Chapter 4198
Chapter 4198 – Financial Problems
Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Changing the topic of conversation, Grandmaster Wu Liang continued, “Let me tell you about the last three layers of the Grand Array. These last three layers of the Grand Array are Offensive Spirit Arrays. Most of the Star Power gathered by the first three layers of the Grand Array will be stored in the last three layers of the Grand Array. These three Spirit Arrays are capable of transforming flexibly. Moreover, each layer is stronger than the last. If anyone were to fall prey to this Grand Array, even a High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master will not escape unscathed!
“This Old Master has already placed suitable artifacts in the Array Cores of the first two Offensive Spirit Arrays. The Heavenly Executioner’s Sword that True Monarch gave me earlier has been placed in the second Spirit Array. If you activate the power of the Heavenly Executioner’s Sword with the power of the Grand Array, most Open Heaven Realm Masters will be unable to block a single blow!
“As for the last one… this Old Master did as you instructed, True Monarch. The position for the Array Core has been reserved in advance. I might not know what you have prepared, but please do not forget that the last layer of the Grand Array uses a person as its foundation. It is best not to activate it for no reason before you amass enough strength; otherwise, you will risk a powerful backlash.”
Yang Kai nodded solemnly, “I will remember that. Many thanks, Grandmaster!”
Grandmaster Wu Liang exhaled a long breath and stared down at Void Land. His gaze seemed to penetrate the numerous layers to take in the entire Nine Heavenly Layers Grand Array. There was a look of satisfaction in the depths of his eyes.
“Grandmaster, this is the promised reward. Please accept it.” Yang Kai took out a Space Ring and handed it over. He had asked Grandmaster Wu Liang to help set up this Grand Array, so it was only natural that he could not allow the other party to work for free. Besides, the remuneration had been agreed upon earlier. Now that the Nine Heavenly Layers Grand Array had been completed, it was only right to deliver the payment.
Grandmaster Wu Liang sighed and accepted the Space Ring silently as he said sadly, “This Grand Array is probably the greatest achievement that this Old Master will achieve in this life. There will be no more chances to surpass this pinnacle in the future. Please treat this Grand Array kindly, True Monarch.”
For a Spirit Array Grandmaster like him, the Nine Heavenly Layers that he worked so hard to set up was not just the crystallisation and culmination of his entire lifetime’s cultivation, it was also a child he had given birth to in a sense; thus, he was a little reluctant to part ways with it.
A sudden idea came to Yang Kai seeing this kind of sentiment and he smiled, “Grandmaster, if you can’t help worrying about the Grand Array, why don’t you remain in Void Land? I’m sure it will be able to operate for a very long time if you take care of it yourself.”
Grandmaster Wu Liang shook his head, “True Monarch, please don’t try to win over this Old Master. This Old Master is used to the freedom of living alone. I can’t bear to be restrained by anything. If this Old Master had really wanted to join a great force, I would have done so a long time ago and not have waited until today.”
Although Yang Kai knew that the possibility was very slim, he couldn’t help feeling slightly disappointed when he was rejected by Grandmaster Wu Liang so decisively. It would have been a great help to the future development of Void Land if a Spirit Array Grandmaster like Grandmaster Wu Liang could remain in Void Land. Unfortunately, a forcefully picked melon was not sweet, so there was nothing he could do since the other party was unwilling.
“Please rest assured, True Monarch. Now that the Nine Heavenly Layers Grand Array has been arranged in Void Land, this Old Master will be tight-lipped about the various mysteries behind it and will never leak a single word to outsiders. If this Old Master lets even the slightest information slip, may my Small Universe collapse and death come for me on the spot!” Grandmaster Wu Liang was clearly making a sworn oath on his Small Universe.
Yang Kai replied solemnly, “There’s no need for such extremes, Grandmaster. Proprietress herself invited you to set up this Grand Array for me. It’s only natural that I trust you.”
Grandmaster Wu Liang laughed, “That little one called Nanmen Da Jun under your command has extremely high attainments and understanding in the Dao of Spirit Arrays. Although he is still lacking at the moment, I have great expectations of his growth in the future. Handing the Nine Heavenly Layers Grand Array Hand over to him will also put my mind at ease.”
After saying that, he cupped his fists, “True Monarch, this Old Master is leaving. I hope to see you again in the future!”
Yang Kai was startled, “Are you leaving right now, Grandmaster?”
Grandmaster Wu Liang responded with a smile, “Thanks to you, True Monarch, this Old Master was able to make full use of and display all his talents. Arranging this Grand Array recently has greatly inspired this Old Master, which in turn gave birth to many insights. The bottleneck that has been troubling this Old Master for many years has shown signs of loosening and I’m afraid I’m not too far from my next breakthrough. This Old Master has to go back and enter retreat.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai was surprised before he cupped his fists with a smile and said, “In that case, I should be congratulating you, Grandmaster.”
Even now, Yang Kai had yet to figure out what Order in the Open Heaven Realm Grandmaster Wu Liang was in; after all, they had very few opportunities to come into contact with each other. Looking at the other party’s aura, Grandmaster Wu Liang seemed to be in the Fourth or Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm. For a Spirit Array Grandmaster, such a level of cultivation was not weak at all.
Knowing that Grandmaster Wu Liang wanted to return to enter retreat and advance into the next Order, Yang Kai did not keep the other party for much longer. He politely saw Grandmaster Wu Liang off outside Void Land. It wasn’t until Grandmaster Wu Liang’s artifact vanished out of his sight that Yang Kai turned around and returned to Void Land.
Yue He came out to meet him and glanced behind him suspiciously, “Has Grandmaster Wu Liang left?”
Yang Kai nodded, “The Grandmaster realised the opportunity for a breakthrough and hurried back to enter retreat.”
Yue He was stunned for a moment before her expression became slightly gloomy as she informed him, “Young Master, we don’t have many resources left.”
Yang Kai was a bit surprised and asked curiously, “Weren’t there still some surpluses from before?”
It had indeed cost a lot to arrange the Nine Heavenly Layers Grand Array and he even had to give Grandmaster Wu Liang a hefty payment at the end. Even so, Yang Kai was certain they still had some resources left over from before.
To which she replied, “The several Sirs you brought back with you have all begun to enter retreat to cultivate. Each of them also needs Sixth-Order materials. There are also several at the peak of the Emperor Realm who have taken away a lot of the Fifth-Order materials. We can just barely manage to get by for some time, but once more people begin to condense their Dao Seals, the demand for materials will only increase.”
Yue He was in charge of finances for all of Void Land and Yang Kai had previously told her to accommodate the cultivation needs of the cultivators from the Star Boundary without limit. Those in the Third-Order Emperor Realm and below were not hard to deal with and their cultivation requirements did not worry her. However, the Great Emperors were existences that had long ago condensed their Dao Seals. They had remained at the level of a Great Emperor for tens of thousands of years each, so they all had extremely solid foundations. After familiarising themselves with the environment for a bit, they settled down and began to cultivate in retreat.
Iron Blood, Bustling World, Marital Beast, Serene Soul, Heavens Revelations, Wondrous Pill, Flower Shadow, and Ice Feather. All Eight Great Emperors would consume eight Sixth-Order materials all at once, and that was only the beginning. The follow-up demand would only be greater and greater.
Yue He was truly baffled by this. She simply could not understand why these people had such powerful heritage and great aptitude that all of them had chosen to refine Sixth-Order materials. She had seen many Great Emperors from other Universe Worlds in the past, but those Great Emperors had a mixture of both strong and weak aptitudes.
In general, a Great Emperor of a Universe World could at minimum withstand the strain of Fourth-Order Open Heaven materials. Nevertheless, those people had not been as exaggerated as the Great Emperors of the Star Boundary.
The reason for this discrepancy was that the Great Emperors had an extremely solid foundation. Their Dao Seals were firm and could withstand stronger impacts. They had remained at the level of a Great Emperor for much longer than normal after all. On the contrary, the Great Emperors of other Universe Worlds would generally begin to condense their Yin, Yang, and Five Elements shortly after arriving at their current realm. They did not spend time refining and stabilising their foundations for thousands of years, so their Dao Seals naturally could not compare to Zhan Wu Hen and the others’.
Aside from the eight Great Emperors, others such as Tian Yan, Sheng Yu Zhu, Li Wu Yi, and Yang Yan had already condensed their own Dao Seals within these past few months and began their own cultivation. Further down the line, Wen Zi Shan, Li Jiao, and the others were still in the process of condensing their Dao Seals.
There were also the 30 people whom Yang Kai brought back with him from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, such as Lang Qing Shan and the shaved-headed man. They were also consuming materials from different Orders.
At present, the most abundant resource in the entire Void Land were Open Heaven Pills. There were as many as 7 or 8 eight billion Open Heaven Pills! That was because there were not many Open Heaven Realm Masters in Void Land, so the consumption of Open Heaven Pills was minimal. Aside from the cost of purchasing the materials to set up the Grand Array, there had not been much consumption of the Open Heaven Pills.
While 7 or 8 billion Open Heaven Pills might sound like a lot, how many cultivation resources could they actually be exchanged with? A full set of 7 Sixth-Order materials cost at least 100 million Open Heaven Pills; therefore, one billion could only purchase 10 portions, and that would only be under the most ideal of circumstances. After all, Sixth-Order materials were not exactly common resources that could be found everywhere and would often be sold for much higher prices.
In the long run, Void Land’s finances were a huge unsolved problem, so it was no wonder that Yue He was looking so gloomy.
“What about the gourd vine? Didn’t I ask you to harvest materials from those Little Bottle Gourds?” Yang Kai asked.
Yue He replied, “We have already started the process. It’s just that… Although the Little Bottle Gourd can produce a full set of Fifth-Order Element treasures, the number of times they can be harvested is limited. We can only harvest them about once a month.”
The gourd vine could be said to be one of the biggest gains that Yang Kai obtained from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary. The value of the gourd vine was the highest among the three Divine Medicines. Compared to the healing power of Pu Bai Xiong and the hallucinogenic effects of Little Mushroom, the gourd vine not only allowed Yang Kai to unleash a terrifying force equivalent to the attack of a Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master at a critical moment, but it could also become one of the financial foundations of Void Land.
There were seven small bottle gourds growing naturally on the gourd vine, each of which corresponded to the Powers of Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements. The Powers were usually hidden within the bottle gourds and their energy was not obvious; however, that Power could burst out at critical moments. If it could explode, naturally it could also be harvested.
After returning from his trip to the Star Boundary, Yang Kai immediately planted the gourd vine in Void Land. Every time the Little Bottle Gourds had accumulated enough energy, he would ask Yue He to harvest it. Every time the energy was harvested, it could supply one cultivator with a set of Yin, Yang, and Five Element materials they needed for their cultivation. Moreover, it was a Fifth-Order Element Power!
It was conceivable that countless cultivators in Void Land would benefit from the existence of the gourd vine over time. If the disciples needed Fifth-Order materials, they were perfectly capable of being self-sufficient!
Under the current circumstances where Void Lands was unable to refine Open Heaven Pills, this gourd vine had become the greatest financial resource of Void Land and could help to alleviate the current crisis to some extent. The price was that Yang Kai had to give up one of his trump cards. It was definitely worth the sacrifice in the long run but it was not an immediate solution to their current problem.
“But, Young Master, those Little Bottle Gourds have become somewhat unruly and grumpy. They have been clamouring to relocate.” Yue He looked exasperated when the gourd vine was mentioned.
“Don’t worry about them. Ask Chen Tian Fatty to monitor them closely in my place. If anything goes wrong, make him take responsibility.”
“Yes!”
Yang Kai rubbed his forehead and sighed, “Still, we need to solve the problem regarding the pill recipe for Open Heaven Pills.”
Void Land currently had an abundance of Alchemy ingredients and many Alchemists, but there was no pill recipe for Open Heaven Pills. It made the situation rather awkward as a result.
It was certain that Qi Qiao Heavenly Monarch had the pill recipe. Unfortunately, his Space Ring had been taken away by Yu Xiu Shan after he was killed by Zhao Bai Chuan and Yu Xiu Shan. Even if he had the pill recipe, it had fallen into the hands of Yu Xiu Shan.
Yue He followed up, “There are quite a few pill recipes for Open Heaven Pills in the 3,000 Worlds. Each one of them may be a little different, but few of them are spread around. Perhaps you should visit a Star City, Young Master. Who knows if you might find one there?”