Bai Xiaochun was not happy at all. Upon walking out to inspect the two other shops, he found that they were indeed larger than his. When you added in how their work was guaranteed by means of a seal, it really made his own shop seemed too simplistic.
“What’s the meaning of this!? Can’t beat me in a fight so now they’re going to try to put me out of business!?” Both of the other two shops were completely bustling, and although his shop wasn’t completely empty, it was nothing like it was before. “Nine Serenities City… that must be Zhou Hong. And Spirit Advent City. Hmm. I didn’t take any life force from Xu Shan. Why would she have it out for me?”
Quite a few people noticed that Bai Xiaochun had walked out onto the street to look at the other shops. Even Sima Tao and Sun Yifan noticed, but seemed to view him as little more than business competition, and didn’t pay him much heed.
As far as they were concerned, Bai Xiaochun might have impressive battle prowess, and even have a Nascent Soul cultivation base, but in terms of spirit enhancement and necromancy, he couldn't compare to them. They had spent the majority of their lives immersed in necromancy, and had vast amounts of experience. There was no way that some up-and-coming brat could even come close to their abilities.
After sizing up the situation, Bai Xiaochun stalked angrily back into his shop. Although he hadn't originally cared too much about this spirit enhancement shop of his, considering that his future cultivation was tied to multi-colored flame, and he needed to do a lot of research, it meant that he had a greater need for vengeful souls than ever. In fact, the number involved was difficult to even process mentally.
He couldn’t go back to Giant Ghost City, and there was no way to shake down any clans. Mistress Red-Dust wouldn’t be of any help at all. That meant that the only other possible way to get souls was to beat people in fights, which was far too dangerous as far as Bai Xiaochun was concerned.
Without souls, he couldn’t conjure flame, and without multi-colored flame, he couldn’t increase his cultivation base. Without a higher cultivation base, he would never be able to get out of the Wildlands. That, coupled with all the pressure from Mistress Red-Dust, had him feeling very anxious.
He was alone, with no clan to back him up, and without any stipend of souls from the Giant Ghost King. If he wanted to conjure flame and improve his cultivation base, then he had to rely on vengeful souls.
His hope had come to rest in his shop, and he had originally assumed it would be able to support him to the point where he could increase his cultivation base and leave the Wildlands.
But now that these two new shops had opened up, Bai Xiaochun’s plan was completely wrecked. Besides, if things kept going on the way they were, the other chosen in the city would surely get involved. If things got to the point where he had no business at all, then he would be in very serious trouble, and might even get killed.
“No, I have to think of a way!” Back in his shop, he sat there thinking, a frown on his face as all sorts of ideas ran through his head. However, no matter what ideas he came up with, they had flaws that he couldn’t deal with, considering how weak he was overall.
Off to the side, Bai Hao looked at his Master, and then at the people outside going mostly to the other two shops. After a moment, he said, “Master, I have two plans that can resolve the situation!”
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Chapter
732: Nothing But Business Warfare
“Huh?” Bai Xiaochun said, a bit taken aback. “Two plans?”
In the short time he had been together with Bai Hao, he had already come to see that he was extremely talented, so much so that he qualified to shake all of the Wildlands.
Without Bai Hao, Bai Xiaochun would have faced nearly insurmountable difficulties when it came to flame conjuring.
However, it wasn’t just Bai Hao’s skill in flame conjuring that was impressive. Although Bai Xiaochun definitely had something to do with the success of the shop, much of it had to do with how Bai Hao handled everyday business. Overall, Bai Xiaochun was very pleased by the arrangement.
However, he had noticed a weakness in his apprentice. Bai Hao always thought of things in a very limited way. He simply didn’t match up to Bai Xiaochun, who thought grand thoughts and carried out dashing plans….
Looking very serious, Bai Hao lowered his voice and said, “Master, these two plans of mine are currently in the early stages of planning. If you want more details, I’ll need to put a bit more thought into them and work everything out. Or I can come up with some other ideas.”
Bai Xiaochun waved his hand dismissively and said, “No, that’s fine, tell me your ideas.”
Then he looked at his apprentice with eager anticipation.
Looking thoughtful, Bai Hao continued. “Master, Sun Yifan from Nine Serenities City and Sima Tao from Spirit Advent City are both celestial necromancers. One of them is a high counselor to a king, and the other comes from an aristocratic necromancer clan. On the surface, it seems like they’re cooperating, but the truth is… as grandmaster necromancers, they're both very arrogant. There’s no way that they truly get along.”
The truth was that Bai Hao really had put a lot of thought into the situation, and was not just shooting his mouth; he was providing a fairly accurate analysis.
“Because of that, it doesn’t really matter who is behind the scenes organizing all this. All we have to do is make it so that these two grandmasters stop following orders, which should be possible as long as they aren’t acting directly on behalf of their respective kings. You see, both of them view their reputation as being all important. Although they are currently holding back, the two of them definitely are interested in outdoing the other…. We just need to throw some fuel on the fire, and the two of them will start squabbling with each other!” Bai Hao’s eyes glittered, and his tone grew more sinister.
“Master, all you have to do is make that happen, then suck it up a bit and get on the good side of one of them by acknowledging him as superior. Not only would that improve your own reputation, you also could use it as an attack on the other. In terms of all the complicated things that need to happen behind the scenes, I can handle that. By following this plan, it will only take a short period of time to achieve the first measure of success.” With that, Bai Hao stopped talking and looked over at Bai Xiaochun.
Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times as he considered the matter. Pretending to bow his head to one of the two newcomers was something he could accept. However, even as he pondered Bai Hao’s words, his own thoughts brought him back to a situation which had occurred when he first got to the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect.
Bai Hao could tell that his Master suddenly seemed a bit distracted. Feeling a bit hesitant, he continued with his second plan.
“There’s another plan I came up with,” he explained. “This one is a bit more direct, and also a bit more high profile. It will probably lead to more situations that have to be dealt with. You could participate in a competition with Sun Yifan and Sima Tao regarding necromancy and spirit enhancement, and then crush them. It could lead to other problems. However, if we managed to get them to challenge you, Master, then as the accused party, you could strike back with impunity.”
Afterward, Bai Xiaochun remained silent and thoughtful for a bit. Then his eyes glittered, and he suddenly looked very excited.
“Hahaha! Well done, apprentice. Those two plans are excellent. However, I actually have a better way to deal with the situation!”
Bai Hao’s eyes widened. “Master….”
His heart began to pound when he thought about how Bai Xiaochun had handled matters in the past. For some reason, he was already getting a bad feeling about the situation.