Cao Yun was led to a rather large residence. It was adjacent to Lady Gu Xue's residence. From its aspect and opulence, it was clear that this residence was meant to lodge officials in visit in Ruohe. That alone showed how much Lady Gu Xue valued the young alchemist. On the wooden plank she had received, his rank had been written in blood as well. Thus, she was convinced that Cao Yun was a 5-star Human alchemist. Such a rank was extremely high among demons but not too high that it didn't seem plausible. Ironically, if Cao Yun had given his real rank, it would have appeared to be a lie. So he had decided to present himself as such.
There were a few servants taking care of that secondary residence at all times. When Cao Yun took over, Xixue became their head. She rearranged them in order to put the members of the Moshu tribe in various key roles. They had to maintain appearances and they couldn't have servants snooping around when they shouldn't. In fact, Cao Yun also set up several array formations all over the residence. At first, they were not very good. This was to lower everyone's attention.
When the first layers of array formations were complete, he set up much more intricate and sophisticated array formations. This was also a way of training himself. Since he was under new stars on the opposite side of the Piaolu planet, he had to adapt his array formations to them. Slowly, his understanding of array formations was improving. But once again, he thought about Dian Mo. Now that he had some calm, he would try to do something about him. He had to admit that he felt a bit lonely without their conversations.
Xixue also organized the bribes. Technically, the servants were working for Lady Gu Xue. But they could talk about Cao Yun if they wanted to. In fact, they could even send word to officials that Lady Gu Xue had been corrupted in order to hide this alchemist's presence. Like before at the gates, Xixue had thus to bribe everyone according to their station. Really, Cao Yun was realizing how important bribes and corruption were in the Nalupu Kingdom. They had become both a science and an art. Thankfully, Cao Yun had some money from the slavers he had killed. And with his alchemy, he could both bribe with pills or with the money he was soon going to make.
The first days, everyone was busy preparing everything. Under Cao Yun's watch, Xixue crafted several documents to allow Cao Yun to do business in the city. At the same time, she also crafted documents that would later serve to prove his identity. Once again, they had to bribe many small officials. But in less than a week, Cao Yun was officially recognized by the Nalupu Kingdom. The fake papers were good because they were official.
At the same time, Cao Yun refined many pills. He had taken note of the quality of pills and the state of the market. As such, he only refined pills similar to those already sold. In average, they had the same quality as those already sold in Ruohe. Some were even slightly inferior. However, he also refined a few pills that were not sold here and their quality were a bit better. It wasn't much, but just enough to showcase that those pills were his specialty. And those pills were all related to blood and essence. Indeed, he knew those were the kind of pills demons were looking for.
After seeing his first products, Lady Gu Xue became even more enthusiastic. Without even bribing her, she made sure that all the administrative part of things were dealt with. Of course, she made sure that both Xixue and Cao Yun knew of her involvement. This was a clear request for pills. For the two of them, the request was obvious and Cao Yun knew precisely what she wanted. But for the time being, he would not give her. No, he would let her wait until the moment was right. Obviously, he had no intention of helping her become an Accomplished Demon as she could develop into a threat for him. However, he could still give her pills to improve her vitality and even purify her blood a little. In fact, he also had a few pills to make her look younger.
Considering the way she dressed and the opulence of her mansion, Lady Gu Xue attached a lot of importance on aesthetics. With all that in mind, Cao Yun knew how to control her.
The woman who was more mysterious was Xixue. She was extremely competent. Apparently, she had been chosen because of that. City Lord Sihe was convinced that Boss Gui would see her value and keep her as some form of secretary or assistant. Even before meeting City Lord Sihe, she had been good, but he had trained her to make her perfect. His goal was simple. He wanted a spy at Boss Gui's sides. That was the reason why they had to hide her face and her bloodline at all times. No matter what, her identity could not be revealed. Thus, she was always wearing her mask. As a servant, she also kept her head lowered most of the time.
In all her actions, Cao Yun could feel her contempt and even a tinge of anger, or hatred. Clearly, she didn't like the officials of the Nalupu Kingdom. But she didn't like Accomplished Demons either. In fact, she hated all those who had power. On the other side, Cao Yun could almost taste her guilt and self-loathing when she was dealing with the Moshu tribe. To this day, they didn't know that they had been sold by that woman. Without the information she had sent, they would have never been enslaved and they would not have seen their loved ones being tortured and killed in front of them.
For some time, Xixue seemed worried that Cao Yun would reveal the truth. Because he didn't, she had even more contempt for him. Cao Yun's view of the small woman was very paradoxical as well. He could sympathize with her desire to save her little sister, but also despised her methods. At the same time, he had the strength necessary to do things differently. If he had been less powerful or talented, he might have resorted to such vile means as well. So, as much as they were trying to hide it, there was a lot of tension between the two of them.
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For two weeks now, Cao Yun had been refining pills. He had way more pills than he needed to submerge the market in Ruohe. But he was preparing pills for later. This small city was a necessary step to create his persona. But the real challenge would be when he would face Boss Gui. He had no room for failure there. From what he knew, she was specialized in training slaves for war. Her business had flourished thanks to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Thus, he knew the sort of pills she would be interested in. Xixue also gave some advice on them as she had been trained to join Boss Gui.
Boss Gui's business was flourishing so much, she was becoming a threat to City Lord Sihe. His main venture was blood runes and seals. In fact, most Slavery Brands used today were his doing. Thinking about that, Cao Yun realized that he could easily disrupt his business. Indeed, his knowledge of seals was way superior to his from what he had seen. Besides, if he had Dian Mo's help, there wouldn't even be a comparison possible. For now though, he would focus on Boss Gui as he had more information on her and her temperament seemed to be more easily used.
While he was taking a rest from his alchemy, Cao Yun spoke with Xixue. In fact, Xixue had been meaning to speak with him for some time now. However, he had a feeling she was going to ask something of him he was not ready to hear. Sure enough that was the reason why she was in his chambers. Apart from his laboratory and his cultivation room, this was the most secure room in the entire city. In fact, Cao Yun could probably kill an early Spirit Warrior or an early Accomplished Demon here. Besides, he had also refined some poison. Since demons didn't use them as corrupting blood was considered an unforgivable crime, they could give him an edge. But he couldn't overtly use them, only as a last resort.
"Lord Mo, you need to buy a few slaves to take care of your business. Even though everyone believes the Moshu tribesmen are your slaves, they aren't nearly enough to operate a legit alchemy shop. You must maintain appearances. And that means owning real slaves. If you have some naive scruples, then you don't have to mistreat them at all. Besides, since they would be high-value slaves, almost no master would mistreat them."
From what he had learned, slavery was rather common even before the excessive demands of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Some were forced to slavery to pay off debts while others were condemned to slavery for their crimes. But technically, enslaving someone outside of those causes was forbidden. There were always people being tricked of course. And occasional nomads captured during hunts. But in recent years, as demand had skyrocketed, many hunters had become full-time slavers. As long as their employers could deny any knowledge of their activity, they accepted their slaves.
For obvious reasons, Cao Yun wasn't comfortable at the idea of owning another sentient being. Even Hongyu wasn't his property, she was like a friend or even a sister. He had an emotional connection with her. Having servants and having slaves were two different concepts. The former had a choice while the latter were like pieces of furniture he could sell, buy, exchange or even kill on a whim.
Sensing his doubts and scruples, Xixue's contempt for Cao Yun increased. In fact, the more he was trying to be righteous, the more she despised him. Most likely, she was hating that he had the luxury of having those doubts. In order to save her little sister, she had done terrible things and she had to convince herself those had been necessary because of her weakness. Now, she was seeing someone who was strong enough to take charge of his fate and she despised herself through him.
"Lord Mo, you don't want to own slaves and yet here I am. What am I if not a slave? Didn't you plant a seal in my soul to control me, just in case? Some things are necessary. You can't act all righteous when the blade is licking your neck. If you want to look like a legitimate alchemist, you must have a shop. And apart from buying slaves, I don't know how you're going to achieve that."
In Xixue's words, Cao Yun sensed that she was also trying to convince herself. But there was some truth in her words. Hiring people would be delicate and would take a lot of time, while he would always fear the presence of spies. The young man had to admit that he was in a hurry. He could wait a few months, but he couldn't keep patient for years. Then, he had to find a compromise. For all humans, slavery was considered as one of the worst crimes because of their history. Thus, he would never own slaves.
As much as Xixue claimed the seal in her soul was like a Slavery Brand, it was something else entirely. It was just used to ensure she would keep her word. In Cao Yun's eyes, he didn't own her. But she had to keep her promise to him. For her, the difference might not be present, but for Cao Yun it was the difference between someone working under a contract and someone being enslaved to work under constraint.
"Fine. Choose a few people who will be useful for our shop."
In Xixue's eyes, Cao Yun could see scorn. For all his grand and lofty manners, he was like any other demons after all...
What she didn't know was the decision Cao Yun had taken. But she would learn of it soon enough. For the time being, she looked for slaves who would be able to take care of an alchemy shop. Thus, she looked for demons who had been condemned for crimes related to businesses and shops. Xixue found a handful of those. Embezzlement, theft, corruption and various other crimes all warranted either violent sentences of slavery. A few demons preferred to become slaves for a few years rather than to suffer their full sentence.
Slaves who had real skills were not too afraid of their fate as they knew how valuable they were. Anyway, they would not be sold to go to war on the God's Land, the main continent. So Xixue was able to find those people rather easily. In fact, an old man among them had been arrested for stealing more than a hundred thousands Heidai over a long period of time through tax frauds. Certainly, this man would be a great help for their business, Nie Pian.
It took a bit more than a week, but their shop was fully operational. Xixue was also forced to bribe many other shops to ensure that there wouldn't be any problem. In fact, Cao Yun also sent invitations to a few alchemists. As he was pretending to be an Accomplished Demon, he couldn't visit them himself so many bloody wooden planks were sent to them. In the end, he saw every major alchemist shop owners in Ruohe. Since his pills were not directly competing with theirs, there was no friction. Besides, they wouldn't dare to offend him. By using his Flying Poison and a bit of his Unclean Evil, he was able to pressure them very easily.
Ruohe's main activity was hunting. As such, there were not that many alchemists. And it wasn't too difficult for Cao Yun to also make some contracts with a few hunter groups in order to buy their materials for his pills.
Furthermore, Cao Yun had no plan of staying in this city for too long. His true goal was to make a name for himself to later go to Boss Gui. At the end of the day, he only wanted to go back to his land and to save his little sister. However, he had also in mind that he needed to get stronger before that. Thus, he had already many plans in head. Since Boss Gui was training soldiers, she would probably have more information about the current war and she had access to the boats.
After dealing with his various new partners, Cao Yun was waiting for the slaves Xixue had bought. Using this time of quiet, he entered his sea of consciousness.