Ten shops. At five hundred lower-grade spirit stones each per year, that came to five thousand annually. A ten-year lease meant fifty thousand spirit stones.
It didn't sound like much, but with no profits in sight yet, such a heavy gamble was Liu Hongye mad? Du Huating's eyes were filled with doubt and suspicion. Was this man insane?
"Hahaha, good! In a while, you can head to the Luo River and pick out your shop. I guarantee you'll be satisfied." Song Changsheng agreed readily, not caring what Liu Hongye was thinking.
And truthfully, in his estimation, as long as they managed their businesses properly, losing money was almost impossible. On the contrary, profits were all but guaranteed.
If not for the limits of his clan's strength, he would never have released so many prime-location shops.
Seeing the two men snatch up ten shops between them, Du Huating and Yu Chengshan grew anxious. They quickly claimed the remaining two, whether profit or loss, reasoning that it was better to grab something now, wait any longer, and nothing would remain.
With that, all twelve shops had been split between the two factions.
Song Changsheng's smile widened as he clasped his hands together. "Congratulations, my fellow Daoists. I promise you won't be disappointed."
"Hmph." Yu Chengshan gave a cold snort and turned away. Whatever profits or losses awaited, it would be they footing the bill.
Song Changsheng paid him no mind. Opportunity was there; if you couldn't seize it, you had only yourself to blame.
"You may now head to the Luo River to select your shops. You can move in soon after. For now, there is only a Tier Two high-grade formation protecting the area, but my clan is confident in safeguarding your security."
His tone brimmed with confidence. He wouldn't have dared to make such promises otherwise.
The Luo River market's defenses relied on the Heaven-Net Water-Overturned Formation, personally arranged by him, with the mid-grade spirit artifact Net of Heaven's Restraint and the Tier Two high-grade artifact Seal of Overturned Waters as its cores. It combined offense, defense, and entrapment, and could hold off three to five Foundation Establishment cultivators without issue.
And besides, he had stationed the Black Star Warship there. With a quasi-heavenly warship in play, unless a Purple Mansion expert came in person, the market would be impregnable.
The others remained noncommittal. If security couldn't even be guaranteed, they'd have crushed the Song Clan long ago and taken the market for themselves.
"By the way, Song Daoyou, does your auction accept consignment items?" Du Huating suddenly asked.
Liu Hongye froze, then cursed himself inwardly for not thinking of it first. The Liuyun Sect, descended from northern exiles, still retained some deep-rooted heritage, but spirit stones were scarce.
They'd managed to scrape by, but hiring the Song Clan earlier had nearly emptied their coffers. Selling off sect treasures was inevitable.
And if they had to sell, an auction would yield the best returns.
Thinking of this, he quickly added, "I had the same idea."
The more treasures in the auction, the better it was for the Song Clan. Of course, Song Changsheng wouldn't refuse. He smiled. "Naturally. Any items for consignment can be delivered directly to the auction house. As long as they pass the appraisal, they can be included. We only charge a ten percent commission."
Joy flickered in both men's eyes. They clasped their hands and left eagerly.
"Selling off family assets and still so happy." Song Changsheng shook his head, his face full of mock pity, hating the iron for not becoming steel.
But really, who had forced them into this situation?
Once they were gone, Song Changsheng, in high spirits, strolled toward the clan treasury, humming a tune with his hands behind his back.
For this auction, the Song Clan had brought out a trove of hidden treasures: third-tier spirit herbs, rare ores, and much more.
With the event so close at hand, he naturally had to inspect everything himself, lest something go wrong…
Time passed quickly, and the date of the auction drew ever closer. Keen-eyed observers noticed that Lingzhou was far livelier than usual.
Especially along the Luo River, inns and taverns were packed to overflowing, forcing the Song Clan to hastily expand their facilities so that the cultivators arriving for the auction wouldn't be left sleeping under the open sky.
Song Changsheng had also personally led a large contingent of elite clansmen to sit in town and maintain order.
Though the market was still in its infancy, it already showed impressive scale. Beyond the auction house, dozens of shops were already open for business: restaurants, taverns, inns, weapon forges, pill shops, and more.
The majority of shops bore the Silvermoon insignia, and naturally, these occupied the best locations; they belonged to the Song Clan, the true masters of this place.
Next came the Liuyun Sect, which had seized ten shops in one go. Having chosen first, their locations were second only to the Song Clan's.
The Wang Clan, as allies of the Songs, had been granted five shops.
The Wuling Sect, however, because of Du Huating's hesitation, ended up with only two, and in far less favorable locations.
At first, Du Huating comforted himself: If things don't go well, at least we'll lose the least.
But on the very first day of business, regret hit him hard. The auction's popularity had far exceeded expectations. Three full days before the event even began, more than a thousand cultivators from all walks of life had already gathered in the market.
Compared to the old Liuyun Market, this number still fell short.
But considering Luo River Market was only just beginning, surpassing Liuyun was only a matter of time.
Realizing this, Du Huating grew ever more bitter and could only mutter to himself: This is temporary. Once the sect master breaks through to Purple Mansion, everything will change.
Before, he might have thought the Song Clan could be crushed with a flick of the wrist. Now, he dared not even imagine it.
After all, even if Chang Wudao did reach Purple Mansion, would he be stronger than the Silvermoon Demon Wolf, already amid ancestral regression?
Even great demons had been crushed by the Song Clan. How could Chang Wudao possibly destroy them?
And besides, Song Xianming's closed-door retreat to break through was hardly a secret. Du Huating could only hope that Chang Wudao advanced quickly, before the Song Clan decided to settle accounts with him.
Circumstances were beyond his control, and everything was changing too fast.
Fortunately, he had already reached out to a reliable ally. With that support, perhaps survival was still possible…
...
In the Governor's Mansion, Song Changsheng personally oversaw the situation. He coordinated operations while Xia Yunxue and Song Changan led squads of elite clansmen to patrol the market, preventing petty troublemakers from causing chaos.
Such incidents had already happened. Not long ago, a Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator had ignored the Song Clan's ban on private duels and killed a Qi-Refining cultivator inside the market.
Song Lutong had arrived swiftly and, in full view of the crowd, executed the murderer on the spot. Fear gripped the masses, and in the days since, no one had dared challenge Song Clan authority again.
Even so, vigilance was still necessary. After all, the old Liuyun Market had only been established after surviving bloodshed and storms.
For once, Song Changsheng found a quiet moment. In the courtyard of the Governor's Mansion, he resumed training in the Five Beasts Body-Tempering Art. He had practiced this technique for quite some time now.
So far, the Earth, Fire, and Metal diagrams have all reached the Great Accomplishment stage. His physique was now comparable to a spiritual artifact; ordinary attacks could hardly harm him.
Delighted by this progress, he began to look forward to the day when all five elements were perfected. What kind of body would he then possess?
Yet for all his progress, there was still frustration. He had already acquired the Heart of the Ape, but the Azure Dragon Scales remained elusive.
"I wonder where that Redfire fellow has gotten to and whether he's putting in the effort," Song Changsheng muttered softly.
His words drifted away with the wind, and far off in Qingzhou, a red-haired old man lounging in a brothel, women draped over each arm, suddenly shivered violently. He instinctively tightened his embrace around the soft jade in his arms…
...
At the banks of the Luo River, two travel-worn figures descended outside the market.
The elder of the pair pointed at the massive object hovering above the market with open envy. "That must be the quasi-heavenly warship. I'd wager it's the only one in all the Great Qi cultivation world. I wonder which master crafted it."
"There are fewer than three artificers in the realm capable of building such a thing. With that ship in hand, the Song Clan is assured centuries of prosperity yet." The middle-aged man sighed with deep emotion. Who wouldn't covet such a treasure?
"To bring out such a heavy weapon to guard the auction, clearly the Song Clan attaches great importance to this event."
"The more importance they place on it, the safer and more promising it feels. Many of our peers have already arrived. We mustn't fall behind, Daoist Qi."
"Hahaha, quite so!"
After passing security checks at the entrance, they entered the market, only to find it different from what they had expected.
They had imagined a newly built market would be barren and empty. Instead, though small, it had everything one could want. Shops of every kind bustled with business, and even unaffiliated cultivators had set up street stalls. The place teemed with vitality.
Just then, a streak of fire shot into the sky. Within the blaze, a black-robed figure, his face obscured, rushed straight toward the massive warship above.
"Someone's trying to seize the warship?" The middle-aged man was shocked. Who would dare such madness?
Every gaze in the market fixed upon the figure, some in shock, some in anticipation, some… with restless ambition stirring in their hearts.
"Presumptuous!"
A thunderous roar split the air.
Over the market, a golden net of light manifested from nowhere, blanketing the entire district.
Caught unawares, the fiery figure was hurled back. The flames around him shattered, revealing the true appearance of the black-robed assailant, an old man, his face weathered and withered.
Swish!
At the same time, a vivid green rope shot out from somewhere within the marketplace, coiling straight toward the old man who was tumbling through the air.
Sensing danger, the old man's body suddenly dimmed and then vanished altogether, leaving the rope to snap in space. When he reappeared, he was already a hundred feet away.
"What a brilliant movement technique…" Elder Qi muttered under his breath, awed that he couldn't catch the slightest flaw.
The black-robed elder, however, was deeply shaken. His speed was already astonishing, yet his opponent's response was even faster. With one strike failing, he now had to think about how to escape with his life.
But in the blink of an eye, that green rope materialized above his head.
Alarm surged through him. He tried to use the same trick again, but to his horror, his body refused to move, as though bound by an invisible force holding him in midair.
Struggling desperately, he summoned a golden net identical to the one above the market, wrapping tightly around him in defense.
The old man was no fool; if he dared provoke the tiger, he had his means of survival. With a flick of thought, a ripple of power radiated from the bronze ring on his finger.
The golden net that bound him shattered inch by inch.
But before he could rejoice, the green rope lashed down again, coiling tightly around him. The instant it bound him, he felt an unseen shackle clamp down on his spiritual power.
Worse yet, the rope acted like a greedy serpent, siphoning away his very life force.
With not even a trace of spiritual power left to call upon, he plummeted from the sky.
Below, a squad of black-clad cultivators wearing the Song Clan insignia was already waiting.
The moment he hit the ground, they swarmed him, pinned him down, and forced him to his knees in the direction of the Governor's Mansion.
From the beginning to the end, the battle had lasted no longer than a spark's flash. Many cultivators still hadn't processed what had happened, yet a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator had already fallen.
What shocked the crowd even more was that throughout the fight, no one had even glimpsed who the old man's opponent was. Such methods… even peak Foundation Establishment experts among them doubted they could pull off the same.
The Song Clan law enforcers pressed the old man to the ground and, with a respectful bow, shouted:
"Awaiting judgment from the Young Clan Leader!"
The reply was a single, weightless word:
"Execute."
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
In full view of everyone, the law enforcer raised his sword high. A flash of cold light split the air, blood sprayed across the stones, and the old man's head tumbled from his shoulders.
He had likely never imagined that he would meet his end at the hands of a mere Qi-Refining cultivator.
Such was the fickleness of fate.
"Could that have been the very same Young Clan Leader of the Song Song Changsheng who rose to fame in that battle years ago? In just a few short years, he's grown to this level? Unbelievable…" Elder Qi stared, dumbfounded, watching the corpse being dragged away, as though he were in a dream. How old was that youth, truly?
The middle-aged cultivator beside him nodded, awe in his voice. "Aside from the clan leader himself, the only one in the Song Clan capable of this would be him. His future will be extraordinary."
With thunderous swiftness, Song Changsheng had crushed a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, sending shockwaves through the entire marketplace. Those who had harbored hidden schemes felt their very souls tremble and hurriedly buried their thoughts deep.
Inside the Governor's Mansion, Song Changsheng, who had just ordered the execution, studied the storage pouch and ring his enforcers had delivered. Curiosity lit his eyes.
Earlier, the intruder had been trapped by the clan's great formation, the Heaven-Net Array. Yet, at the final moment, a mysterious force had broken the confinement. Where had that power come from?
His gaze fell upon the bronze ring. Picking it up, he found it to be a mid-grade spiritual artifact, forged from the rare Heaven-Star Copper.
For a rogue cultivator to possess such a treasure meant he had not been an ordinary figure. His identity would be easy to trace, but Song Changsheng had little interest in that.
What intrigued him far more was how the ring had managed to shatter the bindings of the Heaven-Net?
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