Chapter 61: Ghu Nadda Returns
Now that he had spent the majority of his wealth, there was nothing else for Yaan to do aside from training his sword arts.
Life became peaceful. Yaan quickly settled into a routine, free from stress, free from scheming or danger, free from needing to do anything other than practising his sword arts.
Despite there being only a few months remaining until the inheritance opening day, he didn't act as if he was hurried, or in any sort of rush. He trained his sword arts unhurriedly. In fact, sometimes, he would stop and ponder over a single movement for hours at a time.
Months flew by, but Yaan didn't meet a single person in this time. There were plenty of fruits growing in his garden and preserved meats in his storage room. He even had wine and tea, so there was really no reason to leave.
He didn't actually 'need' any of these things, since his hunger and thirst could be remedied with a simple Rank 1 pill, but Yaan enjoyed eating, drinking and sleeping each day, spending a couple of hours every day on these sorts of mundane activities. In a way, these simple activities felt like his last remaining connection to his humanity, so he was in no rush to discard them just yet.
Yaan also practised meditation. This was not the sort of meditation used by Qi refiners to pursue their cultivation, but the most basic form of meditation, wherein the mind was emptied and the practitioner entered a state of emptiness. It was relaxing, and helped Yaan to ease the weariness in his heart.
At some point, Despite not actively pursuing it, Yaan began to understand those illusions which appeared whenever he practised his sword arts. He started to realise that although they were indeed illusions, they were also very much 'real'.
Without even realising it, he had started to incorporate dao into his sword arts. The dao of illusions, the dao of air, the dao of water, and so on.
To this day, Yaan didn't understand dao. He didn't understand why so many cultivators obsessed over pursuing their specific daos. He didn't understand why every cultivator seemed to believe that their own interpretation of dao was correct, despite every interpretation differing from the next.
Yaan felt like these people put too much emphasis on describing 'dao' with words, causing them to completely miss the truth that was standing directly in front of them.
For example, what was the best way to understand a tree? Could a tree be better understood by describing its appearance, its thick trunk, its soft green leaves, its towering structure?
In truth, describing the tree using words would not allow a person to understand it properly. The best way to understand a tree, was simply by looking at it, touching it, smelling its fragrance, observing it. Attempting to define the tree using words would only detach your understanding further away from the truth.
"Or, maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps I, and everyone else, is simply bad at explaining things, and are thus unable to explain dao." Yaan smiled lightly. He did not care much about the accuracy of his musings.
As Yaan grew older and saw more of the world, he began asking questions sometimes. These were the sorts of philosophical questions that even great scholars struggled to answer.
"In the end, dwelling on such intangible things doesn't make sense. It's interesting to ponder over these things now and then, but obsessing over these questions just leaves you without any answers, and even more questions."
"Hey, Yaan…!" Yaan's quiet contemplation was interrupted by a familiar voice, one that he had not heard in quite some time. He didn't mind the interruption, since he wasn't particularly busy and never said that he was going into closed door cultivation anyway.
"Nadda! It's good that you improved your realm and even fully recovered in time too!" Yaan laughed as he approached the happy looking, yet also gloomy faced boy.
He was glad that Nadda had returned from his isolation, because Yaan had certain things that he wanted to discuss with the young Ghu Clansman.
After chatting with Nadda for some time and confirming that he had fully recovered from his injuries and stabilised his foundation after reaching the 4th Layer Qi Palace Realm, Nadda revealed his plans leading up to the opening of the inheritance.
His idea was to hold a corpse auction.
"You're going to hold a corpse auction? Is it ok to do that? I thought that your clan preferred to keep this business a bit more secretive?" Yaan blinked in surprise at what he just heard.
"Keeping the corpse trade a 'secret' is just to maintain our reputation…anyway, anyone who's worth something in these lands already knows about our business…we trade with over half of them after all…"
Yaan nodded, he had realised early on that this was probably the case. In truth, keeping their corpse trade a 'secret' only served to delude the masses within the city. Most lower realm cultivators would be put off by a city which thrived on the trade of corpses, but apparently, holding a 'one-time auction' prior to the inheritance exploration was different.
"The inheritance site is filled with opportunity and peril…the city is still filling up and it's only getting more and more hectic these days….as the pressure starts to weigh down on everyone, I'll announce the anonymous auction…we'll say that it's to help minimise our losses in the inheritance exploration, nobody will complain about that…nobody worth caring about will complain at least, kakaka…"
Yaan's eyes shone brightly.
"Good plan!" He praised honestly. "So, when will you hold the auction? I think it's still too soon. The atmosphere is very excitable, but it's not quite tense enough yet."
Nadda nodded slowly, he had the same thought. There were still three months to go now, the excitement was peeking, but the fear hadn't quite kicked in properly. Once those people who intended to explore the inheritance started to feel nervous and anxious, they would spend all of their money on treasures to build up their strength.
"What sorts of corpses will you be selling to make the most money?" Yaan asked.
"The best Qi Temple Realm corpses…not Qi Palace Realm corpses, my clan prefers to keep those….as for demonic bodies…there are no 3-Star Realm corpses in this city, they're too rare…"
Yaan nodded as he thought about it. Spirit Core and Demon Core Realm corpses were useless to take into the inheritance, since the core would just be removed. This had happened in previous explorations, and strangely, the core extraction process damaged the corpses, despite the very same process not injuring living beings. Because of this, the demand for corpses right now would be strongly skewed towards those at the higher layers of the Qi Temple Realm.
"High ranking Qi Temple Realm corpses could probably be sold for over twenty times their normal value if we sell them at the right time…" Yaan pondered aloud. Nadda frowned and shook his head.
"No way, not that much…five times, ten at a stretch…I've tried going higher before, but there are usually some problems…it's still very profitable though…"
"Let me guess…the people who are fine with using corpse puppets already have their own, whilst most others refuse to buy them because they don't like using corpse puppets?"
"Right…" Ghu Nadda laughed, but his gaze towards Yaan became serious.
"Are you saying that you have a plan…?"
"I've had a certain idea on my mind for a while now, and if we combine the auction with my idea, we could earn a huge profit. Your Ghu Clan doesn't mind some slightly…underhanded methods, right?"
Ghu Nadda laughed and nodded approvingly at Yaan's idea, despite not yet knowing what it was. Underhanded? The Ghu Clan was built on a foundation of underhanded methods!
"Of course, that's fine…! So, what's your plan…? I feel like it should be something interesting, right…?"
"Mm. If my plan works, then nobody in this province will be able to forget it."
At first, Nadda thought that Yaan was exaggerating, but then, he paused for a moment.
'That light in his eyes…this isn't something he came up with on a whim, he's planning something big! Definitely something big!'
Seeing that Nadda understood that he was serious, Yaan smiled. However, a dark light lingered within his eyes as he smiled, making his face look even more eery than Nadda's…
"Before I explain my plan, I need you to tell me…of the nine Northern factions, which ones will be bringing decent man power to the inheritance this time? And secondly…just how much influence do you have in your clan within this city, Nadda?"
Over the past few months, Yaan realised that he was privy to various pieces of information, which if controlled properly, could change this entire province in a matter of weeks! Over these months, a plan gradually took form in Yaan's head.
This situation, this gathering that was a bit disjointed due to the beasts at the Northern border…could prove to be an incredible opportunity.
One month passed by. The big factions currently staying in North Ghu City had expected that the Ghu Clan would take this opportunity to hold an auction like normal, including that underground auction they liked so much…
But a month passed by, leaving just two months until the opening, and nothing was heard from the Ghu Clan.
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