A man with three beautiful women, standing on individual swords, peeks down from above the clouds.
"Master... That tribulation." The woman with lavish green hair and eyes says.
"That is the tribulation master faced when he was breakthrough to Golden Core." The second woman bluntly says. Her black hair is tied up in a ponytail.
All three of the woman have unrealistically smooth and bright skin that gleams even in the dark.
In addition, they are wearing special expensive robes that conceal and enhance their cultivation.
The man's short black hair and eyes emitted a generic protagonist facade. He stares in the direction of Mount Hua Xi.
"It is a core formation tribulation..." The third woman mumbles.
...
An incredible record was made. A red tribulation was described as the blood tribulation or death tribulation. It is stating that heaven deemed the entity to be too powerful or is progressing too fast and refused to allow a breakthrough.
Although the red tribulation was common in the upper realm, for a once in a century genius in the lower realm, the number who survived amounts to a single digit. Ji Qiang was one of them.
Blessed tremendously by heaven, he was born with the heavenly primordial spiritual roots and ascended to the upper realms within a thousand years.
It has been 10,000 years since then...
The man widens his eye as he attempts to peer into Wang Ji.
!!
"Ack!!...?"
He grasps his eyes as his disciple dissipates the mysterious energy attacking him.
"What happened?! Did that cultivator attack master?" The green-haired lady exclaims.
"Master is in the Golden Soul realm! How can a mere core formation hurt-"
The man raised his hand to break the argument. "It's demonic Qi... something...is inside Wang Ji. And that sword, it attacked my soul..."
...
"Master... Is he a demonic practitioner?"
A demonic cultivator can usually be identified by the Qi in their body. Another important factor is that demonic cultivators' are weak to heavenly tribulation. Demonic cultivators' breakthrough does not attract a tribulation as they feed off the resentful Qi from dead people, unlike regular atmosphere Qi. Therefore, what happened contradicted that principle.
"A demonic practitioner going through heavenly tribulation. Is there something wrong with your head?" The ponytail lady says.
"Enough! There can only be one explanation for this." The man says.
...
"The rumours are true. A teenager from the upper realms sacrificed his cultivation to descend to the lower realms." Says the man. "We are going back."
"Yes!"
They belong to the neighbouring country of Tiansu, Wenhua, with the man being nicknamed "The Emperor of Justice", Jie Guang.
"Mei Chunhua, stay in Tiansu and keep a low profile. I want you to keep an eye on Wang Ji..." Says Jie Guang.
The ponytail haired lady was revealed to be Mei Chunhua. Her entire behaviour changes when she talks to Jie Guang. "Understood. When do I return?"
"When Wang Ji is dead or you have confirmed that he will be a threat to the entire murim. If it is merely all a coincidence and he is innocent, you may return as well."
Mei Chunhua nods. "This disciple will comply." She says as she places her right fist against her left palm.
Jie Guang and the two woman leaves as Chunhua descends onto Tiansu.
Azrim smirks.
(This is the most I can do for you, Master. But a mere justice bastard will not stop you. I've seen master's capability, I feel like a fool calling his system the weakest. To think master found ways to exploit, at this rate, his system might be the strongest I could ever find. Master, you have attracted much attention, it is not safe for both you and your sect. It is time you accelerate your growth, until then, this servant will do what I can.)
-----------------
A soft surface and moderately humid air.
...
It's weird, I felt like Azrim was speaking to me but I cannot remember...
I wake up on the bed in my room with bandages wrapped.
Residue lighting essence from the tribulation remains in the meridians. At that instant, many things went through my mind.
The first of which is... What is cultivation?
Heavenly tribulation. What is that?
I don't know. Many things were answered in my head from Xie Mo's knowledge but I understood none.
Truly...
I shake the thoughts off my head. I still have things I need to do. The desire I seek is near, let's not stop now.
Li Ruo is beside me in the bed, sleeping peacefully as she wraps her arm around mine.
I nudge her and she groans.
...
"Mm..."
Her eyes open and she jerks up. "Master! Are you okay!?"
"Yes."
!
The Qi radiating from her indicated she reached the 8th stage of Qi Condensation.
Hah...
Li Ruo gets off the bed and looks around.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"Ah, it's nothing..." She says.
...
"Gan Bolin, show yourself."
...
Bolin reveals himself behind the wooden divider beside the door.
"My apologies, Patriarch Wang," Bolin says.
"It's fine. Have you gathered the intel I asked?"
"Yes."
He hands me a small book. Inside is a list of names with corresponding headings.
"I have recorded almost everyone Xie Mo met. It seems that Xie Mo has a lot of backing though various bad rumours about him are lingering around Tiansu." Says Bolin.
"Understood. Thank you for your work."
"Anything for the Patriarch."
System, infect Bolin with the second virus.
------------------
Successful.
------------------
Bolin jolts a little on his way out.
...
He returns shortly as he glances around and slips a paper into my hand.
"Part of the information was edited. From page 30 onwards, those are misleading information." is what it reads.
I nod and Bolin quickly left.
Although not physically watched, someone is listening in on Bolin.
If so, I shouldn't directly ask Bolin. The question of Bolin's identity remains but it is not a concern.
System, extract information about the Golden Steal Merchant group from Bolin.
------------
Successful.
10,000 points consumed.
------------
Golden Steal currently owns 4 properties and has expanded its business into 6 cities.
One of the properties owned is Nielong. But their main property and source of income are the merchant's trading headquarters in a city called Fei Quan, the core city of most merchants. Fei Quan exists in the South West of Tiansu, between the borders of Tiansu and Wenhua. Many merchants and travellers visit the city as it is a great location to rest.
Fei Quan is a government-owned city.
Other than Fei Quan, another crucial property is the hometown of Golden Steal, Heng Mi.
The location isn't very proficient but Golden Steal monopolies the entire economy of the city to the point they can be considered the government of Heng Mi.
Although the merchant is at best mediocre now, the speed of growth is incredible due to its current young master: Shao Hui.
Miraculously, any contract and negotiations with Shao Hui always end up with great profits for Golden Steal.
Their current sources of production are mainly herbs but there are sub productions like cotton.
Shao Hui is taking advantage of my virus. Prices for herbs are skyrocketing but Shao Hui sells them at the normal market price.
It worked wonders and their sales improved by 250%. The total revenue they obtained is rumoured to be close to 40 gold ingots.
I don't know much about economics. Should I...?
System, extract Shao Hui's knowledge relating to the economy. I will need it.
-------------------
100,000 points have been consumed.
-------------------
!!!!
It's price elasticity and substitutes! The reason why a small decrease in price leads to proportional higher demand is because of it being a "replacement" for similar products. Shao Hui sells a different herb that has a similar effect to popular herbs at a lower price, who wouldn't switch to Shao Hui's product when you can spend less and get the same result.
But I am curious about how Shao Hui responded to such a huge spike in demand...?
I need to find out and cut the source of supply to damage the merchant group. The longer I leave them be, the harder it is to eradicate Shao Hui.
Xie Mo is still stationary in Tianwu. I should use this time to take care of Shao Hui.
First, I need to put a stop to their growth...
...
I have an idea.
------------
3 hours later.
------------
"Patriarch, you shouldn't move that much." Says Li Ye.
"Don't worry, I won't be going anywhere dangerous or fighting. It's just a small stroll around Tiansu." I reply.
...
"Tell the disciples I went into seclusion. Gaoming, once you deemed the disciples to be strong enough, you can start to dispatch them on missions." I say.
"Yes!" They reply in unison.
I channel Qi into Azrim and it floats. Carefully, I leap on it.
Finally, I can control and move on a sword using Qi control.
My next destination is Qiang Jin, a city in the south the Blood sect planned to attack next.
There's something I need to get...