Splitting the Heave

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The moment Shang Xia left the Scripture Depository, he saw an attendant of the Shang Pavilion sitting under a tree nearby.

His eyes lit up the moment Shang Xia appeared and he approached, “Young master, Master Quan sent me here to wait for you. He said that you have several disciples waiting for you back at the pavilion and he hopes you can return soon.” 

“Oh?” Shang Xis wasn’t surprised. He walked towards the Shang Pavilion quickly and he asked along the way, “Did Uncle Quan say the reason they were looking for me?” 

“Nope… However, they look a little panicky…” The attendant rushed to keep up with Shang Xia and replied.

When Shang Xia returned to the Shang Pavilion, Jiao Haitang and the others had already refilled their cups twice. Shang Quan sat in the hall with them as they awaited Shang Xia’s return.

They stood to greet him the moment he stepped through the door.

“Senior Brother Shang!”

“Chief Shang!” 

Signaling for them to sit, Shang Xia couldn’t even get the question out of his mouth before he was interrupted by Shang Quan. “Alright, I’ll let you young ones talk. We caught two Nine Feather Phoenix Chicken the other day. I’ll head over to the kitchen to oversee the preparations. Please stay for lunch.” 

After Shang Quan left, Jiao Haitang went straight to the point.

They wanted Shang Xia to introduce them to some avenues to obtain precious herbs.

Ever since they entered the Tongyou Peak, Jiao Haitang and the other students had been looking for students who were trying to advance. They had herbs they obtained from the carriages before, and even though they couldn’t use it themselves, they could trade it with other disciples.

After the incident with the supply convoy, the Four Spiritual Peak started to loom down on the Tongyou Peak. Many disciples were afraid that they would no longer be able to obtain useful herbs in the short term and adding on the fact that all of them were unwilling to leave their residence, basically no trades were taking place.

No matter how precious the herbs Jiao Haitang and the others had, it was useless if they couldn’t trade it for something they could use.

If they really wished to force it, they would definitely be lowballed by other cultivators and receive a lot less than they were supposed to!

To make things worse, the way they obtained their treasures was dubious to begin with! If they went to the higher ups to force a trade, many people would start asking questions on the origin of the treasures!

They only thought of Shang Xia after looking around the entire peak for an avenue to sell their gods. They hoped that he would assist them in some way.

“Is there a need to rush things? Why don’t you wait for the situation to settle down before trying to trade for the stuff you need? Now, even if you trade with my Shang Clan, you’ll definitely be incurring a loss. Even though I can help you guys out to reduce your losses, the trades won’t be in your favor!” 

Shang Xia didn’t agree immediately.

However, a bitter smile formed on Jiao Haitang’s face. “Senior Brother Shang, did you forget that the experts of the patrol squads have already gone to retrieve the carriages?” 

Chuckling in embarrassment, Shang Xia seemed to have realized their worries.

The carriages contained the records of all the supplies it contained, and it would be extremely easy to discover the missing treasures.

Even though the members of the Azure Spiritual World would be the prime suspects, Shang Xia and the others wouldn’t be overlooked either.

No one could be sure that there was no one on the Tongyou Peak who noticed them when they were going around trying to trade in their treasures. The moment the Protection Division conducted a serious search, the outer disciples would be exposed instantly! After all, the herbs they had were precisely the ones that were missing from the carriages!

When that happened, they couldn’t argue even if they had ten mouths.

Shang Xia finally noticed that the number of disciples from the third outer division who broke through to the Martial Realm was more than he expected. Previously there were three others who didn’t gather enough herbs to enter the Martial Realm. However, there were five sitting in front of him right now!

“The two of them managed to claim some credit after going to the Contribution Division and they found a chemist to make their advancement medicines.” Jiao Haitang explained on their behalf. That would mean that the third outer division’s strength increased once again.

As such, there should be only three disciples who had yet to enter the Martial Realm before the school semester started! 

It was extremely possible that they would be able to set a record in the Tongyou Institution for the most number of students who broke through!

Whatever the case, since all of them had come to him, he wouldn’t turn away a chance for them to owe him a favor. Congratulating those who advanced, Shang Xia started to address the issue. “Since all of us are fellow cultivators, I can help out a little. However, you should know that I don’t call the shots in the Shang Clan. You’ll have to negotiate for the stuff you need yourselves and all I can promise you is that the prices won’t be too exaggerated!” 

Looks of joy formed on their faces as soon as the words left his lips.

All of them knew that they had to get rid of the hot potatoes in their hands right now. The moment they traded the treasures and herbs for items to help them advance, things would get much better! The moment they entered the Martial Realm, their status would definitely increase. The consequences of the things they did might not cause them to be punished so severely!

Due to the inflated prices on the Tongyou Peak, the outer disciples would be alright even if the Shang Clan were to rip them off a little. Anyway, the stuff they obtained was free! 

Shang Xia invited Shang Quan over and found an excuse to leave.

Strolling around the Shang Pavilion, Shang Xia familiarized himself with the place before heading straight for the kitchen. He grabbed a slice of Nine Feather Phoenix Chicken and tossed it into his mouth.

While waiting, he saw several attendants running around the place. They were bringing stuff in and out, and they were clearly moving the supplies owned by the Shang Clan on the Tongyou Peak.

Looking around casually, Shang Xia placed another piece of meat into his mouth. It was a shame that it didn’t really taste that good. The only saving factor was the soup. It provided great nourishment for cultivators, and after Shang Xia took a sip, he felt the inner qi in his body speeding up.

The soup should be a type of medicine that could assist in cultivation, but they managed to infuse it into a dish. Shang Xia decided to annoy Shang Quan till he got the recipe after his uncle was done with the deals.

His train of thought was broken by the din that came from the foot of the mountain.

As there were many messengers who traveled around the various peaks, Shang Xia quickly learned of what happened.

Victory! The Tongyou Peak was victorious!

Tang Yuan, the head of the patrol squads, led five squads out to lay an ambush for the cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World the night before. They managed to kill an expert in the Martial Intent Realm, three cultivators at the Martial Extremity Realm. The other Martial Intent Realm cultivator of the Azure Spiritual World paid a heavy price, but eventually managed to escape.

In return, a captain and a vice captain of their respective patrol squads gave up their lives. They were at the Martial Extremity Realm, and three other cultivators at the Martial Realm were killed by the enemy.

The Tongyou Peak might have suffered one more casualty compared to the cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World, but they managed to take down a Martial Intent Realm cultivator! Just that alone was more than enough to claim a huge victory. 

After the news of their victory started to spread, celebrations also went about when the news of four carriages being recovered entered the ears of the cultivators of the Tongyou Peak.

With the amount of supplies found in them, they would be able to weather the tough days ahead!

Shang Xia snorted in contempt when he heard the news. “What the fuck! They only managed to kill four people after laying down an ambush. This granddaddy over here killed three of them alone! One of them was even at the Martial Extremity Realm!” 

“Who would have thought that the Protection Division would be so damn corrupted… They reported four carriages in total, but there were six in the valley! Humph… Won’t their conscience hurt from telling such lies…” Shang Xia pouted. 

However, he quickly realized that it was possible two carriages were destroyed during the battle.

Whatever the case, the members of the Protection Division who escorted them back, along with the outer disciples, had already reported the total number of carriages left in the valley. There was no way for the patrol squads to steal anything.

In fact, the destruction of two other carriages was good news for the members of the outer division! 

Shang Xia felt a commotion happening behind him, and he turned around only to be greeted by the sight of the outer disciples leaving the Shang Pavilion. From the looks on their faces, they seemed to have already obtained what they wanted from Shang Quan.

The bustling sight around the mountain caused them to be slightly taken aback.

“What… What’s going on right now?” Huang Zihua asked.

A trace of mischief flashed through his eyes and he quickly revealed everything he learned. 

The faces of Jiao Haitang and the others changed instantly. They bade their farewell before taking their leave.

Even though Huang Zihua and Wang Hua had already entered the Martial Extremity Realm, they couldn’t help but feel extremely pressured after hearing the news. Only after thinking about it for a moment, they calmed down.

Of course, they didn’t accept Shang Xia’s invitation to stay for lunch. They might not be as worried as Jiao Haitang and the others, but they were still slightly afraid that they would get in trouble. Finding an excuse, they returned to their quarters.

Not too long after they left, Shang Quan sauntered out from the Shang Pavilion.

It seemed as though he had also received news of the great victory.

“Uncle Quan, I hope I didn’t trouble you.” Shang Xia sighed.

“What do you mean? All of the herbs they wanted were rank one herbs. Our clan has more than enough of those. As for the other random supplies they wanted, we managed to profit from them too! Not to mention the fact that they’ll owe us a favor after the deal is complete… Where else am I supposed to find such a good deal?” Shang Quan chuckled.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Shang Xia changed the topic. “Uncle Quan, do you know any craftsman who can repair weapons?” 

Raising an eyebrow, Shang Quan asked, “Our Shang Clan has someone capable of that on the Tongyou Peak. Which one of your weapon is damaged?” 

Shang Xia took out his Ivory Fan that was stained in blood and Shang Quan frowned after seeing it. “I can get rid of the stuff on the fan, but if you wish to repair the spine of the fan, bring it over to our craftsman.”

“Oh right. I nearly forgot that Uncle Quan is a qualified ink master…” Shang Xia quickly kissed up to Shang Quan before handing over another pair of gloves. He pointed out the damage on it before mentioning, “I won’t be able to use this. Uncle Shang, you can just sell it away after repairing it.” 

Shang Quan inspected the item and raised an eyebrow in surprise, “The quality of this is pretty good. Even though it’s not a low-level weapon, it should contain some precious materials. This should be worth fifty silver essence or so… If we can find someone who really wants the weapon, we might be able to get seventy silver essence for it.” 

Fifty silver essence was enough to buy precious herbs to create half a set of medicine required for one to enter the Martial Extremity Realm.

“Oh right. I have something else too…” Shang Xia spoke casually, and Shang Quan chuckled in amusement. 

However, the smile froze on his face when he saw the item Shang Xia brought out.