Chapter 525

Chapter 525

Wang Yan carefully examined Jin Ja-gang from top to bottom.

Jin Ja-gang’s injuries were not few. Chunks of shoulder flesh had come off, his side was gouged, and there was a hole in his chest. There were countless cut and scraped wounds.

However, that was far too meager a price to consider it exchanged for the deaths of the masters Wang Yan had carefully nurtured for so long.

Wang Yan stared intently at Jin Ja-gang without a word, then picked up another snack. Jin Ja-gang struck the snack dish with his hand and sent it flying.

Clatter!

The dish overturned on the floor and fried rice cakes rolled around. Even picking them up to eat would be unthinkable, as droplets of Jin Ja-gang’s blood had splattered on them.

The only one that could be eaten was practically the one Wang Yan was holding.

Jin Ja-gang suggested.

“That is an offering for your shadow.”

Wang Yan threw the rice cake to the side.

“How impudent.”

Even Jin Ja-gang, who usually retorted that he heard such things all the time, said nothing. He only stared intently at Wang Yan.

Having just come from killing dozens, the killing intent hadn’t yet faded from his eyes. He gave off an atmosphere as if he would immediately twist someone’s neck if they acted even slightly wrong.

Anyone would feel a terrible sense of oppression.

Jin Ja-gang asked.

“Why did you do it?”

But the answer to that was Wang Yan’s laughter.

“Pfft.”

Wang Yan chuckled briefly, then soon grabbed his belly and guffawed as if dying of laughter.

“Now I see the world’s Poison Dragon has a talent for making people laugh!”

Hahaha!

“What. Did you think if you threatened me covered in blood after killing all my subordinates, I’d spill everything?”

Wang Yan laughed for a while before saying.

“I’m a merchant. If the conditions don’t match, I won’t deal even if a blade comes to my throat.”

Wang Yan leaned forward and brought his face close to Jin Ja-gang’s. He wiped away his smile completely and raised his eyes sharply.

“If you thought I’d yield to this level of threat, you thought wrong. Do you think I’ve only met the likes of you once or twice. This much intimidation doesn’t even count as intimidation to me, Wang Yan. You. Little. Brat.”

Even though he hadn’t learned martial arts, the sense of intimidation emanating from Wang Yan was no less than the killing intent Jin Ja-gang emitted. An ordinary person would have been cowed, unable to say anything, stammering and dropping their gaze.

However, Jin Ja-gang looked at Wang Yan for a while, then slightly raised his head. He picked up the silk cloth laid on the small table that held the snacks and wiped the blood from his face.

Then he headbutted Wang Yan’s forehead just like that.

Crack!

“Kagh!”

Wang Yan clutched his forehead and fell backward. The chair tipped over and he rolled on the floor.

“Do you think I came to make a deal?”

Jin Ja-gang said.

“I will hear you out. And if there’s a valid reason, I’ll spare you. That’s why I came all this way.”

“Kugh, kgh. Kgh!”

Wang Yan made a strange groan that was unclear whether he was laughing or crying.

Wang Yan had tried to assert his position as a merchant to set up his own stage and drag Jin Ja-gang onto it.

However, Jin Ja-gang didn’t respond at all. Rather, he was dragging Wang Yan onto his own stage.

Wang Yan grimaced at his wrinkled forehead in pain, but busily got up. He righted the fallen chair while saying.

“If I had known you ten years ago, I would have definitely raised you as my successor. You would have become a merchant with business acumen to grasp and shake all of the Central Plains.”

Wang Yan tried to sit on the chair. But the moment he sat, the chair’s legs flew off. Wang Yan tilted and fell, toppling to the floor again. He ended up kneeling and prostrating before Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang said coldly.

“Ten years ago, as you mentioned, the sect I was in was massacred. Thanks to your conspiracy.”

Wang Yan got up brushing off his knees without blushing.

“Conspiracy? Who plotted what conspiracy?”

Jin Ja-gang showed anger but didn’t reveal it excessively.

“All the events that have happened in jianghu until now, are you saying you didn’t do them?”

“I’ve never plotted conspiracies. Do you think I would give orders to eliminate a small medicine sect like the Hundred Flowers Valley? Such trivial matters worth only a few coins, by me?”

“I know you didn’t give direct orders to interfere in jianghu. However, you can’t deny that you moved the merchant world to shake jianghu.”

“It’s true I have influence in the merchant world. But are you saying I gave orders to the big shots of the merchant world to do this and that? They’re merchants. Great merchants. They don’t move without profit either. I can’t force my ideas on them while telling them to take losses, even to the point of risking their lives.”

The more Jin Ja-gang listened, the more confusing it became.

He said he didn’t directly interfere in jianghu, and though he moves the merchant world, he never ordered the merchant world to influence jianghu.

Jin Ja-gang asked.

“Did I come to the wrong person?”

However, Wang Yan didn’t agree with that statement.

“That’s not necessarily so.”

“I’ll ask again.”

Jin Ja-gang’s killing intent deepened.

“What is it that you do?”

“Hahaha, it’s funny that you came to kill me without even knowing what I did!”

Wang Yan answered.

“I coordinate deals in the merchant world and observe the flow of goods to advise the merchant world. To those who want to invest surplus money, I introduce investment opportunities, and to those lacking funds, I help them borrow by drawing funds from elsewhere. When large quantities of goods need to be delivered, I also tell them where to obtain those goods in time. Occasionally I connect people who need connections with each other.”

“You’re a broker, aren’t you?”

“The average daily transaction amount I’m involved in is one hundred thousand taels. When supplying military goods to the nation, I once moved one million taels through my hands in a single day.”

Wang Yan extended his hand and clenched his fist to show.

“Now, do I look like a simple broker? Handling hundreds of thousands of taels means you can lose everything in one moment with just a small mistake. Not just money, but thousands, tens of thousands of people dependent on it lose their jobs and become unemployed in an instant, a momentous matter. Even a single word of advice is achieved through a complex process of examining numerous conditions and circumstances and predicting the future.”

At first glance, it sounded like he meant he didn’t have the leisure to care about jianghu.

However, there was no way jianghu would be excluded from examining all situations and conditions.

“I know what you think of martial artists. I’ll ask again.”

Jin Ja-gang cut off his words and asked.

“You drove jianghu into such chaos, what do you seek to gain from it?”

Wang Yan clicked his tongue.

“Do you not know and ask?”

“Money.”

“Of course it’s money.”

The answer was so obvious that Jin Ja-gang felt like a fool for momentarily expecting a different answer. However, on the other hand, he had also naturally thought it was because of money.

“Wouldn’t you make more money by seizing and unifying jianghu?”

Wang Yan burst out laughing as if absurd.

“Jianghu unification? That only fills the heads of ignorant and stupid fools who wield swords for a living. What’s the use of doing that? Why should we merchants unify jianghu?”

“To make money.”

“Tsk tsk.”

Wang Yan clicked his tongue again.

“If merchants seize jianghu, would martial artists stay quiet? One day while sleeping, their heads would fly off without anyone knowing.”

“Isn’t that why you put forward someone like Unbreakable Heavenly Sword as a proxy?”

“Ah, now that you mention it, Baek Li-jung was saying that. Let’s meet face to face soon. Don’t think about taking all the profit alone, let’s share it. He’s planning to say such things. Even though massive funds enough to run a small country are already in his hands.”

Anger drew across Wang Yan’s face.

“Martial artists as a breed just don’t know limits. They think that if they have military power, money naturally follows. Those two move by completely different logic! Why should I give them the money I suffered my whole life gathering as if it were natural?”

Wang Yan’s voice grew louder.

“So as you said, if a proxy I put forward seizes power, what happens? Naturally they’ll kill the one who backed them and try to take everything themselves! The merchant who planned the great enterprise and backed them ends up having their money, business, and even wife taken, and gets stabbed and dies just the same.”

Wang Yan raised both hands to show.

“Am I wrong?”

Jin Ja-gang muttered.

“From a merchant’s perspective, there’s profit in a direction martial artists don’t think of, so you schemed this. Can I see it that way?”

“Brilliant. It’s impressive you thought that far. Trying to make money with things everyone thinks about and knows is the lowest of the low. You can’t properly make money that way. Those who move even bigger money must be able to see other things others can’t see. Let me teach you today about how to become a great merchant.”

Wang Yan raised a finger and said.

“One, when anyone moves, it costs money.”

Jin Ja-gang’s eyes narrowed.

When they move, it costs money. That’s a fact everyone knows. When people move, when the masses act, costs necessarily accompany it.

“That alone doesn’t explain the things you’ve caused.”

Wang Yan raised another finger.

“Two, great merchants don’t make money by selling goods.”

The basis of merchants is selling goods. Yet he doesn’t make money by selling goods?

“Merchants are blood vessels. Blood vessels that supply products from Guanxi to Guandong to make the flow of money smooth. Blood vessels extending to every corner of the realm. The smoother that flow, the more you can maximize profits from distribution.”

“In the end, isn’t that the same as making money by selling goods?”

“Where you make money is a very different matter. The difference between ordinary merchants who sell tangible physical goods and great merchants who sell intangible products comes from there.”

Jin Ja-gang asked.

“There are also those who hoard and monopolize.”

“There are all kinds of bastards in the world, so wouldn’t such scoundrels exist? However, if you impoverish people through hoarding and monopolizing, the money in one place dries up and negatively affects other places. Great merchants shouldn’t do that.”

Wang Yan raised his third finger.

“Three. Therefore, great merchants must help people earn money. When people have more money, they spend more money. When spending increases, the circulation of goods becomes active and the flow of money improves, and great merchants who distribute goods can earn even more money.”

If Jin Ja-gang were someone seeking to become a merchant, each word was precious enough to be deeply engraved in his heart.

“Four, great merchants don’t rejoice or lament at immediate gains and losses. When seeking new investment opportunities and pioneering new markets, there are always losses. If you fear losses, you can’t handle large sums.”

Jin Ja-gang realized that what Wang Yan was saying was not at all unrelated to what had happened in jianghu.

Even if Wang Yan, as he said, hadn’t directly intervened, he clearly caused chaos in jianghu.

Chaos arose and the movements of jianghu people became very active. As sects moved to survive or due to conflicts like expansion, costs continuously occurred. That would have remained entirely as merchants’ profits.

However, he said great merchants don’t make money by selling goods. He said they control distribution and rather help customers earn money.

According to Taoist Haewol’s words, didn’t sects or individuals who won conflicts in some way gain benefits! The Martial Alliance actually operated that way too!

They had become the customers Wang Yan spoke of.

Everything that had happened in jianghu until now was summarized in the four things Wang Yan mentioned.

Jin Ja-gang felt a chill down his spine.

He finally realized.

Who did this.

His head felt numb. He received a shock as if struck by lightning, his mind completely emptied.

“You persuaded them.”

Wang Yan looked at Jin Ja-gang with a smile that was barely visible. He neither confirmed nor denied. Therefore, it proved that Jin Ja-gang’s thoughts were correct.

Jin Ja-gang spat out words as if chewing them.

“You persuaded the merchant world to invest for a new market. You.”

Only now did he realize why the entire merchant world had participated in this affair. He learned the reason money going to Baek Li-jung had been gathered from all over the merchant world.

Jin Ja-gang glared at Wang Yan grinding his teeth.

Why?

Why did you drive jianghu into such chaos and make everyone chase profit, making them invest!

Why did you turn jianghu into a hungry ghost hell!

If Wang Yan’s words were correct, what had happened so far was only the beginning.

Investment was still ongoing. It wasn’t yet the stage of recovering the investment.

It was hard to believe. The profits merchants had already gained while jianghu shook were not small, yet there would come a time when they could earn even more money than now!

Without seizing jianghu and monopolizing money through hoarding?

Wang Yan opened all his fingers.

“Fifth.”

Jin Ja-gang clenched his molars tightly. The previous four things Wang Yan mentioned were foundational theories. The last fifth might be what Wang Yan truly wanted to say.

“This is both an answer and also a question I’m throwing to you.”

Wang Yan stared at Jin Ja-gang for a moment, then asked with an amused expression.

“If a world comes where all actions and value judgments are based on money, who do you think will gain the greatest benefit in such a world?”

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Wang Yan carefully examined Jin Ja-gang from top to bottom.

Jin Ja-gang’s injuries were not few. Chunks of shoulder flesh had come off, his side was gouged, and there was a hole in his chest. There were countless cut and scraped wounds.

However, that was far too meager a price to consider it exchanged for the deaths of the masters Wang Yan had carefully nurtured for so long.

Wang Yan stared intently at Jin Ja-gang without a word, then picked up another snack. Jin Ja-gang struck the snack dish with his hand and sent it flying.

Clatter!

The dish overturned on the floor and fried rice cakes rolled around. Even picking them up to eat would be unthinkable, as droplets of Jin Ja-gang’s blood had splattered on them.

The only one that could be eaten was practically the one Wang Yan was holding.

Jin Ja-gang suggested.

“That is an offering for your shadow.”

Wang Yan threw the rice cake to the side.

“How impudent.”

Even Jin Ja-gang, who usually retorted that he heard such things all the time, said nothing. He only stared intently at Wang Yan.

Having just come from killing dozens, the killing intent hadn’t yet faded from his eyes. He gave off an atmosphere as if he would immediately twist someone’s neck if they acted even slightly wrong.

Anyone would feel a terrible sense of oppression.

Jin Ja-gang asked.

“Why did you do it?”

But the answer to that was Wang Yan’s laughter.

“Pfft.”

Wang Yan chuckled briefly, then soon grabbed his belly and guffawed as if dying of laughter.

“Now I see the world’s Poison Dragon has a talent for making people laugh!”

Hahaha!

“What. Did you think if you threatened me covered in blood after killing all my subordinates, I’d spill everything?”

Wang Yan laughed for a while before saying.

“I’m a merchant. If the conditions don’t match, I won’t deal even if a blade comes to my throat.”

Wang Yan leaned forward and brought his face close to Jin Ja-gang’s. He wiped away his smile completely and raised his eyes sharply.

“If you thought I’d yield to this level of threat, you thought wrong. Do you think I’ve only met the likes of you once or twice. This much intimidation doesn’t even count as intimidation to me, Wang Yan. You. Little. Brat.”

Even though he hadn’t learned martial arts, the sense of intimidation emanating from Wang Yan was no less than the killing intent Jin Ja-gang emitted. An ordinary person would have been cowed, unable to say anything, stammering and dropping their gaze.

However, Jin Ja-gang looked at Wang Yan for a while, then slightly raised his head. He picked up the silk cloth laid on the small table that held the snacks and wiped the blood from his face.

Then he headbutted Wang Yan’s forehead just like that.

Crack!

“Kagh!”

Wang Yan clutched his forehead and fell backward. The chair tipped over and he rolled on the floor.

“Do you think I came to make a deal?”

Jin Ja-gang said.

“I will hear you out. And if there’s a valid reason, I’ll spare you. That’s why I came all this way.”

“Kugh, kgh. Kgh!”

Wang Yan made a strange groan that was unclear whether he was laughing or crying.

Wang Yan had tried to assert his position as a merchant to set up his own stage and drag Jin Ja-gang onto it.

However, Jin Ja-gang didn’t respond at all. Rather, he was dragging Wang Yan onto his own stage.

Wang Yan grimaced at his wrinkled forehead in pain, but busily got up. He righted the fallen chair while saying.

“If I had known you ten years ago, I would have definitely raised you as my successor. You would have become a merchant with business acumen to grasp and shake all of the Central Plains.”

Wang Yan tried to sit on the chair. But the moment he sat, the chair’s legs flew off. Wang Yan tilted and fell, toppling to the floor again. He ended up kneeling and prostrating before Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang said coldly.

“Ten years ago, as you mentioned, the sect I was in was massacred. Thanks to your conspiracy.”

Wang Yan got up brushing off his knees without blushing.

“Conspiracy? Who plotted what conspiracy?”

Jin Ja-gang showed anger but didn’t reveal it excessively.

“All the events that have happened in jianghu until now, are you saying you didn’t do them?”

“I’ve never plotted conspiracies. Do you think I would give orders to eliminate a small medicine sect like the Hundred Flowers Valley? Such trivial matters worth only a few coins, by me?”

“I know you didn’t give direct orders to interfere in jianghu. However, you can’t deny that you moved the merchant world to shake jianghu.”

“It’s true I have influence in the merchant world. But are you saying I gave orders to the big shots of the merchant world to do this and that? They’re merchants. Great merchants. They don’t move without profit either. I can’t force my ideas on them while telling them to take losses, even to the point of risking their lives.”

The more Jin Ja-gang listened, the more confusing it became.

He said he didn’t directly interfere in jianghu, and though he moves the merchant world, he never ordered the merchant world to influence jianghu.

Jin Ja-gang asked.

“Did I come to the wrong person?”

However, Wang Yan didn’t agree with that statement.

“That’s not necessarily so.”

“I’ll ask again.”

Jin Ja-gang’s killing intent deepened.

“What is it that you do?”

“Hahaha, it’s funny that you came to kill me without even knowing what I did!”

Wang Yan answered.

“I coordinate deals in the merchant world and observe the flow of goods to advise the merchant world. To those who want to invest surplus money, I introduce investment opportunities, and to those lacking funds, I help them borrow by drawing funds from elsewhere. When large quantities of goods need to be delivered, I also tell them where to obtain those goods in time. Occasionally I connect people who need connections with each other.”

“You’re a broker, aren’t you?”

“The average daily transaction amount I’m involved in is one hundred thousand taels. When supplying military goods to the nation, I once moved one million taels through my hands in a single day.”

Wang Yan extended his hand and clenched his fist to show.

“Now, do I look like a simple broker? Handling hundreds of thousands of taels means you can lose everything in one moment with just a small mistake. Not just money, but thousands, tens of thousands of people dependent on it lose their jobs and become unemployed in an instant, a momentous matter. Even a single word of advice is achieved through a complex process of examining numerous conditions and circumstances and predicting the future.”

At first glance, it sounded like he meant he didn’t have the leisure to care about jianghu.

However, there was no way jianghu would be excluded from examining all situations and conditions.

“I know what you think of martial artists. I’ll ask again.”

Jin Ja-gang cut off his words and asked.

“You drove jianghu into such chaos, what do you seek to gain from it?”

Wang Yan clicked his tongue.

“Do you not know and ask?”

“Money.”

“Of course it’s money.”

The answer was so obvious that Jin Ja-gang felt like a fool for momentarily expecting a different answer. However, on the other hand, he had also naturally thought it was because of money.

“Wouldn’t you make more money by seizing and unifying jianghu?”

Wang Yan burst out laughing as if absurd.

“Jianghu unification? That only fills the heads of ignorant and stupid fools who wield swords for a living. What’s the use of doing that? Why should we merchants unify jianghu?”

“To make money.”

“Tsk tsk.”

Wang Yan clicked his tongue again.

“If merchants seize jianghu, would martial artists stay quiet? One day while sleeping, their heads would fly off without anyone knowing.”

“Isn’t that why you put forward someone like Unbreakable Heavenly Sword as a proxy?”

“Ah, now that you mention it, Baek Li-jung was saying that. Let’s meet face to face soon. Don’t think about taking all the profit alone, let’s share it. He’s planning to say such things. Even though massive funds enough to run a small country are already in his hands.”

Anger drew across Wang Yan’s face.

“Martial artists as a breed just don’t know limits. They think that if they have military power, money naturally follows. Those two move by completely different logic! Why should I give them the money I suffered my whole life gathering as if it were natural?”

Wang Yan’s voice grew louder.

“So as you said, if a proxy I put forward seizes power, what happens? Naturally they’ll kill the one who backed them and try to take everything themselves! The merchant who planned the great enterprise and backed them ends up having their money, business, and even wife taken, and gets stabbed and dies just the same.”

Wang Yan raised both hands to show.

“Am I wrong?”

Jin Ja-gang muttered.

“From a merchant’s perspective, there’s profit in a direction martial artists don’t think of, so you schemed this. Can I see it that way?”

“Brilliant. It’s impressive you thought that far. Trying to make money with things everyone thinks about and knows is the lowest of the low. You can’t properly make money that way. Those who move even bigger money must be able to see other things others can’t see. Let me teach you today about how to become a great merchant.”

Wang Yan raised a finger and said.

“One, when anyone moves, it costs money.”

Jin Ja-gang’s eyes narrowed.

When they move, it costs money. That’s a fact everyone knows. When people move, when the masses act, costs necessarily accompany it.

“That alone doesn’t explain the things you’ve caused.”

Wang Yan raised another finger.

“Two, great merchants don’t make money by selling goods.”

The basis of merchants is selling goods. Yet he doesn’t make money by selling goods?

“Merchants are blood vessels. Blood vessels that supply products from Guanxi to Guandong to make the flow of money smooth. Blood vessels extending to every corner of the realm. The smoother that flow, the more you can maximize profits from distribution.”

“In the end, isn’t that the same as making money by selling goods?”

“Where you make money is a very different matter. The difference between ordinary merchants who sell tangible physical goods and great merchants who sell intangible products comes from there.”

Jin Ja-gang asked.

“There are also those who hoard and monopolize.”

“There are all kinds of bastards in the world, so wouldn’t such scoundrels exist? However, if you impoverish people through hoarding and monopolizing, the money in one place dries up and negatively affects other places. Great merchants shouldn’t do that.”

Wang Yan raised his third finger.

“Three. Therefore, great merchants must help people earn money. When people have more money, they spend more money. When spending increases, the circulation of goods becomes active and the flow of money improves, and great merchants who distribute goods can earn even more money.”

If Jin Ja-gang were someone seeking to become a merchant, each word was precious enough to be deeply engraved in his heart.

“Four, great merchants don’t rejoice or lament at immediate gains and losses. When seeking new investment opportunities and pioneering new markets, there are always losses. If you fear losses, you can’t handle large sums.”

Jin Ja-gang realized that what Wang Yan was saying was not at all unrelated to what had happened in jianghu.

Even if Wang Yan, as he said, hadn’t directly intervened, he clearly caused chaos in jianghu.

Chaos arose and the movements of jianghu people became very active. As sects moved to survive or due to conflicts like expansion, costs continuously occurred. That would have remained entirely as merchants’ profits.

However, he said great merchants don’t make money by selling goods. He said they control distribution and rather help customers earn money.

According to Taoist Haewol’s words, didn’t sects or individuals who won conflicts in some way gain benefits! The Martial Alliance actually operated that way too!

They had become the customers Wang Yan spoke of.

Everything that had happened in jianghu until now was summarized in the four things Wang Yan mentioned.

Jin Ja-gang felt a chill down his spine.

He finally realized.

Who did this.

His head felt numb. He received a shock as if struck by lightning, his mind completely emptied.

“You persuaded them.”

Wang Yan looked at Jin Ja-gang with a smile that was barely visible. He neither confirmed nor denied. Therefore, it proved that Jin Ja-gang’s thoughts were correct.

Jin Ja-gang spat out words as if chewing them.

“You persuaded the merchant world to invest for a new market. You.”

Only now did he realize why the entire merchant world had participated in this affair. He learned the reason money going to Baek Li-jung had been gathered from all over the merchant world.

Jin Ja-gang glared at Wang Yan grinding his teeth.

Why?

Why did you drive jianghu into such chaos and make everyone chase profit, making them invest!

Why did you turn jianghu into a hungry ghost hell!

If Wang Yan’s words were correct, what had happened so far was only the beginning.

Investment was still ongoing. It wasn’t yet the stage of recovering the investment.

It was hard to believe. The profits merchants had already gained while jianghu shook were not small, yet there would come a time when they could earn even more money than now!

Without seizing jianghu and monopolizing money through hoarding?

Wang Yan opened all his fingers.

“Fifth.”

Jin Ja-gang clenched his molars tightly. The previous four things Wang Yan mentioned were foundational theories. The last fifth might be what Wang Yan truly wanted to say.

“This is both an answer and also a question I’m throwing to you.”

Wang Yan stared at Jin Ja-gang for a moment, then asked with an amused expression.

“If a world comes where all actions and value judgments are based on money, who do you think will gain the greatest benefit in such a world?”

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