Chapter 308: The Kunlun Pillar Of Old Has Become Today’s Sky-measuring Ruler!
City of Light Chasing, Red Moon Merchant Guild.
As the Blood Pattern Clan elder watched Wu Zhuoqun leave the VIP room, a Blood Pattern Clan youth wearing luxurious clothing and a white mask walked in.
“Elder Kuilang, Wu Zhuoqun has already left,” the white masked youth reported cautiously. “That Wu Zhuoqun is now the vice leader of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall Guard Corps, specifically responsible for some daily affairs of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. It seems he cannot decide on this huge transaction and should be going back to report the situation. But with the price this high, I am worried the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall might give up on purchasing that Inheritance Metal Plate that is basically useless.”
As the shop owner of the Guangzhui Branch in the City of Light Chasing, he had conducted a lot of research as soon as he received the Inheritance Metal Plate that Isaac put up for sale.
The Body Strengthening Secret Technique was indeed astonishing, capable of pushing the toughness of the body beyond the extreme, but its cultivation difficulty was too great. Even with Healing Potions as support, the mortality rate remained very high.
The further one cultivated, the more difficult it became to reconstruct the cells, and the resulting effect on martial artists above the Bone Forging Realm was basically useless, far inferior to simply wearing Tier 2 Battle Armor. It could be said this Secret Technique was very much a tasteless chicken rib.
So the Metal Plate of the Body Strengthening Secret Technique had always been stored in the Guangzhui Branch Warehouse and had never been sent to headquarters.
He had even considered how to sell off this Inheritance Metal Plate, but within the City of Light Chasing there was no faction able to produce the required tenfold Price, so it could only sit there.
Now that the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall wanted it, he was personally very pleased. Not only could they get rid of a tasteless chicken rib, but they could also net tens of thousands of Energy Crystals in profit for the Merchant Guild. That was higher than two to three years of profit for the Guangzhui Branch.
Elder Kuilang smiled with great confidence and said, “I have seen that Inheritance Metal Plate. It is indeed tasteless, but for such a tasteless Secret Technique, it is hard to imagine that level of civilization creating something so useless. This Secret Technique very likely needs to cooperate with other Secret Techniques to produce a formidable effect. Among some of the Secret Techniques our Merchant Guild has obtained, there are quite a few like this.”
“That the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is willing to pay a high price for this kind of tasteless Secret Technique likely means the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall has obtained corresponding Secret Techniques, and only needs this one more to raise their overall Strength to the next level. Previously the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall earned a huge sum from the various major powers. Since the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall wants it this badly, it should be to deal with the full-scale purge of the Mountain of the Dead by Smiling Skull. After all, this time Smiling Skull has lost one of the Seven Guardians and is truly enraged. Once they finish cleaning out the people at the Mountain of the Dead, sending people to repeatedly ambush and kill Obsidian Martial Arts Hall people throughout the Wushan Region will only be a matter of time.”
“I did not make them trade the other half of the Secret Technique for our inspection. I only asked for some Guard Robots and a Limit Breaking Level Martial Skill. I am already letting them off lightly. And for us to obtain one hundred Prison Guard Robots and one Limit Breaking Level Martial Skill is a great achievement. When the time comes, not only can I return to headquarters, but you as shop owner might even be promoted to general store manager of the region.”
“Elder Kuilang, I have heard the people of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall are all a bunch of lunatics. If they go crazy, they might directly make a move on us.” The white masked youth was still somewhat worried after hearing this. After all, this Sale was essentially breaking the rules of the Red Moon Merchant Guild. Other factions might endure it, but lunatics like the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall might not.
“So what if they are a bunch of lunatics?” Elder Kuilang said with complete disdain. “In this Wushan Region they may have become a local tyrant, but before the Red Moon Merchant Guild they are nothing more than a baby just learning to crawl. Not to mention we are staying in the City, with the Iron Rule set by the Domain City. What can they do to me?”
The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall might be a colossal force to the factions within the Wushan Region, but before him, an elder of the Red Moon Merchant Guild, they were nothing at all.
If not for the Iron Rule set by the Domain City, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall would have been wiped out long ago. How would they still dare to so arrogantly annihilate the people of Earth Star Pharmaceuticals in Chiyue Town and even kill one of Smiling Skull’s Seven Guardians? As if Earth Star Pharmaceuticals and Smiling Skull had no one?
Likewise, as long as he stayed in the City, if the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall dared to send a large number of martial artists against him, the Domain City’s Iron Rule would apply to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall all the same. Unless the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall no longer wanted to operate in the Wushan Region and ran off to places beyond the Domain City’s control, otherwise within the Wushan Region they would face endless pursuit from the Domain City.
Not to mention, once the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall left the Shelter of the Mist Mountain Domain City, Earth Star Pharmaceuticals and Smiling Skull would be the first to act.
Dare to touch him?
That would be pure suicide.
“However, to prevent the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall from making deals with other branches, in my name, go inform all branches that the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is now on the blacklist. All shops are forbidden from conducting any transactions with people from the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.”
“Yes, I understand.”
After hearing this, the white masked youth felt Elder Kuilang was truly brilliant and flawless in his planning.
Setting aside striking against the Red Moon Merchant Guild, which would surely bring its retaliation, just targeting them within the City would leave the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall with no place to stand.
And if the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall wanted to resist Smiling Skull’s full-scale purge, they would have no choice but to accept Elder Kuilang’s Quoted Price. They would have to swallow this loss with pinched noses.
……
Chiyue Town, deep underground beneath Crimson Moon Mountain.
After finding a patch of fertile soil, Lin Qi directly buried the Seed of Life and poured a prepared barrel of High-level Monster blood over it.
“As expected, this Monster blood also counts as Life Essence.”
Sensing a slight reaction from the Seed of Life, Lin Qi could not help being overjoyed.
He had originally been worried about whether Monster blood counted as Life Essence, but now that the Seed of Life showed a trace of Energy fluctuation within his Mental Domain, it proved Monster blood could be considered a type of Life Essence.
Which meant that as long as he continued to water it with Monster blood in the future, he could make the Seed of Life grow into the Tree of Life, which would then continuously bear the Fruit of Life.
This Monster blood was difficult to obtain in large quantities for other factions, but for Players it was no problem at all. Just by Players going out into the Wilderness to explore every day, they could bring back many Monsters. Not to mention the current Player Count had reached eight thousand; the Monsters in the Surrounding areas were not enough for them to kill. Veteran Players either went to farther Wilderness areas or headed to the Mountain of the Dead to hunt Lord Monsters.
Right now, just the Monster blood accumulated in the Martial Arts Hall Warehouse for making Potions was nearly more than the temporary Warehouses built by the Martial Arts Hall could hold.
Lin Qi immediately ordered a group of Martial Arts Hall Disciples to frantically Carry Monster blood from the Warehouse underground, while he poured barrel after barrel over the Seed of Life, allowing it to continuously absorb Life Essence.
One barrel… two barrels… three barrels…
After Lin Qi had poured several hundred barrels of Blood Essence from High-level Monsters and below, the Seed of Life had grown into a sapling more than two meters tall. Its branches and leaves were crystal clear, like emeralds, and clusters of finger-sized fruits had formed on the twigs. As they absorbed more Blood Essence, these fruits slowly grew along with the Tree of Life.
By the time the morning sun rose, after Lin Qi had poured out the Blood Essence of an entire large Warehouse, the Tree of Life had grown into a large tree more than four meters tall. The blood-red fruits on its branches had become the size of fists, like ripe apples, and began to drop one by one to the ground.
“One thousand barrels of Blood Essence from Monsters below High-level can produce ten Fruits of Life. This Consumption is really astonishing.” Looking at the ripe Fruits of Life on the ground, Lin Qi could not help clicking his tongue.
One barrel of Blood Essence basically required killing one High-level Monster to obtain. If replaced with Mid-level Monsters, it would take around ten of them, and for Low-level Monsters, it would take about twenty to thirty.
If all were replaced with High-level Monsters, one would have to slay one thousand High-level Monsters to get ten Fruits of Life, with a maturation time of about six hours. The cost could not be called anything but high.
Although, because of the Monster Tide, there were currently many Monsters in the Wilderness, one thousand High-level Monsters would still take a whole day even if all Players went to the Mountain of the Dead and the Wilderness to hunt, and the time cost was not only the hunting itself, but also the journey of transporting everything back to Chiyue Town.
Producing ten Fruits of Life a day was not even enough for their own use. The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall now had a million Disciples. Even just training within the Town, many were injured every day. If they went out to fight, crippling injuries were commonplace. Ten fruits were not enough to fill the gaps between teeth.
“It seems that to increase output, we can only have Players hunt more Lord Monsters.”
Picking up all the Fruits of Life, Lin Qi began calculating how to increase production. Besides increasing the quantity of Monster blood to boost the growth of the Tree of Life and the Fruit of Life, he could also improve the quality of the Monster blood.
Lord-level Monsters were not only huge in size, their Energy Density in the blood far surpassed High-level Monsters. Using Lord Monsters’ blood for irrigation would undoubtedly produce Fruits of Life faster and in greater numbers.
Once more Fruits of Life could be produced, they would undoubtedly become a signature and a source of confidence for the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, a qualification for carrying out important Resources trades with true Major Powers. Unlike now, where they had almost nothing decent to offer.
For true Major Powers, such as a Domain City that ruled an entire region, whether Guard Robots or Limit Breaking Level Martial Skills, they could treat them as dispensable and would never use truly important Resources to trade for them. Only various ordinary factions coveted Guard Robots and Limit Breaking Level Martial Skills and were willing to pay a lot, yet these factions did not have many things of real Value. Even if they traded everything, they would not get much in return.
But the Fruit of Life was different. For the big shots of true Major Powers, Fruits of Life were absolutely indispensable. After all, no one could guarantee they would not become disabled after a fierce Battle. If these experts became disabled, the Influence on a faction would be enormous, let alone the impact on the individuals themselves.
For this, if these experts could pay some Price to obtain a divine medicine that ensured they would not become disabled, they would naturally not miss the opportunity.
Thinking of this, Lin Qi became even more eager to have Players go into the Wilderness and the Mountain of the Dead to hunt Lord Monsters.
Although he was still far from the Blood Condensation Realm, Energy Blood Essence was something where the more the better, especially when he currently had no way to produce it himself.
As Lin Qi was mulling over whether to launch a Lord Monster acquisition event for Players, a man stood at the Martial Arts Hall entrance, his expression filled with indescribable anxiety and helplessness as he paced back and forth. This man was none other than Wu Zhuoqun.
“You are waiting here. Did something happen?” Lin Qi looked at Wu Zhuoqun and asked in puzzlement.
Seeing Lin Qi, Wu Zhuoqun’s expression became even more troubled. “Hall master, the Red Moon Merchant Guild is willing to sell that Metal Plate, but the asking Price is too high. I did not dare decide. Also, if we do not buy it within two days, they plan to send the Metal Plate to the Red Moon Merchant Guild headquarters.”
“Is the asking Price high?” Lin Qi nodded and asked, “What Price are they asking?”
The Red Moon Merchant Guild was notoriously black-hearted in the Wushan Region. Once they had something in hand, anyone who wanted to buy it would have to pay an extremely high Price. So throughout the Wushan Region, few factions bought from the Red Moon Merchant Guild; most only sold things to them.
Wu Zhuoqun looked at Lin Qi, very nervous, and said, “They want one hundred Guard Robots and one complete Limit Breaking Level Martial Skill, and that was their Quoted Price when I left. If we negotiate further, they will probably ask for even more.”
“One hundred Guard Robots and one complete Limit Breaking Level Martial Skill?” Lin Qi was momentarily stunned.
Each Prison Guard Robot was worth a fortune, like gambling on rough stones. Maybe inside you would find a gem worth a fortune and get rich overnight.
Even if they did not produce Inheritances or complete Martial Skills, the combat data recorded by the Guard Robots could allow people to learn impressive Martial Skills. There was at least a guaranteed baseline.
With one hundred Guard Robots, even if they did not yield two or three Inheritances or several Limit Breaking Level Martial Skills, just one Limit Breaking Level Martial Skill would be priceless, enough to drive a top-tier faction mad.
For the Red Moon Merchant Guild to ask for this was effectively demanding more than two Limit Breaking Level Martial Skills or Inheritances from him.
The Body Strengthening Secret Technique was indeed precious, but for major powers this Secret Technique was not easy to cultivate, and was even somewhat of a chicken rib. Trading it for one Supernatural Level Martial Skill would already be a profit, let alone that, in Star Energy Civilization, the Body Strengthening Secret Technique was worth far less than a Supernatural Level Martial Skill, as Star Energy Construct Secret Methods were very common there.
As for trading it for one Limit Breaking Level Martial Skill, that was pure fantasy. Asking for more than two Limit Breaking Level Martial Skills would make even people of Star Energy Civilization curse their entire family.
“In addition, I received news that Smiling Skull has dispatched four of the Seven Guardians to lead forces in purging us in the Mountain of the Dead first, so that we cannot set foot there,” Wu Zhuoqun said grimly. “That elder from the Red Moon Merchant Guild seems to have noticed our Martial Arts Hall needs that Inheritance Metal Plate to quickly boost our overall Strength, so he named such a sky-high Price.”
He knew a bit about the Inheritance Metal Plates of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. As a Member of the Martial Arts Hall Guard Corps, he had learned Mental Secret Techniques and Potential Secret Techniques from those Metal Plates. It was obvious the Body Strengthening Secret Technique was a matching Secret Technique. By changing the structure of the Cells, it not only made the Body tougher, but allowed the Cells to withstand more Energy, and the Energy carried by the Cells was key to the Potential Secret Technique.
By then, any Disciple in the Martial Arts Hall who mastered the Body Strengthening Secret Technique would see a significant boost in Strength.
In his view, Lin Qi was busy collecting the Metal Plates of the Body Strengthening Secret Technique precisely to deal with Smiling Skull and Earth Star Pharmaceuticals. He did not know how that elder from the Red Moon Merchant Guild figured it out, but now they were clearly taking advantage of them.
“Since the Red Moon Merchant Guild’s appetite is this big, I will satisfy him and see whether his stomach is made of iron,” Lin Qi said calmly. “Go inform the City Lords of the major cities that I, Lin Qi, hall master of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, want to make a Transaction with them.”
“Make a Transaction with those City Lords?” Wu Zhuoqun was a bit confused and did not understand what Lin Qi intended. “What are we selling them?”
“What else? Weapons, of course.” Lin Qi smiled.
The main profits of the Red Moon Merchant Guild came from selling B-grade Alloy Battle Armor in major cities, thereby Harvesting the factions there. So Lin Qi very much wanted to see who would buy from them once all those B-grade Alloy Battle Armors sold by the Red Moon Merchant Guild proved worthless.
“Weapons?” Wu Zhuoqun seemed to realize something, his mouth forming an O. “Hall master! You plan to sell those Superconducting Electromagnetic Guns?”
The Superconducting Electromagnetic Guns were standard-issue armor-breaking Divine Weapons for the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall Guard Corps. If they were truly sold, they would absolutely rewrite history and completely change the current combat system of martial artists.
“Mm, go quickly and come back quickly,” Lin Qi nodded.
As the saying goes, if you will not be one of my Great Peace, then do not be human in the future.
