Chapter 390 - 377: Expansion of Marketplace Authority

Chapter 390: Chapter 377: Expansion of Marketplace Authority

In the side hall of the administration office, Ji Wenchuan placed the newly compiled personnel roster on the table.

"The Sect requisitioned two more deacons and fifteen patrol team members this morning, all sent to the outpost." Ji Wenchuan pointed at the names crossed out on the roster. "As of now, the number of people in the marketplace who are officially on the Primordial Yang Sect’s payroll is less than twenty percent of the original. The patrol team has the biggest shortage."

Li Yuan picked up the roster and glanced at it.

The Sect’s upper echelons had clearly poured all their energy into the search deep within the Ghost Mist Forest. As for a rear-area base like the marketplace, as long as no trouble broke out, they no longer had the spare manpower to maintain tight control.

A power vacuum naturally needed to be filled.

"Have the Wang family’s people fill the gaps in the patrol team." Li Yuan pushed the roster back. "You can also pull a few sharp Loose Cultivators from the South District to fill the two deacon positions. They’ll be responsible for daily registrations and coordinating with the shops. Nominally, we’ll still be managing things on behalf of the Sect, but in reality, we’ll be the ones setting the rules."

Ji Wenchuan nodded in acknowledgment, put away the roster, and exited.

Li Yuan then opened another ledger on the table.

This was the marketplace’s total revenue account for the previous month. The output from the refined Fire Evil Stone vein was stable, and the Mingyuan Commerce Association picked up large shipments on schedule every month. After Sun Henian’s Talisman shop expanded, its wholesale business now covered three smaller surrounding marketplaces. Combined with the exorbitant profits from the two acres of Soul-devouring Grass used for Condensing Evil Pills, all three sectors were firing on all cylinders.

Net income for the month: three hundred and ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

The figure was quite impressive. A monthly income of this level already surpassed the total earnings of many mid-sized cultivator families. With this stable source of funding, the vast amount of rare supplementary materials and Array components needed for his future Core Formation could be acquired directly by throwing Spirit Stones at the problem, eliminating the need to pinch pennies as he had before.

Li Yuan closed the ledger.

Hurried footsteps sounded from outside the courtyard gate. Chen Yi strode into the side hall, his expression uncharacteristically anxious.

"Something’s happened." Chen Yi sat down at the table, picked up the teapot, and poured himself a cup of cold tea, which he gulped down.

"News from the outpost. The western exploration team was ambushed by a large pack of Tier Two Demon Beasts about eighty li deep into the forest. Two Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators died, and part of the team was scattered. They’ve currently fallen back to the sixty-li safety line."

He put down the teacup, his speech quickening.

"The eastern exploration team isn’t having an easy time either. Although they didn’t run into a large pack of Demon Beasts, they found the remains of what looks like a man-made structure deep underground. The lead deacon determined there might be dangerous Restrictions below and didn’t dare to venture deeper. He’s already sent a request for aid to the outpost, asking for reinforcements skilled in Arrays."

Li Yuan listened, his expression impassive.

"What does the marketplace need to do?"

"An emergency allocation of supplies." Chen Yi tapped the table. "Pills, Talismans, Antidotes, and Array repair materials. We’ll take as many as you can provide. The Sect will pay at the normal market rate and won’t be late with the payment. The exploration teams need to establish a firm foothold in the forest, so the supply line can’t be broken."

"I’ll get them ready before evening and have someone deliver them to the outpost," Li Yuan agreed readily.

"Thank you." Chen Yi stood up and hurried away.

Watching Chen Yi’s back disappear beyond the courtyard gate, Li Yuan leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.

The Sect had stretched the manpower for the outpost and exploration teams to the limit, yet they had never assigned him—a marketplace manager whose combat power far exceeded his peers—to any combat unit. On the surface, this was reasonable; after all, he was in charge of logistics.

But one thing didn’t add up.

Back in Skeleton Valley, in order to complete his mission, he had activated the Profound Nether Bead. That had released a genuine Golden Core Level aura. Although it was only for a brief moment, in the current tense situation with all factions on high alert, such an aura was bound to be noticed by interested parties.

Yet, the Dark Abyss Association had shown no reaction whatsoever.

Li Yuan focused his mind and closed his eyes.

His perception network, born from his Spirit Vein affinity, silently extended underground, following a branch of the marketplace’s main Spirit Vein all the way toward the eastern side of the Ghost Mist Forest.

In the subterranean structures a hundred zhang deep, he picked up on the clustered Spiritual Waves of the eastern exploration team. With his familiarity with the underground terrain, he immediately pinpointed their exact location.

They were right near the ruins of the Profound Nether Sub-Palace.

However, the exploration team hadn’t found the Sub-Palace’s true entrance. The so-called structural remains they’d discovered were merely some abandoned diversion channels and stone foundations for watchposts on the shallowest periphery of the Sub-Palace. The true core Array and the Jade Bead were hidden behind a folded space, deeper and more concealed.

They wouldn’t find the core anytime soon, but if they kept digging, they would eventually touch the edge of the Restriction.

Li Yuan opened his eyes, stood up, and walked out of the side hall.

He had to go prepare the supplies Chen Yi needed.

While making preparations, Li Yuan went to the East District, to Sun Henian’s Talisman shop.

The shop was packed with Loose Cultivators and members of demon-hunting squads who had come to make purchases. The clerks were so busy they were run off their feet. With the tense situation, life-saving items had become the hottest commodities.

Li Yuan walked straight through the front hall and into the talisman-crafting room in the back courtyard.

Sun Henian was hunched over a workbench, his talisman brush moving like a dragon in flight as he swiftly sketched the last few Array Patterns. As the final stroke landed, a Spiritual Light flashed on the surface of the talisman paper before being steadily drawn inward.

"Pavilion Master Li." Sun Henian put down his brush and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "They’re in a hurry out front. Please excuse the mess."

"I need a batch of high-grade Defense Talismans. The Sect needs them urgently," Li Yuan stated his purpose.

"I have some." Sun Henian pointed to a stack of Talismans on a nearby shelf. "These are the Spirit Shield Talismans I recently improved. I used the powdered hide of a Tier Two Iron-Armored Rhino for the ink base. Their activation speed is twice as fast as others on the market. Although the upper limit of their defense hasn’t increased much, their advantage is that they’re instantaneous, capable of blocking a fatal blow."

Li Yuan walked over and picked up the topmost Spirit Shield Talisman to inspect it.

The runic structure was indeed much more streamlined. It sacrificed durability for activation speed, making it extremely practical in a chaotic, ever-changing battle.

The moment his fingertip touched the talisman paper, the panel appeared.

[Detectable equippable item: Spirit Shield Talisman (Complete)]

[Equipment Trait Preview: Thin Spirit Shield (White)]

[Effect: Automatically generates a thin Spiritual Power shield upon being attacked, shatters after absorbing a small amount of damage]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Already possess one permanent defensive-type trait (Fulfilled)]

The condition was already fulfilled. ℯ

This was an extremely pure passive defense mechanism that required no reaction time. Although it was only a White trait and the damage it could absorb was limited, in a life-or-death struggle, even a negligible buffer was enough for him to turn the tables and kill his opponent.

Li Yuan took out a jade slip from his storage pouch and placed it on the workbench.

"This is the crafting method for the Evil Talisman. It’s suitable for melee-focused Evil Element Cultivators. I’ll trade you this for your batch of Spirit Shield Talismans."

Sun Henian’s eyes lit up. He quickly picked up the jade slip and pressed it to his forehead. A moment later, he lowered the slip, his face filled with delight.

"The runic design of this talisman is ingenious, and its utilization of Evil Qi is extremely high. Pavilion Master Li, I’m getting the better end of this deal. Please, take this entire batch of Spirit Shield Talismans. From now on, I’ll also provide you with fifty more, free of charge, every month."

Li Yuan didn’t refuse. He swept all the Spirit Shield Talismans from the shelf into his storage pouch and, at the same time, took one out to place in his equipment slot.

’Equip.’

[Thin Spirit Shield (White) has become a permanent trait]

In the equipment slot, the Talisman’s phantom image flickered once and then dissipated, freeing up the slot again.

There were no visible changes on the surface of his body, but Li Yuan could feel that, in addition to his Rebound Protection and Demon Pattern Protection, there was now another layer: an extremely sensitive Spiritual Power trigger mechanism. The moment an external force approached at high speed, this mechanism would instantly draw a sliver of Spiritual Power to form a shield on his skin.

He had another trump card.

After leaving the Talisman shop, Li Yuan went to the medicine warehouse to allocate enough pills, which he handed over to the person Chen Yi had sent for the pickup.

By the time he finished all this, the sky had already darkened.

Li Yuan returned to his stone house and did not light a lamp. The active Concealment effect of his Traceless Concealment was fully activated, and his figure instantly merged into the darkness.

He silently left the marketplace and entered the Ghost Mist Forest once again.

His targets were the suspicious locations previously provided by the Demon Cultivator surnamed Qian. His last investigation had yielded nothing, but he always felt that something was off. The Dark Abyss Association wouldn’t have marked those specific locations for no reason.

Two hours later, he arrived at the low-lying basin covered in vines.

He hovered in mid-air, concealing his entire aura, and slowly unfurled his Dark Evil Insight perception network in its most refined mode.

The night wind blew through the withered forest, making a soft RUSTLING sound.

At first, there was still nothing. But after waiting for nearly the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn, the edge of his Dark Evil Insight network captured an extremely faint tremor.

It wasn’t a naturally occurring fluctuation of Spiritual Qi, but rather some kind of deliberately compressed and encrypted Demonic Qi harmonic.

Someone was conducting a concealed sound transmission.

The source of the fluctuation wasn’t on the basin’s surface, nor was it in the shallow underground. Instead, it was seeping out from a deeper location, seemingly from behind some kind of spatial barrier. If not for Traceless Concealment drastically reducing the interference of his own aura, combined with Dark Evil Insight’s absolute sensitivity to Demonic Qi, he would never have been able to detect this insignificant tremor.

Li Yuan did not approach.

He remained where he was and extended five gossamer-like Divine Sense Lines. They precisely attached themselves to the wisp of Demonic Qi harmonic, imprinting every detail of the fluctuation’s frequency, rhythm, and cadence into his mind.

The encryption method for this type of concealed sound transmission was extremely complex. It was impossible to understand by listening directly; the original content could only be restored by reverse-engineering it with a specific Cultivation Technique.

The transmission lasted for about half a quarter-hour before it abruptly vanished, never to appear again.

Li Yuan memorized the characteristics of the last fluctuation and immediately turned to return to the marketplace.