Chapter 34 - Promotion and Scamming

With his strength having undergone a significant boost, Yaan wanted to test himself in the arena more than ever. However, after spending some time discussing various matters with Ghu Nadda each week and learning more about this world, he discarded this idea, since it was somewhat suicidal. Many Qi masters were all too eager to refine those with strong bodies into puppets, whilst some others simply hated the demonic races to the core. Making his identity known to the public was not something that Yaan was willing to do with his current meagre power and his complete lack of backing.

And so, he continued to work at the shop. He transported corpses from the arena to the shop once a week, then returned to Ghu Nadda with the full payment the following week.

After learning that Yaan was actually unable to open spatial rings, Ghu Nadda started to trust him with more valuable deliveries. He didn’t immediately throw Yaan in at the deep end, but slowly increased the work load. By gradually increasing the number and value of Yaan’s exchanges, Nadda was able to ensure that Yaan wasn’t planning to just sell the spatial ring and run.

To further develop their relationship, Nadda also increased Yaan’s pay, alongside trusting him with even higher value deliveries. The Ghu Clan young master had no reservations about paying Yaan more generously. Compared to the actual value of the transactions, Yaan was still earning barely 0.1-0.2% of each deal. It sounded low, but to Yaan, this sort of money was more than enough.

Yaan’s primary job underwent a change 2 months after he reached the Late 2-Star realm. He readily agreed to any extra work that Ghu Nadda suggested, and eventually, once the slobbish shopkeeper found a new assistant under Nadda’s request, Yaan stopped working at the shop and started working in corpse delivery full time. The value of his deliveries had increased substantially since he started out, so he was no longer permitted to hold onto the payment for a full week. Instead, Yaan brought the payment back to the underground morgue immediately following the transaction. Since Yaan had more time freed up now that he wasn’t working as a shop attendant, he had no problem with this arrangement at all.

His wage had been steadily increasing until it reached an incredible 30-35 Rank 2 recovery pills each week. Yaan already thought that this was amazing, but he’d still underestimated the sheer scale of the corpse trade in North Ghu City, and of Ghu Nadda’s responsibility in managing the corpse trade from the most bloody arena in the city.

Even though he was only at the Qi Palace realm, the demonic race Qi refining equivalent to the Qi Temple realm, Ghu Nadda was considered quite highly by his clan. He was thought to be someone with a great chance of becoming a Clan Elder in the future, and was thus assigned such a high-income position. His competence in business allowed him to keep this position for the past few years, any potential competition was crushed ruthlessly by the young ghoul without a shred of hesitation.

“This…I’m seriously going to be earning so much?” Yaan turned towards Ghu Nadda in disbelief. The gloomy looking boy laughed and nodded, then pointed towards the five corpses laid out before Yaan. They were all extremely powerful corpses, each and every one of them at high layers of the Qi Temple realm!

“You’re going to be delivering to five different locations at first…four of them are similar to the old slob’s shop in terms of income, but the fifth is a higher level client…I introduced you two yesterday, so I think you should be fine…whilst that person is at the Initial Demon Core realm, he reached this stage using some forceful means…he’s amongst the weakest of Demon Core realm Elders….besides, he’s been dealing with our Ghu Clan for so long that he’s considered a trusted client, whilst this is only an average delivery…you shouldn’t have any problems…”

Yaan nodded slowly, it made sense, but he could still hardly believe it. Not only was he delivering to a Demon Core realm powerhouse this time, someone a bit famous even in some areas of this city, but his own cut from this single delivery was going to be a Rank 3 recovery pill and 30 Rank 2 recovery pills! Plus, there was a chance to earn a generous bonus if he was able to sell the merchandise above the minimum asking price!

As a full time worker of the Ghu Clan, Yaan’s wage was now set at 1% of the sale price. It still didn’t sound like much, but he was only delivering the goods, not procuring them or doing any other business. Ghu Nadda’s job was far more taxing than Yaan’s, since he was actually in charge of procuring and preparing the corpses. A normal corpse wasn’t much good, as a Qi master’s Yuan Qi would usually dissipate following their death. The Ghu Clan seemed to use some strange methods to prevent this from occurring, but Yaan didn’t understand the specifics.

Anyway, with three 4th layer and a single 5th layer Qi Temple realm Qi masters, all relatively well preserved corpses, this single transaction would be worth a Rank 4 recovery pill and 30-50 Rank 3 recovery pills! This was a sum of money larger than any Yaan had seen before!

So long as the buyer stated a price within this range, the trade would go ahead without any questions asked. If not…well, Yaan had learned how to conduct business properly by now.

The buyer this time was an old demon of the vampiric race. He was an esteemed powerhouse at the Demon Core realm, but when faced with the Ghu Clan, he didn’t dare to act arrogantly. Even the day before, when Ghu Nadda introduced the old demon to Yaan, the old man acted politely towards Yaan. Now though, Yaan made his way down alone, deep underground into the old pale man’s dungeon. This dungeon was cold, whilst it was filled to the brim with a certified undead army. As Yaan expected, the old demon wasn’t nearly as polite as the day before.

“1 Rank 4 recovery pill.” The old demon stated coldly, looking at Yaan with indifference. His eyes had a commanding look about them, as if he was expecting Yaan to do as he said without a single complaint.

Admittedly, this gaze made Yaan tremble slightly. He realised that this exchange wouldn’t be as smooth as Ghu Nadda had believed. After taking a breath to calm himself, Yaan’s eyes became strangely serene, though a hint of darkness couldn’t be hidden from his gaze.

“Senior, this is below the Ghu Clan young master’s asking price.” Yaan replied calmly, as if he couldn’t feel the overwhelming pressure deliberately given off by this client. This was not the old man’s natural background aura…this was a purposely malicious aura that he was directing towards Yaan in an attempt to terrify him into submission!

Yaan had met many strong people by now, and he was excellent at reading people’s auras. Whilst this aura indeed made him extremely uncomfortable to the point that he struggled to stand, he firmly kept eye contact and didn’t relent in the least.

“A mere 2-Star fiend dares to talk back to this senior?!” He raised his voice and pushed Yaan back by three steps with a burst of dark red aura. Yaan forced himself to swallow down his blood, then stood up straight and calmly retrieved his Ghu Clan guest plate from within his robe.

“Whilst I may be weak, senior, I am an envoy of the Ghu Clan. To attack me is to attack the Ghu Clan. The asking price is one Rank 4 recovery pill and fifty Rank 3 recovery pills, non-negotiable.” Yaan smiled faintly as he said this.

Usually, he wouldn’t dare to put on such an overbearing act before someone with a power that clearly dwarfed his own, but Yaan happened to know something about this old guy…he was terrified of the Ghu Clan! His plan in pressuring Yaan this time was to force him to accept a lower payment. Afterwards, the old demon would claim to the Ghu Clan that he payed in full, and that Yaan stole the remaining payment!

However, Yaan’s next words killed this grand plan of his.

“If senior is thinking that he can blame me for stealing the payment, then perhaps senior should first check my body.”

The old demon paused and briefly glanced down. A white light flashed in his eyes, he was clearly casting an investigatory type spell. At first his expression was indifferent and arrogant, but suddenly, he saw something that caused him to freeze. He knew that this child was a fiend, so he naturally thought that he cultivated Yuan Qi and his physical body, but…

“Your dantian is crippled…” The old man’s voice was quieter than before. It also sounded slightly depressed, causing Yaan to feel a bit of satisfaction.

“Mm, unfortunately that is the case. It is impossible for me to steal any payment from the Ghu Clan.”

The old man harrumphed and glared at this obstinate child with deep killing intent. He quickly hid this killing intent, though. He continued to stare at Yaan, causing the pressure endured by Yaan to steadily rise. After a few seconds, the old man was stunned that Yaan seemingly remained unaffected! Of course he knew that this was only a facade, but the fact that this child was able to maintain such a facade, even when faced with such overwhelming power, made him feel uncertain.

Despite how he felt, he was well aware that he couldn’t actually murder an envoy of the Ghu Clan. Even pressuring this child and causing him some minor injuries was already pushing it. He retracted his aura and sighed internally, gritting his teeth slightly and frowning as he adjusted his plan.

“Your asking price is too steep, what was the range that-”

Yaan interrupted him calmly, with an expression devoid of any emotion besides a faint mocking look in his eyes.

“Since senior declined the asking price, the responsibility for dealing with this business falls to me. One Rank 4 and 50 Rank 3 recovery pills, this is non negotiable…that is, if you wish to maintain a cordial relationship with the Ghu Clan.”

The old man suddenly shivered.

‘Such guts! This child clearly knows that he isn’t my match, but he’s aware that I don’t dare anger the Ghu Clan! If I don’t pay this, he might talk about what happened here!’

When Yaan saw the old demon’s momentary change in expression, his eyes lit up and he immediately added:

“So long as senior is willing to pay this fair price, the Ghu Clan will naturally remain well inclined towards senior.” Yaan calmly spoke, a dark look hovering within his eyes.

This wasn’t the first time he had been threatened like this. His childish appearance and relatively low cultivation level made people believe that they could screw him over, easily and without consequence. At first, Yaan really had lost out once or twice. Over time, he learned from his losses and learned how to gain the initiative in business, by making use of his relation to the Ghu Clan and of the Ghu Clan’s strict city rules.

No killing in the city outside of the arenas, this was the primary and unbreakable rule. Nobody would break this rule, unless they wanted to die. Still, these old fogeys always assumed that they could scare him into submission. Unfortunately for them, Yaan had become increasingly daring as he confirmed repeatedly that nobody was willing to break the rules here, not even those at the Spirit and Demon Core realm! Nowadays, he even had the guts to force a Demon Core realm Elder into a tough spot like this!

“Fine, take it!” The old man placed the payment into a cheap spatial ring under Yaan’s sharp gaze, then threw it across to him as he pulled the corpse filled ring from Yaan’s hands using his Demon Qi.

“Many thanks for senior’s generosity and kindness!” Yaan smiled brightly and clasped his hands, then quickly departed before the old man’s rage could explode once again.

After returning to Ghu Nadda with haste…

“You actually received the full payment…?” Ghu Nadda turned to Yaan in shock.

“Mm, that senior was very understanding and agreed to pay the highest fee.”

“Kakaka…! Sure, sure, I bet he was…!” Ghu Nadda laughed jarringly, but Yaan just smiled and shrugged, as if he didn’t do anything at all.

This was the first time he managed to obtain the full profit, and it was actually from such a big sale! When he was facing that old demon just now, he did his best to act calmly and indifferently, but the very moment he left that dungeon, Yaan’s heart started beating wildly and he broke out in cold sweat. When he thought about what he had just done, he couldn’t help but feel exhilarated!

He threatened and scammed a Demon Core realm Elder!

Of course, Yaan wasn’t just enraging powerhouses for fun, he had a reason for doing this. The reason for Ghu Nadda giving Yaan a fairly large range of acceptable sale prices, was to provide Yaan with an opportunity. Yaan would actually earn 10% of everything he gained from a sale above the minimum asking price!

He brought back a bonus of 20 Rank 3 recovery pills this time, meaning that he actually earned such a huge bonus of two Rank 3 recovery pills! In total, he earned three Rank 3 recovery pills and 30 Rank 2 recovery pills…

This was more money than he managed to accumulate in the many months of work when he first began working with Ghu Nadda! They had worked together part time for around three months, but now that Yaan was working full time, delivering corpses for the Ghu Clan, Ghu Nadda thought it was only natural that he should start earning more.

After seeing Yaan return from his most pressuring trade yet, with the maximum stated price, the young ghoul was honestly shocked. The minimum price was the minimum they would accept, whilst the half way point in his stated range was the actual maximum that he expected. Anything above this was simply more than the corpses were worth. For Yaan to return with so much money, it could only mean that he did something spectacular, and probably dangerous, to achieve such a feat.

“Earning more is good Yaan, but…don’t make a habit of ripping off every client, ok…?”

“But if they’re being overbearing then it’s fine, right?” Yaan asked with a smile. Ghu Nadda paused for a moment, starting to piece together what had taken place within his mind. After a few seconds, he laughed with a dry and dead voice box.

“Of course that’s fine…kakaka! But still, you should be careful….some cultivators are a bit eccentric, they might attack you without caring for your guest status…I doubt anyone would dare kill you…but injuring you and leaving you with the minimum price would only be met with light punishment from my clan…especially for some of the more powerful individuals with big backgrounds…”

Yaan nodded slowly. Perhaps he had been a bit too rash this time, but he honestly felt like the senior from before wasn’t the type to endanger himself over a small sum of money. It was a gut feeling of Yaan’s, something he had gradually developed after becoming acquainted with a variety of different powerful people, and after being betrayed by those he once trusted.

With today’s earnings in his pocket, Yaan planned to head out to the market today to buy some more cultivation resources. Just as he was leaving, the ghoulish boy called out after him.

“Yaan…what do you know about the North Ghu inheritance site?”