The two of them stepped into the factory, and Lu Chen was momentarily stunned by the sight before him.
“I knocked down the walls between three workshops. The single-floor area is eight thousand square meters, and with two floors, that brings us to a total of sixteen thousand. I put all the equipment you asked for on the first floor. You can arrange the upstairs however you need later on.”
Sun Yourong walked while explaining, casually reaching into a basket by the side to pull out a sample of hell banknote and handing it to Lu Chen. “I bought three sets of hell-banknote-making equipment—all high-end models used for illustrated color printing. They should do the job just fine for making hell banknotes. This is a sample the designer made based on the ten-thousand-yuan note style. What do you think?”
“Is this scan-printed?”
“Yep. The image has already been loaded into the system. I’d say it looks almost identical to the original.”
Lu Chen examined the sample in his hands carefully and nodded. “It’s really close. Totally usable!”
“So can we just burn it directly? Will it work as soon as it’s burned?”
“Of course not. The most crucial step is still missing.” Lu Chen smiled mysteriously.
He still hadn’t chanted the Netherworld True Scripture over these hell banknotes.
That was like not stamping them with a quality certificate.
Even if burned, they’d just be a pile of wastepaper—completely useless.
Sun Yourong didn’t press further. She figured as much—if it were really that simple, this hell-banknote business would flood the market within a month.
“Sister Sun, thank you. Without your help, I don’t know how long it would’ve taken me to get this whole operation set up.”
“Just a small favor. Compared to what you did for my grandfather, this is nothing.”
“So how should we handle the rent? And what about the equipment costs?”
“Fifty thousand a year per workshop. Three workshops come to a hundred and fifty thousand a year. Just give me a million—it’s rent two, get one free. As for the equipment, each set is twenty million, which is pretty close to cost price. Market price would be thirty million per set, so that’s sixty-one million total. But no rush on that—you can pay me back when you’re more financially comfortable.”
Lu Chen couldn’t help clicking his tongue.
—Over sixty million.
A careful tally showed he had roughly sixty million on hand right now.
Earlier, the Sun family payment had been over twenty million combined. The Longhu County mission was twenty million, with a 50% bonus, making it thirty million. The seven-day demon-subduing mission, doubled, came to about twenty million. The Rebirth Academy bonus was twenty million. The Prefect mission was also twenty million. Doubled, those two missions together would give him eighty million.
Though he hadn’t claimed them yet.
Adding everything up inside and out, Lu Chen’s current net worth was around a hundred and fifty million.
By that math, although his military merit was only half of what he needed, the funds required to advance to “New Noble” were over eighty percent short.
After paying this sixty-odd million, he’d be even further away.
“Man, advancing to New Noble is way too hard!” Lu Chen grumbled internally.
“Sister Sun, I’ll transfer the money to you later. I’m fairly well-off right now.”
Lu Chen declined her kind offer—he couldn’t have someone help him out and also front the money for him.
Sun Yourong didn’t insist either.
“Oh, by the way, my grandfather has been wanting to invite you over for a meal to thank you in person. When would be convenient for you?”
“Uh… I’ll need to check my schedule. How about… I’ll let you know when the time comes?”
“You’re such a busy person.” Sun Yourong chuckled softly, then shifted the topic. “Now can you tell me what exactly happened with the Prefect’s wife?”
Lu Chen no longer held back and gave her a concise rundown of the Prefect mission’s ins and outs. He left out his experience on Chenghuang Street—he didn’t think it was worth mentioning.
“Heaven stirs the killing mechanism!” Even just hearing the story, Sun Yourong couldn’t help drawing a sharp breath. “I can’t believe you managed to pull off a mission at that level!”
She couldn’t help sizing him up, marveling, “If I’d run into a mission like that, it’d be an instant forfeit. You’re seriously brave—you’ve got some nerve!”
“No choice. I already put down the deposit, so I had to at least give it a shot. Folks like us from small backgrounds can’t afford to take losses.” Lu Chen shrugged helplessly.
Sun Yourong turned serious. “Actually… don’t let the mission ratings fool you. Even if a mission is only S-rank or A-rank, once it involves celestial gods, the difficulty often spikes way higher than a demonic lair of the same tier. That’s why a lot of spiritualists have a special name for these kinds of jobs.”
“What do they call them?”
“Dead ends!” Sun Yourong’s expression sharpened. “But I never expected you to crack two dead ends in a row. The rainmaking mission in Longhu County was basically a dead end too, and plenty of spiritualists came back empty-handed from that one.”
“Heh heh, luck. Pure luck.”
“One dead end cracked might be luck, but two in a row? That’s no accident. Looks like your approach of worshipping niche gods really does have something special to it. By the way, how much military merit do you have now?”
“28,200.”
“You need another 21,800, and once you’ve got the funds together, you can advance to New Noble. You’re… honestly, a freak!”
Sun Yourong couldn’t help dropping a mild curse. “In just a few days, you’ve covered what takes most people decades. At this rate, you’ll probably have the military merit in another month or so.”
“I hope so!” A look of yearning appeared in Lu Chen’s eyes. “Who wouldn’t want to climb the ladder? Be like you guys—bullishly awesome!”
Sun Yourong burst out laughing, giving him a playful glare. “What kind of talk is that? Well, here’s to your early promotion to New Noble—when that day comes, the Sun family will definitely prepare a generous gift.”
“Great. I’m looking forward to it!”
After that, Sun Yourong left first due to other matters.
Lu Chen made a careful tour of the factory floor.
The second floor had been set up as an office area, complete with a private office just for him.
Sitting in the boss’s chair, Lu Chen couldn’t help but sigh, “Guess I’m a boss now.”
With this “golden goose” that lays money eggs,
his financial worries would be greatly eased from now on.
But there was still one pressing issue—a shortage of manpower.
Not just for the hell-banknote business.
But also, if things went as expected, the plague-pill business would follow.
Without enough hands, all of this would just be a castle in the air.
“Sigh. I’ll just have to take it step by step. Good things come to those who wait!”
Lu Chen decided to first communicate with the Plague Emperor before making any plans.
First, see what kind of perks he could squeeze out of him.
As for the next mission, he could worry about that after these problems were sorted out.
After all, the more plates he spun, the more they’d just weigh him down.
After inspecting the factory,
Lu Chen hopped into the pink “Princess Car” that Sun Yourong had given him and first headed to Jiangcheng No. 3 High School to submit two S-rank missions.
Amidst a chorus of astonished gasps, he hurried back to Yunding Mountain Villa to prepare the full-scale divine statue and pray to the Plague Emperor for blessings.
However, the memory of the pain from making the simple statue last time was still fresh.
One could only imagine what a hellish experience making the full version would be.
Pain!
Soul-wrenching, gut-tearing pain!
Not long after he started carving,
all ninety-six thousand pores on Lu Chen’s body felt like they were being pricked by needles at the same time.
After that came twisted meridians, flesh tearing from bone, and even the torment of his internal organs being crushed.
The suffering made Lu Chen cry out in misery.
Overwhelmed by the agony, he had no choice but to call Chen Tiansheng for help, asking if he’d gone into a demonic possession.
Otherwise, why would it hurt this badly?
On the other end of the line, Chen Tiansheng burst out laughing upon hearing this. “Xiao Chen, this is completely normal. Statue-making to commune with the divine is inherently an act against the heavens—how could it not come with inhuman suffering? And on top of that, you’re inviting the Plague Emperor, a stellar lord at the Eightfold Heavenly Minister level, so the pain is naturally several times stronger than for other deities.”
Lu Chen said through gritted teeth, “Uncle Chen, is there really no way to reduce the pain? I honestly feel like I’m about to explode!”
Chen Tiansheng explained, “Xiao Chen, you might not know this, but we Chen family members carry shaman-priest bloodline. That bloodline not only enhances spiritual sensitivity during communion, but it also plays a key role in strengthening the physical body.”
“Why is statue-making to commune with the divine so agonizing? At its core, it’s because during the process, the soul endures tremendous pressure, while divine power surges through the body, causing constant damage to the flesh. With both layers stacking on each other, the pain becomes unbearable.”
“You’re not a Chen, so you don’t have that bloodline—naturally, the pain hits you much harder.”
“I see. Well, that’s that.”
Regarding the Chen family’s shaman-priest bloodline, Sun Yourong had actually mentioned it to him earlier.
Lu Chen just hadn’t realized that the bloodline also gave such a boost to physical endurance.
“So basically, the only way to ease the pain is to further temper both body and soul?”
“Exactly! That’s the fundamental path. You have to understand—cultivation is like crossing a bitter sea. You’re in the sea; the body is the boat, and the soul is the person on it. The boat carries the person to the other shore. So to succeed in crossing, refining the body and elevating the soul are both indispensable.”
“Right now, your cultivation is still shallow, and your divine power is limited. Once you reach fourth or even fifth rank, with a stronger body and soul, the pain will naturally lessen quite a bit.
“Worth noting, though—as painful as statue-making to commune is right now, during this process, your soul receives immense tempering. Both your divine power and spiritual perception will surpass others at the same level. Consider that the reward that comes after the suffering.”
“As for the body… well, it can only be gradually strengthened as your cultivation improves. After all, our divine power comes from the residual divine grace or blessings after serving our enshrined deities. As your cultivation advances, your body will naturally grow stronger too.”
“Alright, I get it now, Uncle Chen. Thanks!”
Hanging up, Lu Chen finally let out a breath of relief.
At least he’d confirmed he wasn’t going demonic.
Come to think of it, the cultivation rules in this world of universal deities were pretty damned frustrating.
In this world, spiritualists had only two ways to advance their cultivation: either serve deities and absorb a bit of divine grace, or pray to deities for blessings.
There was none of that stuff from those fantasy novels—absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth, tempering soul and body, building strength on one’s own.
That simply didn’t exist here.
In effect, it meant a spiritualist’s strength could only be deeply bound to their deity.
But the weird thing was, demons and monsters were running rampant everywhere.
How did they grow stronger?
Surely they didn’t worship deities too?
Could it be… karmic force?
Lu Chen mulled it over but couldn’t come to a conclusion, so he shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.
“Time to get back to work!”
Staring at the statue that was only a third finished, he clenched his teeth.
Time to go all in!
Let’s do this!!!
…
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Looking at the now-completed “Plague-Spreading Heaven-Reaching Great Emperor” statue, Lu Chen was nearly spent. He let out a long, deep exhale.
“Finally done!”
These three days had been an absolute nightmare for him.
Lu Chen quickly used [Huailan Tuning] to recover.
An hour later, feeling slightly better, he rose and lit a stick of incense, muttered the secret chant, and inserted it into the burner.
Waiting for the Plague-Spreading Heaven-Reaching Great Emperor to descend.
“Whoosh~”
A strange gust of wind suddenly swept through the otherwise silent living room.
The next second, a green miasmic aura surged and swirled around him.
Then, on the statue, two beams of golden light shot out from its eyes, as if it had opened them and come to life.
Lu Chen’s heart tightened.
When he’d previously communed with Lord Wealth and King Yan, there’d been no such commotion.
But this Plague-Spreading Heaven-Reaching Great Emperor was completely different.
Was this… the prestige of a stellar lord?
Just as Lu Chen was about to bow in salute,
the Plague Emperor’s cool, distant voice beat him to it: “Kid, have you been cursing me out in your head hundreds of times over these past few days?”
Lu Chen: “…”
Well… this wasn’t a great start.
