Volume One: Days in the Shantytown - A Small Fortune (Part One)

After six days of work, Luo Qian and Du Lengning had refined three jin of Cloud Ying Rice into ten reddish-yellow Medicinal Pills, and three jin of Azure Sea Millet into ten sea-blue Medicinal Pills. Du Lengning took them to Du Bo'an for appraisal. The reddish-yellow pills were still high-grade Spirit Pills, but their effects were nearly twice as strong as the pills made with Jade Ying Rice. The sea-blue pills had reached the level of low-grade Treasure Pills.

Du Lengning was overjoyed. Investing in this venture had been the right choice.

In his Toad Mountain Cave Abode, Luo Qian carefully used his immortal power to carve a flat Jade Casket. He hollowed out ten recesses inside and placed the ten Red Pupil Pills in them one by one. The two of them had settled on names: the blue-green pills made with Jade Ying Rice were Jade Luo Pills, the reddish-yellow Medicinal Pills made with Cloud Ying Rice were Red Pupil Pills, and the water-blue Medicinal Pills made with Azure Sea Millet were Jade Water Pills.

"What are you doing?" Du Lengning asked in confusion. "Aren't we just taking them to Xiao Xiangzi so he'll make us more Power Generators? Why are you making such a production of it? I thought you never liked the guy." Luo Qian said, "It's because I don't like him that I'm packaging them this way. Packaging—do you understand? It's important in the Lower Realm. The cost of packaging gets factored into the cost of a product. Take those cigars. If they didn't come in crystal boxes and silver tubes, how would you know they were expensive?"

Du Lengning knew nothing about such matters. He could only listen to Luo Qian hold forth and nod blankly. "...So what we need to smuggle isn't just products from the Lower Realm, but ideas from the Lower Realm too!" Luo Qian gave the Jade Casket in his hand a little shake, then opened it before Du Lengning. The ten Red Pupil Pills sat in two neat rows inside. As the lid opened, a faint mist seemed to rise from them. They certainly looked different.

Du Lengning said admiringly, "Not bad, Old Luo. You really have a knack for this!"

The two returned to Xiao Xiangzi's residence at Clearwater Cliff and presented the case. Xiao Xiangzi's expression changed at once. "These are high-grade Spirit Pills—and they look close to Treasure Pill quality. How could I accept such a valuable gift?" He said he could not accept it, but made no move to hand the case back. Luo Qian smiled to himself. He had guessed right: Xiao Xiangzi knew perfectly well that these ten Spirit Pills were valuable enough to save ten of his failed crafting attempts.

"Don't stand on ceremony, Brother Xiao. Now that we've brought them out, how could we take them back?" Du Lengning pressed the case on him and "forced" him to accept it.

After accepting their gift, Xiao Xiangzi's attitude improved considerably. His sour face vanished, and he asked pleasantly, "What brings you two here this time?" Du Lengning said, "The same thing as last time. We'd like to order more." Xiao Xiangzi thought for a moment. "No problem. We go back a ways, so we can work out the price. I'll charge you only three million standard Immortal Jade apiece. How does that sound?"

Luo Qian chuckled. His carrot strategy had worked.

"Good. No problem." Luo Qian produced six pieces of High-Grade Immortal Jade. "Here's a six-million deposit. I'll order ten to start with and pay the balance on delivery. How does that sound?"

Those six pieces of High-Grade Immortal Jade were Luo Qian's marriage savings. After all his years scraping by in the Immortal Realm, he had not managed to put away much.

"Deal. I'll let you know as soon as they're ready."

Once they had left Clearwater Cliff, Du Lengning said anxiously, "Old Luo, have you lost your mind? Ten at once? That's thirty million standard Immortal Jade! I haven't a penny to my name right now. Where are we going to find that kind of money? It's not as if we can sell those spirit pills the moment we put them up for sale."

Luo Qian gave him a sly smile. "Don't worry. I have a trick up my sleeve. Just come with me..."

Du Lengning sat in the Black Massage Chair, moaning with pleasure. Luo Qian tried impatiently to chase him out. "Hey, Young Master Du, that's enough. I haven't even tried it since I brought it back. Get up and let me have a turn." Du Lengning narrowed his eyes contentedly and waved a hand. "Old Luo, it's yours anyway. You can use it whenever you want. What's another minute or two? Ah, my back! Father's been making me cultivate every day lately. Sitting in meditation has left my lower back feeling like it's full of needles..."

Even immortal bodies could suffer from overwork. They were not machines. Though they could endure far more than human bodies, they were still living bodies. Immortals spent days at a time sitting in meditation; who among them did not have an occupational ailment or two?

"This isn't mine," Luo Qian said. "The money for those ten Power Generators is riding on it." Du Lengning opened his eyes. "What do you mean?" "If we sell it, how much do you think we could get?" Du Lengning's eyes lit up. "That's good, Old Luo. Trust you to think of it. Let me see... I'd say we could make at least fifty million standard Immortal Jade."

Luo Qian continued, "I've sent invitations to all my clients, asking them to come to Cauldron Mountain Cave Abode the day after tomorrow for an auction of the Massage Chair. Think about it—do you know anyone who might be interested?" Du Lengning's eyes darted about. With a carp-like kick, he sprang out of the massage chair. "I'll go tell everyone right away." He left as abruptly as he had spoken, sweeping out of the cave abode like a whirlwind. Luo Qian hurried after him and shouted, "Make sure they're trustworthy..." "Don't worry!"

Two days later, flashes of immortal light streaked through the usually quiet Toad Mountain, afterimages left by Immortals passing at high speed. Luo Qian bustled back and forth, attending to every guest on his own.

The Luo Company Trading Company's meeting room had been completely rearranged. The oval conference table was gone, replaced by rows of spacious, comfortable stone chairs. More than half of the thirty chairs were occupied. Every guest wore a cloak, with a hood pulled over their face. They were all interested in the item Luo Qian had mentioned, but none wanted anyone else to know they were buying contraband.

Apart from Luo Qian, no one knew the identities of the others. More than twenty people sat together in silence, with no whispering or idle chatter.

A hand reached out from the doorway and pulled Luo Qian aside. "Brother Luo." The visitor pushed back his hood. It was the homebody Shao Ling Xiao Se. Another person stood behind Ling Xiaose, wrapped head to toe in black and looking even more afraid of being recognized than the guests in the meeting room.

Ling Xiaose lowered his hood again. "Brother Luo, this is my cousin—the one who asked you to buy him a computer last time..." Luo Qian remembered and nodded quickly. "A pleasure to meet you..." The other man made no move to remove his hood. Luo Qian glanced at Ling Xiaose in puzzlement. Ling Xiaose gave an awkward smile. "My cousin has a rather peculiar temperament." Luo Qian eyed him suspiciously. He couldn't be from the Immortal Apprehension Office, could he?

Seeing Luo Qian's expression, the cousin guessed what he was thinking. "Rest assured, Brother Luo. I've come only for the item." Luo Qian smiled, his worries dispelled, and nodded. "Please, come in!" He gave the two of them a bidding number: thirty-five.

For some reason, he kept running into Number Thirty-Five lately.

No sooner had Luo Qian shown Ling Xiaose and his cousin inside than voices rose outside. Du Lengning came barging in with a crowd behind him. Luo Qian hurried to stop him and tossed him a hood. "Aren't you afraid people will find out what business you're in now?" Du Lengning froze. After a moment's thought, he remembered the vast Distant Hall behind him and obediently put on the hood. There were roughly a dozen people with him, leaving too few seats. Luo Qian hurried to bring in more stone chairs from elsewhere. All the buyers had arrived. The auction could begin.

Luo Qian stood on the platform and brought down the auction hammer with a crack. He cleared his throat and said in a ringing voice, "Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Luo Company Trading House at Toad Mountain. I'm sure you're all curious about today's auction items. Well, enough talk. Bring out today's star!"

"First up are ten Treasure Pill-grade Jade Water Pills. Please, take a look." Ten water-blue Medicinal Pills lay neatly arranged in a case carved from Immortal Jade.

They were Treasure Pills, but their quality was unremarkable: merely low-grade Treasure Pills. Everyone present came from a distinguished background. Treasure Pills were certainly good items, but not enough to stir their interest.

These people all had powerful backers, unlike a lone operator such as Xiao Xiangzi. Powerful sects naturally had Immortals dedicated to refining pills. Treasure Pills might be rare, but not so rare that these guests would drop everything and travel all this way to attend an auction.

Sure enough, there was little enthusiasm for the pills. After Luo Qian announced a starting price of five hundred thousand standard Immortal Jade, only a handful of people bid. They sold for 1.2 million standard Immortal Jade, only slightly above the usual price.

Everyone understood that this was only a warm-up, an appetizer before the main course. No one was in a hurry.