The Communication Conch at Luo Qian's waist rang. Old Roughworker called to tell him the materials had been identified. While Luo Qian was on his way to the cave residence, the Western Divine Realm sent word through the teleportation array: its Alchemists had deciphered two of the materials. Delighted, Luo Qian spent some time buying up all five materials across the Immortal Realm and the Divine Realm. With those in hand, Luo Company's Saint Realm branch could open with a flourish. They might sell only five kinds of materials, but their prices would be far lower than anywhere else.
The branch's rent was still unresolved, though. Luo Qian slipped into the Immortal Apprehension Office with a furtive grin, then sneaked down to the Lower Realm again. He wandered through the furniture market. Besides postmodern office furniture, classical Chinese furniture was popular there. Every piece of mahogany furniture supposedly worth collecting carried an absurd price tag, making him shake his head. But Chinese-style imitation mahogany furniture and South Asian-style furniture were worth considering.
There was a famous business case about a salesman who went to a desert country in Africa to sell shoes. When he arrived, he found that the people there did not wear shoes at all. He went home, convinced there was no market. Another salesman, however, studied the local customs and produced shoes suited to them. They proved wildly popular.
The people of the Saint Realm liked dark-toned panel furniture now, but that did not mean they would reject new styles. Smuggling panel furniture up from the Lower Realm offered handsome profits, but such furniture could not be monopolized. Smuggling furniture in other styles, on the other hand, might create a high-end monopoly.
Luo Qian walked the entire furniture market before making his decision. Besides panel furniture, he