"Stay here for now," Jing Qian told the three clerks. "I'll go take a look at the situation."
For him, nothing could be more amusing than this.
He wanted to see whether these greedy fools truly believed they could overturn a merchant system that had endured for three thousand years and seize his family's property.
He was very curious: would the entrenched powers behind the licensed guild shops defend their monopoly to the death, or would they be short-sighted enough to cut into his Jing clan's inheritance for a slice of profit?
But before he even stepped out of his family's pier, four imposing figures appeared, approaching together.
At their head was none other than Qian Yuan.
Among the other three, two wore the same sea-green official robes. One bore a striking resemblance to Xu Xi, which allowed Jing Qian to guess at once that they must be Zhou Qu and Xu He, two of the Sea Affairs Office's stewards.
To see all three sea stewards gathered together was already unusual.
The fourth figure, however, was stranger still: a burly monk with a massive frame.
All four of them radiated the power of the Dragon-Elephant Realm, their combined presence pressing down on Jing Qian like a tidal wave.
But Jing Qian showed no trace of panic. His combat experience was far deeper than they imagined, his personal strength no less than that of any ordinary Dragon-Elephant.
Planting his feet in the Subduing Dragon Stance, he casually dispersed their pressure, then offered a courteous bow with clasped hands.
"Greetings, seniors. May I ask what brings the four of you here?"
Qian Yuan's face softened with kindly warmth.
"Xiao Qian, with the Yin Year arriving early, you were stranded at sea. I worried you might not survive the storms. To see you return… your seamanship is remarkable, no less than your ancestors in their prime. Why, when Jing Chuan was at your stage, I doubt he could have handled a ship so gracefully."
"Steward Qian, your praise is too much. If you have business, speak plainly." Jing Qian had no patience for flattery.
Qian Yuan's smile did not waver.
"Of course. Ordinarily, we would not trouble you the moment you've returned. But with the Yin Year's sudden onset, the islands were all caught unprepared. Some of the necessary defenses and arrangements were not completed.
"This here is Master Miaojue of She Dizang Island. He came to Hunzhou Market to trade, but was stranded when the Yin Year struck. He must return to guard his island. The matter is of great importance. But Yin-Year voyages are no ordinary task; only you can manage it.
"We know you deserve rest, so the Sea Affairs Office won't make you work for free. Escort Master Miaojue just this once, and in return, we will grant you five years of exemption from government tasks."
The burly monk then spoke, his deep voice booming:
"Little friend, I beg your aid. If you ferry me across, I will pay five times the standard fare. You will not suffer loss."
Jing Qian cast him a glance. Through World's Insight, he saw the malice pouring off the man; it nearly overflowed the heavens.
So. That was their game.
He had wondered what trick they'd try. In the end, it was still brute force, sending a hired fist to take his life.
This fat monk was clearly their chosen executioner.
A Dragon-Elephant's strength was indeed formidable, more than enough to crush an ordinary Fate-Fixer.
But against him? Far from enough.
Everyone here had gravely underestimated his power, assuming they could toy with him at will. They would be in for quite a surprise.
Jing Qian fixed Qian Yuan with a deep, unwavering gaze, then answered:
"Steward Qian, this matter violates proper rules. Your word alone cannot suffice. I must meet the House Lord himself and hear his instructions directly."
But Qian Yuan was already prepared.
"Lord Zhu has advanced further in his cultivation and is now in closed seclusion," he replied smoothly. "All matters of the Sea Affairs Office are decided jointly by us three stewards."
Zhou Qu stepped in immediately:
"Jing Qian, the decision is made. Bear this burden for us. During the Yin Year, Hunzhou Island follows wartime statutes. This is a military order. It is not up for negotiation!
"And besides, shipping is your Jing clan's duty as a licensed guild. For years, your family shirked this responsibility. Now that you have the ability, you must shoulder it.
"If not, then surrender your guild license!"
Jing Qian curled his lip. Right now, his position was weaker. The rules did protect his safety, keeping these great cultivators from striking at him directly, but at the same time, they also restricted his freedom of action.
In the end, it was just another trip out to sea. Since they'd handed him this "dumb-looking" monk, he'd accept it.
So he said aloud:
"Since the seniors insist, then I'll take the job. But the fare must be paid upfront and only in refined metal-grade treasures."
"Hahaha!"
The fat monk burst into laughter.
"That's easy. On She Dizang Island, our mines are vast. Ninety percent of Hunzhou's white copper comes from us!
"If you wanted silver or coin, I'd have to trouble myself. But metal ingots? I have more than enough.
"I'll give you thirty white-copper ingots for the voyage. And if you deliver me back to She Dizang Island within ten days, I'll add another thirty."
"Very generous, Master. In that case, let's be on our way."
Jing Qian turned back toward the dock.
For now, he had no reason to tear his face off with his superiors in Hunzhou. Better to play along for the moment.
Master Miaojue nodded politely to the three stewards, then strode with a tiger's gait after Jing Qian.
When he reached the pier, he tapped his foot lightly and leapt aboard the Dingyuan.
"Come, boy," he barked. "Don't waste time."
"Master, your fare?"
Miaojue smirked, then pulled out a tidy stack of thirty white-copper ingots from his storage treasure, setting them down in the hold.
A moment later, the little ship slipped free, heading out along the Hun River.
The Dingyuan, barely two hours after returning to port, was already forced back out to sea with one very wealthy fat monk now on deck.
This Master Miaojue was a Dragon-Elephant cultivator from She Dizang Island, overseeing the island's metal mining and trade. His strength might be average, but his purse was overflowing.
He stood on the deck, letting the Hun River's sea breeze brush his face, feeling rather pleased.
Soon, out on the open sea, not only could he slay this little thief who had dared strike the Dragon-Drinking Plate, but he'd also gain three whole floors of the Jing family's skyscraper in compensation.
Thank heavens Steward Qian had approached him with this errand. Otherwise, losing three shiploads of white copper would have been impossible to explain to the monastery.
As Miaojue entertained these smug thoughts, a voice drifted from the helm:
"Master, this treasure ship has a peculiar nature. Once we reach the open sea, I'll need you to suppress your dharmic manifestation a bit. Otherwise, with the wind and waves so fierce, I'll have trouble steering."
"Fine," the monk replied offhandedly.
And with that, he carelessly reduced his White Elephant dharma power to thirty percent.
His mind wandered again. This Jing boy, able to come up with the brilliant idea of the Jing Tower, clearly had a business head. If only he were one of his own disciples, he could have put him to work managing the mines…
But unfortunately, the brat was blind to the bigger picture
That thought never finished.
Miaojue suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his chest. His dharmic manifestation shattered inexplicably, and darkness swallowed his vision.
The great monk collapsed dead on the deck, a gaping wound torn through his back. Within it, his organs and dantian were shredded to pulp.
Jing Qian strolled to the corpse, momentarily speechless.
This Dragon-Elephant monk had come to kill him, yet was so utterly unguarded that a single sword stroke ended him.
Usually, Jing Qian tested his sword against seventh-rank monsters. Against a dharmic form suppressed to thirty percent, even a Dragon-Elephant couldn't withstand his strike once World's Insight had stripped away its defenses.
"Qian Yuan, you fool," Jing Qian muttered. "To send someone even dumber to kill me, hand-delivering treasure into my lap."
He rummaged through the monk's robes and pulled out a string of jet-black prayer beads. The moment he saw them, his fingers trembled and he nearly dropped them.
What?!
This Master Miaojue was family! The best family!
Jing Qian could hardly believe his eyes.
A strand of twelve ebony prayer beads, and every single bead was a ninth-grade storage treasure!
The three-holed Buddha-head at the end was an even rarer eighth-grade storage artifact, worth more than all twelve beads combined.
A single string of beads worth ten thousand gold!
Even Jing Qian's normally steady dao heart flushed hot with greed at the sight.
Little did he know: She Dizang Island was the only one of the fifteen fate-islands rich in mineral resources.
Two ninth-grade white-copper veins, one eighth-grade azure-gold vein, and an annual output worth nearly thirty thousand gold. Its GDP could rival even Hunzhou Island itself.
For trade in precious metals, transport requirements were extremely strict.
The strand of ebony prayer beads in Miaojue's hands had been painstakingly forged at great expense by She Dizang Island, created specifically for transporting refined metals. They were not his personal belongings at all.
If the monks of She Dizang Island were to discover that Jing Qian had killed Miaojue and seized them, even the island's lord or those senior longevity-stage monks would have come hunting for him in person.
But Jing Qian couldn't have cared less. The moment he obtained the beads, he sat down cross-legged and immediately began consuming them.
Since the birth of his Sumeru life pattern, he had never fought a battle this rich.
Its power roared to life, sweeping through the strand of beads.
"Crack!"
"Snap!"
"Boom!"
The sound of beads shattering was like heavenly music in his ears.
Thirteen plumes of dense gray essence surged toward him and were swallowed whole.
Then, within the dimension of the Void Realm, a violent spatial ripple erupted.
Sitting calmly aboard the Dingyuan, Jing Qian could feel it clearly: this was another moment of qualitative transformation on his cultivation path.
He felt himself and the Sumeru life pattern fusing more seamlessly than ever, perfect, without flaw.
The upheaval of the Void Realm lasted for an entire day. When it finally settled and Jing Qian sensed the result, his heart surged with ecstasy.
"From now on, anyone who dares speak ill of Master Miaojue will be my mortal enemy!"
"Master Miaojue will forever be my dearest, most honored number one patron!"
Dropping to one knee, Jing Qian pressed his right hand gently against the deck of the Dingyuan. A second later, both man and ship vanished.
That day, the noble Lord of Sumeru, sovereign of the Void Realm, descended upon the world at the helm of his divine ship.
The thirteen storage treasures had expanded the Void Realm more than twentyfold, forming a space ten zhang long, two zhang wide, and tall.
Within it, the Dingyuan had been moved as a whole.
What had once been a cluttered mess of loot now sat as a modest mound upon the deck.
And in the vast new space, neat stacks of white-copper and azure-gold ingots stretched as far as the eye could see.
Truly, the wealth of Patron Miaojue could stand any test!
If Jing Qian had known She Dizang Island was this rich, he would have visited long ago. There was no need to wait for his "number one patron" to invite him personally.
He strolled among the treasure piles, counting carefully.
In total: one thousand white-copper ingots and one hundred and twenty azure-gold ingots worth over twenty thousand gold.
Including the ebony beads themselves, this was the largest single haul of Jing Qian's life, surpassing even the raid on Xizhi Island.
With such an abundance of refined metals, his Swordfang's advancement to Purple Eye was assured. Even higher realms now lie within reach.
And thanks to the great expansion of the Void Realm, his forging furnace was finally complete.
He walked to the far corner of the Void Realm, where the Tushita Furnace had been relocated during the upheaval.
At last, after being sealed for half a year, the lid had opened. A weak yet vital white flame burned inside.
With World's Insight, information surfaced before his eyes:
Life Furnace: Void Furnace
Rank: White-Flame Furnace
Reliant Treasure: Tushita Furnace
Furnace Spirit: Tsushima
Life Fires: White Fang (1), Blue Blood (3)
His life furnace had truly been forged!
Jing Qian had accomplished a miracle, succeeding at kindling a life furnace while still only in the ninth rank.
What's more, he had fused his own spirit-treasure pattern into the furnace's foundation, with the Sumeru-formed Void Realm in place of a qi-core.
This Void Furnace could never burn out, and it integrated flawlessly into his cultivation system.
Counting it all up: three fate-fires from seventh-rank Flood-Dragon Life Candles, one hundred and twenty-one longevity flames, and two hundred seventy-three yin pearls, even a Spiritual Construct merged in. An unimaginably costly foundation.
But the moment the furnace was complete, its divine power appeared.
At once, he summoned a blue fate-fire from the stockpile he'd stripped from the Flood-Dragon Life Candle. Once gone, it was gone.
The flame coiled once in the air, then dropped onto his body.
Jing Qian had finally reached the moment he dreamed of.
With his life furnace complete and fate-fires at his command, he was free to embark on his Fatebinding journey whenever he wished.
And so, his fifth Fatebinding began with ease.
His fate-energy surged out, merging with the fate-fire, while he casually tossed in three yin bones to fuel the rite.
No one understood Fatebinding better than him.
Once again, his spirit leapt into the mysterious space.
The fifth return felt familiar; he had grown accustomed to the place.
The whispering voices were gone, as if too weary to waste another word on him.
Before him, three golden life patterns appeared.
With World's Insight, their truths flowed into him.
Just as in the fourth forging, from left to right: the Tushita Furnace, Sumeru, and World's Insight.
This time, without hesitation, and with boundless anticipation, Jing Qian cast his spirit into the second Sumeru.
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