Divine Convenience Store-Chapter 595: Put to work

After a day’s work, the first line of trenches that denotes the quarantine zone was successfully finished before dark. The Poison Demon Cult was efficient in turning the barren earth into a literal moat of death. Their methods were gruesome, lacking the elegant flow of orthodox sword arts or the resonant harmony of elemental spells, but the results were undeniable. The ground bubbled ominously, forming an impenetrable barrier of poison that deterred the endless swarm of the insectoids.

Venom Master Xun stood before Aurelia and Monk Huiyin, her hands resting on her hips. Her amethyst eyes, filled with a predatory amusement, swept over the disguised Paladin.

"Well? Has the cat caught your tongue, little traveler?" Xun purred, her voice dripping with venomous sweetness. "The Shopkeeper sent you here to deliver the [Legionary Sets]. A task for couriers, yes. But he also sent you here to assist. And yet, I see two perfectly capable and mysterious cultivators standing on a ridge, philosophizing about the nature of a burning house while my acolytes are down there carrying the water."

Aurelia’s jaw tightened. The scent of the ’Withersward’ toxin stung her nose even from this altitude.

"We are observing the situation to determine the optimal point of intervention. Rushing blindly without understanding the enemy’s formation is the mark of an amateur, Venom Master."

"An amateur?" Xun threw her head back and let out a rich, mocking laugh. "We are fighting an endless tide of foreign creatures that consume spiritual energy and breed faster than we can slaughter them. There is no ’optimal point’, little girl. There is only the meat grinder. You either feed it, or you get fed to it."

She took a step closer, her aura as a peak Core Formation expert, half a step to the Nascent Soul Stage, flared slightly.

A suffocating pressure dropped on Aurelia’s shoulder meant to test the waters.

"The Shopkeeper’s ’convenience’ is not a charity. It is a transaction. You are currently standing on his property, breathing his purified air, and watching his contracted laborers bleed. Rent is due."

Huiyin, who had been silently watching the exchange, gently tapped his wooden staff against the rocky ground.

"The Benefactor speaks harshly, but her underlying logic is aligned with the Dao of this establishment," The monk murmured, turning his golden eyes to Aurelia. "To understand the river, one must eventually step into the current. Standing on the shore only provides the illusion of understanding."

Aurelia knew they were right. She couldn’t report back to the Supreme Sun Church with mere observations. She needed empirical data. She needed to feel the weight of this new warfare.

"Where do you need us?" Aurelia asked, her voice cold and devoid of its previous hesitation. She let a fraction of her Core Formation aura leak out, just enough to push back Venom Master Xun’s oppressive pressure and establish her own standing.

Xun’s eyes narrowed slightly as a flash of genuine surprise flashed in them. "Oh? No wonder he sent you here. A Core Formation expert playing the role of a wandering vagrant? How delightfully deceptive. The Shopkeeper truly has a knack for collecting interesting patrons."

She pointed her long, polished finger toward the western flank of the quarantine zone.

"We’re far from finished here. The first line of Withersward isn’t enough to contain them. My little bird reported a specialized caste of burrowers. They were heavily armored and highly sensitive to spiritual vibrations."

They would soon emerge on that western ridge. The Ironbone Clan is struggling to hold the line because their martial qi attracts the beasts like a beacon. Go there and intercept them. Show us what a ’professional’ intervention looks like."

"It will be done," Aurelia stated.

Without another word, she leaped from the rocky overlook, her body plummeting toward the chaotic battlefield below. Monk Huiyin simply sighed, adjusting his prayer beads before stepping off the ledge to follow her, floating down like a leaf devoid of weight.

Venom Master Xun watched their figures with a sly glint in her eyes, "Shopkeeper, I must see what makes that woman special that the monk accompanies her."

–

Minutes later, Aurelia drew her sword. It was not her sacred Paladin blade that could naturally emit the radiant energy of the Supreme Sun. Even if Lin Mo had more or less figured out her origins, she would still need to guard her identity from the spies of the Western Sacred Lands who might be lurking. Nevertheless, it was a high-quality spirit-grade longsword she had purchased from the Divine Convenience Store.

She landed with a heavy thud, cracking the arid earth.

"Step aside!" She commanded a group of exhausted Ironbone warriors who were desperately trying to fend off a massive, worm-like insectoid that burst from the ground. The creature was covered in thick plating, its circular maw filled with rows of spinning, jagged teeth.

The barbarians, recognizing the aura of a high-level expert, hastily fell back.

Aurelia channeled her spiritual energy, carefully suppressing the radiant, holy light of the Supreme Sun, forcing it to manifest as a generic, searing heat as she quietly chanted, "Oh, light... temper into the forge’s flame!"

It was a generic chant intended to mask the divine resonance of her radiant arts, funneling her pure, golden-white aura into a harsher, orange blaze.

She swung the spirit-grade longsword in a sweeping arc. A crescent of superheated fire erupted from the blade, slamming directly into the creature’s gaping, tooth-filled maw.

"Ignite!"

The fiery arc slammed into the burrowing insectoid. However, instead of slicing through the creature’s armor, the flames seemed to adhere to it. The creature shrieked as a sizzling sound echoed.

Seconds later, the fire died down, followed by an explosion that seemed to be triggered by the insectoid’s body, unable to resist the searing heat.

When the smoke cleared, charred remains and the splattered juices were what was left of the burrower insectoid.

"Amitabha, a forceful strike, yet your spirit remains veiled. To hold back a roaring river requires more strength than to let it flow simply, Benefactor Lia." Monk Huiyin’s voice drifted down as he descended from mid-air, bringing the butt of his staff down with him.

BANG!

He landed directly on the skull of another burrowing insectoid that had just breached the surface behind Aurelia. The creature’s thick plating, designed to withstand the crushing pressure of deep earth and magical bombardment, shattered like fragile glass under the monk’s ascetic arts.

"These creatures. I’ve seen them before... There will be a far bigger variant of them... This spot will be in peril. Get away!"

Aurelia ignored his comment and shouted.

Sure enough, another burrower emerged from the ground. Its size was triple that of what they’d just taken out.

Aurelia gritted her teeth, sidestepping the massive maw and bringing her sword down in a purely physical, two-handed chop aimed at its exposed flank. The steel rang against the hardened body of the insectoid, vibrating violently up her arms. It barely left a scratch.

Likewise, the Monk’s staff barely made a dent in its side before they were both forced to retreat.

Aurelia felt a surge of frustration. She was a Sun-Blessed Paladin. She possessed the power to incinerate hordes of lesser demons. Yet here, forced to suppress her true arts and fight an enemy that countered conventional cultivation, she felt as ineffective as a novice.

She glanced at the exhausted Ironbone warriors. They were bleeding, panting, and struggling. But then, she noticed something.

One of the barbarians, with one of his arms severely gashed, pulled a colorful, crinkly packet from his belt with his teeth, ripping it open.

He popped a pink [Fruity Healing Tablet] into his mouth. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Within seconds, the barbarian’s wound began to close.

Watching that absurdity, Aurelia could only sigh. She had heard its effect but seeing its effect right in front of her eyes proved to her what kind of miracle the store products bring. Not only that, they were commodified and consumed like sweets.

"Look out!" Huiyin warned as she noticed her distracted gaze.

Aurelia spun, barely raising her sword in time to block a sweeping strike from the giant burrower. The physical mass of the creature sent her skidding backward in the dirt.

Her arms ached. Her suppressed cultivation was making this ten times harder than it needed to be. Should she just stop pretending and take her mask off?

As she thought of that, three figures suddenly appeared in the sky, unleashing strikes against the giant burrower.

They wore similar-looking armor sets, but in different hues.

One was pale yellow as giant wasps seemed to fly alongside them.

Another was ash gray as skeleton constructs erupted from the plating, forming an exoskeleton of bone and steel.

The third was vibrant crimson as they wielded a bone spear ablaze with unyielding fire.

Venom Master Huangfeng of the Wasp Branch, Marrow Weaver and Chieftain Akasha of the Blazing Maw Tribe.

The three of them were now donning the [Legionary Sets] that Aurelia and Monk Huiyin had delivered hours ago.

"Aetheric Link, established! Take the insectoid down! For convenience!" The voice of Marrow Weaver echoed from her ash-gray helmet as she pointed down below.