Chapter 2253: Chapter 2255: Never Forget Your Original Intent
On the third day, the blockbuster item Lan Yun brought out was a stone that looked decent enough.
Lan Yun quoted the price at one hundred medium Spirit Stones. For how it looked, that was pretty fair. Someone immediately decided to buy it, but then a Golden Core Master from Jinwu Sect raised the bid to one hundred and twenty medium Spirit Stones.
Lan Yun was also a Jinwu Cultivator, so of course she had to look after her fellow sect members. She simply said, "Highest bidder wins," and just like that, she introduced the concept of an auction.
Then more people started calling out prices. In the end, it was a True Immortal from a secret-realm clan who shouted a "high price" of three hundred and fifty medium Spirit Stones, scaring off the others and taking the stone.
Right after that, this True Immortal chose to cut the stone on the spot, and when it was opened, everyone was surprised to find it was another massive hit.
So everyone started bidding crazily. Since the buyer himself was a True Immortal, quite a few people started quoting in high-grade Spirit Stones, and the price instantly broke two hundred high-grade Spirit Stones.
Just then, that True Immortal said very straightforwardly, "You don’t need to bid anymore. This thing is useful to me. There’s no way I’m selling it."
Since a True Immortal had spoken, naturally no one could push him—no matter how much they offered, who could change a True Immortal’s mind?
Even after this blockbuster, everyone’s enthusiasm didn’t cool. They kept buying stones from Senior Lan Yun—her stones had had a high hit rate these last two days.
Watching coldly from the side, Feng Jun only felt that this time Lan Yun might have screwed up.
He didn’t expect that when they went back that night, Liu Yiyi would say that Lan Yun had made two hundred and thirty high-grade Spirit Stones on that stone today—because the day before, she had quietly negotiated with that True Immortal to sell him the stone for two hundred and thirty high-grade Spirit Stones.
At the time, Lan Yun had made it very clear: "I’ll sell it to you for two hundred and fifty high-grade Spirit Stones. If the bids on site don’t exceed that amount, I’ll make up the difference myself. If you earn more, I won’t be jealous. The only condition is you can’t spread this around."
That True Immortal replied, "Let’s just be straightforward. Two hundred and thirty high-grade Spirit Stones, and you don’t need to make up anything. As for keeping it secret, you really don’t need to bring that up. Elder Qing Ji is the kind who dares follow Yi Jue into the Void to hunt down Tiegu—how would I dare provoke her?"
In fact, the very reason Elder Qing Ji suggested doing a behind-the-scenes deal with this person was because she trusted him. Something that would ruin her reputation if it got out—how could she casually involve someone she didn’t trust?
This True Immortal was willing to put down that many high-grade Spirit Stones in advance, which clearly showed he was also ready to gamble. If today’s outcome hadn’t satisfied him, he could still leverage this connection later to squeeze some other favors out of Lan Yun.
Lan Yun was very confident about what would be inside the stone, but the price of Void Materials, besides depending on quantity and size, also varies by quality and grade. Before it’s fully opened, no one can price it precisely.
Not to mention the atmosphere of people shouting bids on-site is contagious, and it’s very easy for prices to get driven way above their real value.
Hearing about this kind of maneuver, Feng Jun couldn’t help baring his teeth. "Playing a double act with a secret-realm clan... she really does have an imagination."
Liu Yiyi, however, explained, "The secret-realm clans and the Seven Sects Eighteen Paths aren’t completely opposed. What’s at odds are the two power blocs. Having a few friends on the other side’s camp is actually very normal."
Feng Jun smiled. "Of course I know that. It’s just that for Lan Yun to distance herself from suspicion, she actually went and teamed up with a secret-realm clan—that’s pretty hardcore when you think about it... Did she make good on the cut she promised you?"
"She did, starting from the first day," Liu Yiyi answered without hesitation. After a brief pause, she added, "I also shared a bit with Sister Hong, Wang Haifeng, Liu Yuting, and Zhong Lijing. I felt they were working pretty hard too."
"Mm." Feng Jun nodded. Sharing was a very good habit. But the next moment, his brows lifted slightly. "What about Lan Yun and Shou Xin? Didn’t they show those people anything?"
Liu Yiyi hesitated a moment before answering, "They wanted to, but I stopped them. This was help I should have been the one to provide, and all those ideas Sister Hong and the others came up with were great... I don’t want outsiders casually getting close to our people."
Feng Jun gave her a surprised look. He hadn’t expected her to have that kind of awareness. So he nodded slightly. "Nicely done. You should hurry up and focus on cultivation as well... unless you don’t plan on entering the Void again."
Not let her enter the Void? For Liu Yiyi, that was absolutely unacceptable. Before, she didn’t have such a visceral sense of it, but now that she’d tasted the feeling of getting rich overnight, and her wealth was skyrocketing every single day, she was finding it a bit hard to settle down and cultivate.
Grinding away at cultivation—how could that compare to counting Spirit Stones?
Asking her to give up going to the Void now was basically like asking for her life, so she bolted. "I’m going to cultivate right now."
In truth, she wasn’t the only one being stunned silly by wealth. Shou Xin and Lan Yun were almost the same. Over the next few days, the market’s heat didn’t fade, and the two of them hadn’t done any serious cultivation for quite a while.
Yi Jue was extremely forthright in how she did things. That night, she directly summoned Shou Xin over. "To keep you from getting lost in business, I’ve picked out two more female cultivators with Spatial Physique. If you don’t advance one whole tier within a year, I’m not taking you into the Void!"
Master Shou Xin was startled by these words. "Master, I’ve been diligently cultivating all along. It’s just... to have me advance within a single year... I don’t know what I did wrong?"
"You did nothing wrong. I even went out of my way to arrange a livelihood for you," Yi Jue said coolly. "But I don’t like you putting the cart before the horse... Can Spirit Stones ever be completely earned? If you can’t advance within a year, then don’t expect to call me Master anymore."
She was indeed treating Shou Xin better than Qing Ji treated Lan Yun. Lan Yun still had to hand in a portion of her profits, whereas when Shou Xin wanted to hand in profits, Yi Jue wasn’t even interested, and had even promised she might take her in as a Disciple.
In the Spirit Plant path, her word had always been law, and this time she lost her temper entirely for Shou Xin’s own good. Shou Xin didn’t even dare to ask why; she could only beg bitterly, saying that one year was too short.
In the end, Yi Jue still let her off once, saying at most two years. "If you still can’t advance in two years, then don’t blame me for being heartless."
So the next day, Shou Xin only opened her shop for half a day before closing. When Lan Yun saw this, she hurried over to quiz her close girlfriend. "What kind of operation is this supposed to be?"
Shou Xin was straightforward and directly told her Yi Jue’s demand, saying that if she still didn’t cultivate, she might not only lose her long-term master, but could also have her Void qualification revoked. "...The Elder truly cares about me. I can’t let her down."
Lan Yun’s expression changed at these words as well. These days she had accumulated wealth she had never even dared to dream of before, enjoying boundless glory for a while. Many Golden Core Masters from the Jinwu Sect would smile and greet her when they saw her, just because she held Void resources in her hands.
But behind the glory, no one knew how anxious she was deep down. All that infinite splendor came from a single key point. Once she lost it, she would immediately be beaten back to her original form.
Her personality was rather lively and quirky, but she was definitely not someone who didn’t understand the bigger picture. Otherwise she wouldn’t have thought of gifting the Nether Lotus Stone to Feng Jun.
Hearing what Shou Xin said, she immediately voiced her agreement. The two discussed it for a while and decided to implement "staggered business hours."
The suggestion for staggered business hours came from Wang Haifeng. He felt that the operation of the two Void Stone gambling shops shouldn’t be too homogeneous; otherwise it would be too easy to create direct head-on clashes. It would be best if each had its own features.
They could even change their business hours so that one mainly did mornings and the other specialized in afternoons... and maybe both could open together at noon.
His suggestion certainly had its merits, but both shop owners said, "We’re good sisters, this problem doesn’t exist."
Now, the "good sisters" finally had to face this situation. After some discussion, they decided each shop would open for only half a day, and if one opened in the afternoon today, it would open in the morning tomorrow. That way, they could ensure sustainable cultivation time.
Their decision left a number of customers a bit unhappy. Everyone lost the freedom of choice; every day there was only a short window at noon when both shops were open at the same time. So a Golden Core Master asked rather displeasedly, "Are you two trying to hoard goods and jack up the prices?"
Shou Xin and Lan Yun, no matter how they were Sect Disciples, only had Out-of-Dust Cultivation Level — in fact, that level didn’t even count as entry-level Disciples. The one questioning them was a Golden Core. Even if the two of them had backing, there was nothing wrong with him asking like this.
But they answered, "It’s never been easy for us to collect these Void Stones. Now that the business has stabilized, of course we have to carve out time for cultivation... Isn’t that as it should be?"
Faced with this answer, even the Golden Core Master doing the questioning couldn’t bring himself to say more. The root of a Cultivator lies in cultivation!
A couple of days later, True Immortal Jing Quan arrived. This time he proactively descended to the lower world without hitching a ride on Feng Jun’s "cart." He hurriedly found Feng Jun and said that among the two female cultivators Moli had taken with him, one had been injured, which he had seen through the Soul Lamp.
Normally, among the Seven Great Sects, Out-of-Dust-period Disciples didn’t qualify to have Soul Lamps. But Jing Quan cared a great deal about his own Disciples, and had privately crafted Soul Lamps for the two women so he could monitor them more closely.
He now hoped Feng Jun could take him along for a trip to the Void.
This news reached Yi Jue’s ears in an instant. She said without any hesitation, "If you want to go, fine, but I’m going as well."
True Immortal Qing Ji naturally refused to be left behind. "If you’re going, then we all go together."
In the tiny White Pebble Beach, news like this couldn’t possibly be kept from anyone. It wasn’t that people were gossiping, but that the Divine Senses of twenty True Immortals were everywhere, woven into a huge net. There were basically no secrets to speak of.
Once word spread that three True Immortals were going to the Void, a bunch of True Immortals who believed themselves qualified to join came knocking on Feng Jun’s door.
Jiu Wei was one, Hua Sheng was another. As for Chao Cheng... his qualification was a bit lacking. But then a True Immortal from the Ouyang Family spoke up, "I’ll pay two hundred high-grade Spirit Stones. I ask Mountain Master Feng to take me in and out of the Void once. I’ll follow your lead on both the way there and the way back."
Two hundred high-grade Spirit Stones was really quite a lot. Don’t be fooled by Lan Yun earning two hundred and thirty high-grade Spirit Stones off a single stone — that piece counted as a top-tier Void Treasure, which was why it was worth that much. In fact, just look at True Immortal Rongyang: he went to Xuanhuang Gate to do deductions for half a year and only made two hundred.
Feng Jun smiled and said, "Please trouble True Immortal Ouyang to ask Jing Quan how many high-grade Spirit Stones I charged him."
