Rise of the Wang Clan: Starting with a Portable Farm

Chapter 277: Red Butterfly Market

“I merely enjoy collecting the world’s exotic insects. Perhaps I will flip them at a major market for a tidy sum of Spirit Stones. Fellow Daoist need not trouble himself over my intentions.” Wang Hao produced another vial of diluted spirit water, his expression utterly placid. “I will take the Rainbow Phoenix Silkworm eggs.”

“Excellent! Then I wish Fellow Daoist a lucrative harvest!” Yang Lu congratulated, a wide, calculated smile splitting his face. He couldn’t care less if Wang Hao boiled the eggs for dinner; his eyes were glued solely to the Rank Three spirit water.

Yang Lu presented a heavily warded jade box. He popped the lid, revealing two rainbow-hued eggs the size of chicken eggs. Wang Hao swept his Divine Sense over them, confirming their robust vitality. They were perfectly viable for incubation.

Just as Yang Lu moved to stow the rest of his inventory away, Wang Hao raised a hand. “Fellow Daoist Yang, there is no harm in selling me a few of your other specimens while we are at it.”

“Do you possess more spirit water?” Yang Lu frowned, pausing his movements. Wang Hao had an impressive array of Pills, but Yang Lu had no need for standard medicinal wares.

In response, Wang Hao retrieved a perfectly round, luminous Pill. “The Setting Sun Sect specializes in insect taming, a path that undoubtedly places a crushing burden on one’s Divine Sense. This is a Mind-Concentrating Pill, specifically formulated to expand a cultivator’s mental expanse. I acquired two at a premium during a high-end auction. Were your spirit insects not so uniquely exotic, I would never bear to part with it.”

Yang Lu’s breath hitched. Pills capable of permanently enhancing Divine Sense were exceedingly rare. It was exactly what he needed to control his growing swarm. After a brief internal struggle, he gave a curt nod. “Deal. Fellow Daoist may select three types of insect eggs, five of each kind.”

Wang Hao pragmatically selected the Black Jade Bee, Gold-Eating Ant, and Snow Jade Spider eggs. Because the Snow Jade Spider was significantly rarer than the others, Yang Lu only permitted him a single egg.

Adding in the Spirit-Seeking Bee, the Earth-Devouring Spirit Earthworm, and the Rainbow Phoenix Silkworm, Wang Hao had successfully acquired six distinct lineages of spirit insects in a single sweep. A massive haul by any standard.

With the transaction complete and both parties thoroughly satisfied, Yang Lu took his leave.

Returning to his private chambers, Wang Hao arranged several incubation jars. He placed the eggs inside—excluding the Black Jade Bees—and carefully portioned out droplets of diluted Rank Three spirit water to nourish their dormant life forces.

“Master, do you truly intend to raise so many spirit insects?” Zou Yu stood by the doorway, her brow furrowed in genuine concern. “I know you already support several spirit beasts. Can your treasury withstand such a ruinous drain of Spirit Stones? Please, do not neglect your own cultivation for the sake of these creatures.”

Since taking her in, Wang Hao hadn’t officially imparted many teachings, but Zou Yu remained fiercely loyal. She knew that without his protection, she would still be a bullied wretch in the Qingyuan Market. Her warning came from a place of deep gratitude.

Wang Hao chuckled, his pragmatic exterior softening slightly. “Rest easy, my good disciple. Even if the heavens themselves ran dry, your master would not be wanting for wealth.” He sealed the jar containing the Snow Jade Spider and tossed it to her. “Yu’er, the Snow Jade Spider possesses excellent utility. You will raise it.”

Before she could protest, Wang Hao retrieved a vial of diluted spirit water alongside a cache of low-grade Spirit Grass and fruits. “Use the water to incubate the egg, and feed the hatchling with the Spirit Grass. These supplies will comfortably see the spider to the second rank. A cultivator cannot rely entirely on external aids during a life-and-death struggle, but lacking them instantly reduces your survival odds by ten percent. Take every advantage you can get.”

He then slid the jade box containing the Black Jade Bee eggs across the table. “When Wen Yue emerges from her secluded cultivation, hand these to her. She has the temperament for an aggressive swarm.”

Wang Hao had already mapped out his logistics. The Earth-Devouring Spirit Earthworms would be dumped into the clan’s spiritual fields for the mundane farmers to tend. That left him with only three species to manage personally: the Spirit-Seeking Bee, the Gold-Eating Ant, and the Rainbow Phoenix Silkworm. The pressure on his resources was negligible. He would funnel his premium fodder into the Silkworm, while treating the bees and ants as expendable utility tools, raising them to the second rank for field exploration.

“Master, this… your disciple dares not accept!” Zou Yu stared at the jar as if it burned. Wang Hao had traded legendary Rank Three spirit water for these eggs. They were worth thousands of Spirit Stones—a sum of wealth she couldn’t even fathom.

Wang Hao sighed. “You are my disciple. Over the years, I have not adequately fulfilled my duties as your master, and given our clan’s current trajectory, my time will only grow more scarce. Let this Snow Jade Spider serve as your vanguard and guard your life in my stead.”

When she still hesitated, Wang Hao hardened his gaze, feigning sternness. “Will you openly defy your master’s command? Have you never heard the phrase, ‘When an elder bestows a gift, a junior does not refuse’?”

“Disciple dares not! Disciple thanks Master!” Zou Yu quickly bowed, finally accepting the treasures.

“Dismissed. Return to your quarters and rest,” Wang Hao ordered, turning back to his cultivation mat.

Zou Yu lingered for a fraction of a second, gazing at his back with a fierce light kindling in her eyes. She silently swore to master the path of Formations. One day, she would be a weapon the Wang clan could wield, repaying her master’s boundless generosity.

Two days later, the welcoming banquet commenced.

The food and wine were lavish, but utterly irrelevant. The true purpose of the gathering was an assessment. A new Golden Core faction had planted its banner in the Red Butterfly Sea, and the local apex predators had come to test its teeth.

The Red Butterfly Sea was a volatile powder keg. The political landscape was locked in a tense stalemate: two cultivator families united against two powerful Sects. Historically, the Liao and Sun families had always operated at a severe disadvantage.

The Wang clan’s sudden arrival offered a glimmer of hope to balance the scales.

Unfortunately, the Wang clan was pitifully small—numbering fewer than a hundred kin—and boasted only a single early-stage Golden Core Patriarch. Even with their addition, the family alliance remained objectively weaker than the Sects. Still, it was a drastic improvement from being relentlessly suppressed.

The Golden Core Patriarchs arrived at Giant Turtle Island with impeccable punctuality, their absolute auras descending upon the peak like physical weights. Wang Guang’an personally stepped out to receive them.

Following a suffocating exchange of mockingly polite pleasantries, the titans ascended the central dais.

Representing the Setting Sun Sect was a middle-aged woman draped in iridescent robes: Daoist Caifeng. She was a late-stage Golden Core monster and the master of the adult Rainbow Phoenix Silkworms. Her very title was a testament to the terrifying martial prowess her insects provided.

The Yiyuan Sect dispatched a young man in golden-yellow robes named Huang Yi. Though he was only at the early Golden Core stage, he was a mere one hundred and seventy years old. His terrifying Potential made him a viper no one dared to underestimate.

Representing the Sun family was Sun Jihai, a mid-stage Golden Core elder. Clad in simple green robes, his hair and beard were stark white. He reeked of twilight, clearly pushing the absolute four-hundred-year lifespan limit of his realm. If he perished before a successor arose, the Sun family would be wiped from the map.

After a few rounds of deceptively potent spirit wine, Liao Yetian set his cup down, his eyes locking onto Huang Yi. A shark-like smile stretched across his face.

“Fellow Daoist Huang,” Liao Yetian drawled, his voice carrying clearly over the silent hall. “Now that Fellow Daoist Wang has relocated his entire lineage to our domain, he is officially a pillar of the Red Butterfly Sea. Our Red Butterfly Market was jointly founded by our respective powers. Don’t you agree it is only proper that we allocate a few prime shops to Fellow Daoist Wang?”

It was a calculated, cutthroat thrust. Liao Yetian wasn’t worried about the Wang clan defecting to the Sects. Sects inherently despised and cannibalized bloodline families; the Wangs had no future there. Furthermore, Giant Turtle Island was practically in the Liao family’s backyard. If the Wangs betrayed them, Liao Yetian would crush them himself.

Huang Yi’s eyes narrowed into twin crescents, though a placid, magnanimous smile remained plastered on his face.

He instantly recognized the trap. The Wangs were proven alchemists. Giving them a foothold in the market would inevitably siphon profits directly from the Yiyuan Sect’s medicinal monopolies. But Huang Yi couldn’t outright refuse without directly insulting a Golden Core Patriarch to his face. No matter how small the Wang clan was, making a mortal enemy of them was bad business.

“But of course!” Huang Yi chuckled, his tone dripping with weaponized diplomacy. “There is a vacant, rather spacious shop at the tail end of the main street. The location is a bit secluded, however. I propose a grander gesture: why don’t our four factions each cede one of our own established shops? We can present Fellow Daoist Wang with five premium storefronts in total!”

If the Yiyuan Sect was going to bleed, Huang Yi was going to ensure Liao Yetian and the others bled right alongside him.