Star Sky Professional-Chapter 675 - 573: Caravan

Several days later.

A caravan is winding its way forward.

The caravan is pulled by "Dragon Scale Horses," a type of mixed-breed demon horse with a few scales on its ribs, known for its extreme endurance.

The wagons in the back are filled with various goods.

Apart from living supplies, there are also rare items for cultivation, books, magic artifacts, and the like, with spirit light overflowing, dazzling the eyes.

From a high altitude, this caravan is not moving in a straight line; instead, it’s winding every which way, sometimes making a big circle even when flat land lies ahead.

This is naturally because the land seemingly ahead is actually hidden swamps, where one could become deeply trapped upon entering.

Some areas deliberately bypassed are either Demon Beast lairs or contain terrifying venomous creatures.

Finally, a slope appears ahead, with the faint view of bamboo shadows.

"This ghostly place, we’ve finally arrived... no need to consume more Detoxification Pills... these Green Spirit Bamboos are so invaluable..."

Within the caravan, a young steward sighed with emotion: "Besides this place, only the Fei Family has such scope, using spirit plants for cleansing, that’s a hundred-year plan... Xu Family, Yin Family, and White Bone Alliance all walk crooked paths, and the Song Clan isn’t bad yet, but the ’Fishy Willow’ they planted is still years away from being truly useful and is currently held up by arrays, with almost all shellfish harvest crammed into it... From this perspective, the Song Clan’s spirit plant cultivators can’t compare to those at Poison Dragon Slope..."

"Sixteenth Brother speaks wisely."

The leader of the Qiao Family caravan is named ’Qiao Wuyong’, looking at his clan’s younger brother, who was brought along this time to gain experience: "In your opinion, will Poison Dragon Slope develop better than Green Pond in the future?"

Sixteenth Brother thought for a moment, shaking his head: "I’m just saying the spirit plant cultivators at Poison Dragon Slope are good... The Seven Righteous of Song are actually quite similar to the Five Friends of Floating Clouds, all of them sworn brothers, but the Seven Righteous of Song have already changed their surname to Song and established the Song Family, while the Five Friends of Floating Clouds are still scattered, with one even drifting outside; it’s fine for now, but if it doesn’t undergo major changes over two or three generations, it will certainly become a mess... And by that time, it will be too late to integrate again."

"True, true..." Qiao Wuyong nodded repeatedly: "We traders must maintain good relations with the locals in every place... In Qingli Swamp, the primary relationship to cultivate is with the Fei Family, while the other five families currently rely on us; it’s precisely for this reason that we can charge hefty prices and profit handsomely... If a place has great potential for development, we should avoid upsetting them too much, or it won’t look good in the future."

"So for long-term income, we can slightly lower our current income?" Sixteenth Brother’s eyes lit up.

"Hehe, no matter how much we lower it, it still needs to be profitable, and significantly so! Otherwise, who would engage in this trade?"

Qiao Wuyong jumped down from the Dragon Scale Horse and stretched lazily.

To trade across regions, the caravan must have experts for protection.

He himself is no slouch, with cultivation at Qi Sensing Realm level seven!

Arriving at the front of the caravan, Qiao Wuyong saw a group approaching from the Poison Dragon Slope direction, led by a white-haired elder dressed like a wealthy landowner. He promptly stepped forward, cupped his hands, and smiled: "Thank you, Elder Lu, for the warm welcome, I’m humbled."

"Haha, Manager Qiao, you’re too kind. You’ve brought endless resources to Poison Dragon Slope; it’s nothing for me to personally welcome you."

As the saying goes, when people settle, their aura changes, and when nurtured, their body adapts. Now, Old Lu no longer appears the poor and decrepit figure mingling in workshops but carries an air of opulence.

"I’ve already prepared a banquet, please enjoy!"

Old Lu invited Qiao Wuyong and several caravan stewards to a refined lodge at East Peak.

Major transactions also took place here.

Besides that, those from the caravans began to set up stalls, shouting to sell or buying goods in a familiar manner...

This is the scattered business, some even carried by caravan members personally.

Some cultivators join caravans without a salary, relying on carrying some goods themselves to earn talismanic money while traveling.

Some even travel far with caravans and work in exchange for compensation.

...

Inside the hall.

After the banquet, Old Lu instructed the maid to serve tea.

Qiao Wuyong drank it, then looked around and curiously asked: "Where are Daoist Song and Daoist Fang? Last time Daoist Song asked me to buy the ’Righteous Intent of Qi Refinement’... but I haven’t handed it over yet?"

"Fifth Sister is home, teaching Yunyun to read..."

Old Lu sighed: "My sworn sister is good at everything except treating her daughter like the apple of her eye, embarrassing us, Daoist Fang Xing doesn’t enjoy the bustle. If you want to discuss business about bamboo paper and bamboo strips, you can go to the bamboo grove to find him."

"So that’s how it is, I have always admired Daoist Song’s deep affection for her daughter."

With a sharp glint in his eyes, Qiao Wuyong conducted a few major transactions with Old Lu and entrusted the transfer of books before heading to the bamboo grove.

...

Shush!

Bamboo shadows swayed gently, carrying a tranquil and calming feeling, making one forget their worries upon sight.

Just as Qiao Wuyong arrived, he saw a black snake as thick as a barrel slithering out.

"A Post Realm Demon Beast!"

He and several stewards felt a chill in their hearts, then heard Fang Xing’s voice: "Oh, Manager Qiao has come."

"Daoist Fang... you?"

Qiao Wuyong looked at Fang Xing, somewhat uncertain: "Did you have another breakthrough in cultivation?"

The mutual sensing of strength among those in the Qi Sensing Realm is quite vague unless practicing special Heavenly Eye-like spells.

However, Qiao Wuyong, having traveled far and wide, surely had some cultivation.

At this moment, he noticed Fang Xing was extraordinary, his breath abundant and lush, even converging into the shape of a serpent!

"Indeed, I’ve made some breakthroughs in Qi Refinement recently..."

Fang Xing smiled and admitted, which immediately made Qiao Wuyong treat him with much more seriousness.

Among the five families pioneering in Qingli Swamp, in fact, each had only one or two with Qi Sensing level seven combat power.

Especially the people of Poison Dragon Slope, who initially relied entirely on the guardian beast of the island to hold the fort. It wasn’t until they later opened the Sha Xue and Old Lu shed a lot of resources to buy a breakthrough Spirit Pill that Tie Luo the Loose Cultivator was able to advance to Qi Sensing level seven.

But now?

’Poison Dragon Slope actually has three post-realm Qi Sensing combat powers. If it weren’t for the Fei Family suppressing them, they might have already attempted to annex the other families...’

Qiao Wuyong thought to himself.

What is weakness, internal strife... in the face of absolute power, it’s all meaningless!

Poison Dragon Slope has three post-realm Qi Sensing warriors, while the Song family has only one, which makes Poison Dragon Slope more promising!

Fang Xing didn’t think so much, he led Qiao Wuyong to a warehouse filled with stacks of crafted bamboo paper.

These bamboo papers were pure white, with a faint blue light, which could be cut to make talisman paper or used to practice the Paper Folding Skill.

The Paper Folding Skill is widely practiced, Although the Blood Shadow Sect’s is the most authentic, even the loose cultivators outside know some basic magic.

Just like the skills of alchemy, drawing talismans, both righteous and demonic cultivators are involved.

Aside from that, there were bundles of bamboo strips, which could be used as skeletons when making paper figures.

Fang Xing was not worried about these goods making their way to the Blood Shadow Sect. Not only was the journey long, but he was simply not afraid of aiding enemies.

Because the ’blood paper’ of the Blood Shadow Sect was much stronger than bamboo paper, even the talisman paper for talismanic money surpassed bamboo paper.

Moreover, the Blood Shadow Sect was one of the ten great righteous and demonic sects. The number of Yin God true men they had was unknown, so why would they care about the resources of the mere Qi Sensing realm?

"Not bad, not bad, Brother, your bamboo paper and bamboo strips are of good quality and reasonably priced... they sell well everywhere."

Qiao Wuyong laughed, "Give me another hundred treatment berries. It’s a pity your berries have a limited shelf life, otherwise, they would sell no matter how many you produced!"

Fang Xing smiled without commenting. In fact, he had already made progress in developing ’berry wine’.

However, as the saying goes, small operations are fine, but creating something substantial would infringe on high-level alchemists’ profits, and might even draw attention from Qingmu Ridge. One shouldn’t do something so conspicuous without sufficient strength.

"As previously negotiated, ten talismanic money for a batch of bamboo paper, five talismanic money per bundle for bamboo strips, which totals to..."

Qiao Wuyong checked the inventory and stated a figure.

Fang Xing listened and nodded in agreement.

The price was surely cheaper than selling in the workshop, after all, it’s direct purchase, the buyer should make a profit.

"Regarding the items I asked Steward Qiao to keep an eye on last time, any news?"

Fang Xing casually inquired.

"Of course, there is."

Qiao Wuyong answered solemnly, pulling out a grayish beast skin pouch, "This is the ’Flying Squirrel Bag’, made from the tanned hide of a type of spirit mouse, with an internal space that can store a sizeable amount..."

Fang Xing received it and injected a bit of mana into it, immediately sensing a space about the size of a square table, "Unfortunately, it’s still a bit small..."

"Hehe, this type of ’Flying Squirrel’ is extremely rare, and storage magic artifacts made from it are very valuable, only post-realm Qi Sensing warriors can afford one or two..."

Qiao Wuyong explained, "However, it is said that among the flying squirrels, if there is an ancestral bloodline, it can give birth to ’Flower Fox Mink’, with storage magic artifacts having very large internal spaces... but this would require at least a Dao Foundation, if not a Yin God true man’s usage..."

"This Flying Squirrel Bag is sufficient for now, thank you Steward Qiao, as for the price, let’s deduct it from this transaction..."

Fang Xing fiddled with the gray beast skin bag, sighing with relief, "It’s not easy, finally I’ve obtained a storage magic artifact..."

"Very good, as for the ’Art of Concealing Qi’ you requested last time, in total, you still need to pay five hundred and seventy-two talismanic money."

Qiao Wuyong chuckled.

Fang Xing felt speechless; this was the industrial and agricultural scissors difference, he could only hand over a bunch of berries, "Will this be enough?"

"Enough, enough."

Qiao Wuyong gladly accepted and after a few more words, hinted at something, "Do you know... the Fei Family is planning to change their family head soon?"

"Oh? What happened to Fei Tianbao?"

Fang Xing recalled meeting him five years ago, and he didn’t seem like someone with a short life.

"Haha, the Fei Family has a rule, when the family head has cultivated to Qi Sensing level nine and the Mixed Element Qi circulates through their body, they must step down to fully pursue the Dao Foundation... It is a hurdle as difficult as ascending to heaven, one misstep and they might fall."

Qiao Wuyong stated, "Thus, the Fei Family is brewing to change their family head, and currently, several candidates are fiercely competing..."

The change of family head in the Fei Family was a significant matter for the five pioneering families.

Qiao Wuyong had essentially disclosed information, doing a favor.

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