Meeting Room

Not to mention that Elder Liu’s words seemed to suggest that he intended to provide them with a way to earn spirit stones.

Although it was hard to believe, what if it was true?

In any case, the auction just now had already demonstrated Lingxian Sect’s connections and strength. They were more than willing to wait and see.

Therefore, after the auction ended, the cultivators present left their private rooms. Once the reception staff taught them how to leave that space and return to Xiushui City, they did not even have time to notice which part of the city they had appeared in. They merely identified their direction in haste before rushing toward the Trade Affairs Center.

Those whose sect masters or elders responsible for deliberations were still resting in the city immediately sent them a brief message, preparing to head over together.

By now, they were no longer worried that Lingxian Sect would harm them.

At the very least, they were not concerned about any danger to their lives.

After all, if Lingxian Sect had wanted to kill them, it had already had more than enough opportunities throughout the day. There would have been no need to make such a grand show of things or take such a roundabout approach.

As for the concern that they might be tricked out of their spirit stones, that was even less of a worry.

What a joke. Lingxian Sect was a sect capable of producing so many extraordinary treasures in one go. Looking at the condition of its disciples and the feast that had been served that morning, it was obvious that the sect had no need to go to such lengths just to scheme for the few scraps of wealth in their pockets.

Even that delicious spirit-food banquet alone was enough for them to understand its value, despite the fact that they had never enjoyed anything like it before.

They had thought things through very clearly.

Even if they took into account the exceedingly slim possibility that Lingxian Sect really might spend so much effort trying to swindle them out of their modest family fortunes, with so many valuable resources right before their eyes, the risk was still entirely worth taking.

Yet when the people from the various sects and imperial families arrived at the courtyard of the Trade Affairs Center in high spirits and were led by the Lingxian Sect disciple in charge of reception to the large meeting room in the rear courtyard, they discovered that the person in charge was not from Lingxian Sect at all.

Other than the three great sects of Pusi Kingdom, the representatives of the other sects and imperial families stared in confusion at Li Zhanying, the ancestor of Pusi Kingdom’s imperial Li clan, who was seated at the foremost position.

“What is this…?” Unable to resist, a sect master who was fairly familiar with Li Zhanying cast him a questioning look.

Li Zhanying responded with a reserved smile.

Li Zeyuan, sitting nearby, was still somewhat lost.

Before the auction began, his ancestor had still been lamenting in their private room that cooperation between their Li clan and Lingxian Sect would probably come to an end very soon, and that Lingxian Sect would likely reclaim control over external trade.

Who could have known that, after the auction had just ended, a disciple of Lingxian Sect would come and lead them before Lin Xiao? There, they heard Lin Xiao express Lingxian Sect’s hope that the Li clan would continue helping Xiushui City manage its external trade.

Of course, Lin Xiao had asked for their opinion with great courtesy and made it clear that it would be fine if they were unwilling. Lingxian Sect could negotiate with another sect instead.

Seeing that Lingxian Sect had no intention of taking back its authority and instead wished to continue entrusting them with the management of external trade, how could Li Zhanying possibly hesitate? He immediately agreed and firmly declared that the Li clan would certainly manage Lingxian Sect’s external trade properly and would not allow any problems to arise and trouble Lingxian Sect.

After receiving the Li clan’s assurance, Lin Xiao was delighted and handed the meeting room over to them on the spot.

He even allocated a dedicated office for the Li clan within the Trade Affairs Center, saying that they could send people there to work from now on.

Thus, the situation before them had come about.

This matter was indeed familiar territory for the Li imperial family. After all, they had already been handling it for some time.

Although their main trading partners had previously been only the three great sects of Pusi Kingdom, they had also maintained occasional small-scale dealings with other countries and sects.

To them, the only change now was that the number of trading partners had expanded. The procedures remained the same.

Moreover, with the three great sects of Pusi Kingdom serving as examples of successful long-term transactions, the other sects and imperial families had gained a few more points of trust in the authenticity of these dealings.

As a result, their discussions with the other sects and imperial families went very smoothly.

As for Lingxian Sect, Lin Xiao and Liu Yunan were extremely satisfied that the Li clan was willing to continue taking charge of external trade.

At this moment, the two youths were sitting in the lounge at the back of the Trade Affairs Center, drinking spirit tea newly harvested from this year’s spirit fields.

“Brother Xiao, how was it? I did pretty well hosting the auction today, didn’t I?” Liu Yunan’s eyes were filled with excitement, and there was a hint of smugness in his voice.

Holding his teacup, Lin Xiao sat lazily in his chair and nodded.

“For your first time hosting an event like that, you did very well. Impressive.”

Praised by him, Liu Yunan chuckled and took a sip of spirit tea.

“None of the people from our village made any mistakes today either. Grandpa Village Chief said that those cultivators probably realized everyone was not a cultivator, but they were still quite polite to them.”

Lin Xiao gave a soft hum. He lowered his eyes to stare at the teacup in his hands and fell silent, seemingly lost in thought.

Seeing this, Liu Yunan asked, “Brother Xiao, what’s wrong?”

Lin Xiao shook his head. “Those cultivators may appear polite to the villagers, but that’s only because this is our sect’s territory, and the villagers are considered our sect’s people. As for what they truly think of ordinary people… they may not be so polite.”

He understood that although the cultivation environments of the mortal world and the cultivation world were worlds apart, in the minds of cultivators in this world, cultivators and mortals were fundamentally different.

Whether in the mortal world or the cultivation world, very few cultivators shared the same ideas as Lingxian Sect.

If they wanted to lead the cultivators of the entire mortal world toward development in the future, they could not focus solely on the development of resources and material wealth.

Otherwise, it would not be long before all kinds of conflicts arose because of their differences in ideals, making it difficult for the mortal world to maintain its relative peace.

They also had to ensure that, if not all, then at least most of the sects and imperial families in the mortal world held ideals that did not conflict too sharply with those of Lingxian Sect.

It would be an extremely arduous task.

Lin Xiao had no idea how far they could go, but since they had already decided to do this, they could only take things one step at a time.

However, there was no need to share this anxiety with Liu Yunan for now. Instead, he asked, “Have you arranged tonight’s activities?”

Liu Yunan thumped his chest with a loud bang.

“Don’t worry, Brother Xiao. Everything’s been arranged! I’m not sure whether all those fellow cultivators who came from far away will be happy, but the people of Xiushui City will definitely be satisfied!”

Lin Xiao grinned. “That’s all that matters. The satisfaction of the people of Xiushui City comes first.”

As for whether the guests from elsewhere were satisfied, they could leave that to fate.

“Oh, right, Brother Xiao, there’s something I haven’t had the chance to pass on to you these past two days because you and Yigao have been too busy.” Liu Yunan slapped his forehead as he spoke.