Longevity by Grinding Skills

Chapter 454: Chapter 454: A Blessed Land for the Demon Sect

His voice trailed off, the last few words practically a mumble. "Shopkeeper Mo... has another thirty percent in a secret ledger..."

"The monthly net commission... is at least one hundred thousand Middle-grade Spirit Stones..."

One hundred thousand Spirit Stones?!

And Middle-grade at that!

Xu Yunfan inwardly drew a sharp breath. No wonder the Primordial Sect had expended countless people to secure this place. It was a blessed land, naturally suited for many of the sect’s Dharma Gates. It was no surprise that even True Monarchs had personally fought for it on several occasions.

One hundred thousand Middle-grade Spirit Stones.

Even for a True Monarch, this was a significant source of income.

No wonder they took turns. If a single True Monarch were to guard it permanently, the others would surely be displeased. A rotation was the obvious solution.

"Who is in charge of the Marketplace now?"

"I-It’s Shopkeeper Mo, from Hundred Desires Peak..."

Zhou Lu said subserviently, "Her niece married the cousin of a Steward Disciple from Hundred Peaks Mount..."

Hearing this, Xu Yunfan raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over Zhou Lu with seeming indifference.

Zhou Lu hunched over even further, trying to make himself smaller.

’This old fox...’

"Starting tomorrow."

Xu Yunfan’s voice sent a shiver through everyone. "All Cultivators will be divided into three rotating shifts. Zhou Lu, take some men and repair the Array Patterns on the east side."

He paused for a moment before adding coolly, "As for the Marketplace... have that Shopkeeper Mo bring me all the commissions she’s collected tomorrow."

’It was simple. Since Shopkeeper Mo hadn’t come to see him on his first day on duty, he would just spell things out.’

’If she handed it over obediently, he could spare her life out of respect for Daoist Master Hundred Desires. If not, then she would become acquainted with his Ten Thousand Souls Banner.’

After getting a general idea of the situation and giving a few orders to his liking, he put Zhou Lu in charge of the details.

As he watched the old man walk out of the palace, Xu Yunfan coolly withdrew his gaze.

’That old fox was insincere, hiding many things. If not for his background in the Martial Dao, which allowed him to observe the human body with microscopic precision, he might not have noticed.’

’That last statement from Zhou Lu reeked of an attempt to sow discord.’

His fingertips silently formed a seal inside his sleeve.

A wisp of Divine Sense silently coiled around Zhou Lu’s hunched back like a venomous snake, the Spiritual Pressure of a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master spreading silently along the Cause and Effect Line.

The gray-robed old man had just stepped out of the hall when his body froze for an imperceptible moment.

A trace of confusion flickered in his murky eyes, as if a thin fog had settled over his mind.

With a gentle pluck of his Divine Sense inside Zhou Lu’s Sea of Consciousness, like strumming a zither string, Xu Yunfan made the man’s tense spine gradually relax and his breathing grow steady.

This was the Spiritual Sense Reflection technique, a method available to Foundation Establishment Daoist Masters. While not fatal, it could unknowingly cloud a person’s mind, leading them step by step into an abyss.

In more specific terms, he had just been plunged into a fatal predicament.

Zhou Lu stood outside the hall, dazed. After a moment, he suddenly felt the new Guardian Envoy’s arrangements were perfectly reasonable, even feeling a deluded sense of having ’found an enlightened master.’

He touched the account book in his sleeve and mentally reviewed the locations of several secret ledgers, preparing to present them all tomorrow.

The corner of Xu Yunfan’s mouth twitched into an imperceptible smirk.

As he withdrew his Divine Sense, he deliberately left a wisp of a mark on the Cause and Effect Line.

From now on, every flicker of greed, every trace of dissent in Zhou Lu’s mind would make him feel as if he were being pricked by thorns. He would only grow more and more reliant on the Guardian Envoy’s mix of punishment and reward.

Outside the hall, the ghastly white moonlight shone on Zhou Lu’s receding figure, stretching his shadow long and distorted, like the strings of a puppet.

With that business settled, Xu Yunfan naturally had to go see the top of Cold Crow Pass’s walls.

The moment he set foot on the battlements, the sight before him made his pupils shrink.

Below the pass lay a jet-black river over thirty miles wide. Its inky water was so viscous it was almost solid, gleaming with a strange, oily sheen under the ghastly moonlight.

The most terrifying part was the surface of the river, which was densely packed with countless pale white arms. They would stretch out as if trying to snatch a life, then curl up as if struggling, like millions of drowning people flailing in an endless torment.

When the mountain wind swept across the river’s surface, the arms all trembled in unison, and from the riverbed arose waves of shrill, mournful wails.

The sounds layered over one another, as if millions of wronged souls were crying out at once, making the hairs on the back of one’s neck stand on end.

These were mostly the souls of Cultivators who, after the great battles at Cold Crow Pass over the years, had been sunk into the Nether River by the Primordial Sect.

There weren’t so many at first, but Cold Crow Pass had stood for ages. As a blessed land naturally suited for the Primordial Sect, it had seen endless conflict.

Over the past ten thousand years, the number of Cultivators and mortals dragged into the Nether River was beyond counting.

The river water corroded their bones and dissolved their souls, yet it denied them the release of death, forcing them to repeat the cycle of sinking and floating, day after day.

On the bank, several newly discarded corpses were slowly sinking, their rotting flesh eroding and peeling away in the river water to reveal stark White Bones.

And the arms that had sunk to the bottom would soon float back to the surface to continue this eternal torture.

Those who sank into this Nether River were essentially unable to achieve salvation for all eternity. The only way to escape this damnation was through deliverance by an outside force.

「Early the next morning.」

As the first rays of dawn touched the surface of the Nether River, Xu Yunfan was seated in meditation within the Profound Nether Pavilion, the highest point in Cold Crow Pass.

The Spiritual Mechanism here was so dense it had almost materialized. Grayish-black Spiritual Qi coiled around his body like a living thing, marking it as a perfect land of Supreme Yin.

The True Martial Demon Suppressing Scripture he cultivated focused on the effortless exchange of Yin and Yang, the method of the Turtle and Snake. Thus, this land of Supreme Yin was indeed an excellent place for his Cultivation.

The True Martial Demon Suppressing Scripture circulating in Xu Yunfan’s body was spontaneously absorbing the Supreme Yin Spiritual Qi in the Profound Nether Pavilion. A phantom image of a turtle and snake flickered in and out of existence in his Dantian.

At this moment, the grayish-black Spiritual Qi surged into his meridians like a Hundred Rivers Return to the Sea, condensing at his spine into the form of a coiling Profound Serpent.

He was somewhat surprised to find that the Nether River Yin Qi, accumulated at Cold Crow Pass over ten millennia, was the perfect fuel for cultivating his Turtle and Snake Dharma Aspect.

Suddenly, the delicate sound of tinkling jade pendants came from outside the pavilion.

Before she could be announced, a woman in a Crimson Gauze Skirt was already prostrated at the foot of the jade steps.

The nine-phoenix golden hairpin in her hair swayed gently as she kowtowed, casting dappled spots of light on the bluestone floor.

"Mo Qingtang of Hundred Desires Peak greets the Guardian Envoy."

Her voice was as soft and sweet as if it were soaked in honey, each word carrying a perfectly placed tremor.

Xu Yunfan opened his eyes. With a slight thought, the great doors of the Profound Nether Pavilion opened without a breeze. His eyes fell upon the woman on the steps below, still in a posture of full prostration, her hands held high above her head, holding up a gold-trimmed Storage Bag.

From his angle, he could just make out the faint pink Lotus pattern on the back of her neck.

That was the mark of a core disciple from Hundred Desires Peak.

’If I recall correctly, this person is a True Disciple of Hundred Desires Peak. Three inches below her navel, there should be a Demon Pattern formed by the Hundred Desires Devouring Essence Technique.’

"Rise and speak."

With a flick of his finger, Xu Yunfan sent the Storage Bag flying into his palm.

His Divine Sense swept over it. The one hundred thousand Middle-grade Spirit Stones for the month were all there, not a single one missing. On top lay three extra Elixirs that emanated a peach-colored mist.

He couldn’t help but sneer. ’Hundred Desires Peak certainly has the etiquette of "making amends" down pat.’

Only then did Mo Qingtang dare to straighten her back, though she remained kneeling, not daring to stand.

The morning light slanted in, finally illuminating her features.

Beneath long, elegant brows sat a pair of slightly upturned phoenix eyes. The outer corners were adorned with gold powder, tracing the image of butterflies poised for flight. Her lips were so vivid they looked as if she had just drunk blood, yet her mouth was naturally upturned in a faint smile.

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