45 Potentially Deadly Deals

A/N: My chapter names suck as always

As Qingyue's eyes opened, they flashed with a chilling blue light and at the same time, an intense wave of killing intent engulfed the room

Of course, the intended recipient merely shrugged it off with a coquettish giggle and stuck closer to Shane's body.

"Kyaaa! So scary! Little Shan shan save me!"

Shane, still caught somewhat off guard by his wife's rapid advancement half-heartedly tried to slap Ji Qianrou's wandering hands away. Unfortunately to no avail.

The weirdly beautiful man twisted like a snake and effortlessly evaded him eliciting a small involuntary chuckle from Shane. Which, obviously, was absolutely the wrong thing to do. Well, If the way his wife-to-be's gaze flickered to his own and how her killing intent had now focused on him too, was anything to go by.

However the entire situation was just so… ridiculous, he really couldn't help himself.

Qingyue's beautiful soul-stirring eyes, now tinged with a hint of madness, locked onto his own and although he surely felt a stirring in his loins, Shane also groaned internally.

On one hand, he was witnessing the birth of this universe's deadliest yandere which was quite frankly, extremely fucking hot ...but on the other hand, the situation could become quite disadvantageous for them at any time.

Shane was well aware that the man who was doing a very thorough job of moderately molesting him was only doing so for fun but Qingyue didn't know that and she spoke through gritted teeth, her voice as cold as an arctic gale. "Remove. Your. Hands. From. My. Husband."

Ji Qianrou may not be taking this seriously at all, but she definitely was, and despite his lackadaisical demeanour, this playful shemale was absolutely not someone either of them could compete with. They were only truly safe for as long as he found the situation amusing or interesting.

So before anything could escalate further, Shane collected himself and decided to take a calculated risk, starting with a few bold words and actions. "Enough, while I know you mean no harm, this is clearly making my wife uncomfortable."

One that paid off as Ji Qianrou's movements stilled, allowing him to gently yet firmly grasp the man's hands and step away, swiftly extricating himself from his grasp.

At the same time, he locked eyes with Qingyue and frowned a little before speaking in a deep voice "Yue'er…", while conveying the seriousness of the situation to her in English through spirit sound transmission.

For a moment, that perfect pair of inky black eyebrows furrowed along with the narrowing of her eyes but a second later she shook her head and began to withdraw her profound energy causing the frozen surroundings to fade away.

Shane smiled at her and moved forward to take her hands in his own, placing a kiss on the back of each one that finally melted away the last of her stony expression.

He embraced her soft and fragrant body closely and buried his nose in her hair before whispering in her ear. "Impulse is the devil. You need to trust in me a little more, okay."

Qingyue pushed her face deeper into the crook of his neck and took a deep breath before nodding. "...Okay."

Ji Qianrou watched all of this happening with a raised eyebrow and an amused expression as he rather elegantly seated himself on one of the room's couches.

Shane took a deep breath of her calming fragrance to settle his mind, separated from her and took her by the hand to a couch opposite. Then he softly cleared his throat, ready to make a deal.

"It's an honour to meet you Elder Ji Qianrou of Supreme Ocean Palace."

The man's nose wrinkled in dissatisfaction. "Not fair little Shanshan! That sounds so distant, call me Rourou."

Shane sweated a little, audibly gulping. Still, despite the discomfort, inwardly he was smirking. 'Just as predicted'

"Now now, fair is fair. I will happily address you like that if you give me a few moments of your time to explain a proposition."

"Ohh little Shanshan, propositioning me already, we just met." He cooed, biting a finger in an attempt to look cute but only receiving a deadpan in return. Qingyue bristled next to him but Shane reassuredly squeezed her hand. "Fiiiine, I'm listening."

"Great! So… Rourou, it's like this. As I am sure you are aware, there is a new plantation of 'profound tobacco' being grown in a nearby city and we have a deal with Blackmoon Merchant Guild for supply."

Ji Qianrou's eyes flashed with interest and he nodded, steepling his fingers and sitting forward on the couch to show he was listening.

Shane took a deep breath and pulled out a personal mixture of his favourite forest peaches and some of the very limited Spirit Profound leaves before lighting them up on a small burner, causing a pleasant and calming fragrance to spread throughout the room.

"The evolution direction of the Profound Tobacco plants and the creation of fruit mixtures are both of my own design. The mixtures themselves, when burnt and inhaled, have the ability to allow low-level cultivators to advance in realms, loosen bottlenecks and are relatively inexpensive in comparison to Pills."

Shane then went on to give a brief explanation of the basic principles behind the evolution of the plants themselves, not forgetting to hint at the possibility of future strains being able to benefit even stronger cultivators.

Elder Pu He even lifted his head from below his desk for a moment before retreating again when the shemale glanced at him. Meanwhile, Xiao Che and Lingxi were doing the smartest thing possible and inconspicuously taking care of the two little beasties while cultivating diligently and facing the wall.

Xiao Che was handsome after all, not as handsome as Shane, but what if the strange and beautiful man went for him!? Lingxi couldn't have that! She silently apologized to Qingyue in her heart and pushed her nephew's head down.

Little did she know that if the man? Wanted to see little Che, nobody present could prevent that, his spirit sense alone would be enough. Thankfully, his attention was fully on the wild-looking young man currently animatedly explaining the science of evolution.

After a few moments, Shane seemed to finish his explanation and took a sip of tea to moisten his throat. Ji Qianrou held a hand to his mouth and let out a 'cute' giggle that made even Qingyue shiver. "Fufufu. That's all very interesting little Shanshan but what do you need from this one?"

Shane coughed a little awkwardly at his tendency to over-explain and continued. "While extraordinarily complicated in their creation, the farming processes can be easily sustained by anyone with enough knowledge. However, I am only a single person and with estimated future popularity and demand, what I lack the most right now is reliable manpower."

"Hmm, you want this one to provide you with a trustworthy workforce? How boring, this one doesn't feel like it… Unless little Shanshan can make it worth this one's time." He said with a smirk, licking his lips to insinuate all manner of unthinkable things.

Qingyue almost drew her sword again and Elder Pu He whimpered from under his desk fort but nobody paid him any mind.

Shane spread his hands out to the sides. "Naturally, I can. Honestly, I simply wished to hand something to my father in law and sworn brother here that would ensure they live fulfilling lives in the future but neither of them is strong enough to fend off those with nefarious intentions."

After racking his brain for the previous few minutes Shane had already recalled everything he knew about the powerful man before himself from the source material. Now all he needed to do was improvise and take advantage of the situation to bullshit his way through knowing things he shouldn't know.

Well for that, he would just need the right opportunity to reveal a few things and might use his already established cover story.

"What I need from you are a pair of cultivators at the peak of Spirit Profound Realm and a team of around a dozen cultivators at the peak of True Profound Realm who are well versed in manipulating their profound energy.

Both groups should have little to no chance of breaking through in their lifetimes and will preferably all have families that will also relocate to Floating Cloud City and can work for my father in law on the distribution side of things."

Ji Qianrou smiled playfully. "Naturally this one can provide those without issue but why should I?"

"Because I can cure you of that poison." Obviously, Shane wouldn't just go out on a limb and use his perceived knowledge from a novel to tangle with death but ever since Ji Qianrou arrived, his sensitive nose had been picking up several different smells around the man.

The most overpowering of course was the floral scent of hundreds of different flowers but underneath that, there were two different scents. One was a faint yet powerful medical fragrance that reminded him of a sedative and the other was sharp, acrid and full of maliciousness that stung the nose and clouded the mind.

Ji Qianrou's eyes flashed with wariness and the surrounding profound energy stilled in the air, ready to turn hostile at a moment's notice. He clenched his fist and his lips narrowed into a thin line. "This is not a joke little Shanshan, no doctors within the entire Profound Sky Continent have been able to remove this insidious poison nor should the knowledge of my infliction be commonly known.

This one does not take kindly to thinly veiled threats nor false bravado."

Despite the coldness of his tone and the underlying promise of a swift death should he be lying, Shane's smile remained unchanged, instead, he took a sip of tea and calmly continued. "I am the sole disciple of a wandering medical saint and within two years I shall complete my inheritance.

Not only will I be capable of seamlessly removing that malevolent mental poison that is afflicting you but I will also be able to open up an additional three of your profound entrances, providing you with a much better chance of breaking through and becoming a Monarch in the near future."

Hearing this, the man's eyes narrowed as he searched Shane's features for any trace of deceitfulness and after finding none, he leaned forward, his entire posture changing in a moment.

All playfulness now absent from his demeanour, he spoke. "Very well Shane, you successfully have the attention of this one but how can I be sure you will do as you say?"

Shane rolled his eyes. "Please, I am only at the peak of the Spirit Profound Realm, do I even dare to trick you?"

Seeing the unconvinced look on Ji Qianrou's face, he hummed thoughtfully." Though, I suppose I could concoct a pill for you here that will alleviate the symptoms of the poison for the time being.

You will of course have to provide the required ingredients and some form of payment in the way of… let's say any information you may possess on formations or formation runes."

The man tapped his storage ring with a single finger for a moment before a thin, leather-bound book popped into existence on the table in front of him. "What do you need for the pills?"

Shane excitedly gazed at the book and grinned. "Profound Beast Cores of the Earth Profound Realm at least but no higher than the beginning stages of the Sky Profound Realm and various Profound Herbs with high Vitality, the more the better."

Ji Qianrou nodded thoughtfully and raised his hand to grasp the air. With a shriek, a terrified Elder came flying towards him and was unceremoniously dumped onto the floor. "You heard him, prepare the herbs immediately!"

The old man at the peak of Earth Profound kowtowed eagerly, his head knocking the ground as he spoke. "Y-y-yes, yes, yes. This Pu shall immediately fulfil your eminence's order without question!"

Then without preamble, he hurriedly got up and rushed out of the room to personally see to his superior's orders. Though he nearly tripped as Shane's voice full of disbelief reached his ears on the way out. "Oh, and bring a pill cauldron too, the one I have with me isn't of a high enough quality."

Shane dryly chuckled a little, he had never seen someone move so quickly. 'wasn't this shameless guy over exaggerating more than just a little!?'

Even Qingyue must have thought that the Elder was a little too shameless and she giggled elegantly behind a raised hand. Her giggle was always music to Shane's ears and utterly infectious to him. "Pfft, he called you 'your eminence' how very boring that must be."

"Ahh! So you even know how to tease me huh, little Shanshan!" Ji Qianrou's playfulness resurfaced for a moment before it switched back to something darker.

"Though, I am curious as to why you revealed all of this to anyone, much less a complete stranger. What makes you believe I won't just kidnap you back to the sect should your abilities be proven, hmm?"

Shane hummed again and Qingyue made a noise of agreement from next to him. 'Time to casually bullshit a bit more.' "Well, apart from trust being formed through vulnerability and having the backing of a late-stage Sovereign Medical Saint..." The man inhaled sharply. "...I believe in my own instincts and judgment of character.

Right now, those instincts are telling me that, should I prove myself able to do what I say, you would be an extremely loyal and trustworthy ally to have in the future." 'Bullshit! I am taking a risk off of what I read in a novel in a different world, what has my life become!?'

"Interesting…"

After saying that, he leaned back into the couch and closed his eyes to wait.