Duma City was under Boss Gui's rule. Although she had been officially recognized as a City Lord by Lord Wanghuo and the Nalupu Kingdom, she kept her tile of 'Boss'. Somewhat similarly to Cao Yun, she had been a merchant who had slowly climbed the hierarchy until ruling an entire city. Originally, Duma was only a hub for travelers to stop by. Thus, it wasn't exactly poor but its economy was extremely limited and nothing of real value was produced there. Products were exchanged but not produced. The city was perfectly located to go toward many other city-states. And this was what had helped Boss Gui with her business.
She had not started with slavery. But very quickly, she realized this was a good venue. By a twist of fate, she chose her new business a few months before the Empyrean Asura Theocracy asked for slaves. At first, they were mostly after miners and menial workers, with a few slaves who could be used for cultivation, one way or another. At that moment, she saw the opportunity and seized it. She sold them a few slave warriors. Thanks to her training, they proved very efficient and that was how she quickly became a City Lord. To this day, no one really knew how she had been able to train slaves so fast. In fact, Cao Yun was also interested in that. Maybe he could imitate her ways to improve himself.
But the fact that Boss Gui herself wasn't that powerful of a cultivator seemed to show that her ways weren't too great either. Maybe it was too dangerous for her to try. Or maybe it couldn't help an Accomplished Demon progress. Since Cao Yun wasn't an Accomplished Demon, he was still intrigued by the possibility.
Before going to Boss Gui directly, Cao Yun wanted to be ready for anything. Thus, he booked a room in the most prestigious hotel of the city. Indeed, despite Boss Gui's business, many people in Duma City were still heavily reliant on the travelers to make a living. Cao Yun also went to several restaurants, as though he was simply a merchant enjoying life between two long travels. Of course, he was also examining the city and noting all its defenses. Even for Dian Mo, the array formations were quite intricate. This was nothing he couldn't deal with. After all, not a single array formation exceeded the 5-star Heaven rank.
Most likely, there was no deep heritage to this city. And since no one in the current era could set up a Spirit array formation, there was none. In other words, it would be rather easy for Cao Yun to take over the defenses of the city. Still, he wouldn't be able to use force to do what he wanted. However, he would be able to protect himself if things went bad.
While he was in the city, he quickly noticed that Xixue was becoming restless. Their relationship was a bit warmer but she mostly kept her distance with him, and anyone else for that matter. To this day, Cao Yun was certain he had never seen her true colors. Besides, she was always wearing the mask he had made for her. Since she had been trained by City Lord Sihe to join Boss Gui, and then die along with her, showing her face might be a problem in here. It was almost certain that City Lord Sihe had spies in Duma City.
It took Cao Yun a few days to be set up. Nie Pian immediately took charge of the business expansion he had been ordered to lead. From what Nie Pian and Dan Yao knew, they were in Duma City to set up another shop and to secure a contract with Boss Gui. It wasn't exactly wrong, but it wasn't the complete truth either. Before approaching Boss Gui, Nie Pian had suggested that they should form smaller contracts with other businesses. This would improve their ability to negotiate with Boss Gui. But many such businesses would not deal with them unless she gave them permission.
Thankfully though, Duma City was full of foreign merchants and businessmen too. They would be easier to deal with and this would even help them spread the Blazing Swallow throughout the Nalupu Kingdom. Moreover, the hunters accompanying Cao Yun also had a few contacts in this city. In a matter of days, they had already established a few connections and Cao Yun's pills were already being spread through the city. With his goal in mind, Cao Yun had chosen his first pills very carefully. Since Boss Gui was training slave soldiers, she most likely needed pills to keep them healthy.
At first, he had thought about pills to strengthen them, but her ways seemed to already be very effective. Thus, he thought about the survival rate he had heard. Although it was most likely wrong, otherwise she would never have been able to turn a profit, there had to be many casualties during her training. So he had decided that those pills were the best bet to attract her attention. If she could keep more slaves alive, she would make more money. As much as he heard tales about her cruelty, Cao Yun had also heard how rational and reasonable Boss Gui was. In fact, there were also discrepancies in the stories surrounding her. Even in Duma City, it was difficult to know exactly what kind of character Boss Gui was.
Some people were terrified of her, others were in awe.
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In order to spread his name quickly, Cao Yun got in contact with the largest auction hall in the city. It really reminded him of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. However, the rules were very different. For example, the hall didn't have the power to ensure the safety of the items once outside of its premises. In other words, it wasn't rare for people to be robbed or mugged after buying some item in an auction. Within the building, there were guards to ensure it wouldn't happen. But once outside, everything was fair game. The hall wouldn't get involved.
And since might often made right in this derelict Nalupu Kingdom, the officials might not punish a thief. As long as they could pay off enough officials or were powerful enough, demons could do almost everything they desired. After all, Boss Gui's business relied on capturing slaves from the nomad tribes. And strictly speaking, this was absolutely forbidden. Yet, no one seemed to care at all. In fact, she was considered as a City Lord and a very good businesswoman. That level of corruption going to Lord Wanghuo himself repulsed Cao Yun.
First of all, integrity was a very important value in the Hongchen Kingdom. A value Cao Yun was starting to mistreat for his own goals right now. Although he was very aware of that, he was still able to justify his actions for the time being. However, he was afraid of rationalizing to much at some point in the future. It felt as though the corruption of this Nalupu Kingdom was soiling him as well. That being said, he was too weak to uphold such an important value. Until he could do otherwise, he was ready to use almost any underhanded methods to get to his goal. Hopefully, he wouldn't find himself crossing lines he had drawn in the sand for himself.
The other point that disgusted him was that the Nalupu Kingdom's corruption reminded him of Emperor Weide. Publicly, he boasted about his virtue, but behind closed doors, Cao Yun knew what he had done and what he was still doing. Obviously, he didn't like this Lord Wanghuo, and by extension his entire Nalupu Kingdom.
Even the Xinian Confederation was completely corrupt. However, all this corruption was also helping him a lot. As long as they were convinced he was one of them, Cao Yun could get away with many things. But showing off his wealth and his strength, that were both fake at the moment, he would be able to bend the rules, or even break them completely. Besides, his wealth was really starting to grow. When it came to his strength, it would of course take more time though.
Anyway, Cao Yun was assisting at his own auction. Without exceeding the quality of the market by too much, the young alchemist had put some of his pills on sale. He had also asked Dan Yao to present some of his. Although he couldn't refine any Human pill for now, his current pills weren't too bad. Because he didn't have the time, Cao Yun had decided to train the boy on very specific pills. Instead of learning very general knowledge, Dan Yao was being specialized in a few pills that would be very helpful for the business. Like that, he would be able to replace Cao Yun sooner rather than later. And from there, he would also be able to learn how to refine other pills.
Instead of teaching him the entire theory, which Dan Yao would have had a hard time understanding, Cao Yun was making sure he was fully mastering how to refine those select pills. For now, it was wielding very good results if he said so himself.
Nie Pian had also gotten an idea. In the pills, they were engraving a swallow, the Blazing Swallow's insignia. When it came to marketing, Nie Pian was very competent. In fact, in a few months, Cao Yun knew that his company would not need to rely on himself too much. Both Nie Pian and Dan Yao could do most of the work. And by adding Xixue to the mix, there wouldn't be any problem at all. Although this company was only a means to an end, Cao Yun took pride in the fact that he had been able to build it so quickly and that he had found reliable workers to keep it going. In a sense, he understood what Zhi Yin had felt with the Heavenly Swallow Faction. Even if she knew she had to leave it behind, she wanted it to outlive her departure.
As a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon with a huge wealth, Cao Yun had been led to a balcony in the auction hall. There were many people he had heard about and even met during the past few days. After all, the auction hall had a very good reputation and there had been rumors about Cao Yun's pills. Indeed, he had helped spread those rumors along with his employees.
Among the crowd, Cao Yun recognized many influential people. But he didn't talk with anyone. A few people seemed more important than others. For example, he recognized the colors of the military. Although the Nalupu Kingdom was formed of twenty-one independent city-states, they were all under the rule of Lord Wanghuo. As such, he had formed a military. Each city was forced to send some of its soldiers to the Nalupu Army. Then, the Nalupu Army sent several legions to protect the city. Of course, those legions were all from different city to avoid any familiarity. By fueling the competition between the city-states, Lord Wanghuo was able to control them to some extent. He still didn't want them to have local armies though.
Cao Yun also noted the presence of Boss Gui's representative. She was a young and beautiful woman. With long red hair neatly tied atop her head, that slender woman clearly had very powerful muscles. Although Cao Yun couldn't use his spiritual senses discreetly in this place, he didn't need them to know that she was a slave. There was a way she was behaving and a way the others were behaving around her that betrayed that. As much as they scorned her, they didn't dare to be outright disrespectful. In other words, they were afraid of Boss Gui's fabled cruelty.
In that woman's eyes, Cao Yun was able to see a deep loyalty and a disdain to everyone around her. Although she was a slave, she seemed to serve Boss Gui proudly. Unfortunately, Cao Yun wouldn't be able to turn her to his side very easily, if at all. Since Boss Gui was specialized in slavery, she was careful with the people surrounding her. Besides, the Slavery Brand was mostly produced by City Lord Sihe so she didn't trust it too much either.
On her robe, Cao Yun recognized the symbol of Boss Gui. It was rather strange for demons as it was a snake's poisoned fang. Considering how much poison was despised, this could also explain why Boss Gui's representative was so poorly received by the others. Beyond all else, there was a dignified woman with dark hair crisscrossed by bloody streaks who was looking at that redhead with absolute disdain. That woman had the colors of the military and many people were talking with her. Clearly, she was Weiji Nian.
Cao Yun had not met her but he had heard about her. Weiji Nian's uncle was part of the Nalupu Army. In fact, he was a very important general. Thanks to him, she had a very high status in Duma City. However, she also had a nasty reputation of abusing her position to get what she wanted. Thus, she had been at odds with Boss Gui several times since she wouldn't give in to her demands. Unfortunately for Weiji Nian, even her uncle couldn't do anything against a City Lord. Although Boss Gui wasn't too strong herself, she had enough wealth and influence to have strong backers. Besides, taking down a City Lord could rally other City Lords. Such a thing was unthinkable to Lord Wanghuo. He would not have a rebellion!
The City Lords had to be kept happy and in competition with one another so Lord Wanghuo could rule things from above. If they killed one another, it was not a problem. But the Nalupu Army could not kill a City Lord. There was very high chance Lord Wanghuo was even backing up City Lord Sihe against Boss Gui. After all, she had grown too fast and was certainly dangerous with her powerful slave warriors.
Observing the crowd below as everyone was getting to their seat, Cao Yun noted everything he could about them and their behaviors. He was able to see many things with his senses. For example, he uncovered a few adulterous relationships, a few secret deals between supposedly rivals and even some corruption as money was given out to people in charge of the auction. To be fair, some of them were not really putting much effort into concealing their activities in such a large crowd.
Most of what Cao Yun saw didn't seem useful. But he couldn't know what information could serve him later. The auction was finally about to begin.