After much deliberation, Lu Chen finally made his decision, setting the underworld currency at two denominations.
Small bills at one hundred, large bills at ten thousand.
The exchange rate would be set at one to one hundred.
One yuan in exchange for one hundred underworld bills, one hundred yuan for ten thousand.
Since this was meant for the general public, Lu Chen didn’t want to be too ruthless with his pricing, lest he incur some karmic debt.
As for the “high-end” items like underworld cars and underworld phones—
Those he didn’t mind pricing a bit higher.
Take an underworld car, for instance—he’d slap a ten-thousand-yuan price tag on it.
After all, the people who could afford these things were mostly the wealthy. If he wasn’t going to take a cut from them, who else was he supposed to take it from?
Lu Chen was also scheming about launching a few “Ghost Festival Double Eleven” events in the future.
Whether it was the Qingming Festival, the Hungry Ghost Festival, or the Winter Clothing Festival from his past life—he’d either roll them all out or handpick the best two, and make a proper marketing campaign out of them.
This was also the card he’d deliberately held back when he first negotiated with King Yan.
If you wanted to make something truly ingrained in people’s hearts, a sense of ritual was absolutely essential;
Only through ritual could the effect be elevated to its peak.
But with that came a whole new wave of headaches.
With just Lu Chen’s current manpower, there was simply no way he could single-handedly run a business of this scale.
That was clearly impossible, utterly unrealistic.
He’d considered partnering with the Sun family.
But on second thought, he scrapped the idea.
The Sun family was, after all, a major clan. With him being the weaker party and them the stronger, there was no telling who’d end up holding the reins in the end.
Channeling King Yan’s incense offerings to the Sun family temple had already been a last resort for Lu Chen.
So there was no way he’d just hand them a slice of this underworld currency business for no good reason.
He’d also thought about rallying the neighbors in his housing complex. Unfortunately, half of them were elderly folks—fine for helping out in the short term, but unrealistic for sustaining a large operation over the long haul. The others had their limits too. Even his own parents were just ordinary factory workers—it’d be too much to ask them to manage such a massive undertaking.
“Starting a business really isn’t easy…” Lu Chen rubbed his temples and let out a sigh. “And on top of that, I still have to keep grinding missions to earn military merit. After all, if I want to rise to the rank of New Noble, I need both money and military merit—neither is dispensable. In fact, military merit is probably even more important.”
He remembered what Chen Tiansheng had once told him—that it was precisely because of military merit that the Chen family had been stuck at the New Noble level for a solid thirty to forty years, never able to break into the ranks of “Great Clans.”
That just went to show how precious military merit really was.
“If only… I had a few capable helpers too.”
Just like Sun Yourong—one phone call, one command,
and hundreds of thousands of people in Longhu County all got the call to head to the Great Dragon Pool.
How cool was that? How effortlessly badass!
The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he got. Lu Chen shook his head, forcing himself to stop dwelling on it.
When you get to the mountain, there will always be a path; when the boat reaches the bridge, it will straighten itself out!
“Time for a shower! Tonight, I’m getting a good night’s sleep!”
——-
Under the same night sky, in the southern part of the city, the Sun family estate.
A winding private road stretched for several kilometers, leading straight to the brilliantly lit standalone villa perched atop the hill.
Along the way, guard posts were stationed at nearly every kilometer, and who knew how many second-rank spirit cultivators were lurking in the woods, standing guard in twenty-four-hour shifts to protect the Sun family.
And yet, inside that grand and imposing villa’s living room, beneath the dazzling gold-and-wealth décor, a suffocating silence hung heavy in the air.
It was a long while before Sun Qingcang finally spoke, his voice laced with disbelief: “Rong’er, based on your speculation… is it that Lu Chen invited Lord Wealth God himself to come forward and suppress the Four Dragon Kings—and that’s how Longhu County finally got its rain?”
Sun Yourong sat upright on the sofa and gave a slight nod at his words.
“Holy crap… this kid, he—he—” Sun Xingwen’s jaw dropped so wide he couldn’t even close his mouth.
Before he could finish, Sun Qingcang shot to his feet and slapped his son across the face, roaring, “What ‘this kid’?! Lord Lu is your grandfather’s savior! He’s our Sun family’s savior! Is this how our family’s values taught you to speak without any respect?”
Sun Xingwen clutched his cheek and grumbled in grievance, “Dad, I just said it offhand—I didn’t mean anything by it…”
“Then take this as a lesson! So next time, you won’t run your mouth in front of him!” Sun Qingcang was still fuming.
“Alright, alright,” Madam Song quickly stepped in to mediate, shooting her son a glare. “Say a little less.”
Only then did Sun Qingcang sit back down with a huff.
But even at this very moment, he still hadn’t fully recovered from the sheer strangeness and absurdity of the trip to Longhu County.
Like Sun Yourong, he’d initially believed there was no way this mission could be completed.
After all, this mission—rated S-class—had actually been deliberately downgraded due to lingering historical issues. To put it bluntly, when you’re dealing with deities on the level of the Four Dragon Kings, calling it S-class was generous. It wouldn’t have been at all unreasonable to rate it SSS-class.
At the very least, with his own abilities and resources, Sun Qingcang knew he’d never be able to pull off a mission of that caliber.
And yet?
In just a single day…
This problem that had plagued Longhu County for three years, one that had sent countless bounty cultivators packing in defeat, was resolved effortlessly by Lu Chen.
“That kid Lu is truly mysterious in every way,” Grand Elder Sun Dechang said from the main seat. He had already been discharged from the hospital, fully recovered, and thanks to the abundant life force nourishing him, his complexion was ruddy, his voice strong, and he looked perfectly healthy once more.
He gave a faint smile and continued, “I imagine those ceremonial methods Rong’er mentioned earlier were also passed down to him by Lord Wealth God. But that makes sense—given how high his degree of communion is with Lord Wealth God, it’s only natural that he’d receive some heavenly techniques.”
Sun Yourong gave another gentle nod.
She hadn’t told her family about Lu Chen being King Yan’s adopted son.
After all, that was a secret Lu Chen had shared with her. Whether out of personal loyalty or principle, she didn’t think it was her place to reveal it.
“Ah…” Sun Qingcang let out a long, heavy sigh, his tone complicated. “Father, I have a feeling. It probably won’t be long before our Jiangdu City… sees another New Noble rise.”
At those words, the room fell utterly silent.
A moment later, everyone in the room, without exception, slowly nodded in agreement.
The Netherworld, seat of the Yin Administration.
The sky held neither sun nor moon—only a solid, frozen lead-gray pressing heavily down upon the land.
The wind carried a piercing chill as it swept through, stirring up not dust, but faint, intermittent sobs and whispers.
At this moment, behind a massive black boulder, a gaunt male ghost cowered, shivering uncontrollably.
He tried desperately to evade the relentless, bone-chilling wind, but this was the Netherworld—the cold seeped into every corner. No matter how he hid, the chill clung to him like a shadow.
The gnawing hunger in his gut was nearly enough to drive him mad, even making his hollow ghostly eyes flush faintly with red.
Then, a tall figure suddenly materialized before him.
The male ghost looked up and froze in shock.
It was none other than Lord Ox-Head from the Yin Administration!
“My Lord!!!”
So terrified he felt his very soul about to scatter, he frantically kowtowed, his entire form trembling uncontrollably.
“You are Wang Shufa?”
Ox-Head’s voice was cold as iron, utterly devoid of emotion.
“Y-yes, that’s right… it’s me, your humble subject.” He stammered in reply.
No sooner had he spoken than a straw raincoat was gently draped over him.
In that instant, the soul-body that had been pierced by freezing cold actually felt a trace of long-lost “warmth.”
“Follow me.”
Ox-Head said nothing more, turning to lead the way.
Wang Shufa stroked the raincoat in disbelief, as if realizing something. A smile of joy crept uncontrollably to his lips as he hurriedly followed.
Before long, at the outer perimeter of Yin Administration City—
In a small courtyard formed by a few thatched huts, ghostly figures bustled about, packed with “people.”
Fan Rusong and Xie Qingyi stood before the crowd, calling out names one by one.
“Chen Zhen.”
“Here!”
“Wang Tao.”
“Here!”
“Zhang Bing.”
“Here!”
“Xu Ziqian!”
“Here!”
…
After the roll call was complete, Fan Rusong waved his hand.
A few Yin soldiers carried out two baskets of steamed buns.
For a moment, the entire courtyard fell silent. Every ghost was stunned.
“Our general has decreed that you must be well treated,” Fan Rusong announced. “From now on, you will reside here. There may be no delicacies, but we will ensure you go neither hungry nor cold. Should you one day reconnect with your loved ones in the living world, do not forget to give thanks for the general’s kindness. Were it not for him, none of you would have the stability you have today.”
At those words, the ghosts could no longer hold back; they broke down in sobs.
“I never imagined… Little Chen would amount to so much!”
“Brothers and sisters from Nanshan Housing Complex—we finally… we finally have hope!”
“Yeah, from now on, life will be better. We all owe our gratitude to Little Chen…”
Watching these little ghosts wipe away tears while scarfing down their food, Fan Rusong and Xie Qingyi exchanged a smile, then silently faded from sight.
——-
Early the next morning, Lu Chen took a cab straight to Jiangdu No. 3 High School.
He planned to go turn in his mission first, and see if there were any new missions available.
Sitting in the car, Lu Chen mused that it was about time he bought a car.
Always relying on cabs like this was just too inconvenient.
Stepping through the school gates, he strode quickly toward the student affairs office.
Just as he rounded the last corner, he accidentally collided with someone head-on.
“Ouch!”
A soft cry—it was a girl’s voice.
“Sorry, sorry.”
Lu Chen quickly apologized, looking up to see that he’d bumped into his classmate Li Ruoyi.
She had two other female classmates with her.
“Lu Chen?”
Li Ruoyi’s face was full of surprise—clearly, she hadn’t expected to run into him here either.
She blinked, a hint of confusion in her voice as she blurted out:
“Didn’t you go to Longhu County? Wait… you still haven’t gone even by today?”
