Chapter 54: Night-Luminous Beautiful Jade

On the ruins of the Fierce Tiger Stronghold, there are more and more people.

There are clerks from the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce itself, and helpers hired from the city. People come and go, loading everything of value remaining in the ruins of the Fierce Tiger Stronghold—grain, gold and iron, cloth, medicinal materials, etc. —onto carriages.

Someone counted carefully and found that it was loaded with a full thirty-two large carts!

A few hooligans who usually boasted of their martial arts were envious, but when they saw the bandit corpses moved from all over and piled together, heads cut off and pickled with lime, piled up on a few specially emptied carriages.

Their hearts were like a basin of cold water poured over them, and all greed disappeared.

"The Fierce Tiger Stronghold, which has been rampant in Dongling for more than ten years, and the 'Flying Tiger of the Eastern Mountain' Lu Jingtian, are just gone like this?"

An old man who was moving things muttered to himself, his eyes dazed.

The people of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce, who were panicked a few days ago, were all arrogant, and their walking steps were full of wind.

"The Four Seas Chamber of Commerce is a large chamber of commerce in the Yue Kingdom after all, don't provoke it..."

The eyes of everyone looking at them were also full of awe.

As for the youth in green robes sitting cross-legged facing the sea of clouds on the edge of the cliff, some curious people looked at him a few times, continued to be busy, and soon forgot.

"Young Master, come with me, found something..." Long San walked in a hurry and came to Jiang Ding, his face full of horror that could not be covered.

Jiang Ding closed his eyes to cultivate, listening quietly, internal power surging in the large and small branches of the twelve main meridians, facing the sea of clouds, continuing to develop and nourish more tiny branches.

1,307 large and small branches of the twelve main meridians, this is the meridian that has been tempered and nourished and can be passed by internal power.

After the continuous doubling increase of the micro-heavenly cycle, small heavenly cycle, and the great accomplishment of the technique realm, plus the continuous "Hundred Essence to Qi Pill" on weekdays, now he can temper and nourish 80 tiny branch meridians every day.

To reach the realm of 'Great Heavenly Cycle', it takes 234 days, seven and a half months, nearly eight months!

If the ambition is bigger, and he peeks at the next realm, 'Great Perfection of the Heavenly Cycle', 108,000 meridians, it takes 1,333 days, nearly four years of time!

I don't know how long the college entrance examination will be over.

"Young Master, come with me, found something..." Long San walked in a hurry and came to Jiang Ding, his face full of horror that could not be covered.

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Long San took a group of clerks, and the dozens of boys and girls who had just been released, rummaged everywhere, occasionally showing surprise, and concentrated things in the open space to classify and put them away.

The karst cave is empty, naturally formed, and the Fierce Tiger Stronghold has carried out some transformation. The oil lamps embedded in the walls were lit again, making everything in the cave clearly visible.

"Zhendong Marquis!"

For this reason, Long San had to mobilize five clerks with clean backgrounds and the most reliable ones, distribute weapons to them, and separate them to monitor everyone, not allowing them to hide anything.

He had an urge to run away immediately. Without reaching the Primordial Realm, Internal Qi martial artists are difficult to pose a threat to cultivators.

Jiang Ding was greatly wary: "If there are demonic cultivators, then they must be connected with the Zhendong Marquis!"

Gripping the sword hilt tightly, he looked around vigilantly.

"Also, micro-spiritual vein!"

This is a mountain of gold and silver! Carefully search the rooms of each stronghold leader, don't let go of any

Before long, the clerk returned with a palm-sized rosewood box, held it up with both hands, and opened it.

A deep blue gemstone appeared before them, the size of an infant's fist, teardrop-shaped, and completely translucent, emitting a faint blue light in the shadow of the box lid.

"Young Master, please take a look."

Long San introduced: "This was discovered in the secret treasure chamber of that thief Lu Jingtian. It glows in the dark, slightly inferior to your Night-Shining Pearl, Young Master, but it is larger in volume and has an excellent shape. Even unpolished, it is a top-tier jewel and should easily capture the hearts of nine out of ten women in the world."

Jiang Ding was immediately captivated by this blue gemstone.

He did not recognize it and lacked the knowledge base in this area, but by intuition, he felt this must be a good item; he even had the faint illusion of seeing a Blue Fluorescent Butterfly.

"I'll take this. How much is it valued at?"

Since they had agreed on a fifty-fifty split, he would stick to it strictly.

"Items unrelated to cultivation are worth at most one thousand taels; being more precious, I would value it at..." Long San possessed great professional integrity and did not deliberately flatter him in the valuation. After a moment of thought, he said: "How about fifteen hundred taels?"

"Good."

Jiang Ding nodded, closed the lid, and tucked it into his robes.

This could not be called picking up a bargain; he had conquered this mountain stronghold himself.

"The livestock and cattle are each... Lu Jingtian, Zhou Kun, and others have various bounties from the prefecture city..."

Long San calculated every miscellaneous account one by one, down to the smallest detail. Even with the table calculated by Jiang Ding's microcomputer built into his camouflage uniform, there were no discrepancies.

Finally, he summarized: "Young Master, the total harvest this time, if calculated entirely in silver, amounts to two hundred twenty-six thousand, two hundred thirty-four taels and seven hundred seventy-one wen."

After stating this figure, Long San himself felt a wave of dizziness.

"The century-old ginseng belongs to me, and the other decades-old medicinal herbs are also mine. Let me read the technique manuals for a few hours," Jiang Ding said without hesitation. "After that, how much remains?"

Long San quickly clicked his abacus.

"You are entitled to half of the two hundred thousand-plus silver. Century-old ginseng is difficult to price in silver, as there are very few precedents. How about valuing it at twenty thousand taels?"

Jiang Ding nodded.

A century-old ginseng already fell into the category of spiritual medicine, and being ginseng, it was among the top tier of Tier 1 spiritual medicines. This was very reasonable.

"Thirty-seven decades-old medicinal herbs are valued at fifteen thousand taels. As for the manuals, since you are only reading them and not taking them away, they won't be counted," Long San clicked the abacus the clerk had picked up a few times and replied: "There remains fifty-eight thousand, one hundred eleven taels. This amount is too large to be gathered here in the prefecture city; we will have to wait for the Yuejing side to send the silver notes to you."

"No problem."

This place, which once filled the people of Dongling Prefecture with terror, had become ruins. As they gradually moved away, looking back from afar, it was just a black dot that grew smaller and smaller.

Dozens of carriages set off again, returning to the prefecture city at a slow pace.

Jiang Ding sat in the middle carriage, the "Thirteen Taibao Hard-Refinement" manual in his hand, flipping pages from time to time.

In the end, he decided to return to Dongling Prefecture City.

The Blue Gold Potion must not be lost!

Furthermore, if one were to choose a place in the Dongling Prefecture region where a cultivator was least likely to be, it would undoubtedly be the prefecture city.

First, the continuous activity of hundreds of thousands of humans over hundreds or thousands of years—carving mountains, digging canals, building city walls and houses—would severely damage the landscape, ultimately destroying any potential spiritual veins. Cultivation sects rarely reside in prosperous, densely populated areas for this very reason.

Second, hundreds of thousands of people, in the act of breathing, would inadvertently consume the already scarce spiritual energy in the air, making the prefecture city a "spirit-weak land" for a hundred miles around.

It might be fine for a cultivator to handle temporary business, but to have them live in the prefecture city for a long time would be no different from torture.

Conversely, the more remote the mountains and forests, the more likely a cultivator is to exist there.

As for the threat of the Marquis's army,

With drone surveillance, it would not be so easy for a large force to surround him, given that his Minor Concealment Technique was approaching minor accomplishment.

"'Thirteen Taibao Hard-Refinement,' using external force to beat oneself, supplemented by internal power and medicine. After reaching major accomplishment, except for a certain vital point, the whole body is like steel and iron, impervious to blades and spears... That is an exaggerated claim; an Internal Qi warrior holding a precious weapon could break it. If one were to wear precious armor covering the whole body, it could barely be called that."

"Useless. Using external force to temper tendons and bones will damage some small meridian branches."

After reading it once, Jiang Ding put it down and picked up Lu Jingtian's "Five Tigers Soul-Severing Saber."

In fact, this was the norm. Immortal Sect techniques were already refined to perfection, condensing the hard work of many great experts; he was just expanding his reading and increasing his knowledge.

"Young Master Jiang, I, Long Zhengwu, request an audience."

Outside the carriage, an aged voice came, drawing the side-eyes of the Four Seas Society members.

Old Master Long was an Internal Qi perfection expert; why was he so humble toward a youth?

"Senior Long, you are too polite; you flatter me."

Jiang Ding lifted the curtain and welcomed him in.

"Many thanks to the Young Master for avenging my Four Seas Society; I will never forget this kindness!" As soon as he entered, Long Zhengwu bowed in salute.

"Not at all, not at all..."

"There is one matter... I ask for the Young Master's forgiveness."

After some pleasantries, Long Zhengwu lowered his voice: "Young Master, Long San is only of the younger generation and does not know many things; the things he promised you may not count."

"Oh?"

The smile on Jiang Ding's face disappeared bit by bit.

Did the Four Seas Society think that because he had been so polite and made concessions many times for so long, he was easy to bully?

Long Zhengwu's spine instantly turned cold.

He immediately understood why Lu Jingtian and Yang Dongsheng, whose strength was not at all weaker than his, had died under the layers of protection of their subordinates, and he could not help but break into a cold sweat.

"Young Master, you misunderstand, you misunderstand!"

Long Zhengwu did not have the airs of a senior at all, saying repeatedly: "It is not that my Four Seas Society is breaking the contract, but the existence of the Heavenly Secret Tower is truly something we are powerless against!"

"Heavenly Secret Tower? The one from the Dragon-Phoenix Ranking?"

Jiang Ding frowned.

"Exactly."

Long Zhengwu used internal power to wipe the sweat from his forehead: "Although their reputation is not prominent, they have at least experienced the collapse of several dynasties and the destruction of multiple martial arts holy lands, and they still exist to this day. Their spies' tentacles are spread all over the world, and there is very little intelligence that can be hidden from them."

"There have also been senior experts who explored their background, but they all ended in nothing."

"How many experts my Four Seas Society has and where they are can never escape their eyes and ears. Such a major event could be hidden from others, but not from them."

"If it were anything else, they would mostly ignore it, but you are too young, and it involves the Dragon-Phoenix Ranking; they will certainly disclose it within a few months."

"The Society is powerless against this; it is better to stick to the previous twenty percent split."

Long Zhengwu said respectfully, treating the youth before him as a senior expert.

"A few months?"

"Yes, the Dragon-Phoenix Ranking is updated every six months, and there are two months left until the next update."

"In that case... it is not the Four Seas Society's fault."

Jiang Ding's expression softened slightly: "Calculating accounts is too troublesome; fifty percent is still fifty percent, the agreement will not change."

"This... as the Young Master says."

Long Zhengwu showed a look of being moved; having seen so many senior experts, the one before him was truly the most principled.