Chapter 31: The Market
Ren stood in the center of the storehouse, dust from the long road still clinging to his shoulders.
He looked around, noticing no one present other Yan, He spoke without sitting.
“The market has gone mad,” Ren breathed loudly. “Prices are soaring. Livestock are being hoarded like gold. The rich are buying everything.”
He paused.
“The countryside is quiet… but the Sect hasn’t ordered anything from my uncle.”
Yan did not answer.
Instead, he turned and pointed toward the rear pens.
The cattle are still there, . Their ribs showed through dull hides, their eyes lifeless but they were breathing.
Then Yan gestured toward the courtyard.
Another shipment had just arrived.
“Come with me" Yan said.
He led Ren through the corridors and arrived at the Ledgerer who was standing and looking at the cattle that were being shifted to pens in the storehouse by the workers.
The Ledgerer's eyes bloodshot from sleepless nights.
Yan stepped into the lantern light.
“Ledgerer,” he said quietly. “How is the new Yield?”
The man did not greet him.
His fist hit the air next to him.
“Yield?” he spat. “What yield?”
He pointed toward the animals.
“These things are husks! We’re paying five times the normal rate for these”
His breathing turned ragged.
“They’re draining the Sect dry. If this continues, if this drain isn’t stopped this place will collapse within a year.”
“Negative balance…The sect is running on a negative balance"
Yan had already turned away.Ren followed him back into the deeper shadows of the storehouse.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
The silence there felt heavier.
“Have you understood?” Yan asked.
Ren looked toward the courtyard.
Then toward the back pens.
Then the realization struck him.
His uncle’s market war wasn’t just making money.
It was starving the machine that powered the Sect.
The Sect keeps purchasing livestock despite not being from the uncle.
Ren nodded once.
His face settled into a calm expression that felt far colder than anger.
Without another word, he left.
When the storehouse grew quiet again, Yan moved.
He did not return to his mat.
Instead, he walked toward the inner compound and requested an audience with Mia, the quiet servant who had once borrowed his herbal book.
She met him in a side chamber.
Yan spoke directly.
“I need the book I lent you.”
She handed it over without question.
Perhaps she sensed the tension spreading through the sect.
Back in the storehouse.
Silence.
Yan waited until no one remained nearby.
Then he removed two objects from his robe.
The cultivation manual Tan Suzi had given him.
And the small manual Ren had secretly copied.
He placed them side by side on the wooden floor..
The Tan Suzi's one was professionally edited, Ren's was roughly written by hand in small size.
Yan studied both manuals carefully.
The sequences of letters were identical.
Exactly the same.
Yan exhaled quietly.
He set Ren’s manual aside.
Then he focused on the official one.
His eyes settled on two characters.
Ground.
Mind.
He allowed his awareness to rest on them.
The other letters faded into the background.
Wind.
Fire.
Space.
Time.
Structure remained, but his focus narrowed.
Something stirred.
A vibration ran through his spiritual line.
Then he felt it.Something from the surrounding air was being drawn toward him.It entered his body.
Disappeared deeper inside.
Sharp Pain followed instantly like the shards of glass were moving through his veins with the blood.
Yan clenched his teeth.
And White text appeared before his eyes.
Detected: Ground–Mind Resonance
Compatibility: 8%
Function Unlocked: Memory Recall (Inactive)
Yan slowly withdrew his focus.
The pain receded.
His breathing remained shallow.
So this was cultivation.
Before Yan could sever the Joy of cultivation, The atmosphere changed.
Pressure descended on the storehouse like a falling mountain.
" Maaa"
"Maaa"
The cattle shrieked in panic, cracks formed on the wood of the storehouse.
The old wood at the ceiling sounded heavily. Yan moved his leg away instinctively, the wood fell right where his leg had been.
Then Yan felt, the pressure increase.
Yan moved his leg again, he was able to move a cm up, before it got stuck to to the ground, then he felt his body being pressed to the ground.
And a furious voice thundered across the sect.
“CHAO, YOU BASTARD!”