The sphere resembled a mundane crystal ball, seemingly devoid of any spiritual fluctuations. Yet, as the cultivator aboard the flying ship injected his True Qi, the artifact hummed to life, emitting an energy signature characteristic of a Tier-3 Spirit Weapon.
The man poured his energy into the device with frantic intensity. The sphere bloomed with light, releasing an imperceptible pulse—a silent sonar ping—that rippled outward, sweeping across the entirety of the Qingyun Sect.
Down below, the sect’s firewall was oblivious. Not a single soul in Qingyun detected the intrusion scan.
In the span of a few breaths, the spy’s face drained of color, turning as pale as bleached parchment. He abruptly cut the connection, his chest heaving.
A look of ecstatic relief washed over him. He quickly stowed the sphere into his Storage Bag and settled into a cross-legged meditative posture, feigning cultivation as if the espionage had never occurred.
Inside the Central Hall, Sun Yi was blissfully unaware that his server had just been pinged by a foreign device. He walked in, flanked by his executive team, to greet the delegation from the Seven Star Tower.
“Sect Leader Sun, these are the deliverables for this quarter. Please verify the shipment.”
Mo Wen barely waited for his backside to hit the chair before he eagerly produced a Storage Ring and slid it across the table.
Sun Yi accepted the ring with a practiced corporate smile. His Divine Sense swept through the storage space like a barcode scanner.
Inventory check: Complete.
The shipment matched his purchase order perfectly. The bulk of it consisted of body-tempering resources—stat boosters. There were even several Tier-2 items and two types of Tier-3 materials he hadn’t yet tested for compatibility.
A sealed spiritual flame sat in the corner, but Sun Yi’s attention was fixed on the pharmaceuticals.
A faint smile touched his lips. Excellent. My hardware needs a stress test. This should push the optimization to the next level.
However, his satisfaction dipped when he counted the Foundation Establishment Pills.
Thirty.
That was a rounding error compared to his projected needs.
He looked up, his expression cooling into professional dissatisfaction. “Tower Master Mo, is this the extent of your supply chain capacity? Thirty units?”
Mo Wen shook his head, a bitter smile stretching his lips. “Sect Leader Sun creates difficulties for this old man. Across the entire Tianyuan Continent, the primary ingredient—the Soul Melding Fruit—is strictly controlled by the Five Great Sects.”
The Tower Master sighed, stroking his beard. “Their monopoly is absolute, and the harvest is meager. The number of pills that leak into the open market is pitifully small. Securing thirty required me to call in every favor I possess.”
“Are there no alternative vendors for the raw material?” Sun Yi pressed, his fingers drumming on the table. “No independent nodes? Wild spawns?”
“It is arduous,” Mo Wen explained, his tone grave. “There are forbidden zones where the fruit grows wild, but they are treacherous death traps. Furthermore, the alchemy recipe requires more than just the main ingredient.”
“Most rogue cultivators who stumble upon a fruit immediately sell it to the merchant alliances, who then trade it back to the Five Great Sects for finished pills. The loop is closed.”
Mo Wen leaned in. “The formula isn’t secret, Fellow Daoist. Many have tried to reverse-engineer the process or refine it themselves, but the failure rate is catastrophic.”
Sun Yi leaned back, processing the data. Market manipulation. Artificial scarcity enforced by a cartel. Classic.
“I didn’t expect the barriers to entry to be so high,” Sun Yi said, his voice dropping to a confidential register. “However, if the Seven Star Tower can prioritize our allocation… the Qingyun Sect is willing to pay double the market rate. Consider it a premium for expedited service.”
“Double?”
Mo Wen’s eyes instantly flared with the light of avarice. The two deacons behind him straightened up, their interest piqued.
Thirty pills were hard to get, yes. But impossible? No. With a 100% markup on the table, the impossible became merely ‘difficult.’
“Sect Leader Sun is serious?”
“The Qingyun Sect values efficiency and reliable partners,” Sun Yi said smoothly. “We can provide the deposit upfront, just like last time. Cash flow is not an issue.”
“Good! The Heavens favor the bold!” Mo Wen beamed, his demeanor shifting from apologetic to enthusiastic. “It is settled!”
“Oh, right.” Mo Wen paused, remembering his up-sell. “I have also brought a special acquisition.”
He produced another Storage Bag and handed it over.
Sun Yi scanned the contents. Dozens of Mi Luo Beast corpses lay in stasis. Five of them were Tier-3.
Biomass acquired. These will make excellent spare parts.
Externally, Sun Yi frowned, feigning disappointment. “Dead units? A pity. The degradation of fresh material is always a concern.”
“Hahaha, worry not, Sect Leader Sun!” Mo Wen laughed, clearly enjoying the reveal. “Those are merely the appetizers. Behold the main course!”
He tossed a Spirit Beast Bag to Sun Yi.
Sun Yi caught it and injected his Divine Sense.
Inside the pocket dimension, hundreds of Mi Luo Beasts were huddled together. The majority were Tier-1, with a healthy percentage of Tier-2s.
Hundreds of potential expansion slots. The multi-core processing project is a go.
“The Seven Star Tower’s logistics network is truly impressive,” Sun Yi said, allowing genuine praise to color his tone. “To source this many live specimens… your reach is extensive.”
“Is Sect Leader Sun satisfied with the transaction?”
“Product quality is within acceptable parameters. Master Mo, rest assured regarding the payment.” Sun Yi turned to his side. “Elder Qin, process the transfer.”
“Understood, Sect Leader.”
Elder Qin Chu stood, his movements crisp, and handed a prepared Storage Ring to Mo Wen.
“Tower Master Mo, please audit the funds. The surplus is the deposit for the next batch of Foundation Establishment Pills.”
Mo Wen swept the ring with his Divine Sense, then passed it to Deacons Wen and Wei for a double-blind verification. The three exchanged nods. The count was accurate.
“Refreshing!” Mo Wen exclaimed, stowing the ring. “Dealing with the Qingyun Sect is always so straightforward. No endless haggling, just results. What should we prepare for the next quarter?”
Sun Yi offered a wry, calculated smile. “Master Mo, these two acquisition rounds have severely impacted our liquidity. We’ve essentially tapped out our liquid reserves.”
He held up a hand. “We need a fiscal quarter to recover. However, we will maintain a standing order for pills and Mi Luo Beasts. Let’s set a hard cap at ten million Spirit Stones for the next shipment.”
“Ten million…” Mo Wen nodded understandingly. “Very well. We will gather the resources. Expect delivery in two months.”
“I appreciate the reliable service.” Sun Yi stood and cupped his hands—a gesture that looked almost natural on him now.
“Then we shall not intrude further. Farewell.”
Mo Wen and his deacons rose. Sun Yi and the Qingyun executives escorted them out.
After watching the Seven Star Tower’s ship vanish beyond the mountain-protecting formation, the group returned to the Central Hall. The heavy doors slammed shut.
The moment they were secure, the professional atmosphere shattered.
“Hahaha!” Elder Qin Chu roared, slapping his thigh. “Glorious! Did you see those beasts? We can finally install the new Dantians!”
Sun Yi sat at the head of the table, his mind already moving to the next phase. “Let’s check the hardware specs. How is the body tempering initiative proceeding?”
“My physical frame is approaching Tier-3 durability,” Elder Jin Jue reported, grinning. “System stability is high. Opening a new Dantian shouldn’t trigger a collapse.”
“Same here,” Qin Chu added. “The lower-tier consumables no longer provide a statistically significant boost. I’ve hit the soft cap.”
“And the software rollout?” Sun Yi turned to Elder Han Yun. “What are the adoption metrics for the Five Elements Art?”
“Reporting, Sect Leader. The Transmission Hall has been pushing the update aggressively.” Elder Han Yun paused. “We are seeing… mixed results.”
“Give me a number.”
“Approximately ten percent of the user base has migrated.”
Sun Yi frowned.
Ten percent market penetration? That’s abysmal.
The Five Elements Art was designed to run in parallel with the five-Dantian architecture. It was the operating system meant to leverage the new hardware. Without it, the sect was just running legacy code on a supercomputer.
“That’s a bottleneck,” Sun Yi muttered. “We need to incentivize the upgrade.”
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