Divine Brilliance

Zong Shou took the list and took a look before he laughed in delight. He thought back to how in the Kongqi sect, Qiao Han was conned by him badly. It wouldn’t be surprising if he hated him to the bone..

As for the fire lightning arrow, intense ice arrow, he didn’t hope that the Kongqi Sect would spend the effort to craft them for him. If they could be used then it was fine. Gantian Mountain had ten thousands of spirit masters, so they weren’t worried that Kongqi Sect would give them fake products.

As for the Ren Bo’s words of persuasion, he acted like he didn’t hear it. Thinking to himself that even if he treated the messengers from Taoyun City well, would the City lord show mercy?

If the situation in the future changed and Gantian Mountain returns to their Pass glory, would Taoyun City treat him disrespectfully because of this small humiliation?

One of the topics on the list was the number of mind stones spent. All the arrows, weapons and equipment, grain, etc were prepared by Ren Bo and taken from the storage of Gantian Mountain. The one costing the most was the merchant ships gathered and the spiritual arrows bought from Kongqi Sect.

…Gantian Mountain weapon refiners could craft these fire lightning arrows and intense ice arrows, however, their numbers were too little. Even if they rushed it, they would only be able to make a thousand.

He spent a total of 5 thousand grade 4 beast crystals. It seems like the Kongqi Sect Deacon, Qiao hated him. The price was raised 4 times.

Apart from that, gathering merchant ships spent around a thousand crystals. If there were any loses, then they also had to compensate after.

The current Gantian Mountain treasury was all dried up and in the end, he had to take out money from his pocket.

Zong Shou didn’t mind, keeping the inventory. Then he smiled at Ren Bo, “Prime minister! About these beast crystals and the 300 three armed spiritual crossbows, I don’t need the country treasury to compensate me. Treat it as my initial investment. You only need to give me 10% of the profits from the hunt.”

Ren Bo’s face turned green. He felt extremely weird. Wasn’t Gantian Mountain yours? Now that Gantian Mountain was in danger, any smart ruler would take out money from their pockets to strengthen the city.

This ruler, not only looking tightly at his wallet, was trying to find ways to take money from Gantian Mountain City.

Did he not know the saying? If there is no skin, where will the hair grow on? If Gantian Mountain is gone, could he keep the money in his pocket?

During these few days of observation, Ren Bo realized that his new ruler might be extremely intelligent, many things he understood instantly. He also had many amazing ideas and was good at politics. However, his personality was too weird.

To say he was stingy didn’t make sense. During the building of the bank, he didn’t hesitate to take out the money as the start-up fund.

Ren Bo didn’t understand so he could only say unhappily, “At most, I can only give 5%.”

In the past, when the Gantian Mountain sent cloud ships down to hunt, even if Zong Weiran personally led, at most they only got 100 thousand grade 4 beast crystals of gains. Even if the spiritual wave was coming and the number of monsters and beasts increased, with his calculation, the amount they get wouldn’t exceed that number.

5% of gains would be 5 thousand grade 4 beast crystals.

In exchange for the 300 three armed spiritual crossbows as well as those grade 2 spiritual arrows were a good deal and a huge earn.

This time since Taoyun, Blazing flame, and Yunxia Mountain all joint hands, then it was a good idea for them to prepare some killing weapons.

“5%?”

Zong Shou’s brows raised, unhappiness revealing on his face. Then, he agreed, “Okay! However, you need to inform the various races of this matter…”

Then Ren Bo handed over a beast leather. After Zong Shou opened it, he saw that on it were all the names of officials, which was the 6 department official system and suggestions for choices of officials.

It was similar to the 3 provinces 6 prefecture system of the central dynasties. However, it wasn’t an exact copy. Based on the situation in Gantian Mountain, just a light modification made it more suitable for a desolate land like Donglin Cloud Continent.

As for those officials, one could see that Ren Bo didn’t have any selfish intentions. The people he chose were people he recently researched, people with a lot of ability and whose morals were all top class.

Some of them even had grievances with Ren Bo.

Zong Shou didn’t say anything, keeping this list into his sleeves too. Then he smiled, “This matter doesn’t need to be rushed. Let’s talk about it when I return from the cloud ocean. I haven’t established dominance and prestige. Changing the system will cause people to be fearful. Gantian Mountain’s most important focus now has to be the current hunt.”

Ren Bo was furious when he heard that. Gantian Mountain’s current organization was not far from the six department system. Zong Weiran had made a lot of effort on it, and the political system was much better than other cities. It, now, only lacked a name. Giving a name for the system would let people feel more secure.

Which was why when Zong Shou suggested the six department system, he didn’t oppose it. It was because of the early stage preparations were all already done.

Then, he had some understanding. Did Zong Shou do that because he didn’t trust him? Did he need to carefully observe the people on the list?

When he thought about it like that, Ren Bo was speechless. The heart of a ruler was so indiscernible. Even if he knew that the methods of Zong Shou were the right way of the ruler path, he couldn’t help but feel demoralized. He almost wanted to just hand his robe and leave.

The ruler and subordinate relationship of Zong Weiran’s time seemed like a whole different world, filling him with melancholy.

If this new ruler didn’t trust him, then for why should he stay?

Zong Shou didn’t notice what Ren Bo was thinking about, smiling, “Oh right! If you don’t have anything to do, why not calculate a budget.”

“Budget?” Ren Bo’s brows raised slightly. He didn’t understand.

“Yes, a budget!” Zong Shou nodded. He thought about it and realized that the era didn’t have a name for such a thing. So, Zong Shou explained, “It is to estimate our income and expenditure for the next year, calculating all the income and output. What comes in and what goes out…”

As for what this budget exactly was he wasn’t too sure, he could only answer roughly. Ren Bo understood right away. Then he was stunned by what Zong Shou said next.

“…Calculate it in accordance to 10 times the expenditure of usual years! The price of beast crystals haven’t seen the bottom and is depreciating greatly. It is better to use them all to buy more resources and build more houses!”

Ren Bo was startled, taking a long while to come back to his senses. 10 times, which was at least 3 million and above grade 4 beast crystals.

Did Zong Shou treat this cloud ocean as his back garden? What gave him the confidence to hunt so many beast crystals this time beneath the cloud ocean?

Not only did Ren Bo not understand, but the group of people following was also all at a loss.

…

Ren Bo was overfilled with worry. When he left, his brows were tightly furrowed in a fit of anger.

Watching on as the back view of this 2 era official leave further and further, Zong Shou bitterly tugged at the corner of his lips.

What he said was the truth, but he forgot that with his current age and prestige, it was far from enough to make his subordinates believe him.

Instead, his officials would think he became arrogant and was an unrealistic person.

Sighing slightly, Zong Shou looked to the side, only seeing Chuxue, Ruoshui, and the others look over with a weird expression in their eyes. He raged, “Even all of you don’t believe me?”

Chuxue was just sucking at her lower lip before she stopped. A moment later, she decided to tell the truth, “Young master! 10 times, that’s 3 million grade 4 beast crystals! I heard the father say that our xiantian experts of Gantian Mountain only amount to a bit more than ten thousand.”

Xuan Yunlan’s brows also rose up, “Maybe ruler doesn’t know about the situation beneath the cloud ocean. The beasts and evil monsters greatly increased. However, the dangers also increase by the years. Even for our Qingyin School, each time we hunt we will only get 600 thousand grade 4 beast crystals. Even those 10 shrines wouldn’t have many. Ruler, it is better if you don’t hold too high hopes this time…”

Zong Shou was speechless. If he told these people actually he had not only scoured the abyss below in the God-Emperor game but also went down alone and killed beasts below, what would they say?

He knew about the geography as well as the distribution of beasts around like the back of his fingertips. This was why he was so confident. These few people in front of him probably wouldn’t believe him.

He shook his head. Zong Shou couldn’t be bothered to explain it as he walked towards the direction of his ship.

When the time came, the facts would speak for themselves. This time, he asked Ren Bo to gather 400 merchant ships that could carry a hundred thousand stones, and they weren’t just for show.

His five tooth ship was the most magnificent in this Rainbow City port. It was 200 feet tall and had a total of 20 floors. It could carry 5 thousand soldiers and store a hundred thousand stone resources.

However, the decoration within was extremely simple, similar to the Gantian Mountian Hanyan Palace, carrying on Zong Weiran’s humble and thrifty life whilst also not losing face and magnanimity.

Zong Shou frowned tightly. This was a little too simple. In this life, although he could disregard everything else because of the sword, he could take the daily torture of the underwater whirlpool, he could bury himself in the sand for months, but if he had the conditions he paid a lot of attention to living quality.

When one was living, one should know when to enjoy.

As for whether such enjoyments will affect determination, Zong Shou had his understanding. If his heart couldn’t hold on, then the chase for the pinnacle of the sword path was just words and he should just give up on it.

To be able to go through the corruption of riches, of wine, money and still not let your determination get affected. To force oneself to maintain on that tough and monk-like life, in the future one’s heart would be extremely stable.

When he headed for was the most central area of this five tooth giant ship, it was extremely wide. Beside it was a total of 40 rooms all for his maidservants and guards to use, like a small portable palace.

After Zong Shou entered his sleeping palace and sat, he waved everyone away. He took out a book and started flipping it.

Stars shone within his soul ocean. He memorized whilst also calculating and simulating it.

This was one of the secret manuals that Wei Xu left him before he left, which was coincidentally beneficial for his world shocking spiritual art.