Chapter 613: Meeting Hao [Part 3]
"It wasn't very difficult grasping the ropes of trade. It was the one thing that I was used to, in fact things seemed easier in this continent than in Stelia. They have it quite easy."
Hao took another bite of his meal, chewing busily with a short pause before his eyes met Northern's, and he continued.
"But yes. I have been able to secure necessary connections and trade routes. For now, I will be making use of my benefactor's establishment and connections. Eventually, I will break off."
Northern glared into his eyes.
"Do not trust anyone. If you trust anyone, I'll kill you."
"Eh eh eh, boy. Breathe in, okay, breathe in..."
Northern leaned back and sighed. A few moments of silence passed between them before he said, "Usually, delicate business like this is destroyed by trust and fickle attachments. Don't go off calling anyone your friend just because they helped you a lot. I will kill you."
"Really?"
"If you leak the nature of our business to anyone, I will know and I will kill you too."
Hao stopped chewing and blinked.
But Northern's gaze only intensified, and he added, "If you try to be shady with my clone, I will have him kill you."
He swallowed. Hesitating for a moment, he said, "At what point won't ya be killing me?" "That is to tell you that your life is dependent on this. I have too much to lose; your life won't even be enough compensation."
Hao frowned, his eyes burning with a defiant light. But the look in Northern's eyes was even more powerful and intimidating.
There was a spark of authority and power that shimmered in them and made his blood curl.
Perhaps what he felt was from his understanding of Northern's strength and how ruthless he
was.
And now even more than before, Hao could feel the wide margin of power between the dark continent Northern and the Northern sitting in front of him.
The words that Northern spoke to him were, undoubtedly, something that he would do.
"This could turn out to be a deal that will destroy and end you or change your entire story and raise you to the richest merchant not just in the Central Plains but the world. All you just need to do is follow my instructions like your life depends on it."
He gulped and exhaled. He didn't know yet the extent of what Northern was saying, but for the lad to be talking about being the richest in the world...
Hao wanted to believe it wasn't just all bluff. There was substance, even more than what he had seen.
'Fine. I'm going to bet my all on you, kid.' His eyes shone.
It was an insane idea, but Hao felt like this was going to become the beginning of greatness. Hao had always had a knack for identifying greatness when he saw one, and since the first day he sighted Northern, he had always felt like the kid was something.
But what he was sitting in front of right now was not that kid he had met back in Stelia.
Hao could feel something rising in his gut, almost as if he could smell gold.
He sighed again and expressed disinterest in the rest of his meal.
"I understand your insecurities... you will have to trust me to handle things well with no hiccups."
"I guess you have been deaf since I was talking earlier. Trust is the one thing that I can not, can definitely not! give you. As for the rest of whatever, you have my consent..."
Hao stared expressionlessly at him for a few seconds.
"You certainly have become arrogant since the last time I saw you. But all that is none of my concern. Since you promise me great wishes, I will do things the way you want. So, what are we doing first?"
Northern extended his hand towards Hao. The senile man glared at Northern with a suspicious look on his face.
"Just hold it."
Hao hesitantly placed his hand on Northern's. As he did, he felt his consciousness suddenly
dive deep into a thick, clutching darkness.
And he suddenly could feel himself standing.
Hao almost freaked out; he staggered back.
"What? What did you do? Where are we?" He inquired, looking around.
"We are in my soul domain. I call this place the Void Palace. Only a few knew of it." Hao's eyes widened as he took in the structure of the place, the magnificent pillars and high ceiling, the ethereal blue light that reflected on his face.
The throbbing presence of darkness and heart-lifting flow of blue hue.
"Showing you this place is absolutely necessary for you to at least have a vision of what I am talking about when I say you could become the richest merchant. Do not mistake this for an act of trust."
"Yes. Definitely." Hao responded with a nod.
"Master. You are here. I came as I felt your presence. But you are not fully here."
Bairan's voice resounded as his feet touched the ground. He quickly went to his knees and bowed, greeting Northern.
Hao looked at the face of the man bowing to Northern unrestrained and looked at Northern's
face.
He didn't understand what was going on... but he also knew not to ask.
"I came here in a hurry, just to show this dude something. Don't you have something to do? Why are you always after me?"
"There's no better thing to do than welcoming my master."
Northern exhaled; he did not know how to respond to Bairan's excessive loyalty, so he just walked past, saying to Hao, "Follow me."
As Hao followed, before moving two steps, the scenery changed.
It scared Hao a bit, making him freeze for a moment with widened eyes.
The Palace they were in had transformed to a mountain terrain with crimson soil. A rhythm of metallic clanging continuously soared into the air, disturbing Hao.
He looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from, then Northern spoke.
"I have a special and rare ability. Because of this ability, it is possible for me to do some
certain things..."
"Is this why ya have an enormous amount of soul core to sell?"
Northern frowned slightly, "This is not about the soul core, but you can think of it that way."
"Then..."
"I can cultivate rift resources in this place."
Hao froze, his expression froze, every muscle in his body froze. Then slowly, as beats passed, his eyes managed to blink, like a door creaking open from a decrepit frame.
"I'm sorry, lad, what exactly do you mean by that? Do you mean that the resources that are
gotten from rifts are also available here?"
Northern looked at Hao with an indifferent expression, then he nodded.
"Yes, something like that..." Northern paused, looking for how to explain this to Hao without
having to spill all his secrets.
He stayed silent for a few seconds, a frown slowly forming on his face as his thoughts
prolonged.
Right now, he couldn't think of any other way to go about it. And lying was really unnecessary.
'I have nothing to be careful of really... At least I am getting stronger.'
Northern had always been skeptical because he knew he was an anomaly. Depending on who hears of what he could do, he didn't want to become a public spectacle and sought by all forms and existence of Supreme power that exist in this continent.
Not when he had not yet fully known who they were.
But right now, there was a need for him to tell Hao, so the trader could understand the scale of
what both of them could achieve together.
That vision was going to be the reason why Hao would choose never to betray him.
He sighed, steeling himself to do what he had never done before.
Hao waited patiently, his eyes lit up a little as Northern raised his head.
"I can absorb rifts... it's a problem with my soul, but because of this problem, my soul is like a gluttonous coffer that sucks up every rift that I manage to defeat."
Hao's mouth fell open. His eyes almost popped out.
Northern continued, "I can absorb the rift resources along with it, monsters that I kill also.
So, I use the soul of those monsters to cultivate the resources here. This here is the kingdom
of red mines."
Northern gestured to the mountains, pointing his hand.
"Red crystals are cultivated here. I am not entirely sure of all they can do, but one of the
things the red crystals have is healing properties. Eating them can heal your wounds." Hao slowly moved his hand, closing his mouth. His voice had gone invisible.
"I have several other resources too. But what I am trying to say is, all these resources we will
be sending them out into the world and manufacturing them." Northern looked at Hao as he concluded, "Yes... that is pretty much it, I guess."
Hao was still the way he was, his hands over his mouth and eyes widened like they would fall
off any moment.
Northern narrowed his eyes, "Do you have anything to say?"
Hao slowly brought his hands down, feeling the strength leave his body.
"You... you said... richest...?" Hao's voice was hoarse as he spoke.
"Yes?"
The trader suddenly flared up like an erupting volcano, panting. "RICHEST IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!!!"