Dual Realm Exchange System

Mu Qingyao’s story began almost five hundred years ago.

Back then, the Azure Water Sector had been considerably quieter.

The Evergreen Sect controlled the forests and fertile eastern lands, while the Azure Water Sect occupied the great rivers and lake regions farther west. The two sects competed, argued over resources, and occasionally bloodied one another’s noses, but their relationship had never descended into true hatred.

In fact, marriages between their disciples were not uncommon.

One such marriage joined an Evergreen disciple named Lu Changqing with Shui Lanyue, a talented young woman of the Azure Water Sect.

According to the records, they had been happy.

Then, while returning from visiting Shui Lanyue’s mortal family, they encountered bandits.

"Run!" Lu Changqing had shouted to his wife, covered in blood, both his own and their enemies’.

However, she naturally refused to leave her beloved husband to die, and was eventually gutted by an insidious attack by the bandit leader, who fled afterward.

In his rage, Lu Changqing filled the area with countless bodies scattered across the road.

When he rushed to his wife, who was collapsing into his arms while he desperately pressed both hands against the wound in her chest, his heart sank to his stomach.

"Changqing... It’s... It’s okay..." She had tried to comfort him even while bleeding out.

Naturally, Lu Changqing was not going to give up. "Don’t talk! I can save you! Lanyue, listen to me! I can save you!"

Unfortunately... he could not.

By the time Evergreen and Azure Water Sect reinforcements arrived, Shui Lanyue was dead.

Lu Changqing never recovered.

He stopped attending gatherings, stopped accepting missions, and then stopped appearing before anyone at all.

Years passed before whispers began spreading about the strange experiments being conducted inside an abandoned valley.

Stories about preserved corpses, yin spiritual energy, and eerie methods of forcing vitality back into dead flesh.

Even at this low point, Lu Changqing did not desire power at all.

He simply wanted his wife back.

And unfortunately, that desire destroyed him.

"He eventually developed the earliest foundation of what we now call Corpse Arts," Mu Qingyao explained quietly.

"But he never succeeded in truly resurrecting her. At best, he learned how to preserve corpses, animate dead flesh, retain fragments of instinct and cultivate Death Qi through specially refined bodies."

Damian’s expression had become increasingly strange. "So this Nightmare Corpse Sect basically exists because one heartbroken fellow couldn’t let his wife go?"

"That would already be tragic enough, but unfortunately, the story became worse," Qingyao replied.

Lu Changqing eventually perished, with some versions of the story saying his experiments damaged his lifespan while others claimed he destroyed himself after finally accepting that the thing he had preserved for decades was no longer Shui Lanyue.

Whatever the case, his dark techniques should have died with him, but unfortunately, they did not.

Someway, somehow, a notorious wandering cultivator eventually discovered the inheritance, and his name was Xie Man.

And only later did surviving records reveal an almost absurdly cruel truth.

Xie Man had been the bandit leader responsible for Shui Lanyue’s death!

Damian slowly rubbed his face. "You cannot be serious."

"I wish I were not," Mu Qingyao responded with a deep sigh.

The murderer inherited the techniques created from his own victim’s death, and unlike Lu Changqing, Xie Man possessed no sentimental purpose.

He saw the limitless opportunity in the Corpse Arts, as they allowed a practitioner to turn enemies into resources.

Every battlefield could become a cultivation ground, every dead cultivator could become material, and every strong corpse could become a puppet.

For a man who basically killed as a form of leisure, there could be nothing better in the world for him!

Xie Man gathered criminals, failed cultivators, grave robbers, forbidden practitioners, and every other person rejected by conventional sectarian society, and from that collection of human refuse emerged the Nightmare Corpse Sect.

At first, the Evergreen and Azure Water Sects treated them as another troublesome demonic faction.

Then, entire villages disappeared, graveyards were emptied, and even merchant caravans between sects vanished.

Eventually, entire cultivation clans began resurfacing as corpse soldiers.

Five years ago, decades of increasingly violent conflict finally erupted into open war.

"The beginning favoured us. Our two righteous sects together possessed greater territory, more disciples, stronger economic foundations, and more conventional cultivators," Mu Qingyao admitted.

Damian understood the problem before she finished. "But every person you lost..."

"Could potentially become theirs," Mu Qingyao finished with a solemn nod.

Ah yes, the typical undead tide issue. It plagued all manner of settings, from western fantasy necromancers, to urban fantasy zombies, and even sci-fi, with the apocalypse.

It was one of the strongest terrors because of how horrifyingly efficient it was.

The longer the war continued, the more corpses existed.

The more corpses existed, the stronger the Nightmare Corpse Sect became.

This meant that their enemies were literally generating military resources by fighting them.

Damian leaned back. "Well, that sure is a spectacularly unpleasant feedback loop."

Mu Qingyao smiled bitterly. "That brings us to our present situation."

Her expression became more serious.

"At the start of the war, the Evergreen Sect possessed two Foundation Establishment cultivators. My father, Sect Master Mu Jianhong, and our Old Ancestor."

Mu Qingyao continued. "The Old Ancestor was assassinated during the opening stages of the conflict."

Damian’s eyes sharpened. "That was what triggered the full war?"

"Yes," Mu Qingyao confirmed with a nod.

Naturally, the furious Evergreen Sect retaliated in full force, and the Azure Water Sect also joined them for obvious reasons.

The dauntless Nightmare Corpse forces struck back, and now, five years later, none of them had been able to stop.

"My father became Evergreen’s final Foundation Establishment cultivator and therefore the pillar preventing our enemies from simply overwhelming us," Qingyao admitted.

"Recently, he too was successfully ambushed inside our territory."

Damian finally understood the thick death energy around the sect.

"Hoh? So that death qi is the problem then?"

Mu Qingyao nodded. "Indeed. Because of it... my father is... is dying."

There was no refinement in her voice this time, just an aggrieved daughter stating the truth.

"If Father dies, the sect loses its final Foundation Establishment powerhouse. We have several Peak Qi Condensation elders who may eventually break through, myself included among those with potential, but such an eventuality is meaningless if the enemy attacks tomorrow," she concluded with a deep sigh.

Damian remained quiet, countless ideas and solutions passing through his head, but not voicing any of them.

Then, Mu Qingyao surprised him. "The Azure Water Sect is actually in a better position than us."

He looked at her seriously this time, feeling that something important was about to happen.

"Their Old Ancestor was also targeted, but survived the assassination attempt. He remains injured, yet alive. Together with their Sect Master, Azure Water still possesses two Foundation Establishment cultivators."

Mu Qingyao clasped her hands with a wry smile.

"If you believe your safety and business prospects would be superior there, I will personally arrange the introduction."

Jian Rui and the other disciples looked horrified. "Elder Mu!"

Mu Qingyao raised one hand, and they all fell silent.

Her emerald eyes remained on Damian.

"I only ask one thing. Even if you choose Azure Water, please allow Evergreen to purchase some of your medicines whenever supply permits."

Damian stared at her for a long moment, then smiled.

Now that was how he liked doing business.

Put your cards on the table without pretending or any vague nonsense, and especially without trying to trap him because he was unfamiliar with local customs.

"Miss Yao, I find that I quite like you," Damian stated bluntly, making Mu Qingyao blink rapidly in surprise while the four youngsters froze again.

Damian’s smile widened. "In fact, as long as I get to keep seeing you, I might not take a single step outside the Evergreen Sect."

Finally, a faint blush appeared across Mu Qingyao’s face as she understood Damian’s meaning.

"That... is flattering, Lord Damian. However, with the Sect’s current circumstances, I truly cannot consider marriage or romance," she answered with an honest and sincere expression.

Damian’s eyebrow rose, as he had been half joking.

Well, mostly half joking.

But now... now he became genuinely interested!

"So if I helped end the war, or at least pushed Evergreen into a position where the situation was no longer hanging over your head, would you suddenly have enough ’free time’ for romance?" Damian pursued while leaning forward, wearing a playful smile on his face.

Mu Qingyao paused at the insistence, but this time, however, she did not blush.

Instead, she looked at Damian properly.

Expressive blue eyes, fair skin, a young and somewhat handsome face, foreign cultivation, strange treasures, a mysterious system of practice, and a man who had killed a concealed Nightmare Corpse assassin despite apparently possessing a body weaker than Body Tempering cultivators.

Mu Qingyao openly studied him for several seconds, then smiled beautifully.

"Yes."

Only one word was said, but that was enough for both parties.

Damian nodded with satisfaction. "Excellent. I cannot promise you a timeline, but with that assurance, you can consider Evergreen Sect’s eventual victory guaranteed."

Bo Wen almost choked while Jian Rui stared at Damian in fervent worship.

Mu Qingyao felt that she should have laughed at Damian’s words.

What kind of person casually guaranteed victory in a five-year sect war after spending less than two days in the region?

Yet, looking at the items on the table, she could not find the heart to laugh.

A so-called ’basic potion’ from his homeland had already regenerated organs and his ’ordinary’ fire daoist art apparently possessed unusual restraint against Corpse Qi.

If it was like this now... then what did his stronger goods look like?

What did the rest of his strange cultivation society possess?

Outrageous though Damian sounded, there was at least something beneath the arrogance.

"I will remember those words," Qingyao replied with amusement.

The atmosphere became considerably lighter after that, but then came the serious part, the money.

Or rather, Spirit Stones.

Mu Qingyao initially proposed paying the equivalent of one Mid-Grade Spirit Stone for every Vial of Healing, eighty Low-Grade Spirit Stones for Restoration, and sixty for Vigor.

Damian nearly accepted immediately, but then his <Persuasion> instincts slapped him across the face.

Negotiate, always negotiate!

Eventually, they settled upon two pricing structures.

For outsiders, the Evergreen Sect would recognize Damian’s minimum suggested retail prices of one Mid-Grade Spirit Stone for Healing, eighty Low-Grade for Restoration, and sixty Low-Grade for Vigor.

Naturally, the sect itself received preferential wholesale access, and rather than Spirit Stones, Damian chose Sect Contribution Points.

Six hundred Contribution Points per Vial of Healing, four hundred per Vial of Restoration, and three hundred per Vial of Vigor.

Mu Qingyao almost thought she had misheard.

"You are... certain of these ’prices,’ Lord Damian?" she asked with a deep look at the young man.

"Completely." Damian nodded with folded arms.

This kind of pricing was absurdly favorable to the Evergreen Sect.

One Mid-Grade Spirit Stone could normally exchange for roughly one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, though regional fluctuations existed.

Contribution Points carried their own internal purchasing value, but the agreed wholesale rate effectively gave Evergreen a very significant discount compared to what outsiders would pay.

Damian still loved the deal, as his Healing Vials cost eleven Copper each in Valoria, worth about 10 to 20 full loaves of white bread in Valoria.

He was effectively turning beginner consumables that Adventurers treated like bottled water into access to an immortal sect’s restricted economy.

What more did he want?

Spirit Stones?

He already possessed fifty-two kilograms of Mana Crystals whose quality exceeded ordinary Low-Grade Spirit Stones!

Money was not his bottleneck, access was!

Access to cultivation methods, secret resources, knowledge, pills, talismans, formations, and especially, connections!

Those were things his Mana Crystals could not casually buy from strangers, but Contribution Points could!

Qingyao gradually understood his reasoning, and strangely, it made the deal feel even more generous to her.

Damian was not offering favourable terms because he was some saint, as his eyes made that painfully obvious whenever they lingered on her.

He simply valued Evergreen’s internal resources more than raw currency.

And, perhaps...

He valued her.

Mu Qingyao’s heartbeat quickened despite herself.

Indeed, she was a Level 6 Qi Condensation cultivator and had lived for more than thirty years, so she was not a sheltered girl by any means.

Yet cultivation as her main focus had left surprisingly little room for romance.

Knowing that a young, mysterious foreign cultivator with enormous potential was willing to surrender a considerable commercial advantage partly because he openly desired her favor...

How could she feel absolutely nothing?

If Damian possessed some ridiculous favorability interface, the number above Mu Qingyao’s head might have risen from fifty to seventy on the spot, and there was still plenty of room to rise!

The rest of the settlement happened quickly.

Damian Baines officially became an Evergreen Sect Guest Elder.

The title granted him high-ranking guest status without formally binding him to Evergreen’s hierarchy or wars.

He received a grand private residence within the Inner Sect’s guest district and also received complete control over a five-floor commercial tower in the Outer Sect public district, from which he could operate his Shengyuan business.

Damian was naturally delighted by this.

Even better, Jian Rui, Bo Wen, Lin Meiyu, and Shen Lian were permanently assigned to him as sect liaisons.

Their status rose from ordinary Outer Hall disciples to Half-Step Inner Disciples, granting partial access to Inner Sect resources while they served the new Guest Elder.

The four nearly cried their hearts out.

"Senior Damian!" Bo Wen looked ready to hug Damian’s leg.

Damian immediately pointed at him with a warning glance. "Don’t you dare, Bo Wen!"

Bo Wen stopped with grievance on his face. "But Senior Damian..."

"Pfft, don’t give me those puppy dog eyes, you weird fellow!" Damian retorted with a snort.

Mu Qingyao couldn’t help but laugh, and so too did Shen Lian and Lin Meiyu, while Jian Rui shook his head with a wry smile.

Later that afternoon, Mu Qingyao personally showed Damian around.

His residence occupied an expansive courtyard surrounded by medicinal greenery, with several private chambers, a training yard, small pond, study, servant quarters, and even a private cultivation room built above a minor spiritual vein.

Damian approved of it instantly.

The commercial tower was even better, with five huge floors and a versatile, as well as fortified, storage vault underground.

It had public retail areas on each floor with private consultation rooms present for VIPs of each level.

Most importantly, there was enough empty space to customize later.

"This will do nicely," Damian muttered to himself while rubbing his hands.

Once control formally transferred, Damian handed over fifteen Vials of each potion type designated for the initial Evergreen Sect mass purchase.

His newly opened sect contribution account on his guest elder token immediately became ridiculous.

[Evergreen Sect Contribution Balance: 19,500.]

Damian smiled, feeling that he was finally starting to warm up to Shengyuan, though he still preferred Valoria much more for now.

Mu Qingyao eventually happily departed with the medicines, and the four disciples immediately threw themselves into work.

Lin Meiyu and Shen Lian began cleaning and organizing the shop while Bo Wen took responsibility for security, recruiting several trustworthy Outer Hall disciples for guard duty using Damian’s newly enormous contribution balance to post missions in the Mission and Task Hall.

Jian Rui remained beside Damian. "Senior Damian, what would you like to acquire first?"

Damian looked toward the Evergreen Sect exchange catalogue, his eyes gleaming with limitless greed.

What did he want?

Everything!

He wanted everything!!

But first...

"Cultivation techniques," Damian muttered as he knew his priorities.

First, finish the tutorial quest and see what comes next, especially with regards to that strange Special Power.

Like Feats before, Damian didn’t really understand what it was used for, but he knew that he would in time.

And if it was as broken as One Feat Per Level, but for Shengyuan standards, then he was basically good to go.

Six were selected.

The Evergreen Life Sutra, representing Wood.

The Crimson Furnace Art, representing Fire.

The Blackwater Circulation Art, representing Water.

The Golden Edge Tempering Art, representing Metal.

The Mountain Root Foundation Art, representing Earth.

Finally, the Five Elements Harmonization Art, capable of cultivating all five foundational elements.

Damian purchased all six introductory inheritances, waiting to see which was best for him, then mix and match them.

Then came the famous pills of the cultivation world. With Jian Rui’s introduction, he got what was called the Five basic pills.

The Qi Nourishing Pill, Qi Acceleration Pill, Body Tempering Pill, Marrow Cleansing Pill, and Grain Avoidance Pill.

Next came the five basic talismans, the Cleansing Talisman, the Light Body Talisman, the Wood Barrier Talisman, the Purification Talisman, and the Hundred Mile Talisman.

Next came the five basic formations, the Spirit Gathering Array, the Bewilderment Array, the Four Swords Array, the Golden Shield Array, and the Warning Array.

Damian added several other basic items for comparison as well, including a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, a basic Spirit Sword, blank talisman paper, formation ink, several common spiritual herbs, and a small bag of spirit rice.

By the time Jian Rui finally stopped recording purchases, his expression had become numb.

"Senior... are you studying every profession?"

Damian smiled. "No."

After all, that would be insane.

Rather, he was doing something much more important, comparing worlds!

Before long, several Evergreen disciples entered the tower carrying sealed boxes, scroll cases, jade bottles, formation plates, and technique manuals.

One after another, Damian’s purchases were placed across the long table before him.

Valorian products had already surprised Shengyuan.

Now it was time to answer the far more interesting question.

What would Shengyuan’s most ordinary treasures look like to Valoria?

Damian rubbed his hands together eagerly.

"Alright..."

His eyes gleamed.

"Let’s see what I actually bought."

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