Chapter 630: Merits
[V6C160 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Li Tianquan’s expression turned pale after Qianye left, and a bad feeling arose in his heart. The Storm Pearl was a limited object, of which there wasn’t a single extra stock. There were still reserves of Stillwater Rebirth in the clan, but Li Tianquan would need to inform the family in advance. How could he take one out just like that?
The second elder sat dazed for a moment before he shot up and summoned the clerk. “Fetch the contributions register, immediately!”
However, the female clerk was already holding a booklet. She said with a strange expression, “Elder, the logistics department just delivered a report about an abnormality in contributions. Please take a look.”
Li Tianquan grabbed the register and flipped it open. His countenance turned deathly white upon reaching Qianye’s page. Unable to calm his surging emotions, he let out a muffled groan and sprayed out a mouthful of blood.
By the time Qianye returned to his residence, the suitcase in his hand had long since become an empty container, which he tossed to a random corner. The huge volume of black crystals had gone into Andruil’s space as that was the single safest place at hand.
Qianye didn’t remain long in his room and, instead, visited the Yinyuan Lu Family’s compound.
It just so happened that the middle-aged man from last time was also there. He rushed out immediately upon seeing Qianye, his loud voice arriving first before the person. “Brother Qianye, you’ve finally come! Have you thought about it? I’m telling you, those sisters are top-grade. You must bring them into your room at all costs, you definitely won’t regret it.”
Qianye didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. This fatty’s voice was so loud that everyone in the courtyard could hear him. Many youngsters immediately looked over with unfriendly expressions. Apparently, they had long since admired these two beauties. But the Lu family wasn’t an important aristocratic family, and their power was fairly limited. Not to mention Zhao Jundu, their descendants were much inferior even compared to Zhao Junhong. Hence, these youths could only look on with expressions of pain and envy, yet no one rushed up to court death.
Qianye accompanied the fatty into the courtyard. “Didn’t you say they’re one of your elder’s granddaughters? Aren’t you afraid you’ll become enemies with him by handing the girls out like presents?”
The fatty laughed loudly. “That old man has been hoping to climb higher by relying on these two granddaughters. He even hopes to split off and form a new branch. How can I let him do as he wishes? I’ve been arguing with him for several decades already, so an additional problem or two is nothing to us. Besides, he’d be more than happy that I deliver his two precious granddaughters to you!”
Qianye remembered that the man had introduced himself last time as Lu Zhongyou. He was also a so-called elder of the family and held an important position.
After finding their seats in the room, Lu Zhongyou asked with a fervent tone, “Brother Qianye, do you have new goods already?”
Lu Zhongyou was delighted to see Qianye’s nod. “It hasn’t even been a month! But that’s not a problem. I’ve made ample preparations and transferred all the funds I can.“
“A bit more than last time.”
Lu Zhongyou gasped. “Even more?”
Although the batch of goods they had received from Qianye wasn’t that big, the quality was extremely high—it was almost equal to half a year of their family’s trade volume in terms of value. Lu Zhongyou thus made a steep investment by transferring all available resources over, but that wasn’t entirely to buy from Qianye. They were also looking to do business with the other families. After all, there would be similar spoils of wars with the return of every combat squad. As long as the price was fair, they were willing to convert the things they couldn’t use to gold coins or other resources.
But he had never imagined Qianye would obtain another batch of goods in around one month’s time. Lu Zhongyou wiped the sweat off of his brows, both shocked and delighted at heart.
“How do we collect?”
“Wait for me at the same place tonight, I’ll take you to the goods,” Qianye replied.
“Tonight?” Lu Zhongyou’s expression shifted slightly. Going into the Misty Wood at night wasn’t an idea he was too fond of. In that accursed place, one could hardly see ten meters ahead in the day time, much less in the night. It was no different from being blind.
Qianye glanced at the time. “Yes, tonight. We set out in three hours.”
From their previous experience, Lu Zhongyou guessed Qianye was still storing gear like last time. They indeed needed to rush if that were the case because no container could last very long in the Misty Wood. A chest truly capable of withstanding the corrosion of the ground substance would be even more expensive than the weapons inside.
Lu Zhongyou made up his mind. “Tonight it is then!”
At night, Qianye met up with the Lu family people outside of the base and accompanied them to the place where he had hidden the equipment. Everything went smoothly since they had worked together before, and the pouch full of black crystals which Lu Zhongyou had prepared beforehand entered Qianye’s wallet. Lu Zhongyou couldn’t stop smiling on his way back. With this transaction, he could ensure well over a year of the Lu family’s supply of goods. At this moment, his mind was full of thoughts about how many new stores he could open up, as well as how much of the profits he could share. He was thinking whether his earnings were enough to buy some new properties where he could settle those peevish little demonesses.
Qianye, at present, had over two hundred thousand in gold coins and black crystals, half of them coming from Lu Sha’s group—the spoils, their payment, and death gratuity. Even with Li Tianquan’s status and power, this amount was almost half of his entire life’s savings.
How could the elder have so much money on him? It was quite likely that a substantial part of the money he had coughed up was from the base’s operational budget. He would have to go through the trouble of filling up the gap afterward, but that wasn’t of Qianye’s concern.
Qianye calculated his profits on the way back. He was currently holding a standard first-rate merit. With the addition of the bonus offered by the Li family, it would become a superior merit with enough to spare. A superior merit of the empire required one to kill an honored marquis or the corresponding number of enemies. This was the highest merit one could achieve by means of accumulation. Above that was the sky merit.
Conventionally, one would need to kill a duke to obtain a sky merit, and it couldn’t be accumulated. The true meaning of this so-called sky merit was to capture the enemy in one fell swoop and shake the heavens. The fall of any duke was a big thing—the rewards involved were also enough to make one go crazy. Reportedly, the empire had built a special treasure-house to hold the rewards given out to people with a sky merit. This treasury was designed by the founding emperor himself, with the successive emperors enriching its stock. There were already countless treasures inside.
Sky merit wasn’t something those below the divine champion rank could touch. Accumulating a superior merit was already the highest summit an imperial general could reach. In accordance with usual procedures, Qianye could request a promotion without waiting for this war to end and join the ranks of the regular army. In light of his contributions and accomplishments, it was possible for Qianye to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general as an exception and serve in the military department. He could also join an army corps or take up office in certain warzones. However, Qianye would only receive a secondary position since he was neither raised in the army nor proficient in strategy. Even so, this could be considered an instant success since he would have formally reached the upper echelons of the imperial military.
To others, this was a path to the heavens—even people like Zhao Yuying and Bai Aotu wouldn’t abandon this opportunity. With the support of their clans, they would soon be able to control an army corps once their combat strengths had caught up. With clever manipulation, this army corps would gradually become their own private force—at the very least, it would become a foundation for building one’s own army in the future. A classic example of this was Zhao Weihuang’s Fire Beacon Corps.
Perhaps only people like Zhao Jundu—who had their sights on becoming a heavenly monarch since the very beginning—would pay so little heed to leading an army corps.
The path to the heavens for other people was an infernal road to Qianye. How could a key military position be granted without investigating the recipient’s background? This query was an important process that would be controlled directly by the military—even the four major clans could hardly interfere. A mishap was bound to happen after a thorough investigation since Qianye had countless secrets on him, and that was to say nothing of Nighteye.
After arriving at the base, Qianye suddenly noticed a commotion at the gates.
A beam of flowing light shot out from the forest borders and arrived outside the base. It didn’t stop there, however, and seemed like it was poised to jump over the gates.
Qianye saw this from a distance and thought, “Things are about to get messy.”
As expected, the dozens of defensive towers in the base lit up at the same time. They shot out beams of snaking electricity, which duly weaved together to cover the base in a net of light.
This was a protective barrier which served both as a defensive measure and to restrict aerial movements, a system usually deployed in major imperial cities on the main continent.
Flight was forbidden over the base apart from specially labeled airships. It was common knowledge that all entry and exit was via the main gates, but the person driving the light seemed to have forgotten about the barrier in his hurry. By the time the barrier had risen, the beam of flowing light could no longer hold back its momentum.
That person shouted furiously, “Open!” The light sped up like a burning comet and crashed straight into the barrier.
Ripples appeared on the screen of light, which began fluctuating with great intensity. At this moment, several kinetic towers in the base emitted sharp whistles and spat out rolling clouds of steam. The power output increased abruptly in order to calm down the almost-collapsing barrier.
A pained roar was transmitted from the light as it bounced back and collapsed onto the ground in front of the base. It was a man drenched in blood and with wounds all over his body. He was clearly putting his life on the line by hurrying in such a manner. He clambered up soon after landing, and at that time, Qianye saw that he was holding a person in his arms. The figure was fairly petite and likely a woman.
Beams of light rose up from the base as numerous silhouettes arrived at lightning speed. All of them were Li family experts in charge of guarding the base.
The experts were startled upon seeing the man. “Brother Liu! What happened?”
That man didn’t reply. “Lil’ Zhen! Save her, please!”
An expert of the Li family immediately issued an order. “Let them pass quickly! Have the hospital make preparations to save Brother Liu and Madam Liu.”
That expert surnamed Liu breathed a sigh of relief, but his head fell limp before he could express his thanks.