Sun and moon do not linger, and the seasons cycle on; in the blink of an eye, two years had passed.
Fanzhou remained the same Fanzhou, but Demon-Slaying City was no longer what it once was.
People came and went, their blood staining the Demon Suppression Abyss.
The slaughter between humans and demons had reached its peak at this abyss.
Capable individuals and righteous warriors from the Central Plains arrived in groups, seeking profit under the banner of demon-slaying.
The demons of the Great Desolation did the same; it was said that even the direct descendants of the Eight Desolate Tribes had come to the Demon Suppression Abyss to hunt humans.
Demon-Slaying City's Number One Forging Workshop remained, its business booming. Naturally, it wasn't just the sword-forging trade that flourished; its sales of pills, talismans, immortal plants, and armor were also at their zenith.
Three years ago, Xu Xian was like a butterfly that had merely fluttered its wings, yet he had brought about earth-shaking changes to the Northern Borders today.
What was once a desolate land of exile had now become a golden phoenix capable of laying eggs.
Many merchants scrambled to get there.
The Northern Borders' status rose accordingly, entering the eyes of the Central Plains more frequently—no longer just a rumor or a few sparse words in a book.
Instead, more and more people were experiencing it for themselves.
As the guardian and actual controller of the Northern Borders, Wendao Sword Sect's reputation reached its peak.
Already the leader of the seven sects, those in the Central Province now mentioned it in the same breath as the Three Sects.
Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Sword.
Street performers even joked that the human lands were now in a state of Four-Way Balance.
As the number of cultivators traveling to and from Demon-Slaying City increased, trade in the Northern Borders grew rapidly. Xu Xian heard that over these two years, the tolls collected by the sect alone were three times what they used to be.
The growth trend was extremely obvious.
As for the Merchant Hall...
Ever since Xu Xian monopolized the fifth-grade beast trade, they had long been earning until their pockets were bursting. They used to be filthy rich; now, wealth was practically overflowing.
Of course.
As the mastermind behind it all, Xu Xian's accumulated wealth had already reached the world's peak. In the words of the Merchant Hall Master...
Currently, in the entire Wendao Sword Sect, Little Martial Uncle was likely the wealthiest of all.
Though it was a rumor, it wasn't false.
Xu Xian now had nearly ten million spirit stones in his hands. Of course, that was just cash flow; what he was most proud of were the mountain-like piles of fifth-grade beast skeletons stacked by the Divine Sword Pool.
The little book spirit had been counting them on Xu Xian's behalf.
As of now...
He had accumulated over eighty thousand beast bones. The value of these bones was far more than just tens of millions of spirit stones.
One year.
If nothing went wrong, in one year at most, Xu Xian would be able to build the second story of the Sword Tower.
However...
Xu Xian was also well aware of the price hidden beneath those eighty thousand skeletons. They were paid for with the lives of countless human cultivators from Fanzhou.
There were indeed many fifth-grade beasts in the Great Desolation, but their strength was comparable to the nascent soul stage.
Humans had hunted eighty thousand fifth-grade beasts in three years; how many more than eighty thousand cultivators had died?
Now, the depths of the Demon Suppression Abyss had long since become a shura field. Previously, those at the foundation establishment stage dared to venture inside; now, even those at the core formation stage struggled.
The first, second, and third-grade beasts inside had long been slaughtered to extinction. Even if any fortunately survived, they had already fled deep into the Great Desolation.
Those who remained were all powerful.
According to those who frequently went in and out, not only were fifth-grade beasts common in the Demon Suppression Abyss now, but beast kings were also a frequent sight. If one's luck was poor, it wasn't impossible to run into a beast emperor.
Many people died.
But the profits were too great, so there were always those who feared not death and squeezed their way inside.
In the current Demon-Slaying City, the fifth-grade beast trade was no longer the most profitable. The demon hunters' current goals were to hunt beast kings, and even beast emperors.
Beast kings and beast emperors were treasures from head to toe. Their hides could be used to craft high-grade artifacts, and their flesh and blood could even improve one's cultivation.
In the past, such things were rare and sought-after.
To hunt beasts of this level, one either had to go deep into the Great Desolation or venture into the North Sea—both certain-death forbidden zones.
It was different now. Because humans and demons had been slaughtering each other on a massive scale in the Demon Suppression Abyss for three years, many beast kings and beast emperors had flocked there.
They also needed to hunt high-level humans to increase their own cultivation.
Within the Central Plains, the Three Sects, the Hundred Schools, and the thousand sects also sent masters from their ranks, traveling ten thousand miles just to hunt beast kings and beast emperors.
More and more people died.
More and more demons died.
Yet, whether in Demon-Slaying City or the Demon Suppression Abyss, the number of gathered powerhouses only increased.
It felt as though a brand-new war between humans and demons could break out at any moment.
The balance maintained for thousands of years seemed on the verge of being shattered.
While Xu Xian maintained an indifferent facade, he felt some concern as the situation grew increasingly tense.
He feared the balance would be broken, and the struggle between humans and demons from ten thousand years ago would play out once more.
But...
He had to forge his Sword Tower. To forge it, he needed fifth-grade beast corpses. If he wanted to speed up, he had to increase the output; it was unavoidable.
Xu Xian had never been a particularly good person and had always been somewhat selfish. At least so far, everything was still within his expectations.
The struggle between humans and demons was a matter of mutual consent; those big shots at the top shouldn't go as far as to drop all pretenses over this.
Furthermore, the changes in Demon-Slaying City weren't entirely negative; there were benefits.
At least, as the struggle in the Demon Suppression Abyss intensified, the deadlock between the Central Plains and the Northern Borders had eased significantly.
Whether it was the Wendao Sword Sect or the powers in the Central Plains, they all shifted their attention and focus toward the Great Desolation beyond Demon-Slaying City.
After all, compared to the opposition between races, the internal schemes within the same race were not worth mentioning.
This was known as a conflict transfer.
It was mentioned in strategies for governing a country.
Of course, the current Xu Xian was merely at the nascent soul stage, a small owner of a forging workshop; thinking about such things was superfluous.
Moreover, since things had developed to this point, he couldn't change the future trend of Demon-Slaying City even if he wanted to. Even if his forging workshop closed, someone would naturally step in to take over.
He had set all of this in motion, but he couldn't stop it.
The interests involved were too complex to explain in a few words.
Compared to these vague and ethereal worries, he was more concerned with the trouble he currently faced.
In two years, the contracts he had signed with the fourteen forging masters had expired. If he wanted to continue, he would have to do it himself.
However, having grown accustomed to the previous method, Xu Xian was naturally unwilling to settle for less. Not only was it exhausting, but more importantly, it would affect efficiency.
Xu Xian was in a hurry.
Nearly five years had passed since the first story of the Sword Tower was built, yet his realm remained stagnant.
He was anxious to raise his cultivation level.
He could afford to wait a bit longer, but he feared Yao Xiaoxiao couldn't.
Over the past three years, as her body continued to adapt to the Yin Qi, his blood was starting to lose its ability to suppress it.
Originally, she drank his essence blood once a month; now, it was once every twenty days. Xu Xian was fine; with the startling recovery power of his acquired sword body, he could still hold on.
He just feared the Yin Qi would suddenly go berserk, and Yao Xiaoxiao wouldn't be able to withstand it.
If that happened, everything he had done before would be for naught.
To be honest, if such a pure and kind girl were to perish just like that, Xu Xian would find it hard to accept.
Therefore, he had to find a way to continue the cooperation with the fourteen masters.
Of course, this time, he certainly couldn't use force.
Upon learning of Xu Xian's thoughts, Liu Qinghui said worriedly, "Little Grand-Uncle, will they really be willing?"
Xu Xian wasn't certain, but he still said, "Money makes the world go round. Go and make the arrangements."
"Understood!"
"Be polite."
"I understand!"
Rate on N.U.
