Chapter 24

Zhang Gui was summarizing supernatural knowledge through his own practice when he suddenly heard someone whispering outside the door,

"Sir, sir, have you returned?"

"Brother Chun, what are you doing sneaking around?"

Zhang Gui put away his Divine Ability and opened the door impatiently to ask.

Zhang Chun walked in in a panic,

"Sir, it's over.

That bastard Zhang Yan has taken his confidants and the patrol guards.

And he has rolled up all the gold, silver, and treasures in the Note Exchange.

Those sea merchants outside don't know about this yet.

They are just wondering why the Note Exchange closed its doors.

We must run quickly.

Otherwise, when they find out, they will surely swallow every Zhang in town alive!"

Zhang Gui predicted that running away with luggage or fighting head-on with the Pingyang Zhang Family were the only two ways out for Zhang Yan's group.

Now that he heard they chose to run, he was naturally not surprised at all, shook his head and said:

"Running away with money, Zhang Yan, this old guy, is being flexible this time.

But this is also good, so that we small fries don't suffer along with them."

After becoming Zhang Gui's personal beast of burden, Zhang Chun had long been accustomed to him saying some incomprehensible and strange theories from time to time.

He asked curiously:

"Sir, aren't you surprised that Zhang Yan ran away?"

"He killed the most beloved son of the Pingyang Zhang Family clan head, and wiped out the entire team that brought unknown resources to Luanya to open a hall and establish a name for the family.

If he doesn't run, he can only fight hard, right?"

Zhang Gui looked at Zhang Chun and answered as if looking at a fool.

"That's true too."

"You don't have to panic either.

Our Pingyang Zhang Family has some weight after all.

Even if those sea merchants lose the funds for one or two trades, they won't go as far as killing and setting fires."

"Generally, they wouldn't.

But the old man at the Note Exchange said that in recent days, I don't know what kind of ghost talk Zhang Yan used, but he collected several large sums of money in advance.

Large enough to make people lose their family fortune.

Once it breaks out, no matter how big the Pingyang Zhang Family's face is, I'm afraid it won't be useful anymore."

"Financial fraud!" Zhang Gui blurted out: "This grandson wants us to take the blame and die!

Then we must avoid it first.

Merchants who travel by sea are not the kind of honest people who get hit by a stick and stay silent.

It's normal for you to make people lose their family fortune and for people to die without the debt being cleared.

Thank you for the reminder, Brother Chun."

"As long as you know, sir.

Hide quickly, and make sure they don't find you.

I'm leaving first, take care."

"Hey, Brother Chun, aren't you coming with me? We can take care of each other."

Although Zhang Gui didn't want to act with others, since Zhang Chun was so decent, running over in the middle of the night to remind him.

He had to give something in return.

Zhang Chun didn't agree, "When hiding from debt in the city, the fewer people, the better.

Take care, sir."

Waving his hand, he walked away without looking back.

"I treated him well after I got promoted, so he told me before he left.

But he was afraid of being implicated by me and didn't want to share the adversity.

He is a realistic and worldly good person, which is also rare."

Zhang Gui muttered a comment, packed up the 'dried fruit nut candy' he had hidden, and also left the Market Office quickly.

Hiding in Blackwood Town would sooner or later be implicated, so he simply escaped from Blackwood Town in one go.

With the Divine Cong 'Swift Legs', he leaped ten yards at a time, running wildly toward the direction of the camp destroyed by Zhang Qitong.

It had only been a day and a night since the 'Dragon Walk', but it felt like a long time.

The water on the ground hadn't receded much.

The closer he got to the camp, the harder the road became.

Even if he slowed down, his body was still splattered with mud.

Continuing forward.

A piece of wreckage from a shattered ironwood carriage came into view.

Ironwood is extremely sturdy.

For a carriage array composed of hundreds of large carriages to be shattered to this extent, one can see the intensity of the battle.

The flesh, blood, and bones of the dead were mixed in the mud, and neither the heavy rain nor the gushing springs could wash them away.

Everything of value had been looted, and not even a complete silver plate remained.

Zhang Gui walked around the broken camp, determined the center line, and located the position of Zhang Qitong's tent.

The tent was naturally long gone.

After spending a lot of effort to clear the mud and water around, a piece of incomplete metal foundation was found.

When Zhang Qitong called him to report last night, Zhang Gui guessed at the first sight that the metal house in the main tent must be the marvel 'Heavenly Craft Opens Things'.

Now it seems it is indeed so.

Heavenly Craft Opens Things, it is said that once placed on the ground and opened, it cannot be moved.

After Zhang Yan's group won, they smashed the ground part of the metal house into pieces, and even after digging the underground foundation, they couldn't take it away.

It can be seen that the legend is not false.

And now that the marvel has become like this, no matter how magical it is, it has become waste.

But Zhang Gui still wanted to try.

Legend has it that after Heavenly Craft Opens Things enters the ground, 'unless there is an imperial decree and the power of the dragon vein washes and restarts it, it can never be moved again'.

And on Giant Serpent Head Island, his word is the imperial decree.

After all, even a lone-commander emperor can issue an imperial edict.

First, he took out a few large silver ingots.

Zhang Gui began to settle the account:

"According to the laws of the True Dragon Kingdom, individuals or organizations engaged in mining, farming, or any economic activity in the territory of True Dragon have a natural obligation to pay taxes.

Violators should be punished with fines.

Now I order as the King of the True Dragon Kingdom.

Confiscate all their capital in the True Dragon Kingdom to offset taxes and fines."

As the words fell, the silver ingots in his hands vanished.

A few seconds later, a hundred times more silver appeared on the ground inexplicably.

"Good fortune, good fortune!"

A look of ecstasy appeared on Zhang Gui's face.

He began to continue the nesting doll trick.

Finally, he nested all the gold and silver of all merchant fleets on Giant Serpent Head Island in front of him.

This is actually draining the pond to catch the fish.

Giant Serpent Head Island has a vast area; besides the Blackwood Town of the Zhang family, there are also foundations opened by other powerful clans.

Zhang Gui's element rules combined with territorial Divine Authority belong to the 'Divine Ability' level in terms of power, almost impossible to exempt.

But the quality is high enough, while the quantity is small.

Even if he can consume the human symbols of 'capital elements'—gold and silver—to take shortcuts and nest, his essence, Qi, and spirit will be consumed.

He could make a big profit when others were unprepared.

Once they were prepared.

Whether it is setting up an array in the treasury so that the cost of Zhang Gui using gold and silver to amplify the element rules and Divine Authority power to nest exceeds the gain.

Or changing the stored gold and silver into pearls, gems, beautiful jade, and other treasures, directly making his power lose its target in the mysterious field, can make Zhang Gui helpless.

It is equivalent to a one-off deal, and it is best to find the right time to do it.

But now, for the sake of 'Heavenly Craft Opens Things', he can only act in advance.

Standing in front of the mountain of gold and sea of silver, Zhang Gui, who was so tired that his face was pale, couldn't bear it and rolled around.

"One of my childhood birthday wishes, rolling in gold, has been realized.

Although the time is short, at least I am happy now, woo woo woo."

Then he stopped joking and started the second step of the plan.

"If the tax evader has died and can no longer fulfill the obligation of paying taxes and fines.

Then I will have the right to confiscate all the property they possess."

As the words fell, the mountain of gold and silver began to collapse slowly, turning into the power of rules, roaring and slowly invading the metal foundation remaining underground.

Driven by the ritual, the marvel kept trying to start.

Like a magnet, it pulled the surrounding fragments into slag and fused them together bit by bit.

Seeing this, Zhang Gui prayed silently in his heart that the fusion speed would be faster, faster.

Don't run out of money!

In the end, the result of sweetness first and bitterness later did not appear.

As dawn broke, when only a few hundred taels of silver remained, he finally obtained the 'factory state' Heavenly Craft Opens Things.

He held the dark gold metal box, which was a foot square, in his hand and rubbed it a few times.

Zhang Gui grinned, packed the remaining silver into a bundle, and carried it on his back.

He messed up the surrounding traces and ran into the jungle.

Ten days later, at a bay hundreds of miles away from Blackwood Town.

After taking countless detours to avoid magic beasts, Zhang Gui, who had traveled a long distance, finally arrived at the best place to start a business that he sensed during the Old Tai Cave ritual.

'The place where the Giant Whale and the Peng Bird fell, where iron and copper, water and fire blend.'

Here, for more than ten kilometers around, the sky was covered with flying seabirds.

With one step, the bird droppings piled up on the ground could submerge his ankles.

What he was stepping on was still hardened bird droppings.

The surrounding terrain was very similar to the harbor where Zhang Gui stepped on Giant Serpent Island, and he could see the entrance of the basin from afar.

But the sea water was obviously much shallower, and looking into the sea, reefs were densely packed and visible to the naked eye.

(End of this chapter)