Bibi Dong's Approval

"Xiyue wants to test the Soul Tool she developed. Let her take a shot at you, then tell me roughly how powerful it is," Bibi Dong said.

"As you command." Yue Guan nodded, then turned to Leng Xiyue with a smile. "Come on, little one. Attack me with the weapon in your hands."

This was Leng Xiyue's first time meeting Yue Guan, but it was hardly his first time seeing her. As the "chief eunuch" serving under Bibi Dong, he naturally had to take responsibility for protecting Leng Xiyue. This mostly involved stepping forward to warn families that dreamed of claiming her for themselves.

"Uh, Master, isn't that a little inappropriate?" Leng Xiyue hesitated. It felt rather impolite, considering they were all on the same side.

Seeing this, Yue Guan chuckled. "Your Uncle Yue is a Titled Douluo, you know. Surely you don't think that thing in your hands can pierce my protective aura?"

"All right." Hearing that, Leng Xiyue stopped agonizing over it. She raised her gun and loaded a bullet. At such close range, she did not even need to aim; she simply pulled the trigger at Yue Guan.

With a crisp gunshot, a bullet hurtled toward Yue Guan, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier as it approached his body.

It seemed to have accomplished nothing, yet an expression of utter surprise appeared on Yue Guan's face. "Your Holiness, this thing's power is extraordinary. It would have no trouble piercing a Soul Elder's protective aura directly, or even inflicting meaningful damage on some lower-level Soul Ancestors. The materials appear extremely ordinary. If there is still room for improvement, its future potential could be limitless."

"Most importantly, it seems to require no foundation of strength from its user. I suspect even an ordinary person with a little muscle could use it perfectly well."

"Oh?" Bibi Dong immediately smiled upon hearing that. "Xiyue, did you come to offer me this treasure? Don't worry. If you let me handle the business side, I will certainly give you a share according to the usual rates."

Leng Xiyue's love of money was no secret. Although Bibi Dong did not know what she was saving up for, it was a good thing that the child already understood how to support herself from such a young age, rather than relying on her status to endlessly demand things from her. Bibi Dong found that quite heartening.

But Leng Xiyue shook her head. "No, Master. I want to start a trade guild with your support and sell this to people from the empire at a high price."

"People from the empire?" Bibi Dong's expression abruptly changed. "Xiyue, if this were an ordinary product, I would absolutely support you. But do you understand? Selling such advanced weapons to people from the empire would only benefit us in the short term. In the long run, we would only end up digging a pit for ourselves."

"No, Master. I actually have better models set aside for our own people, to make sure we always have the advantage. This thing in my hands is just a crude version I brought out to fleece people, but it's certainly good enough to rake in money from the empire." Leng Xiyue grinned. "Besides, I have a way to establish a monopoly. If this 'gun' in my hands is equivalent to a bow or crossbow, then the bullets it fires are equivalent to arrows. These bullets are powered by soul power, but not every Soul Master can infuse them. They have to use the secret art I provide, or there simply won't be enough kinetic energy to support such power."

Originally, Leng Xiyue had planned to tamper with the manufacturing process of the firearms to prevent counterfeits, but that was impossible in practice. Even if someone broke one while taking it apart, they could still copy it like tracing a gourd from its outline, or work out its general structure through observation alone. With enough patient imitation, they would eventually produce something similar. Manufacturing techniques alone could not stamp out counterfeits; she still needed another layer of insurance on the political front.

If she could secure Bibi Dong's support, then even if Bibi Dong did not intervene personally, the Martial Soul General Hall would surely take action. With such a mighty mountain sheltering her trade guild from behind, what major faction would dare steal her designs and secretly manufacture them for sale?

After all, Spirit Hall had a presence in every town and city. Even if someone bribed local officials to sell in secret, enough sales would inevitably leave a trail. Once caught, not only would they have offended Spirit Hall, but all their illicit earnings would surely be confiscated outright. They would effectively have worked for nothing. Surely few major factions would do something like that for a little business.

As for smaller factions that were harder to control, she would tackle them through manufacturing techniques, primarily those involving the bullets. The soul power that replaced gunpowder inside them was something she had developed through specialized research using the Forge. The method for condensing soul power into something that could serve as gunpowder was exceedingly complex. Even the geniuses at Spirit Hall Academy had needed a period of practice before they could reliably fill the bullets. Outside the academy, they would probably have to hire a high-level Soul Elder to manufacture them just to have a slim chance of success.

Thus, small merchants hoping to produce imitations could not afford to hire Soul Masters to manufacture such cheap bullets. Doing so would squeeze the seemingly enormous profits of the firearms trade down to a much smaller margin, and the entire process would be troublesome to manage. Probably few people would undertake such a thankless task.

Large merchants would not dare copy them, and small merchants would be unable to. People from the empire certainly would not dare make their own imitations and openly equip their forces with them either. Spirit Hall's authority stood right there for all to see. If they plagiarized the excellent designs of a designer under Spirit Hall without paying a coin, were they trying to set themselves against Spirit Hall?

With ways to rein in everyone from top to bottom, establishing a monopoly would be easy.

Leng Xiyue gestured animatedly as she described her ideas. After thinking them over, Bibi Dong genuinely found herself tempted.

Leng Xiyue was only eight years old, yet she could already develop something like this. The prospect of her creating even better things in the future was certainly no empty talk. Thus, Bibi Dong resolved to support her.

No one could turn down a business offering nearly a hundredfold profit. If it truly succeeded, that would also be to Leng Xiyue's credit, providing a considerable boost to her future prestige within Spirit Hall.

This support effectively meant assigning Leng Xiyue an established team outright. She would naturally make the decisions on specific matters, but having such a professional team to carry them out would greatly accelerate her money-making plans.

Beyond that, Bibi Dong also chose a location for her: a spot in the Outer City with extremely heavy foot traffic, not far from the Great Soul Arena, on a plot neither too large nor too small. Few people would likely buy something like this in the Inner City. This part of the Outer City, however, drew people from every walk of life, with all sorts of mercenaries and traveling merchants doing business there. It could hardly have been more suitable.

Leng Xiyue naturally accepted everything offered. At present, she had no people of her own whatsoever. With this professional team in place, all she needed to do was regularly send over the guns she had assembled and wait for the money to come in. She could be a completely hands-off proprietor, which was far more comfortable than what she had originally planned.