Developments

Inside the shopping mall, nearly all available seating was taken up. The low hum of quiet conversation filled the room.

Over the past three weeks, new customers had been coming into the shopping mall regularly. Many of them were from the Yan Dynasty and only made one purchase before leaving, but some did stay. The environment inside the shopping mall was just too beneficial for cultivation for people to easily give it up. After they were sent to buy something in the shopping mall, even if they didn't have spirit crystals of their own to spend afterward, many of them would decide to stick around.

There had initially been some confusion on what exactly Lin Feng wanted as compensation. He had said he wanted five hundred customers to come and buy something from his store, and the Yan Dynasty had thought that just the spirit crystals alone were what he was after. They were quickly disabused of that notion after Lin Feng refused their lump sum payment.

Sending five-hundred people over to individually make purchases was more trouble than simply giving Lin Feng the money. The number of people traveling back and forth between the shopping mall, Yashan city, and the imperial capital quickly attracted attention.

Rumors of something happening in the Demon Tooth Mountains had spread far and wide. Then, just a week ago, construction began on a paved road into the mountains from Yashan city.

——

Lin Feng stared blankly at Wang Mu and the wooden chest in front of him.

"Duke Yu?"

"Yes, Senior Lin. Great Yan deeply regrets that they have allowed such wicked men to grow within their borders. His Majesty, the Emperor, has personally ordered the Ducal household destroyed and he hopes that this gift will begin the process of mending the relationship between Great Yan and the shopping mall."

Lin Feng didn't react to anything that Wang Mu had just said. He was still stunned by what Wang Mu had said before.

"In the box?"

"Yes, Senior Lin."

Wang Mu set the chest on the ground and opened the latches with a click. The wooden lid swung open to reveal a silk-lined interior. Placed upon a velvet cushion, staring at him with half-lidded eyes, was the head of a fat old man.

Balding, with jowls like a bulldog, a bulbous nose, and chubby cheeks, the duke had not been an attractive man in life. Now, in death, his severed head was particularly disgusting.

Li Feng slammed the wooden chest closed.

"Ok."

Lin Feng didn't know what to say. He stared at the closed wooden chest with barely disguised revulsion as he struggled to find words.

"This… does much… to repair the relationship between Great Yan and me."

Wang Mu was confused to hear how stilted and awkward Lin Feng sounded. He had been specifically chosen to deliver Duke Yu's head because, between him and Yang Wen, he had nothing to do with the attack on Mei.

"If there is anything wrong, Senior Lin, please tell me. I will make sure it is made right."

"No."

Now it was Wang Mu's turn to be speechless. No? No, he won't tell him if there's anything wrong?

"As long as Great Yan honors its agreement to build the road, sends me five-hundred customers, and rebuilds my house, we will pretend that the attack on Mei never happened."

Wang Mu was overjoyed to hear this.

"Thank you, Senior Lin! You will not regret this! Great Yan will ensure that nothing like this ever happens again."

Wang Mu bowed excitedly and hurried off. It had been some time since he had been at the shopping mall and he was excited to eat some spaghetti and cultivate.

Lin Feng looked conflictingly at the wooden chest left behind. Hesitantly, he reached forward and lifted the lid once again. It was still there. They had really sent him a human head.

Closing the lid again softly, cold air hissed between Lin Feng's teeth as he grimaced.

"What am I supposed to do with a head?"

——

Mei was quietly cultivating in her favorite spot next to the water fountain while sitting on a large pillow. Someone had gifted her the silken red pillow shortly after the incident with the imperial delegation and it had quickly become one of her favorite things. Sadly, even her pillow couldn't help her mood as she was again confronted with the damage done to her demonic core.

The ball hovering in her dantian had once been a beautiful gleaming gold, smooth and unblemished. Now though, it was pitted and scarred. The golden gleam had faded to a more tarnished golden brown.

Her efforts to cultivate and repair her golden core were met with constant roadblocks. Even with the huge amounts of spiritual energy she had access to, her progress was painfully slow. To someone like Mei, who had already gotten used to an extremely fast cultivation speed, such slow cultivation was extremely frustrating.

Yang Xinhe was sitting stiffly at her side. His father's unwitting involvement in the attack on Mei's life had left him in an awkward position. He did not want to give up on the distant but valuable relationship he had been able to form between himself and Lin Feng and Mei, but he was worried that he might be blamed for Mei's injuries. As such, Yang Xinhe had been very quiet for the past few weeks.

Today, he was prepared to try and change that.

"Senior Mei, those dogs deserve to suffer for an eternity for what they did to you."

Mei looked up at Yang Xinhe with annoyance. She was not in the mood to chat with him right now.

"Yeah."

Yang Xinhe made a pained expression when he heard Mei's short reply. He steeled his nerves before continuing.

"Since the attack, my father has been desperately looking for ways to make up for his lapse in judgment in leading those animals here. Today, he asked me to give you a gift on his behalf."

Mei scowled as she listened to him carry on. Normally, Mei didn't mind how long-winded Yang Xinhe was, she quite enjoyed the pomp actually, but right now she didn't feel like dealing with him.

"What is it?" She said abruptly, wanting him to hurry up.

Quickly deciding that he had said enough, Yang Xinhe pulled out a bottle made of white jade. Mei could hear something small rattling around as he uncorked it and poured it out into his palm.

"Senior Mei, this is a Rank-3 Phoenix Rebirth pill. It can burn away impurities within the body and spirit, as well as heal injuries to one's foundation."

Yang Xinhe held out his hand and showed Mei a translucent red pill that looked like it was made of solid ruby. A spicy medicinal fragrance wafted off of it and made Mei feel extremely relaxed, the discomfort from her injuries momentarily lessening.

Mei was surprised to see a pill of this quality come from Yang Xinhe. From what Mei and Lin Feng had learned after asking around, Rank-3 was the minimum for a medicinal product to have any hope of healing Mei's injuries.

Anything lower would have an extremely limited effect on someone with a Core Formation Realm cultivation.

The problem was that Great Yan was too backwater for these medicines to exist. It wasn't a matter of money. There simply wasn't enough spiritual energy for the herbs to grow or the pill to be produced.

In truth, this pill was at the very bottom of Rank-3, and even that had cost the Yang family nearly its entire fortune. Yang Wen had gritted his teeth and bought it though. After weeks of searching, this was the only thing he could find that might make up for his blunder.

The only thing that made this purchase slightly bearable to the Yang family was the slowly increasing prosperity of Yashan city. Already the travel between the imperial city and the shopping mall was picking up, and Yashan city was the only major city close by. Once the road was fully built, Yashan city would become a major point of travel between the shopping mall and the outside world.

As long as this became true, then Yang Wen had hopes of making a hundred times as much money in the future.

Mei's eye's lit up when she saw this and her bad mood was quickly forgotten.

After swallowing the pill, a hot fiery healing energy emerged. Mei moaned in pleasure as it spread throughout her body and she became incomparably comfortable. Her body was greatly nourished by the medicine and her meridians and dantian became stronger and more resilient to attacks. If she faced Shu Ping's sword light attack now, it was doubtful that her core would be so greatly damaged again.

The medicinal energy wrapped around her demonic core like a heavy blanket and it began to glow red hot. Some of the gold liquified and began to flow across the divots and scars, filling them and smoothing out the golden core's exterior.

Unfortunately, when it reached some of the larger cuts, it wasn't able to fully fill them, and when it reached the most major cracks and damaged portions of the golden core, it was entirely unable to help.

Even so, much of the more minor surface damage was fixed, and the core regained its metallic luster.

Mei excitedly circulated her spiritual energy and was happy to find that it was now noticeably smoother than it was before.

"Wow! Thank you!" Mei jumped up from her pillow happily, "I'll go talk to my brother! Your father doesn't need to worry about Lin Feng being angry anymore!"

Yang Xinhe gave a relieved sigh as Mei ran off to find Lin Feng, but he felt a bit conflicted when he heard Mei directly address his father's concerns.