Conspiracy (Please Support with Follow-up Reading and Monthly Tickets—Double Monthly Tickets)

Ye Family Shop. In the small courtyard, a portly middle-aged cultivator in a loose Gorgeous Robe walked out.

"Big Brother!"

"Uncle!"

This man was the eldest of the Ye Family's Xing Generation, Ye Xinghe. Ye Xinghe had fairly good cultivation talent, but he had become obsessed with earning Spirit Stones and delayed his cultivation. By the time he grew older, regret was useless. He was still at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

Over the years, the Ye Family's market shop had also been managed by Ye Xinghe.

Whether Spirit Beasts, Spirit Herbs, spirit pills, Spirit Talismans, or Dharma Artifacts, everything sold quite well, and the shop had gained a modest reputation within the market.

He greeted all four of them inside with a smile.

Quite a few Spirit Beast cubs had been placed in the courtyard. They were shut inside spirit cages, with special Dharma Artifact chains fastened within.

Whenever cultivators bought these, the Ye Family would include some small chain-type Dharma Artifacts. The Ye Family also sold matching, simple methods for controlling Spirit Beasts.

But after looking around, Ye Jingcheng found that they were all First-Order Grade-Low and First-Order Grade-Middle Monster Beasts, each with slightly less potential than his Jade Ring Rat.

Yet they still sold for two or three hundred Spirit Stones.

Beyond the courtyard was a room with a counter. Two redwood shelves stood inside, with formations arranged upon them.

One shelf was filled with Dharma Artifacts, while the other was filled with pill bottles.

A female cultivator of the Ye Family sat before the counter. When she saw Ye Jingcheng and the others enter, she hurriedly rose, took out spiritual tea, and began brewing it for them.

"Thirteenth Aunt!" Ye Jingcheng and the others called out in succession.

This female cultivator ranked thirteenth in the Ye Family's Xing Generation. However, she had Four Spiritual Roots and poor cultivation talent. Once she reached Qi Training Stage 3, she had completely given up cultivation and devoted herself to selling goods for the family.

It was still early, and not many cultivators had come to the Ye Family.

At that moment, Ye Xinghe raised his teacup, signaling everyone to drink together.

Holding his teacup, Ye Jingcheng found it rather novel. Spiritual tea was not something everyone in the Ye Family could enjoy. Even at his age, he could count the times he had drunk it on one hand.

The spiritual tea was an incredibly tender emerald green, tinting the tea water a verdant hue, like a pale piece of jade!

Streams of spiritual qi mixed with tea mist rose up, immediately refreshing his mind. His cultivation technique even began circulating unconsciously.

A faint fragrance of mountain wilderness drifted past his nose, leaving an endless aftertaste. After one sip, he only felt the tea's flavor was deep and enduring, leaving him wanting more!

He hurriedly took another sip.

After several mouthfuls, the cup was completely empty.

Once he had finished, Ye Jingcheng was too embarrassed to ask for another cup.

After all, this was genuine spiritual tea. A few more sips might cost a whole Spirit Stone.

This was what the Ye Family usually used to entertain relatively distinguished guests.

Beside him, Ye Jingli and Ye Jingyun wore much the same expression. Ye Xinghe noticed the three men's awkwardness but said nothing, merely looking toward Ye Xinghong.

She immediately understood and refilled the cups of all three.

Ye Xinghe then looked at Ye Xingyu. "This time, it's a major order from the Huayu Sect. They're a newly risen Foundation Establishment faction under Qinghe Sect's territory. I've investigated it thoroughly—they're planning to make a move against a hostile family!"

"The contract has already been signed. They need five hundred Qi Return Pills, five hundred Qi Blood Pills, and twenty low-grade Dharma Artifacts..."

"I looked into it. In Taihang Market, they selected three sellers in total. There definitely won't be any problems!" Ye Xinghe laid out every detail of the major order contract.

Although Ye Xingyu and the others did not understand business matters, these items would ultimately have to be refined by them.

The shop's previous Artifact Crafters and Alchemists had already been conscripted by the Taiyi Sect.

"No problem. What's the deadline?" Ye Xingliu asked as well.

"One month. The shop itself still has some stock left," Ye Xinghe replied with a nod.

Just then, a young cultivator hurried inside.

"Uncle, this is bad! All the Earth Fire Rooms the family reserved with the Xu Family have been taken. They've even returned our Spirit Stones!"

At those words, Ye Xinghe froze. A fierce light surged in his eyes.

"Not a single Earth Fire Room is left?"

"Uncle, not one! Several have been occupied by Foundation Building Cultivators, and the Li Family paid high prices to take several more!" As the young cultivator spoke, he too grew angry.

This was clearly a trap. They had barely accepted the major order when Earth Fire Rooms suddenly became scarce—and were occupied by Foundation Building Cultivators at that.

"Li Xiangmu is playing dirty!" Ye Xinghe's face was filled with fury, killing intent overflowing from him.

This order was worth more than three thousand Spirit Stones. Breaking the contract meant paying five times that amount! It was something the Ye Family absolutely could not afford.

That was already equivalent to the price of a Foundation Establishment Pill! And after this, cultivators would likely keep coming to the Ye Family to buy these kinds of spirit pills and Dharma Artifacts!

This was to prevent the Ye Family from bringing supplies over from Lingyun Peak!

But even if they successfully transported supplies over, the Ye Family could not withstand other cultivators buying them up in huge quantities.

And if the Ye Family refused to sell, then over time, their business would simply become impossible to maintain.

It also happened to be the time when the Taiyi Sect was conscripting Alchemists and Artifact Crafters. Other factions did not have many Alchemists to spare either!

"I'd like to see exactly how many families are joining hands to squeeze out our Ye Family!" After his fury passed, Ye Xinghe became terrifyingly calm.

"Jing Hao, take Jingcheng and the others to find somewhere to stay first. I'll visit those three families one by one and see who can provide us with Earth Fire Rooms!"

"Xingyu, I occupied an Earth Fire Room under the name of a Rogue Cultivator. I'll take you there now. From here on, you may have to work especially hard!" Ye Xinghe placed heavy emphasis on the words "especially hard."

If this order fell through, he would become a sinner of the Ye Family! The entire Ye Family was like a taut bowstring now; the slightest carelessness could snap the string and destroy the clan! Ye Xinghe and Ye Xingyu quickly departed.

"Eleventh Brother, Sixth Brother, Ninth Brother, come with me!" Ye Jinghao was the cultivator who had brought the news. He was also from the Jing Generation, but he only had Five Spiritual Roots.

Even cultivating ordinary techniques was immensely strenuous for him. Unable to endure that hardship, he had applied to come work at the shop early on, hoping to save up some Contribution Points for his future descendants.

Led by Ye Jinghao, the three of them headed deeper into the shop.

There was another courtyard within the shop, filled with several formations. Ye Jinghao took out a jade talisman and opened the formations one by one. Many Monster Beasts were also raised in this courtyard.

Among them were Azure Scale Snakes and Jade Ring Rats, their potential clearly much greater than those outside.

Besides those, several weakly breathing beasts were kept there as well.

"Spirit Beasts end up like this after being confined too long or injured during capture. If we can heal them, our Ye Family's profits will rise quite a bit!" Seemingly noticing Ye Jingcheng and the others' confusion, Ye Jinghao sighed again and explained.

"For some reason, there have been quite a lot more Spirit Beasts like this lately."

Ye Jingli seemed to think of something and looked at Ye Jingcheng. Ye Jingcheng glanced over them several times but made no move.

He merely walked into the courtyard and began selecting a room.

He did not want everyone to know that he could heal Spirit Beasts. His Crimson Flame Fox could be explained as simply having a strong constitution, but these Spirit Beasts were different. Even if he were to save them—

Ye Jingcheng would have to find a way to make them suddenly recover on their own!

There were still many rooms in the Inner Courtyard, and Ye Jinghao prepared one for each of the three.

There was even a pot of Green Vine in Ye Jingcheng's room, growing exceptionally well.

By sunset, the dying sun shone over the Ye Family Shop. Ye Xinghe returned in a rage, his expression incomparably grim! Thank you to the reader ending in 6305 for the 100-coin reward.

I've also set the rules for bonus chapters. This little author is a working man and doesn't have much spare time, but for every 10,000 coins, there will definitely be an extra chapter. A league leader means eleven extra chapters, and so on.