People in Conferred Gods: Rising from humble beginnings, I am the God of Wealth

"So, it was the Chaos Gods and Demons who discovered the secret of the trade route..."

Yang Xuan frowned slightly; this was truly the worst-case scenario. But then, his brows relaxed, and a smile appeared on his lips.

"The outcome is already decided. Even if you discover it, so what? How can you stop me from proving my path?"

After years of planning, Yang Xuan was confident that he could attain the Primordial Chaos Realm and achieve sainthood before the Great Tribulation of Journey to the West arrived!

However, despite saying that, Yang Xuan did not let his guard down at all.

Whether in a past life or this one, there are countless examples of people who fall before reaching the end.

Even though Yang Xuan had prepared an escape route and becoming a saint was inevitable, he still chose to take it seriously and went to the underworld to ask Houtu to protect him.

But what he couldn't understand was that it was as if the feeling he had experienced back then was just an illusion.

A multi-dimensional period of time passed, but the Chaos Gods and Demons made no move and did not interfere with the evolution of the business world.

Yang Xuan didn't even sense that a second person had comprehended the Way of Business, as if no one had discovered the secret of the Way of Business.

As the master and founder of the Way of Business, Yang Xuan could not yet sense who was comprehending the Way of Business, but he was certain that he could not be wrong about whether someone was comprehending the Way of Business.

But after all these years, Sun Wukong is almost graduating from Mount Sumeru, and the great calamity of Journey to the West is about to officially begin.

The Chaos Gods and Demons remained completely silent, which seemed rather odd no matter how you looked at it.

"As expected of someone who could fight against the great god Pangu, his methods are truly superb. After all these years, I still can't see a trace of it."

Yang Xuan felt a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, mixed feelings) and became even more vigilant.

He was certain that his initial intuition was accurate; someone must have sensed the existence of the business channel.

Being able to detect the existence of the business channel is nothing special; what's remarkable is that, after detecting it, Yang Xuan couldn't find the person in question, which already explains the answer.

The Chaos Gods and Demons and the Primordial World are enemies. How could they possibly watch the Primordial World gain another saint?

Since they had noticed the existence of the business path, they must have guessed Yang Xuan's plan and knew how likely Yang Xuan was to become a saint.

Regardless of the circumstances, they will try to prevent Yang Xuan from attaining sainthood.

The reason why Yang Xuan has not discovered anything after so many years is...

One reason is that the method of deduction was affected by the influence of the calamity.

Another reason is undoubtedly the superior techniques of the Chaos Gods and Demons.

They left no trace, nor did they alert Yang Xuan, waiting only for him to attain the Primordial Dao before unleashing their years of preparation to deliver a heavy blow.

The Chaos Gods and Demons are beings qualified to fight against the Great God Pangu, and there are many Chaos Gods and Demons at the Primordial Chaos Realm.

With their capabilities, they can certainly do it.

"Fortunately, I have never let my guard down. No matter what you are planning, I have a way to deal with it. At least... I am not helpless."

Yang Xuan took a deep breath, clearing his mind and entering a special state of being free from desires and wants.

Regardless of the type of economic development, as long as it has not reached its peak, its development speed will continue to accelerate.

This is the process of perfecting the order of business ethics.

During this multi-faceted period, the development speed of the prehistoric world not only did not slow down, but instead became faster and faster.

Over the years, the distribution of space-based teleportation networks and the Three Realms Network has become more widespread.
In any world where life exists, even the smallest bubble world, teleportation stations and signal base stations have been built, enabling connection to the Three Realms Network and teleportation to the primordial Three Realms.

As roads and information transmission become more efficient, economic development will become smoother and faster.

Today, there are countless large and small merchant guilds throughout the prehistoric world. The Four Seas Spirit Company, originally founded by the Dragon Clan, has spread all over the prehistoric world, and even has branches in the Undying Volcano.

Companies established by powerful forces such as the Demon Clan, Phoenix Clan, and Dragon Clan are also scattered throughout the prehistoric world.

Even the notoriously barbaric Wu tribe established the Buzhou Mountain Bodyguard Company, providing bodyguard services to all races of the prehistoric world, and has never received a negative review.
It is one of the few companies in Honghuang with zero negative reviews. As for how it achieved zero negative reviews, only the parties involved know.

With the full cooperation of these powerful forces, the relationships between the myriad races of the prehistoric world have improved significantly.

Although the three realms of the primordial world are still constantly fighting, and billions of lives die every day, at least the various races are no longer completely estranged from each other.

For example, the relationship between the demon race and the witch race, and the dragon race and the phoenix race, has eased considerably for the sake of their own businesses, and there have been no large-scale battles since.

The order of business practices has become increasingly perfect due to the emergence of various chambers of commerce.

More importantly, this happened 100,000 years ago.

Yang Xuan was worried that the Chaos Gods and Demons might resort to underhanded tactics. In addition, the trade route order had been stabilized, and express delivery and food delivery companies had been established, meeting all the prerequisites for opening up online shopping.

Therefore, Yang Xuan first gradually promoted online shopping over ten thousand years, so that all living beings in the prehistoric world had a concept of it and developed expectations for it.

He also summoned several high-ranking members from the Dragon Clan, Phoenix Clan, Heavenly Court, and Underworld to discuss matters related to online shopping in advance.

After a ten-thousand-year promotional period, Yang Xuan officially opened up online shopping access to the Three Realms Network and released relevant shopping regulations.

All time travelers know how much online shopping has changed Earth; it has even changed the lifestyles of many people.

Moreover, Honghuang's offline stores have virtually no rent, and many chambers of commerce don't even have any costs.

As for information asymmetry and profiting from price differences, those are basically non-existent.

The Three Realms Network is already well-established, and the prices of many goods and services are already publicly available.

Price gouging and cutthroat competition are unlikely to occur unless one is so powerful as to be unafraid of any living being. Otherwise, anyone who dares to lower prices today will receive a warning letter tomorrow.

If you don't stop after receiving a warning letter, it won't be long before your competitors start doing it offline.

Furthermore, Yang Xuan's regulations regarding commodity pricing do not have any mandatory requirements, so there are even fewer instances of price-cutting and internal competition.

Nobody wants to get caught up in this mess and die—literally die!

However, in such a competitive environment, competition and price suppression are completely meaningless.

The vastness of the primordial world is beyond even the sages' precise measurement. Its abundant resources and countless creatures are beyond description.

All merchants can engage in fair trade with other beings by planting spiritual plants, exploring secret realms to obtain spiritual items, refining elixirs, and forging spiritual weapons.

There will be no shortage of supply or inventory backlog, so why bother with price wars and internal competition?

Moreover, given the vastness of the primordial world, many creatures rely on courier services or friends to deliver their purchases, so online shopping already has a foundation.

Therefore, the advent of online shopping in the Three Realms had almost no negative impact on offline brick-and-mortar stores; on the contrary, it made their businesses even better. The pace of improvement in business practices entered a new round of explosive growth.

If we say that before a primordial era, when the Seven Emotions Gods and Demons became aware of the Way of Commerce, the Way of Commerce was merely closely related to the beings of the prehistoric world, becoming an indispensable part of their lives.

Today, business ethics have become an integral part of the primordial order.

Even newborn babies know that they need to bring money when they go out, that they need to spend money to buy things, and that everything should be done according to the principle of equivalent exchange.

Of course, the people of the prehistoric world were simple and honest, and the equivalent exchange system of later Earth was not very suitable for them.

Therefore, in the universally acknowledged equivalent exchange among all living beings in the primordial world, there is another basic principle: that force is also a part of the equivalent exchange.

In a fair transaction, whoever has the bigger fist commands a higher price and has more say.

This is a principle recognized by all living beings in the primordial world, and no one feels that it is unfair.

Even the side with the smaller fist will only think that they didn't work hard enough, rather than that the transaction was unfair.

After all, this is the primordial world, a primordial world where everyone can cultivate. If we apply the 'fairness' of later generations to the primordial world, then what's the point of cultivating?

What's wrong with me, a Golden Immortal, doing business with you, a Celestial Immortal, and enjoying some privileges? There was no murder or robbery; a one-sided, 'fair' transaction is already an immense favor.

However, all living beings in the primordial world value their reputation, so they usually don't resort to bullying others.

Of course, if the party with lower cultivation level becomes depressed, or if there is competition from multiple parties, then that's a different story.

But regardless of the circumstances, even a newborn baby can grasp some of the rules of business.

This means that the Way of Commerce has become a completely new fundamental principle in the primordial world, just like the Five Elements and the Law of Cause and Effect.

As a fundamental path for Honghua, the most basic manifestation of the Five Elements Dao is that all living beings in the primordial world are born knowing the basic rules of the mutual generation and restraint of the Five Elements.

Starting a fire requires wood, extinguishing a fire requires water, melting metal requires fire, and cutting down trees requires metal...

The same principle applies to business today, though it's not as pronounced.

Or rather, the beings of the primordial world have not yet realized this.
Many beings simply believed that it was because there were countless merchant guilds in the primordial Three Realms, and in the early days of the Three Realms Network, advertisements from various merchant guilds could be seen everywhere.
That's why children are so familiar with the rules of business, without considering the fundamental principles of the primordial world.

No one would have imagined that Yang Xuan was merely establishing a teleportation network and creating the Ark of the Other Shore to facilitate the emergence of living beings.
To create a network connecting the three realms, allowing all beings in the primordial world to communicate regardless of distance.
To improve the order of trade routes, so that creatures from all over the world can better exchange goods and services.

These things, which could be considered convenient for the people, unexpectedly gave birth to a fundamental path in the primordial world, allowing Yang Xuan to smoothly take the final step before attaining enlightenment.

However, the beings of the primordial world did not realize the birth of the Way of Commerce, but that did not mean they discovered nothing at all.

When Sun Wukong was born, the powerful quasi-sages discovered that their methods of deduction were obstructed and sensed the appearance of calamity energy.
They knew that the upcoming tribulation in the Journey to the West was not just a formality, but a true tribulation was about to begin.

However, none of the powerful beings could understand why, judging from the current situation in the prehistoric world, it did not seem like a great calamity was about to descend.

Until they watched as the primordial world, under Yang Xuan's planning, took on a new look every day.

In just a few years, the development speed of the Primordial World had reached a level that was unimaginable to them, and it was still rapidly increasing.

By this time, how could they not see that Yang Xuan was absolutely the culprit for the Journey to the West Calamity arriving so far ahead of schedule?

However, no one held a grudge against Yang Xuan because of this. Even the Buddhist sect, which constantly complained about being an enemy of Buddhism, did not hold a grudge against Yang Xuan.

On the contrary, all the living beings who noticed this were grateful to Yang Xuan.

The Great Tribulation is both a crisis and an opportunity!

If the Journey to the West Calamity was truly only meant to facilitate the westward transfer of fortune and repair the western earth veins, then there would be no opportunity to speak of.

If the Journey to the West Calamity was caused by the accelerated development of the primordial world, and was brought down to allow the primordial world to further evolve and become more perfect, then it would be different.

First, by helping the primordial world evolve further, one can gain merit.

Secondly, and what all the powerful beings care about most, is the benefit brought about after the primordial world completes its evolution.

If they want to help the evolution of the primordial world, they also need to know the direction of its evolution; they may not have such an opportunity.

However, once the primordial world has evolved further, all living beings in the primordial world will benefit from it.

Take the evolution of the Three Realms in the primordial world as an example. Compared with before the evolution was completed, the difficulty of breaking through to the Quasi-Saint level has obviously become lower.

Every single being in the primordial world knew about what happened two eons ago.

The successive breakthroughs of several Great Luo Golden Immortals, including Jiutian Xuannv, Bixiao, Shen Gongbao, Jiang Ziya, Xuan Niu, and Wu Hao, left a deep impression.

While Yang Xuan's influence certainly played a part, the fact that so many people successively achieved Quasi-Saint status through severing their corpses must also be related to the Primordial World itself!
The primordial evolution of the Three Realms lowered the difficulty of achieving Quasi-Saint status through the severing of one's corpse.
If the primordial world were to evolve further, would the difficulty of severing the second and third corpses, or even achieving the status of a sub-saint, be reduced as a result?
Thinking of this, they actually felt more excited about the upcoming Journey to the West tribulation, and many powerful figures even took the initiative to cooperate with Yang Xuan's plan to speed up the establishment of trade routes.

In that sense, these powerful beings provided considerable assistance in enabling Yang Xuan to reach the final step before attaining enlightenment so quickly.

These powerful beings could never have imagined that their desire to further accelerate the evolution of the primordial world would become a driving force for Yang Xuan's path to enlightenment.

Om-!
More than ten thousand years later, on this day, a profound and ineffable Daoist aura emerged from the primordial world.

At the same time, all living beings in the primordial world sensed the existence of this Daoist aura. Regardless of their cultivation level, they all felt a deep sense of reverence in that instant, even the saints were no exception.

However, other beings below the level of saints, even quasi-saints and sub-saints, couldn't help but show expressions of confusion.

At first, they thought it was just another case of someone dismembering a corpse and didn't take it seriously.

But soon they discovered that this was not the case; the Daoist aura was clearly more profound.

At that time, they wondered if someone had achieved the status of a sub-sage, but when they recalled the scene of Yang Xuan achieving the status of a sub-sage, they rejected this conjecture.

Because this Daoist aura is even more profound than when Yang Xuan became a sub-sage.

This means...

"Someone is proving the Dao and attaining sainthood?!?"

Thinking of this, everyone became restless, even the three quasi-saints of the human race.

These three are the earliest beings to achieve the status of a near-saint at this stage. They know better than anyone how difficult it is to become a saint, and they still have a long way to go.

They simply couldn't understand who could be the first to attain sainthood and enlightenment.

Saints and chaotic gods and demons are different; their cultivation is higher, and they immediately turned their attention to the Netherworld.

They saw a young Taoist priest dressed in a bright red robe, with the Five Virtues Golden Wheel hanging behind his head. (End of Chapter)