Chapter 176: Unexpected encounter

Li Qi felt extremely awkward, his toes curling.

This person really knew how to brag.

His cultivation method might truly be able to sense vitality, but Li Qi knew his own vitality would also merge with natural, making it not so easy to detect.

However, it was probably because he had this sensing ability that he noticed a slight abnormality, which was why he came out and called out from a distance to see if anyone was there.

After all, if they were truly certain that someone was following them, Li Qi guessed this Gang would probably set up an ambush and counter-kill directly, not stand out and talk nonsense.

But Li Qi wasn't going to pursue these matters. After two dry coughs, he walked up to everyone and said, "I only wanted to find some grain this time, but the distribution center wasn't enough. I thought following you all would allow me to directly find a way at a larger grain production area, but I didn't expect you also had a clever method to discover me, which led to some misunderstanding."

"I absolutely have no ill intentions, and I'm sure you all can see that," Li Qi said.

The brawny man rose from his kneeling position and replied, "That is natural, we have no doubt whatsoever!"

Nonsense, if this person truly had malicious intent, they wouldn't last a single breath.

This person's strength was absolutely on the same level as the Sect Leader, both were extraordinary existences!

"So Senior wishes to do business? Then Jinlang Sect can introduce you. May I ask how much grain Senior needs? Shall we discuss this in the carriage?" the brawny man said to Li Qi.

"Alright, let's go up and talk. I wonder if your Jinlang Sect can provide three hundred thousand shi of grain?" Li Qi said as he followed him into the carriage.

Three hundred thousand shi!

This number startled the brawny man.

A full three hundred thousand shi of grain, this was no small sum!

A simple calculation would show that three hundred thousand shi was roughly over thirty million catties.

Assuming one person only ate one catty of grain a day, that would mean one hundred thousand people would need one hundred thousand catties, roughly fifty tons per day, enough to feed them for over three hundred days, which is one year's rations for one hundred thousand people.

Of course, people in this world, due to cultivation method and other reasons, had larger appetites and could actually eat three catties of grain a day. Big eaters could consume five or six catties, meaning three hundred thousand shi was roughly one hundred days' rations for one hundred thousand people, or enough to feed everyone in the entire Guangyang City for two days.

Assuming it was one hundred thousand people, even if they started eating now, it would be enough until the next season's spirit rice harvest!

The brawny man just didn't know that Li Qi was indeed preparing to feed over one hundred thousand people until the next harvest.

"Senior, one shi of grain is roughly one hundred cash. Calculating this, three hundred thousand shi of grain would be thirty thousand gold. This amount of capital, I'm afraid few grain merchants can produce at once. Even raising it would take over a month. I wonder if Senior can wait? And is the capital sufficient?" the brawny man asked cautiously.

He deliberately ignored the option of 'giving it to Li Qi'.

Three hundred thousand shi of grain, no one in Guangyang City could afford to give that away.

"Thirty thousand gold, huh..." Li Qi frowned. He did indeed have things worth thirty thousand gold on him, but those things couldn't be easily sold. As for thirty thousand gold in cash, who would carry thirty thousand gold in cash on them?

One gold was roughly half a catty of gold cake. Thirty thousand gold was over ten thousand catties of gold, which showed how valuable three hundred thousand shi of grain was.

Li Qi's frown made the brawny man tremble with fear, afraid that Li Qi couldn't afford it but urgently needed it, and would simply resort to malicious intent.

But he also found it somewhat strange. Why would such a powerful expert start procuring grain?

Procuring grain usually had two reasons.

One, he supported a faction with thousands of mouths to feed, but such groups usually had fixed grain channels and were unlikely to suddenly demand a large amount of grain.

The second reason was to provide disaster relief, but were there any disaster victims recently?

It seemed there were.

It was said there were disaster victims near Zhenguan, but not many. Only a few thousand to ten thousand truly flooded into Guangyang City, not even making a splash.

Aside from more beggars on the streets, better business for human traffickers, and significantly cheaper prices at brothels, there weren't any significant changes.

It was nothing to the vast Guangyang City.

Wait.

As the brawny man thought of this, he suddenly realized something. He looked up and asked Li Qi, "Is Senior perhaps going to provide disaster relief? Three hundred thousand shi, just enough to feed over one hundred thousand people until the next spirit rice harvest. Could Senior be...?"

"You are indeed sharp. That is indeed the purpose. Don't worry, I won't strong-arm you. You lead me there, and I'll discuss it with your Sect Leader. Although I don't have thirty thousand gold, I should be able to use other items as collateral," Li Qi said.

The brawny man's respect was evident. He cupped his hands and said, "Senior's righteousness, saving over one hundred thousand people, such Karma, countless people will erect shrines and build divine statues for you, praying for Senior day and night."

"What's the point of saying useless things? Just take me to your outpost quickly," Li Qi said. "Along the way, could you introduce me to the grain market in this Guangyang City, so I can make a judgment?"

"Of course, Senior. Please ask anything you wish," the brawny man said.

The convoy continued, and Li Qi and the brawny man began to converse in the carriage.

Along the way, perhaps out of fear, or perhaps out of admiration, he answered almost all of Li Qi's questions without reservation, though Li Qi didn't fully believe everything, merely memorizing it for future reference.

The brawny man introduced himself as Diedanyi, one of the managers of Jinlang Sect. He practiced the most common Martial Dao, and his cultivation had reached Organ Refining, having already refined two organs, the kidneys and lungs.

In other words, with three more, he would enter the Innate Martial Artist realm, reaching the Ninth Rank.

This level of cultivation was considered a top-tier expert in Jinlang Sect, and even in Guangyang City, he was a renowned Jianghu expert. That's why he was qualified to be a manager of a grain transport team, handling thousands of shi of grain daily and over a million shi annually.

And the Sect Leader of Jinlang Sect was an Innate expert, meaning a Ninth Rank Martial Dao practitioner, who, along with over twenty other Ninth Rank experts, formed the Grain Alliance. These two dozen Gangs and forces united, each controlling a portion of Guangyang City's grain business.

And it was this Grain Alliance that monopolized all grain business in Guangyang City.

In a person's life, the Four Greats of clothing, food, housing, and transportation are absolutely indispensable, which shows the power of the Grain Alliance. Behind the Grain Alliance even stood Guangyang Situ!

In other words, there was an Eighth Rank official with a government background backing them!

Their influence was immense, enough to be considered all-powerful in Guangyang City.

However, despite the Grain Alliance's great power, its internal structure was not monolithic. Under the control of Guangyang Situ, this Eighth Rank expert, although there were no outward conflicts and everyone worked together to maintain stable grain prices without causing trouble.

In reality, within the Grain Alliance, each faction controlled different channels.

For example, Jinlang Sect could participate in the grain trade because dozens of villages supported them. These villages were staunch supporters of Jinlang Sect.

The village elders were mid-level members of Jinlang Sect, and young people leaving the village mostly served as ordinary Gang members for Jinlang Sect. Most of the grain grown by the villagers was sold by Jinlang Sect.

Relying on these villages, they influenced more villages to supply only Jinlang Sect, even including a county town, which was all within Jinlang Sect's sphere of influence. They used these areas as their foundation to secure a foothold in Guangyang City.

These were the background details.

The twenty-odd factions of the Grain Alliance each controlled a certain amount of grain production. The smallest produced only a million shi annually, while the largest was a Family called Guangyang Zhang Family, with a production of nearly ten million shi.

The total production of the two dozen families combined was roughly fifty to sixty million shi, enough for Guangyang City's annual needs, with some surplus.

And the Guangyang Zhang Family was the one who erected that pillar.

The twenty-zhang giant pillar Li Qi saw in Guangyang City earlier, carved with ten thousand bats, named "Ten Thousand Blessings Come to Court," was erected by the Zhang Family.

As for Jinlang Sect, they produced around three to four million shi, placing them in the upper-middle tier.

Diedanyi said, "In other words, Senior, you're taking away ten percent of Jinlang Sect's total annual production in one go. This truly cannot be easily provided, at least not by most of the Grain Alliance factions."

"Perhaps only that Family with ten million shi can meet your demand," Diedanyi said, spreading his hands to Li Qi, indicating that there was truly nothing he could do.

Upon hearing this, Li Qi put a hand to his forehead and rubbed his temples: "How can there be such a big difference? According to you, the personnel, experts, and influence of each Family are not much different. If someone truly took such a large share, how could you all tolerate it?"

Diedanyi nodded in agreement: "I also find it strange. Jinlang Sect is very clear about their sphere of influence; it's absolutely impossible for them to produce so much grain. Yet, they somehow manage to produce that much. It's just that the Sect Leader refuses to tell us. Regarding these matters, I'm afraid only Senior can ask directly."

Upon hearing this, Li Qi felt a headache coming on.

The grain matter seemed to have some clues, but at this moment, ten hours had already passed. He hoped the White Rhinoceros Army had received his message and wouldn't fall into panic because he hadn't returned.

Over one hundred thousand people without grain, just thinking about it was terrifying.

The most urgent task was to contact the Sect Leader of Jinlang Sect and see what means could be used to have them help him contact the Guangyang Zhang Family.

With the Guangyang Zhang Family's enormous annual production of ten million shi, requesting three hundred thousand shi of grain shouldn't be too difficult. They should be able to squeeze it out, and at worst, Jinlang Sect could make up some, which would always be enough.

As for whether they would sell it to him, Li Qi wasn't too worried.

Although he didn't have much gold on him, there were many things more valuable than gold. If he gathered them, he should be able to gather items worth thirty thousand gold.

Furthermore, these items were easy to exchange for gold.

But if one wanted to buy these items with gold, it would be difficult. The phrase 'having a price but no market' was very true.

Except for special cases like Li Qi, no one would sell these items usable only by cultivators to exchange for gold, which only had meaning in the mundane world.

They continued to converse along the way, from morning until noon. When it was time for lunch, they finally arrived at Jinlang Sect's outpost outside.

This seemed to be a granary they built relying on a mountain, but it was empty at the moment.

Li Qi, of course, didn't think this was Diedanyi and his group's original destination.

He probably signaled a change of destination while talking to him, switching the original destination to this empty granary so that even if he had malicious intent, he couldn't do anything.

Immediately after, Diedanyi said to Li Qi, "Senior, please wait here for a moment. I will go notify the Sect Leader right away. He will definitely arrive within two hours at the latest!"

"Thank you for your trouble," Li Qi nodded and said.

"What trouble? Jinlang Sect will certainly not miss this big business. We will definitely handle it beautifully for Senior," he said, patting his chest, and then quickly ran off.

It was clear he was about to break. Although he acted natural, being with Li Qi evidently put immense pressure on this Jinlang Sect manager.

Soon, only Li Qi was left in the entire room. It seemed even the servants had withdrawn.

Li Qi stood up and looked around.

Although it was just a manor built next to a granary, it had everything it needed.

This manor faced a lake on one side, with a long pond of about an mu, planted with water chestnuts and surrounded by hibiscus along the embankment.

There were three small rooms, with a tea stove set up, and the courtyard was sparse.

Not a single person could be seen.

This made Li Qi couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

They wouldn't have run away, would they? Leaving him here and then packing up all their belongings and moving?

It shouldn't be that bad. A monk can run, but his temple cannot. Jinlang Sect had such a large operation.

With this thought, Li Qi simply sat down and quietly waited for the leader of Jinlang Sect to arrive.

This also made him feel a little emotional.

How many times had he, when facing a business manager, had to bow and scrape? But now, the situation was reversed.

Things were different now.

In the past, the greatest good deed he could do was give a bowl of meat broth to a neighbor's child.

Now, he could shoulder the lives of over one hundred thousand people.

However, to Li Qi, there was no difference between the two.

Both were merely doing good deeds within his power.

The only difference was that his power was different, so the scope of "within one's power" was also different.

Ninth Rank, for this world, was already considered a local expert, capable of holding high positions and being revered by thousands.

However, Guangyang City here seemed to be inferior to Qingwu City in Green Mountain Country.

The number of Ninth Rank experts in Qingwu City was far greater than here, and he didn't know why.

If Ninth Rank experts in Qingwu City were one in a thousand, here they were one in ten thousand.

Was Qingwu City particularly strong? Or was there something special about it?

Li Qi thought about these things, while also calculating how to proceed later.

Three hundred thousand shi of grain, what would be best to exchange for it?

What did he have on him that he didn't need, and could be used for exchange?

As Li Qi pondered these things, time slowly passed.

Soon, half an hour passed.

Li Qi looked up, gazing outside the house.

He saw a carriage approaching outside the gate.

Diedanyi was leading the way.

Seeing this, Li Qi sat down, waiting for the other party to enter.

But he saw a person alight from the carriage.

Dressed in white, elegant and dashing, holding a folding fan, handsome and charming.

Li Qi had seen this person before.

Wang Baiyan!

The person on the Five-Tiered Pagoda!