Two days later, in the Lin Luo Manor.
Jiang Ye was currently sitting on the couch as he watched Young Master Xiao Lei and his friend, Lin Luo have a conversation. His clothes were currently different from the usual, as he was wearing a servant's uniform. Also, he asked Wu Hantian if he could further alter his face, to which Wu Hantian replied yes. As a result, he looked vastly different than what he truly looked like.
"Is everything ready?" Xiao Lei said to his friend, Lin Luo, as he took a bite of apple.
"Yes," Lin Luo nodded his head. "The carriage has been prepared. You may go now if you want."
"Alright."
After that, both Jiang Ye and Xiao Lei left Lin Luo Manor and rode a carriage with three horses pulling it. While inside the carriage, Jiang Ye said, "You should have let at least one more servant accompany you."
Xiao Lei shook his head as he said bitterly, "I can't do that, my servants are all in the Xiao Clan Estate, I don't want to go there right now."
"Fair point," Jiang Ye nodded his head with understanding.
"Most importantly," Xiao Lei stated. "Are you sure you can fulfill your other side?"
Jiang Ye looked at Xiao Lei, frowning. The "other side" Xiao Lei talked about was the offer he dealt for him in exchange for being able to access Eight-Clans Underground Trade and a long-term partnership. He did not like how Xiao Lei still did not trust him, even though they were already here, inside the carriage, just dozens of minutes away from the destination.
"Of course, I will help you, I am a man of my word," Jiang Ye replied, his voice firm. He did not lie, at least, if Xiao Lei would not betray him. They were, in certain words, business partners now and he wouldn't ruin this just because he repaid him according to what they had agreed. "And I will be needing your help for a quite long time. If I said I will do it, I will naturally do it."
Xiao Lei nodded his head upon hearing his answer, then shifted his gaze through the carriage window and watched the streets slowly moving in his perspective. He was satisfied with what Jiang Ye said, at least for now.
For the remainder of the short journey, they just remained silent, minding their own business. Jiang Ye closed his eyes, preparing himself for what was about to come, though he preferred there would be no fights that would happen. He did not want to destroy the background he painstakingly created.
In truth, for the next two days, he worked in Wu's Delicacy Tavern after the initial first day, he subtly talked to people—the nobles—and told them about himself and his origins. He meticulously created the stories beforehand so he was fairly confident that his background story was not flawed. He hoped not.
The travel continued until it suddenly turned dark. The hoofs of the three horses resounded as Jiang Ye noticed they were in a long tunnel. So the word "Underground " in Eight-Clans Underground Trade was true?
Jiang Ye could feel that they were going lower and deeper from the surface until, after a minute or so, Jiang Ye could see a light at the end of the tunnel.
No matter what he thought of it, he did not understand how there could be sunlight in the underground. So that could only mean one thing. It might be a torch lighting it up. However, the light that he could see was extremely bright. That doesn't seem like the kind of brightness a fire can produce.
With a neigh, the carriage suddenly stopped and Xiao Lei opened the door of the carriage and stepped out with Jiang Ye following suit.
Jiang Ye took a moment to observe the environment around him, and there was only one thing he wanted to say—impressive. What was in front of him was a small underground town bustling with people, going in and out. The light source that kept the underground town illuminated came from thousands of bright stones—not Spirit Stones—called Night Illuminating Stones. They were engraved on the walls and ceiling, keeping the town bright. He also could see many medicinal herbs lying down on the vendors, Jiang Ye stared at them greedily and saw the price—50 Spirit Stones.
They were actually that expensive?
Xiao Lei looked at Jiang Ye's expression followed the direction of the latter's eyes and laughed, "This is what you have to pay if you want to increase your cultivation. However, those herbs that the person was selling were just low-grade spiritual herbs, only useful for cultivation below Tier 4."
"I see," Jiang Ye calmed down a bit when he heard this and lost interest in those herbs. However, upon realizing something, his face suddenly froze and became grim. "If that's the case, how much are the herbs that helped Tier 4 and above cultivation tiers?"
"Soon, you will find out." Xiao Lei smiled before he began to walk.
Jiang Ye followed him, still observing the place. He naturally did not forget to act like a servant, as he kept on Xiao Lei's side while maintaining a respectful posture. Almost everyone in this underground town was noble, specifically, members of Black Dusk Domain's Eight Great Clans. The Xiao Clan was one of them.
As they continued walking, Jiang Ye kept encountering more and more people, while his heart bleeding when he saw that the prices were becoming higher as they went deeper into the town.
"That was rather…expensive." Jiang Ye took a look at a certain herb for a moment and saw its price written on the plaque— Yellow Dragon Ginseng, 400 Spirit Stones.
Jiang Ye inwardly cursed in his heart. It would take him many days in Wu's Delicacy Tavern just to buy one piece of that ginseng. However, he could not deny the spiritual energy these herbs were emitting. They are powerful, dense, and extremely pure, even purer than the Spirit Stones.
When he thought about it, he suddenly realized he rich the Domain Lord was. The minimum quota of mining Spirit Stones per person for a day in the slavery camp was exactly one hundred. That meant 1000 for ten people. Since there were thousands of slaves in the slavery camp, and if Jiang Ye multiplied the minimum quota by one thousand, that would mean 100,000 in a single day! That was the result if he did not take into account the slaves taking additional quotas like what Jiang Ye had done in his time as a slave, doing 500 Spirit Stones a day. And there were not only a thousand slaves there—thousands!
Liang Shuyue, that bastard, was earning so much money in just a single day!
Jiang Ye finally realized how powerful a Domain Lord must be to be able to take control of the Extreme Dusk Cave all by himself when there were powerful noble clans all around the Domain. Liang Shuyue must have reached an unfathomably deep cultivation level, for being able to rule without the rebellion of the nobles.
At this moment, Jiang Ye felt even more pressured. This was going to be troublesome for him if the Domain Lord was that ridiculously strong. Even though he had never seen or felt his cultivation level, he had probably attained a cultivation level where no one in the Domain could oppose him.
"By the way, why are we still walking?"
Jiang Ye noticed that despite all the cultivation resources he needed to be sold to the vendors, Xiao Lei seemed to have no plan of stopping walking.
"Don't you want to increase your cultivation quickly? You seemed rather confident of your talent, so we are going to an auction house."
"Auction house?" Jiang Ye replied, feeling confused.
"That's right, there was a certain news four days ago that there will be a precious cultivation resource that will be sold in the auction house." Xiao Lei explained. "I still did not know the specific details, but I think this will be worth a try, don't you think so?"
Jiang Ye suddenly looked interested.
"Alright then. Let's see what this mysterious cultivation resource was."