46: Chapter 46 Undercurrents

Xiaoshan County, the Ning Family.

Ning Shengli sat in the main seat of the council hall, with Grand Elder Great Elder Ning Shengkui standing respectfully below, flanked by seven or eight core members of the Ning Family behind him.

Everyone kept their heads down, and no one dared to speak first.

"Die'er sent a letter saying that she is at a critical moment of her Breakthrough and cannot return to the Ning Family. She also asked us to send three thousand Spirit Stones over. If Die'er doesn't come, are we just going to let the momentum of the Wang Family grow like this?"

The atmosphere in the council hall was as heavy as if it were filled with lead, and even breathing became sluggish.

Ning Shengli slammed his teacup heavily onto the table, splashing tea all over the desk.

"Speak! The reputation of the Ning Family in the Three Counties is being suppressed by an old fellow who is about to go into the grave, and you're just sitting here idly like this?"

Great Elder Great Elder Ning Shengkui stepped forward and spoke cautiously, "Patriarch, although this scheme of Wang Chongyang has bought the hearts of the Loose Cultivators, it also has his weaknesses."

What Loose Cultivators lack the most are Magical Artifacts and Medicinal Pills. Aside from Spiritual Fish, the Wang Family cannot bring out anything else.

Our Ning Family is an Artifact Refining family. If we also open an altar to lecture on the Dao at this time and take the opportunity to roll out a batch of affordable Magical Artifacts, the Loose Cultivators will naturally understand that no matter how loud the reputation of the Wang Family is, it cannot fill their stomachs."

Ning Shengli narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and slowly nodded, "Go on."

"We won't lecture on those ways to Cultivate, as that is the foundational basis for our aristocratic family to establish ourselves. Instead, we will lecture on the knack of Artifact Refining, and incidentally promote the backlog of inventory in our shops."

Those half-ruined Low Grade Magical Artifacts are just gathering dust in the warehouse anyway. It's better to sell them out while taking advantage of this commotion. This way, we can earn Spirit Stones to support Young Miss Die'er, and also suppress the momentum of the Wang Family."

When Great Elder Great Elder Ning Shengkui reached this point, a cunning smile appeared at the corners of his mouth, "Furthermore, we don't need to lecture on anything genuine. Just find an Artifact Refiner from the clan to go up and talk about some superficial things. What do Loose Cultivators know about Artifact Refining? Just listening to the lively atmosphere is enough."

A trace of a smile finally appeared on Ning Shengli's stern face, "Handle this matter yourself. Send word down that three days later, the Ning Family will open an altar to lecture on the Dao in Xiaoshan County town. For all who attend, Magical Artifacts will be universally discounted by twenty percent."

Three days later, Xiaoshan County town.

The Ning Family chose the busiest street corner of the market in the county town as the location for the lecture on the Dao, setting up a wooden platform about a zhang high, with a huge horizontal banner hanging in front of the platform.

"The Ning Family lectures on the Dao, true transmission of Artifact Refining; Magical Artifacts for attending Loose Cultivators are all twenty percent off."

Once the news spread, it indeed attracted quite a few Loose Cultivators.

Most of these people had listened to the lecture on the Dao by Wang Chongyang and tasted the sweetness. Hearing that there were lectures on the Dao to listen to again, they hurried over bringing their families along.

When the lecture started, about a hundred people had gathered under the platform.

However, the lecture on the Dao by the Ning Family was completely different from that of Wang Chongyang.

Standing on the platform was not a Ning Family Elder, but an Artifact Refining master in his forties from the Ning Family's Artifact Refining shop.

He wore a short vest, and his voice was extremely loud when he spoke, yet it completely lacked any method or structure.

As soon as he opened his mouth, it was the Dao of Artifact Refining, prioritizing heat control above all.

If the fire is too big, the Magical Artifact will crack; if the fire is too small, the Magical Artifact won't take form.

The Loose Cultivators under the platform looked at each other in dismay, and someone muttered in a low voice:

"Isn't this fucking nonsense? Who doesn't know that it will crack if the fire is too big?"

That Artifact Refining master remained completely oblivious and rambled on about a bunch of nonsense like "the essence of gold and iron lies in quenching" and "you must pay attention to the angle when forging iron."

His mouth became parched from speaking, yet the Loose Cultivators under the platform were listening to the point of drowsiness.

These things were either the basic skills that an Artifact Refining apprentice would learn on the first day, or else obscure trivia that had nothing to do with the Cultivate of Loose Cultivators.

Not a single sentence could truly help them.

Midway through the lecture, the tone of the Artifact Refining master shifted. He moved out Low Grade Magical Artifacts one by one from behind him and placed them in front of the platform, beginning to vigorously promote them.

"Fellow Daoists, this is a refined iron bracer, carved with a defensive array. When encountering an enemy, it can block a blow from the Middle Stage of Qi Refining. The original price is eighty Spirit Stones, but today at twenty percent discount, it only costs sixty-four Spirit Stones!"

"And this azure-edged short sword is the signature product of the Ning Family's Artifact Refining shop, incomparably sharp, cutting through iron as if it were mud."

The Loose Cultivators under the platform were long no longer novices who understood nothing. Having received the lecture on the Dao from Master Chongyang, they could distinguish the quality of Magical Artifacts to a certain extent.

Someone curiously bought one, and the rest crowded over to review it in twos and threes, quickly realizing that while this Magical Artifact sounded very prestigious from the hype, it was actually just a flashy piece of junk.

Thus, such a scene appeared:

At the beginning, people still perfunctorily responded with a couple of words, but later on, they couldn't even be bothered to respond.

A young Loose Cultivator turned around and left, cursing under his breath: "What kind of lecture on the Dao is this? It's clearly coming to sell goods! Master Wang teaches real skills, and what do you guys teach? Teach us how to send Spirit Stones to you?"

Another Loose Cultivator stood up, patted the dirt off his body, and said, "Alright then, a wasted trip. I should have expected it earlier—how could there possibly be a second place with such a good thing."

The crowd in front of the wooden platform began to disperse in twos and threes.

The Artifact Refining master was sweating profusely from anxiety, shouting at the top of his lungs, "There are still two Medium Grade Magical Artifacts," but it only elicited a few sneers.

When a final tally was made at the end, more than half of the Loose Cultivators had left, and the remaining dozen or so people were merely squatting at the street corner chatting idly, with absolutely no one looking at the platform.

As for those low-priced Magical Artifacts, a total of only three pieces were sold.

Great Elder Great Elder Ning Shengkui watched this scene from the teahouse at the street corner, his expression turning livid.

He had originally thought he could use the pretext of lecturing on the Dao to clear out the accumulated inventory in the warehouse and incidentally suppress the momentum of the Wang Family, but he didn't expect it to backfire. Not only were the Magical Artifacts not sold, but the Ning Family also completely became a laughingstock among the Loose Cultivators of the Three Counties.

"Trash." He put down the tea money and flicked his sleeves as he left.

Three hundred li outside Xiaoshan County town, the Yan Family.

Unlike the bustling noise of the Ning Family, the Yan Family was nestled within a vast expanse of deep mountains and great marshes.

The Yan Family was famous throughout the Three Counties for planting Spirit Medicine. Their clan's spiritual fields were vast, and the Spirit Medicine they produced were sold to several surrounding counties. Although their strength was slightly inferior to the Wang and Ning families, they could not be underestimated either.

Head of the Yan Family Head of the Yan Family Yan Bosong was a short, plump middle-aged man, with a genial smile of a businessman permanently hanging on his face. He spoke deliberately and leisurely, never arguing over lengths with others.

At this moment, he was sitting in the stone pavilion of his own medicine garden, pinching a newly harvested purple-leaf Ganoderma lucidum in his hand, examining it carefully against the sunlight.

"The Ning Family is lecturing on the Dao to sell Magical Artifacts?" Head of the Yan Family Head of the Yan Family Yan Bosong handed the Ganoderma lucidum to the steward beside him, took a handkerchief to wipe his hands, and his smile gained a bit of playfulness. "Ning Shengli is anxious now. As soon as Wang Chongyang gave his lecture on the Dao, it completely disrupted his footing."

Standing respectfully outside the pavilion was a lean middle-aged scholar, who was the Yan Family's master of letters, surnamed Ge.

He bowed slightly and said, "Patriarch, people from the Ning Family just came over once more, saying that the Wang Family now has the hearts of the Loose Cultivators. If we don't take action to suppress them, there will no longer be any room for the Ning and Yan families to speak in the Three Counties in the future. They want to ask for our cooperation to cause some trouble for the Wang Family."

"Cause some trouble?" Head of the Yan Family Head of the Yan Family Yan Bosong picked up his teacup and took a sip, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes, "What kind of trouble?"

"The Ning Family means for us to tamper within the territory of Baishan County.

The Wang Family has several spiritual field manors in Baishan County, and the gathering spots of the Loose Cultivators are also in Baishan.

As long as something happens in these places, the Wang Family will be busy dealing with it and naturally have no time to attend to the lectures on the Dao.

The Ning Family over there will also cooperate to cause blockages for the Wang Family in other places. With the two families joining forces, they will box the Wang Family within Baishan County so they can't come out."

Head of the Yan Family Head of the Yan Family Yan Bosong pondered for a moment and put down the teacup.

"I have dealt with this person Ning Shengli for more than twenty years, and I know his temperament better than anyone. He wants to use a borrowed knife to kill, making us step forward while he picks up the benefits in the back."

Head of the Yan Family Head of the Yan Family Yan Bosong smiled, "However, what he said also makes sense. The momentum of the Wang Family over the past two years has indeed been too fierce. Even without Wang Chongyang lecturing on the Dao, the Wang Family is already troublesome enough.

Now the Loose Cultivators have been won over by them as well. A few more years from now, where will there be a place for us to stand in the Three Counties?"

He stood up, paced back and forth in the pavilion with his hands behind his back, suddenly stopped, turned around, and instructed:

"Tell the people of the Ning Family that the Yan Family will not make a move overtly, but to cause some trouble for the Wang Family is not difficult.

Arrange a few unfamiliar faces to wander around the edge of the Wang Family's spiritual fields.

There is no need to kill anyone; just lead a few Yao Beasts in from the edge of Mount Wan Shou. Once the spiritual fields are destroyed, the Wang Family will naturally feel the heartache."

Master Ge understood tacitly, bowed with cupped hands, and withdrew.