"If you're worried about not being able to protect your turf, you can always spend a little money to find a backer."
"At worst, split the profits thirty-seventy and take the smaller cut."
"In any case, it'll still earn far more than selling them secretly on your own."
"You cultivate the Dao of Myriad Puppets, so when dealing with these mighty figures, you needn't worry about your own safety. You can reach out to a few more before making a decision."
Li Fan spoke with eloquence, detailing the precautions Jiao Xiuyuan needed to take and analyzing how to resolve any unusual situations that might arise. Every detail was accounted for, as if he had truly lived through it himself.
Jiao Xiuyuan listened enraptured, thoroughly entranced.
Even after Li Fan finished speaking, he remained immersed in thought for a long while before recovering.
"Haha, like this, are you still worried these Small Medicine King Cauldrons won't sell, Fellow Daoist?" Li Fan asked with a smile.
Jiao Xiuyuan snapped out of his contemplation and sighed in admiration. "Your talent is rare in this world, Fellow Daoist. Many of your ingenious notions regarding commerce are completely unheard of.
"Listening to your words is truly worth decades of bitter cultivation on my part!
"The value of your plan alone is worth a hundred times those cauldrons.
"The Medicine King Cauldrons you need this time, I will gift you for free. If I truly turn a profit on the Small Medicine King Cauldrons using your strategy in the future, I will never be stingy either. I will definitely share a portion of the profits with you!" Jiao Xiuyuan thumped his chest and vowed.
'I'm afraid by that time, this clone of mine will have long returned its Dao to heaven!' Li Fan thought to himself. Yet his expression remained unchanged as he calmly accepted the four Small Medicine King Cauldrons Jiao Xiuyuan sent over.
He then brought the conversation with Jiao Xiuyuan to an end.
'It will take some time for Jiao Xiuyuan to lay the groundwork and for the matter to ferment.'
'Though this scheme is built on deception, it holds true in reality. There is no fear of failure.'
'To avoid having the clone traced backward once the prophecy comes true, I cannot keep this clone either. I must send it to its death before it happens.'
'Mhm, I can also take a closer look at how this lifetime's joint effort to slay Crimson Flame differs from before.'
'And once Anchor Year 15 arrives, when the stars fall and return to Cangwu and the Medicine King Cauldron truly returns to the Xuanhuang Realm...'
'Surely quite a few people in the cultivation world will connect the fiery meteor to the Medicine King Cauldron.'
'The bloody struggle and looting in this lifetime will likely arrive early as well.'
'There is no guarantee that cultivators above the Nascent Soul realm won't join the scramble, so I won't keep these Medicine King Cauldrons on me.'
'Perhaps I can distribute them to the little fellows in Immortal Restoration, if their strength is sufficient by then...'
'I am indeed very curious about this cauldron vessel that shattered the void and departed thousands of years ago.'
'I can use them as my eyes to venture into the true Medicine King Cauldron and investigate.'
'If there really is some great opportunity inside, I can plot for it in later lifetimes.'
The seeds had already been sown; now all that remained was to wait for them to bloom and bear fruit.
'This clone's mission is already complete. I could consider making a trip to the Wanfa Merchant Guild in Jiushan Province to purchase some cultivation techniques to bring back.'
With this in mind, Li Fan's clone began searching through the Heavenly Profound Mirror for companions to travel with.
Things went very smoothly.
Seven days later, a party consisting of one Nascent Soul, three Golden Core, and a dozen or so Foundation Establishment cultivators was successfully assembled.
When the appointed departure date arrived and he met the members of the party, after some casual conversation, Li Fan discovered that the Nascent Soul cultivator leading them was actually an acquaintance.
A one-sided acquaintance, of course.
Li Fan knew him, but he did not know Li Fan.
This person was none other than True Sovereign Qingmu Huasheng.
From the mastermind behind the previous Spirit Mist Grass affair to a duped investor in this lifetime, True Sovereign Qingmu Huasheng had also suffered staggering losses.
Coupled with the premature exposure of the wood-attribute grotto-heaven, the spirit herb cultivation business on which Qingmu relied for his livelihood had also taken a severe blow.
His income was repeatedly halved.
In utter desperation, Qingmu had no choice but to start pivoting his business.
He was a Nascent Soul True Sovereign, after all, capable of accepting all kinds of missions.
Over the past few years, through various attempts, Qingmu had actually found a relatively easy path to earning contribution points.
And that was reselling goods for arbitrage.
Traveling far to the Wanfa Merchant Guild in Jiushan Province, he would purchase supplies, bring them back to the Congyun Sea, and sell them privately to pocket the price difference.
Each round trip brought handsome profits.
Although Jiushan Province was rather chaotic and the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had weak control there, posing a constant risk of attack, with his Nascent Soul realm strength, self-preservation was not an issue.
Having tasted the sweetness of profit, and adhering to the principle of earning whatever extra he could, Qingmu began offering travel-escort services as well.
As long as one paid a certain amount of contribution points, they could join Qingmu's group and receive his protection along the way.
One thousand for Foundation Establishment, six hundred for Golden Core.
In a single trip, Qingmu could make nearly twenty-some thousand contribution points.
Li Fan paid the contribution points without hesitation and set off with the group.
Because it consumed too much, the group did not use direct inter-province teleportation.
Instead, they first teleported to the border of the Congyun Sea, entering Shilin Province.
From there, they transferred through Shilin City's teleportation array to Xuanshi City, which bordered Jiushan Province.
From Xuanshi City, they flew all the way toward Jiushan Province.
Jiushan Province was named after the nine continuous mountain ranges within its borders.
Each mountain range stood like a towering rampart sprawled across the earth.
Moreover, each of these nine mountain ranges possessed its own mysterious quality.
Cultivators below the Nascent Soul realm who had not cultivated a grotto-heaven domain could not fly over the mountains.
They could only pass through the mountain gorges on foot, just like mortals.
Every year, skeptical cultivators attempting to fly across the Nine Mountains plunged headfirst into the cliff walls and died.
And the Wanfa Merchant Guild was situated on the last of the nine mountains: Mount Tianchang.
Li Fan's clone followed the group, journeying toward their destination.
Meanwhile, Li Fan's true body suddenly awoke from seclusion after three months of cultivation.
Because he sensed that Ye Feipeng on the deserted island was beginning to make his move.
On the deserted island:
Ye Feipeng hid to one side, watching Xiao Heng practice his ultimate technique, Water Dragon's Chant.
The magnificent sight of hundreds upon thousands of water dragons soaring together made Ye Feipeng green with envy.
'Although Treading Ocean Waves, the technique I cultivate, also has a move called Treading Waves to Question Heaven that packs a good punch, it just doesn't look as domineering as Xiao Heng's move. Its practical effectiveness also seems a bit lacking.'
Ye Feipeng's eyes darted about as he pondered.
'No, my cultivation method can't compare to Xiao Heng's, and neither can my cultivation talent.'
'If this goes on, the gap between us will become insurmountable.'
'If I calculate the time, it should be close to the day Zhang Haobo obtains his fateful encounter...'
Ye Feipeng instantly made up his mind.
Taking advantage of Xiao Heng being engrossed in cultivation, Ye Feipeng quietly slipped away from the deserted island alone, flying toward Liuli Island as he remembered it.
Li Fan smiled faintly. Using a teleportation array, he arrived on Liuli Island a step ahead.
To ensure events progressed under his control, Li Fan needed to be present in person.
Seven days later.
Zhang Haobo, still a mere mortal, led the Cangyuan out on yet another fishing voyage.
Zhang Haobo naturally failed to notice that a pair of eyes overhead was locked onto him, watching his every move.
And Ye Feipeng, monitoring Zhang Haobo, never realized that even further away, another pair of eyes was watching them both.
Aboard the Cangyuan, Zhang Haobo appeared somewhat dazed.
As he surveyed the surrounding waters, an inexplicable sense of familiarity suddenly welled up within his chest.
Suddenly, he spotted a submerged reef ahead that looked strangely familiar.
His spirits lifted, and he ordered his crew to drop anchor and halt the ship there.
Then, relying on his excellent swimming skills, he plunged headfirst into the sea.
In these shallow depths, guided by his intuition, Zhang Haobo searched around.
Before long, a skeleton slumbering upon the seabed caught his attention.
He swam back to the surface to catch his breath.
When he dove underwater again to take a closer look, Zhang Haobo was bewildered to discover that the skeleton that had been there just moments ago had vanished without a trace.
He did not see that not far away, Ye Feipeng was brimming with excitement as he pulled a jade slip from the skeleton's embrace, reading it intently.
"A heaven-shattering palm strike, overturning the hand to form a boundless sea..."
"All living beings possess consciousness."
"And so does the Congyun Sea..."
"So that's how it is... That's how it is..."
A spark of enlightenment flashed across Ye Feipeng's eyes.
Chapter 222