As a lord, I was forced to farm

Chapter 903 Has No Discernment

Jiang Ran opened the ledger placed in front of her.

Checking accounts wasn't difficult for her; it was already commonplace. Perhaps at first, Su Ling's primitive bookkeeping method gave her a headache, but since she came to this world, she has gradually promoted the more scientific and complete double-entry bookkeeping method as the unified bookkeeping method for Da Su.

Double-entry bookkeeping has a set of rigorous rules that transform complex economic activities into a series of clear, traceable, and verifiable data.

Jiang Ran is currently looking at the accounts of Duobao Linghuo Store, focusing mainly on recent sales figures, especially the sales volume of the Swallowing Cloud Flying Sword.

Of the more than 80 million spirit crystals obtained from the Heavenly Dragon Palace, at least 80% was used to purchase materials for refining the Cloud-Swallowing Flying Sword. Even the Precious Moon Refining Workshop suspended the research and development of the Sky-Patrol Ship to focus on refining the Cloud-Swallowing Flying Sword. More than 30,000 flying swords have been refined and are now in stock. However, looking at the accounts, although more flying swords have indeed been sold than usual due to the influx of people into Mingxiao City, the sales volume is still half of what Da Su had expected!
Da Su Ke was counting on the profits from the Cloud-Swallowing Flying Sword to further expand the shipyard and improve the army's equipment.

However, given the current sales volume, it's questionable whether the investment of over 60 million spirit crystals can be recouped quickly.

No wonder Wu Yun had to report this matter urgently. More than 60 million spirit crystals is not a small amount for an ordinary county city. Even though Da Su's main income comes from the seafood business, 60 million spirit crystals would not be enough to cripple Da Su. However, the Cloud-Swallowing Flying Sword is an important blueprint for Da Su and is also the only iconic magic weapon that Da Su currently has in the public eye, apart from the Frost Armor.

What Da Su values ​​more is the future of the Cloud-Swallowing Flying Sword and the benefits it can bring to him.

If sales are poor this time, then Da Su should seriously consider whether to increase investment in the Cloud-Swallowing Flying Sword—after all, the Da Su government's financial resources are limited, while there are quite a few industries eagerly waiting for support.

Jiang Ran frowned slightly. "Have you found the reason for the unsatisfactory sales?"

Liu Wenyan and Chen Rang, the manager of Duobao Linghuo Store, waited to the side. The latter felt a chill run down his spine. When he heard the Prince ask, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and immediately presented a map and a flying sword that looked very similar to the Tunyun Flying Sword. "Yes, yes, I have sent someone to inquire."

"The reason lies in the Wanbaoling Goods Store that has appeared in the last half month."

Speaking of Wanbao Linghuo Store, Chen Rang felt as if he had seen a shameless rat. He clenched his teeth and said, "This store not only deliberately chose a name that is so similar to our Duobao Linghuo Store, but even the name of their flying sword is only one character different from ours. Moreover, the appearance of their flying sword is exactly the same as our Tunyun Flying Sword!"

Jiang Ran first looked at the map, then raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."

Liu Wenyan was also somewhat annoyed and said in a low voice, "Our people have investigated and found that there is a group in Mingxiao City who are using the guise of distributing free maps of Mingxiao City, but in reality, they are trying to guide travelers to Wanbao Linghuo Shop. Most of the guests who originally came to our Qushui Tower have been persuaded by them to go to Wanbao Linghuo Shop instead."

It's no wonder Liu Wenyan lost her composure; those people at Wanbao Linghuo Store were truly shameless.

They're clearly selling pirated goods. If you're going to sell them, you could at least be more discreet. But instead of being discreet, they openly challenged Duobao Linghuo Store, claiming their Swallowing Mist Flying Sword was cheaper and had more advanced functions, constantly belittling Dasu's Swallowing Cloud Flying Sword, acting as if they were the real deal.

Wanbaoling Goods Store's methods weren't particularly sophisticated, but they were extremely effective.

After all, no one expected that Wang Zhenyun's thousand seals on the flying sword's spirit engraving would be broken so easily. She was, after all, a Heaven-rank weapon refiner, and the sudden appearance of the Mist-Swallowing Flying Sword on the market caught Da Su off guard.

Moreover, by distributing free maps, Wanbaoling Store first gained public opinion, which encouraged travelers to actively enter the store.

In contrast, the response from their Duobao Linghuo store was quite slow.

It's no wonder Liu Wenyan and Chen Rang were nervous. After all, His Highness the Prince entrusted them with the management of such an important industry, but this time they failed to notice the potential enemy. Someone took a bite out of such a big piece of the pie right under their noses, and in the end, His Highness the Prince had to personally intervene.

Jiang Ran shook her head, which made the two people who had been observing her reaction tense up. They wondered what they were imagining and felt even more annoyed at their own incompetence.

Liu Wenyan tentatively asked, "Your Highness, although there is a very powerful array master and a half-step Dan Tian realm expert on the other side, we asked Commander Bat to find out their background. The Wanbao Spirit Goods Shop is run by seven brothers and sisters surnamed Su who have hidden their identities from the outside world. We found out that they have offended other weapon refiners before, and even the weapon refiners of the Feng family have had their magic weapon engraving cores stolen by them. Now the black market has a bounty of more than 50 million spirit crystals on them. We can reveal their information, and in this way, the predicament that our Wanbao Spirit Goods Shop is experiencing can be easily solved."

To be honest, with a peak-level expert in the Sea of ​​Consciousness Realm and an array master capable of setting up concealment arrays, it's really impossible for ordinary people to discover their identities. No wonder they were able to cause such a commotion in Mingxiao City despite the huge bounty of over 50 million spirit crystals.

Liu Wenyan had previously sent people to gather information about them, but unfortunately, they were discovered by the people from Wanbao Linghuo Store before they could get close. As a last resort, she had to ask her superiors for help, which led to the dispatch of the Dark Shadow Army, which only obeys the orders of the Prince. This time, it was even the Dark Shadow Army's leader—that extremely mysterious Blood Abyss God Bat—who went to find out information about the seven members of the Su family.

Bat-Gol's talent seemed to be born for concealment. Even though one of the Su family members had considerable cultivation, he still managed to find out the specific background of the Wanbao Spirit Goods Shop without the other party noticing.

As for directly arresting the seven members of the Su family and taking the more than 50 million yuan bounty?

To fight to the death with a powerhouse who had just entered the Dan Tian realm was something a mortal without any cultivation would never even dare to dream of—and now, very few people in the Great Su Kingdom knew that their prince had already broken through to the Dan Tian realm. But even if they did know, they probably wouldn't want their prince to go through all this trouble.

If these seven members of the Su family were really so easy to deal with, why would there be a mission worth 50 million spirit crystals, and why would the mission have been hanging there for so long, with the price even trending upwards?

"No need." Jiang Ran raised her eyes, her long eyelashes flashing with a faint, inexplicable light.

Jiang Ran picked up the exquisitely crafted Swallowing Mist Flying Sword and suddenly said, "Only a bounty of fifty million spirit crystals? It seems the people in the black market have no discernment."