"If our Celestial Craft Pavilion didn’t only sell one weapon every few days, Huo Zhen Court would go insane. Whenever we open our doors, he’s guaranteed to have no business at all," Xiang Xiaoyuan said, her smile as radiant as a flower.
Although students had yet to enroll in Songjiang Prefecture’s Bailu Academy, its commercial district was already up and running.
These shops weren’t just for swindling money from the Demon Court’s exchange students.
Xiang Xiaoyuan’s Celestial Craft Pavilion and Huo Zhen Court’s weapon shop had both opened for business.
The only difference was that Huo Zhen Court’s shop opened daily, selling a wide variety of weapons.
The Celestial Craft Pavilion, on the other hand, only opened its doors every few days, and each time, only a single weapon was for sale.
"My lord, should we recruit more Weapon Masters? Or perhaps I could find a way to procure some weapons from elsewhere?"
Xiang Xiaoyuan asked.
If she were given free rein, she was confident she could make the Celestial Craft Pavilion bigger and stronger.
"That’s not necessary."
Su Mu shook his head. The Celestial Craft Pavilion was merely a tool for him to farm Points; he had no real intention of making it bigger and stronger.
Selling anything other than the weapons he personally forged wouldn’t earn him any Points.
As for giving up his position as the Taiping Bureau Governor to become a merchant, Su Mu had never considered it.
With his current power, there were countless ways for him to make money.
There was no need to plunge into the world of commerce just to scheme and plot against others.
Besides, it wasn’t like he was short on cash.
With his skills as a Weapon Master, any Mortal Weapon he casually forged would be a famed blade worthy of the Divine Weapon List, easily selling for tens of thousands of taels of silver.
Forget everything else—his forging skills alone were more than enough to support himself, and even Luo Anning and Xiang Xiaoyuan, without any issue.
In the words of Huo Zhen Court and Zhang Zhongmei, when it came to forging Mortal Weapons, no one under the heavens could surpass him.
His skill in forging Mortal Weapons had reached the pinnacle of perfection, becoming something truly sublime.
The hundred thousand Points he had spent to upgrade his Heavenly Craft Refining Technique had not been wasted.
The Mortal Weapon forging techniques he learned from the Heavenly Craft Refining Technique had put both the Divine Weapon Pavilion and the Da Xuan Refining Bureau to shame.
"The Celestial Craft Pavilion is just a pastime. Don’t let it get in the way of your cultivation,"
Su Mu said to Xiang Xiaoyuan.
Xiang Xiaoyuan seemed to think of something. Her pretty face flushed as she whispered, "I know. In another year or two, I’ll definitely be able to cultivate to the Realm of Perfect Rebirth.
"Sister Ning’s aptitude is better than mine; she’s almost there already."
Once they reached the Realm of Perfect Rebirth, they could truly marry Su Mu.
"Almost there, are they?"
Su Mu felt a flicker of heat in his heart.
Being surrounded by two such flower-like beauties, whom he could look at but not touch, was its own form of torture.
Everything they did on a daily basis was, after all, akin to scratching an itch through a boot.
’Looks like I need to speed up the marriage proposal,’ he thought.
...
A Tower Ship entered Songjiang by sea.
On the deck of the Tower Ship stood a young man of about twenty-seven or twenty-eight.
He was none other than Prince Gong of the Da Xuan Dynasty, the reigning Seventh Prince.
He had been dispatched to inspect Songjiang Prefecture and, incidentally, to investigate its Taiping Bureau Governor, Su Mu, for corruption.
Now, gazing at the nearby Songjiang Prefecture, Prince Gong Li Chuan’s face held not a hint of a smile. Instead, he wore a grimace of utter distress.
’The Taiping Bureau Governor, corrupt? Has my imperial father gone mad?’
In his heart, Li Chuan had long since cursed the eighteen generations of Xu Sheng’s ancestors.
’You, Xu Sheng, as Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, have emptied the Da Xuan treasury.
’Governor Su built this Bailu Academy in Songjiang Prefecture without spending a single tael of the court’s silver. What could be better than that?
’If you have a problem with the Taiping Bureau, then go pick a fight with them yourself! What does it have to do with me?
’I’m just a goddamn idle prince. The throne isn’t for me, so what do I gain by offending the Taiping Bureau?’
He couldn’t help but sigh.
This damn assignment was a thankless task no matter how you sliced it.
Investigate, and I’ll offend the Taiping Bureau.
Don’t investigate, and those civil servants will surely make trouble for me.
’Dammit, if they push me too far, I’ll renounce my title as prince and go wander the Jianghu!’
Li Chuan cursed inwardly.
"Your Highness, we’re about to arrive at Songjiang Prefecture. Once we’re there, should we perhaps arrest Su Mu first and conduct an interrogation?"
Just then, a middle-aged man dressed as a Civil Servant approached Li Chuan’s side and spoke.
Li Chuan glanced at him. It was Yang Bowen, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue—one of Xu Sheng’s men.
Li Chuan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "You’re going to arrest him?" he asked.
"Your Highness jests."
Yang Bowen paused, then said awkwardly, "I am but a frail scholar. Your Highness is the imperial envoy; naturally, you should be the one to dispatch men for the arrest."
"So you do know who’s in charge here,"
Li Chuan said irritably, "I’m the one who decides what’s to be done. Understood?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Yang Bowen lowered his head, but his eyes were filled with disdain.
’An out-of-favor prince... I call you ’Your Highness’ out of courtesy, and you really think you’re someone important?
’There are some things you have to do, whether you want to or not.
’Otherwise, what was the point of you coming to Songjiang Prefecture?’
Soon, the Tower Ship docked at the pier.
Aboard the Tower Ship, besides Li Chuan and Yang Bowen, were Zhu Jiuyuan, several officials from the Ministry of Rites, and the Beiting Envoy.
That’s right—along with the Da Xuan officials, their party also included the Beiting Envoy.
Beiting had dispatched the envoy with the intention of establishing diplomatic relations with Da Xuan. Like the Demon Court, they also wished to send personnel to Da Xuan to study.
They wanted to learn Da Xuan’s culture, as well as its Martial Dao.
After deliberation, the imperial court decided that Beiting could be a valuable ally for Da Xuan against the Demon Court, and so they granted the request.
The Beiting envoy’s visit to Songjiang Prefecture this time was also to conduct a preliminary inspection of the Songjiang Prefecture Bailu Academy.