Chapter 113 - 99: "Vicious Enough!
Chapter 113: Chapter 99: "Vicious Enough!
"Besides—"
Wang Mazi paused for a moment before continuing, "The Jiangbei Commerce Association is extremely powerful. We can’t just declare war on the Pingtian Commerce Association without a good reason, or the Jiangbei Commerce Association will intervene."
"They don’t allow this kind of vicious competition. It would disrupt the stable procurement environment they’ve established."
"At that point, our enemy won’t just be the Pingtian Commerce Association, but the Jiangbei Commerce Association as well."
"Unless we have a pretext that no one can find fault with."
What Wang Mazi said made a lot of sense.
But—
He wasn’t listening.
’That’s just too much trouble,’ he thought.
Establishing his own commerce association was a must. He could see the effects of an Exotic Treasure without needing it appraised. This meant that if he started his own association, he could keep all the best Exotic Treasures for himself.
He could sell off all the inferior ones.
The profits from that would be far greater than any other commerce association’s!
He just felt there was a simpler way. Instead of slowly encroaching on them, he could just wipe out the Pingtian Commerce Association.
He had already thought of the perfect justification.
Chen Quan, the current heir of the Jiangbei Chen Family, was the son of the Pingtian Commerce Association President’s only daughter. They had persecuted him and forced him into the Wilderness. Now he would return to Jiangbei City for revenge, first destroying the Jiangbei Chen Family, then the Pingtian Commerce Association.
It was perfectly reasonable.
No one could say a thing against it.
As the saying goes, he would have a just cause for war.
Could there be a better—
"The eldest son and rightful heir of the Jiangbei Chen Family, persecuted by villains, fights his way back to the Chen Family to reclaim his rightful place as heir and annihilate the villains’ clan."
—pretext than that?
"Heh."
Once he had worked out this chain of logic, Chen Fan suddenly burst out laughing. This justification was just too perfect. Now there was only one thing left to consider: how to destroy the Jiangbei Chen Family and the Pingtian Commerce Association.
A direct assault with Cultivators was unwinnable. It would be suicide.
He had previously invented a method of placing an Arrow Tower on a tricycle made of Earth Spikes, but it was too heavy, too slow, and had no defenses.
In a direct confrontation,
it would definitely be outgunned by the Arrow Towers mounted on their City Wall.
"Hooo..."
He let out a long sigh. For now, he couldn’t think of a better way. Cross-territory warfare was certainly a headache. ’If only my predecessor had studied history properly,’ he mused, ’there must be a historical precedent for this.’
Unless...
A strange expression gradually appeared on his face.
He had thought of a plan that just might work.
"Wang Mazi."
"Tell me, if I were to find the Pingtian Commerce Association’s territory, build a City Wall around it to completely encircle them, and then place a ring of artillery towers on the wall, could I destroy the Pingtian Commerce Association?"
"Of course you could."
Wang Mazi nodded firmly. "As long as the Level of your City Wall and artillery towers are higher than the Pingtian Commerce Association’s, it would definitely work. But... it would be a huge loss. High Level City Walls and artillery towers are very expensive."
"Besides, they have patrols around their territory."
"You’d be discovered after building just one section of wall..."
"I understand. You can go now."
Chen Fan smiled, waving his hand to dismiss Wang Mazi, telling him he could go back to bed.
’It seems...’
’I’ve found the solution.’
’A loss?’
’My construction costs aren’t that high.’
’Discovered by patrols?’
’My buildings are constructed instantly. How could they be discovered? By the time they noticed anything, the City Wall would already be up.’
He finally understood how other factions earned their Ghost Stones.
’A great method.’
He needed to have his own Marketplace and commerce association. Whatever others had, he had to have as well.
...
「The night passed.」
By mid-morning the next day, the camp was gradually growing lively.
It was the eighteenth day of the rainy season.
In about ten more days, the rainy season would end.
These past few days, Qianxi seemed to have vanished and hadn’t shown up. To lure Qianxi here, Zhou Mo had even gone out and deliberately left a trail of Ghost Corpses in the wilderness leading to the canyon.
But still, nothing was lured in.
There was no sign of activity at all.
Meanwhile, inside the cave today, everyone was gathered to discuss a very important matter.
The official establishment of their faction required a Banner to represent them. After thinking it over for the past few days, everyone had come up with their own proposals.
"Chief."
Xiaoyu was the first to speak. "Chief, according to your request, we need to design a Banner that is both low-key and high-profile. It can’t make us seem too flashy, but it also can’t let others think we’re easy to bully."
"My idea is to name our faction ’Celestial Valley,’ with a single word on the Banner: ’Celestial’."
Zhou Mo gave Xiaoyu a strange look. "You call that low-key? Sounds like it’s all high-profile to me. But you and I are on the same page."
"Since we live in a canyon, we should use ’Valley’ as a suffix."
"In Jiangnan, there are two famous Alchemy Influences: one is called the ’Pill Sect,’ and the other is the ’Medicine King Valley.’"
"I think we should call ourselves the ’Valley of Evil.’"
"And have a single word on the Banner: ’Evil’."
"Evil enough!"
"Full of deterrent power!"
Zhou Mo was clearly very pleased with his own idea. His eyes were full of anticipation, as if he expected Chen Fan to be blown away, slam the table in approval, and finalize the idea on the spot.
However...
he saw the Chief looking at him like he was an idiot. He immediately shrank back and stopped talking, muttering under his breath, "Well, what about ’Valley of the Good,’ with the single word ’Good’ on the Banner?"
「A few days ago.」
Chen Fan had instructed everyone to go and think about it for a few days.
They were sitting here discussing it today to officially decide on the faction’s name and Banner. After the rainy season ended, this faction that had grown during the rains was preparing to make its grand debut!
"I think we should break from convention and make a huge splash!"
Wang Mazi was very enthusiastic. After all, the Banner would mainly be used by the commerce association. This meant the Banner would be with him more often, like a second set of clothes, so he naturally placed more importance on it.