Chapter 299: It

Xu Su brought six attendants altogether, carrying eleven chests. Inside the chests were fengshui array discs, objects to suppress fortune, and six golden toad and pixiu statues.

The group followed Little Wei Yuan into Yong'an City, traveling all the way to the eastern market district. Now, the market district consisted only of a few roads and patches of weeds, with not a single shop or tavern yet built.

Over a hundred raggedly dressed people were digging ditches along both sides of the roads, while another team laid cut blocks of blue stone into the excavated trenches, then built up the walls on either side. Several cultivation experts who had reached the peak of Body Forging supervised and guided from the side, occasionally joining in the labor themselves.

The caravan attendants watched this scene with curiosity—those who had reached the peak of Body Forging already held minor status; even if they had no hope of establishing a Foundation, they could still secure a ninth-rank official post in the mortal world, such as head of the county government office's patrol or prison warden. Why would they do such lowly work?

Xu Su paused his steps, carefully examining the ditches and the piles of stone blocks, then continued forward.

After inspecting the market district, Xu Su quickly selected the location for the merchant guild's branch office, immediately demarcating the compound's boundaries, determining the fengshui and fortune, then choosing the array's focal point and burying the fengshui disc.

Little Wei Yuan and Cui Yu departed first to select the domain's specialty products for Xu Su to take back.

Xu Su held the fengshui array disc, periodically remeasuring the array's distances, and finally placed each of the six guardian beasts in position, completing the first step.

A young girl beside him said, "Master, this city is dilapidated, with not even a decent house to be found, and the population is sparse. I did a rough count—there are at most twenty thousand people here. Such a small, poor place—is it worth setting up the Six Auspicious Beasts Gathering Fortune Array? This one array alone costs several thousand pieces of immortal silver! How many years will it take us to recoup the investment?"

Xu Su replied patiently, "Observation must be thorough—you cannot judge merely by surface appearances. You see only shanties and ragged people, and notice not a single tall building in the entire city. But if you look closely, you'll see the road before us is remarkably straight, wide enough for four carts to travel side by side; once paved with hard stone, it will immediately become a royal highway."

"If you look even closer, you'll notice that many patches of overgrown weeds are actually pre-planned residential districts. Moreover, along both sides of the main roads, drainage ditches lined with blue stone have been constructed. Another detail: each district has at least two public latrines, regularly cleaned and maintained. That's why, throughout our walk, we've encountered no foul odors at all—a rarity even in the imperial capital."

The girl thought carefully, then said, "You're right!"

Xu Su smiled faintly. "Though Little Wei Yuan is young, his ambitions are vast. This city was planned to house at least two hundred thousand people, with room for future expansion. I don't know whether this was his own idea or guided by a senior master behind him—but for us, it makes no difference. Such a man cannot be contained by a mere prefect. If Chen Dao threw his full strength behind it, he might succeed. But Chen Dao is burdened by too many constraints; this place is not his ideal base, and he won't invest heavily here."

The girl, however, grew bored. "Master, we're just running a caravan. Why should we care about the petty squabbles of these great figures?"

Xu Su remained patient. "Don't underestimate the caravan. If it succeeds, you'll inevitably be drawn into the struggles of these powerful men. If you can't discern the subtle relationships between them, you might die without ever knowing why. Think—why did I go through so much hardship and risk to bring this caravan to this barren land?"

The girl finally showed some interest. "Isn't it because we had no other options?"

Xu Su laughed in irritation. "Uneducated girl! I've taught you so much—have you returned it all to Zhou Gong in your dreams? If I'd merely shifted slightly eastward, wouldn't Chen Dao or Li Li Weisheng both have been viable investments?"

The girl sighed. "Fine, fine—your vision is piercing, your grasp of the world's currents flawless. Happy now?"

But Xu Su shook his head. "No."

"Then what?" The girl finally grew curious, pressing him.

Xu Su said, "A powerful figure sent word, specifically instructing me to make this journey. Otherwise, how would I have known this was a fengshui treasure land?"

"What kind of powerful figure?"

"I don't know. I only know the message came from within the palace."

By now, the array's foundation was complete, the Six Auspicious Beasts in place. Several attendants began digging foundations within the demarcated boundaries. A portion of the caravan would remain behind to continue construction; once the basic framework was complete, more local laborers could be hired to build houses and courtyards.

Xu Su was already imagining the future prosperity, smiling. "I wonder what goods they'll bring out tomorrow."

The girl sneered. "Just the same items we brought from the sect, right? We're not lacking channels like in the Tai Chu Palace."

"True enough," Xu Su's smile faded slightly.

The next morning, Little Wei Yuan arrived at the caravan's encampment, followed by several cultivators, each carrying a cargo chest.

Xu Su had been waiting. All the junior managers of the caravan were present, eager to see what Little Wei Yuan had brought.

Little Wei Yuan ordered the cultivators to open the chests. Two chests each contained a steel block a foot thick, oddly shaped; the other two held neatly stacked loose components.

Little Wei Yuan himself took action, peeling off a thin sheet from each steel block and fitting them together—revealing a breastplate. He then attached several loose parts, and in moments, a complete sleeveless breastplate appeared before them. Xu Su and the managers gathered close to examine it. The girl, however, grew curious about the two steel blocks, walked over, and realized they were stacks of overlapping breastplates and backplates—so perfectly aligned they appeared as single ingots. She counted: the nearly one-foot-thick ingot consisted of fifty individual plates.

After careful inspection, Xu Su drew his longsword, ignited its blade with fire, and pierced the breastplate in one thrust. He withdrew the blade, and all the managers crowded around to examine the wound.

After a moment, Xu Su exhaled. "The steel quality of this breastplate is excellent. More remarkable is that dozens are identical in form—when worn, they'll boost military morale. It also possesses slight resistance to spiritual power—not inferior to the standard heavy armor of border troops, approaching a low-grade magic treasure. The Domain Lord must have many more of these sets?"

Seeing the front and back plates stacked as if a single unit, Xu Su knew these armors had been mass-produced.

Little Wei Yuan nodded. "I still have some left, but you probably can't carry them all away at once. How much will you pay for this set of armor?"

"Each breastplate approaches the quality of a low-grade magic treasure. The Great Tangjiu Army's procurement price is roughly fifty immortal silver taels. I'll offer you twenty-three."

This price was higher than Little Wei Yuan expected. Xu Su had traveled a great distance, and even if he brought them back, he couldn't sell them directly—he'd need multiple middlemen. Military armor, such a critical item, would attract the attention of powerful figures in the imperial court's Zhizheng Academy.

Fortunately, border troops needed to defend against barbarians; though layers of corruption were inevitable, there were limits. Cases like the Western Jin were rare.

Little Wei Yuan said, "Twenty taels per set."

Xu Su nearly thought he'd misheard.

"Twenty taels," Little Wei Yuan repeated, then pointed to the two chests of loose components. "These two chests are complimentary. Take them back and have your own craftsmen replicate the design to complete full sets of armor. I'm only selling breastplates and backplates now—twenty immortal silver taels per set."

!.

Xu Su was both astonished and delighted. He had examined the loose components closely—the craftsmanship was superb, the techniques refined, but his own craftsmen could replicate them. The methods differed slightly from those used on the breastplates and backplates, yet the final quality was nearly identical. Preliminary estimates suggested producing all fifteen components would cost about one and a half taels of immortal silver—returning with them meant a hundred percent profit.

In truth, the guild's craftsmen could forge the breastplates and backplates themselves—even better and more ornate ones—but crafting a single seamless plate required immense labor; a peak Body Forging craftsman might spend over ten days on one. And they could never achieve the precision of dozens of plates appearing as one.

Xu Su bowed deeply. "Thank you, Domain Lord! How many sets do you have?"

"How many can you carry?"

Xu Su picked up a stack of neatly arranged plates and weighed them. "We have nine cargo carts—maximum capacity, two thousand sets."

Little Wei Yuan nodded. "Then two thousand sets. I'll deliver them tomorrow morning."

Xu Su was stunned again. One skilled craftsman might need one or two months to forge a single set. Qingming had only been established for a few months—could it already have one or two thousand skilled craftsmen?

But Xu Su reconsidered: Little Wei Yuan was rumored to have the full backing of the Tai Chu Palace. It wasn't impossible that the sect had directly sent thousands of craftsmen.

Xu Su said, "This time, I brought only an exploratory caravan—limited transport capacity. Next time, I'll bring a proper merchant caravan, carrying ten times more. The Six Domains Guild will buy every set you have at twenty taels apiece."

Little Wei Yuan was slightly surprised. "Are border troops so short on armor?"

Xu Su smiled. "Domain Lord, you don't understand—demand for weapons and armor is endless. There's no shortage of people; with enough armor and weapons, you can raise any number of armies. No matter how many you produce, we can absorb them all."

Little Wei Yuan's heart stirred. The iron-forging machines weren't hard to build—add specially designed hammers and molds, and you could produce breastplates and backplates. Once more Dao Foundation cultivators emerged in the domain, what lay before Xu Su wouldn't be thousands or tens of thousands of breastplates—it could reach hundreds of thousands!

Little Wei Yuan didn't know the cost of such breastplates outside the domain, but here, molten steel was abundant. Many Dao Foundation cultivators labored daily to stabilize their foundations and strengthen their wills—part of their cultivation, unpaid.

The greatest cost of these breastplates was the small amount of immortal silver mixed in, enhancing toughness and granting slight resistance to spiritual power. Little Wei Yuan estimated each breastplate consumed only one tael of immortal silver, six mace of which was the added immortal silver.

The fifteen loose components were small and intricate, many requiring handcrafting. Including all overheads, they cost roughly one tael of immortal silver. With the domain's current pool of amateur craftsmen, even supplying their own needs was difficult—so Little Wei Yuan slashed the price by three taels and offloaded this part of the business entirely.

Returning to his quarters, Little Wei Yuan rummaged through his belongings until he found a fine jade box. He asked his master to carve the four ancient characters "Hou De Zai Wu" with sword qi—the appearance became extraordinary. Then, carefully placing three catties of dark earth inside, topping it with flowers, he sealed the lid and sent it to Yu Yu Zhizhuo.

Master Yu has labored greatly, possesses great talent—it's time to feed him grass.

(End of Chapter)