Chapter 98: A Master Makes a Move

Su Chunfeng silently recited the spell incantation in his mouth, raising his right hand to form a seal and pointing it vaguely toward the chopstick ends.

He uttered a light, sharp sound: “Duo!”

The two chopstick ends suddenly tilted and came together, forming a triangular shape. Then, they began to spin strangely on Su Chunfeng’s left hand. After just a few seconds, the pointed tip of the triangle formed by the chopsticks angled itself toward true north. Then, the pointed tip, made by the two chopstick ends, began to gently float up and down even more eerily.

When the pointed tip of the chopsticks finally came to a stable stop, the slant of the two chopsticks was very low, almost parallel to the back of Su Chunfeng’s horizontally held hand.

After a moment of thought, he turned and went back inside to sleep.

By now, Su Chunfeng was certain that an occultist had definitely cast a technique.

However, this kind of esoteric technique held no obvious harm. The Jianghu of Esoteric Arts had many schools, and naturally, the various techniques were countless. But the purposes of all techniques boiled down to just a few types: targeting people, events, or objects; small scale or large scale; harmful, harmless, mildly damaging… or, to put it more directly, it was about how lethal they were.

And to detect and judge different esoteric techniques, different techniques had to be used.

Earlier, when Su Chunfeng was alerted by the abnormal fluctuation in the magnetic field, he had a faint feeling that an occultist was at work. That was why he quickly got up and went out to check.

Although, because he couldn’t devote his entire being and all his time to cultivation, his cultivation level still lingered at the Early Stage of Purified Body, his mental state cultivation was extremely high. He was quite sensitive to magnetic field fluctuations and changes in the Five Elements. Moreover, Su Chunfeng had rich experience in casting techniques and had gone through countless practical experiences of magical duels. Therefore, when sensing an anomaly in the Five Elements magnetic field, he could analyze and determine some details of the nearby Heaven-Earth Five Elements changes in the shortest time. Then he could choose a corresponding technique to detect, find the source direction of the technique, and afterward carefully analyze the general nature of the technique.

As for the specific purpose, aim, and target of the technique he sensed tonight, Su Chunfeng could not know. After all, he was not the one who cast it.

However, he knew this technique posed little harm to human bodies and the business of the sales office. That was enough.

Perhaps an occultist was doing something else.

There was a saying: if it’s none of your business, don’t get involved…

The next morning after breakfast, his father, Su Cheng, received a phone call from Chen Yufang. She asked him to go to the Industry and Commerce Bureau to pick up the company’s business license and to handle some related procedures.

After giving a few instructions, Su Cheng tucked his bag under his arm and hurried out the door.

At the very beginning, neither Su Chunfeng nor Su Cheng knew that to contract land for development and operation, besides the incredibly complicated processes of application and review, one must also have a legal leasing and contracting qualification. Even if you had assets worth hundreds of millions, you couldn’t just long-term lease land in a personal capacity under the vague, simple name of “doing business.”

So, on Chen Yufang’s suggestion, they decided to set up a freight forwarding agency liability company. Then, using the company’s qualifications, they would lease and contract this piece of land for the development of a clearly positioned logistics park.

Wantong Freight Forwarding Agency Co., Ltd. had Su Cheng as the legal person and general manager. The shareholders were Chen Yufang, Chen Xiulan, and Su Chunfeng. The registered capital wasn’t much, only five hundred thousand yuan. Of this, Su Cheng got a loan of three hundred and fifty thousand yuan from the Guanmiao Township Credit Cooperative, and Chen Yufang took out one hundred and fifty thousand yuan in cash from her home. But even such a small company, with the help of Chen Xian’s network of connections and Chen Yufang’s public relations efforts, was enough to obtain the contracting rights for this piece of land.

In three to four months, Chen Yufang had already smoothed relations with all the relevant departments. All that was left, after obtaining the business license, was the final review and approval process.

Besides this, having a company name also made it easier to get loans from the bank.

As mentioned before, Chen Yufang had already reached a preliminary verbal agreement with the Erdaokou Town government. This contracting of land use rights for commercial operation was a full-contract agreement. The Erdaokou Town government would not hold any shares. Therefore, the contracting and leasing fees were relatively higher. But this was only relative. Because Chen Xian’s network of connections acted as the behind-the-scenes pusher, the contracting price was actually not high; it was very low. According to the verbal agreement, Wantong Freight Forwarding Agency Co., Ltd. would pay a one-time land leasing and contracting use fee of one million eight hundred and fifty thousand yuan. The seventy-four mu of land use rights within the planning area under the jurisdiction of the Erdaokou Town government would be handed over to Wantong Freight Forwarding Agency Co., Ltd. for the company to expand its operation of the logistics park project, with a term of fifty years.

If you added the later construction costs and the company’s daily working capital, then Wantong Freight Forwarding Agency Co., Ltd. would need a loan of at least three and a half million yuan.

Last night, when Su Cheng was talking with his son, he said self-mockingly: “We made a bit of money from the combine harvester sales agency. Our freight trucks earned some money recently. Selling that old combine harvester set to your uncle freed up over thirty thousand yuan. It looked like we could almost pay off the credit cooperative loan… And now, we’re about to shoulder a huge debt again.”

However, the current Su Cheng no longer had that attitude of being overly cautious and fearful like before.

Money was coming in like flowing water. Moreover, his son Su Chunfeng’s suggestions had always guaranteed profits. Besides, he now had several dozen mu of land in his hands. What was there to fear?

Not to mention, once anyone had money, they would start thinking about fame. After the company was established, Su Cheng would be the legal person, the company’s general manager. Investing millions to do such a big business made him a big boss. Li Sheng, the factory director of the Hetang Village Yuwang Feed Factory, was just about the same.

With these thoughts, Su Cheng’s current vision and mindset had broadened considerably.

After breakfast, Su Li, who had stayed up all night, went to sleep in the south room.

In the sparsely visited reception room, only Chen Xiulan and Su Chunfeng, mother and son, remained.

Chen Xiulan was taking apart some old clothes while smiling and chatting idly: “Chunfeng, you know, people like us, before, whenever we heard about spending large sums of money, our hearts would panic terribly… Now look at your father. With hundreds of thousands in loans on his shoulders, and in a few days talking about taking out another loan of several million, he seems to have no pressure at all. Carefree and happy all day long.”

“Mom, aren’t you the same now?” Su Chunfeng laughed.

“Exactly,” Chen Xiulan said, shaking her head with a blissful smile. “Xiao Feng, the changes in our family these past two years are also thanks to your cleverness and sharp judgment.”

Su Chunfeng scratched his head somewhat embarrassed. “Actually, I was just talking nonsense. It’s still my dad who worked hard.”

Chen Xiulan did not refute her son’s modest words. She sighed softly, her expression becoming kind yet serious and stern. “Mom has some things to say to you. Don’t mind hearing them. In our family, making money and doing business still relies on your father. Don’t put all your heart into this every day. Your main focus should be studying. Look, your grades slipped again during the midterm exam, right? Your father is busy making money and knows you have ability and brains, so he doesn’t take your studies seriously anymore. But in mom’s heart, I still think studying hard is the proper thing.”

In the midterm exam, Su Chunfeng’s grades had slipped again. He scored 42nd in the class and 54th in the entire grade. It looked like he might be pushed out of Class One.

His homeroom teacher, Cao Lan, had criticized and scolded him very seriously about this. She even severely reprimanded him about his early romance with Wang Haifei. She told him that if his grades slipped further after the final exam, then the teacher would have to contact and communicate with his parents.

Su Chunfeng knew deeply that the slip in his exam results this time was directly linked to him worrying about the family business during this period, which unavoidably affected his studies.

So he apologized sincerely to his homeroom teacher and made a promise.

And he never hid his grades from his parents, so naturally they knew. In the mature-minded Su Chunfeng’s view, although his parents wouldn’t actually go to the school to check if his grades were real or not, that was their trust in their child. He absolutely could not deceive his parents with fake grades and lies.

Now, hearing his mother mention exam results and studying, Su Chunfeng couldn’t help but feel guilty. He nodded and said seriously, “Mom, you are right. I will definitely study hard in the future and strive for better grades.”

“Mm, mom knows,” Chen Xiulan said with a kind smile.

“Mom, I’m going outside for a walk to digest my food. I’ll come back to study in a while,” Su Chunfeng said, showing a childlike smile to please his mother.

“Go on. Watch for cars on the road.”

“Okay.”

Su Chunfeng agreed and walked out.

Leaving the sales office, Su Chunfeng walked along National Highway 107. He crossed at the crosswalk by the traffic light at the intersection, then stood by the roadside, carefully sensing. Now he had a clearer judgment about that subtle Five Elements magnetic field fluctuation from last night. An occultist had set up an arcane array nearby.

This arcane array would not operate during the day. It would only start slowly operating for a few hours in the early morning after midnight. Since the array was harmless, and the caster set up such a rather complex array, what was it for?

Su Chunfeng was momentarily puzzled.

After all, he was a master of the Esoteric Arts.

And among the Esoteric Arts, there were hardly any such gentle techniques. They were all fierce, powerful, and swift.

After sensing carefully for a while, Su Chunfeng finally found a clue from the stable fluctuations of the Heaven-Earth Five Elements. Then he abruptly turned around, gazing at the surrounding environment and geographical layout in the distance. At the same time, he silently recited a spell incantation in his heart, casting a technique to blend into the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy for detection. He couldn’t help but exclaim in his mind, “A master…”

To use the existing terrain, buildings, and environment, making almost imperceptible changes to some spots to form array foundations and set up an arcane array—this was not something an ordinary occultist could do.

Moreover, although this arcane array didn’t have much powerful killing force, it covered an area of at least two square kilometers.

A physiognomy expert!

Su Chunfeng judged the other party’s basic identity with certainty. Unless one was a feng shui physiognomy expert, it would be absolutely difficult to so exquisitely borrow natural features and calmly set up such a vast arcane array as if it were effortless.

If that was the case, then there was even less need to pay attention to it.

Anyway, it was harmless to his parents and the sales office.

Furthermore, across such a large area of two square kilometers, that physiognomy expert might be targeting anyone or any piece of land for some purpose.

Just as Su Chunfeng was strolling eastward along the roadside, a minivan drove past him heading the opposite way and soon stopped by the road.

This was nothing unusual, but when Su Chunfeng happened to glance at the minivan, he couldn’t help but frown. Because, getting out of the minivan was a young man with a sinister expression and short stature, about 1.65 meters tall, in his thirties. He wore a white shirt, black dress pants, and black leather shoes.

An occultist!

He had cast a technique before!

Su Chunfeng saw through the esoteric technique aura on that young man at a glance.