Chapter 135: The Roots Are Buried Deep Underground

Chapter 135: Chapter 135: The Roots Are Buried Deep Underground

The Spiritual Qi Revival awakened the innate talents of all living things, and the resulting chain reaction affected every aspect of the world.

While the minor kingdoms and Cultivation Sects descended into chaos and war, four industries experienced explosive growth.

Auction houses, mercenary organizations, assassin guilds, and the retail industry—so vital to the lives of the common people.

The reason for the auction houses’ success was clear. Many new Sects were being founded, and they all needed foundational treasures, such as Cultivation Techniques, Martial Techniques, Upper Grade weapons, and Elixirs.

After three years of development, Mr. Hong’s Auction House had become the undisputed leader in the Eastern Domain. Whenever an auction was held in any County City, the venue was always packed, and they made a fortune from admission fees alone.

Every item brought out by Mr. Hong’s Auction House sparked ferocious bidding, and nearly every piece sold for far more than its estimated value.

Many Major Sects, royal families, and Noble Families saw the potential for profit and began consigning items to Mr. Hong’s Auction House—things not quite valuable enough to be their own foundational treasures, but desperately needed by Minor Sects and lesser families.

The Head Shopkeeper of Mr. Hong’s Auction House was a master of his craft. He knew that the items allocated from Dingfeng Slope would eventually run out, so he sent people to the Hua Xu Empire and the Western, Northern, and Southern Domains to purchase items useful for Cultivation at high prices.

Only by keeping the market flowing could they ensure long-term success.

Seizing the opportunity presented by the Spiritual Qi Revival, Mr. Hong’s Auction House not only opened branches in every County City and State City in the Eastern Domain but also established several in the Southern, Western, Northern, and Central Four Domains.

The Eastern Domain was in turmoil. Every month saw the establishment of new Sects, but amidst the chaos, many were also merged with, devoured by, or completely annihilated by Major Sects.

Furthermore, the Green Forest of the Eastern Domain teemed with countless bandits, and the dangers for traveling merchants skyrocketed.

This created a massive market for mercenary organizations. Some proactive Minor Sects hired mercenaries to protect them from being annexed or destroyed by Major Sects.

Traveling merchants would pool their resources to hire mercenary groups to escort them through bandit-infested territories.

As a result, the demand for mercenary organizations far outstripped the supply.

Of the dozens of mercenary organizations in the Eastern Domain, two stood head and shoulders above the rest.

One was the Profound Wind Mercenary Corps, and the other was the Yellow Storm Mercenary Corps.

The reason these two corps were so far ahead of the competition was that both of their leaders had Cultivations at the Soul Emergence Realm Peak.

With such a level of Cultivation, they wouldn’t just be leaders of a mercenary corps; they would be considered core figures even within the Six Sects and Eight Gates of the Eastern Domain.

Among the outlaws of the Green Forest, they didn’t even need to fight. Just announcing the names of these two mercenary corps was enough to ensure no one dared to block their path, let alone try to rob them.

Because of this, many other mercenary corps voluntarily merged with them. After three years, each of the two corps boasted over ten thousand Mercenaries.

As for assassin organizations, it goes without saying that where there is conflict, there is conspiracy, and where there is conspiracy, assassins find plenty of work.

In the past three years, the Dark Night Envoy’s fame skyrocketed. In fact, it wasn’t the organization that first gained renown, but one of its assassins: Zhou Yi.

He became famous overnight after assassinating a Divine Separation Realm Tier One Elder from Red Blood Mansion on Three Mountains Island with a single sword strike and escaping completely unscathed. This feat made him the number one assassin on the Eastern Domain’s kill list.

In its two years and five months of existence, the Dark Night Envoy had accepted over three hundred missions without a single failure.

However, they refused even more missions than they accepted. It wasn’t because the targets were impossible to kill, but because the Dark Night Envoy had its own code.

They had six principles of non-assassination: they would not kill non-Cultivators, pregnant women, anyone under sixteen, public servants working for the common good, philanthropists, or individuals of great virtue.

After the Spiritual Qi Revival plunged the Eastern Domain into conflict, everyone from the Sovereigns of kingdoms down to the common people seized any opportunity they could to pursue Cultivation.

As a result, much of the farmland lay fallow, and grain production plummeted. The ensuing shortage created its own massive chain reaction.

The retail industry was hit hard. However, many quick-witted merchants began buying goods at low prices in other regions and transporting them to the Eastern Domain to sell.

One trading company, the Bu Huang Grain Store, thrived on this, accumulating a fortune that could rival a kingdom’s in just three short years.

Besides the Bu Huang Grain Store, another trading company called Da Yu Department Store also grew at an incredible pace.

Because the Eastern Domain had to source many of its goods from other regions, and transporting these goods required carriages and ferries, carriage companies also developed rapidly.

At this very moment, the leaders of these incredibly successful industries were all gathered in the Number Two VIP Residence of Mr. Hong’s Auction House in the Shuoyue Capital City.

Profound Wind Mercenary Corps Leader Liu Yisheng; Yellow Storm Mercenary Corps Leader Qi Biao; Ying Xiao, the assassin known as Zhou Yi of the Dark Night Envoy; Head Shopkeeper Che Dagui, owner of the Spring Flower and Autumn Moon Building, Simurgh Pavilion, Da Yu Trading Company, Da Yu Carriage Company, and Da Yu Department Store; Shopkeeper Ji Bufan of the Bu Huang Grain Store; and Head Shopkeeper Liu Yicai of Mr. Hong’s Auction House were all gathered here.

In addition to these six, Jing’an—husband of the Shuoyue Monarch and Sect Leader of Celestial Heart Hall—and Lan Bing, Sect Leader of the Earth Universe Pavilion, were also present.

If the other Sovereigns or Sect Leaders of the Eastern Domain knew that these eight individuals were all loyal to a single person, they would likely lose a great deal of sleep.

The main reason was that the power these eight had amassed over the past three years was simply staggering.

Even Celestial Heart Hall and Earth Universe Pavilion, after only three short years, had become Second-tier Sects in the Eastern Domain, with each boasting over three thousand disciples.

This was especially true for Celestial Heart Hall. After its Sect Leader married the Shuoyue Monarch, the Sect relocated to the Shuoyue Kingdom. The kingdom issued three edicts that the entire nation followed, leading to a period where both cultural and martial pursuits flourished in tandem.

After Ying Xiao assassinated the monarch of the Xin Yue Kingdom, that nation fell into civil war. The Shuoyue Kingdom seized the opportunity to invade, capturing three County Cities and effectively doubling its territory.

Any talented youth in the Shuoyue Kingdom was given priority to join Celestial Heart Hall. As a result, the Sect had over 6,800 Inner Sect Disciples and more than 20,000 Outer Sect Disciples.

However, while these Outer Sect Disciples were part of Celestial Heart Hall, they also held another status: they were either students at the Shuoyue Kingdom’s Imperial College or serving in its military reserves.

Through these years of development, the Shuoyue Kingdom had become one of the most powerful among the Thirteen Eastern Kingdoms.

"Bufan, is there still no news of the Master and Mistress?" Jing’an asked, his voice tinged with anxiety.

Today was the first day of the tenth month. Two and a half months had passed since the end of the three-year pact they had made in July three years prior. With the Eastern Domain in such a state of chaos, they all needed the Master to tell them what to do next.

Moreover, it was in this very city that the Master and Mistress had vanished overnight in April two years ago, which was why Jing’an was the most anxious of them all.

Ji Bufan shook his head.

Everyone in the Eastern Domain knew of the Bu Huang Grain Store, but no one knew that this trading company was also the largest intelligence network in the region. Furthermore, its intelligence served only one person. But though the organization had grown rapidly since its founding, it had never truly been put to use.

"The Six Sects and Eight Gates of the Eastern Domain will convene the Tengxing Grand Assembly at the Cyan Cloud Sect on the eighth day of the first month of next year," Ji Bufan said, looking at the others. "If I’m not mistaken, Red Blood Mansion will definitely try to cause trouble on that day. It will be the perfect opportunity for the Master to retrieve his senior brother’s remains. If the Master hasn’t appeared by then, we’ll handle it for him!"