Chapter 154: Chapter 151: Problems and Solutions
’Cyan Essence Water Grass...’
Shen Changchuan’s expression was composed as his fingers tapped unconsciously on the arm of his chair.
He hadn’t forgotten.
More than half a year ago, in the Water Mansion at the bottom of the river in front of Dawan Village, he had discovered a seedling of the Cyan Essence Water Grass.
’If I’m not mistaken,’
’that seedling was connected to the collateral branch of the Shen Family that was wiped out twenty years ago.’
’And at that time,’
’the Shen Family’s True Cultivator of Soul Emergence, Shen Tingchu, had also gotten involved...’
’Or perhaps, even before that, things had happened that outsiders were not privy to.’
’Because it was also twenty years ago that the Wu Family’s prodigy, Wu Tianhao, had managed to join the Yuqing Immortal Sect.’
’From then on, the Wu Family of the Wu Family Collection rose to prominence, becoming a powerful family in the countryside. With their connection to the Yuqing Immortal Sect, ordinary outside Cultivators no longer dared to make a move against them lightly.’
’Until more than half a year ago,’
’an important young member of the Wu Family was being hunted. I happened to be passing by and dealt with all the pursuers, after which I found a precious Cyan Essence Purifying Spirit Pill in an enemy’s Storage Bag.’
’Then came the turmoil in the Wu Family Collection.’
’Unknown Cultivators launched a night raid on the Wu Family Collection.’
’The attack failed, but news of the Cyan Essence Water Grass could no longer be suppressed. It began to spread to the outside world, leading to the massive storm now sweeping across the Border Desolate Land...’
Numerous thoughts flashed through Shen Changchuan’s mind.
He thought hard,
trying to piece together a reliable timeline from the information he possessed.
But after racking his brain,
while he managed to roughly piece together the key clues, it didn’t seem to be of much use for the current situation.
For a moment,
Shen Changchuan felt a headache coming on.
’Forget it. I’m overthinking this!’
’The most important thing right now is to get through this crisis first!’
Shen Changchuan mentally shook his head, casting aside the myriad thoughts swirling in his mind.
As someone who acted with method and purpose, he quickly organized his thoughts.
There was no need to dwell on so many irrelevant things.
Instead, he should focus on the present,
and fix his gaze on what was right in front of him!
After sorting out his thoughts,
Shen Changchuan posed two questions to himself.
First,
what was the most urgent and pressing problem he faced right now?
After some thought,
Shen Changchuan quickly had his answer.
First: Due to the appearance of the Cyan Essence Water Grass, chaos was brewing and crisis loomed. He had to ensure Dawan Village would not suffer a pointless disaster by being attacked.
Second: The Spirit Grain was about to be harvested, and the Transportation Envoy’s people would soon arrive. If they saw Dawan Village’s prosperity and reported it back, it could bring him unpredictable risks.
Third: The major merchant guilds were being attacked one after another. If this couldn’t be resolved and they couldn’t withstand the blows, they might pull out their investments and leave. This would cause his own income to plummet.
Although the rent was a one-time income, the commercial district in the east of the village brought in a lot of foot traffic. So, at Shen Changchuan’s suggestion, Han Qinhu had also opened up a market square in the commercial district for visitors to set up stalls and trade. The rent for a stall for one day was one Spirit Stone.
Therefore, during the three months Shen Changchuan was in seclusion, Dawan Village was able to collect an income of twenty to thirty Spirit Stones almost every day.
Once the major merchant firms left, the foot traffic would certainly plummet as well. He could forget about income from stall rentals then; he’d have to figure out how to get by on farming income alone.
And this was clearly something Shen Changchuan was extremely unwilling to accept.
Fourth, and the last matter.
That was the matter of Shen Tingchu, the True Cultivator of Soul Emergence from the family, personally coming to ask for his help in investigating the Cyan Essence Water Grass.
After organizing his thoughts,
in his mind, Shen Changchuan
listed the four most pressing problems that needed to be solved.
After thinking for a good while,
and confirming there were no omissions,
at that moment, Shen Changchuan felt his thoughts become much clearer.
’Four relatively urgent problems... they don’t seem too difficult to solve, do they?’
Thinking about it carefully,
Shen Changchuan discovered that,
the solutions to these four problems didn’t seem to be difficult at all.
The solution to the first problem was simple: a show of force.
As long as he displayed sufficient strength to the outside world, it would be enough to make those lurking in the shadows rein in their ambitions and not dare to attack Dawan Village lightly.
After all, Dawan Village was still flying the banner of the Tian Nan Shen Clan.
The second problem was one he had already considered when he came out of seclusion. He already had a solution for it; he just needed to use a powerful backer as a shield to buy himself enough time.
The third problem was indeed a significant hassle.
If it wasn’t handled well, it would lead to the major merchant firms pulling out, his income would plummet, and it would certainly have a huge impact on his future cultivation.
The solution was simple: ensure the security of the merchant caravans during transport.
One way was to mobilize manpower and resources to sweep the caravan routes, killing all Tribulation Cultivators who dared to attack them. Even if he couldn’t kill them all, he had to kill enough to intimidate the riffraff.
The other way was to spend a great deal of money to hire people to protect the caravans on their journey.
Shen Changchuan thought for a moment and decided to use a two-pronged approach.
His general plan was to create an alias for himself and then, under the guise of being reinforcements hired by Shen Changchuan, he would guard the merchant caravans’ transport.
During this process, if any Tribulation Cultivators dared to attack the caravans, he would personally take action, killing every last one of them.
After doing this three to five times,
he estimated that not many people would dare to risk death to attack the caravans anymore.
Moreover, after establishing his authority, he could directly give the caravans a Communication Talisman.
In the future, if they were attacked by those who didn’t fear death, they could just hold their position and wait for reinforcements.
In any case, with Xiaofeng,
a one-way trip to Qing City at full speed would only take seven or eight hours.
That was enough time to provide adequate support.
The fourth problem was even simpler.
He would just truthfully report everything that had recently happened in the Border Desolate Forest and pass on the information.
It wasn’t a big hassle; it was just something that had to be done.
Now that the Cyan Essence Water Grass had appeared, he definitely had to inform Senior Shen Tingchu. And as for Wu Tianhao’s appearance... perhaps he should mention that as well.
Shen Changchuan was lost in thought.
’Come to think of it, these problems don’t need to be solved one by one. They can be integrated and dealt with together.’
’For example, if I use the alias of a family reinforcement hired by Shen Changchuan to help the merchant guilds solve their transportation problems, and everything goes smoothly, killing until others don’t dare to have any funny ideas, then my alias will become famous.’
’And as the reinforcement hired by Dawan Village, Dawan Village itself will also benefit. In the eyes of outsiders, it will become a symbol of having deep connections and power—one not to be trifled with!’
’And as for solving the second and fourth problems, I was just about to reply to that family senior, Shen Tingchu. Perhaps I can use that as my ’tiger skin’ to show off my backing to the subordinates of the family’s Transportation Envoy when they arrive...’
Thinking of this,
Shen Changchuan’s eyes lit up.
