Chapter 631 (1): The Light Breeze and the Shimmering Moonlight

In the past, there was only one gate on Stalactite Mountain that led to the Sword Qi Great Wall. Since then, a new, larger gate had been opened, and as a result, the old gate sat relatively abandoned compared with its heyday.

The little Daoist priest was still sitting and reading as he usually did. This time, he was doing some light reading in the form of a book written by a disillusioned scholar. He casually grabbed a handful of moonlight, then kept it beside himself and the book, using its radiance to illuminate the pages.

Last time, he had been thrown for a complete loop by Cui Dongshan, who had managed to convince him that a completely innocent and vanilla romance story was a raunchy tale of scandalous taboos.

He was so disgusted by that experience that he had struggled to mentally recover for quite a few days, unable to work up any interest in any book during that time. Thus, he had no choice but to abandon that hobby, one of very few that he had, and he could only sit in a daze, staring off into space all day.

However, after refraining from reading for about a month, he was feeling incredibly bored, and after picking up the hobby again, he completely indulged himself by fetching a large stack of books and reading through them day and night in a near-obsessive fashion.

Even though he was an immortal with an eidetic memory, he read very slowly and meticulously, often rereading certain parts that caught his interest.

The other gatekeeper, the sword-hugging middle-aged man, snuck over to the little Daoist priest. However, it then occurred to him that this counted as malfeasance, so he rushed back to his post and set his longsword down on top of the pillar, then returned to the little Daoist priest's side with a flagon of wine to read the same book that he was reading.

The sword-hugging man reeked of alcohol, and the little Daoist priest turned away slightly in disdain, but the sword-hugging man quickly followed, leaving the little Daoist priest to heave a resigned sigh. He knew the kinds of lengths that a bored swordsman would be willing to go to in order to assuage their boredom, so he could only let his neighbor be.

The man pointed at a certain passage of the book and began offering his commentary. The little Daoist priest was already accustomed to his constant droning, so he ignored the man and flipped the page.

The man didn't mind, continuing to offer his insights on the previous passage even though the page had already been turned.

After reading through the entire book, the man sighed in a disappointed manner. "That was way too boring! There weren't any raunchy scenes at all!"

The little Daoist priest set down the book in his hand and picked up another one, this one a riveting wuxia story that instantly had the man hooked.

At a particularly exciting part of the story, he began taking swigs of wine while staring intently at the pages, latching onto every word as he mused, "As expected of the protagonist chosen by the heavens! The cultivation arts that he can master in just a single night are too complex for other martial arts prodigies to master even in an entire lifetime! Man, I really envy him. It's a real shame that the mantra for the cultivation art isn't fully laid out in the story. Otherwise, I could give it a try as well..."

"You see that? It's exactly as I predicted! The unkempt, deranged-looking old men in these stories always turn out to actually be unfathomable masters! I knew he would take a liking to the protagonist! The old geezer sacrificed sixty years' worth of cultivation base to open up his conception and governor vessels and completely cleanse his body of all impurities. Once he returns to the martial arts world, he'll be completely invincible!"

"I wouldn't say he's invincible just yet," the little Daoist priest disagreed, seeing as they were only halfway through the book. "Even though he's just received sixty years’ worth of internal energy, he's only been cultivating for twenty years himself, so that only amounts to eighty years' worth of internal energy in total.

“It's already been mentioned that the scourge who's wreaking havoc in the martial arts world has over a hundred years of internal energy under his belt, so the protagonist is still no match for him for now."

The man stroked his chin and nodded in agreement as he mused, "He's still missing a good weapon, but that's probably not going to come anytime soon, given that we're only halfway through the story."

"There's no hurry," the little Daoist priest said as he flipped over the page. "If everything comes to him too quickly and easily, the payoff won't be as satisfying."

The author of this book was only using his writing talents to pay the bills, and he would most likely never imagine that his work would be read by a pair of unfathomable immortals even mightier than those in his story.

One of them was a sword immortal of the Sword Qi Great Wall, someone who had taken part in the thirteen battles against the demon tribe. He had befriended countless heroic figures and even had a female sword immortal for a soul mate.

However, even someone of his lofty status paled in comparison with the little Daoist priest, who had left the Heavenly World to come to the Sword Qi Great Wall to hone his Dao Heart.

The sword-hugging man was a prisoner among prisoners, forced to remain here as gatekeeper year after year.

All of a sudden, the little Daoist priest closed the book, and the sword-hugging man was immediately up in arms. "What're you doing?"

"This is a nice book, so I'm going to pace myself and not read it all at once," the little Daoist priest explained.

The sword-hugging man groaned in dismay as he lay down on his back, then casually asked, "What kind of place is the Heavenly World?"

"It's a place with many customs and rules, quite similar to the Majestic World," the little Daoist priest replied just as casually.

"Has the Daoist second disciple still not found the five hundred Daoist enforcers?" the man asked.

The little Daoist priest didn't feel like this was a secret that had to be closely guarded, so he replied, "He's probably still quite a long way off. It's not an easy task."

"It sounds like everyone's really busy," the man mused as he rested the back of his head down onto his folded hands as a makeshift pillow.

"You and I are the only ones who aren't busy," the little Daoist priest remarked with a smile.

There was a popular saying on the Sword Qi Great Wall that had been left behind by A'Liang, proclaiming that those who didn't cultivate through the night would never attain the Great Dao. As for how one was to cultivate through the night, working hard on Qi refinement and sword refinement was the worst way to go about it. The slightly better way to do it was to drink.

Even if one drank until their coffers were empty, and they no longer had money for wine, they could collect moonlight in their cup free of charge, so their cup would never run empty. As for the best way to cultivate through the night, all of the men on the Sword Qi Great Wall knew how, but they would merely respond with a sly grin when asked.

"I disagree," the man said as he looked up at the bright moon in the night sky. "We're working day and night here, are we not?"

The little Daoist priest turned to the man with a puzzled expression, then asked, "You do know you can easily find yourself something to do, right? Given how dire the situation is on the Sword Qi Great Wall, if you insist on returning to battle, I'm sure Chen Qingdu isn't going to stop you."

"I'm tired," the man replied, then closed his eyes to rest.

"With that mentality, I doubt you're ever going to make any further progress in your cultivation," the little Daoist priest chuckled.

"If that's the case, then so be it," Zhang Lu casually replied.

The little Daoist priest reached out to scatter the handful of moonlight that he had been using as a lamp, then looked up into the sky and mused, "Only those in a state of serenity can see the world for what it truly is."

"Did your master teach you that?"

"No, I read it from some random book."

"I've been thinking about something, Jiang Yunsheng. There are many stories told of heroic figures who rise up to fight in the face of injustice, throwing caution to the wind and disregarding even their own survival. Do you think that's a good thing?"

"I don't know, and I can't be bothered to think about it."

"All unions are eventually going to end in separation. I'm going to miss you when you're gone. If I get the chance, I'll go visit you in your hometown."

"Why're you getting all sappy on me all of a sudden? How do you not feel embarrassed as a grown man saying something like that to another grown man?"

"You're a grown man? But you look like a child. Surely you can't be that old."

"Are you asking for a beating, Zhang Lu?!"

The man turned over and promptly fell asleep.

On any of the Majestic World's nine continents, there was no way that a sword immortal of this caliber would've been reduced to such a pitiful position.

The little Daoist priest continued reading, feeling a little sorry for Sword Immortal Shao Yunyan.

***

Doing business and earning money was an all-day affair that didn't stop for day or night.

All immortal coins were said to be formed by the purest spiritual energy under the heavens, but was there actually even a single clean immortal coin under the heavens? That was difficult to say.

A giant ship unloaded its cargo in exchange for a bunch of resources from the Sword Qi Great Wall's alchemical pill market, then promptly departed from Stalactite Mountain.

This particular intercontinental ship belonged to the Mountain and Water Cave, a prominent sect of the Circling Ascension Continent, and it had a rather unimpressive name of Clay Pot.

It was said that the founding father of the Mountain and Water Cave came from very humble beginnings, but after climbing up the social ladder, he spent his entire life distancing himself from those humble beginnings, basking in luxury and excess. It was only in the naming of the intercontinental ship that had earned him so much of his wealth that he displayed his original roots.

A Nascent Tier administrator was standing on the ship's top-floor observation deck, doing some mental calculations. According to his calculations, they would be able to make at least seventy grain rain coins from this trip to Stalactite Mountain.

At the moment, several of the most powerful mortal empires of the Circling Ascension Continent were at war with one another, and if they could take full advantage of the chaos and find the right buyers, then that sum could even be doubled.

Things weren't peaceful in the cultivation world, either. Out of the priceless treasures that were born from the will of the world, as many as three of them were pseudo-celestial tools, and countless cultivators had been fighting over them.

At this point, many earth immortals had already perished in the bloodbath, and there were even quite a few immortals of the Upper Five Tiers who were gradually beginning to rise to the surface. If it weren't for their fear of repercussions from the Confucian academy, they would've already gotten personally involved, rather than settling for pulling strings behind the scenes.

For powerful business sects like the Mountain and Water Cave, all of the conflicts taking place in the mortal world and the cultivation world were fantastic news.

The Jade Forest Sect's immense wealth came from the fact that the Northern Complete Reed Continent was rife with swordsmen. As a result, the rate of sect turnover in the cultivation world was extremely high, and all of that unrest presented opportunities for money to be made.

As for the Liu Clan of the Pure White Continent, they were a rather unique case. They could do deals with anyone, and many of the transactions that they dealt with went beyond the scope of money. Instead, they often paid money and received compensation in the form of things that money couldn't buy.

What was most remarkable of all about the Liu Clan was that one of its primary business doctrines was to ensure that everyone they were doing business with could make money, and what was even more remarkable was that they had truly managed to accomplish this. Over time, this had become one of the clan's foundational rules, one that was passed down from generation to generation.

The old Nascent Tier cultivator had reaped some fine spoils on this trip to Stalactite Mountain. With the approval of the patriarch of the Mountain and Water Cave, he had met up with quite a few fellow businessmen from the Circling Ascension Continent and Golden Armor Continent in one of the finest rooms in the Ganoderma Inn to discuss a collaborative money-making endeavor.

In total, they would have eight intercontinental ships at their disposal, and if they could work together as a united front, then the Yan Clan and the Nalan Clan of the Sword Qi Great Wall wouldn't have the option of getting better prices elsewhere.

They agreed to meet up at an intermediary ferry station that wasn't far away from Stalactite Mountain, where they would distribute all their goods among one another, with each ship solely focusing on selling just a few types of goods. From there, they would make their way to Stalactite Mountain to barter with the Sword Qi Great Wall.

That was only the first order of business, and it was met with almost no objections. Everything had gone so smoothly because the Mountain and Water Cave insisted on making it work, and they promised that if everyone earned money from this arrangement, then it would be confirmed as a feasible option going forward, and they would continue to collaborate in this fashion in the future.

However, if anyone made any losses from this arrangement, then the Mountain and Water Cave would cover their losses.

The second order of business pertained to the huge amount of supplies that the Sword Qi Great Wall required to support its war efforts against the Savage World. In light of this increased demand, the Mountain and Water Cave proposed that everyone pool together their resources to construct a few new intercontinental ships. They also paid for the patriarchs of the other sects to help establish one or two new smoother trade routes and kill off all of the roadblocks on the route.

On top of that, those patriarchs were to preside over the ships to ensure that the journeys went smoothly. In the past, there wasn't enough money on offer, but things were different now. Even if the patriarchs themselves weren't swayed by the compensation being offered, all of them had sects, direct disciples, and relatives, and with some convincing from the respective sect leaders, they all agreed to play a part.

The third thing was a little troublesome. Both Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan had gone to the top of the city walls, and they had temporarily left their juniors to attend to their clans' affairs. Those juniors were nowhere near as shrewd and capable as Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan, but they were a huge pain to deal with because they refused to negotiate at all on price, and they stuck to the rules without any room for compromise.

If an agreement couldn't be reached, then they would simply bide their time and wait. Everyone knew that the Sword Qi Great Wall couldn't afford to wait for long, and that they would inevitably be the first to fold, but each additional day that the intercontinental ships stayed on Stalactite Mountain was very costly, so the Mountain and Water Cave and the other intercontinental ships were all eager to break the stalemate.

There had been past instances in which the intercontinental ships had gone a little overboard with their bartering during times of war on the Sword Qi Great Wall, and as a result, they had been told by the Nalan Clan to either lower their prices or piss off.

The pressure had been mounting with each passing day, and right as the administrators on the intercontinental ships were planning to make a compromise, things suddenly took an unexpected turn. A relatively unknown young man on the Circling Ascension Continent's intercontinental ship was somehow able to convince the administrators on all of the ships to maintain a unified front, even if it meant risking going back empty-handed.

All of the intercontinental ships left Stalactite Mountain overnight to dock at the Rain Dragon Sect's subsidiary islands, and they told the Sword Qi Great Wall that they were simply going to give up on this money-making opportunity.

The young man was ultimately able to help all of the intercontinental ships make huge profits, and as it turned out, he was none other than the founding father of the Mountain and Water Cave.

At the time, he had only been a Sea Observation Tier cultivator, yet even back then, he was able to convince all of the sly old foxes on the intercontinental ships to go along with his plan. No more than thirty years after that, he had founded his own sect and had his own intercontinental ships.

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