The Golden Money Guild had a very modern business philosophy. To increase their visibility, they created the concept of a "brand mascot" and asked Xuan Daozi to design it. After three revisions, they finally settled on the first draft, which featured a cute little pig holding a coin.
Once the Golden Money Guild had their brand mascot, their recognition really did grow, and the results were impressive. Many businesses, seeing this success, followed suit and created their own unique mascots.
One of these was the tofu shop on Front Street in Yanjing County.
Qin Yuanhao didn’t actually kill his underlings. After calming down, he realized that they were diligent workers who never made mistakes. If they couldn’t be found, it really meant they were gone.
It couldn’t be that the tofu shop’s mascot had come out to spread rumors.
"How can something so obvious go missing? It seems like someone from the Demon Sect is trying to frame me!" Qin Yuanhao sneered, already suspecting that this was intentional, but he didn’t know who was behind it.
Such things weren’t uncommon in the Demon Sect; Qin Yuanhao himself had done similar things to betray his own comrades in the past.
After so long with no leads, he had to swallow this loss and think about who he would settle scores with later.
"Since we can’t find them, there’s no point in looking anymore."
Qin Yuanhao took out a stack of papers and some silver coins from his pocket and tossed them to his underling.
This was also one of the reasons he hadn’t killed anyone; the tasks assigned by the leader still needed to be done. If he killed people, where would he find replacements?
"Tomorrow morning, gather the brothers and secretly spread these papers in the nearby eight counties’ black markets. This silver is your monthly allowance and travel expenses. Did you hear me clearly?"
"Y-yes, I heard." The underling was startled by Qin Yuanhao’s loud voice at the end.
"Speak louder."
"I heard clearly!" The underling straightened up and shouted, his neck turning red from the effort.
The neighbor lady shouted angrily from next door, her voice clear even through the wall: "Do you know what time it is? Why are you shouting?"
Her voice was even louder than the underling's.
A glint of menace flashed in Qin Yuanhao's eyes.
"Big brother, the other party is a Foundation Establishment cultivator hiding here," the underling quickly said. Many cultivators liked to enjoy life, and the street vendor selling skewers might even be a cultivator.
Qin Yuanhao snorted coldly and said nothing more before leaving.
The underling yawned, thinking it was finally time to sleep since the boss was gone. He had to wake up early for work tomorrow.
The underling often received strange tasks from Qin Yuanhao. To keep things secret, Qin Yuanhao told them nothing, just instructed them to follow orders.
This time was no different.
Once the underling fell asleep, Lu Yang crawled out of the ground, took three pieces of paper, and followed Qin Yuanhao.
Qin Yuanhao had come out to find the underling, and after giving his instructions, he headed back.
He paused for a moment when passing by the "Come Again" barbecue shop.
"I was in seclusion for just four days, and a new barbecue shop opened? And it’s so popular?"
Qin Yuanhao thought about grabbing a bite to eat. It didn’t matter if it was crowded; he could just push in. If a Foundation Establishment cultivator came to this little place to eat, it would be enough that they didn’t have to kneel to welcome him, right?
In the end, he decided against it. Barbecue was something best enjoyed with others; eating alone would miss out on the fun.
"Maybe next time."
Qin Yuanhao went home.
Lu Yang returned to the barbecue shop to help. As soon as he got back, he saw Meng Jingzhou performing a stand-up comedy routine, and the customers were cheering, asking for more.
Lu Yang took a deep breath, thinking that these two really wanted to make the barbecue shop a big success.
Feeling Lu Yang's sharp gaze, Meng Jingzhou quickly stopped talking and obediently became a waiter, ignoring the customers’ calls.
After a while, the customers started to leave, and the barbecue shop finally quieted down.
The two ghostly helpers cleaned up the grill and utensils, counted the ingredients used for the day, and estimated what they would need to buy for tomorrow. The three of them sat on the second floor, discussing the day's harvest.
"How much silver did we earn today?" Meng Jingzhou asked excitedly, rubbing his hands together. Starting a business from scratch felt very rewarding to him.
"Who told you this was a harvest?" Lu Yang slammed the table and glared. "Have you forgotten what we’re here for?"
"To open a chain store?" Mang Gu was still thinking about expanding the family business.
Lu Yang ignored the two fools and took out three pieces of paper, recounting what he had observed while following Qin Yuanhao that night.
"White paper?"
Meng Jingzhou examined one piece of paper closely but couldn’t make sense of it.
Lu Yang also didn’t know how to use the paper: "Qin Yuanhao had someone spread these papers in the black market. There’s definitely information on them, but I don’t know how to read it."
"Is it a special communication method among the Demon Sect?"
Meng Jingzhou nodded, agreeing with Lu Yang’s guess. "That’s very possible. These sneaky people love to use secret codes."
"This is paper meant for all Demon Sect cultivators; they can all understand it. With our Foundation Establishment level, we can’t see the words on the paper, and it’s even less likely for Qi Refining cultivators to see them."
"So the problem isn’t with the code but with the paper itself."
Lu Yang thought for a moment and decided to heat the paper over the charcoal.
"What are you doing?" Mang Gu asked, confused.
Lu Yang explained seriously, "I read in a book that if you write on paper with sugar water and let it dry, there won’t be any visible writing. But when you apply high heat to remove the water from the sugar, brown letters will appear."
Meng Jingzhou and Mang Gu found this knowledge fascinating.
After about five minutes of heating, nothing appeared on the paper, and Lu Yang had to give up that method.
He then summoned a small ball of water in his palm, squeezed it, and splashed the mist onto the white paper.
"What’s this for?"
Lu Yang explained, "Special liquids like shower gel and laundry detergent have great water absorption. If you write with these liquids and let it dry, nothing will show. Only by splashing water on the paper can you reveal the writing, using the principle of different absorption rates."
The Central Continent seemed ancient, but it wasn’t really. Thanks to spells, there were many products that didn’t belong to ancient times.
For example, the shower gel and laundry detergent Lu Yang mentioned.
Unfortunately, nothing appeared on the paper.
Lu Yang didn’t get discouraged. After thinking for a moment, he came up with a new idea.
"Since this is a way for the Demon Sect to communicate, maybe we need to use their usual methods to unlock it?"
He bit his thumb, letting a few drops of blood fall onto the paper. The blood seemed to come alive, moving across the surface.
"Sure enough, this is a method of refining paper used by the Demon Sect; it can’t be judged by common sense." Lu Yang sighed in relief, finally succeeding.
It seemed there were invisible grooves on the white paper, and the blood filled these grooves, forming letters.
"On the first day of April, the Undying Sect in Yanjing is recruiting followers. The specific location will be announced the day before recruitment."
(End of chapter)