Chapter 616: Chapter 614: Platform (Extra update, please subscribe)_1
Kong Sang Market.
Wanbao Pavilion.
Wang Lingdao stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking in the direction of Mount Sang Qing.
Even though the market was bustling with people and making a fortune every day, it did not bring him the slightest bit of joy.
Just recently, he had received a flying sword message from his family, ordering him to withdraw from the Kong Sang Market and transfer the Great Array’s rights and the shop to the person from Mount Sang Qing.
The message also vaguely referred to a previous contest of spellcraft, and how incredulous Wang Lingdao was when he heard that his family’s elder had actually lost to that ’Mr. Qing Hezi’ by a single move.
Thinking back to his own ten-move agreement with the opposing party, how could he not realize that Mr. Qing Hezi had held back at the Mysterious Dark Abyss...
"Pavilion Master!"
At this moment, Meng Zhuzi had already arrived behind Wang Lingdao, "Our people are all ready... Shall we?"
"The market has been abandoned, breaking a few assets more makes no difference... Better to leave both sides some face," Wang Lingdao sighed.
Meng Zhuzi too glanced in the direction of Mount Sang Qing, feeling a hint of regret.
Immediately after, his Dao heart was firm, and he cut off that brief sense of regret.
If it hadn’t been for that, how could he have condensed a Nascent Soul?
Certainly not by really fighting it out in the Mysterious Dark Abyss, right?
Half a day later.
An Escape Light surfaced, bringing with it a terrifying Spiritual Pressure, and suddenly descended upon the Kong Sang Market!
"It’s Senior Mr. Qing Hezi!"
"We pay our respects to Senior Mr. Qing Hezi!"
A number of cultivators saluted one after another.
Fang Xi nodded slightly, his voice clear, "From today onwards, Mount Sang Qing takes over the Kong Sang Market!"
His voice was gentle and calm, yet it resounded in any part of the market.
A slender figure came to the front of Wanbao Pavilion, and it was Zuo Xiaoxuan.
Wang Lingdao gave a bitter smile as he took out a green command token from his sleeve and handed it over.
This item was the core of control for the local fifth-tier array.
Zuo Xiaoxuan took it over as if it signified the handover of power.
Wang Lingdao took one last look at the market, led the Wang family disciples onto a wind-propelled boat, and left the marketplace.
Before stepping onto the deck, Meng Zhuzi also looked back as if he had something to say, but ultimately, he couldn’t say anything.
"From today, Wanbao Pavilion, renamed Evergreen Pavilion!"
Fang Xi turned into a streak of Blue Light and entered the Evergreen Pavilion. Looking at the empty counters, he couldn’t help but sigh.
"Senior..."
Zuo Xiaoxuan walked in, her face also showing a wry smile, "Now I don’t have enough staff to maintain the market..."
"If we’re short on people, we hire more. As for the initial investment in spiritual objects, I’ll figure something out," Fang Xi said confidently, as if there was nothing in the world he couldn’t handle.
This issue was indeed simple to resolve. Most of the spiritual objects needed in the Kong Sang Market were of the Nascent Soul and Core Formation ranks. Scouring the Lower Realm could provide a temporary solution to the crisis.
As long as the subsequent profits from spiritual objects were used to complete a positive cycle, the market would be able to sustain itself.
What Fang Xi needed to do now was provide a lump sum of ’start-up capital.’
As for the cultivators?
If the Evergreen Pavilion was willing to take them in, there were indeed an abundance of Individual Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment and Core Formation stages!
’After the market gets up and running, I can also secretly conduct my Inter-realm trade... With such a large-capacity market as a cover, adding a few more deliveries will be no problem at all,’ Fang Xi thought to himself, hands clasped behind his back, his eyes filled with expectation...
...
Time flew by, and several years passed in a flash.
There were no disturbances in Kong Sang Market, so the handover went very smoothly.
Nowadays, the fishing cultivators had grown accustomed to conducting their trades at the Kong Sang Market.
And the Evergreen Pavilion was their top choice!
In addition to the necessary ’Water Purifying Pills,’ ’Black Nirvana Silkworm Artifacts,’ and ’Specially Made Spirit Boats,’ the Evergreen Pavilion also occasionally stocked ’Five Elements Spirit Fruit,’ ’Infant Transformation Pills,’ and other objects that aided in the condensation of the Golden Core Nascent Soul, sufficient to firmly capture the hearts of those Individual Cultivators.
By now, everything was on the right track.
Speaking of it, Zuo Xiaoxuan’s efforts were indispensable, as she indeed had a talent for management.
Fang Xi was also willing to generously reward her talents and delegate authority, giving the Evergreen Pavilion quite the prosperous look.
On this day.
Zuo Xiaoxuan personally went near the Mysterious Dark Abyss, seemingly waiting for something.
"Pavilion Master... the Individual Cultivators around have been dispersed, informed of the pros and cons," said a Nascent Soul cultivator with white hair and a respectful manner toward the Core Formation cultivator Zuo Xiaoxuan, riding on a streak of light.
This feeling was utterly intoxicating.
"Hmm, it’s time, according to the Peak Master, to start assembling the fishing gear..."
Although she had already seen the mechanical factory on Mount Sang Qing’s side, Zuo Xiaoxuan was still full of wonder when she heard Fang Xi’s plan.
Soon, a streak of light appeared, and it was Fang Xi!
"Greetings to the Sect Master!"
The cultivators of the Evergreen Pavilion hurriedly paid their respects, while on the shore, many more cultivators followed to watch the excitement.
"We can begin now!"
Fang Xi murmured a phrase and issued an instruction to ’Tai Yi’.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
On the specially dug canal, steel behemoths emerged, belching black smoke as they moved along.
These steel behemoths, even the smallest of which were hundreds of meters in length, resembled giant steel beasts.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
They surged into the Mysterious Dark Abyss, reaching the designated areas, and then disintegrated, turning into numerous metal components and modules.
Yellow-Turbaned Strongmen emerged one after the other, beginning the construction of a large-scale offshore platform.
Countless ’nanorobots’ accomplished various precise tasks in the finer details.
Several days later, a giant offshore platform spanning a hundred miles emerged, serving as a mini industrial area that combined ’shipyard’, ’repair docks’, ’preprocessing mechanisms’, ’Yellow-Turbaned Strongman production line’, and ’defensive gun batteries’.
Looking out over it, it resembled a steel city upon the sea!
"This... truly magnificent and spectacular! I never imagined that Mr. Qing Hezi was also proficient in puppet skills..." An individual cultivator expressed their astonishment.
"Indeed, such puppetry skills are truly astonishing, but when compared with the Mo Sect, there is still something lacking..."
Another older cultivator with a white beard stroked his beard and said, "I have once seen the Mechanism City of the Mo Sect, and that was truly mind-boggling... A city that can be disassembled at will, housing hundreds of ’Giant Divine Soldiers’ coordinated with arrays. Even a Transcendent God cultivator would flee at the mere sight..."
The puppet skill demonstrated by this offshore platform was on par with the level of the Mo Sect.
Fang Xi understood this very well.
The Earth Immortal Realm is infinitely vast, surpassing the Nine States in many areas of expertise, which wasn’t surprising.
Yet, even in this backwater of the Nine States, there was still some technological advantage to be had.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Countless assembly lines roared as myriad mechanical arms disassembled and assembled...
Soon, a steel-colored ’Tortoise Shell Ship’ emerged in the dock.
Its flat hull resembled a tortoise shell, enabling it to navigate through the Mysterious Dark Abyss, even extending mechanical arms to cast nets and fish when the hatch was opened...
"Hmm, this kind of spirit material?"
Zuo Xiaoxuan gazed at the Tortoise Shell Ship and fell into deep thought, "It seems to not be a material for artifacts..."
"This special metal, inscribed with array patterns inside, can’t stop the corrosion of Mysterious Dark Heavy Water... but it can at least hold out for some time before being scrapped directly..."
Fang Xi smiled slightly, his divine thought overflowing, allowing him to see the endless cycle of destruction and rebirth at the base of this steel island.
The Mysterious Dark Heavy Water might be eroding the foundation of the island, but new modules constantly assembled, maintaining the miracle of this unsinkable island!
"Congratulations to the elder, the construction of this Mechanism Island is complete. In the future, you can enter the Mysterious Dark Abyss and fish extensively... though it will still require some cultivators for protection."
Zuo Xiaoxuan’s eyes lit up as she watched.
"That should be enough... but we don’t need too many. The island itself comes equipped with arrays and prohibitions, as well as puppets and mechanism cannons..."
Of course, Fang Xi wouldn’t mention that he had also insanely installed several Star Destroyer Cannons on this offshore platform, each with a might comparable to a strike from a Transcendent God!
As long as there was no encounter with a True Armored Whale, it should be able to dominate the area.
Moreover, he wouldn’t let this platform delve too deep into the Mysterious Dark Abyss. The Ghost Gate Reef area was the limit.
"With this platform at sea, by the end of the year, it should be able to gather three or four times the harvest of all the cultivators in the Mysterious Dark Abyss... That is to say, an increase of three or four percent in production is just right, more would be overdoing it!"
An increase of three or four percent in the total income of spiritual objects, then offering up a bit more than two percent in True Blood Pills as tribute, meant there was still profit to be made.
But if the production of spiritual objects exploded, why wouldn’t the Dragon Controlling Sect just seize the operation for themselves?
In the Cultivation World, many things don’t follow logic, only power.
Fang Xi also didn’t want to attract envy, so maintaining a low-profit or even break-even operation model, enough to keep outsiders quiet, was acceptable.
As for the real profits, it naturally lay in the increased success rate of concocting ’True Blood Pills’.
While the Pill Concoction skills of the Nine States were remarkable, there certainly were Sects in the Earth Immortal Realm that surpassed them.
In fact, Fang Xi had heard a rumor that in some major Sects, master Pill Concocters could directly use Void Primordial Energy as a material to ’create from nothing’ various Spiritual Pills, with methods akin to creating from the Void, an incredible feat!
Compared to that, just slightly improving the success rate of Pill Concoction was something to behold only in this rural area...
"The Nine States may be desirable, but the foundation of any Cultivation technology ultimately relies on Cultivation. Previously, everything was at the Nascent Soul level, so the technology was average. Now that I’ve reached Transcendent God, maybe another breakthrough is possible..."
If one’s Cultivation advanced further, reaching the incredible realm of manipulating creation, it would be more useful than any technology!
And that was pure personal power.
"Even if Lord Hei Miao’s words are true and the Dragon Controlling Sect has ’harvested’ once, they would still need to ease up for a while, letting the ’leeks’ grow slowly..."
"Perhaps the addition of Qing Hezi was slightly unexpected, but it’s still much weaker compared to the Black Water Sect... Which means it’s still within a tolerable range, and no major changes should occur in the short term..."
For Fang Xi, this was a rare opportunity for development.
With this window of opportunity, he could rapidly accumulate ’True Blood Pills’, thereby making his Cultivation skyrocket!
For this reason, even restraining the output of this offshore platform was worthwhile.
What you hold in your hands is your own.
’The Mysterious Dark Abyss has many benefits, allowing for the accumulation of a large number of True Blood Pills. If it were any other region, it might not offer such advantages.’ Fang Xi was very satisfied with his previous choices. In fact, every region in the Cultivation World is likely to be similar to the Mysterious Dark Abyss.
To live comfortably and enjoy Long Life... one must continuously break through to higher realms!