Chapter 110: Chapter 109: Qin Li’s Business Acumen

The month following New Year’s Day in the Cyan Dragon Kingdom was known as the Month of Revelry. For an entire month, people were immersed in a festive atmosphere, where relaxation and joy were the main themes.

The nation’s military also took rotating leave. You could say it was the most relaxing month of the year for the entire Cyan Dragon Kingdom, from the highest echelons to the common folk.

Only this year had Qin Li finally achieved some real stability. ’These past two years in this world have been anything but easy,’ he thought.

He had been through so much. From the moment he first opened his eyes in this world, he hadn’t known a moment of peace.

A new year had begun. Watermelon’s life was no longer in danger, and Qin Li discussed with the others that it was time to put their plans into motion.

Watermelon ultimately chose to practice Hu’s technique. While Hu’s technique wasn’t exactly top-tier, it was a perfect fit for Watermelon. Besides, with his foundation from practicing the Only I am Venerable technique, his progress in Hu’s Vortex Flame Saber Technique was astonishingly fast, as if advancing a thousand miles in a single day!

During Watermelon’s period of inactivity, both his original small gang and the mid-sized one he had just taken over had grown restless. Some members, believing he had vanished, began vying for the top spot, even colluding with outsiders. If not for a group of die-hard loyalists holding the line, everything would have been seized by others.

So Watermelon was bottling up his anger, just waiting until he mastered the Vortex Flame Saber Technique. Then he would go and settle the score with those damn traitors.

Meanwhile, Bu Yunyan had already selected a storefront on Cyan Dragon City’s most bustling street. The business would, of course, center around Elixirs. With Leng Yao’s Grandmaster Level Alchemy skills, they had no worries about attracting customers.

Let alone in the Cyan Dragon Kingdom—across the entire Celestial Essence Continent, Alchemists were a highly respected profession. No one would dare offend an Alchemist unless they had no other choice.

The shop had originally belonged to a wealthy merchant from the Great Chu Kingdom who, in his old age, wished to return home to retire. Bu Yunyan, with her beauty and sweet-talking, managed to negotiate a thirty percent discount on the standard price after a few discussions—a considerable bargain!

One must understand that a three-story shop of over a thousand square meters in Cyan Dragon City’s most prosperous district would cost at least one hundred thousand taels of silver! And yet, Bu Yunyan had acquired it for only sixty-five thousand taels!

Not only that, but the owner had also left them many items inside, such as valuable tables, chairs, and high-quality counters. Since the place had originally been an apothecary, converting it into an Elixir Shop would only require minor modifications.

The silver used to purchase the shop came from Bu Yunyan’s personal savings. The beautiful Miss Bu said with a smile that she was temporarily lending the money to Qin Li, and he would have to repay her later.

’She’s just afraid my pride will get in the way, that I won’t accept her help.’ Qin Li understood her intentions. In reality, Bu Yunyan had somewhat underestimated his open-mindedness. Qin Li never cared for pointless pride. He would never fly into a rage unless someone crossed his principles or his bottom line.

What annoyed Qin Li, however, was that for some time now, a number of unidentified individuals had been lurking around the Qin Residence, seemingly searching for something and snooping around.

Qin Li, of course, knew what they were looking for. He had asked Hu where that streak of purple energy had landed and if anyone had seen it. Hu replied that it had been too fast; it felt like it had landed near their location, but no one should have been able to get a clear look.

This brought Qin Li some relief. Their residential compound had only been purchased recently, which could easily arouse suspicion. To avoid this, Watermelon had moved into a property controlled by his gang, while Qin Li, who rarely appeared at the Qin Residence anyway, returned to the inn room he had rented long-term.

Since he had paid for a full year in silver, the inn didn’t care whether he stayed there or for how long he disappeared.

Still, this told him one thing: his breakthrough to the Celestial Level had indeed attracted some attention. Because of this, Qin Li had been keeping an extremely low profile recently.

His bearing and conduct became increasingly like that of a young aristocrat.

The Elixir Shop had been open for more than ten days, and business was still booming. This was firstly due to natural curiosity—people always want to check out a new shop—and secondly, due to the advertising methods employed by Qin Li, a man from another world.

He had Bu Yunyan print a large number of beautifully designed flyers and then hired some pretty, young women to hand them out on the street. It was nothing more than the standard set of promotional tactics used back on Earth.

In this world, however, such methods were completely revolutionary!

On opening day, the crowd was so massive that the authorities had to dispatch soldiers to maintain order. The shop, named "Qin’s Elixir Shop," became famous almost overnight.

In other Elixir Shops, the clerks were all men in their thirties, forties, or even fifties. This was because to sell Elixirs, one had to be very familiar with the trade. You couldn’t just stand there clueless when a customer asked a question. Thus, the clerks at most Elixir Shops were those who had no hope of mastering Alchemy themselves but knew enough about it to work in sales.

Qin’s, however, completely overturned this convention. Before the grand opening, Bu Yunyan recruited twenty young, beautiful women. The product information was then categorized and taught to them systematically, from basic to advanced. Since the Elixirs were crafted by Leng Yao, their effectiveness was guaranteed. The women only needed to learn the function of each Elixir!

Of course, these were all Qin Li’s ideas. Initially, Bu Yunyan, Leng Yao, and even Hu found the notion unbelievable. While the culture of the Cyan Dragon Kingdom was relatively open, with women in many professions, such a high-profile, public-facing role was almost unheard of for women.

The only exception was in brothels!

Everywhere else—be it waiters in taverns and inns, or staff in any other service industry—the roles were predominantly filled by men. People had simply grown accustomed to it.

So when Qin Li proposed hiring a group of young women with zero experience in Alchemy to be sales staff, Bu Yunyan vehemently objected at first, arguing her case logically. If she hadn’t known Qin Li wasn’t some lecherous, hedonistic dandy, she would have suspected he had ulterior motives.

The result, of course, was that Qin Li won. He had made a bet with Bu Yunyan: if the shop wasn’t packed every day and the Elixirs sold out within a month, he would concede defeat.

Bu Yunyan had agreed on the spot, certain that Qin Li was bound to lose. The reason was simple. Although the Elixirs they sold weren’t the most high-end products, they were still far too expensive for the average person. What commoner suffering from a mere headache would buy a Peiyuan Pill?

But as it turned out, after a series of marketing maneuvers, the explosive success on opening day left them all stunned. And they weren’t the only ones; the other Elixir Shops on the street, who had been waiting to watch the spectacle unfold, were equally dumbfounded.

They were all dumbstruck. Faced with the explosive popularity of Qin’s, their minds could basically only summon four words: "How is this possible?"

’I never intended to get too involved in business,’ Qin Li thought. He was keenly aware of the kind of people he would face in the future. ’If I just wanted to be a rich man, I’m confident I could become the wealthiest person in the entire Cyan Dragon Kingdom!’

But his ambitions lay far beyond that. If he let himself get bogged down by such matters, he could forget about ever reaching a higher level of power.

Far too many people were jealous of their booming business. Moreover, most of their competitors in Cyan Dragon City had deep-seated connections; the majority were businesses backed by Dukes and Ministers.

Thus, in the ten-plus days since the grand opening, no fewer than twenty groups of people had come looking for trouble.

’This can’t go on,’ Qin Li thought. ’I need to find a way to obtain a status that will make others hesitate to act against me. And in the Cyan Dragon Kingdom, only one person can grant such a status: the Emperor!’

’But how can I get the Emperor’s attention?’ he wondered. ’Release my Celestial Level aura? Only a complete moron would do that.’ In the end, it was Hu who gave Qin Li an idea. Every March, the Cyan Dragon Kingdom hosted a large-scale tournament: the Annual Martial Artist Competition.

Its purpose... was none other than to scout for talent.

The prizes were generous, and those who made it to the final rounds could even be directly ennobled by His Majesty the Emperor, instantly joining the ranks of the aristocracy. As a result, it attracted vast numbers of Martial Artists every year.

The participants were a real mix of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, as one couldn’t rule out the possibility of some incredibly powerful Martial Artists joining in for their own amusement. However, such individuals usually wouldn’t fight to the very end. If they truly provoked the Emperor’s wrath, the Royal Family’s Tributors were no mere decorations.

With Qin Li’s power, he would likely only need to display strength at the Profound Level to attract a great deal of attention.

Hu, however, was a little concerned about Qin Li’s Only I am Venerable technique. Many factions had studied that technique. What if Qin Li used it and someone recognized it?

Qin Li, however, was not concerned. Besides the Only I am Venerable technique, he had a wealth of other Martial Arts in his arsenal. Now, with his Celestial Level foundation, all those martial arts had become powerful combat techniques. For him, even plucking a flower could become a Hidden Weapon.

"I’ve decided. I’m going to enter the tournament," Qin Li said, lazing on a deck chair on the second floor and basking in the sun. He spoke to Bu Yunyan, who stood beside him gazing down at the bustling crowd below. "Before I go to Profound Island, I have to make sure you all can develop safely and steadily. To be honest, my ideal plan is to build a massive power base *before* setting foot on Profound Island!"

Bu Yunyan peeled a glistening grape, patiently picked out the seeds, and then, with a reluctant pout, fed it into Qin Li’s mouth.

"Eat up, My Lord!"

Yes, this was another one of the bet’s conditions: if Qin Li lost, he would be Bu Yunyan’s errand boy for a month; if Bu Yunyan lost, she would have to be his handmaiden for a month.

"Actually, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go to Profound Island right now," Bu Yunyan said, her voice calm. Her slightly trembling hand, however, betrayed the turmoil she felt inside.

"I’ve heard that everyone on Profound Island is incredibly powerful. Even a Celestial Level Martial Artist might not be considered a big deal there. Besides, it’s only been two years. Do you really think... *that woman* will let Miss Shangguan come back? And if she refuses, can you defeat her?"

Qin Li frowned slightly, sinking into thought. He had never told Bu Yunyan or the others that his own parents were also on Profound Island.

’Looks like this is something I really need to think through carefully,’ Qin Li thought.