Chapter 520 - 490: Branch Market

Chapter 520: Chapter 490: Branch Market

The final touches on the Tier Three Composite Investigation and Protection Array were entering their last phase.

Early in the morning, Li Yuan was crouching before a rock wall on the south side of the outpost, burying the last Spiritual Power conduit line into a crevice in the ground.

Suddenly, his Divine Sense detected a disturbance.

It came from the northeast, the location of the Abyss Sect’s outpost. Two auras belonging to Mid-stage Golden Core cultivators flared up simultaneously, and one of them began moving rapidly in his direction.

It wasn’t a patrol route.

Li Yuan stood up, his gaze turning to the northeast.

A moment later, a dim Escape Light rose from behind the low hills, streaking straight toward the perimeter of the array construction area. The Cultivator within the light made no effort to hide their aura; the Demonic Qi fluctuations of a Mid-stage Golden Core powerhouse radiated outwards without restraint.

The Abyss Sect’s Golden Core Cultivator stopped about two hundred zhang from the array zone, hovering in mid-air.

He was a middle-aged man with a sinister face, dressed in dark gray robes. With his hands clasped behind his back, he looked down condescendingly at the array nodes being worked on below.

He didn’t speak, nor did he make a move.

He just stood there, fully unleashing his Mid-stage Golden Core Demonic Qi fluctuations.

The dense Demonic Qi spread from his body like an invisible curtain of fog. It wasn’t aggressive, but it caused an extremely noticeable interference with the array’s Spiritual Power circuits.

The Spiritual Power transmission speed of the active Investigation Array and Early Warning Array suddenly dropped by twenty percent. A few nodes near the perimeter even experienced brief Spiritual Power outages.

The expressions of the three Foundation Establishment Array Masters changed simultaneously.

"Li Tributor, the array’s Spiritual Power circuits are being interfered with," one of them said anxiously.

Li Yuan didn’t look up at the Abyss Sect Cultivator. His gaze remained on the Spiritual Power conduit line in his hand.

"Keep working."

The three Foundation Establishment Array Masters exchanged a glance, then braced themselves and continued with the task at hand.

After standing in mid-air for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the Abyss Sect’s Golden Core Cultivator slowly retracted his Demonic Qi and left.

His Escape Light vanished behind the northeastern hills.

Li Yuan finished burying the conduit line and stood up.

’The intention is clear. The Abyss Sect doesn’t want this array completed, but they aren’t willing to make a direct move and trigger an all-out conflict. Using Demonic Qi to interfere with the construction progress is a way to apply pressure without crossing the line.’

This kind of interference occurred repeatedly over the next few days.

It was certainly effective. The array’s construction progress was slowed to nearly half its normal pace. The final touches, which should have taken two days, were dragged out until the fifth day.

But that was the extent of it.

As the last auxiliary node was embedded into the rock wall, Li Yuan channeled Spiritual Power into the core circuit of the inner protective array. The Spiritual Power of all three layers began to circulate simultaneously, forming a complete composite array system around the Skeleton Ridge outpost.

Li Yuan walked over to the main Array Hub and crouched down.

Within a three-chi radius, a blue light shone.

[Equippable Item Detected: Celestial Bright Stone (Intact)]

[Equip Affix Preview: Array Hub Nexus (Blue)]

[Effect: When inside an array you have laid, Spiritual Power circulation speed increases by 50%, the array’s Spiritual Power transmission efficiency increases by 50%, and you can remotely perceive all changes within the array’s coverage area via the Array Hub.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Lay an array and withstand three full-power attacks from a Cultivator of the same tier.]

A blue affix.

’A very practical effect.’

After replacing the Array Hub, Li Yuan walked over to the Defensive Array and picked up its hub.

This was a composite array; he already had affixes for the other two array hubs, but the hub for this Defensive Array was still bare.

[Equippable Item Detected: Spirit Sun Stone (Intact)]

[Equip Affix Preview: Safeguard (Green)]

[Effect: Increases personal defense by 10%. The more Body Refining Techniques you practice, the greater the boost, up to a maximum of 30%.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Withstand one full-power attack from a Cultivator of the same tier.]

As he placed the two Array Hub stones into his personal storage, the system panel popped up again.

[Permanence Condition Met for Pattern Clarity (Green)]

[Condition: Complete the construction of one Tier Three Middle Grade array.]

[Pattern Clarity (Green) has become a permanent affix.]

A green light merged into his Sea of Consciousness.

The hidden information triggered by the permanence was brief. It showed a vision of a young Cultivator sitting at a stone table, holding a carving knife and repeatedly practicing the technique of inscribing Array Patterns onto a template board. The scene repeated dozens of times, each incision more precise than the last.

There was no valuable intelligence, but the technique for inscribing Array Patterns settled into him like a muscle memory, an instinct.

From now on, his speed and precision when carving Array Patterns would be enhanced.

Li Yuan stood up and glanced at the completed array.

The security level of the Skeleton Ridge outpost had been raised by a huge margin. With this Tier Three composite array in place, even if both of the Abyss Sect’s Mid-stage Golden Core Cultivators attacked at once, the Cultivators inside the outpost would have at least fifteen minutes of buffer time.

’The task of overseeing this place is more than complete.’

Li Yuan found Chen Qi and briefly explained how to operate the array.

「That afternoon」 Li Yuan left Skeleton Ridge, transforming into an Escape Light and flying back to Mist Forest Marketplace.

He arrived at the marketplace near dusk.

Just as he stepped through the doors of the main hall, Ji Wenyuan came forward to greet him.

"Pavilion Master, a guest is waiting for you."

"Who?"

"The Patriarch of the Wang family, Wang Ting’an."

Li Yuan nodded and walked into the main hall.

In a side hall off the main hall, a middle-aged man was sitting upright in a guest’s chair.

When Wang Ting’an saw Li Yuan enter, he immediately stood up and bowed respectfully with clasped hands.

"Pavilion Master Li, I apologize for the intrusion."

"Sit." Li Yuan sat in the host’s seat. "What is it?"

Wang Ting’an sat down again and, after a moment of silence, spoke.

"I heard that Pavilion Master Li intends to open a branch marketplace in Liangzhou."

"I would like to ask Pavilion Master Li to build the branch marketplace on the site of Qinghe Marketplace," Wang Ting’an said, his tone steady but carrying a hint of gravity.

"The land deeds, buildings, and shops of Qinghe Marketplace will all be transferred to Pavilion Master Li free of charge. The Wang family asks for no share of the profits, only that we be allowed to arrange for our people to continue doing business in the new marketplace."

The terms were extremely generous. Handing over an entire marketplace for free, asking for no profits, and only requesting a place to continue their business.

Of course, this was also related to Qinghe Marketplace’s current poor performance.

"I’ll consider it."

Wang Ting’an nodded. Without saying more, he rose to take his leave.

After seeing Wang Ting’an off, Li Yuan sat in the main hall for a moment.

Footsteps approached from outside, and Xu Zhang walked in, taking out a map.

Xu Zhang pointed to a mark on the map. "I was the one who spoke with the Wang Patriarch about Qinghe Marketplace. It’s located in south-central Liangzhou. The marketplace isn’t large, but its infrastructure is complete. The layout, with two main streets running east-west and four side alleys north-south, is well-established, and there’s room for expansion. Most importantly, there are no major resource points near Qinghe Marketplace, so Demon Cultivators have little interest in it, which guarantees its safety."

Xu Zhang paused. "Also, I’ve already had a preliminary discussion with Wang Ting’an. The terms he’s offering are indeed very sincere."

Li Yuan looked at the location of Qinghe Marketplace on the map, silent for a few breaths.

"What’s the Wang family’s current situation?"

Xu Zhang shook his head. "Not good. The number of Demon Cultivators in Liangzhou has been increasing these past two years, and several of the Wang family’s external resource points have been destroyed by them, causing significant losses. Fortunately, Qinghe Marketplace itself has little of value, so the Demon Cultivators look down on it. Plus, even Demon Cultivators have a need for marketplaces to trade, and the Wang family lacks the power to suppress them, so no one has made a move on it. But with the majority of their income streams cut off, the Wang family is having a hard time."

Li Yuan put the map away.

"We’ll go with Qinghe Marketplace."

Xu Zhang acknowledged the order and left to arrange the follow-up matters.

For the next two days, Li Yuan didn’t leave Mist Forest Marketplace.

He walked a lap around the marketplace, re-examining its existing Spirit Gathering Array and Defense Array.

Looking back at them now with his Tier Three Minor Achievement in arrays, he could see many areas for optimization.

No major overhaul was needed, only extremely minor adjustments.

All the adjustments were completed within half a day.

The moment the adjustments were finished, an extremely subtle change occurred in the concentration of Spiritual Qi within the marketplace.

The concentration had risen by a sliver.

The change was minuscule, almost imperceptible to an ordinary Qi Refining Cultivator. But Cultivators at Foundation Establishment and above immediately noticed the slight difference.

An old, Mid-stage Foundation Establishment man who ran a Pill Shop walked out of his store. He looked up at the sky, then lowered his head to feel the Spiritual Qi fluctuations beneath his feet, a trace of pleasant surprise appearing on his face.

"Did the Spiritual Qi get richer?"

Li Yuan retracted his Spiritual Power and turned to walk back to the main hall.