Lower River Market

Lower River Market, was situated beside an utterly unremarkable riverbank in the middle and lower reaches of the Silver Sand River.

He Sheng rode the Subtle Ripple Water Escape all the way to several dozen li from Lower River Market before finally halting his escape light. He took a jade-green spirit boat from Wu Feng's storage pouch and continued onward on the artifact.

Before long, Lower River Market came into distant view.

Viewed from above, the market looked like a large fair set up beside a riverbank.

The entire market had only two streets, and its shops were scattered sparsely about. There was not even a single landmark building.

"Lower River Market was built atop a damaged first-rank spirit vein. Its primary clientele are Qi Refinement cultivators from the Silver Sand River region."

He Sheng searched through Brother Piao's memories for information regarding Lower River Market.

Though Lower River Market did not look like much on the surface, it might be small, but it had all the vital organs of a sparrow. Pills, magical artifacts, talismans, spirit materials—shops within the market sold them all.

"However... this tiny market is like a cake carved up clean by several great families. Every inch of resources is clenched tightly in their hands."

Take the pill trade, for instance. It was completely monopolized by the Falling Cloud Mountain Zhou Family. In all of Lower River Market, only the Zhou Family's Harmonizing Qi Hall could sell pills.

Meanwhile, the flow of all spirit materials in and out of the market was controlled by the Golden Inscription Valley Sheng Family's Ten Thousand Spirits Studio.

The Sheng Family handled the purchase and export of all spirit materials. Whether it was spirit herbs you dug up or spirit materials you happened upon by chance, in Lower River Market, you could only sell them to the Sheng Family.

The Linked Moon Lake Liu Family, meanwhile, held exclusive control over all talisman business and had intermarried with the Sheng Family for generations. For materials that could be tanned into talisman paper, such as demon beast hides and spirit tree bark, the Sheng Family would supply them exclusively to the Liu Family.

Beyond that, most spirit materials around the Silver Sand River that could be used to prepare talisman ink were also absorbed by the Liu Family.

Then there was the Zhangming Island Wen Family. Since they neighbored the Astral Silver Sand Mine in the lower reaches of the Silver Sand River, they naturally controlled the mine's operations. If Qi Refinement Rogue Cultivators wished to work within it, they had to obtain the Wen Family's consent.

However, the Astral Silver Sand Mine did not belong solely to the Wen Family. It was the shared property of the five Foundation Establishment families of the Silver Sand River, merely managed by the Wen Family on their behalf. The yearly proceeds had always been divided among all the families.

Of course, apart from the Zhou, Sheng, Liu, and Wen Families, the greatest magnate of Lower River Market was naturally the He Family of Long Sun Mountain!

The He Family monopolized two lines of business.

The first was spirit rice. Every spirit rice transaction in all of Lower River Market had to pass through the He Family's Green Sprout Hall.

The second was the cooked medicine trade, the foundational industry upon which the He Family had built itself in its early days.

The He Family had risen to prominence in Hundred Herbs Valley, inheriting the preparation methods for several types of "cooked medicine."

So-called cooked medicine was spirit medicine specially processed without altering its medicinal properties. Through particular methods, its medicinal spirituality was enhanced, its storage life extended, and the loss of its medicinal potency slowed.

Naturally, corresponding to "cooked medicine" was untreated spirit medicine, which the He Family called "raw medicine."

Compared to raw medicine, cooked medicine held advantages in every respect. When used to refine pills, it was more likely to produce superior-grade pills, and it had always been more favored by alchemists.

Thanks to its inherited core techniques, the He Family had effortlessly monopolized the cooked medicine trade.

After Brother Piao became the market master of Lower River Market, he took the opportunity to seize control over the circulation of spirit medicines in more than half the market as well.

Though the Sheng Family felt that the He Family had reached too far across the line and ruined the tacit understanding of dividing up the cake among themselves, they had endured in silence over the years due to Brother Piao's overwhelming strength.

Beyond monopolizing those two businesses, the He Family also had Brother Piao, as the market master of Lower River Market, take a cut from businesses large and small—a practice commonly known as "market gold."

The five Foundation Establishment families were like five pillars. While they held up Lower River Market, they had also carved up every last scrap of profit on the table.

Even the Lower River Branch of the Celestial Sea Commerce Association had only been able to establish itself in Lower River Market after reaching prior agreements with the five Foundation Establishment families.

First, it could only conduct magical artifact business and could not involve itself in anything else, lest it disrupt the market.

Second, it had to pay its full share of "market gold" every year.

With Brother Piao's memories, He Sheng sorted out the structure of Lower River Market and the division of benefits among its various powers. He could not help but sigh.

"Truly, the smaller the place, the denser the web it weaves."

In the blink of an eye, He Sheng rode his artifact to the front of the market, only to find that Lower River Market did have a protective formation. A layer of azure light flickered in and out of sight.

He Sheng put away his artifact and landed at the market entrance. The instant his toes touched the ground, he heard a burst of clamor.

Following the sound, he saw a tea stall set up by the roadside.

The stall usually had no more than three to five people.

Yet today, it was exceptionally lively. Twenty or thirty low-level Qi Refinement cultivators had gathered inside and outside the stall.

Spittle flew as they heatedly discussed the foremost piece of news spreading through Lower River Market—

He Sheng, the number one cultivator of Silver Sand, was dead!

"Dead! He's definitely dead!"

A mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator missing his front teeth gulped down a mouthful of spirit tea. Spittle sprayed everywhere as he said, "My cousin's third brother-in-law married into He Family Bay, and yesterday he personally heard seven bell chimes ring out from Long Sun Mountain. That means something major happened to the He Family. They must have learned that Great Cultivator He has died!"

"Bullshit!" An old man with one eye beside him snorted disdainfully. "Great Cultivator He is the number one cultivator of our Silver Sand River! At the peak of Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, even a False Core True Person would have to put in some effort to deal with him.

"I say it's just a rumor. Eight out of ten, someone is stirring up trouble!"

"Fake news? Then what was that about the Black Mountain Group coming to their door?" someone else said in a lowered voice. "I heard that those robbery cultivators from the Black Mountain Group east of the river went there flying the banner of the Golden Cloud Sect."

If they hadn't gotten reliable word, would those wind-shifting robbery cultivators dare lay a hand on Long Sun Mountain? Were they tired of living?"

In a corner of the tea stall, a gaunt old man carrying a medicine basket on his back spoke unhurriedly:

"You all know only one side of it, not the other.

The He Family may not necessarily be finished. Most of those robbery cultivators in the Black Mountain Group are just protruding rafters. You should know the He Family has more than one Foundation Establishment cultivator. Their ancestor's spirit pet is the Star-Backed Black Turtle of Heaven Capital Mountain!

That is a second-rank great demon, an old monster that has lived for several centuries.

Back then, the He Family ancestor showed it kindness. If that Old Turtle went mad protecting the He Family, which of the other Foundation Establishment families would dare to be the first to step forward?"

As soon as those words fell, everyone fell silent, exchanging looks.

"If you ask me, the He Family has committed far too many sins—they deserve this!" the gap-toothed cultivator from earlier shouted again. "These past few years, those He Family playboys have relied on the prestige of that great He cultivator. Mere mortals dared to lord it over us cultivators and throw their weight around. Truly hateful!"

"Exactly, exactly..."

A chorus of agreement immediately rose up.

He Sheng stood outside the crowd, listening to their discussions. His face showed no expression, but his heart was clear as a mirror.

He could sense that among these low-level Qi Refinement cultivators, quite a few had clearly begun entertaining the idea of heading to Long Sun Mountain to fish in troubled waters.

After all, the He Family had amassed far too substantial a fortune over the years. With a great mansion on the verge of collapse, it was bound to be a case of everyone pushing when the wall fell. These Rogue Cultivators were hoping to at least sip some broth.

But the He Family was the He Family—what did it have to do with him, He?

He Sheng had not developed any feelings for the He Family just because he had taken over Brother Piao's identity. To him, everyone in the He Family was a stranger.

And after making a round through the He Family estate, he felt even more strongly that it was a complete mess. He had absolutely no desire to take it over.

Only He Ziyang struck him as agreeable, and he was willing to look after him a little.

He casually took out two taels of spirit sand from his storage pouch. This spirit sand was simply fragmented spirit stones; ten taels of spirit sand equaled one spirit stone.

"Take it."

He Sheng tossed the spirit sand to the captain of the inspection team, who had been guarding the market entrance and hurried over with a fawning expression.

The inspection team had been jointly established by the five great Foundation Establishment families, and its captaincy rotated among them. Besides maintaining the market's normal order, their duty was to stand at the entrance and collect the head fee.

Simply put, every entry into Lower River Market required a head fee of two taels of spirit sand. This was also one source of the market's income.

"Ah! Ah! Master Wu, please! Please, go right in!"

The inspection captain was a collateral disciple of the Zhou Family in the middle stage of Qi Refinement. He was fairly worldly-wise and exceptionally polite toward a Foundation Establishment big shot like "Wu Feng."

He Sheng paid him no further mind, passing straight through the crowd and heading toward Upper River Street.