The meeting did not continue much longer after Lan Ruyue’s compensation was settled.
There was simply too much for both sides to process.
Mu Qingyao had a thousand potions to move into the Evergreen Sect’s treasury, three stronger Draughts intended for Mu Jianhong, a Withered Mana Core capable of contributing toward a Foundation Establishment Pill, and several experimental products whose potential implications ranged from profitable to completely war-changing.
Lan Ruyue had an even less pleasant afternoon waiting for her.
She needed to return to the Azure Water Sect, explain exactly why she had promised away an uncomfortable portion of their Grade Two pill reserves, organize Damian’s new Guest Elder privileges, and somehow describe how five disciples nearly transformed an extremely promising relationship into a blood feud within minutes of securing it.
Damian almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
By the time the two delegations departed, his commercial tower became quiet again.
Damian did not bother restocking the lower floors.
He had brought a large shipment for the Evergreen Sect, not enough miscellaneous merchandise to reopen public sales afterward, and there was little point creating another rush only to empty the shelves immediately.
Instead, Damian settled back into the second-floor administrative room and checked what mattered considerably more.
Contribution Points.
The thousand-potion transaction alone was ridiculous.
Five hundred Vials of Healing at six hundred Contribution Points each produced three hundred thousand.
Three hundred Vials of Restoration at four hundred each produced another one hundred and twenty thousand.
Two hundred Vials of Vigor at three hundred each added sixty thousand more.
All for a total of four hundred and eighty thousand Evergreen Sect Contribution Points.
Damian stared at the figure for several seconds.
"...Yeah."
That was a lot.
His first transaction with the Evergreen Sect had earned nineteen thousand five hundred Contribution Points and made him feel wealthy.
Now one trip to the Bazaar Market had generated nearly half a million.
Cross-realm arbitrage was becoming increasingly nonsensical.
Mu Qingyao had already grit her teeth and authorized Damian to purchase freely from the Grade Two medicinal reserves after everything that happened.
Ordinarily, even possessing Contribution Points did not mean a cultivator could walk into the treasury and empty resources intended for senior Deacons and Elders.
Contribution Points only represented permission to exchange, and strategic reserves still represented whether the Evergreen Sect was willing to sell.
Today, the answer was apparently yes, so Damian took full advantage of that.
Around fifty Condensing Essence Pills were purchased first, then thirty-five Essence Surge Pills followed.
Then came ten Essence Purifying Pills, whose enormous individual Contribution Point cost still made Damian wince despite his newly bloated balance.
Those three purchases alone represented exactly the progression tier he had originally wanted to investigate.
If the Condensing Essence Pill adapted to Valorian progression the same way Qi Nourishing Pills had, then his Journeyman retainers might finally have a practical route toward Adept.
If the Essence Surge Pill played the same supporting role as the Qi Acceleration Pill, that route might become considerably cheaper.
And if the Essence Purifying Pill possessed useful cross-realm properties...
Damian smiled.
That one required careful testing.
He had already learned the hard way that "cleansing" products loved attaching hidden prices to their miracles.
Once the Grade Two purchases were settled, Damian turned toward everything below them.
This time, he did not shop like a curious traveler collecting samples, but like a wholesaler.
Qi Nourishing Pills, Qi Acceleration Pills and other Grade One medicinal products disappeared from available treasury lists in enormous quantities.
Talismans, Arrays, basic cultivation resources, tradeable materials, Spirit Rice and more followed.
Anything already proven useful, potentially useful or sufficiently cheap to justify cross-realm testing went onto Damian’s order.
He deliberately avoided categories he still considered poor arbitrage and concentrated upon products whose utility came from the difference between both realms rather than simple rarity.
The result was catastrophic for the Evergreen Sect treasury.
By the time the purchase orders stopped, Damian had nearly emptied the Evergreen Sect’s available stock of several Grade One categories.
Treasury attendants began running between halls at first, then managers appeared, then even more managers appeared!
Messages flew toward Alchemy Halls, Talisman Halls, formation workshops, medicinal gardens and storage depots informing production personnel that their comfortable stockpile projections had just been butchered by one extremely enthusiastic Guest Elder.
Damian heard one treasury steward muttering something about emergency production quotas, but he pretended not to hear.
Business was business.
If anything, he was stimulating the economy, no?
The deliveries began less than an hour later.
Storage bags arrived first, then more storage bags, then they apparently ran out of storage bags.
As such, wooden crates began appearing, then large sealed ceramic containers followed.
Boxes of talisman paper arrived in layered stacks, along with medicine cases, jars, bundles, sacks and several awkward packages whose shapes made Damian question which genius had designed their storage standards.
The second floor gradually transformed into a warehouse, but Damian loved the sight of it right up until he started putting things away.
His Exchange Storage swallowed the first batches effortlessly, but as the available capacity continued falling, Damian slowed.
He packed more efficiently, separated liquid-heavy goods from physical stock and mentally reorganized categories to squeeze maximum utility from the space.
It did not matter.
By the time his Exchange Storage approached its limit, barely twenty percent of the full purchase had disappeared inside.
Damian stared at the mountain still surrounding him.
For perhaps the first time since acquiring the Dual-Realm Exchange System, his supposedly enormous storage capacity felt tiny.
One thousand kilograms and one thousand liters had seemed absurd when he possessed little more than clothing, Adventurer equipment and a few market purchases.
Now Damian was operating wholesale commerce across two worlds.
A tonne was nothing.
It was merely a single pallet in the wrong industry.
"What am I supposed to do with all this?"
He rubbed his forehead.
More importantly, how did he increase the Exchange Storage capacity?
Through System upgrades.
That was the obvious answer.
Unfortunately, those usually came from quests.
Damian frowned.
When was the last time the Dual-Realm Exchange System had actually issued him one?
He had received the quest that eventually led to the <Skill Upgrade System> after advancing into the Journeyman Stage, but since then...
Nothing.
He had reached new Body Tempering levels, established the Baines Noble Family, created an actual commercial operation, and expanded his influence in both realms.
Still nothing.
Damian had originally assumed that reaching Qi Condensation would naturally be a trigger for another major quest, but now he was no longer certain.
Perhaps the system simply considered that milestone unnecessary.
Or perhaps...
Damian’s expression became thoughtful.
He did not dismiss the question.
Instead, he leaned against the table and mentally reconstructed every major System quest he could remember.
At first glance, they seemed tied to milestones.
Become established, enter another realm, cultivate, and advance.
But the more Damian examined them, the less random they appeared.
The system had rarely given him a quest simply because some number increased.
Something always happened first.
He either encountered a new concept, understood that something existed, recognized a limitation, or developed a need.
Then the system reacted.
Damian’s fingers began tapping against the table.
"Awareness first..."
Then necessity.
That seemed to be the common denominator.
Perhaps the system could not, or simply would not, give him a path toward something he had not meaningfully encountered.
Damian looked toward the piles of merchandise around him.
His storage problem had made him aware of a limitation, but awareness alone might not be enough.
He needed to push somewhere new... like Qi Condensation.
That was the obvious frontier.
Damian reopened the Evergreen Sect library catalogue.
If he intended to reach Qi Condensation eventually, he needed more than the Body Tempering foundation of the <Five Elements Harmonization Art> anyway.
So he purchased broadly.
Three Qi Condensation techniques corresponding to each of the ordinary five elements, then three Wind techniques, three Lightning techniques, and three dedicated Five Elements techniques.
Afterward, Damian selected approximately ten more unusual methods focused upon auxiliary or specialized paths rather than straightforward elemental cultivation, including strange approaches resembling the Puppet Master inheritance he had previously encountered among the Evergreen Sect’s broader catalogue.
He was not choosing his future technique yet, as that would require comparison.
Damian simply wanted options.
The manuals arrived in another storage bag not long afterward.
He opened it, removed the first jade slip and touched it.
The familiar blue light of the Dual-Realm Exchange System appeared.
Damian froze.
There it was, his second non-tutorial quest had finally appeared!
[New Optional Side Quest Available!]
[Quest Name: The Path Of The Dao!]
[Description: The Body Tempering Stage has forged the foundation, but the path of true cultivation has only just begun! Cast off the shackles of the mortal shell, refine the essence of body and spirit, and condense your first wisp of spiritual energy. Step beyond the limits of mortality and set foot upon the boundless road of cultivation!]
[Objective: Reach Qi Condensation Level 1!]
[Reward: Special Power — Supreme Synthesis.]
Damian quickly read through the information.
The objective was simple, but the reward was not an Exchange Storage upgrade.
As such, Damian’s initial excitement dipped slightly.
Then he read the reward again.
Special Power: <Supreme Synthesis>!
His disappointment vanished.
"...That sounds ridiculous."
The system gave no explanation yet... naturally.
Apparently, mysterious Special Powers needed dramatic reveals.
Still, Damian’s mind immediately began generating possibilities from the name alone.
Synthesis, huh?
Was it about combining all things?
Like techniques, skills, items, or even... concepts?
Maybe it could be none of those.
He refused to speculate himself into disappointment.
Whatever <Supreme Synthesis> actually did, reaching Qi Condensation had now become considerably more attractive.
The experiment had also confirmed something far more useful.
His theory about quest triggers was probably correct.
The system had not rewarded him for merely increasing Body Tempering levels.
Only after Damian deliberately acquired access to the next major cultivation stage did it react.
Awareness, Necessity, and Opportunity.
That was worth remembering.
.....................
The remaining merchandise obviously could not stay scattered through his commercial tower.
Damian had most of it moved into the storage areas of his Guest Elder residence within the Evergreen Sect, where private formations and sect protections provided considerably better security than leaving strategic inventory inside a semi-public commercial building.
The sheer amount required several trips even with storage bags.
Jian Rui received new instructions as well.
"You’ll operate primarily from my Guest Elder residence from now on. If somebody needs me for major business, they can send word through you. I’m not walking between my residence and the commercial tower every time somebody wants to ask whether I have another bottle of something," Damian instructed.
Jian Rui nodded immediately. "Understood, Lord Damian."
Damian approved of the lad’s tactfulness, feeling that this arrangement was much better.
The commercial tower could remain the public-facing business location whenever inventory was available.
His Guest Elder residence would become the true Shengyuan headquarters.
He had already decided to return there and finally cultivate when he made one last pass through the commercial tower.
That was when someone entered, and Damian sensed the figure before properly seeing them.
Heavy dark robes concealed almost everything, including their face, build, weapons and even their movements.
But concealment did nothing about the spiritual filth clinging to the figure.
Corpse Qi.
Damian raised an eyebrow.
Seriously?
In broad daylight?
Inside the Evergreen Sect?
Were these people actually trying to assassinate him here?
His <Divine Sense> expanded immediately, filling the surrounding area while <Truesight> settled over his perception.
The cloaked figure did not attack, but stopped several meters away.
"Damian Baines."
The voice sounded wrong, flat and artificial.
Damian’s expression changed slightly.
Another puppet!
"The Nightmare Corpse Sect has already delivered its decision to the Evergreen Sect. You will either be killed, expelled from this territory, or surrendered into our custody. Should the Evergreen Sect refuse, the present conflict will become a war of extermination. Every disciple, Elder, servant and affiliated bloodline that remains beneath their banner will be destroyed."
Damian stared at the puppet.
"So you came here just to tell me that personally?"
The puppet gave no answer as its Corpse Qi suddenly destabilized.
Damian’s eyes sharpened as the entire faux body exploded, with flesh, cloth and corrupted energy bursting outward before the commercial tower’s protective formations reacted, suppressing most of the blast before it could travel far.
Damian barely moved.
"How dramatic."
Apparently, exploding the messenger prevented interrogation and eliminated evidence capable of leading back toward the controller.
A sensible precaution.
Unfortunately...
Damian’s eyes shifted toward the wall.
Through <Truesight>, combined with the expanded perception of <Divine Sense>, he had already seen something the controller clearly did not know he could see.
Invisible spiritual threads, thin and faint, that were almost completely hidden beneath the corpse puppet’s own aura.
They stretched outward from the puppet before passing through the commercial tower and continuing across the nearby street.
Damian followed them mentally to a teahouse approximately fifty meters away, where a lone man remained seated and had not even stood up yet.
Damian slowly smiled.
"Found you."
He retrieved his Evergreen Sect Guest Elder token and sent a short message through its communication function, describing the controller’s exact location, appearance and position within the nearby teahouse.
Then he waited.
Several breaths later, movement erupted outside as Evergreen Sect cultivators changed direction.
Damian put the token away, as it was not his problem anymore.
His attention returned to the message.
All-out war, huh?
The Nightmare Corpse Sect was not bluffing, given the display.
Just as Mu Qingyao could reason it, Damian could also reason their terror towards his existence.
Damian leaned against the table and considered that reality carefully.
He could not claim to love the Evergreen Sect, having known most of these people for an absurdly short period.
His relationship with the sect itself remained fundamentally transactional.
But Shengyuan was no longer some distant second world he could treat like a marketplace tab.
The Evergreen Sect was his primary base of operations here.
His commercial tower, Guest Elder residence, Mu Qingyao, Jian Rui, Bo Wen, Lin Meiyu and Shen Lian were all here.
People Damian actually liked lived beneath this banner.
Allowing the Nightmare Corpse Sect to destroy everything would directly harm his interests.
Worse, Damian could not pretend he was unrelated to the escalation.
The ultimatum existed because of him.
Whether one wanted to call it karma, conscience, responsibility or simply protecting his own investments, walking away while thousands of people died because the enemy feared what Damian might do left an unpleasant taste in his mouth.
He sighed.
"Guess I’m involved."
There were worse outcomes.
After all, Damian had just acquired an entire new library of cultivation methods, had a quest requiring Qi Condensation and possessed Skills he wanted to improve.
And the <Skill Upgrade System> had one irritating requirement.
Skill Points.
Damian’s gaze moved toward the blackened remains of the corpse puppet before a slow smile appeared.
He had been wondering where exactly he was supposed to find enough enemies to accelerate his growth.
Apparently, the Nightmare Corpse Sect had volunteered.
How considerate!
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