An Jing is not the type to directly shuffle public spoils of war into his account, then flip them immediately into his private property—Even though currently, the spoils from Linjiang City are almost synonymous with his private assets, necessary procedures still must be followed.
Following protocol, An Jing sought guidance from Gu Yunzhi, the Great General of the Northern Border Total War Zone, and communicated with Virtuous King, His Highness of the Jiuli Commanding General in Hanhai, about his war spoils.
After receiving two replies: "Reviewed, in principle agreed, please consult His Highness Virtuous King," and "Reviewed, agreed," An Jing secured the right to freely dispose of the spoils of war.
This was not only about procedural justice but also implicitly recognized that An Jing, being a Jiuli Commanding General, had his ways to utilize this batch of armaments, such as breaking them down using Weapon Fiend and Gold Fiend for Body Refinement, or recasting them into some other forms of Five Metals, hence they left the usage up to An Jing.
It cannot really be considered a mistake.
In any event, the Iron Cavalry armaments that An Jing brought to the Tianyuan Realm were of superior quality.
According to Huo Qing, "The smelting technique is reminiscent of great ancient craftsmen, the magic inhibition etched with a highly personal touch, rather than being industrial products, they should be considered modern artistic creations."
The technological gap between Embracing the Void and Tianyuan Realm in terms of military equipment has not yet reached the point where one side’s military usage could only be considered as civilian on the other side; the defensive ability of Martial Army armor alone is quite remarkable among Qi Refining Artifacts, not to mention the coordination of Earth Attribute, Wind Attribute, and Ice Attribute Skills—all of which make them premium products.
"The only problem is that the average Loose Cultivator probably can’t afford it."
After Huo Qing finished appraising, he gave a fair price: "Items used by Loose Cultivators are generally cheap, a better Bulletproof Poncho costs just a few Good Deeds, anything over three hundred Good Deeds is considered premium, but what you brought... the Spiritual Materials used are solid, each using ’Yellow Flame Iron,’ ’Immersed Winter Jade,’ and ’Cloud Dust,’ the price, including the compatible Formation for array establishment..."
"I think, a set would be at least twenty-two hundred Good Deeds!"
Huo Qing’s quoted price was quite fair; actually, a brand-new set of Magic Artifact armor and various small accessories on the market range from three thousand six to four thousand Good Deeds. This isn’t expensive considering just the Five Metals and various Spiritual Materials used are already worth over fifteen hundred Good Deeds, not including processing fees and Great Formation taxes.
Twenty-two hundred, that’s considering the usage time the armors have had; otherwise, melting down the materials alone could sell for several hundred Good Deeds.
But then comes the problem: which Loose Cultivator has twenty-two hundred Good Deeds in savings?
Before meeting An Jing, Huo Qing himself had only saved a few hundred Good Deeds after several years, and for An Jing, even with inter-realm trade, earning a few thousand Good Deeds would take some time.
A Loose Cultivator with twenty-two hundred Good Deeds wouldn’t be just a Loose Cultivator; they could buy a small house in places like Danlin Town or Chonggang Town.
"Didn’t expect that too good quality can also be a problem."
An Jing touched his chin, thinking: "How about we do a big discount to celebrate our opening? Lowering the price to around fifteen hundred should generate considerable sales."
"Eh? Aren’t you worried about taking a loss?"
Huo Qing was surprised; from these sets of horse armor, he could tell that An Jing’s previous claim about dealing with ’Cavalry’ was serious.
Though he couldn’t understand why the Tianyuan Realm still had ancient era Demon Spirit Cavalry, the Wilderness inherently represented unlimited possibilities—who knows what new things have been developed in those dark areas beyond the reach of the four major groups?
An Jing being able to defeat these cavalry and not minding the price only indicated that his backing forces were powerful and won extremely easily.
"Now what’s most important is to first build our reputation."
An Jing nodded slightly: "Besides, I didn’t say to release them all at once—Huo Qing, you first refurbish them, make them look like new.
"After the store opens, let’s put out ten sets as an opening discount, and then gradually supply more... Our main products should still be talismans, elixirs, logistical supplies, and various exploration equipments."
"These items can be sold at a lower price without loss, as long as they attract customers."
"I understand." An Jing spoke of a simple business strategy, and Huo Qing, understanding it better than An Jing, had already formulated a direction in his mind.
As for the detailed operational plan, An Jing’s energy could not be devoted to such matters, nor could Huo Qing’s. Their respective enterprises were gradually starting up, and it was time to recruit some professionals.
After the two roughly discussed a process, Huo Qing slapped his head: "I was startled by you just now and forgot to say—Nian Quan sold out all the Spirit Stones on his end, we have made back all the money used to buy landmines, rockets, and meteorological missiles."
"Nian Quan said, the Meteorological Bureau is still asking if there are any more Spirit Stones. They have a precious celestial instrument that needs such Yin Yang attributed Spiritual Objects. If there are any, they are willing to pay heavily to buy them, rocket missiles, missiles, meteorological flying shuttles, all can be negotiated!"
"Eh? Meteorological flying shuttle?"
Hearing the keyword, An Jing’s eyes lit up, then he frowned: "We can’t handle this..."
Simply put, a meteorological flying shuttle is used to monitor Fiend Clouds, and aside from having extremely strong anti-Fiend capabilities, there isn’t anything special. However, its flying altitude is much higher than Tengshuang White—but such a device also consumes an astronomical amount of Spirit Qi, and though An Jing could maintain it, it would be somewhat troublesome.
Besides, the operation of the flying shuttle would definitely require a chip.
But most importantly, privately owning a flying shuttle would definitely require it to be registered at a level like Xuanye City, even with real-time positioning. Moreover, if he could really bring out enough Spirit Stones and Spiritual Objects to buy a meteorological flying shuttle, the Xuanye City Meteorological Bureau, unless they were fools, would definitely investigate his background thoroughly.
Of course, they wouldn’t find anything, and that’s the most troublesome part.
"Let Nian Quan tell them, we don’t have high-purity Spirit Stones anymore. But we have some inferior Yin Yang minerals, let’s see if there is a possibility of a trade."
After some thought, An Jing slowly said: "By the way, you need to teach Nian Quan, let him not easily reveal the people behind him—he is a port, one that won’t be investigated, won’t be suspected. Others don’t need to know what background or powers are behind Nian Quan, they will investigate, but it won’t be as deep as investigating us."
"As long as Nian Quan grows up, everyone will assume there is a major power behind him... We just need to blend into the shadows behind him, no need to actually step forward."
Huo Qing nodded slightly. Actually, he wanted to say this too, but from his position, it was hard to remind Nian Quan on behalf of An Jing. Now with An Jing’s words, he felt relieved to caution the Heavenly Spiritual Root genius, who was somewhat naive in aspects other than cultivation and battle.
Plus, there was another issue he wasn’t sure whether to mention.
"Just go ahead and say it."
An Jing had noticed that Huo Qing had hesitated to speak multiple times, indicating a problematic matter, but he was never one to shy from troubles.
"Actually, there’s news from Iron Hand."
Encouraged by An Jing, Huo Qing sighed, "He says, he has a way to get the chips that can bypass Xuanye City’s verification from the Wilderness."
"But in my opinion, there really isn’t any difference, because any Wilderness force capable of bypassing the verification can also install their own backdoors—our place, there’s really no absolutely secure chip."