The Journey of Immortal Cultivation-Chapter 680 - 384: The Wildfire Burns Endlessly_2
The naked system of survival of the fittest compels every demon in Hidden Stream to cultivate diligently; behind every battle, new hatreds may be born, and in this vast mountain range larger than several Great States combined, stories of blood and fire unfold every day.
During this month, her focus on mastering Divine Skills was almost to the extent of ’hanging from a beam and piercing one’s spine.’ In the past days of westward travel, she was homeless, never having had such an opportunity to settle down, systematically and safely reviewing all she had learned, progressing a thousand miles a day.
On this day, as she was compressing her Divine Power, Earth Yin Child arrived. Ning Xiaoxian’s cultivation fortune was much better than others, as ordinary demons accumulate Spiritual Power at a very slow rate, and likewise, they cultivate slowly, but she is different. For her, the Divine Power in Demon Transformation Spring is inexhaustible, the only restriction on her drawing Divine Power is how long she can endure in Demon Transformation Spring. And as her cultivation deepens day by day, the Divine Power she can extract naturally becomes ever-increasing.
To put it in perspective, while others cultivate like climbing a mountain, where the path becomes rougher as one goes further, she is like a spring rushing into a creek, which then flows into rivers and lakes, finally rushing into the sea, moving faster and becoming broader all the way. However, Changtian now demands that she compress her Divine Power as much as possible, refining it like casting pure gold, purifying it. The purity of Divine Power affects the effectiveness of Divine Skills, epitomizing the concept of ’concentration brings essence.’ Compressing Divine Skills might sound simple, but it is difficult to implement, especially later on when there is less space to compress, and the Divine Power circulating around her body is not only liquefied but also thick as blood, emitting a faint silver light, and the Divine Power in her Demon Core is continuously compressed and purified, reminding her of the suitcase she brutally packed before traveling...
Since her cultivation speed can accelerate at any time, Changtian is no longer in a rush for her to advance. By working diligently day by day, it only took her about twenty-some days to just barely touch the threshold of Late Wanxiang Great Perfection.
If she accidentally breaks through to the Divine Refining Stage, then she would lose the eligibility to consume Dragon Elephant Fruit.
This particular Earth Yin Child was from Ning Yu.
He already arrived at Pian State Bank and quickly took over all its affairs. The fleeing shopkeeper had been working in this bank for nearly twenty years, and when he fled, he swept through the accounts clean. Also, the world’s backward means of communication and underdeveloped information made the shopkeeper only receive the document from Fengtian Prefecture claiming that Pian State Bank was cut off from Fengtian Prefecture and taken over by others, yet he did not know the new owner’s background, nor when he would assume office. In such a situation, he was momentarily blinded by lard, taking his family and property that did not belong to him with him.
Ning Yu and Master You were not angry but pleasantly surprised by his actions. It’s good for a new officer to establish authority, and this unfortunate fellow was just right for making an example. The methods of the Immortal family are inherently incomprehensible to mortals, and the demons sent by Ning Xiaoxian to help quickly followed the clues and forcibly dragged the family of the shopkeeper, who had already fled to another state and county, back along with most of the money.
Mortals working within the institutions set up by the Immortal family must sign servitude contracts, becoming house slaves of cultivators, over life and death, and even the slightest concealment can be a decapitating offense. The behavior of this shopkeeper was typical of a slave deceiving his master and thus could not be easily pardoned; by convention, his entire family would be executed, and local government offices could not even inquire into it. Although it sounds cruel, the mortals in this world have the Stairway to Heaven of cultivation, and if the family is not wiped out completely, aren’t there many examples like Nangong Zhen and Fu Yunzhang who achieve success and then come back for revenge? However, it happened that this shopkeeper had no children, only an old mother and a few wives, so Ning Yu, thinking he had no descendants, did not need to eradicate them completely, so he only sent him to Western Heaven. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮
Master You then had the body taken for skinning and stuffing with straw, displaying it in the backyard of the bank for more than half a month as a warning to others. This severe form was originally meant to strip the skin of the criminal while alive, create a bag-like shape, fill it with straw, and hang it publicly. With Ning Yu’s temperament, he originally did not want to carry out such a ruthless act, but Master You insisted, saying, "Humans are such that they bully the soft and fear the hard, if you do not handle those who offend the majesty of the Immortal severely, your subordinates will not be easy to manage later on."
It just so happened that Pian State Bank had hired quite a few new staff. Those with smaller courage would soften their legs when passing by the backyard and seeing this human skin sack, regretting signing the servitude contract. Immediately after, Ning Yu recorded the recovered property from the shopkeeper in the accounts and allocated a small portion out, adding a salary of thirty to seventy taels of silver to each of his subordinates according to their position annually. This was a very common policy of the stick and carrot, effective in any world, hence now Pian State Bank was back in operation and very efficiently at that.
Upon hearing this, Changtian made a low snort and said, "Ning Yu, like you, is too soft-hearted."
Besides the regular borrowing and operational business, the "Ningxiang Dew" extracted from Miao Xiang Flower also began production. Ning Yu already placed an order at the Pian State workshops; the special bottles for Ningxiang Dew are cute, transparent, and small glazed bottles with spray nozzles for convenient use. Needless to say, this design concept is cloned from the modern perfume bottle commonly seen. However, in a world where even ointment can be randomly bottled, premium packaging definitely attracts attention. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
