As a lord, I was forced to farm

Chapter 791 Killing the chicken to scare the monkey

"How could you let some unknown small caravan steal your business?"

"What a bunch of trash!"

In just one or two months, the capital of Da Ce Province lost tens of millions of spirit crystals for no reason, and the losses were still increasing. King Da Ce was furious and reprimanded the relevant person in charge. The one who directly faced King Da Ce's anger was naturally the head of the caravan in charge of the Lei Guang area.

The Great King pointed at everyone's noses and said, "As merchants, you didn't even notice the competitive crisis. If you had acquired or destroyed the Azure Cloud Grass Pill before it was released, this situation wouldn't have happened."

After reprimanding the ministers, the matter still needs to be resolved.

The way the Great King dealt with the matter was very brutal: he sent experts to secretly intercept the caravans of Da Su.

However, for Jiang Ran, the Great King's actions were a step too slow.

After a period of fermentation, Da Su's insect repellent pills were no longer something people were begging others to buy, but rather something that people were begging Da Su to sell.

Furthermore, farmers suffer from pests to varying degrees when cultivating the land. The pest crisis in Leiguang is a concern in many regions. When they learned that there was something that could safely and effectively repel pests without negatively affecting spiritual plants, forces outside of Leiguang also sought out the Azure Sky Insect-Repelling Herb Pill.

When King Da Ce sent assassins to kill the merchant caravan sent by Da Su, Jiang Ran learned of this and promptly set the main sales location for Qingxiao Insect Repellent Pills in Mingxiao City.

Mingxiao City itself is a huge trading city, with caravans from all over the world coming and going every day.

So Jiang Ran simply cooperated with some capable merchant caravans from various places, allowing them to transport the Azure Cloud Grass Pills from Da Su to various parts of the Cangmiao Continent.

When a shop specializing in Qingxiaocao Dan quietly appeared in Qushuilou, everyone was shocked. "So the much-talked-about insect-repelling herb pill was made by that Jiang Bole!"

In June of this year, Su Hong Academy was absent from the power competition hosted by Lingxuan Academy. However, in all these years, only Jiang Bole has won both the Rookie Competition and the Fame Competition. Therefore, Jiang Ran's reputation has not only not declined, but every time a power competition is held, everyone will mention her.

"Hey, why didn't those two champions come to participate in the power competition?"

……

As the year drew to a close and a new cycle began, in the first month of the twenty-fifth year of the Great Constellation, it was winter, a time of freezing temperatures and the stillness of all things.

Over the course of three months, the price of the insect repellent pills first soared from one spirit crystal to three spirit crystals, then dropped from three spirit crystals to seventy essence crystals per pill, and is now stable at one spirit crystal per pill.

The business of insect repellent pills gradually slowed down with the changing seasons, and Tu Shi, Li Qinqing and their group rushed back from Lei Guang.

The Azure Sky Insect Repellent Pill brought Da Su a profit of nearly five million spirit crystals in just three months.

When Tu Shi returned to Da Su, Jiang Ran rewarded him with many honors and promoted him by one rank, indicating a promising future.

……

The rooftops were covered in white snow, and the courtyard was also blanketed in a layer of frost. Outside, the wind was biting cold, but inside it was warm. The Ice and Fire Mirror emitted a cozy warmth. Jiang Ran, dressed in thin clothes, rested her chin on her hand and looked indifferently at Zhuang Xiangli, who was being held down on the ground by two Imperial Guards and staring at her with resentment.

Beside her, her two contracted beasts lay prostrate on the ground, their auras faint. Inside the room, several other geniuses from major power competitions, whom Jiang Ran had also won back, watched this scene silently through a curtain.

"Let me go! I am a disciple of Mingxiao Academy. You've stormed into Mingxiao Academy to arrest people. Do you even respect Mingxiao Academy?"

"I'm just capturing a servant who belongs to me. What does that have to do with Mingxiao Academy?" Jiang Ran sat in the chair and saw Zhuang Xiangli's murderous gaze. Facing her threatening words, she smiled slightly, and then stomped hard on Zhuang Xiangli's face.

"Did I give you a chance?" Jiang Ran's voice was gentle, but her tone was icy and somewhat piercing. "I asked you to protect my brother, but you made excuses and made excuses. In the past few months, I sent people to look for you several times, but you used the excuse of going on a long trip with the academy. In reality, you were hiding in the academy to cultivate."

Jiang Ran said coldly, "Giving you five years of freedom is already an act of mercy. During these five years, I even agreed to let you continue your studies at Mingxiao Academy, but I didn't expect you to completely disregard my orders."

"What? You've got some serious scheming. You plan to just let it go like this for five years, and then the contract will just expire?" Jiang Ran used her toe to lift her chin, tilting her head to look at her disheveled face.

Zhuang Xiangli's gaze flickered slightly, clearly Jiang Ran had guessed her thoughts.

“If you can’t afford to gamble, then don’t gamble in the first place.” Jiang Ran summoned a contract, which was Zhuang Xiangli’s “contract of servitude.” She held the contract tightly in her hand.

"No, I was wrong!!!" Zhuang Xiangli's eyes were bloodshot as she frantically tried to stop Jiang Ran's actions, but she was held down by the Imperial Guards. Her two contracted beasts were also on the verge of death and could not help her at all.

As the Word Spirit Contract in Jiang Ran's hand shattered, Zhuang Xiangli spat out several mouthfuls of blood, her cultivation greatly diminished, and her connection with the two contracted beasts abruptly severed.

"You bitch, you ruined my cultivation and stole my contracted beast!!!" Zhuang Xiangli was furious. More than twenty years of hard work had turned her into a cripple in one day. How could she not hate it?

Seeing her speak so disrespectfully to His Highness the Prince, all the elders present were furious. Wei Fengsheng even stepped forward and slapped her twice, grabbing her by the neck and angrily saying, "Hmph! If you hadn't broken your oath first, how could this contract have backfired on you? It's clearly your own doing, yet you're blaming His Highness. You're utterly shameless!"

Jiang Ran waved her hand dismissively and said, "Send her back."

Seeing the hatred in her eyes, Jiang Ran smiled, "Oh, I'm afraid we can't just let you go. You seem to have some power behind you, so let's make another contract. If you ever seek revenge in the future, we'll make sure you die bleeding from all seven orifices."

"Die here, or sign a restrictive contract?" Jiang Ran lowered her eyes and looked coldly at Zhuang Xiangli. "Choose. You have three seconds."

"One"

Neither option was acceptable to Zhuang Xiangli. She clenched her teeth and remained silent for a long time.

"Two..." Wei Fengsheng's cold sword was already at her neck, his murderous aura chilling. It seemed that as long as Jiang Ran counted to three, he would indeed cut off Zhuang Xiangli's neck without hesitation.

“san…”

“…I choose, I choose the second one…” Zhuang Xiangli was completely deflated, tears streaming down her face, and collapsed to the ground.

She knew that her life was over, and she no longer even had the right to hate and seek revenge.

If you don't like the male lead, be warned: the next chapter is all about Qi Yu.