Spare Me, Great Lord!

It was no easy feat to attract the attention of the big families, because each of them had their own arrangements and main areas of activities. Hence, those based in regions too far away from Luo City would not bother to take a chance in such competitions.

Most of the clans were prudent risk-takers. They could reach sensible conclusions after weighing the pros and cons of their decisions. Thus, they would not hastily jump at the seeming benefits despite their full understanding of the importance of cultivation and the power struggle for secret resources.

There were specially-trained geniuses within each family, such as Chen Zuan from the Chen family, Xu Wenxin from the Xu family and Gao Shenyin from the Gao family of Dianzhou. It was extremely resource-consuming to cultivate geniuses, and the abundance of resources was a privilege not entitled to ordinary Daoyuan Class students and other apprentices of the families.

Nie Ting believed in the improvement of cultivation accessibility for Practitioners from less privileged backgrounds. Hence, his leadership was strictly principle-led, with no tolerance for fake military contributions and no back doors for influential families. To him, the sole criterion was one’s cultivation aptitude.

He recognized that the Heavenly Network would thrive only with the removal of big families’ monopoly over cultivation opportunities, because this era was one of limitless talents!

In fact, Lu Shu was not aware that when he was sent to Japan, all other Class A aptitude geniuses who had participated in the special training, including Cao Qingci and Chen Zuan, were on their own missions too.

Chen Zuan was very unlucky. He had once imagined that it was a blessing to be able to attend the training with other geniuses, but it turned out that he had successfully caught Principal Nie’s main attention…

As a matter of fact, the ultimate goal of their current assignments was to stain their hands with more blood, so that they would gain a deeper insight into the real face of the cultivation realm.

Those Class A aptitude geniuses would only be truly qualified as future mainstays after they had gone through hardships and bloodshed.

Would Nie Ting feel sorry for the loss of Class A aptitude geniuses when they were executing their missions? Yes, he would.

But it was imperative that elite fighters underwent tough training, just as iron must be smelted to form steel.

Hence, in the meantime, Nie Ting was exerting pressure on the other geniuses as well. At the moment, Cao Qingci had buried herself in the sand for a day and a night for an ambush mission in the desert.

Her targets were three Heavenly Network traitors who were fleeing westward from northwest China after they had sold confidential information of the Network. Cao Qingci’s mission was to take their heads.

The Heavenly Network had created a more stressful and harsh growth environment for the geniuses. Otherwise, how could they establish their footing amidst wealthy, more privileged apprentices from big families?

Meanwhile, Li Yixiao sent a message to various big families, requesting for their assistance in getting rid of thousands of magical stones in his pocket. He claimed that he was about to abandon the Luo City black market and assured them of the truthfulness of his words…

The families wondered, why does he sound like a street vendor? Li Yixiao’s message was clear, though. He who is able to accept the stones at a reasonable price gets the black market.

That sparked immense interest among the families. Was Heavenly King Li planning to retreat from the marketplace after this last transaction of his? However, they were slightly confused about the source of the stones, since this Heavenly King was widely known for his non-existent savings.

Regardless, there was no harm to take a look. It might be a bit difficult to take in tens of thousands of magical stones, for billions of bucks could always be invested in other more worthy causes. In spite of their need for stones, too many of them would not be helpful either.

In the past, there existed speculation about the possibility of trading in magical stones as a universal currency among the cultivation realm. But now they had realized it was not that easy, because they had to take into consideration the amount of supply and currency rates. However, the spatial distribution of stones in the world was still unknown.

As a result, a new order based on magical stones currency was yet to mature.

Hence, at the moment, these stones only served as cultivation resources.

Big families were already on the move upon receipt of Li Yixiao’s message. As Luo City was situated on the holy ground of one of the seven Cultivation Colleges, the location of its black market was geographically strategic!

…

Thousands of miles away in the Capital, Nie Ting’s brows knitted together as he read through the report in his hands. “He certainly has not learned his lessons from his reflection letter…”

The report stated that Li Yixiao had contacted 11 famous families in the country, and spread the information about the black market trading that involved thousands of magical stones. Among them, five families chose to stay put because of geographical distance, and they were afraid that other families might rob their fruits even if they could take down the market.

It was like a chess game. Every move made must be calculated well, to take into account its potential benefits and costs.

The remaining six families had sent representatives to Luo City. They were both interested in rolling in the stones for their apprentices’ use and gaining control over the Luo City black market which was of strategic significance.

Shi Xuejin asked curiously, “He must have collaborated with Lu Shu, don’t you think? How else could a poor man like him churn out so many magical stones…”

“Certainly. In that case, our speculation is proven right. The thousands of stones stolen from the Collection of Gods are indeed in his possession.” Nie Ting smoothed his knitted brows.

“Are you considering breaking the ice to have a good chat with Lu Shu?” Shi Xuejin put his book aside and said, “I think there’s no harm doing that.”

Nie Ting’s brows quivered slightly. “Doesn’t matter. It’s only a few thousand stones. Not a big deal. Who knows, maybe this incident will teach him about the abundance of resources overseas.”

After a long silence, Nie Ting suddenly continued, “The Puppet Master wants to establish himself in Europe, but he failed to defeat the Department of Faith Theory. I guess he may divert his attention elsewhere.”

“The Americas have Phoenix Society and the Saint, so his chances there are slim too. I’m afraid he may be interested in the Middle East and Australia, though I am more inclined towards the former,” Nie Ting said.

Shi Xuejin deliberated and asked, “Is it possible that he may roll in Indian Practitioners?”

Though outwardly flourishing, India nowadays had actually dried up in its cultivation scene. Most of their top fighters had fallen. Coupled with their rich cultivation resources and big population, many Practitioners had exchanged their souls for powers with the devils. Thus, it was perfectly possible, even though they might be aware that the Puppet Master was not human.

Besides, the Puppet Master could do evil!

Nie Ting commented, “Be more careful about his directions. However, I have no time for that. I am leaving for the Changbai Mountains the day after tomorrow.”

Shi Xuejin gave a nod of understanding. “Sure. That’s more important.”

But they did not mention a single word about why Nie Ting must head to the Changbai Mountains no matter what.