"Labor is cheap? Yes, in the Tianyuan Realm, there are also ’Architectural Puppets’ and drones..."
That was the rationale, but An Jing was still shocked as he murmured to himself, "No wonder, as long as you have this technology, even the wilderness could be turned into a town."
For some reason, though, he felt that the price of houses should be quite high.
But upon closer thought, a house is just a house, merely a place to live. In the Tianyuan Realm, where strength prevails and one can regard the wilderness as home, all material enjoyments likely pale in comparison to the enhancement of one’s power.
What was really bought for ten thousand Good Deeds was probably not the stone house a Cultivator could build with a bit of time, but the protection of the ’Chonggang Town City Guards’.
This courtyard house worth ten thousand Good Deeds was naturally not the target of An Jing and Huo Qing.
What they were genuinely looking for was a simple semi-finished property or, alternatively, a cheaper piece of land similar to a warehouse.
The reason Huo Qing was so excited to call over An Jing was that he had found the most suitable property.
"A large warehouse left behind by the Mount Xiao Zhe Company!"
Huo Qing mentioned the familiar company name to An Jing and then pointed at the large structure in the Water Mirror with delight, "The building occupies twenty acres, and the usable storage area for the warehouse exceeds ten thousand square meters. It was originally a transit warehouse used by the Mount Xiao Zhe Mining Company for storing raw ore."
"For some reason, Mount Xiao Zhe has withdrawn from the Xuanye City market recently, and all their equipment and facilities have been up for sale. I figured their warehouse and land must be sold as well, so I went looking, and indeed!"
"Due to its remote location, on the edge of Chonggang Town and their urgency to sell, they are only asking for one-third of the original price, which is five thousand seven hundred Good Deeds—however, they demand payment with Spiritual Objects, not Good Deeds, and do not support loans, it must be paid in full at once, which is the tricky part!"
Huo Qing continued to talk about some details, such as Mount Xiao Zhe not taking responsibility for maintenance or dealing with aftermath, essentially selling an old warehouse and a piece of remote land at the price of a building. Thus, the few thousand Good Deeds weren’t that cheap, but he thought that An Jing’s tribe would send someone to take care of it and didn’t consider it a big deal.
"Oh my..." An Jing whispered to himself softly, "How coincidental... Mount Xiao Zhe."
No, this was not a coincidence at all.
Mount Xiao Zhe... Heavenly Profound True Talisman... Indeed, this was the covert strife between the Shouyang Group, the Guiyi Army, and the Luofu Collective!
And this cheaply sold large warehouse was just a ripple in the aftermath of their struggle.
Conveniently, he too could profit from this storm in which he was once at the center.
An Jing shook his head, and he began to smile, "This is the one."
"This is what I need."
Five thousand seven hundred Good Deeds. It sounds like a lot.
But in reality, just the seven thousand six hundred and fifty-five Good Deeds left by Nian Qin were more than enough for the full payment.
And the various Spiritual Objects and Spirit Stones that An Jing had could easily be exchanged for double that amount of Good Deeds.
The reason it was so cheap was indeed because Mount Xiao Zhe was planning to exit the market around Xuanye City. While others might not entirely understand, An Jing was well aware that this was the aftermath of the True Talisman incident.
Regardless of whether the Luofu Group has connected this matter with the Black Market branch of Mount Xiao Zhe or not, even if there is no connection, in Xuanye City dominated by the Luofu Group, enterprises from the Shouyang Mountain Group will downscale their market share, or, like Mount Xiao Zhe, withdraw entirely.
This was perhaps also the ’dignified’ solution negotiated between the two major collectives after their overt and covert strife.
Clearly, the majority of the vacancies left by the withdrawal of the Shouyang Group would be taken over by the Luofu Collective, and some remnants, large warehouse, were enough to utterly satisfy small-scale buyers like An Jing.
"Only Spiritual Objects?"
An Jing carefully scrutinized the purchase requirements, sinking into deep thought, "Don’t want Good Deeds... Well, that’s not incomprehensible."
For a corporate power structure, even if they plan to withdraw from a region, it’s not that simple.
The Luofu side will definitely conduct massive inspections on companies with questionable activities, even local Good Deeds accounts will go through scrutiny, and might even be frozen, not a single penny accessible, let alone engage in selling or trading with others.
At this time, the only option is to revert to the most primitive bartering with Spiritual Objects.
But then the question arises, if that’s the case, would buying products from Mount Xiao Zhe now draw the attention of Luofu Group?
An Jing thought for a moment and decided it probably wouldn’t.
Firstly, An Jing knew that the spy Nian Qin within Mount Xiao Zhe had died before the Guiyi Army’s Martial Artists were led in.
On the surface, in fact, there were no flaws at all, only he knew the two were connected.
Secondly, if Luofu Group really suspected Mount Xiao Zhe, it definitely couldn’t withdraw from Xuanye City. Not to mention, if Luofu Group truly started to inspect both inside and outside of Mount Xiao Zhe, the Shouyang Group would definitely fight back; important clues were at stake, and they would never allow Luofu Group free rein, the fight between them probably wouldn’t stop even now.
Lastly, are there risks?
Of course, there still are.
But to do nothing due to risk would be overcautious. Not to mention, if he didn’t find a foothold in the Tianyuan Realm soon, by the time Iron Hand returned, An Jing would truly have to head back to the Wilderness, to live like a tribe member there.
"The recent affairs of Shouyang Group and Luofu Group..."
After contemplating, An Jing decided to share the general situation with Huo Qing, "You should know about it too. Basically, this plot of land is likely the result of Shouyang Group’s concession."
"With the two big collectives openly and secretly competing, won’t we run into trouble buying this property?"
Hearing that, Huo Qing looked at An Jing in surprise, "That’s not like someone from the Wilderness at all, Brother An, you learn fast! To think of this!"
"But don’t worry, look!"
Huo Qing pointed to an icon in the Water Mirror for An Jing, a Taiji constructed from the eight thunder directions, "You see this? This is the emblem of the Sky Surveillance Bureau. With this, it means the property has been vetted by them and is safe for transaction."
"The Sky Surveillance Bureau has already checked it once, that’s why it’s up for sale, no problem!"
——So it has been checked once already, but I guess the accounts were still frozen and not yet unfrozen, they could only cut losses to stop the bleeding.
An Jing had an epiphany, then stood up, ready to call You Ruhui to take action together, "Then let’s go see it in person."
He planned to use that plot of land as a base in the future, so of course, he needed to inspect it thoroughly.
If Ruohui judged the Earth Vein and feng shui of the place to be poor, they would have to find another spot.
However, Huo Qing was somewhat astonished by An Jing’s eagerness, "Do you have Spiritual Objects worth thousands of Good Deeds on hand?"
An Jing did not elaborate. He took out the Spirit Stone and waved it in front of Huo Qing, immediately dazzling his eyes, "All right, all right, consider it unsaid!"
"Let’s set out immediately!"