Eight Great Mine Merchants

"You're coming with me?" Xun Hu spotted Yang Ning at the door early that morning.

He thought Yang Ning had risen early, never realizing that Yang Ning had not slept at all and had come over right after absorbing purple qi.

There were only twenty-four hours in a day, and spending eight of them sleeping was simply too wasteful.

The Black Tortoise Breath Concealment Technique could run without interruption for twenty-four hours. Yang Ning used the extra time to read, research, and study.

He had not forgotten that he still had a Supreme Dao Art waiting to be translated.

"Yes, the plan has changed!" Yang Ning said. "I need to go to the market and see what the materials actually look like."

"Perfect. I don't recognize that many materials either. With you there, we can avoid getting ripped off!" Xun Hu nodded. "Let's eat breakfast first, then I'll see if I can ask for leave!"

Sure enough, Xun Hu received an elite education. He even needed to ask for leave!

The Ascension Academy did not manage bookboys like him at all. They did not forbid them from going out, doing business, taking missions, or even care whether they attended class obediently.

Perhaps the Ascension Academy did not even care whether its bookboys lived or died.

From the outside, Xun Hu's classroom looked no different from Yang Ning's, but this was the Cultivation World, where spatial mustard-seed formations could be set up.

What sort of world lay beyond the door could not be seen from the entrance.

"I'm sorry!" Xun Hu came out of the classroom shortly afterward, his face full of dejection. "The teacher won't approve leave. How about this? I'll transfer four hundred thousand taels to you. Just buy whatever you need!"

"Huh?" Yang Ning froze. "That's four hundred thousand taels. Are you sure you want to give it to me?"

"What's the big deal?" Xun Hu casually patted Yang Ning on the shoulder. "Didn't my imperial father entrust you with tens of millions? I believe in you!"

Yang Ning was instantly moved beyond measure and nodded solemnly. "I'll use this money wisely!"

"Mm, I've transferred it to you. I'll head back to class, then!"

"Alright!"

Watching Xun Hu's back vanish through the classroom doors, Yang Ning thought, So they teach the art of controlling subordinates too. Xun Hu's acting is not much to speak of, though. He's relying entirely on genuine feeling!

His mood remained calm. Other than being a little curious about Xun Hu's classes, he had no further thoughts.

After all, he had already seen through Taiheng's true nature. There was no need to haggle over such trivial branches and leaves.

He glanced at his jade token. His original balance of fifty thousand had instantly swelled to four hundred and fifty thousand.

He just did not know what kind of purchasing power those taels of silver had in Seacloud City.

Yang Ning had barely left the academy when he saw that there was actually a commercial street right outside its gates. The street was packed with stalls pulling little carts, each with a large sign beside it listing its wares.

Sea fish were the most common, since Seacloud City stood by the sea.

There was also sea monster, fierce beast, and demon beast meat, pills for body tempering, and medicinal herbs.

There were mechanisms, magic artifacts, toys, clothing, books, and antiques that looked like relics from ancient ruins.

Yang Ning stopped before one stall. On its cart stood an enormous cage containing more than a dozen children who looked only seven or eight years old. Their skin was sallow, they were skin and bones, filthy all over, and their eyes were devoid of life.

"Oh, young master!" The owner's eyes immediately lit up when he saw Yang Ning stop. He hurriedly called out, "Want to buy some servants? They're all top-grade slaves, soul contracts included, five hundred taels each!"

"Are these Jiang Yun people?" Yang Ning asked.

"You have a discerning eye, young master!" The owner gave him a thumbs-up. "That's right, Jiang Yun people. Everyone knows Jiang Yun people are dexterous, clever, loyal, and reliable—the finest candidates for slaves. I had a hard time snatching these dozen or so myself."

Yang Ning frowned as if considering it.

"How about this? Buy ten children, and I'll throw in a girl for free!" Seeing that Yang Ning seemed tempted, the owner hurriedly added, "If you don't like these, I have more over there. I can take you to see them!"

Jiang Yun had once been a great nation southwest of Taiheng Sect territory, with tens of billions of people and considerable national strength.

But Jiang Yun had attempted to use the state to rule the sects, even demanding that they hand over their inherited cultivation techniques. The sects within Jiang Yun were powerless to resist, but Jiang Yun had forgotten that beyond its borders stood many great immortal sects, along with countless other sects!

Thus, with support from no one knew whom, the vast Jiang Yun collapsed overnight and fell into endless war.

By now, the Jiang Yun Nation had formed a standoff between two great sects—the Myriad Gods in the north and Great Luo in the south. The two sects constantly attacked each other, capturing the other side's population and selling them across the world.

The slave trade in the Taiheng Realm had never ceased, but nowhere else was as chaotic as Jiang Yun. With their sheer numbers, Jiang Yun people had become the most common commodity in the slave markets.

"Are these people reliable? Do they remember their old country?" Yang Ning asked. "I don't want to buy them only for them to betray me afterward!"

"At their age, what could they possibly remember?" The owner chuckled. "If you're worried, we also offer brainwashing services. It only costs five taels of silver a month, for one year. We guarantee that we'll train them into superior slaves devoted solely to their master!"

Yang Ning shook his head. "Forget it. I'm alone and unburdened, with no family to feed. I'd better not buy any."

"Hey, hey, don't go, young master! Brother? Big brother?" The slave trader tried his best to keep him, but Yang Ning still moved away with firm steps.

He had only wanted to learn more about this world. He had never truly intended to buy a slave.

He could not manage such matters. All he could do was his own small part and refuse to buy.

Without trade, there would be no harm.

Yang Ning stopped before a stall selling materials. Dozens of ores were laid out there, each with a label in front listing its name.

"Young master, looking for ore? These are all the finest ores, and our prices are the cheapest in all Seacloud!" The owner was a middle-aged man with a gentle smile. He pointed to a symbol on the sign beside him. "This is a Nangong Family business. Our reputation is guaranteed—we deceive neither the old nor the young!"

"The Nangong Family?" Yang Ning blinked. "What is the Nangong Family?"

"The Nangong Family is the foremost of Seacloud City's Eight Great Mine Merchant lineages!" the middle-aged man said proudly. "At your age, you must have only recently enrolled. Then let me tell you about it. Have you heard the poem Leaving Seacloud?"

Yang Ning shook his head. He had not.

"Nangong Luo Heng Ye, Huangfu Shan Chang Ming, deep autumn moonlight cold, lonely parasol tree shadows.

Returning geese fly southward, a lone lamp lights the journey, longing cannot be spoken, tears soak the feelings of the old garden."

The middle-aged man recited it in a rather melancholy tone, then said, "The poem's author, Nangong Yue, is the young master of our Nangong Family. The first ten characters in the poem are formed from the surnames of the Eight Great Mine Merchants!"

"Our Eight Great Mine Merchants have operated Seacloud City's mineral industry for hundreds of years. Whatever ore you need, we can find it!"

Yang Ning knew of a type of marketing: riding someone else's fame. For example, if no one recognized your emerging brand, you advertised an industry giant and slipped your own brand alongside it.

Customers would then think you stood on the same level as those major brands.

He did not know whether these Eight Great Mine Merchants truly had the strength, or whether one of them was merely borrowing another's fame.

But it did not matter. As long as they had ore, that was enough.

"This side is iron ore. This is black iron, one tael of silver per dan." The owner pointed at the ores before him. "Pyrite, three shi per tael of silver; White Iron Ore, two shi per tael of silver; and this, Cherry Red Iron, one shi for ten taels of silver!"

"How much is one shi?" Yang Ning asked.

"This much!" The owner pointed to a scale beside him, where one side held a huge bundle.

Yang Ning stepped onto it to get a feel for it. It was about fifty jin!

"One tael is five hundred grams. Converted to RMB, that's about 2,733 yuan. Iron ore imported from Australia is usually 700 yuan per ton. One tael of silver should buy four tons, yet here it can only buy fifty jin?"

And that was jin, not kilograms!

"This is a little expensive!" Yang Ning said. He compared it with iron ore data again and confirmed that black iron was magnetite, with seventy percent iron content. Pyrite should be limonite, with twenty-five percent iron content, while White Iron Ore should be siderite, with thirty to forty percent iron content.

If he ignored the prices and looked only at the ratios, the pricing was actually quite reasonable.

But Cherry Red Iron should be hematite, with forty to sixty percent iron content. Why was it so expensive?

"Ah, how is that expensive?" The owner patiently said. "You have to know that minerals are not easy to find. Once found, they are difficult to excavate, and transporting them here after digging them out is another troublesome matter. We truly don't make much!"

Yang Ning chuckled. As if I'd believe that nonsense.

He was not someone who merely ate for free. During his years as the Minister of Works, he had also learned about the mining costs in the Yue Kingdom.

Because manpower was needed for excavation, ore costs did indeed seem higher than on Earth.

But people on Earth needed wages, machines needed fuel, and equipment needed electricity.

This was a feudal dynasty, and they even had slaves. Three meals a day were not necessarily guaranteed, so what wages were they paying?

Thus, labor costs were practically zero.

As for transportation costs, there was even less to say. A storage pouch could hold thousands of tons at a time. Ride a flying bird-beast, and a round trip took only three to five days—faster than Earth's trains and ships. For every thousand kilometers, it consumed only five jin of feed. How could the cost possibly be high?

Yang Ning did not want to argue with him. He pointed at the Cherry Red Iron again and asked, "Why is this type of iron so expensive? It's actually ten times the price of black iron?"

"Oh, this iron can be refined into Crimson Flame Steel!" the owner said.

"Crimson Flame Steel?" Yang Ning asked. "Is that steel very formidable?"

"It's not particularly formidable!" the owner said casually. "The main thing is that it doesn't come from our Eight Great Families. It comes from a small lineage surnamed Bei. That lineage treats Crimson Flame Steel as some great treasure and even dreams of using it to control our Eight Great Families, so we decided to show them a little kindness and let them know who is truly the boss of this industry!"

"Oh, so that's how it is!" Yang Ning nodded, then asked, "But if I want to buy it, does it have to remain this expensive?"

"You can use something else first and come back in two months. The price of Cherry Red Iron will come down then!" the owner said.

"Why?" Yang Ning asked. "Will something major happen in these two months?"

"It's not really anything major!" The owner said with considerable pride. "We're simply teaching that small lineage a lesson. We placed a huge order for Crimson Flame Steel with them, to be delivered in two months, yet Cherry Red Iron had not risen in price when we placed the order. Now Cherry Red Iron costs more than Crimson Flame Steel. If they make it, they lose money; if they do not, they still have to pay. They are doomed not to survive. In two months, that lineage will be gone. Then not only will Cherry Red Iron become cheaper, we'll even have Crimson Flame Steel for sale here!"

"Hiss! Impressive!" Yang Ning gave him a thumbs-up. He understood what the owner meant. It was not that he lacked secrecy; he was deliberately showing off to demonstrate the strength of the Eight Great Families.

As for that small lineage surnamed Bei, they were nothing more than little figures that the Eight Great Families could knead and pinch at will.

But the owner did not know that after hearing this, Yang Ning would not worship them. Instead, he would empathize with that small lineage.

Because he had also considered selling materials to make money.

But now, the Bei Family had given him a vivid lesson: without strength, possessing a metal formula would only lead to being devoured by those great capitals until not even dregs remained!

"That's the Bei Family's stall over there!" The owner pointed at a fairly large cart in the corner. "You can buy from them too. To raise money for ore, they're selling their other ores at reduced prices. It's a good chance to grab a bargain."

"What kind of business sends its customers away?" Yang Ning asked.

"It's simple. If you buy my black iron, it's one tael per shi. But if you buy it from them, then they spend that money with us, it's equivalent to ten taels per shi!"