Sea Cultivation: Giant Ships and Heavy Artillery Knock on the Door to All Races

Chapter 261 The Black Market Exceeds Expectations, First Stop a Success!

The Fish-Dragon Islands and Cloud Capital Island are close to each other and easily accessible. When weather conditions are good, even some daring Qi Refining cultivators dare to sail a first-tier spirit ship between the two islands to transport goods.
Therefore, they do not lack many goods from the Yulong Islands. However, because of the good relationship, this is a pilot project that allows the Tianji Wheel, which is not familiar with this process, to practice in Yundu Immortal City.

Toot~
At dawn, the fully loaded Tianji ship slowly approached Yundu Island, crossed the Grand Canal, and finally docked at the foot of Yundu Immortal City in the inland.

There was no immortal city here before. There was only a prototype immortal city that developed around the Zhang family's territory. Later, with the help of the Lin family and the continuous influx of cultivators from the outer sea, the city was built.

Yundu Immortal City is not large in scale, much smaller than the Fish-Dragon Immortal City before its expansion, but it has complete facilities and Lin Rongrong helped to set up a complete set of third-order formations, which can provide good protection and successfully unite the people and resources of Yundu Island.

As soon as it came to a stop, a large crowd quickly gathered around. This was because prior communication had been made, and the Zhang family had done some publicity in the local area, so interested forces would naturally send people to observe.

The protective array was activated, and the boarding passage was opened. The first batch of guests eagerly boarded the ship, having all familiarized themselves with the rules beforehand.

Some of the people dressed in fine clothes were members of the Zhang family or hired agents by the Zhang family to deliberately come and make a splash. Given the current harmonious relationship between the two families, it is normal for the Zhang family to take the initiative to lead the support.

Many of them are former members of the Lin family who have married into the Zhang family in recent years. Because of their powerful maternal families, they are respected even after marriage and generally live a good life. Many of them have brought their young children with them, just to see their maternal family and strengthen their bonds.
In addition, some people who actually brought good goods disguised themselves, went underwater to hide their whereabouts, and secretly boarded the ship to sell the goods. Some of them were even willing to pay a high price to borrow the teleportation array on the top floor to evacuate.

The first day's popularity exceeded expectations, especially the proportion of people who came in hiding their identities was higher than anticipated.

Because such powerful mobile merchant ships are essentially a "black market," a large black market that openly docks here!
Merchant ships could, with the permission of their local owners, absorb a wave of locally accumulated smuggled goods and then share the profits with them.

In the cultivation world of the Storm Ocean, island ecosystems serve as nodes, making the movement of lower-level cultivators relatively difficult and isolated. Many Qi Refining cultivators may never leave their birthplace in their entire lives.

If they have something they don't want to show off, it's actually very difficult for them to sell it. The surrounding environment is too familiar to them. A merchant ship with a background that can help them keep things secret is a good option. Therefore, the arrival of the Tianji ship is a major benefit for many people!

These people who handled illicit goods received large sums of cash from the merchant ships, and the profits were shared between the merchant ships and the local owners—a win-win-win situation!
Of course, there are definitely forces that do not welcome merchant ships docking. This is the purpose of sending letters in advance to communicate. If they welcome you, you will dock. If they do not welcome you, you can just pass through without offending anyone.

In addition, there were guests boarding the ship with all sorts of purposes, but because the merchant ship's space was only so big, and it was also necessary to maintain a certain social distance for these guests, the Tianji quickly reached its current capacity.

Unfortunately, we could only ask those who came later to wait a little longer, or come back tomorrow, since they would be staying here for several days anyway.

Although these large merchant ships rarely dock at Yundu Island and many people lack experience in this area, cultivators are generally intelligent. By carefully reading the boarding rules, they can understand how to play, and guests of all levels can naturally find the specific areas they should go to.

Some people stayed on the deck for open-air transactions, while others went into different decks of the ship for private transactions. Whether selling or buying, as long as you came with sincerity, you would get an answer.

at dusk,

The flow of customers has changed several times, but the scene remains lively.
How much revenue has been generated today?

At this moment, the Tianji Wheel, which was packed with people, did not become deserted. Instead, as darkness fell, more people arrived, concealing their identities. Under the cover of the Tianji Wheel, they frequently made their moves.

They might buy cards they don't want others to know, or sell stolen goods of dubious origin, all involving substantial sums of money.

Clearly, Yundu Island has been suppressing its feelings for too long. After all, this Golden Core territory is too small in depth and has been crammed with too many people, making it inconvenient to do many things on a daily basis, and going to other places is too far.

The scale of the cultivation world in the sea is very different from that in the cultivation world on land. The distance between the two Golden Core realms is very far. It is very inconvenient and even dangerous for ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators to travel far. Therefore, the arrival of the Heavenly Pivot Wheel is just in time.

"This is the data up to now..."

After a busy day, Lin Lishen, who was in charge of overall management and operation and also had to deal with the Foundation Establishment guests, took out a jade slip and handed it to Lin Qianfan.

Although Lin Lishen is not old, he is skilled in business. He once founded a market town from scratch and developed it quite well. Later, he became Lin Qianxue's deputy and participated in the commercial management of Yulong Immortal City. Now he has been borrowed by Lin Qianfan.

Managing the Tianji Wheel wasn't a promotion for him; it was merely a lateral transfer, and his power didn't increase much.
However, working so closely with Lin Qianfan opened up a glimmer of hope for advancement. Even if it didn't come true, it gave him a glimmer of hope that it might be rewarded by his juniors.

"Excellent! The profits from the black market are much higher than I expected! It seems this path is viable! The funds raised at the auction are also quite good; this first stop should be a good start!"

Lin Qianfan was quite satisfied after reviewing the data.

The revenue from Tianji Wheel comes from several sources, including tax revenue and entry fees, normal transactions, bulk transactions, black market transactions, and auctions, and the data for each of these is quite good.

It's clear that the arrival of the Tianji Wheel helped Yundu Island release some pressure. After this event, a large amount of cash will flow into the local market, bringing positive vitality to the local economy.

"The Zhang family helped achieve 20% of the results; they provided significant support. However, most of the local Foundation Establishment forces are still observing, having only sent a small number of Qi Refining clansmen to test the waters. They should be able to release more later..."

Lin Lishen had his own assessment of the situation and knew who the real target customers were, and was able to correctly adjust the weighting of this data.

The Zhang family's orders need to be reduced by most of the amount, since the Golden Core forces they encounter in the future are unlikely to be as proactive.

The number of orders placed by Qi Refining rogue cultivators is large, but they are all small customers. What they consider good items are just so-so in front of the Heavenly Pivot Wheel. In fact, they are very ordinary. The average order value is small, so the profit is naturally small.
Therefore, the real target customers of Tianji Wheel are the local Foundation Establishment forces and independent Foundation Establishment cultivators. They have a lot of good goods and they need to purchase them secretly. Every order is a big order. If they can close deals with each of them, the overall profit will be considerable.

"Well, they're just observing the Zhang family's attitude. They've informed Zhang Quansong to strengthen security measures, ensure the safety of the surrounding area, and even inspect every fish swimming in the sea to make sure they're not aggressive. They're cracking down on bandits without interfering with transactions. They'll definitely come..."

"If the water is too clear, there will be no fish!" The Zhang family has absolute control over the local market, which has turned what was originally a black market into an open market. Locals who want to complete some private transactions have to go to other places and wait a long time before they can go out.

Therefore, this demand has been suppressed, but it will eventually need to be released. The Tianji Wheel is the opportunity for this release. As long as the Zhang family turns a blind eye, these deals will definitely be successful.

Because the Tianji Wheel has limited capacity and manpower, and Qi Refining cultivators are not puppets and need some necessary rest, each shop has also recruited reliable local day laborers to help out, in order to ensure uninterrupted operation for twelve hours a day.

When we arrived, every shop had a huge amount of stock, and even if they sold everything at full capacity, they wouldn't be able to sell it all in a short time.
Moreover, all the shops are both selling and buying, maintaining a dynamic balance between inventory and spirit stones. In addition, each transaction is profitable, so the total volume is constantly increasing.

the next morning,

A long queue formed outside again. Some people had just heard the news, some were coming for the second time, and some had come after observing the situation. Those who were willing to queue openly and honestly had basically revealed their identities.

Compared to yesterday's somewhat chaotic and hectic pace, everything is now completely in order. Each functional area of ​​the Tianji Wheel is operating smoothly, with manpower, puppets, and formations working together to handle the massive demand for buying and selling.

As the captain, Lin Qianfan found himself with more free time. Even when guests at the Foundation Establishment stage came to visit, he couldn't see them. Instead, he had time to accept Zhang Quansong's invitation to visit Yundu Immortal City on the island.

Cloud Capital Immortal City

The urban layout of Yundu Immortal City was completely based on the layout of Yulong Immortal City. Although it was not particularly advanced, it was the best solution obtained by the Lin family after many revisions, avoiding some detours.

In comparison, the cultivation level and wealth of the residents of Yundu Immortal City are far inferior to those of Yulong Immortal City, and the gap is quite large, but at least it is still full and looks quite lively.

The Zhang family is currently studying the Lin family's governance policies in a comprehensive manner. They are also upgrading the industries on Yundu Island, but they are intentionally diverting their operations from the Lin family's main business in an attempt to create a complementary relationship between the two.

Although the results are far from comparable, they are still quite presentable!
Juxianlou, top-floor private room

The air is filled with the gentle sounds of silk and bamboo instruments, the babbling of flowing water, and the graceful dances and songs of beautiful women.
"Since we last parted..."

Zhang Quansong, who was at the ninth level of Foundation Establishment, took the initiative to stand up and toast Lin Qianfan, who was at the fourth level of Foundation Establishment. His face showed no hypocrisy, but rather full of sincerity.

He is currently the only confirmed Golden Core seed in the Zhang family.

Riding the wave of the Lin family's rise, the Zhang family, whose economic situation originally wouldn't have been able to support new Golden Core cultivators, has steadily earned a considerable amount of money through cooperation with the Lin family over the years.
With economic surplus, it's natural to allocate it to inheritance.

Therefore, Zhang Quansong, whose talent was not particularly outstanding, but whose cultivation level and age barely met the basic requirements, was forced into the role of the only Golden Core seed in the Zhang family, and his status rose greatly.

Despite his low ranking among the hundred or so scholars in the Wuwei Hall a month ago, his foundation is limited and his future potential is also limited. He is one of the very few people who are stuck at the third thousandth level of the Shuofeng Rank.

However, the Zhang family does not seek high-grade Golden Cores, or even mid-grade Golden Cores; what they seek is a stable Golden Core formation!

Therefore, Zhang Chaoyang made quite ample preparations for his Core Formation, even exchanging a Core Formation Core for him from the Lin family.

Only after Zhang Quansong forms his Golden Core can Zhang Chaoyang put aside worldly affairs and focus on cultivation; otherwise, he will never escape the turmoil of the mortal world and will always remain a low-grade Golden Core cultivator.

So don't underestimate Zhang Quansong's potential; he's actually quite confident of forming his core in the future. In fact, after his advanced studies at the Martial Might Hall, he's become much more composed, even though he's already at the ninth level of Foundation Establishment. He plans to calm down and consolidate his foundation to ensure a successful core formation in one go.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, you're too kind. There's no need for such formality given our relationship; you are the host..."

The two became friends sincerely, and naturally, both host and guest enjoyed themselves immensely.

After drinking, he even expressed his desire to introduce a beautiful cousin to Lin Qianfan as a concubine to strengthen the exchange and cooperation between the two families, but Lin Qianfan refused, saying that it was too complicated and not suitable to consider it now.

A few days later,
The Foundation Establishment factions on Yundu Island have all secretly released their trading requests, and the Tianji Auction House has also collected almost all the items for auction.

Seeing that the time was ripe, an "anonymous auction on board" was held as scheduled, with only a few hundred guests invited.

The items for this auction were partly collected from Yundu Island in recent days, partly provided by the Zhang family, and only a small portion were goods brought by the Tianji Wheel itself.

These hundreds of guests were invited by targeted invitations issued after the transaction amount reached a certain level in recent days. They are all distinguished guests with a certain level of strength and financial resources.

This auction wasn't very high-profile; it was just a regular second-tier auction. There were only three Foundation Establishment Pills available, and those were consigned by the Zhang family. It was the annual auction in Qiping Cloud Capital Immortal City.

However, its advantages lay in its low prices, meeting basic needs, and most importantly, the complete anonymity of all participants, who did not know who bid on what. As a result, the event was a great success, with all of the hundreds of items sold without a single item failing to sell.

Afterwards, to ensure the safety of guests and the reputation of the auction, Foundation Establishment guests were randomly teleported out via a random teleportation array, while Qi Refining guests were evacuated in batches via multiple routes including land, water, and air. This allowed Tianji Wheel to make money while also winning great praise!

After the final auction, it was time for the Tianji to depart. Actually, staying a few more days would have been fine; there were many customers queuing outside to board every day—there was a market.

But we've already done business with our major clients. Staying any longer would just be taking away business from the local players. One should be content!

(End of this chapter)