The Message That Arrived

For ten days straight,

each day passed like this: practicing swordsmanship, drawing talismans, and cultivating the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique.

Jiang Ding lived in great comfort. He lacked no resources, progressed steadily in his studies, faced no insurmountable problems, and could see his own improvement every day.

Sizzle~

With a stroke of his brush, the densely packed array diagram on the table let out a sound, then began to smoke. Its center turned into charred black carbon.

"The Spirit-Gathering Array truly deserves to be one of the highest-grade first-tier arrays. The Great Sun Spirit-Gathering Array is even harder. Failed again..."

Jiang Ding sighed, set down his talisman brush, and slowly recalled every detail of his previous attempt, committing them to memory.

Fortunately, the talisman brushes, talisman paper, and spirit ink were all specially made by the Immortal Sect for after-class practice. Success would produce a slight reaction, while failure would not bring serious consequences. They were cheap to make and could even be recycled.

Compared to low-level cultivators beyond the realm, who would have to work for nothing for days or even months after a single practice attempt, the gap was at least dozens or hundreds of times greater.

With all kinds of such technologies as a foundation, technical talents of the Immortal Sect—alchemists, array masters, artifact refiners, and the like—became immensely plentiful.

There had also been cultivators from beyond the realm who wished to imitate them.

But they discovered that although such technology appeared inconspicuous and was only used by low-level cultivators, its technical content was extremely high. Only a great sect on the level of the Nine Great Immortal Sects, throwing its full strength into the effort—and perhaps even inviting the sect patriarchs and vast numbers of high-level cultivators to participate—would have a chance of cracking it.

Yes, only a chance. Research was simply like that.

And in that case, who would have the gall to swallow a bear's heart and leopard's guts and actually do it?

An Immortal Order belonged to its mighty elders and patriarchs, not the other way around, where those powerful figures would neglect their own cultivation to serve a minor cultivator like you.

Whoever truly dared such a thing, even the most favored disciple, would be slapped to death.

Practice talisman paper, pills for the educational system, Optical Array Etching Machines, the Young Eagle Takes Flight Sword Art, Spellbreaker Steel... and so on and so forth. They seemed unremarkable, found everywhere in daily life.

Yet which one was not the painstaking work, the heart's blood, of Immortal Sect predecessors over ten thousand years? None were things some genius could create with a slap to the forehead.

They required a vast and complex cultivation industry system, a continuous stream of cultivation talent, and accumulated technology.

Jiang Ding suddenly raised his head and gazed into the distant sky.

At the city gate,

many black-armored soldiers were stunned beyond belief, while crowds of commoners scattered aside, not daring to block the way.

"The Four Seas Chamber of Commerce... has really taken a fall."

"Hiss~ Who could have struck them? That's the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce's 'Heavenly Dragon Spear,' Long Zhengwu, a renowned Internal Qi Perfection expert!"

Amid the many discussions, Long San gritted his teeth and clutched his severed arm, from which blood kept seeping.

The other members of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce were much the same—broken arms and legs, some lying on carriages with only their last breath remaining. They were a miserable sight, and their numbers were less than half of what they had been when they left the city.

Even 'Heavenly Dragon Spear' Long Zhengwu had gone deathly pale and suffered grave injuries.

"This grudge... my Four Seas Chamber of Commerce will not forget it!"

Long San spoke word by word, each syllable brimming with towering hatred.

In this battle, more than half of the elite escort team had been killed or wounded. Most were members of the Dragon clan; many had been his uncles, elders, nephews, and cousins, those who had watched him grow up, his playmates for many years.

One of them had been his eldest son.

Long Zhengwu, his temples faintly white, leaned on his black-gold iron spear and remained silent.

As they passed down the street, many people revealed expressions of schadenfreude.

The Four Seas Chamber of Commerce had grown large by swallowing up the interests of many others.

And while it treated honored guests, people it sought to win over, and powerful factions with exceptional generosity, it was far less kind to those beneath them and to smaller forces. Huang Deyou's friends and people like Xiaocui understood that deeply.

At this moment, it felt as though once the wall fell, everyone pushed it over.

Veins bulged on Long San's forehead. He looked ready to devour someone, frightening the onlookers into scattering, before he calmed down again.

"Great-Uncle, this time I was wrong. I thought we could swallow all the profits." Tears slipped from the corners of his eyes. "After this, I will go to Goldfall Hall of the Lineage and accept punishment!"

"Bastard!"

Long Zhengwu roared, "Why take the blame for this old man? My son was trapped at a bottleneck. I was the one who ordered this!"

They looked at each other and silently lowered their heads in tears.

"Oh my, Long San, how did you get injured?"

A slightly shrill voice came from nearby. "I told you, didn't I? Eastspirit Mountain's waters run deep. You weren't used to walking that road, weren't used to it, but you just wouldn't listen. Well, look at you now."

Long San and Long Zhengwu abruptly raised their heads and stared fixedly ahead.

A tall, burly fat man wearing a robe embroidered with golden toads turned two iron balls the size of ox eyes in his hands. Surrounded by clusters of servants, he drawled, "Poor nephew Long Yuyue. At such a young age, he was already in the Internal Qi Realm. Perhaps even the Innate Realm had been within reach in the future, yet now he died here because of his father."

The moment this man appeared,

the street immediately fell much quieter. A dropped needle could have been heard.

If the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce, though ruthless in its actions, still maintained a trace of a great merchant association's dignity and always had some plausible pretext for what it did, then 'Spring Breeze Hand' was not nearly so particular.

His 'spring breeze' was reserved only for friends in the martial world whom he had use for.

"Ah! And that nephew Long as well—what a pity..."

Ding Feng wore an expression of sorrow for all under heaven, sighing in apparent grief.

What surprised him was that even after he provoked them so openly, the two men opposite him, though their eyes were bloodshot, remained calm. With a few blows, they knocked over several young clan members who had rushed forward.

"Shopkeeper Ding's move was a step superior. This time, my Four Seas Chamber of Commerce has lost."

Long Zhengwu cupped his hands and said with a smile, "No matter. My Four Seas Chamber of Commerce does business throughout the Yue Kingdom. What we lost here can be made up elsewhere. Until we meet again."

With that, he ignored Ding Feng's provocation and led his people away.

Ding Feng's mournful expression faded, and uncertainty flickered across his face.

Not far away, a group of black-clad constables who had arrived at some unknown time saw that there was nothing to do and quietly departed.

Rotten Plank Street, general store.

A young man in green robes came out to meet them from a thousand meters away, standing with one hand on his sword.

An invisible aura spread outward. Passersby automatically moved aside, leaving a large empty circle around him.

"Young Master Jiang."

Long San could no longer suppress his emotions. Great tears rolled down his face. "My Four Seas Chamber of Commerce was incompetent, ignorant of the height of heaven and depth of earth, and overestimated our own capabilities. Please forgive us."

"All the Blueglow Butterflies accumulated over these ten-odd days were lost, seized by the bandits of Tiger Den."

Though he had long expected it, Jiang Ding's brow still twitched, and a trace of killing intent spread from him.

"Shopkeeper Long, this is only a minor matter. Your injuries are more important."

Jiang Ding comforted him and led everyone into the shop.

In the rear courtyard, the three sat facing one another as Jiang Ding gradually learned the details of the matter.

"In the end, I was too greedy and forgot the ancestral teaching of sharing profits with others." Long San said bitterly, "Although we shared out some gold, silver, old medicinal herbs, and aged ginseng, how could those people possibly be satisfied?"

"Everything before this was merely to numb us."

Jiang Ding frowned. "You mean the major forces within the city were involved in this?"

"That must be so."

'Heavenly Dragon Spear' Long Zhengwu sneered. "Though they concealed their faces and altered their appearances, and no one used their signature techniques, where would a tiny Eastspirit Prefecture find three Internal Qi Perfection experts and so many Internal Qi Realm martial artists?"

"Young Master, rest assured." Long San said in a low voice, "Since those people went to such lengths to seize them, they certainly will not let the Blueglow Butterflies suffer any harm. The butterfly gathering in Eastspirit Mountain will not stop either."

"Very soon, someone should come to contact you."

"As for this matter, my Four Seas Chamber of Commerce will stop here."

He gave a cold smile.

"The days ahead are long!"