Chapter 631 (2): The Light Breeze and the Shimmering Moonlight

After the event, the Nalan Clan had tried to target the two intercontinental ships from the Mountain and Water Cave in retaliation, but the Mountain and Water Cave was able to easily deal with those attempts at retaliation. Over time, the Nalan Clan had no choice but to swallow the bitter pill and continue doing business as usual.

Then came the rise of the Yan Clan, and the clan leader, Yan Ming, was easier to work with, certainly not as bullheaded and unyielding as the Nalan Clan when it came to doing business. Many swordsmen had fiery tempers, yet compared with them, Yan Ming was more like a true businessman.

He performed his duties with diligence, doing his best to secure the best deals for the Sword Qi Great Wall while also trying to provide money-making opportunities for all of the intercontinental ships as well. Clearly, he was a big believer in facilitating a mutually beneficial relationship.

After Nalan Caihuan took over the Nalan Clan's business affairs, she had also developed a decent relationship with the people on the intercontinental ships. As for Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan, the two of them didn't really see eye to eye, but they weren't constantly at each other's throats, either.

For the most part, they tried to stay out of each other's way, but in private, there would occasionally be some conflicts of interest between the two.

A direct disciple of the Nascent Tier administrator arrived on the observation deck, seemingly to report something, but he appeared rather hesitant.

"If you have something to say, then go ahead and say it," the old Nascent Tier cultivator prompted with a smile.

"Master, in the past, we've always allowed the Sword Qi Great Wall to purchase goods from us on credit, and they would always repay us in both principle and interest once their battles against the Savage World are over, and the amount of interest they have to pay depends on how long payment has been delayed by, so why is it that this time, our patriarch wants us to join forces with everyone else to refuse the Sword Qi Great Wall the option of buying on credit?" the young man asked.

"The Sword Qi Great Wall is currently keeping a very tight lid on things. No one is permitted to approach the city walls, even a regular visitor like me," the old man said. "In the past, I've always been able to find a place to stay in a sword immortal's residence for a few days, but this time, I wasn't even granted entry into the city. In the end, I had to discuss business with the people from those two clans in a residence between the city and the Mirage Market.

“However, the more secretive they are, the more telling it actually is. Clearly, the Savage World is launching a very fierce assault right now, and it's going to be an almighty struggle to keep them at bay. How much wealth do you think the Yan Clan and the Nalan Clan possess?"

"It must be a lot," the young man replied. "Both Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan are very shrewd and capable when it comes to doing business, so I'm sure they've accumulated a great deal of wealth for both their own clans and for the Sword Qi Great Wall."

The old man nodded with a smile and said, "The more wealth they possess, the more we stand to gain. Not only do we have to take everything from the Yan Clan and the Nalan Clan, but we also have to do the same to the alchemical pill market as well.

“As for the rule against purchases on credit that we're going to impose, that's something that we're naturally going to be taken seriously, but at the same time, it can be something that's also not taken seriously. If Yan Ming and Nalan Caihuan want us to not take the rule seriously, then they'll have to show us some sincerity."

"Is it really a good idea to be pushing them like this? I heard that all sword immortals have rather foul tempers," the young man said in an uneasy voice.

"So what?" the old man sneered. "The patriarch of the Nalan Clan, Nalan Shaowei, is one of the ten most powerful sword immortals of the Sword Qi Great Wall. On our Circling Ascension Continent, no one would dare to even breathe in his direction! His temper is extremely foul, but what can he do to us?

“Sure, he can kill all of us with ease, but would he dare to do that? At the end of the day, money is the most powerful thing under the heavens, superior to even the hardest of fists and the sharpest of swords."

What the young man truly wanted to ask was why they couldn't just earn a little less? Instead, why did they have to try and extort the Sword Qi Great Wall for everything they had every single time?

The old man seemed to have read his thoughts, and he chuckled. "Your cultivation aptitude is decent, but your incompetence when it comes to doing business is astounding! If you can earn more money, then why settle for less? How is someone who is always willing to settle for less ever going to make any big money? With that kind of mindset, you're never going to become someone like our patriarch.

“For now, just mind your business and focus on yourself. Only when you become a more important figure in the Mountain and Water Cave than me will you have the right to talk about earning less money, but I'm absolutely certain that if you really can reach such heights someday, then you'll be even more eager to earn money than me. When you look back on your current mindset, you're going to find yourself completely laughable!"

***

On this day, the youngest Golden Core Tier earth immortal in the history of the Rain Dragon Sect, Fu Ke, left the ancestral mountain on the island where the Rain Dragon Sect was situated and traveled to a subsidiary island to meet a friend.

The Rain Dragon Sect didn't have an intercontinental ship because it didn't need one. The sect had over twenty subsidiary islands, all of which had docks, and in total, there were tens of thousands of people, consisting of disciples and servants of the sects under the Rain Dragon Sect.

The vast majority of the intercontinental ships from the Northern Complete Reed Continent, as well as some from the Southern Whirl Continent, had to stop here mid-journey.

Fu Ke was traveling alone on a talismanic boat, and his destination was Green Jade Island, an island home to some extremely precious immortal trees that had a jade-like material, which many of the intercontinental ships that docked at the island purchased at high prices.

The intercontinental ships had all made massive profits on Stalactite Mountain, so they could afford to make these purchases, and they would be able to sell the material for additional profits once they returned home anyway.

Green Jade Island was situated to the northeast of the Rain Dragon Sect, so in the past, the inhabitants of the island would often be able to see the old rainbringer dragons traversing back and forth between the Flood Dragon Trench and the Southern Whirl Continent. If they were lucky, they would even spot some exhausted dragons plunging into the sea.

Due to its close proximity to the Flood Dragon Trench, the Rain Dragon Sect had always treated these rainbringer dragons with kindness and benevolence. If they encountered any exhausted flood dragons that floated up to the surface of the sea, unable to return to their lairs, then they would even send powerful cultivators to help manipulate the current to carry the flood dragons to the Flood Dragon Trench.

However, this had become a very rare occurrence in recent years because an extremely mighty sword immortal with a terrible temper had laid waste to the majority of the Flood Dragon Trench, seemingly just to enhance his own reputation.

He was collectively denounced by the old people on Green Jade Island as a sword immortal who possessed immense power, but none of the morality and sense of responsibility to match. Fu Ke actually knew enough about this incident to speak out against the criticisms aimed at the sword immortal, but he saw no reason to do so.

Fu Ke's talismanic boat didn't land directly outside his friend's private residence. Instead, he followed the rules and docked his talismanic boat on the shore at the entrance of the island, then proceeded from there on foot.

Along the way, he extended greetings to some of the people that he encountered, and everyone who was able to speak to him, even if it was just to exchange some meaningless small talk, felt extremely honored.

Fu Ke's friend was a cultivator of the Lower Five Tiers by the name of Yu Fujing, and he was a complete nobody on the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. The two of them had been friends for a very long time, and originally, they had come from similar backgrounds with similar cultivation bases.

However, their paths in life completely diverged when Fu Ke, a man who was completely down on his luck at the time, decided to go and see Stalactite Mountain just to tick it off his bucket list. Ultimately, he didn't reach his destination, but he encountered a massive fated opportunity along the way in the Rain Dragon Sect. It had truly been a life-changing turn of events, and he was certainly no longer down on his luck.

News of Fu Ke's meteoric rise quickly spread to the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent thanks to word of mouth from the passengers traveling aboard the Osmanthus Island intercontinental ship, and Fu Ke instantly became an admired figure among vagrant cultivators and someone to be envied even by official immortals.

After hearing the news, Yu Fujing decided to come and try his luck. Initially, he was only hoping that Fu Ke would spare him some money for old time's sake. If he could get even just a few lesser heat coins out of Fu Ke, then he would've been completely satisfied. However, to his surprise, Fu Ke had proven himself to be a truly good friend, inviting Yu Fujing to meet him in the Rain Dragon Sect.

At the time, Yu Fujing had been so timid and tentative that he didn't even dare to set foot on the island. Instead, he merely stated his name and declared that he was an acquaintance of Fu Ke's, too ashamed to even claim to be Fu Ke's friend.

Fu Ke immediately left the Rain Dragon Sect to meet his good friend, but the rules of the sect prevented him from bringing Yu Fujing onto the island, so he arranged for Yu Fujing to stay on the nearby Green Jade Island. He told Yu Fujing that he could stay on the island for as long as he liked, and that he didn't have to be in a hurry to return to the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

After Fu Ke's departure, Yu Fujing felt very grateful, but also a little disappointed, because Fu Ke hadn't told him anything. To his surprise, just a day later, the disciplinary elder of the Green Jade Island's ancestral hall paid him a personal visit, asking him if he would be willing to become an internal sect disciple of Green Jade Island. An internal sect disciple of the island was inferior in status to a direct disciple of the ancestral hall, but Yu Fujing was still so grateful for the offer that he almost burst into tears.

Even though Green Jade Island was only a subsidiary island to the Rain Dragon Sect, it had a Nascent Tier earth immortal at the helm! Back home on the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, Yu Fujing wouldn't even have dared to imagine that he would someday become an internal sect disciple of an immortal power with a Nascent Tier patriarch.

The disciplinary elder was a Golden Core Tier earth immortal, and never in Yu Fujing's wildest dreams would he have imagined that a vagrant Lower Five Tiers cultivator like himself would be spoken to so amicably by a Golden Core Tier earth immortal.

After that, Yu Fujing began cultivating on Green Jade Island as an official immortal. He was given far superior cultivation arts compared with what he had been using in the past, but his cultivation aptitude was very mediocre, so progress came very slowly.

Even the Abode Tier, which was regarded as an easily reachable target for the vast majority of cultivators on Green Jade Island, was likely a mark that he would never be able to reach. However, that didn't seem to matter, and the cultivators of the ancestral hall still treated him with a great deal of respect.

On this occasion, Fu Ke had arrived on Green Jade Island to visit Yu Fujing, and after hearing the news, Yu Fujing immediately charged out of his room.

It wasn't like there was much point in cultivation for him. Unless he was blessed with additional fated opportunities, or someone was willing to invest huge sums of immortal coins into his cultivation, he was never going to be able to make anything out of himself anyway.

Upon reaching the entrance, Yu Fujing suddenly stopped in his tracks, and only after stalling for quite some time did he finally open the door. After a brief wait, he spotted Fu Ke, who was bidding farewell to the Nascent Tier patriarch of Green Jade Island.

Yu Fujing hurriedly sped up in his footsteps, hoping to be able to get a word in with the Nascent Tier immortal, and the latter really did stop in his tracks.

Yu Fujing strode forward and laid a firm hand down onto Fu Ke's shoulder, jokingly denouncing him as a disloyal friend who shunned his brothers in preference for his wives. Fu Ke merely smiled and took the jab in silence.

Yu Fujing turned to extend a respectful salute toward the old Nascent Tier patriarch, and the latter gave him some smiling words of encouragement, telling him to work hard in his cultivation and that he had a bright future ahead.

It was the type of generic stuff that seniors said to the juniors just for something to say, but Yu Fujing still made sure to listen with an earnest expression. Following the old Nascent Tier immortal's departure, Yu Fujing dragged Fu Ke into his private residence. It wasn't very large, but it was still a private residence, nevertheless.

There was a very strict hierarchy system on Green Jade Island, and aside from the brightest young prodigies of the ancestral hall, Yu Fujing was the only Lower Five Tiers cultivator on the island to have a private residence.

Fu Ke pulled out three flagons of immortal wine brewed by the Rain Dragon Sect from his minimization treasure, and the two friends had one flagon of wine each. As for the remaining flagon, Fu Ke told Yu Fujing that his master was an avid drinker, so he could give that flagon of wine to his master as a gift.

"I take back what I said earlier; you're a great friend!" Yu Fujing chuckled as he gave Fu Ke a thumbs-up.

"I have plenty of wine for you to drink, but make sure you don't get drunk," Fu Ke said with a smile. "This stuff may taste innocuous, but it really hits you when you least expect it. If you like this wine, I'll have people deliver it to you on Green Jade Island even if I don't come here myself."

"You're a real big shot now, aren't you?" Yu Fujing jibed. "Now that you've become an earth immortal, you don't even want to come and see me anymore, is that it?"

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting now?" Fu Ke sighed in an exasperated manner. "I've encountered a minor bottleneck, so I need to go into seclusion for a while. Otherwise, I would definitely come to see you myself."

Yu Fujing took a sip of wine, and he rested one foot on a chair as he cast his gaze out the window and sighed. "Never did I imagine that I would be sitting here with you, drinking this expensive immortal wine."

"Fate is always a fickle and unpredictable mistress," Fu Ke said with a smile.

Yu Fujing was drinking quite quickly, despite Fu Ke's attempts to get him to slow down.

Initially, Yu Fujing harbored nothing but gratitude toward Fu Ke, but as Fu Ke ascended higher and higher, molding a perfect image around himself, Yu Fujing gradually began to develop some nefarious ideas.

Fu Ke had abandoned his past wife, pretending that she never existed, and now, he had it all. He had two stunningly beautiful new wives, and he had become a direct disciple of the Rain Dragon Sect's ancestral hall. In the wake of his meteoric rise, it seemed that he had forgotten all about his past life.

Of course, Yu Fujing wasn't threatening Fu Ke, and he certainly wouldn't dare to do so, given that Fu Ke was both his friend and an earth immortal.

Thus, as they were drinking together, Yu Fujing brought up this matter in passing while reminiscing about past events, making it seem like he had merely inadvertently brought up the subject as part of his reminiscence.

Fu Ke set his flagon down onto the table.

Yu Fujing immediately slapped himself across the face. "I really need to keep a lid on this loose mouth of mine! I didn't mean anything by that, Fu Ke; I promise I won't tell anyone about your past."

Fu Ke merely smiled in response, and mere moments later, Yu Fujing was dead.

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