Dual Cultivation God Returns-Chapter 778: Echoes of coins

"This place really is amazing", Cao Mei spoke as she took a deep breath and felt the powerful Spiritual Qi everywhere around her.

They were standing on one of the viewing platforms facing the spectacular view of the city.

"Yes, the Spiritual Land this city occupies is several orders of magnitude above any that exist in the entire star region, possibly several star regions around", Wu Long nodded.

"It is in fact so saturated that the waters of this lake naturally carry immense amounts of Spiritual Qi within them, which is why the hot open-air baths with the lake waters that the inns of this city provide are so effective", Ye Ling noted as she traced the smooth skin on the back of her hand with the fingers of the other.

Wu Long smiled, and added, "This is also the only Intermediate World we have encountered so far, all others were either Small or Minor Worlds. It's no wonder it is the center of cultivation civilization around here"

"I remember you told us that cultivators choose to settle in places that offer specific benefits, and why places like the Soft Meadow Continent, if not for the access to Boundless Mortal World, and the Great Wilderness, are considered countryside, with no major powers taking particular interest... but I was surprised that some places we passed after leaving the Soft Meadow Continent were even less attractive in terms of quality of Spiritual Qi", Song Lingfei who stood right beside Wu Long, a bit in front of him, spoke with curiosity as she turned her head away from the scenery to look at him.

It was true that each of the major regional cities they passed, even including the Lonely Cliff City they first boarded the Beast of Burden on, had better conditions than the Soft Meadow Continent, progressively getting more impressive, culminating in the Emerald Falls Continent, but the worlds in between vastly varied, with many of them having almost the same level of Spiritual Qi as in Boundless Mortal World.

"As I once said, worlds of the Seven Boundless Worlds behave akin to a living and breathing organism, the links between worlds acting like veins that circulate the blood and lifeline, the Spiritual Qi, or like a nervous system that passes signals", he spoke as his fingers softly touched her shoulder, left open by the light dress she was wearing, and then started tracing her skin down her arm, "and just like capillaries that exist to connect veins, or synapses that connect nerves, there are those that handle more flow and are more active, while others are only transitory..."

"So the Soft Meadow Continent acts as one of the more active points in the network of worlds, even if it is not as active as the regional cities and this city?", Cao Mei asked.

"Yes", Wu Long nodded, "After all, it is a point of connection to the Great Wilderness. Even if the passage is sealed, we couldn't possibly block the natural flow of Spiritual Qi. It is also a point of connection to the Battle God's Cradle. So even if we can safely call it a countryside in comparison to this city, it is above most of the worlds in its close vicinity in terms of being valuable to cultivators. Now, of course, its value is also compounded by the fact the link to the Battle God's Cradle is gradually restoring itself"

"But if so... in this network of worlds, is there a heart?", Song Lingfei spoke with lightly blushing cheeks, the line along her arm that he traced burning up with heat long after his fingers were gone.

"That's hard to say, as far as I know, there's no single center within any of the Boundless Worlds, but if you were to call something a 'Heart', it would be the Main Worlds, each of which acts akin to a heart to all the worlds around it", Wu Long smiled, as the analogy he chose was bound to give rise to such a question. But the Seven Boundless Worlds were far more decentralized, and far too vast to actually perceive in its entirety.

"Though...", Wu Long chuckled, "If anyone can give you an answer, it'll probably be..."

His eyes turned to Yuanfen, who sweetly smiled, her face turned upward with closed eyes, basking in the light of the two suns, and as if feeling his gaze, turned to him as her eyes reflecting cosmic mystery opened. Her smile widened, those eyes reflecting pure joy.

"Didn't you know another World Spirit? You never asked him?", Cao Xiang asked, feeling they won't get anything resembling an answer they could understand from the beauty anytime soon.

"He wouldn't really answer any questions that mattered...", Wu Long shrugged, his expression telling them he actually tried to get answers many times, and failed every time.

"Hahaha, I guess even the mighty God of Pleasure was powerless to make the Spirit God Sovereign spill the mysteries of the Universe", Fen Baihu snickered.

"Well, he's a man", Wu Long commented in a mundane tone, as if in passing, but the meaning instantly was caught by the beauties around him, some beginning to smile, some lightly blushing, while Fen Baihu was left speechless, unable to find a good retort.

At the same time, Sui Luxiao's attention was still on the earlier conversation about this city.

"Are you thinking about the company?", Wu Long asked with a smile.

The Soaring Feather Trading Company already very quietly entered the market of the Silver Wing City, without much fanfare, dealing in materials that they procured from the Demonic Beast Wave, so it could be assumed it would have a somewhat steady position by the time they returned.

"I just thought it would take quite a lot of resources to establish a foothold here", she nodded with a smile. She knew that with such incredible conditions for cultivation here, it was a far better location for them to operate in, looking at it short-term.

The problem with that was that these excellent conditions meant that it was far more expensive to live in this city.

Right now, just staying in an inn, they burned through money that could last them years in the Soft Meadow Continent even if they lived a lavish lifestyle there and bought up cultivation resources on a daily basis.

And one of the ways to sustain their continuous presence in the city, was the expansion and increase in wealth of the Soaring Feather Trading Company.

"We can take it step by step, Luxiao", he said with a soft tone, then adding in a slightly cryptic way, "It seems our visit here is turning out to be more fruitful than expected"

---

Earlier that day, Wu Long sat at a round table with his direct subordinates, with only Butler Bang refusing to sit down, stubbornly insisting on standing beside Wu Long.

"You're saying that you doubled what we had before?", Wu Long raised his eyebrows, looking at Kwon Qianhong, now understanding why Old Yen had such a dazed expression when they came in to report.

Wu Long's initial plan on financing this trip was actually to find a suitable merchant to become short-term partners with, with a possibility of long-term partnership.

After all, he had an immense treasure trove of valuable pill recipes, techniques, formations in his head. Using even a tiny fraction of the portion of that knowledge that was useful in the Boundless Profound World, could generate enormous wealth, without posing any threat, since he would be giving away scraps compared to what he had kept for his own use and the Eternal Duality Valley.

The appearance of pirates was a convenient coincidence that he perceived as a chance to get a small initial capital.

However, Kwon Qianhong exceeded all of his expectations in his ability to generate income from that small initial capital.

Kwon Qianhong nodded to Wu Long's question, "A bit more than doubled, but yes. I noticed there was a mild shortage of certain medicinal ingredients, so through Old Yen and Guanting we found out that a certain noble family, through several merchants, was quietly stockpiling them, so I invested into buying a stockpile as well... the price skyrocketed and..."

As he was explaining, Old Yen only nodded with a slightly dull look, still shocked at the profits they made while Nie Guanting was just quietly drinking wine made by Zhao Biren, not particularly invested in the topic.

"... oh, that's right, and I also took the liberty of making a few other smaller investments from those profits. There are dozens of such small transactions and operations happening in the markets daily. They won't yield immediate results, but in a week's time the first one should bring us quite a sum", Kwon Qianhong concluded.

"Hah...", Wu Long chuckled, half-impressed, half-stunned, "You've done even better than what even I gave you credit for"

It was the first time any of them saw Wu Long genuinely surprised to this extent. At the same time, neither Old Yen, nor Butler Bang could blame him for being taken by surprise. The initial way that the pirates' belongings were used to extract far bigger profits than they were worth aside, this was ways above that. It was as if Kwon Qianhong could smell where money could be made, whether it was shady or legitimate.

"Good work, Qian. Old Yen and Guanting as well", he then added, "You can take three quarters of the profit and split it between you three as personal salary"

Kwon Qianhong froze, as did Old Yen and Nie Guanting.

"But...", Old Yen started, but Wu Long shook his head, raising his hand to stop him.

"It's true that you three work for me. But good work has to be rewarded. This was your initiative, and all of the work was done by you three", Wu Long explained in a calm tone.

"If it was not for you, we would never have the opportunity to do so... nor the skills...", Kwon Qianhong spoke.

"Which is why I didn't say to take all of it, but three quarters", Wu Long chuckled, perfectly aware that he was not only the one who guided them to raise their cultivation and skills that made operating at the level they were conducting work possible, but also the one who ultimately protected them from threats greater than they could handle in case they encountered difficulties, "Besides, if you continue at this pace, just that quarter you'll bring will continue to grow bigger, will it not?"

"Y-yes, but...", Kwon Qianhong was still full of doubts. There was also something else within his eyes. As if he was witnessing something impossible, something contrary to everything he knew.

"Perfect then. You don't have to be so hesitant, especially since it seems this will keep happening going forward. Let's not dwell on this so much. By now you should be familiar with how I do things, and also know that I'm not going to change this decision", Wu Long smiled, implying that they should know his decision certainly has a pragmatic side to it, even if pragmatism is not all there is to it, "Now, I could see by the look in your eyes when you came in, that you didn't just come to report this to me, you came to seek permission for something"

"Ah... well... ", Kwon Qianhong was still flustered from the earlier conversation, turning to Old Yen.

"Qian says we can make a big profit off one similar situation, but that one has a possibility to land us in trouble with quite serious people we might not be able to handle without Boss...", Old Yen nodded and reported.

"Heh, interesting", Wu Long's eyes signaled them to continue.

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