Chapter 517: On the road to the east

The Tiger Lord, usually quick to anger at seeing his former subordinate land a fortune and become stronger than him, simply nodded. He was even slightly relieved at Hu Gan’s words. Still, he looked at the armor they wore with burning envy in his eyes.

“I’ll earn one of those suits when the Shopkeeper returns!” Then, he moved to the window, shouting outside, calling the attention of his subordinates nursing their injuries. “Move out, you lazy cats! We have ore to mine!”

Although confused about what he meant, they all stood up in attention.

Within the hour, Sleeping Dragon City was in an uproar. The citizens, who had barricaded themselves inside expecting a bloodbath, peeked out to see something impossible.

The Iron Crane disciples weren’t breaking stalls or demanding protection money. They were… sweeping. They were organizing traffic. They were guarding the gates with a disciplined, albeit confused, vigilance.

The Crimson Tiger thugs were marching out of the city in organized columns, carrying pickaxes and sacks instead of just weapons, heading towards the dangerous wastes with a purpose other than pillage.

And at the center of it all, the Luo Merchant House was posting notices.

[New City Ordinances]

[1. No unauthorized combat within city limits. Violators will be dealt with by the Iron Crane Security Force.]

[2. The Luo Merchant House is now buying Star-Forged Iron and Spirit Herbs at 20% above market value.]

[3. The Pavilion of Drifting Clouds is now the exclusive distributor of ’Divine Convenience Goods’. Healing tablets, energy food, and pristine weapons are available for purchase or trade.]

With this, the days when the Sleeping Dragon City felt like a cradle of snakes, squeezing out anything they could get to the people, had ended. The days of convenience had begun.

—

On a dirt road just outside the Western Sacred Lands. The sky was still dark but the sun was already peeking from the east.

Here, numerous merchant carts and carriages could already be seen trudging along the road. Their destination, the far east region of the Eastern Abyssal Domain.

Among them were merchants who were returning from selling their goods at the Western Sacred Lands, most of which were products of the Divine Convenience Store.

Other merchants who had sniffed out the opportunity were also joining the caravan, hoping to establish a trade route before the large merchant houses and trading guilds could monopolize everything.

Hidden amidst this bustling, chaotic stream of humanity and beasts was a solitary figure.

She wore a simple, hooded traveler’s cloak made of rough-spun wool, concealing the radiant aura of a Sun-Blessed Paladin.

Aurelia rode a common spirit horse, her posture was relaxed as she blended in perfectly with the mercenaries and wandering cultivators. Her deep orange hair was hidden by a spell, making it look like the usual blonde of the people from the Supreme Sun Church’s territory. Only her eyes betrayed her true nature. They were sharp and assessing everything around her.

She had just set off last night after several days of preparation. During that time, she learned everything she could about her destination.

The Divine Convenience Store.

Her mission remains the same. To blend in with the common populace and bask in the light of this rising sun from the east.

In just a few hours of traveling, she watched as a fat, jovial merchant traded a single, colorful card – a [Level 5 Unit Card] – for a crate of high-grade spiritual herbs, a transaction that would have been laughable for her if she were still ignorant of the wondrous Celestial Duel Gear.

She also saw mercenaries healing wounds that should have been difficult to recover from with small, fruity tablets, offering prayers not to the gods of healing, but to the ’Convenience Saint’.

But what struck her most was the atmosphere.

The Western Sacred Lands were a place of order, yes, but it was a rigid, fearful order.

Sects hoarded secrets. The strong oppressed the weak. The Violethaven Temple cast a long, violet shadow over everything.

Here, on the road to the East, there was an energy she couldn’t quite explain. Optimism? Excitement?

“Hey, friend! You look new to the route! Are you one of those who heard of the store and decided to travel and visit it?”

A voice broke her concentration. A merchant riding a cart piled high with beast furs waved a skewer of grilled meat at her. He had a round, friendly face and a Viewing Jade hanging prominently and comically from his neck like a medallion of office.

Aurelia adjusted her hood. “I am. I heard rumors of a market in the East. A place of… unusual goods.”

“Unusual? Hah! That’s an understatement!” The merchant laughed, biting off a chunk of meat. “It’s a miracle, young lady! A literal miracle! I’m telling you, the Divine Convenience Store is the center of the world right now. See this?”

He tapped his Viewing Jade and lifted it off. Due to its large rectangular shape, it looked more like a plate than a pendant.

“This thing? It tells me the market prices in Fanling City while I’m sitting here in the mud. It tells me where the bandits could be hiding because the ’Mercenary’s Guild’ posts their locations. It even tells me what the weather is like! It’s god-like power in the palm of your hand!”

Aurelia stared at the jade and furrowed her brows. She could feel the faint trace of a complex divine formation emanating from it.

“And… the Shopkeeper? Is he a tyrant? A conqueror?”

The merchant snorted. “A tyrant? No, no. How can he be like that? He’s a businessman. A sharp one, sure. He’ll take your spirit stones, but he gives you value. He protects his own. Did you hear about what happened recently? He rallied the whole domain to crush a force that tried to mess with his customers. That’s the kind of protection you can’t buy from the Violethaven Temple.”

Aurelia fell silent. He protects his own. Was that really the case? Didn’t he just rally his customers to thwart the Violethaven Temple’s plan?

Just then, a tremor shook the ground.

From the rocky outcrops flanking the road, a pack of [Iron-Hide Boars] charged. They were nasty creatures, their hides impervious to normal steel, their tusks capable of goring a horse. If there’s only one, a single cultivator should be enough to take them down but it’s a pack with a leader.

“Ambush! Beast attack!” A shout went up.

Aurelia’s hand instinctively went to the hilt of her sword, hidden beneath her cloak. As a Paladin, it was her duty to protect the innocent. She prepared to summon the light of the Supreme Sun.

But before she could draw her blade, she stopped.

The caravan out front didn’t panic. There were no screams of terror. Instead, there was a flurry of coordinated movement.

“Defensive formation!” The fat merchant roared, dropping his meat skewer. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a stack of paper slips.

Mercenaries hired by the various merchants stepped forward, their weapons glowing. But they didn’t charge. They pulled out [Spirit Embodiment Sticker Seals].

Slap. Slap. Slap.

In an instant, the ragtag group of guards erupted with the phantom auras of tigers, bears, and tortoises. Their spiritual pressure spiked, doubling, tripling in intensity.

The fat merchant threw his paper slips. “[Windstrike Talismans]! Go!”

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Blades of concentrated wind tore through the air, intercepting the charging boars. The iron hides, usually so tough, were sliced open by the high-grade talisman attacks.

Aurelia was surprised. She noticed that the merchant was also a cultivator. However, he was only at the Spirit Gathering Stage yet… how did he activate those talismans?

Before she could do anything, the crisis was already over.

Suddenly, she sensed a presence next to her.

“Amitabha. Where hast thou heading, Benefactor?”

A skinny monk wearing a simple, patched robe and clutching a huge staff stood beside her. He had appeared silently, like a leaf drifting onto a pond, his presence devoid of any killing intent or spiritual pressure.

His eyes, however, were a startling, piercing gold.

They held a depth that made Aurelia’s skin prickle. He wasn’t looking at her hood, but through it.

Aurelia stiffened, her hand tightening on her reins. She hadn’t sensed his approach. For a Paladin trained to detect the subtlest shifts in shadow, this was alarming. But then she recalled that reclusive temple with monks practicing not the path of cultivation or divinity but self-mastery.

She had even heard the rumors of the Towerbreaker coming from that same temple. While she hadn’t encountered a Tower yet, the Anchor was enough to tell her that those should also be of a foreign origin. And from what she gathered, towers are present in the Eastern Abyssal Domain and the Divine Convenience Store is utilizing them.

“To the East,” Aurelia replied curtly, keeping her voice neutral. “To see the miracle everyone speaks of. And you, Master?”

“The same,” The monk replied with a faint, serene smile playing on his lips. He fingered a string of wooden prayer beads. “I seek to understand the nature of a new river that flows upstream. The river of… convenience.”

Aurelia’s eyes narrowed. He clearly was no ordinary wandering monk. Furthermore, she noticed it, a Viewing Jade tucked in his robes. He wasn’t heading there for the first time.

“A river can drown as easily as it nurtures, Master. One should be careful not to get swept away.”

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