It was another small market day, and Luo Chen arrived at his stall early.
This puzzled Old Daoist Chen to no end.
"Ever since you started refining that stuff, haven't you been coming only once a month?"
"I've been short on spirit stones lately, so I came to sell off a batch early," Luo Chen replied casually, setting two types of pills onto the stone slab.
Glancing around, he felt a bit puzzled. "Where's Wang Yuan?"
"No way. Don't tell me you haven't heard?" Old Daoist Chen wore an exaggerated expression.
Luo Chen was baffled. *Was I supposed to know?*
*It's not like my persona is someone who loves gossip.*
Spending every day holed up in his alchemy room, most of his news about the outside world came from Gu Caiyi and Bai Meiling, two streetwise women who moved about in society.
"They're about to go to war."
"You mean the Mountain Breaker Gang and the Great River Gang? Give me a break. Didn't they just raise a ruckus for ages two months ago? They're at it again?"
Old Daoist Chen shook his head. "No, this time is different."
Under Old Daoist Chen's explanation, Luo Chen finally got the gist of what had happened.
Or rather, anyone who took the trouble to ask around would naturally know the current situation.
The truce two months ago hadn't been a real peace.
It was merely the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion stepping in to arrange a reconciliation between the two Foundation Establishment cultivators: Mi Shuhua of the Mountain Breaker Gang and Wang Haichao of the Great River Gang.
After all, if they kept tearing things up, the outer city would be trashed sooner or later. Whether outer city or inner city, it was all property where the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion collected rent.
If everyone got killed, who would they collect rent from?
Yet when it came to the trade routes in the mountains, the profits involved were simply too immense.
Naturally, neither Foundation Establishment cultivator would back down easily.
Still, they couldn't afford to disrespect the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion either. After all, the pavilion was the master of the market, backed by the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect itself.
Therefore, they settled on a contest of arms.
Each side would field nine top experts to duel on the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion's Dao Discussion Platform, life or death disregarded.
The cultivation level of the combatants was restricted to below Foundation Establishment.
If the Great River Gang lost, they would abandon their business in the mountains, roll back to properly minding the Lancang River, and cede a waterway to the Mountain Breaker Gang on top of that.
If the Mountain Breaker Gang lost, it was even simpler: they would hand over five safe routes to the Great River Gang from among the passageways they currently controlled.
The two months of truce beforehand had been granted specifically for both gangs to mobilize their experts.
"No wonder so many unfamiliar cultivators have shown up in the market lately—they're all experts recruited by the two gangs!" Luo Chen realized.
His hands didn't stop as he smoothly handed several jade vials to a returning customer.
After collecting the spirit stones, he noticed Chen Xiuping shaking his head.
"Those two gangs might carry weight around here, but across the entire Jade Cauldron Domain, they aren't even worth looking at."
"Uh..."
"The cultivators from the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion deliberately leaked the news, which is why people from so many other places have been drawn here."
Luo Chen blinked. Why would the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion do that?
Weren't they afraid these outsiders would stir up trouble and be hard to manage?
Soon, however, Old Daoist Chen resolved his doubts.
"The Six Sects of the Far East each have their strengths and their own spheres of business.
"The Hehuan Sect deals in the trade between men and women, enduring and flourishing since ancient times.
"The Divine Talisman Pavilion deals in talismans, standing unrivaled across the six domains in the art of talisman craft.
"The Medicine King Sect deals in pills and spiritual herbs, earning pots full of gold.
"The Five Elements Divine Sect deals in spiritual flora and spells, doing just as booming a business.
"Tianfan City deals in magical artifacts and formations; its Wanbao Pavilion is truly peerless throughout the six domains.
"So what about the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect?
"Ask these short-sighted rogue cultivators whether the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect has any noteworthy business to speak of, and the answer is: none!
"The Jade Cauldron Sword Sect reigns supreme through sheer combat prowess, and the sect is filled mostly with sword cultivators. Yes, sword cultivators are undeniably formidable among their peers, but they don't produce anything!
"Though the Sword Sect possesses decent swordsmithing craft, compared to Tianfan City, it pales into insignificance.
"What's more, the blades forged by the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect are mostly sword pellets, which demand full devotion and continuous nourishing. Ordinary cultivators prefer variety in their combat methods; who wants to wander the world with only a single sword? By comparison, standard flying sword artifacts are far more versatile.
"As for alchemy, talismans, and formations, while the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect dabbles in them, they're even less presentable when compared to the other sects."
"If that's the case, are the cultivators of the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect all living on thin air?" Luo Chen asked, still somewhat incredulous.
"Not quite. After all, this territory belongs to them," Old Daoist Chen said, speaking eloquently with all this gossip at his fingertips. "For instance, Zhongding House and the Dao Discussion Platform are their businesses."
A restaurant? An arena?
How many spirit stones could that possibly make?
"Our monthly rent and stall fees are also part of their revenue.
"Then there's the major source of income: the Jade Cauldron Domain sits closest to the Million Mountains. Most of the heavenly treasures and spiritual materials harvested from the mountains are bought up first by the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect. Then, they resell those raw materials to the other sects across the six domains."
Luo Chen grimaced. "Still sounds a bit shabby, though!"
He pointed toward those prominent buildings in the center of the city. "If that's so, why don't the Sword Sect people kick the other sects' businesses out of the Jade Cauldron Domain and run those operations themselves?"
Even if the Sword Sect's pills and talismans were absolute trash, they'd still be better than whatever cultivation families and rogue cultivators produced. With swords in hand, if they wanted to sell, who would dare refuse to buy?
"How would they dare?" Old Daoist Chen whispered. "Back then, the Jade Cauldron Domain wasn't conquered by the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect alone. The other five superior sects, along with all the other sects great and small currently in the Jade Cauldron Domain, contributed their share of blood and sweat."
Understood. Now he understood completely.
If the Jade Cauldron Domain was compared to a corporation, the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect could be seen as the largest shareholder and managing director.
The other sects each held shares.
Yet the company's profits weren't divided equally.
How much money one could draw depended on one's own capabilities.
The Sword Sect merely enjoyed the home-court advantage.
It had to be said that after Old Daoist Chen's explanation, Luo Chen had a thorough grasp of the situation.
The Dao Discussion Platform itself was one of the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect's key businesses.
Now that they had the gimmick of two rival gangs clashing, with eighteen experts invited for mortal duels, they naturally intended to milk the event for all it was worth.
So they spread the word. When the time came, just collecting admission fees would net them a fortune.
And if they tacked on other events in between, like an auction, they could rake in even more.
"Sure enough, there are no fools among cultivators!" Luo Chen marveled.
It seemed like a clash between two gangs, yet as the mediator, the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect stood to make the greatest profit.
Moreover, regardless of whether the Mountain Breaker Gang or the Great River Gang won, wouldn't the goods they brought out of the mountains still be sold preferentially to the local Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion?
The meat was always going to stew in their own pot, so why not let the aroma drift far and wide to attract more stray dogs to fleece?
Unfortunately, none of this had anything to do with a fourth-layer Qi Refining cultivator like Luo Chen.
Wait, actually, it was a little related.
His dear big brother Wang Yuan happened to be the Mountain Breaker Gang's top fighter fielded for the contest.
Mhm, the Mountain Breaker Gang's double-flower red pole, no less!
"Should I go cheer Wang Yuan on when the time comes?"
Chapter 44