Chapter 452: Li Na’s Suggestion

After the spring departure, river and sea shipping business revived.

Orders poured into the Sanhe Commandery Hall every single day.

The various branch helms, island masters, and cavern masters all reported their daily earnings on time.

Zhao Heiniu, Lin Jiahe, Chen Gang, Li Xiangyang, Ye Baiyi, and the others had all cultivated certain techniques to Perfect Mastery, and in their spare time, they would go to the training grounds to guide the hall’s disciples in their practice.

Bai Jingtang left Sanhe Commandery and returned to organize the full transfer of her studio personnel northward.

Su Wangchuan returned to his courtyard to cultivate.

After spending a full day, he finally pushed 《Three-Yin Qi-Circulation Art》 through to the next realm.

Ding!

“《Three-Yin Qi-Circulation Art》 has broken through from ‘Minor Mastery’ to ‘Practice Makes Perfect.’ Reward: +2 Stamina.”

Ding!

“《Three-Yin Qi-Circulation Art》 has permanently gained 6 points of Spirit!”

Su Wangchuan opened his eyes, a faint smile appearing in them.

“It finally broke through.”

He summoned his Status Panel and glanced at it. His Spirit had risen to 68, and his internal energy had reached 740. 《Three-Yin Qi-Circulation Art》 really did have a definite advantage.

Now, if he activated 《Wind Fills the Vast Sky》 again, then with the depth of his internal energy, he should be able to activate it at least three times in succession.

Then he looked again at the Ultimate Art 《Wind Fills the Vast Sky》. Its experience stood at 5/100.

That was from killing Zhuang Xuyan and the other four Beggar Sect elders, which had raised it by 5 points.

If he wanted to raise the experience of an Ultimate Art, then at his current rank, he was afraid he would have to kill ninety-five more fourth-rank martial artists to do it.

Troublesome!

Still, Wan Xiwen had brought him two sixth-rank martial arts manuals.

But...

before cultivating sixth-rank techniques, he still decided to first raise the fourth-rank 《Yanyun Eighteen Spear》 and the fifth-rank 《Mountain-Splitting Staff Art》, so he would not end up wasting attribute rewards later.

As for the second-rank and third-rank spear and staff arts, they had long since reached Integration. To push them further, he would have to slaughter quite a few snakes.

He logged off and killed a thousand snakes.

“Ding!”

System prompt:

“《Yanyun Eighteen Spear》 has risen from ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ to ‘Entry-Level Mastery.’ Reward: +3 Strength.”

“Ding!”

“《Mountain-Splitting Staff Art》 has risen from ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ to ‘Entry-Level Mastery.’ Reward: +3 Strength.”

His Strength had reached 115!

He was now only 5 points short of the 120-point threshold needed for a sixth-rank martial artist.

Su Wangchuan was certain that as long as he cultivated 《Thirteen Overlapping Waves Spear》 to Entry-Level Mastery, he would break through to the Sixth Rank smoothly!

Should he do it?

The thought alone was thrilling.

Within a single month, from the Fourth Rank straight into the Sixth Rank!

But almost immediately, another problem occurred to him.

Caobang Gang Leader Luo Tiancong was still waiting to take him in as a personal disciple in the sixth month.

If he broke through to the Sixth Rank...

would there still be any need for the man to take him in?

Then another thought struck him:

At most, Luo Tiancong was only a seventh-rank martial artist!

The Ultimate Art 《Wind Fills the Vast Sky》 had already been passed on to him...

And in headquarters’ armory vault, there were only so many martial arts to begin with.

Was he really supposed to suppress half a year of cultivation progress just to wait for the man to accept him as a disciple? Just to become the disciple of the Caobang Gang Leader?

He could endure holding himself back for a month or two.

But half a year...

That felt like too much of a loss.

And besides—

once he broke through to the Sixth Rank, all he had to do was buy a batch of martial arts manuals from Jianghu or from the 《spirit realm》 Online Guidance Center, and it would be easy for him to break through to the Seventh Rank.

Within half a year, he could reach the Seventh Rank!

Su Wangchuan wavered at once.

The identity of Luo Tiancong’s personal disciple no longer seemed all that attractive.

After thinking it over again and again, he still could not make up his mind.

So he simply logged off and called Li Na over.

Bright sunlight poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows and spilled across the training grounds, falling over Su Wangchuan.

Dressed in a fitted uniform, Li Na stepped in on high heels, carrying that gentle yet mature charm. She walked into the sunlight and stopped in front of Su Wangchuan.

“Boss? What major matter requires this little woman’s services?”

She knew that her boss normally immersed himself in cultivation and would not interrupt it lightly. Since he had specifically called her over today, then something important must have happened.

“Help me spread the word. I’m willing to use the third-rank inner cultivation method 《Xuanwu Art》, the fourth-rank 《Water-Moon Sword Art》, and the fifth-rank 《Raging Tide Sword Art》 to trade for niche cultivation methods not yet recorded by the Caobang, as well as strength-type and stamina-type techniques.”

Su Wangchuan came straight to the point.

“If there are any sixth-rank techniques, the price can be discussed.”

The moment Li Na heard that, she immediately understood. She tapped open the terminal in her hand and projected the screen.

“Boss, actually, the personal terminal in spirit realm already has a studio trading page. It lists all kinds of cultivation method information, including rank, attribute rewards, and cultivation shortcuts. It’s very comprehensive. Would you like to take a look first?”

“I already have.”

“The highest rank there is only fifth-rank techniques, aimed at fourth-tier studio clearance players. Inner cultivation methods and body-protection techniques are pitifully scarce. They’re basically all ordinary fist, foot, saber, sword, and spear techniques. I couldn’t even find a single movement technique...”

Su Wangchuan had in fact already gone through every martial arts manual that the 《spirit realm》 Online Guidance Center could share and trade. None of them were of any real use to him.

Li Na decisively closed the trading page.

“For your current situation, Boss, there is actually another way!”

“Oh?”

Su Wangchuan raised his head.

Li Na said,

“We can host a private barter exchange gathering here in the city. Let the heads of the various studios take the lead and determine exactly what martial arts manuals, equipment, pills, and even direct gold and silver holdings each of them has available for trade.”

Su Wangchuan froze.

That much trouble?

Li Na seemed to read his thoughts and explained,

“I’ve already done the numbers. Sanjiang Studio currently has a major resource advantage! Boss, you control the armory vault of Sanhe Commandery, and you can provide more than twenty niche martial arts manuals. That’s something many people desperately want but cannot get.”

“Besides that, we’ve already stockpiled a large quantity of Hundredfold weapons and Thousand-Forged weapons!”

“We also control large amounts of gold and silver.”

“In truth, many studios have secretly wanted to trade with us for some time. Quite a few heads have already hinted as much to me... As long as we raise the call, many people will respond. They’ll be willing to take out some of the treasures they’ve been hoarding and trade them with us.”

“As far as I know, several coastal studios have whip-type martial arts manuals in their hands. Those count as fairly niche techniques, and they command very high prices in that region... In the Capital, several studios possess manuals from the famous sects and great schools... And then there are the martial arts of the Western Regions. If we draw these people into a trading meeting, I’m confident we can make it work.”

Li Na’s suggestion made Su Wangchuan’s eyes light up.

“How would the transactions be handled?”

“The martial arts manuals can be escorted and transported by the escort agency!”

“If the volume of trade is large enough, we can even consider escorting it ourselves and saving that cost, since we already have our own escort agency... Of course, we could also arrange for them to deliver everything to the Capital, and then have our convoy retrieve it from there.” Li Na had thought through every angle.

“Good!”

“Then I’ll leave the contact work and price negotiation to you, Li Na.”

As always, Su Wangchuan reverted to being the hands-off boss.

“With pleasure, Boss. Just wait for my good news.”

After saying that, Li Na turned gracefully and walked away, the crisp sound of her high heels clicking behind her.

When she reached the elevator, she stopped, seemingly in thought, then turned back and said,

“If Boss is short on cultivation methods to train right now, you could consider tossing the venomous snakes into the swimming pool and practicing 《Underwater Killing Techniques》... If I remember correctly, you still have quite a few cultivation methods that could use another pass. It would be a waste to neglect them.”