Immortal Realm’s Smuggling Kingpin

Chapter 24: Nine Realms of Smoke and Chaos (Part 2)

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

After Luo Qian walked one round inside the shop, a store assistant came up and asked enthusiastically, “What do you want to see, Sir?”

Luo Qian casually said, “Maze-type flag array sets.”

The store assistant was full of smiles as he said, “Then you have come to the right place. The flag array sets in our shop are one of the best in the entire Mountain Ning Yao. You will definitely be satisfied! Please follow me.”

The store assistant led the way, bypassing the lined shelves outside, and went straight to the innermost level. “Please take a look at these.” The store assistant pointed to the three large rows of shelves in front of them, filled with small flags of various colors. “These are all flag array sets, and only a small amount of Immortal air is needed to activate them. Small in size, light in weight, easy to use, and powerful; they really are an indispensable weapon in the Immortal Realm for killing people, robbing them of their treasures, and to protect your houses!”

Looking at the funny look of the store assistant, who was shaking his head as he talked, Luo Qian couldn’t help but smile and say, “I want some maze formations, do you have any here?”

“Yes, we have some!” The store guy led him to a shelf at the back. Sure enough, half of the shelf was used to display the flag array sets for maze formations only. “Please take a look. This is the ‘Misty Formation of the Sea of Fog,’ this is the ‘Mystic Formation of the Four Symbols,’ this is the ‘Great Waves Formation…’”

Luo Qian waved his hand and stopped him. “Don’t introduce these ordinary goods; I want those.” He stretched out his hand and pointed at the top of the shelf. There were three flag array sets displayed there. Although they were only molds, it was still easy to see that they were extraordinary.

“Those are slightly more expensive,” said the shop assistant euphemistically.

Luo Qian asked, “How much?”

“Twenty Superior Immortal Jades for the one on the right.”

Luo Qian nodded and asked, “How is the effect?”

The shop assistant proudly said, “The effect? Those three sets are the works of the famous master craftsman, Master Xin Yezi. Even all the items on the bottom added up also can’t compare to a single one of those three array sets!”

Luo Qian asked calmly, “Which of the three is the strongest?”

“Of course it’s the middle one.” The shop assistant said, “Nine Realms of Smoke and Chaos. Just listen to its name, and you’ll know it is not ordinary. However, hehe, you get what you pay for. It costs 30 Superior Immortal Jades.”

What the heck, this is a black market! I can buy a piece of land on Mountain Ning Yao with this amount of money. However, I have lots of money now; there isn’t a need to care about the cost. “Okay, I want it.”

The shop assistant’s eyes popped out. “You, do you really want it?”

Luo Qian took out three pieces of Superior Immortal Jade and said, “This is the deposit. Take this first. I didn’t carry so much money on me; I shall go get the money now.”

The store clerk was stunned for a moment. He didn’t expect that the biggest business he did since he joined the sales industry was completed just like that! The store clerk who was knocked dizzy by happiness held the Immortal Jades and muttered, “I didn’t know that success could be so simple…”

Luo Qian held a green jade box in his left hand as his right hand laid in his trouser pocket. Humming a small song, he leisurely returned to his cave abode in Fushan. Although the price of 30 Superior Immortal Jades was quite painful to him, it was worth the money after all. A total of 108 Sky-Blue White Jades as fans and Six-Paired Dark Gold as the bone; the flag array set was placed into position and activated.

Suddenly, nine wandering dragons ran about; clouds and mist formed as the dragons wandered about, blocking the underground palace entrance completely. If anyone entered the formation by mistake, the person would feel that the sky was spinning for a while, and then find that they had returned to the Immortal Realm.

The Nine Realms of Smoke and Chaos wasn’t lethal, but it could create a complete illusionary Immortal Realm. The nine realms of the Immortal Realm would exist in the illusion, and the details would be exactly the same as those in the memory of those who strayed into the formation. This was the incredible part of this formation—using the memories of the people trapped inside to disrupt their hearts.

…

The Immortal Realm was like spring in all seasons, enjoying endless bright sunshine and the fragrance of birds and flowers. Whenever the sun set in the evening, the soft sunlight would be refracted through the sky full of fish-scale-like clouds, falling on the quiet water surface. The egrets, grass, and lake water are all dyed into a bright red. A large lake was divided into small pieces of ‘paddy fields’ by the interconnected mountains. The picture of evening glow, paddy fields, and egrets hunting fish was so beautiful that it was impossible to find another sight that could compare to this, even in the Immortal Realm. This lake was therefore named Tianxia Lake1, meaning that even the evening afterglow could also be planted in the paddy fields. The land where Tianxia Lake was located was also named Rosy Cloud Spring.

Rosy Cloud Spring, one of the ‘Three Heavens and Six Springs.’

The Zuo family resided in Rosy Cloud Spring. In the Immortal Realm, the status of this family was on par with the Ling family of Qingping Spring. The Zuo family not only owned one-third of Rosy Cloud Spring, but also controlled the production base for top-quality Immortal Jade, one of the Lower Ten caves of the ‘Upper Three Lower Ten’—Interior Treasure Cave. The Zuo family’s influence wasn’t any weaker than that of the Ling family.

Interior Treasure Cave often produced the top-quality Immortal Jade, Exquisite Water; its value was even higher than that of the Ling Family’s Jizhen Cave.

The Immortal families like the Ling family and the Zuo family didn’t have enough manpower to mine the Immortal Jade mines, so they had to hire miners. It was impossible for Immortals to obtain Immortal Jades by only cultivating. Every industry needed its specialization. Those ordinary Immortals could neither do alchemy nor crafting. They required Immortal Jades to purchase elixirs and magical items; even slightly better quality Immortal Abodes also required a lot of Immortal Jades. Due to this, they could only do this kind of part-time work in the Immortal Realm to obtain Immortal Jades.

Every Immortal Family that controlled an Immortal Jade mine had thousands of ‘Immortal Miners.’ These miners’ cultivation levels were all quite low and belonged to the bottom of the Immortal Realm’s social system.

Every day, they would enter the caves at sunrise and exit the caves at sunset. Only by diligently completing their share of mining could they get a pitiful reward. If they were lucky enough and mined Superior Grade Immortal Jades or top-quality Immortal Jades—such as Exquisite Water—the family who controlled the mines would also very reasonably give them a bonus.

There was no danger in mining in the caves, but they had to undergo strict inspections to prevent people from stealing the Immortal Jades with magical artifacts like Cosmic Bags. Also, there were special Immortal Formations in the cave, which prevented all Immortal arts from being used inside. It was impossible to use Immortal arts like ‘Universe in the Sleeve’ to hide and steal Immortal Jades.

Tianxia Lake was located in the very center of Rosy Cloud Spring; Interior Treasure Cave was located far away from it. It was already on the boundary of Rosy Cloud Spring. One only needed to cross a mountain ridge northwest of the cave entrance to leave Rosy Cloud Spring.

There were 100 high-level guards from the Zuo family at the entrance to Interior Treasure Cave all year round. The two golden doors had three layers of charms on them. They were cast by Tian Gongzi, the number one master craftsman in the Immortal Realm. Even 10,000 Immortal Soldiers also wouldn’t be able to break through these two doors. In front of the doors that shone with golden light was an octagonal Immortal Formation. People entering and exiting the cave must pass through this Immortal Formation; otherwise, they would be killed on the spot by the Zuo Family guards standing guard on both sides of the doors.

This Immortal Formation monitored whether an Immortal Miner had magical artifacts on them when entering. It also checked whether they had any Immortal Jades on them when leaving the cave.

The warm Immortal Sun rose in the twilight sky like people rising in the morning, letting out a hot breath of white vapor towards the sky. There was already a long queue at the entrance to Interior Treasure Cave; the Immortal Miners waiting to work in the cave had been waiting here for about half an hour.

The Immortal Jade mines in the Immortal Realm all followed the strange distribution of the mineral veins. They also had to be mined in the direction that the vein extended. If they dug in from other places, they would find no Immortal Jades. Therefore, every Immortal Jade mine had only one entrance, which was the starting point of the vein. Thus, Immortal Jade mine owners didn’t have to worry about someone digging a hole from another place to mine the Immortal Jade mines secretly as long as they guarded the mine entrance. As for the other end of the vein, it was buried deep underground in an unknown place.

Under the two tall golden doors of Interior Treasure Cave, two lines of guards—dressed in dazzling immortal armor and wielding powerful magical artifacts—were lined up in a V shape. They had piercing eyes, staring vigilantly at the queue of people who were waiting to enter the cave. The matter of Immortal Miners robbing Immortal Jade mines was something that had happened before.

The two golden doors were synchronized with the Immortal sun. When the first ray of light appeared, the golden doors also opened slightly. A steward came out from inside, raised his arm, and sang loudly, “Open—cave—”

Two Immortal guards standing in front of the octagonal Immortal Formation walked to the side, and the Immortal Formation shone slightly and began to activate. The Immortal Miners lined up into position and passed through the Immortal Formation one by one.

A small half of the team had been swallowed by the hole opened by the double doors when the steward standing beside the Immortal Formation suddenly frowned. The Immortal Formation revealed that there was something hidden on the Immortal Miner standing in the Immortal Formation.

The steward raised his eyebrows calmly, and the two Immortal guards—understanding this gesture—rushed into the Immortal Formation and dragged the miner out. The steward’s skin smiled without the muscle smiling as he said, “Good lad, very courageous. You actually dare to try such a trick in the Zuo Family’s territory. Men, drag him out and…”

“Sir, it’s a misunderstanding, it’s just a misunderstanding…” that fairy worker hastily shouted, “I do have something on my body, but it’s not for stealing Immortal Jades. If you don’t believe me, you can take it out and have a look.” The Immortal Miner spoke very clearly and quickly.

The steward looked at him and gestured towards the two Immortal guards with his head. One of the Immortal guards stretched out his hand and felt about the miner’s body, then pulled something out from his shirt.

“Oh?” It was a piece of Immortal Jade, an Inferior Immortal Jade.

The Immortal Miner said loudly, “I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to complete today’s quota, so I brought a piece of Immortal Jade with me. If I really didn’t hit the target quota, I can still make up for the number with this.”

The steward checked the Immortal Jade thoroughly. There was nothing wrong with it. He threw the Immortal Jade back to the Immortal Miner and waved his hand. “Go in.”

The fairy worker caught the Immortal Jade, bowed, and thanked him before hurriedly retreating into the cave. “Thank you, Sir. Thank you…”

It was just a minor disruption, so the steward didn’t think much about it. Suddenly, he remembered something and turned his head to look again. The Immortal Miner had disappeared into the cave. Looking at the dark hole of the cave entrance, the steward thought for a while, then just shook his head.

Even if an Immortal Miner completed the quota for the day, the reward was only 150 Standard Immortal Jade, which was 1.5 Inferior Immortal Jades. If the Immortal Miner used an Inferior Immortal Jade to hit the quota, it didn’t seem to be worth the trouble. However, when he thought about this, the Immortal Miner had already disappeared into the cave. The steward was too lazy to make a fuss and send people inside to find that guy just because that guy seemed to have weak calculating skills.