Scourge Messenger

Chapter 439 Monopoly
Jiang Shi's inventory contains four lists: "Dragon Poem Catalog", "Royal Court Catalog", "Eternal Heaven Catalog", and "Fire Worship Catalog".

Today was the day of the Zoroastrian Church. Yan Qing browsed the "Zoroastrian Church Catalog" and, according to the catalog, placed ten orders, all for bulk purchases of various Foundation Establishment resources at the lowest price of 1 Spirit Jade, with each order starting at 100 units. Soon, a notification appeared in the game indicating that the orders were completed. The Zoroastrian Church sold all the resources to Jiang Shi at 1 Spirit Jade. Then, Yan Qing immediately resold these Foundation Establishment resources on the Treasure Pavilion, dividing them into 100 orders, but this time at the normal price.

As the game kept popping up notifications that the transactions were completed, Yan Qing estimated that he would earn about 30,000 True Spirit Jade by helping the Fire Worship Cult complete the transactions today, after deducting the money returned to the Fire Worship Cult.

This net profit is equivalent to the earnings of Master Suolong from two years of running secret realms, which translates to 3 billion spirit jades. Even if the Central Plains Messenger didn't eat or drink for several years, he couldn't earn as much as Yan Qing earns by moving his fingers in a single day.

Alas, monopoly; alas, capital.

Oh, am I a monopoly capitalist?
never mind.

At the auction, few believed that Jiang Shi would truly keep her promise and personally travel to the Four Desolate Ancestral Court to establish trade relations. In their view, Jiang Shi, who owned the Treasure Pavilion, was already a destined Immortal Lord; all she lacked now was time and resources, and there was no need for her to take any risks.

Therefore, the Golden Crow Immortal Lord proposed a slightly troublesome but absolutely safe trading method: Jiang Shi would first trade with various major forces to obtain a trade list, then Jiang Shi would purchase the goods at a price of 1 spirit jade, and then list them for sale according to the prices recommended by the major forces. Once Jiang Shi received the payment, he would put the payment into his storage ring, and at the time of settlement, he would directly sell the storage ring to the major forces, thus avoiding one tax levy from the Treasure Pavilion.

Jiang Shi essentially acted as an intermediary, except that both the acquisition and sale took place at Jubao Pavilion.

Even though the treasure hunt order would deduct 30% of the business tax during the process, and Jiang Shi would take 5% to 10% of the profit as a middleman fee, all the major forces were still willing to make such a transaction. After all, each force had accumulated a lot of resources that were difficult to transport. They couldn't use them all, and it was troublesome to sell them. It would be best to take this opportunity to get rid of them.

Considering the considerable sums contributed by the four major powers at the auction, Yan Qing readily agreed to their terms. For the past ten days or so, Jiang Shi has been assisting one of the powers with online sales almost every day, a move that can be considered part of Taobao's rural expansion.

The total income has already reached more than 400,000 True Spirit Jade, and earning one or two million in the end should not be a problem.

However, this kind of income is clearly unsustainable. Once the major powers have cleared out most of their stockpiled goods, it will take some time before they can accumulate enough resources to sell in large quantities at once. In addition to dumping resources, the major powers certainly have many other trade needs. In fact, it can be said that the current dumping of goods is just a trial phase. The real big business is yet to come, but that will require deeper cooperation, which cannot be settled with just a few notes.

The simplest question: In any transaction, the seller must first hand over the goods to Jiang Shi, and then Jiang Shi will sell them.

Jiang Shi hasn't embezzled any money yet, but what if he has?
While a large quantity of Foundation Establishment resources were not embezzled, will the Legendary Tokens of the Sixth Rank be embezzled? Will the Gold Attribute be embezzled? Will the Imperial Edict be embezzled?

More importantly, if Jiang Shi embezzled the money, they would have absolutely no way to deal with him!

The only thing they could do was to cut off trade with Jiang Shi, but that was as ridiculous as using suicide to fight against thugs. As long as other forces continued to trade with Jiang Shi, they could grow stronger by exchanging goods and resources, and Jiang Shi would also grow rapidly. Only the forces that cut off trade were both tricked by Jiang Shi and left behind by the tide of the times, a double loss, losing twice in a row!
The only way to gain their trust is for Jiang Shi to personally go and trade with them.

From the moment the auction began, Yan Qing was determined to send Jiang Shi out as a trade ambassador.

The major powers coveted Jiang Shi's Treasure Pavilion, and Yan Qing was equally envious of their accumulated wealth over millions of years.

He wasn't afraid of Jiang Shi being in danger at all; in fact, he quite hoped that some powerful force would capture Jiang Shi, believing he had control over the plot. Once they handed over items like the Golden Nature, Imperial Edict, and Sixth-Rank Legendary items to Jiang Shi to sell, Yan Qing could swallow their goods without any psychological pressure, then turn around and delete the account. They wouldn't even know who to vent their anger on.

In this game, Yan Qing was in an invincible position from the very beginning; the only difference was whether he would win moderately, win big, or win exceptionally big.

The faction that purchased the most [Wish Tickets] was the Longshi clan of Western Xia, and Jiang Shi's first stop was Loulan City, where the Golden Crow Immortal Lord resided. However, besides trade, Yan Qing had an even more important purpose.

Besides Jiang Shi, Yan Qing also sent three alternate accounts: Ye Si headed to the Northern Border, Rat Monk set off for Southern Yue, and Yan Qing even created an alternate account to sail to the East China Sea. Unlike Jiang Shi, they wouldn't establish trade relations with various forces; they had three objectives:
First, learn about the local customs and traditions of different regions and factions to conduct research for the Thieves' House's next mission;
Second, investigate information about hidden locations in various places;

Third, investigate the details of the Golden Core Tribulation stage of the major forces!
Yan Qing's biggest gain from this auction was not the gold element, nor the establishment of trade relations with various forces, but the discovery that there are actually two paths to immortality in this world: ascension from the mortal realm and the tribulation of the Golden Core stage!
Before Yan Qing's transmigration, there was only one way to become an immortal in "The Messenger": to pass the Golden Core Tribulation stage! But putting aside the fact that the number of Golden Core Tribulation stages was limited, "The Messenger" didn't even release the method to pass the tribulation stage in the first two years. There were only three or four Golden Core Immortals in the entire server. At that time, a Golden Core Immortal account could even sell for a high price of over a million.

In the third year, the method of obtaining the Golden Elixir was finally released, but at the same time, the difficulty of obtaining the Golden Elixir was greatly increased. Even if you obtained it, there would be competition from others. It can be said that the Golden Elixir is passed down in rotation, and it will be my turn next week.

Therefore, Yan Qing's initial goal was only to reach the Foundation Establishment stage. Ascending to the Golden Core stage was far too difficult and risky for him. If we use the college entrance exam as an analogy, Foundation Establishment was like getting into a second-tier university, while achieving the Golden Core stage was like getting into a top-tier university and then having to win against other candidates with similar scores in the octagon to become the sole qualified candidate—a feat requiring both literary and martial prowess. It wasn't until Yan Qing discovered that this world actually had Mortal Immortal Lords, and in a ridiculously large number, while there were only five publicly known Golden Core Immortals, that he finally realized this was his greatest opportunity.

The people in this world, just like the players of "The Messenger" in the first two years, don't know the method of obtaining the Golden Core and can only figure it out by exhaustive search! In addition, this kind of information is very secretive and can even be sold for a high price at auctions, resulting in a large number of Golden Core and Golden Core levels still being vacant!

The so-called "Path to Immortality in the Mortal World" is probably what Yan Qing estimates is the new immortality mechanism in the "Cataclysm" version. According to the information Yan Qing has gathered so far, a Mortal Immortal does not need to follow the Golden Core path step by step, nor does he need to compete with others for a position. As long as he seeks the Golden Nature at level 69 and shatters his inner landscape to create a blessed land, he can become a Mortal Immortal Lord.

Undoubtedly, the Red Dust Immortal is far weaker than the Golden Core Immortal, but its lower entry barrier and higher success rate make it the preferred choice for the vast majority of messengers. Reality is not a game. In a game, failing the sixth stage of Foundation Establishment and ascension is simply a failure; if it's not a real account, you might only drop back to level 69. But in reality, failing ascension almost always results in instant death.

Players might gamble on probability to obtain the Golden Core for the sake of strength, but a Sixth-Rank Golden Immortal wouldn't dare. In addition, this world is resource-poor, and even if they know about the Tribulation Rank inheritance, they might not have enough Golden Essence to burn and activate the Blessed Land to respond to the Tribulation Rank. Becoming a Red Dust Immortal is actually a choice they have to make out of necessity.

But Yan Qing was clear about all the paths to ascension and was confident that he could obtain enough resources for ascension. He had a way to overcome the biggest problem for the locals!

The moment he learned that a large number of Golden Core Tribulation positions were vacant, his ambition burned fiercely in Yan Qing's heart like a wildfire igniting a grassland.

He didn't know how a Red Dust Immortal could reach the eighth level, but he figured it would be much more difficult than a seventh-level Golden Core, because there was a heaven-reaching path from the seventh-level Golden Core to the eighth level. As long as the conditions were met, Yan Qing could even break through to the eighth level on the very day he ascended from the seventh level!

However, constructing this path to the heavens requires not only four Golden Core cultivators, including Yan Qing, but also a very high level of Golden Core cultivation. This is why Yan Qing needed to investigate the details of the Golden Core cultivators of various forces; he had to determine which Golden Core cultivation positions were currently vacant before he could lead the Thieves' Clan to take the first step.

Previously, his goals weren't grand; he simply wanted to live peacefully and achieve immortality. If possible, he hoped to spend his future with the female thieves, find a secluded realm to cultivate in seclusion, and live a carefree and happy life. But after the auction, and after glimpsing the path to the pinnacle of immortality, Yan Qing looked at the ceiling of the Thieves' House and suddenly realized that it wasn't actually that big.

Seven turns, eight turns, nine turns...

Central Plains, outer regions, secret realms...

Since there will always be someone who stands at the pinnacle, understands all the truths of the world, and possesses the entire world, why can't that person be me?

Of course, reaching the Golden Core stage is his long-term goal, but in the short term, his main plan remains collecting karmic energy from natural disasters. To collect this energy, he needs to destroy secret realms. Yan Qing doesn't intend to harm the owned secret realms in the Central Plains. Although he mostly treats this world like a game, foundation-building cultivators in the Central Plains spend decades, even generations, developing a single secret realm, and Yan Qing can't bear to destroy their ancestral heritage. Of course, offending him is a different story.

More importantly, the level of secret realms in the Central Plains is relatively low. There are only one or two difficult secret realms, and no one has ever seen an extreme secret realm.

Therefore, Yan Qing turned his attention to the outer regions. There are many secret realms in the outer regions, and some of them are in remote and undeveloped locations, which are just right for his cultivation resources.

However, they needed to hurry. Yan Qing opened the event interface, where a glittering golden event was displayed at the very top—

"The Grand Gathering of the True Man of Many Treasures to Prove His Dao"

"Event countdown begins: 12 days remaining"

Event Details: ???

Yan Qing had never heard of this Dao Attainment Ceremony, but he was certain that his Golden Core Tribulation level hadn't changed at all before his transmigration, and there was no such thing as a Golden Path Tribulation level. The fact that Daoist Duobao had attained the Golden Path Tribulation level was undoubtedly a built-in story event in the game, which would trigger immediately once the conditions were met.

He didn't know what impact this event would have, but it was sure to offer plenty of opportunities to reward the players who participated. Therefore, all Yan Qing could do now was prepare to seize this opportunity... or challenge!
After dealing with Jiang Shi's trade affairs, Yan Qing returned to the character selection screen and suddenly discovered that one of his alt accounts was about to leave the Central Plains and officially step into the Four Wildernesses of the Outer Domains.

(End of this chapter)