48: Chapter 48: A Journey Through Nine Counties, Finding Animal Bones!

"I will strive to become a High Grade Alchemist myself. Please rest assured, Clan Chief."

Sun Mao retracted his smile, his expression becoming solemn.

Seeing this, Sun Boan pulled out a dark gold token from his sleeve, placed it on the table, and pushed it in front of Sun Mao.

The front of the token was engraved with the words "Mingqiu," and the back bore the Sun Clan crest.

"This is the Master Token of the Commerce Alliance."

Sun Boan tapped the table with his finger: "This year marks the first tour of the Nine Counties for the Commerce Alliance, and I intend for you to lead the team."

Sun Mao's gaze sharpened, and he did not decline, tucking the token into his robes with straightforwardness: "Understood. I wonder if the Clan Chief has a specific itinerary for this tour?"

"You decide the itinerary yourself. What to buy, what to sell, how to negotiate prices, and what rules to establish—it's all up to you."

Sun Boan picked up his teacup and lightly brushed away the tea foam: "I will only be responsible for providing backup. As long as you don't provoke any Foundation Establishment Cultivator that cannot be handled, I will not show my Face."

Delegation of power.

This was a complete delegation of authority!

It also signified that the heavy responsibilities of the Family were being transferred to him.

Sun Mao nodded in agreement. Just as he was about to turn and leave, Sun Boan's voice rang out again, and this time, it was kept very low:

"For ordinary spiritual items, Magical Artifacts, and Medicinal Pills, it's naturally best if you can earn Spirit Stones, but those things are secondary."

Sun Boan set down his teacup, his gaze becoming profound: "Your primary objective for this trip is to do your utmost to collect all sorts of strange spiritual items."

"Especially rare items that can promote the mutation of a Yao Beast's Bloodline or strengthen its Physical Body."

Sun Mao felt a jolt in his heart.

He naturally knew who these things were being prepared for.

The existence in the back mountain is the true anchor of the Sun Clan today. As long as this Old Ancestor does not fall, the Sun Clan can rest easy for centuries!

"As long as there is a clue, obtain it at all costs."

"If there aren't enough Spirit Stones, use items to compensate!"

Sun Boan's tone left no room for doubt; this was now the highest directive within the clan!

"Yes, Mao has noted it."

...

Three days later, at the North Gate of Hongtian City.

Twelve massive beast carriages pulled by Azure-Scaled Horses formed a long line.

The carriages were filled with Hongtian City's specialty Spiritual Rice, low-level Talismans, and a batch of Medicinal Pills personally refined by Sun Mao...

Twenty Qi Refining Cultivators accompanied them, fully armed and guarding both sides.

Sun Mao, dressed in a moon-white long robe with a sword hanging at his waist, leaped onto the back of his spirit pet, the Black Dog. The Black Dog gave a low growl, its paws stirring the wind as it walked steadily at the front of the group:

"Depart!"

With a wave of Sun Mao's hand, the caravan grandly set out from the city gates.

On the city wall tower, Sun Boan stood with his hands behind his back, watching the caravan depart. His figure blurred, transforming into an imperceptible wisp of green smoke that trailed far behind the group.

The caravan's first stop was Qinghe County.

The Li Family of Qinghe was the first Foundation Establishment Family to respond to the Sun Clan's call back then.

The Li Family Ancestor attached great importance to this Commerce Alliance tour and had sent a clan Elder early to welcome them at the county border.

Arriving at the Li Family Market.

Sun Mao was in no hurry to set up stalls for sale; instead, he directly booked the largest restaurant in the market and held a banquet to entertain the various cultivation families and Loose Cultivator leaders of Qinghe County.

At the banquet, Sun Mao sat in the main seat. Facing a group of old foxes who were two or three generations older than him, he showed no stage fright at all.

"Elder Li, this batch of Clear Spirit Grass is a bit lacking in maturity. If we buy them at market price, my Sun Clan will lose money."

Sun Mao pinched a piece of spiritual grass and casually tossed it onto the table.

The Li Family Elder had a wry smile: "Young Lord Sun, this is already the best batch in our clan. Perhaps you could..."

"Eighty percent."

Sun Mao interrupted him and held up two fingers: "I'll take the entire batch at eighty percent of the market price. The Li Family will also save on travel costs and losses from going to the Baiyun Market, and we'll settle in Spirit Stones immediately."

"How about it?"

Hearing this, the Li Family Elder gritted his teeth and finally nodded in agreement.

Over the next two days, Sun Mao displayed extremely sophisticated business tactics.

For large-scale transactions, he was decisive and never dithered; when encountering rare items, he did not skimp on Spirit Stones and gave the other party plenty of Face.

The resources of Qinghe County were thoroughly organized by him!

However, there was no sign of any spiritual items that could promote Bloodline mutation. Such things were rare to begin with, and even if ordinary Cultivators obtained them, they likely wouldn't recognize their value.

The caravan did not linger and continued to the next stop.

Fengan County, the territory of the Lin Family.

The atmosphere here was much more aggressive than in Qinghe County.

Although the Lin Family Ancestor had also signed the contract and appeared quite submissive, the branch disciples of the Lin Family had quite a few complaints about this 'crossing dragon' that was the Sun Clan.

The caravan settled in the Fengan Market, and on the second day of their stay, trouble came knocking.

Sun Mao was in the back courtyard of the shop, inspecting a batch of newly collected Yao Beast Materials.

The Spirit Beast, the Black Dog, was lying at his feet, originally dozing off, when its ears suddenly perked up. It stood up abruptly and barked toward the front hall!

Sun Mao frowned slightly and lifted the door curtain to walk to the front hall.

In the front hall, several young Cultivators wearing Lin Family robes were blocking the counter. The leader, who had a level eight Qi Refining cultivation, was tossing a Storage Pouch in his hand with a playful expression.

"What? Is this all the Sun Clan Commerce Alliance is capable of?"

"You don't even dare to offer a price for the item this young master brought out?"

The Lin Family Young Master sneered.

The Sun Clan shopkeeper behind the counter was sweating profusely. Seeing Sun Mao come out, he hurriedly stepped forward and whispered in his ear:

"Young Lord, this Young Master Lin brought a broken bone and insisted it was the remains of a Second-Order Yao Beast, wanting to sell it for two thousand Spirit Stones."

"In my humble opinion, it's just an ordinary piece of decaying beast bone without any Spiritual Qi fluctuations. This fellow is just here to look for trouble."

Sun Mao walked to the counter, his gaze falling on that bone.

It was a palm-sized, entirely black bone fragment with a pitted surface; indeed, not a trace of spiritual power fluctuation could be felt.

But Sun Mao noticed that the Black Dog beside him was staring intently at the bone fragment, saliva continuously dripping from its fangs.

A restless whimpering sound even came from its throat...

The Black Dog's reaction made Sun Mao's heart skip a beat.

"This bone, two thousand Spirit Stones?"

"That's right! This young master is in urgent need of Spirit Stones, so I'll give you a bit of a deal." The Lin Family Young Master tilted his chin up, looking very arrogant.

Sun Mao didn't waste words and directly pulled out two thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones from his robes, piling them on the counter without the slightest hesitation!

"The transaction is complete."

Sun Mao reached out to take the black bone fragment.

The Lin Family Young Master was stunned.

He had originally come to cause trouble; this bone fragment was just some junk he had picked up from a pile of corpses to annoy the Sun Clan Commerce Alliance.

He had never thought the other party would actually buy it.

Seeing Sun Mao's hand about to touch the bone fragment, the Lin Family Young Master suddenly reneged and snatched the bone fragment back...

"Wait!"

"This young master has changed his mind. This bone fragment now costs five thousand Spirit Stones!"

Greed flared up in the Lin Family Young Master, as he felt that Sun Mao must have recognized the origin of this bone fragment; otherwise, he wouldn't have bought it so decisively.

Sun Mao was taken aback; his hand stopped mid-air and he slowly withdrew it.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, doing business relies on integrity. You set a price, and I paid. Reneging now ruins the reputation of your Lin Family."

"In Fengan County, my Lin Family is the law!"

The Lin Family Young Master sneered: "Cut the crap. Five thousand Spirit Stones—not a single stone less!"

Sun Mao sighed.

"Little Black."

Before the words had even faded, the Black Dog turned into a black shadow and lunged directly at the Lin Family Young Master.

The Lin Family Young Master turned pale with fright and hurriedly tried to prop up his protective spiritual power, but the Black Dog's sharp claws directly tore through it!

It even bit down on his right wrist, which was holding the bone fragment.

"Crack!"

The sound of bone shattering rang out. The Lin Family Young Master screamed, and the bone fragment fell from his hand.

Sun Mao stepped forward, caught the bone fragment steadily, and kicked the Lin Family Young Master in the chest, knocking him over!

Bang!

The Lin Family Young Master flew backward, knocking over the entire counter.

The several Lin Family disciples who had come with him were pale with terror. They drew their Magical Artifacts, but not one of them dared to step forward, since they were in the wrong to begin with.

"Go back and tell the Lin Family Ancestor."

Sun Mao toyed with the black bone fragment in his hand, his tone cold and hard:

"The rules of the Mingqiu Merchant Alliance were established together at the beginning; no one can break them."

"I've taken this bone fragment for your original price of two thousand Spirit Stones. As for this hand, consider it the price for me teaching you the rules on behalf of the Lin Family Ancestor."

"Now, get out!"

Seeing this, how could the Lin Family disciples dare to delay? They carried their unconscious young master and fled in panic.

On the second floor of the teahouse across from the market, Sun Boan held his teacup and watched the scene, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

This kid has some of the ruthlessness he had in his younger days.

No, this is even more decisive than he was!

Late at night.

Sun Mao sat in the secret room of the caravan's station, with the black bone fragment he had bought for "two thousand Spirit Stones" placed before him.

The Black Dog lay to the side, staring intently at the bone fragment, appearing extremely eager.

Sun Mao probed the bone fragment with his spiritual power, but it was like a clay ox entering the sea—there was no reaction at all. After a moment's thought, he forced out a drop of essence blood and let it fall onto the bone fragment.

Buzz!

A faint red light suddenly surfaced on the bone fragment, and an extremely ancient and desolate Demonic Qi seeped out from within.

This aura was highly aggressive; even just a trace of it made Sun Mao feel his blood churning, marking it as something extraordinary!

"What a domineering aura; this definitely wasn't left by an ordinary Yao Beast."

A flash of joy crossed Sun Mao's eyes. The more extraordinary this item was, the more it reflected its value—perhaps it was some kind of secret treasure!

Just then, the door to the secret room was pushed open silently.

Sun Boan walked in.

"Clan Chief, you're here."

Sun Mao hurriedly rose to salute. Sun Boan waved his hand, his eyes fixed on the black bone fragment on the table, his expression unchanged but thoughtful.

"You got this from the Lin Family Young Master?"

"You saw everything that happened today? Why, does the Clan Chief recognize this item?"

Sun Boan stepped forward, not reaching out to touch it, but simply examining it closely for a moment before confirming his thoughts:

"I naturally recognize it; I just didn't pay attention at the time. I didn't expect it to be this thing.""}],