Chapter 59: Wealth, Companion, Method, Land

"Bearing supreme bone, one attains the path to heaven."

The Jade Bone realm is accessible only to a very few warriors with special physiques.

Coincidentally, Wu Gu is one of them.

Reaching the Jade Bone realm greatly aids one’s ascent to higher realms; Li Rui certainly had no intention of letting this opportunity slip.

Moreover, for him, it would not take much time.

The only problem was that the quantity of elixirs required for Jade Bone was far too great for his current means.

"I still need to make money."

Li Rui sighed lightly.

In the Yu Kingdom’s martial world, there is a saying: "Wealth, Companion, Method, Land."

The first, "Wealth," needs no explanation—money can solve over ninety percent of the world’s troubles; no one toils day and night just for a few silver coins.

The second, "Companion," does not merely refer to a romantic partner—it also includes masters, relatives, and influential figures in court; with someone to guide you, countless detours can be avoided.

"Method" refers to martial arts techniques; a profound and well-suited technique can double one’s cultivation efficiency.

The final "Land" refers to spiritual soil.

As is well known, to forge spiritual elixirs, apart from the alchemist’s exceptional skill, one must also possess spiritual herbs.

And spiritual herbs grow only upon spiritual soil.

In truth, spiritual soil is not as mystical as legend claims—it is simply fertile land imbued with special spiritual matter, exceedingly rare.

It was said that a herb gatherer first discovered this pattern.

In the same location, peculiarly potent herbs would appear every few years, known as spiritual herbs.

Similar to the fungal nests where mushrooms grow.

Experienced herb gatherers would memorize these spiritual herb nests and thus continuously reap substantial profits.

Soon after, this drew the attention of some alchemists; after generations of research, they confirmed the root cause lay in the soil upon which the herbs grew.

Note: it is the soil, not the land.

Only a thin surface layer qualifies as spiritual soil.

Major sects that seize vast tracts of land do so to monopolize spiritual soil; the quantity of spiritual soil a sect controls reflects, to some degree, its foundational strength.

To seize spiritual soil, these factions have clashed repeatedly; bloodshed and death are commonplace.

Yet such conflicts have never ceased.

To become a strong one, one must fight.

But the manner of fighting matters greatly.

"Chief, Sun Ming and his crew are truly despicable—they’ve colluded with human traffickers, trafficking people, ruining countless virtuous women by selling them to brothels."

Liang He spoke with indignation.

These past few days he had stayed up late reviewing ledgers, his eyes shadowed by dark circles; though exhausted, his anger remained unmistakable.

Li Rui’s expression was calm.

Perhaps it was numbness from witnessing too much suffering.

Human traffickers are vile, but without these underworld figures, where would wealthy households get their servants, or brothels their women?

How would the magistrates in the government office enjoy themselves?

It is merely human nature.

All Li Rui could do was hold fast to his own heart.

Seeing Li Rui show no reaction, Liang He grew anxious: "Chief, these people don’t just traffic boys and girls—they sell fake elixirs, watered-down meat... and, and..."

He rattled off many offenses, yet Li Rui remained unmoved; Liang He grew even more agitated.

Youth is most intolerant of such filth.

"And they sell smuggled salt!"

Li Rui’s lips curled slightly, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes.

"Smuggled salt? That truly is a grave crime."

"????"

Liang He’s face was full of question marks.

So all those dozens of crimes he listed, and the chief only heard the part about smuggled salt?

Several days passed.

Liang He assumed Chief Li would take some action.

Whatever the crime, at least some clarity could be restored to the black market.

But to his surprise, after learning of everything, Li Rui remained as if nothing had happened, continuing to read as usual.

He even went out less often.

This left Liang He baffled.

Yet he understood: the black market had operated for so long that the masterminds could not possibly be just a minor figure like Sun Ming.

Not him, nor even Li Rui, could topple them.

"Is that all we can do?"

The more he saw Sun Ming, the angrier he became; had he not remembered Li Rui’s words, he would have already beaten Sun Ming senseless.

"Big Brother Sun."

Liang He nodded amiably at Sun Ming.

"I’ve truly matured."

Sun Ming was taken aback; he had expected trouble when submitting his ledger, but days passed with no incident.

Even the boy who came with Li Rui bowed and scraped before him.

Sun Ming immediately relaxed.

"It’s clear: those who become overseers aren’t fools. The black market’s business is backed by Deputy Commander Zhao, the county magistrate, even the Grand Headquarters’ master."

"How could a mere overseer dare interfere?"

Anyone who "understands the situation" chooses to turn a blind eye.

The previous overseer did the same.

"An old-fashioned man."

Sun Ming grinned, offering Liang He what he thought was a kind smile.

Liang He, recalling the sounds he’d heard in the alley, felt nauseous; he quickened his steps, unwilling to look at Sun Ming’s fat face again.

But this scene struck Sun Ming’s eyes.

"The old man’s scared."

Look, even his little brother runs away when he sees me.

Sun Ming straightened his back.

"Stay humble, stay patient. Tomorrow I’ll send some gifts. But at seventy, can he still...? This batch of live goods has two top-grade ones. Still... what if he’s fond of boys?"

Sun Ming’s small eyes darted back and forth, trying to discern Li Rui’s preferences.

Once you understand your superior’s tastes, half the job is done.

The next morning.

When Li Rui arrived on the fifth floor of the black market, a delicate box already sat on the table.

It was as large as a human head.

Li Rui walked to the table and lifted the lid; a golden glow filled his vision.

"Gold?"

He raised an eyebrow.

The wooden box was filled solidly with gold bars—easily a hundred taels.

One tael of gold equals ten taels of silver.

Meaning, this box contained a full thousand taels of silver!

Li Rui licked his lips: "The black market really is wealthy."

A mere minor commander could produce a thousand taels—even Li Rui, as chief, couldn’t muster that much.

"Bribing me?"

Li Rui smiled and shook his head.

"A clever man."

Sun Ming’s actions were perfectly understandable—and he didn’t stint; he was willing to spend heavily.

Even Li Rui was tempted.

"Too bad—we’re not on the same side."

He could never allow a man loyal to Zhao Wei to remain near him.

How can one allow another to sleep in one’s own bed?

Loyalty is a fundamental issue; no personal skill can compensate. Just as he would never think of flattering Zhao Wei.

No amount of gold or silver would suffice unless one was willing to defect.

But what good fate awaits a traitor?

Thus Li Rui’s philosophy has always been: either don’t make enemies; if you do, crush them to death.

To be merciful to an enemy is to be cruel to oneself.

(End of chapter)