Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)

“With you being a violet-gold card carrier, we can have absolute trust in you. I don’t want to lie to you. We truly did know about this matter. Back when the Soaring Dragon Company lowered their price to suppress us, we already sensed that something was wrong. Although we are all businessmen, our Huayun Trading Company strictly abides by our bottom line. But some businessmen are scum amongst businessmen. The path between the Violet Flame Heaven and the Darklight Heaven is very long. Moreover, the weather is extreme. Storms can arise out of nowhere, and we also need to deal with the attacks of numerous sea demons. It costs a great deal. Thus, when we ferry people across, we are basically making no money. It is more of a responsibility.

“However, the Soaring Dragon Company joined forces with the other major companies to lower the price and suppress us. They also made up false accusations against us, ruining our reputation. The Soaring Trading Company shouted loudly that they were willing to take a loss to ferry people across, so the people that were unaware of the truth really thought that our Huayun Trading Company was overcharging to carry them across. They began to grow dissatisfied with us. At that time, I advocated announcing the truth to the public, showing people our revenue and costs for transporting them, but… the higher-ups refused. They even ordered me to stop the shipping route,” sighed Qi Fang.

Clearly, she did not understand the logic behind the higher-ups’ decision.

“Explaining would be meaningless. People only see the immortal king crystals that they worked hard for flying out of their hands. If you were to do that, you would only land deeper in the Soaring Dragon Company’s scheme. You showed some proof, and they’d quickly show their own proof, pointing out how you vastly inflated the costs. People don’t know the truth. They will only care about who can save them the most money and not who is more worthy of trust,” said Long Chen.

Qi Fang looked at him with some astonishment. “Mister Long Chen really is wise. I didn’t think about those points.”

Long Chen shook his head. “It’s not wisdom, it’s simply experience. President, you are used to carrying out your business in an above-board manner. You feel like you can tell others the truth and it will convince them. You underestimate how shameless the other side is.”

The Huayun Trading Company’s integrity was its golden signboard. From top to bottom, they viewed this integrity as more important than even their own lives.

Clearly, this Qi Fang might be the president, but she was not experienced with unscrupulous businessmen and their malicious plays.

“Then it seems that I wrongly blamed the higher-ups. Thank you for explaining this to me,” thanked Qi Fang before continuing, “You mentioned the Fiend Devil Eye. We knew of it. Every time we crossed the core region, the Fiend Devil Eye would appear. However, it has never made things hard on us. It was only after the Soaring Dragon Company appeared that it started to change. The terrifying existence told us that every time we crossed, we had to offer it enough sacrifices, or it would make things hard on our ships. The sacrifices were to be the crystal cores of demonic beasts, and they had to be the crystal cores of World King demonic beasts. We were not making any money from this responsibility, and adding on this tribute, we would be losing money. Ignoring how we were losing money, we were even misunderstood by others. Hence, the higher-ups decided to stop ferrying cultivators and only ferry goods. That way, we could get along. In the end, the Soaring Dragon Company monopolized the ferry business. Without us as competition, they started to do whatever they pleased, using all kinds of embezzlement that betrayed the essence of business. Mister Long Chen, did you launch such a spirited counterattack because you couldn’t bear watching them act this way, resulting in this conflict?”

Long Chen was startled. “Did your information only include this much?”

Now, it was Qi Fang’s turn to be startled. “What is it?”

“My enmity with the Soaring Dragon Company doesn’t stop there. The reason I was so vicious is because they truly did something that infuriates even the heavens…” Long Chen explained what had happened with the Fiend Devil Eye and how everyone was sacrificed.

Qi Fang stood in shock. When she heard that the Soaring Dragon Company offered the lives of millions of people as sacrifices to pass through the Fiend Devil Eye, flames of fury raged in her eyes.

“They are animals!” raged Qi Fang.

Long Chen said, “After hearing your story, clearly the Soaring Dragon Company is in collusion with the Fiend Devil Eye. Those so-called tributes that it demanded were a simple trick to force you to give up on that business. Then the Soaring Dragon Company would monopolize it and would be able to do whatever they pleased without others being aware. Furthermore, I feel like this collaboration is not limited to just the Fiend Devil Eye. Perhaps there is an even greater scheme. But as for what exactly they are thinking, no one knows.”

“I must report this to the higher-ups immediately.” Qi Fang grew grave.

Long Chen nodded. “I trust that the Huayun Trading Company’s higher-ups will attach great importance to this. Other than that, I mostly came here to buy some things. Is it convenient to do so right now?”

Hearing that question, Qi Fang laughed. “My Huayun Trading Company deals with business. When is it not convenient? Even if the origin of the items is a bit controversial, as long as they aren’t ill-gotten wealth or gains, my Huayun Trading Company will not mind taking them in.”

Long Chen also smiled. It seemed that Qi Fang had guessed his goal. Originally, he was a bit worried that the Huayun Trading Company would find these things taboo, but it seemed that he had over-thought it.

Long Chen didn’t stand on courtesy and directly tossed out the list of ingredients that he needed.

Qi Fang immediately sent someone to handle them. It went without saying that the Huayun Trading Company was extremely efficient. In just a short incense stick’s worth of time, all the ingredients that Long Chen wanted were gathered.

“This is everything from our storehouse, and there are other storehouses that we have to go through. I will go through the various large storehouses, but that will take three to five days,” said Qi Fang.

Long Chen hastily said his thanks. Coming to the Huayun Trading Company truly had been the right decision. Their collection was very complete. Long Chen estimated that these ingredients would be enough to refine two to three hundred thousand Violet Flame Pills.

However, he also estimated that this wouldn’t be enough for him. He then told her that he wanted as many of these ingredients as possible.

Naturally, he also traded what he had. He took out all the medicinal pills that he had stolen. Perhaps he would have a use for other things, but when it came to medicinal pills, he didn’t want any.

The medicinal pills from multiple treasuries of the Soaring Dragon Company, this was an astonishing amount with equally astonishing value. However, estimating their value would take a great deal of time.

Long Chen conducted his business with Qi Fang the same way as he did with Zheng Wenlong. He didn’t bother wasting his brain on this matter.

After obtaining the ingredients, he directly rented the highest level alchemy room within Yu Prefecture City and started refining pills.

When Long Chen consumed a full hundred thousand Violet Flame Pills, his FengFu Star was completely covered by a violet veil. In the end, this veil suddenly shattered. And when the FengFu Star reappeared, it was a violet star.

As the FengFu Star slowly circulated, violet qi came out, looking like an illusion. This violet qi slowly circulated throughout Long Chen’s 108,000 stars. Now, even his 108,000 stars became covered in violet spots.

Suddenly, Long Chen’s divine ring appeared. The six-colored divine ring now had a faint violet light around it. At that moment, Long Chen felt like a door inside his body had been opened.