Trading Again

The weather had grown colder, autumn fading away as the winter chill swept across the entire north.

Linping City, Blue Star—Jingjiang No. 1 Villa.

On the basement level, Su Jie moved with blurring steps as he practiced a set of martial arts. Whenever his fists swung, faint tiger-and-leopard thunder seemed to rumble through his bones.

Bang!

Su Jie suddenly threw a punch, striking a hard wooden dummy.

The tremendous force sent the dummy flying several meters. Its chest cracked open again and again, as though battered by a heavy hammer. The spirit power and vital energy within Su Jie were also continuously sublimated through the tempering.

He squeezed his palm, drew a deep breath, and exhaled. A stream of white vapor shot several meters like an arrow before dispersing.

"My strength should be comparable to a water buffalo's by now, right?"

Su Jie made a rough guess. Without a precise instrument to measure his strength, all he knew was that an ordinary person would basically have no chance of surviving a full-power punch from him.

After a thorough workout, Su Jie muttered, "I spent seven days on it, but this Tiger Roar Fist I bought from the Black Market is pretty good. At least I have some close-combat ability now. It really wasn't easy!"

What Su Jie practiced was a body-tempering martial art from the Tianyuan World, mostly cultivated by martial arts experts among the common folk. Its potential was limited, and Su Jie had bought it for ten Blood Marrow Stones.

Most Gu Masters were not skilled at close combat, and the Hundred Poisons Gu Refining True Scripture he cultivated did not strengthen the body much either. Compared with the strange abilities of Gu insects and the like, close combat was Su Jie's weakest offensive method. He had been thinking of barely making up for this weakness.

Sizzle!

When the Thousand-Hand Centipede, which had grown another size larger, saw that Su Jie had finished training, it immediately crawled over and rubbed affectionately against his trouser leg, looking around curiously.

"Look, your master is working so hard. You need to put in some effort too. Hurry up and enter your second Spirit Refinement."

Su Jie tapped the Thousand-Hand Centipede on the head. This fellow had been eating and drinking well every day here on Blue Star, and its body had grown to a full one meter eighty.

Moreover, Su Jie could sense that the Thousand-Hand Centipede was about to transform again. It might take ten days, or it might take twenty. When the time came, it would undergo another explosive growth and become a low-grade second Spirit Refinement Gu insect.

The Thousand-Hand Centipede's two antennae kept poking at Su Jie's neck. Its hideous mouth gaped wide, and it was practically short of balancing an "I'm hungry, feed me" reaction image on its forehead.

"You finished eating that quickly? I had Old Chen transport eighty thousand scorpions over today."

Su Jie froze and turned to look. Sure enough, the scorpions in several breeding boxes had been eaten completely clean. Calculating each scorpion at roughly one yuan, this fellow had devoured eighty thousand yuan worth today—and still wasn't full.

"Wait a moment. I'll have someone send more food over."

Su Jie pushed the Thousand-Hand Centipede's head aside, picked up his phone, and called Chen Yaoguang.

"Old Chen, get a few workers ready and send another twenty thousand scorpions to the warehouse."

"Sure, I'll prepare them right away. But President Su, the scorpion stock at the breeding farm is running low. At this rate of consumption, we won't be able to keep up with the demand from your channels."

Chen Yaoguang's voice came through. The breeding farm's recent escape from danger had made him happy, but the excessive consumption and insufficient output had also begun giving him a headache.

"How many do we have left?"

Su Jie was not surprised. After all, he understood better than anyone how the Thousand-Hand Centipede's appetite was growing larger and larger.

"About two hundred and forty thousand scorpions remain. At your current rate of consumption, President Su, they'll only last two days."

"I see. Old Chen, I remember you said you'd been in the insect-breeding business for decades, right? Then you should know quite a few related breeding farms. Call them for me and purchase scorpions, spiders, centipedes, poisonous snakes, and other Poisonous Insects from them. Negotiate the prices yourself."

"President Su, I do know quite a few people. How much should we buy?"

"Buy without limit, up to ten million yuan. Once it exceeds ten million, report to me."

"Gasp, that much? Understood, boss."

Chen Yaoguang was stunned by Su Jie's generosity. Throwing out ten million yuan at a moment's notice to purchase poisonous animals and insects—he had no idea how enormous President Su's business really was.

After hanging up, Su Jie was no longer as calm and unhurried as he had sounded on the phone. He glanced at the bank balance displayed on his phone. After setting aside ten million yuan for Chen Yaoguang to purchase Poisonous Insects, Su Jie had only a mere one million yuan left that he could use.

One million yuan might sound like a lot, but facing the Thousand-Hand Centipede's ever-growing appetite, it was definitely not enough.

"I happen to have accumulated a batch of good timber. I'll find someone to sell it and bring some funds back in."

Fortunately, Su Jie had a stable way to make money. Otherwise, he truly could not afford to feed the Thousand-Hand Centipede's ever-growing appetite.

His finger slid across the contacts. Su Jie sent Chen Yaoguang a message, then walked out of the basement.

"President Su, the meal is ready."

A servant came over to remind him.

"Alright, I know."

Su Jie nodded. These days, at Jingjiang No. 1, he had hired quite a few servants, chefs, and gardeners to take care of the large house and provide himself with a comfortable life.

However, the basement level belonged exclusively to Su Jie. The Thousand-Hand Centipede was kept inside, and no one except Su Jie was allowed to enter.

After finishing his meal, Su Jie drove his BMW alone to the Nanqiao Logistics Center.

It was the same place, with the same staff. Liang Lianjun had once again brought a group of Cold Lily employees here.

After receiving Su Jie's call and hearing that this shipment was even more substantial, he had not dared to delay in the slightest. He had hurriedly driven over with his people.

After all, Su Jie had left an extremely deep impression on him last time. The top-grade timber worth more than sixty million yuan that Su Jie had sold to Cold Lily had been made into luxury furniture and received widespread acclaim. This made Liang Lianjun take Su Jie's current transaction even more seriously.

"Mr. Su, haha, long time no see. Thank you for coming to patronize our business again."

At the warehouse entrance, Liang Lianjun spotted Su Jie and hurried forward, warmly clasping his hand.

"Don't mention patronizing or not. Our last cooperation was so pleasant. Of course I thought of Cold Lily first when I got hold of some good raw materials this time!"

Su Jie returned his smile. He was always patient with these great benefactors who sent him money.

"Knowing Manager Liang was eager to inspect the goods, I'll skip the pleasantries. Come in and see the good stuff I prepared for you."

Su Jie pushed open the warehouse door and led the Cold Lily employees inside. Pointing at the dozens of rare trees piled in the center of the warehouse, he said, "Take a look. This is the big deal I mentioned."

"W-whoa!"

Following Su Jie's gaze, Liang Lianjun nearly dropped his jaw.

"Little-leaf rosewood? Incredible! So much top-grade little-leaf rosewood—and I can actually see it all at once!"

Liang Lianjun rushed over. Muttering to himself, he stroked one tree after another, each of which was at least several hundred years old and of exceptionally high quality.

In all his years in the timber industry, this was the first time he had seen so many rare timber materials stored together. The sight was simply too shocking.

"Manager Liang, don't just get excited. Come over and estimate the value of the goods first. Once you buy all this timber, you can go back to the company and look at it every day."

Su Jie chuckled from the side. The top-grade timber that seemed so precious to Liang Lianjun was merely ordinary trees found everywhere in the Tianyuan World.

The difference between the two worlds allowed Su Jie, this middleman, to effortlessly buy low and sell high.

"Right, right. Master, hurry and bring the tools over."

Liang Lianjun also realized that he had lost his composure and reined in his expression.

The sound of chainsaws cutting through wood rang out in the warehouse. Since Su Jie had prepared dozens of trees this time, judging their quality, weighing them, and calculating their value took much longer. It took nearly two full hours before the entire batch of trees had been assessed.