Yin Yuzhen's intuition told her that as long as she followed Li Fan's lead and assisted him, boundless benefits would await her in the future.
Though she had no idea what kind of achievements this middle-aged man would reach in the days to come, she chose to trust her instincts and do everything within her power to help him.
Thus, under Yin Yuzhen's direction, Tianbao Pavilion mobilized all its resources.
While gathering meteoric iron, they also purchased massive quantities of completely unrelated goods to throw off prying eyes.
The other factions on Liuli Island noticed Tianbao Pavilion's unusual movements and secretly dispatched scouts to investigate.
Yet with Yin Yuzhen well-prepared in advance, they naturally turned up nothing of substance.
Instead, following Li Fan's scheme, Tianbao Pavilion circulated widespread false rumors regarding Star Sea Flowing Sand. Knowing there might be a trick, the rival factions initially chose to wait and see.
However, one of them adopted the mindset of "buy first, think later—even if it's fake, we can just resell it," and began aggressively buying up goods related to the rumors. Seeing this, the others could no longer sit still and rushed to join the purchasing frenzy.
Before long, prices skyrocketed across Liuli Island, and chaos erupted on all fronts.
***
As the instigator behind it all, Li Fan simply cultivated in quiet seclusion within Tingyou Building.
It was not until three months later that Yin Yuzhen finally made contact with a traveling agent from the Wanhua Merchant Guild.
Early that morning, Yin Yuzhen and Li Fan boarded Tianbao Pavilion's private boat and left Liuli Island, sailing several tens of li northward to the rendezvous point.
The boat was laden to the brim with goods prepared for the trade.
Only when the sun reached its zenith did the Wanhua Merchant Guild finally arrive.
A black speck in the sky expanded at rapid speed; only as it drew near did Li Fan realize it was actually a flying boat!
Banners fluttered upon the vessel, emblazoned with a large character: "Wan."
The flying boat appeared only half the size of the Taiyan Boat's second form, measuring roughly fifty meters in length.
It soon hovered directly above the group before slowly settling onto the water's surface.
"Shopkeeper Yin, long time no see!" Once the vessel came to a steady stop, a hearty laugh rang out from within.
Yin Yuzhen glanced at Li Fan, hoping to catch a look of astonishment on his face.
To her surprise, Li Fan showed not the slightest hint of shock upon seeing the Wanhua Merchant Guild's flying boat, as though it were something he had grown accustomed to long ago.
Yin Yuzhen felt a twinge of disappointment, which only deepened her curiosity about him.
Hearing the guild traveling agent call out again, she finally turned her head.
"Traveling Agent Zhao, it's been three years since our last meeting, hasn't it?" Yin Yuzhen replied with a smile.
"Time truly flies," Traveling Agent Zhao sighed as he stepped aboard Tianbao Pavilion's boat.
"And this gentleman is?" he asked with a smile, looking at Li Fan.
"An elder retained by our Tianbao Pavilion," Yin Yuzhen answered simply.
Seeing that Yin Yuzhen preferred not to say more, Traveling Agent Zhao tactfully refrained from probing further.
"Let's inspect the goods. After this, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to meet again."
Yin Yuzhen froze at his words. "What do you mean? Has something happened?"
Traveling Agent Zhao shook his head. "I don't know the exact reason either. A few days ago, headquarters abruptly sent out a directive ordering all guild traveling agents across the Congyun Sea to halt all operations and return as quickly as possible."
"If I hadn't already agreed upon a date to trade with you, I'd probably be on my way back by now."
"So we cannot drag our feet on this transaction; we must be quick."
Yin Yuzhen was thrown into a panic. Tianbao Pavilion had flourished on Liuli Island precisely because it had the backing of the Wanhua Merchant Guild.
If the guild was suddenly pulling out of the Congyun Sea, what would become of Tianbao Pavilion's business in the future?
Would she even be able to protect Tianbao Pavilion?
And why had her intuition given her no warning whatsoever this time?
Her thoughts in complete disarray, she stood entirely dazed.
"Shopkeeper Yin?" Traveling Agent Zhao called out to prompt her when he noticed her zoning out.
Yin Yuzhen forced a smile and gathered her wits.
They entered the cabin and began taking inventory of the goods.
"Sixteen pairs of jade bi discs, twenty-three pieces of coral, forty-six luminous pearls..." Li Fan led Traveling Agent Zhao past each of the items.
From time to time, Traveling Agent Zhao picked one up to inspect its quality.
He would then nod and carefully set it back down.
"Star Sea Flowing Sand, three pieces," Li Fan announced calmly when they reached the center.
A look of delight appeared on Traveling Agent Zhao's face, and he hurried over to the chunks of meteoric iron.
Caressing them gently, he turned the chunks over and inspected them repeatedly.
Watching from the side, Li Fan could tell that this Traveling Agent Zhao was no ordinary mortal.
The lightest of these chunks of meteoric iron weighed at least fifty jin, yet in his hands, they were handled like toys.
Only after quite a while did Traveling Agent Zhao reluctantly set the meteoric iron down.
"Shopkeeper Yin, quite the stroke of luck this time! To think you managed to gather such fine items as Star Sea Flowing Sand."
Li Fan and Yin Yuzhen exchanged a glance, both quietly breathing a sigh of relief.
It was now certain that Xiao Heng had spoken the truth.
Tianbao Pavilion had seized the initiative and gathered a sizable stash of Star Sea Flowing Sand ahead of the rest.
A spot for the Purifying Spirit Pool would almost certainly be secured without trouble.
The items that followed held little value, and Traveling Agent Zhao was thoroughly pleased with the haul Tianbao Pavilion provided.
Moreover, knowing that it might be a very long time before they met again, he specially invited Li Fan and Yin Yuzhen aboard the Wanhua Merchant Guild's flying boat as guests.
After they had eaten and drunk to their hearts' content, Traveling Agent Zhao led the two into the flying boat's storehouse.
"All of these are items I collected from islands across the Congyun Sea. Some are priceless, while others have uses even I can't discern. I merely bought them along the way because they seemed novel. If you two are interested, feel free to pick out a few pieces." Having imbibed merrily, Traveling Agent Zhao spoke with a touch of pride before the dazzling array of treasures.
Hearing this, Yin Yuzhen grew quite excited. With her knack for seeking fortune and averting calamity, stepping in here was like a mouse dropping into a granary!
Li Fan originally had little interest in such things, but seeing Yin Yuzhen eager to try her luck, he found it awkward to refuse and accompanied her, browsing casually through the room.
"You only have the time it takes an incense stick to burn!" Traveling Agent Zhao seemed quite fond of this little game and called out loudly to the two of them.
Turning a deaf ear, Yin Yuzhen darted through the storehouse in a state of high excitement.
With no fewer than a thousand treasures inside, even with her ability to pursue good fortune and avoid misfortune, she could only roughly gauge their value, and her eyes were soon overwhelmed by the sheer variety.
Li Fan, on the other hand, felt utterly bored, casually picking up an object to examine it aimlessly before setting it down just as quickly.
Having reincarnated through nine lifetimes and drifted through the mortal realm for three hundred years, what mundane treasure had he not seen?
As long as something had no connection to immortal cultivation, he cared nothing for it.
Although this Traveling Agent Zhao possessed physical strength far beyond ordinary mortals, he was clearly not a cultivator either, dealing solely in mortal commerce.
How could there possibly be anything in here that Li Fan would care about?
Just as this thought crossed his mind, his hand brushed against one of the objects—and his body instantly froze.
A prompt from [True Reversion] suddenly flared into view.
"Rechargeable item detected. Proceed with recharging?"
Chapter 36