Chapter 575
Chapter 575
And so, Shen Lang sold the glass vials containing the golden bloodline, one after another. The transaction was simple: gold in one hand, product in the other. Furthermore, they couldn't take it with them. They had to drink it on the spot, and only after confirming its effects would Shen Lang take their gold. He took in so much gold his hands began to tremble. At first, he meticulously inspected each piece of gold, but later, he simply scanned them with his X-ray vision.
Of course, some tried to play dumb. Despite clearly experiencing the effects after drinking it, they would claim to have felt nothing and attempt to take their gold back. In response, Shen Lang would immediately order the person's mask ripped off, their clothes stripped, and for them to be thrown out. At that, the person would instantly change their tune, admitting the effects were real. They might have felt stronger, but they knew they couldn't possibly win against dozens of female warriors.
Sometimes, when you feel an event is proceeding smoothly, it's actually going even more smoothly than you anticipated. The scions of these noble families, trying to conceal their identities, all wore masks, a futile attempt to hide the obvious. This suited Shen Lang's plans perfectly. This way, there would be even less evidence. He would probably argue something like this later:
‘Even if the effects of the Golden Dragon's Blood completely vanish after a month, don't come looking for me. When did I ever sell you Golden Dragon's Blood? Don't spread rumors. Show me the proof. Did you get a certificate from me? A receipt? No, you didn't! What's that? You marked your gold? Oh, I'm so sorry. I've melted all the gold down and recast it into new bars. You say this is your family's gold? Then go ahead and call out to it. If the gold answers, it's yours. If it doesn't, it's not!’
Besides, having felt their bloodlines change, most of them would carefully hide the fact, not daring to speak of it. If the Crown Prince and the Third Prince found out, it would bring disaster upon their families. But can you wrap fire in paper? The Crown Prince and the Third Prince had already found out long ago. While they couldn't know specifically who went to Shen Lang to buy the Golden Dragon's Blood, they knew his house was bustling with visitors. But was there any way for the Crown Prince and the Third Prince to stop them? No, there wasn't. They couldn't very well surround Viscount Jianping's estate and forbid anyone from entering or leaving, could they?
Besides, the King had been the first to send two thousand palace guards to Marquis Jianping's estate. The meaning was crystal clear. It was to protect Shen Lang as he sold the Golden Dragon's Blood, and to protect the gold. So Shen Lang sold the Golden Dragon's Blood every day, and by the end, he didn't even need to say a word.
“Give me the Golden Dragon's Blood.”
“Drink!”
The gold is handed over.
“A word of advice for you.”
Then, before Shen Lang could even finish, the other person would speak up.
“Stay away from women!”
Impressive. He could even save the time it took to give the final warning. Three days later, Shen Lang couldn't stand it anymore. The work was just too monotonous. He entrusted the transactions to Wuyeol and Hamno. Speaking of which, Hamno now weighed one hundred and fifty catties and boasted a beauty that could blind almost anyone. Unexpectedly, the warrior woman Hamno, with her eight-chi waist, was a true beauty. Madman Nan's eye for people was truly sharp.
Shen Lang spent half of each day holding his daughter and the other half conducting experiments. What kind of experiments? Experiments to change the bloodline of a normal person, of course. Someone like Mulan, for example. He had promised to make Mulan the greatest master in the world. And he couldn't go back on his promise. Scientific experiments were just as one would expect. Failure was inevitable, while success was a matter of chance. He had already failed hundreds, even thousands of times, overturning countless ideas and changing the direction of his theories more times than he could count. But despite all that, it still seemed like a hopeless endeavor.
***
Time flew by, and ten days passed in the blink of an eye. The fifteen-day deadline Shen Lang had agreed upon with the King had arrived. Their agreement was that if Shen Lang could raise three million gold taels for military funds within fifteen days, the King would ennoble Ning Zheng as the Duke of Yue. For a while, Wuyeol and Hamno had been selling the Golden Dragon's Blood, and Shen Lang hadn't paid much attention. Shen Lang knew roughly that the money earned had definitely surpassed three million gold taels, but he didn't know the exact amount.
On the last day, Shen Lang appeared before a customer. The man was startled to see Shen Lang.
‘Weren't two women selling it before? Why is Shen Lang here in person now?’
“My apologies! We're sold out!”
The man was shocked.
‘Sold out! How can that be? I regret it so much. Why was I so stingy about six thousand gold taels? Why did I wait for the price to drop?’
“Young Master Shen, I'm willing to pay an extra hundred gold taels. I'll pay one hundred more!”
“I'm sorry. We're completely sold out.”
With a wave of his hand, Shen Lang ordered the man to be thrown out of Marquis Jianping's estate. This batch of leeks had been thoroughly harvested. A business this good wouldn't come around again for a long time. He had harvested so fiercely this time that the leeks would need time to grow back. And so, the business of selling the Golden Dragon's Blood came to a complete end.
Shen Lang would count his earnings and then hand all the gold over to the national treasury. He intended to use every last gold tael for military funds, not keeping a single one for himself. However, when Shen Lang arrived at the underground vault, he was completely stunned.
‘This... this is truly a mountain of gold!’
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but shimmering gold. Shen Lang asked in a trembling voice.
“What's the total amount of gold?”
“Four million, nine hundred and thirty thousand taels!”
“How much?”
“4.93 million!”
G-Good heavens. The King had asked him to raise three million gold taels, but Shen Lang had raised nearly five million in just fifteen days. It was a truly astonishing result.
4.93 million gold taels? Since each vial of “Golden Dragon's Blood” was sold for six thousand gold taels, the total wasn't exact. Worried that some people might have marked their gold, Shen Lang had melted down all the gold he received and recast it into bars. There would undoubtedly be some loss in the process. In truth, the value was in the weight of the gold, not its form, so a slight loss was of no concern.
Shen Lang had over two thousand vials of Golden Dragon's Blood in total. After selling over eight hundred this time, he still had more than a thousand left. But it couldn't be helped. He had harvested all the leeks in the capital this time, and even reaped from the powerful families near the capital. The number of families who could afford six thousand gold taels and had a disappointing noble scion was around eight hundred, and that was it. Having harvested this batch, it would take at least a few years for them to grow back enough to be harvested again.
“Get ready and transport this gold to the royal palace!”
***
What followed was a sensational scene in the capital. The citizens of the capital were caught completely off guard, and in an instant, they were so dazzled it felt as if their eyes would go blind. Even the palace guards escorting the gold had their eyes wide open. The gates of Marquis Jianping's estate opened, and cart after cart of gold was brought out. On the carts, gleaming gold bars were laid out with no cover whatsoever. Each bar weighed at least five catties, with over three thousand catties loaded onto each cart, filling a long train of one hundred carts. Under the sunlight, the mountain of gold shone so brightly one could hardly open their eyes. Shen Lang's procession moved majestically along Xuanwu Avenue toward the royal palace. The two thousand palace guards were so astonished at the sight of the gold that their jaws dropped.
A chiliarch of the palace guards approached Shen Lang and asked in a trembling voice.
“Young Master Shen, isn't... isn't this a bit too ostentatious?”
“I'm contributing millions of taels at once. Can't I be allowed to show off a little?”
‘Ugh! You do have a point. But isn't the pressure of having just two thousand of us escorting a mountain of gold like this a bit too much? I'm terrified it might get stolen. To be frank with you, when our brothers in the palace guard see this astronomical amount of gold, they'll be tempted to grab a handful, desert their posts, and go home.’
But it couldn't be helped. No one could stop Shen Lang from flaunting his gold. The morning sun shone down on the earth, and along Xuanwu Avenue, the gold loaded on a hundred carts stretched out endlessly, glittering and dazzling. Everyone was dumbfounded. Commoners, merchants, nobles, local ruffians, gangsters, and officials alike all stopped in their tracks to gaze at the countless piles of gold. A mountain of gold, a sea of gold, stretched out before them.
‘D-Damn! This is terrifying!’
Except for the elders of the Hidden Yuan Society, no one had ever witnessed so much gold in one place. Countless commoners trembled from head to toe.
‘What a spectacle. Just seeing this, I can brag about it for at least thirty years.’
After staring blankly for a full quarter of an hour, people rushed home, making a racket to bring out their wives and children.
“Mother, Mother, come out and see the gold! Son, let's go see the gods! Wife, Wife, come out quickly! I have something amazing to show you! Huh? Who's that? Why are you under our bed?”
More and more people gathered along Xuanwu Avenue to watch. Many watched with a sense of awe and admiration in their hearts.
“My god. So much gold. If I had just one cartload, I'd be set for life.”
“One cartload? Don't be ridiculous! If just one bar fell your way, you could party until your back broke. I really want to go and snatch some. If I just stole one bar, I'd live it up in the Apricot Blossom Pavilion and never leave.”
Many ruffians and gangsters felt their hearts burn with greed at the sight of the gold.
‘Should we cause a huge commotion and try to snatch it?’
“Giddy-up, giddy-up!”
Upon hearing the news, the Marshal of the Palace Guards was so shocked his hair stood on end. He immediately led five thousand guards to rush over and protect the gold. Inwardly, he could have killed Shen Lang.
‘Young Master Shen, you madman! Parading millions of gold taels around so openly! This is like having a hundred naked women crawling on the ground!’
The Marshal of the Palace Guards felt dizzy, overwhelmed by the dazzling gold. Then, Ning Zheng also arrived with the guards from the Yue Navy Command to escort the gold. In just half an hour, the number of soldiers guarding the gold grew larger and larger. The ruffians and gangsters who had been planning to cause a commotion quickly lowered their heads, practically tucking them into their pants.
‘What a shame. If the timing had been right, we could have gotten our hands on millions of gold taels.’
Although they didn't succeed, they would surely brag about this day in the future. Huang Dong, a new elder of the Sky-Dao Society, was also stunned by the sight of the gold. He had come only to witness this spectacle. Frankly, even though he was an elder of the Sky-Dao Society, this was the first time he had seen so much gold gathered in one place. It was truly a sensational sight. However, it would be quite difficult to do business selling mirrors or other luxury goods in the capital from now on. Because Young Master Shen had done a number on all the wealthy families residing in the capital, harvesting their money so fiercely.