Chapter 115: Chapter 115
Lin Wan sat cross-legged on a plush modern armchair she had brought out from the space, her fingers smoothly turning the pages of her inventory ledger.
She wore a simple, dark short-sleeved top and comfortable loose trousers, her face completely calm and entirely unaffected by the massive commotion outside her walls.
Beside her feet, a large, beautiful wooden box was filled with thousands of high-grade, pulsing beast-world crystals, the profits from the previous three days of trading.
"Let them shout, Long Zhan," Lin Wan said smoothly, her voice carrying a level, cool authority that easily cut through the external noise. "The more anxious they become, the higher the perceived value of our goods. Lanying, how many jars of the white sugar do we have left in the primary spatial storage?"
Lanying stepped out from the rear storage alcove, her long silver hair perfectly pinned back with a simple wooden clip.
She wore a graceful, unadorned grey linen dress that looked incredibly elegant despite its simplicity, her striking blue eyes reflecting the gentle glow of the warehouse’s silver lamps.
"We have exactly eighty jars of the refined sugar and one hundred and twenty bars of the lavender soap ready for immediate distribution, sweet Wanwan," Lanying murmured softly, checking a small wooden slate in her hand.
"But if we release all of them today, the Bear Clan and the Fox Clan will simply buy the entire stock, leaving the smaller border lineages with nothing. That would ruin our plan to spread our influence evenly across the lower-realm alliance."
"Then we change the distribution rules today," Lin Wan said, her eyes narrowing slightly as a sharp, calculating light flashed within her dark pupils.
She closed the ledger with a quiet, solid *snap*.
"Long Zhan, open the main doors exactly three inches. Do not let anyone inside the main floor. Inform them that due to the extreme scarcity of the raw spiritual ingredients, we are shifting to a strict merit-and-trade system. We will no longer accept ordinary gold tokens or common elemental stones."
Long Zhan’s eyes lit up with pure, child-like enthusiasm, his fangs baring in a wide, mischievous smirk. "Aha! I love it when you play dirty, Wanwan! What kind of treasures are we demanding today?"
"High-grade spatial stabilization crystals, ancient maps of the boundary walls, and any records regarding the historical movements of the Upper Realm ascension gates," Lin Wan stated directly, her tone dropping into a flat, deadly serious frequency.
"If a clan patriarch cannot provide at least one item from that specific list, they cannot even buy a single kernel of popcorn, no matter how many ordinary crystals they hold in their bags."
"Understood!" Long Zhan roared happily, his large body moving with absolute, effortless agility as he strode over to the heavy ironwood doors.
He grabbed the massive iron bolts, sliding them back with a loud, ringing ’clack-clack’ that caused the entire crowd outside to instantly freeze.
The shouting stopped in a millisecond, every single head turning toward the entrance with an expression of pure, breathless anticipation.
Long Zhan pulled the left door back exactly three inches, creating a narrow gap that was thoroughly protected by a thick, shimmering silver-blue energy barrier.
He leaned his massive chest against the iron edge, his violet eyes looking down at the crowded road with a look of pure, unadulterated superiority.
"Alright, listen up, you loud dandelions!" Long Zhan’s thunderous voice boomed across the gravel road, easily drowning out the collective breathing of the hundreds of noble beasts.
"The master of this establishment has just issued a new decree! Our warehouse is running low on space, and we are no longer interested in your common gold pieces or your dirty lower-grade rocks! If you want to touch our sweet white powders or our fragrant washing bars today, you need to bring real depth to the table!"
Princess Hu Mei’s jaw dropped in complete horror, her silver-tipped tail stiffening like a frozen branch. "What do you mean by real depth, you large northern brute?! My pouch is filled with the finest fire crystals from our central valley mines!"
"Fire crystals are useless for our current operations!" Long Zhan barked back, crossing his arms over his chest, his modern denim jeans stretching tightly as he shifted his weight.
"We want spatial stones! We want ancient records of the upper gates! If your Fox Clan doesn’t have the library depth to produce an ascension map, then step aside and let the Bear Clan show their treasures!
Patriarch Xiong let out a massive, boisterous roar of laughter, his heavy footsteps shaking the dirt as he scrambled past the Fox princess’s carriage, his large hairy hand pulling an old, dusty leather scroll from his inner pocket.
"Haha! You see that, you little red fox?! The master of this warehouse knows true value! I have an ancient map of the western border arrays that my grandfather took from a ruined temple two hundred years ago! Move aside, the Bear Clan is buying the first jar of sugar today!"
Within minutes, the chaotic riot outside transformed into an orderly, incredibly intense bidding war.
The noble clans began to frantically search through their private carriage vaults, pulling out rare, forgotten texts, unique spatial ores, and secret intelligence documents just to secure a small place in the morning distribution.
Through the narrow gap in the doors, a steady stream of rare, high-grade spatial materials flowed into Long Zhan’s hands, which Lanying immediately transferred back to the kitchen counter where Lin Wan sat.
Every single item was a vital piece of the grand puzzle Lin Wan was building, a comprehensive, absolute guide to the boundaries of the lower world that would allow her to keep her family completely hidden from the plotting gods above, while maximizing the defense of their perfect sanctuary.
...
The sun inside the spatial dimension began to dip toward the western horizon, painting the smooth blue sky in deep shades of gold and soft violet.
The intense rush of the morning trade at the eastern gate warehouse had finally concluded, leaving the grand mansion in a state of deep, refreshing tranquility.
Lin Wan sat on the edge of the polished quartz counter in the kitchen, her long legs swinging slightly as she examined the massive pile of spatial ores and ancient scrolls that Long Zhan had brought back from the capital.
The crystals were magnificent, glowing with a deep, pulsing azure light that naturally vibrated against the local energetic arrays of the mansion.
"The energetic density inside our sanctuary has increased by nearly thirty percent today, sweet Wanwan," Lanying said, her graceful voice full of a deep, maternal satisfaction as she carefully placed the ancient scrolls into a modern protective binder.
She sat at the long wooden dining table, her striking blue eyes scanning the intricate geographic maps they had acquired from the Bear Clan. "With this amount of spatial core dust, the defensive barriers around our perimeter will become completely self-sustaining. Even if a high-grade immortal from the Upper Realm uses a multi-layered detection mirror, they will only find an empty, dead mountain valley outside our walls."
"It’s not enough to just hide, Lanying," Lin Wan murmured smoothly, her voice calm, level, and entirely focused as she picked up a small, shimmering blue crystal shard. "The records we bought today show a strange, consistent pattern. Every three hundred years, the boundary walls between the Upper Realm and this lower capital naturally thin for a period of three days. And according to the historical timelines in this Bear Clan text... the next thinning cycle begins in exactly two weeks."
"Two weeks?!" Long Zhan’s voice boomed from the back pantry as he walked into the kitchen, carrying a fresh bowl of milky popcorn for the cubs.
He had changed out of his dusty trading clothes into a loose, comfortable black linen shirt, his violet eyes flashing with a sudden, intense seriousness. "Wanwan, if the boundary thins, those old bastards in the Leopard Sect will definitely try to send their shadow talismans down to check on my status. They still think I’m a rogue warrior running from their internal laws."
Qin Mo glided smoothly out from the adjacent hallway, his loose white shirt completely unwrinkled while his flat black flip-flops let out a regular, lazy "thwack thwack" against the polished floor tiles.
His pale, flawlessly handsome face wore a look of supreme, doting affection as he leaned close to Lin Wan’s side, but his silver-tinted eyes remained incredibly cold and sharp as he looked at the maps.
"Let them send their little paper toys, brute," Qin Mo said, his voice dropping into a smooth, freezing murmur that made the air inside the kitchen drop by a few degrees.
"My agents in the southern valleys have already confirmed that the capital’s central alliance is actively preparing a reception altar near the high ridges. They are planning to coordinate with an external faction from the heavens to conduct a massive, systematic sweep of the entire territory during the thinning cycle. They are looking for a unique, high-grade bloodline anomaly."
