He Lingchuan asked tentatively, "Juju doesn't eat this much on a regular basis, does it?"
"Of course not. Otherwise, even with a profound crystal mine, the Ke family would have been eaten out of house and home." Fang Canran continued, "As wealthy as the Ke family is, to satisfy Juju they wouldn't use only boundless gold. They have to mix in other ingredients to coax it into being half-full. So according to the list I just wrote out, it only takes one million two hundred thousand taels."
"Only," He Lingchuan smiled bitterly. Scraped clean from head to toe, he could barely cover the pocket change.
Fine then. The plan to feed Juju into a deep slumber before taking action collapsed right then and there.
No money meant no money. Even if he sold himself, he could never scrape together one million two hundred thousand taels. A man had to bow to reality; he would have to come up with a Plan B.
"Now you know why the Demon Emperor assigned it to the Ke family? Not just anyone can afford to make offerings to Juju."
He Lingchuan nodded repeatedly. "Can I stand on Zhaixing Tower and toss ores down into the lava pool?"
"You can." *Why is this youth so interested in Juju? Could this really be a 'friend's entrustment'?*
He Lingchuan's eyes darted thoughtfully. "Right, I remember Brother Fang once mentioning that in recent years, the amount of exotic ores the Ke family procured through Dun Garden has been steadily declining."
"Young Master He has a good memory."
"Did the Ke family find another supplier?"
"No." Fang Canran shook his head. "Having partnered with the Ke family for years, Dun Garden's supply has always been the most stable in both price and quality." A faint pride surfaced in his voice. "Young Master He may not know, but in this sort of long-term partnership, stable quality is what matters most. Price is secondary."
"Then why have the Ke family's purchases decreased?" He Lingchuan stroked his chin. "Could they dare to skim off Juju's offerings?"
Fang Canran weighed his words carefully. "In truth, Juju's offerings are split proportionally between the Heavenly Palace and the Ke family. The Heavenly Palace shoulders roughly seventy percent, and the Ke family covers the remaining thirty percent. As far as I know, this ratio has been in effect for a century and remains unchanged to this day."
He Lingchuan understood at once.
The celestial gods conferring the profound crystal mine upon the Ke family was a supreme honor, but the obligations the Ke family shouldered were hardly minor. Just the offerings—or rather, feeding the mountain spirit—amounted to an enormous expense, one so large that even the Heavenly Palace was unwilling to bear it alone.
Yet with expenses split seventy-thirty, the Ke family could not possibly dock Juju's rations on their own authority.
The problem lay with the Heavenly Palace. Over the years, the quality of sustenance the Heavenly Palace provided to Juju had generally been downgraded.
He Lingchuan found the reason easy to deduce.
Once the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation was put into service, it exerted immense suppression over Juju, preventing the rock-and-fire monster from acting as willfully as it once had. Moreover, the Heavenly Palace still held a grudge over the massive earthquake it had triggered in Lingxu City a dozen or so years ago, which had severely damaged the prestige of the celestial gods. Now that this watchdog was leashed, the Heavenly Palace wanted to teach it a lesson, keeping it neither full nor starved.
Naturally, an objective factor was the further decline of worldly spiritual energy over the past decade. With the profound crystal mine's output falling, the offerings given to Juju could no longer be as lavish as in the past.
He Lingchuan chuckled. "The poor mountain spirit must be starving. Mm, Brother Fang wouldn't happen to have these two ores on hand, would you?"
He read out the two that appeared cheapest on the list: "Shaoling ore and... Qianjin rock?"
Fang Canran also possessed a sharp memory. After mentally checking his inventory, he nodded. "I have them. Both of them."
Before He Lingchuan could even break into a smile, Fang Canran added, "Unrefined Shaoling ore is thirty taels of silver per jin. You'll need to bring at least three hundred jin to Zhaixing Tower. Bring any less, and you're just throwing money away—Juju won't even bother acknowledging you. Qianjin rock is cheaper, twenty taels of silver per jin, but the mountain spirit doesn't seem very fond of it."
He Lingchuan felt a sharp pang in his chest. "Three hundred jin?!"
*Motherfucker, three hundred jin of Shaoling ore is nine thousand taels! Add another three hundred jin of Qianjin rock, and that's fifteen thousand taels! Just to say hello to Juju without doing anything else, the meeting fee is fifteen thousand taels?! That's fifteen million copper cash! No wonder the Heavenly Palace cut its rations—this damn thing eats way too much, and it only picks the expensive stuff!*
Seeing the veins throbbing on his temple, Fang Canran kindly offered, "I can give you a ten percent discount."
"Could you make it twenty percent?" He Lingchuan smiled ruefully. "Look how pleasantly we've talked today. Give me a friend's price."
"True... Then fifteen percent off. Not a copper less." Once friendship entered the conversation, the wallet took a hit.
"Fine. When can I pick up the goods?"
"Tomorrow." Fang Canran reminded him, "However, to it, this little bit is nothing more than a snack. Whether it's willing to come out is hard to say. People toss offerings down from the stone bridge of Zhaixing Tower all day long, yet the mountain spirit never shows its face. It isn't some koi in a lotus pond that surfaces the moment you toss in a bite to eat."
"..." *Are you kidding me? Fifteen thousand taels thrown into molten rock, and I might not even hear a splash?*
"You'd best add some spiritual wood to balance out its flavor."
Which meant spending more money? Just as He Lingchuan felt his scalp tingle with dread, he suddenly remembered something. "Uh, right, would seabed wood work?"
"You have some on you?" Fang Canran thought for a moment. "That works too, but it needs to be of good age, or have an unusual aroma."
"There's a distinction?"
"Of course. Spiritual wood possesses life, and living things vary in a thousand ways. They aren't as uniform as minerals."
He Lingchuan took a deep breath. "Thank you for the guidance, Brother Fang! Oh, right—" He recalled another matter. "Can you procure frost pellets?"
"Frost pellets?" Fang Canran pondered for a while. "That sounds somewhat familiar. What are they used for?"
"A kind of crystal produced by Donao beasts, a specialty obtained only during the Grass Sea event."
Fang Canran let out a long "Oh." "I remember now. No frost pellets were hunted during the last Grass Sea event. If you want some, you'll likely have to wait until the Grass Sea opens in a few days. I can collect them for you, but they are very rare, so there's no guarantee."
He Lingchuan understood. Drawing out seventy-seven hundred taels in banknotes, he said, "Here, the money for the Shaoling ore. Let's skip the Qianjin rock."
Every bit saved counted. *Damn it all, the banknotes I just got from Fang Canran haven't even grown warm, and they're going straight back to him!*
Fang Canran snatched up the banknotes, not bothering to give change. "It will be delivered tomorrow."
It was time for He Lingchuan to head back. Fang Canran saw him off to the estate gates, and both took their leave with smiles.
This round of sounding each other out had come to an end.
***
Fang Canran returned to Dun Garden.
Within the sprawling estate, he lived on the western side in a detached, two-story courtyard building. Amid the magnificent and exquisite architecture of Dun Garden, it was modest, but quiet.
Fang Canran walked up to the second-floor bedroom. The servant, having prepared the hot water, hurried out. The entire garden knew that when Chief Manager Fang retired here to rest, he disliked being disturbed.
As he splashed water on his face, the fluttering of wings sounded from above, followed by a somewhat raspy voice asking him, "You went to sound out that kid. What came of it?"
A large parrot with a red back and blue wings perched upon the washbasin stand, its cheeks covered in fine wrinkles.
"I couldn't figure him out completely." Fang Canran casually cast an isolation ward and inspected the room once over before recounting every detail of his trip to Pianxiang Villa.
As the large parrot listened to the tense parts, its wings fluttered frantically. "I told you long ago, you shouldn't have moved personally! Devising strategies from behind the scenes is your true strength!"
"Our top fighters haven't returned yet, and the rest couldn't handle He Xiao." That was why he had taken the field himself. "Besides, it concerns the spiral ring. I didn't want a third person to know."
Yet the parrot was right; he should not have taken that risk.
"Where on earth did this fellow pop out from, knowing Old Man Shao's past so clearly?" The parrot ruffled its feathers. "Could you have come under suspicion, and this person was sent to test you?"
"The prophetic verse he recited should not be known by any outsider," Fang Canran said, shaking his head. "Right now, only you and I know it. Not even the Fang family's branch lines know. Lingxu City? Impossible."
"How much truth do you think he spoke? His explanation of his origins was complete nonsense," the parrot squawked. "A brush-off entirely devoid of sincerity."
"If it were anyone else, I'd assume he wanted to blackmail or coerce me, which would actually be easier to handle." Fang Canran dried his face with a towel. "Those whose motives remain unclear are the most troublesome."
The parrot's voice grew shrill. "Is the Chain of Oaths truly foolproof? What if he still finds a way to harm you? The Heavenly Fiends go mad the moment they hear your ancestor's name; they won't give you a chance to defend yourself!"
"He wanted to establish contact with me, yet he clearly has misgivings of his own, which is why he spoke only three-tenths of the truth." Fang Canran remained unhurried. "I looked into his conduct during the elixir of immortality case. Zhongsun Mou and Cen Boqing tried to harm him multiple times, only to be neutralized each time, just like what he faced here in Lingxu City. Anyone else would have died several times over. This man's methods and willpower cannot be underestimated. Moreover, he followed the clues of the case all the way from Chiyan Kingdom to Lingxu City. If you claim he had some premeditated scheme against me, or was acting under someone's orders, well—"
Fang Canran shook his head. "It doesn't look like it."
"Then what do you plan to do?" The parrot grew anxious, pacing back and forth along the rack on its two legs. "Just leave him be?"
"Today, he actually asked about Juju's offerings, and I told him."
"Offerings? He actually asked about offerings!" In its agitation, the parrot's feathers flared until the bird seemed to puff up to twice its size. "Did he discover something?!"
"Not necessarily." Fang Canran stroked his chin. "Is he truly after Juju? What on earth is he planning?"
"He couldn't be after the same thing as you, could he?" the parrot said testily. "You know Lingxu City like the back of your hand, and even you failed."
"The celestial gods won't sit by and watch the volcano under their backsides erupt again, so this matter was inherently difficult." Fang Canran mused for a moment. "Speaking of the elixir of immortality case, however, there is another peculiar point."
"Ah? What?"
"The case file submitted by Chiyan Kingdom shook the royal court because it implicated the Minister of Agriculture and the Tongxin Guard. I heard several Elders rushed to Zhaixing Tower in the dead of night to corner the Demon Emperor, wanting to deliberate on whom to dispatch to Baishaqu as special envoy. Originally, this would have required prolonged political maneuvering, but the Demon Emperor declared that Bai Ziqi was already in Chiyan Kingdom and should simply be reassigned to handle it. The Elders were caught completely off guard and extremely displeased."
"What of it?"
"Bai Ziqi is the Deputy Duyun Emissary, trusted by the celestial gods and valued by the Demon Emperor. He was indeed the ideal candidate to handle the case. And yet..."
Chapter 622