Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Chapter 491: Chapter 326: What Do You Smell?

After a while, Zhao Sheng walked out of Baochen Cave Mansion with a calm face, flicked his sleeve, and a Magic Sword suddenly shot out from beneath his sleeve, soaring into the sky.

With a light jump, Zhao Sheng was already on the Magic Sword. As he infused it with Spiritual Power, the brilliance of the Magic Sword surged, carrying him swiftly toward the mountain base, quickly disappearing into the vast night.

A short time later, a Sword Light suddenly descended from the sky into a manor located more than twenty li away from Qingyang Mountain.

As the Sword Light dispersed, Zhao Sheng waved his hand to recall the Magic Sword and walked towards a three-story wooden building.

He hadn’t even reached the door when a group of people rushed out from inside. Upon seeing Zhao Sheng, they were overjoyed and called out to him as ‘Senior Brother’ one after another.

Zhao Sheng was not surprised to see his junior brothers and junior sisters gathered here. This manor was their usual meeting place. Given the significant incident that had occurred, it was natural for them to come here to await Zhao Sheng and seek a solution.

“Junior Brother Wu, Junior Brother Fang, Sister Zhang…you all just relax. The discovery of our black market is nothing serious. We’ll just find another place to rebuild. Moreover, Master has personally handled this matter. As long as we don’t break ranks, Yuan Yang’s efforts will come to naught,” Zhao Sheng, surrounded by the group, reassured them confidently.

“With Senior Brother’s words, we can rest easy. It’s hateful that the Ren brothers were disloyal. Seeing things go south, they immediately switched allegiance to Yuan Shen, that youngster.”

Zhao Sheng glanced over and indeed saw that a few active figures were missing from the crowd.

He smiled faintly and waved his hand, “People have their own aspirations! It’s just… the Ren brothers’ father holds a position in Capital Court, so they have the privilege to choose. As for those fair-weather friends, we cannot let them go. We must make an example of one to warn a hundred. Otherwise, if people lose their loyalty, our business will suffer.”

“Senior Brother speaks wisely! Those traitors must be severely punished. Otherwise, every Tom, Dick, and Harry will start bullying us,” said someone with a rather simplistic brain, immediately making a fierce statement.

However, there were also those who were clear-headed, such as Wu Shengshen, who expressed his concerns with worry, “But, Senior Brother! The Capital Court’s action is outright turning against us. With all this troop mobilization, can the temple sacrifice truly handle this matter easily?”

During this conversation, the crowd escorted Zhao Sheng into the building.

Upon hearing this, Zhao didn’t immediately answer, but walked to the central chair and slowly sat down.

His presence was commanding, his Divine Eye piercing as he looked up at everyone. Wherever his gaze landed, everyone bowed their heads and listened.

“Ha-ha! Each one of you was meticulously chosen by me, each one backed by the powerful families of a county or the influential clans of a county. Coupled with the support of our Master, the entire powerful families of the county are on our side. What can Yuan Yang and the others do to play with us?

Nobody can rebel against this sky in Hufeng County, I assure you!” Zhao Sheng’s words, brimming with dominance, instantly dispelled the unease in everyone’s heart.

The tense atmosphere in the building immediately lightened significantly!

“Haha, with those words from you, I can now go back and give those old fogeys in my family a satisfactory report. So, when are we rebuilding the black market?”

“Right, right, the black market must be set up as soon as possible. Without it, we will lose out on Spirit Stones. Our cultivation speed will fall off drastically! I’m still short of a good number of Essence Blood Pearls.”

“Essence Blood Pearls are nothing! Without Blood Refining Talismans and Blood Melting Talismans, I’d like to see you refine Essence Blood. Don’t get scared because the black market was destroyed and drive away Master Taifu. If that happens, it would be disastrous,” Fang Xing slapped his thigh and bellowed loudly.

“Brother Fang, don’t spread panic. Master Taifu will definitely not hide and run away.”

“Heh, can you guarantee that this won’t happen? You should know that Master’s offerings are not just elixirs; there are also Blood Refining Talismans, Blood Spirit Pills, and other secret items of the Heavenly Dao Sect. The existence of such a person, if known by the higher-ups in the Prefecture Temple, would undoubtedly cause a huge stir.”

“Hehe! No matter how strict the rules of the Taoist Temple are, there must be people who follow them! Nowadays, people’s hearts are not ancient; the temple is like a sieve inside and out, full of holes. Who in this world would strictly abide by the rules and regulations? It’s very possible that Master Taifu is actually the persona of some big shot!”

“Shush, know it yourself; there’s no need to speak it aloud.”

As the conversation among the crowd veered off course, Zhao Sheng did not intervene.

After all, they had guessed correctly; Master Taifu was indeed a persona he had pushed into the limelight.

Thanks to the special environment of the black market, over the past few years, Zhao Sheng had earned a fortune under the identity of Master Taifu.

What he had just handed over to Bao Chen was merely the overt part of his wealth; he had hidden treasures roughly valued at nearly a hundred thousand Spirit Stones in various Elixir Pills, spirit materials, and other treasures.

But this was also the limit for Hufeng County; any more transactions, and the market would become saturated.

To maintain the marketing strategy of scarcity and mystique, Zhao Sheng also deliberately reduced the frequency and volume of transactions.

This was supposed to be a slow but steady business, but now, such a significant incident had occurred.

Despite Zhao Sheng’s recent fierce words, he was very pessimistic about Bao Chen.

This cheap master was simply too greedy, like he always said, hoarding alone would not end well!

While the black market was indeed profitable, Zhao Sheng and his juniors had earned just a pittance, and even the major families in the county had only scraped three-tenths of the profit; Bao Chen had swallowed the lion’s share.

Thus, when Yuan Yang made his move, the old veterans of Capital Court and Du Ku secretly switched their allegiance.