I'm determined to become an immortal!

Xiajiangfang

It is located on an unremarkable riverbank in the middle and lower reaches of the Yinsha River.

He Sheng used the Weilan Water Escape technique to travel until he was dozens of miles away from Xiajiangfang before stopping. He then took out a turquoise spirit boat from Wu Feng's storage bag and used it to travel.

After walking for a short while, Xiajiangfang came into view in the distance.

From the sky, this market town looks like a large fair set up beside a riverbank.

The entire market only has two streets and alleys, and the shops in the market are sparse, with no landmark buildings at all.

"Xiajiang Market is built on a damaged first-tier spiritual vein, and its main target group is Qi Refining cultivators within the Silver Sand River region."

He Sheng searched through Piao Ge's memories for information about Xiajiangfang.

Despite its seemingly unremarkable appearance, Xiajiangfang is small but complete, with shops selling everything from elixirs and magical artifacts to talismans and spiritual materials.

"However... this small market town is like a cake that has been divided up by several major families, with every inch of resources tightly held in their hands."

Take the pill business for example. It is completely monopolized by the Zhou family of Luoyun Mountain. In the entire Xiajiangfang, only the Zhou family's "Heqi Hall" can sell pills.

All spiritual materials entering and leaving the area are controlled by the Sheng family's "Wanlingzhai" in Jinming Valley.

The Sheng family is responsible for the purchase and export of all spiritual materials. Whether it is a spiritual herb you dug up or a spiritual material you obtained by chance, you can only sell it to the Sheng family in Xiajiangfang.

The Liu family of Lianyue Lake monopolized all talisman businesses and had intermarried with the Sheng family for generations. Materials that could be used to tan talisman paper, such as beast hides and spirit tree bark, were exclusively supplied by the Sheng family to the Liu family.

In addition, most of the spiritual materials in the Yinsha River area that could be used to make talisman ink were also consumed by the Liu family.

Another family, the Wen family of Zhangming Island, naturally controlled the operation of the mine because it was adjacent to the Gangyinsha mine in the lower reaches of the Yinsha River. Any Qi-refining rogue cultivator who wanted to work there had to get the Wen family's permission.

However, the Gangyin Sand Mine does not belong solely to the Wen family. It is the common property of the five Foundation Establishment families of the Silver Sand River. It is only managed by the Wen family, and the annual output is always divided among the families.

Of course, apart from the Zhou, Sheng, Liu and Wen families, the biggest oligarch in Xiajiangfang is naturally the He family of Changyang Mountain!

The Ho family monopolized two businesses:

One of them is spirit rice. All spirit rice transactions in the entire Xiajiangfang must go through the He family's Qingyatang.

Secondly, there was the business of prepared medicines, which was the foundation of the He family's early business.

The He family originated from Baicaogu and has inherited several methods for preparing "cooked medicines".

So-called processed medicines are specially treated medicinal herbs. Without altering their medicinal properties, they not only enhance the medicinal properties through special methods, but also extend their shelf life and slow down the loss of medicinal efficacy.

The counterpart to "processed medicine" is naturally unprocessed spiritual medicine, which the He family calls "raw medicine".

Compared to raw herbs, processed herbs have advantages in all aspects. When used to refine pills, it is easier to produce high-quality pills, which has always been more favored by alchemists.

Because of their ancestral core technology, the He family easily monopolized the "cooked medicine" business.

After Piao Ge became the head of Xiajiangfang, he also took the opportunity to control the circulation of spiritual medicines in most of the market.

Although the Sheng family felt that the He family had overstepped their bounds and disrupted the tacit agreement among all families to divide the pie, they had been swallowing their anger all these years due to Piao Ge's domineering nature.

Besides monopolizing these two livelihoods, the He family also had to take a cut from all businesses, big and small, as the head of Xiajiangfang, a practice known as "fangjin" (fangjin).

The five Foundation Establishment families, like five pillars, not only support Xiajiangfang, but also divide up all the profits on the surface.

Even the Xiajiang branch of the Tianhai Chamber of Commerce was able to settle in Xiajiangfang only after a prior agreement with the five Foundation Establishment families.

One reason is that they only deal in religious artifacts and will not get involved in other businesses to avoid disrupting the market;

Secondly, the full amount of "fangjin" will be paid every year.

With the help of Piao Ge's memories, He Sheng figured out the power structure of Xiajiangfang and the distribution of interests among various parties, and couldn't help but sigh:

"Indeed, the smaller the area, the denser the net."

In the blink of an eye,

When He Sheng arrived at the market in his magical artifact, he saw that Xiajiang Ward was still protected by a magic array, with a layer of cyan light shield faintly visible.

He Sheng put away his magic weapon and landed at the entrance of the market. As soon as his toes touched the ground, he heard a commotion.

Following the sound, I saw a tea stall set up by the roadside.

This stall usually only has three to five people.

Today, however, it was unusually lively, with twenty or thirty low-level Qi Refining cultivators gathered inside and outside the stall.

They were all talking animatedly, spittle flying, discussing the biggest news circulating in Xiajiangfang.

He Sheng, the number one cultivator in Yinsha, is dead!

"Dead! Absolutely dead!"

A mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, missing a front tooth, gulped down a mouthful of spiritual tea, spittle flying everywhere, and said:

"My cousin's brother-in-law is a son-in-law in Hejiawan. Yesterday, he personally heard seven bells ringing from Changyang Mountain, which means something big has happened in the He family. He must know that the great cultivator He has died!"

"Nonsense!" A one-eyed old man next to him scoffed. "Master He is the number one cultivator in our Silver Sand River! He has the cultivation of the peak of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. Even a fake Core Formation cultivator would have to put up a fight with him."

I think it's just a rumor; someone's probably up to no good!

"Fake news? What's the deal with the Black Mountain Clan attacking us?" someone else said in a low voice. "I heard that the Black Mountain Clan from Hedong went there carrying the banner of the Golden Cloud Sect."

"If we hadn't received confirmation, would those opportunistic cultivators have dared to touch Changyang Mountain? Do they have a death wish?"

In the corner of the tea stall, a thin, old man carrying a medicine basket slowly spoke:

"You all only know one side of the story and not the other."

The He family may not necessarily be finished. Most of the tribulation cultivators in the Black Mountain Clan are the leaders. You should know that the He family has more than one Foundation Establishment cultivator. Their ancestor's spirit pet is now the Star-Backed Xuan Turtle of Tiandu Mountain!

That's a second-tier great demon, an old monster that has lived for hundreds of years.

The He family patriarch had done it a favor back then. If this old tortoise went mad and protected the He family, which of the other Foundation Establishment families would dare to be the first to step in?

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent, exchanging bewildered glances.

"If you ask me, the He family has committed too many sins, they deserve it!" the toothless cultivator shouted again. "In recent years, those spoiled brats of the He family, relying on the prestige of the great cultivator He, have dared to ride roughshod over us cultivators, they are truly hateful!"

"That's right, that's right..."

A chorus of agreement immediately erupted.

He Sheng stood outside the crowd, listening to the discussions with a blank expression on his face, but he knew exactly what was going on.

He could sense that among these low-level Qi Refining cultivators, quite a few were clearly thinking of taking advantage of the chaos at Changyang Mountain.

After all, the He family has accumulated a lot of wealth over the years. When a building is about to collapse, everyone will surely push it down. These rogue cultivators are hoping to get a share of the spoils.

However, the He family is the He family, what does it have to do with this Mr. He?

He Sheng did not develop any feelings for the He family after taking over Piao Ge; to him, the entire He family were strangers.

Moreover, after visiting the He family's residence, he felt even more strongly that the He family was a mess, and he had absolutely no intention of taking over.

He only found He Ziyang agreeable and was willing to help him out.

He casually took out two ounces of spirit sand from his storage bag. This spirit sand was actually loose spirit stones, and ten ounces of spirit sand could be combined into one spirit stone.

"Take it."

He Sheng tossed the spirit sand to the patrol team leader, who was standing at the entrance of the market and fawning over him.

The patrol team was jointly established by the five major Foundation Establishment families, and the captain takes turns. Their duties, in addition to maintaining the normal order of the market, are to guard the entrance of the market and collect a head fee.

Simply put, now every time someone enters Jiangfang, they have to pay a head fee of two taels of spirit sand, which is also a source of income for the market.

"Hey! Hey! Master Wu, please come in!"

The patrol team leader was a member of a collateral branch of the Zhou family, a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator. He was quite worldly-wise and treated a Foundation Establishment expert like Wu Feng with great courtesy.

He Sheng ignored it and walked straight through the crowd toward Shanghe Street.