xiangqian suspected Chu Xinghe could have bought all of Yu City and carted it away.

The shopping continued until evening. Chu Xinghe bought out seven districts of Yu City in succession, and everyone in the city was talking about the super-rich man sweeping through it.

That night, they didn't return to the Vast Heaven Sect. The people at the teleportation array still needed to make preparations, so everyone stayed in Yu City.

This time, though, they didn't choose Fan House. With Qin Xiangqian and the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce both here, how could they let their own people stay elsewhere?

Qin Xiangqian arranged for everyone to rest at the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce's western branch.

After dinner, Qin Xiangqian accompanied Chu Xinghe on a stroll around the chamber of commerce, but they had only taken a few steps when a subordinate came to report.

"Whatever it is, speak. Senior Brother Xinghe is one of our Vast Heaven Sect!" Qin Xiangqian said directly when he saw the subordinate hemming and hawing.

The subordinate hurriedly bowed to Chu Xinghe, then told them what had happened.

"President, Jia Gui from Listening Snow Tower is here again!"

"Didn't I tell him to leave? Why has he come back?" Qin Xiangqian was furious. Glancing at the puzzled Chu Xinghe beside him, he hurriedly explained, "There's something you don't know, Senior Brother Xinghe."

"Our western branch is closest to Spirit Vein Mountain. Cross the Fish Scale Mountain Range and you reach it, so the western branch is also responsible for mining raw spirit stone ore."

"A major deposit was found recently, and several chambers of commerce, ours included, bought a huge quantity of raw stones from it. Once this batch is transported from Spirit Vein Mountain to the Shi Clan in the eastern region, we can turn it around for ten times the profit!"

The Shi Clan Qin Xiangqian spoke of was one of the three great clans under heaven, and ranked even above the Huang Clan.

The Shi Clan had built its fortune on spirit stones. The saying that the world's spirit stones came from the Shi Clan was no empty boast.

For years, the Shi Clan had purchased large quantities of raw spirit stones from all sides, then used its special methods to extract the spirit stones from the raw stones. After a Shi Clan elder examined the major deposit discovered on Spirit Vein Mountain, it turned out to be a massive deposit capable of producing high-grade spirit stones. Buyers from all sides had rushed to snap it up. Once the raw stones were transported from Spirit Vein Mountain to the Shi Clan, and the clan used its methods to extract the spirit stones, the profit would be at least tenfold.

Listening Snow Tower, where Jia Gui came from, was also one of the ten great sects. It had received the news too late and hadn't managed to buy any raw stones at all. Jia Gui had been begging everyone he could for help. Knowing that the Vast Heaven Sect had bought the most raw stones, he was willing to buy the spirit stones in its hands for five times the price of the raw stones.

How could Qin Xiangqian agree to that?

We've already bought the raw stones. As soon as we take them to the Shi Clan and open them up, we'll make ten times the profit. And now you fucking want to buy them for only five times the price? Do you take us for fools?

Wouldn't that make the Vast Heaven Sect take a loss?!

Qin Xiangqian finished his explanation to Chu Xinghe in great agitation.

But when Chu Xinghe heard the words "take a loss," his eyes lit up!

They could have made ten times the profit, but if they sold at five times the price now, wouldn't that mean the Vast Heaven Sect had effectively lost five times the price?

That was arithmetic he could do!

"President Qin, take me to see the raw stones!" Chu Xinghe said. Naturally, Qin Xiangqian had nothing more to say and led him to the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce's underground warehouse.

Soon, in the warehouse, Chu Xinghe saw the raw stones piled up like mountains...

Good grief, so many raw stones, and at ten times the price... Chu Xinghe's eyes lit up.

"Senior Brother Xinghe, once this deal is done, our western branch will surely rank first among the four branches this year! These raw stones are enough to supply the Vast Heaven Sect for a whole year!"

Qin Xiangqian's eyes were red, and so were Chu Xinghe's!

A year's supply of spirit stones for the Vast Heaven Sect! That was an astronomical figure he certainly couldn't calculate!

In that instant, Chu Xinghe made up his mind!

"Sell the raw stones to Jia Gui!"

"Huh?" Qin Xiangqian stared at Chu Xinghe in bewilderment.