Spirit Embankment

For the past three years, this turtle shell had consistently appeared on the list of items the Lingxian Sect’s Finance Hall intended to purchase from the cultivation world. Yet three years had passed, and there was still no news of it.

Both the head of the Yuan family and Senior Liao had mentioned that this turtle shell had been shed by an enormous sea-turtle demon beast from an ocean far, far away from the Northern and Southern Spirit Regions.

That sea was vast, and sometimes, after one of those turtle demon beasts shed its shell, the tide would happen to rise and carry it back into the sea.

Moreover, those sea-turtle demon beasts were extremely rare to begin with. Their shed shells were not merely hard to find once every thousand years—it was fair to say that one might not appear even once in five hundred years. They were exceedingly precious.

Lin Xiao drew circles on the paper.

Perhaps he should ask Senior Liao whether there was any way to contact his old friend, Yin Xuanzi.

But Senior Liao probably would not agree.

Then…

Lin Xiao recalled the appearance of the turtle shell and opened the system shop.

Sure enough, the very first item in the shop was the shell of that sea-turtle demon beast. Beneath it was the label 【High Quality】, which could be clicked to view more details.

Lin Xiao opened it and found the following description:

“A system-produced item is guaranteed to be a fine product. This turtle shell was shed by the deep-sea demon beast ‘Lingdi.’ This particular shell came from the Lingdi with the highest cultivation among its kind. It is enormous inside and highly suitable for refining artifacts.”

Lin Xiao understood. So that sea-turtle demon beast was called a Lingdi.

Judging from the detailed description, the shell sold in the shop was probably the highest-quality one available.

As expected of the system.

But…

He exited the details page and looked at the price displayed beneath the turtle shell.

One hundred thousand spirit stones.

That price was not cheap, but if they truly wanted it, the Lingxian Sect could still afford it by gritting its teeth and tightening its belt.

The problem was that the sect itself did not have many spirit stones left. During the recent recruitment drive, the upgrade of the Path of Inquiry alone had consumed more than half of their spirit-stone mine. Now was precisely the time to rest and recover. Clearly, they could not continue mining it, or the mine would be completely exhausted.

At present, most of the sect’s expenses, including various stipends, were supported by the business they conducted with the cultivation world.

Yet this turtle shell was indispensable to the trading center as well.

If the sect wanted to grow stronger and larger in the future and pursue sustainable development, it had to establish that trading center.

It would serve as the crucial hub connecting all the cultivators in the mortal world.

If they relied solely on the Pushi Kingdom’s imperial family to slowly leak information here and offer reminders there, no one knew how many years it would take to breathe life into the entire circle of cultivators in the mortal world.

Since mining was no longer an option, they could only continue expanding their sources of income.

For their sect, the best way to increase its revenue was naturally to fleece the cultivation world of its spirit stones.

If they wanted to fleece more spirit stones, they would have to expand the variety and production volume of their goods, as well as their sales channels.

Lin Xiao took out another clean sheet of paper and jotted down a few more notes.

He used his lock ring to contact Qin Jianghe and confirmed the types and approximate quantities of goods the sect was currently selling externally. He discovered that their product range had remained as conservative as ever. None of the rarer, higher-quality goods had appeared on the sales list.

As for the talismans and pills they produced for the three major sects, most were relatively niche items rather than mainstream necessities. Although they still earned spirit stones from them, their income had not truly reached the level of a low-margin, high-volume business.

Ultimately, the issue was that the three major sects did not produce enough.

Although each sect could earn eight hundred to a thousand spirit stones every month through this arrangement, that was already a substantial income for sects that had previously earned no spirit stones this way whatsoever.

But such a small amount of income was no longer enough for the Lingxian Sect.

After all, their disciples received generous monthly stipends.

In addition, the sect paid wages to those working in its various departments, along with compensation for all sorts of missions. All of that required spirit stones to sustain.

Lin Xiao thought it over. They currently had three options.

The first was to provide the three major sects with the methods for producing the basic pills, talismans, magical artifacts, and formation disks commonly used in the cultivation world.

Demand for these items was extremely high, and they were easy to sell. Naturally, their prices would also be higher than those of more niche products.

The second option was to find more sects to join the trade in addition to the three major sects.

However, if more and more sects joined the business, the Pushi Kingdom’s imperial family might no longer be able to keep things under control.

After all, when it came to the three major sects of the Pushi Kingdom, the imperial family served a purpose: it governed the mortals and provided the sects with a stable environment, ensuring a steady supply of disciples.

But sects outside the Pushi Kingdom might not regard the Li imperial clan with any respect.

In the face of enormous profits, one or two sects would not be a problem. What Lin Xiao feared was that multiple sects might join forces with malicious intent and move against the imperial family of the Pushi Kingdom. If that happened, even assistance from the three major sects might not be enough to save it.

Therefore, the best solution was for the Lingxian Sect to strengthen itself and step forward.

…

The problem had come full circle, like a boomerang.

The greatest problem facing their sect right now was that its strength was still insufficient…

Lin Xiao sighed silently.

But there had to be a breakthrough somewhere among these problems. Otherwise, they would remain trapped in a dead end, able only to wait for the sect’s spirit stones to accumulate little by little and everyone’s cultivation to rise bit by bit.

Until then, they would be unable to do anything.

Lin Xiao was clearly unwilling to accept that.

Although he had already decided to urge He Yi to cultivate as quickly as possible and have him deal with the matter of the Jishi in the cultivation world, there was always the possibility of something going wrong.

Who knew whether their sect might suddenly be exposed before that time came?

So, anything that could be prepared now was best prepared in advance.

They had to hurry and gather spirit stones and resources. That would not only increase the strength of their own sect but also raise the strength of every sect in the mortal world.

As the saying went, the bird that sticks its head out gets shot. But if everyone’s strength rose together and every person became a bird sticking its head out, how could anyone shoot them?

Besides, if the existence of the trading center allowed them to build good relationships with the many sects of the mortal world—even reaching the level of “supporters” mentioned in the mission the system had just issued—then anyone who wanted to move against the Lingxian Sect would have to think twice.

Therefore, the breakthrough lay in successfully establishing the trading center!

They definitely needed to expand their sources of income, but they could not approach too many outside sects all at once.

First, they needed to consult the Li imperial family and have them recommend a few sects with trustworthy reputations, allowing them to increase their production volume.

However, expanding their income would not allow them to earn a great deal of spirit stones overnight. If they wanted to begin constructing the trading center as soon as possible, they would have to think of another solution.

Lin Xiao pondered for a moment, then used his lock ring to contact Yuan Bi, the head of the Yuan family.