I'm in Shrouding the Heavens Practicing Eternal Life

As the Martial Arts Grand Gathering approached, more and more prodigies emerged. The disciples guarding the various sects and factions underwent unprecedented trials. Surprisingly, a number of dark horses appeared, their cultivation and combat prowess increasing dramatically, leading them to abandon their guard duties and venture out to issue challenges. The Radiant Light Holy Land, in particular, employed numerous tricks, signing contracts with some challengers and purchasing so-called 'exclusive authorizations,' and began selling so-called cultivation insights and secret skill insights of the Martial Arts Grand Gathering prodigies throughout the Great Luo Realm.

The more invincible a prodigy appeared, the more expensive their insights sold for. Ye Fan found this quite speechless. Luo Mo had simply transplanted the marketing tactics from Earth to the Northern Dipper Territory, and then resold his own cultivation insights, at a very high price, from which he could earn a considerable share.

After all, no one ever felt they had too many pills.

And unknowingly, in response to the demands of the cultivators, the Great Luo Realm began to spread throughout the Northern Dipper Territory. Altars were built, allowing remote connections to sects in various domains, extending the reach of the Great Luo Realm.

Initially, some people had reservations about this, as the Great Luo Realm was a spiritual world created by the Radiant Light Holy Land. Allowing such a thing into our territory wasn't ideal.

But the Radiant Light Holy Land immediately presented a profit-sharing agreement.

The agreement promised that the Radiant Light Holy Land would be responsible for half of the basic construction costs, and the Great Luo Realm nodes in each sect's territory would be divided according to the connected region, with thirteen percent of the profits from the local Great Luo Realm node being distributed to the local contractor.

Although it was only thirteen percent, it was the profit from the Great Luo Realm! How profitable was the Great Luo Realm?

Looking at the current extravagance of the Radiant Light Holy Land, it was clear that they were making a fortune. They secretly inquired and quickly someone estimated the income of the Great Luo Realm.

It was an eye-watering number!

Even if it was distributed to various places, it would definitely be substantial, enough to make even the Holy Lands bend, let alone smaller sects.

Now, without the Radiant Light Holy Land needing to promote it, some sects were already engaging in several behind-the-scenes battles to contract the local Great Luo Realm nodes, either winning exclusively or negotiating joint management to take over the Great Luo Realm nodes.

The world is bustling for profit, and people come and go for profit.

They provided half of the infrastructure costs, and the Radiant Light Holy Land allocated the other half. Materials were fine, but there weren't enough people. The Radiant Light Holy Land excelled at alchemy and artifact crafting, but wasn't specialized in formations, so they approached the Origin Heaven Sect, inviting their professional formation team to set up the Great Luo Realm nodes, contracting out the project.

The Origin Heaven Sect had also kept up with the times, creating a strategy of free repairs for non-human-caused damage within a hundred years, demonstrating confidence in their craftsmanship.

"Hey, you big-bearded sect leader, this emperor has set up the divine sense node altar for you. Come and inspect the goods."

A large black dog, standing taller than a person, wearing floral shorts, was directing the Origin Heaven Sect disciples to finish the work.

The sect leader of a major sect in the Northern Plains was speechless at this black dog, but it was said that this guy was raised by the Origin Heaven Master, and even the disciples of the Origin Heaven Sect didn't dare to provoke him, so they could only swallow their anger and let the dog be rude.

The sect leader connected to the altar with his divine sense and indeed entered the Great Luo Realm. In an instant, his thoughts traversed the five regions and arrived at the Great Luo Realm headquarters in the Eastern Wilderness, appearing in the Free Market.

He tried it out and found no problems, then nodded and said, "Thank you, fellow Daoists of the Origin Heaven Sect."

"Hey, I say, big beard, just building an altar isn't enough. You need to set up other entertainment facilities, cultivation facilities, and basic facilities."

The Black Emperor skillfully went up to put his arm around the sect leader's shoulders.

The big-bearded sect leader's forehead bulged with veins. It was the first time he had been embraced by a dog demon. If this dog wasn't raised by the Origin Heaven Master, he would have beaten it up and taken it back to stew into soup.

But at this time, he still patiently said, "I also want to do it all in one step, but now I lack funds. A divine sense node altar that can cross the five regions has already emptied my sect's savings for many years. I really can't afford to build cultivation facilities and so on."

"What good thing?"

"The number one figure in the Dao Alliance is my brother, I'm sure you're aware of that."

The Black Emperor elevated Luo Mo's status.

The big-bearded sect leader's eyes twitched slightly. Isn't that your master? Is that how you arrange things outside?

"Now the Dao Alliance has a plan to support small and medium-sized sects, with a large sum of interest-free loans."

Interest-free loans?

Are there loans that are interest-free?

The big-bearded sect leader was a little doubtful, but he still preferred to believe it, so he continued to listen to the Black Emperor, hoping it was true, which would be good.

"But this loan is only planned to be given to sects with a large number of people, and you in the Northern Plains…"

The Black Emperor looked out, seeing vast grasslands, empty and distant, with magnificent scenery, but not many people.

"Do you have a way?" the big-bearded sect leader couldn't help but ask.

Seeing that the fish had taken the bait, the Black Emperor immediately proudly said, "Of course! Who is this emperor? This emperor will succeed as soon as I take action, as long as you are willing—hmm~ you understand!"

The Black Emperor rubbed his dog paws, revealing his greedy nature.

The big-bearded sect leader pondered, then said, "I want to ask first, how much can this loan be?"

The Black Emperor glanced around. This sect didn't have many people, but their strength was not bad, so he quoted a number: "Two hundred million, two hundred million Nascent Soul Pills should be no problem."

Two hundred million?!

This number made the big-bearded sect leader's heart rejoice.

Nascent Soul Pills were good things, long-term use could strengthen the foundation, protect the origin, guard the divine sense, purify thoughts, refine essence and blood into a pill, like fetal breathing, even he could use them.

Of course, it would be even better if there were Pure Yang Pills, but the price of Pure Yang Pills in the Great Luo Realm had been炒higher and higher, now reaching a high price of six hundred and forty Nascent Soul Pills to acquire one Pure Yang Pill, which was really unaffordable. He, a great power, would definitely need a large quantity if he wanted to use them, and a little bit wouldn't have any effect.

But if there was such a loan, the space for operation would be much greater.

He was the sect leader, and there was no problem in taking care of himself first.

"If you can really help, I am willing to offer one million Nascent Soul Pills as a thank you."

The Black Emperor looked disdainful, "Are you sending away beggars, with just one million? Forget it, this emperor will find someone else, anyway, there are several other nodes in the Northern Plains and Southern Region, they should be interested."

The big-bearded sect leader looked distressed, "Brother Black, everything is negotiable, why don't you name a number?"

The Black Emperor cracked open his big mouth that could swallow a pig in one bite, his scarlet tongue dripping with saliva, "Ten times! This emperor wants a kickback of ten million!"

"No, that's too high," the big-bearded sect leader immediately retorted.

"This price is not bad, think about it, what you get is two hundred million, this emperor only wants ten million, it's just a drop in the bucket."

"This is not a drop in the bucket, this is half a percent of the kickback, no way, no way, absolutely not."

The Black Emperor asked, "Really not? If not, this emperor will leave."

The big-bearded sect leader's face was strained.

The Black Emperor took a step and looked back, "This emperor is really leaving."

The big-bearded sect leader finally couldn't help it and gritted his teeth and said, "Unless you help me find a way to borrow another one hundred million!"

The Black Emperor was a little embarrassed, "This is not easy to do…"

"I don't care, anyway, if you want a kickback of ten million, you have to help me borrow an interest-free loan of three hundred million Nascent Soul Pills, otherwise this kickback will have to be lowered."

The Black Emperor pondered, and finally hesitated: "This emperor can try, but I can't guarantee success…"

The big-bearded sect leader was now full of scheming, "Let's be clear, your kickback will only be given to you after the loan arrives."

"That's natural, this emperor is not afraid of you reneging on the debt."

After some bargaining, the big-bearded sect leader thought he had gotten a pretty good price.

That was three hundred million Nascent Soul Pills, being able to get such a large loan, paying a kickback of ten million was just a small interest.

The Black Emperor left the Northern Plains and returned to the Origin Heaven Sect through the teleportation domain gate, then began to laugh wildly, happily patted the Golden Thunder Tiger with his dog paw, and reached out to stroke the tiger's fur against the grain, then ran into the Qianyu Hall in a puff of smoke.

"You're back? How did things go?"

Luo Mo's avatar had been researching formations in the Qianyu Palace these past few days. The formations were layered upon layered, covering the entire Big Dipper. Hei Huang's return was casually erased by Luo Mo.

That was a grand project covering the Big Dipper, intended for summoning the Chaos Body in the future. The groundwork had already begun.

"With this Emperor taking action, what could go wrong? The last one in the Northern Plains and Southern Region is settled. In a few days, I guarantee they'll obediently sign the lease act."

After speaking, Hei Huang muttered, "I don't know what you're doing with this lease act. Do you have too many pills burning a hole in your pocket?"

That's all money!

So many pills, all lent out interest-free. Hei Huang felt a pang of heartache just looking at it.

Fortunately, Luo Mo promised to give him some compensation, so he happily joined in. Hei Huang was quite diligent in his work, especially when the payment was prompt.

Whenever there was a high-profit incentive, this dog would act like he'd been injected with chicken blood, using his cunning schemes to get things done.

The lease act was the same.

Just from the name "lease act," one could guess what it was for. The Yuan Tian Sect provided loans to support the development of various Daoist temples, constructing various facilities and arranging formations.

These all appeared to be cultivation and entertainment facilities near the nodes of the Great Luo Realm, but in reality, they were all formations that Luo Mo could control at any time.

When the time came, he could use the entire Big Dipper as an altar to summon the Chaos Body.

This was a win-win method he had devised after careful consideration, allowing him to both gather the human race's fortune and quietly set up the altar.

Otherwise, just for the sake of the human race's fortune, he would have directly provoked a new round of war between the ancient races and the human race, just like the Yaoguang and demon races back then. That way, the human race's fortune would be even more cohesive and powerful than it is now. The Daoist temple model is still somewhat loose.

The fortune gathered by money is not as resilient, powerful, and profound as that tempered by war; it always seems somewhat superficial and easily dispersed.

"How much of a kickback did you get this time?" Luo Mo asked with a smile, making Hei Huang feel a little uneasy.

"W-what are you talking about? This Emperor has already taken your benefits. How could I possibly take a kickback? If I did that, would I even be human! Even taking a kickback would make my conscience uneasy!"

You weren't human to begin with!

And your conscience... how can something that doesn't exist feel uneasy?

Luo Mo didn't want to waste words over a few pills, but simply instructed, "Don't mess things up."

The main reason for keeping Hei Huang around was that Luo Mo wanted to keep an eye on him.

Otherwise, if this guy ran off to hang out with Ye Fan and cause trouble in Yaoguang, he would corrupt his disciples.

"Don't worry, absolutely nothing will go wrong. This Emperor guarantees it with his life!"

A dog's life is worth more than that nonexistent conscience.

A few days later, Hei Huang went to the Northern Plains and Southern Region again.

"Oh, my dear, bearded sect leader, look what good news I've brought you!"

The bearded sect leader felt that the dog's tone was a little strange, but he didn't pay attention to it. After all, Hei Huang had never been proper.

"Brother Hei, could it be that the loan is approved?"

As long as there were benefits, even the leader of a sect could call a dog "brother."

"Of course. Is there anything this Emperor can't accomplish? A three hundred million interest-free loan, with a hundred-year repayment period. How's that for generous?"

"A hundred years?"

The bearded sect leader was a little surprised. He didn't expect the repayment period to be so long. This was a great thing.

Hei Huang shook out a scroll of animal skin and handed it to the bearded sect leader. "Here, take a look. It's all written on it."

The bearded sect leader took the scroll and looked at it, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Lease Act?"

The bearded man's expression gradually became a bit off, because many things were stipulated on it.

For example, if the lease act was signed, then a teleportation gate must be built. This was equivalent to placing a time bomb on one's own territory, allowing people from the Yuan Tian Sect to come and go whenever they wanted.

Uh, although it wouldn't make much of a difference with a Saint present, it didn't feel very good.

For another example, the act stipulated the use of the loan funds, which was very annoying. He had planned to pocket a portion of it.

Especially the development guidance, the Yuan Tian Sect would send someone to supervise and guide the use of the funds. This was not a good thing.

There was nothing else, and even some of the breach of contract clauses were not strict.

The bearded man pointed to the two items he objected to and said, "Brother Hei, can these two items be revised?"

Hei Huang glared at him unhappily and said, "Are you stupid? This one, building a teleportation array, is to protect you. In case you are bullied by the ancient races, we, the Yuan Tian Sect, will have a legitimate reason to intervene quickly. Are you worried that our Yuan Tian Sect will annex you?"

The bearded sect leader was a little embarrassed, because he did have such thoughts.

But Hei Huang was eloquent and sharp-tongued, directly mocking him, "Don't dream such dreams. Do you know how much the monthly salary of our Yuan Tian Sect disciples, deacons, and elders is? It would scare you to death if I told you. We are very selective when recruiting people. If the people from your sect go to participate in the entry selection of our Yuan Tian Sect, how many can pass?"

The bearded sect leader's face twitched.

He had heard of the welfare benefits of the Yuan Tian Sect. Even as a Da Neng, he was envious to the point of drooling. Being ridiculed by Hei Huang like this, he gave up his suspicions.

Indeed, with the situation of their sect, even if they rushed to join the Yuan Tian Sect, they would not want them. The Yuan Tian Sect has now passed the initial period of rapid expansion and is now following an elite route.

Hei Huang continued, "As for the following item, special funds for special purposes, sending people to supervise—do you know who is supervising the Northern Plains and Southern Region?"

His smug look made it clear that it was him!

"So, with Brother Hei here, I can do whatever I want with this loan?" The bearded sect leader was overjoyed.

Hei Huang also became serious for once, cleared his throat, and said, "You can't do whatever you want. At least 80% of the loan must be used for construction, otherwise you won't be able to repay it later."

80% used for construction? Doesn't that mean that the remaining 20%...

Sixty million!

The bearded sect leader knew how much available funds he had in his hands with a slight mental calculation, and was immediately overjoyed.

"Definitely, definitely, this sect will definitely use these 80% for practical purposes."

"That's good. Our Yuan Tian Sect has newly developed several cultivation venues, we will arrange them for you, and then plan your land, find suitable places to develop planting and animal husbandry, plant medicinal herbs, raise spirit beasts, and then relocate some people here. The Northern Plains is vast and sparsely populated, it's a pity not to raise some people to collect the power of faith. This must be arranged."

Hei Huang skillfully took out a design drawing, which contained the planning made by the disciples of the Eight Halls of the Yuan Tian Sect after investigation.

"In the early stage, you need to clear the beasts, which must be done by someone. Your strength is not enough and you don't have enough manpower. If you encounter a beheading-level monster, there is no way. I suggest you find Yaoguang, their king-level combat power can be rented out."

"Huh?"

King-level combat power can be rented out?

The world is changing a bit fast, and the bearded sect leader is a bit uncomfortable.

Hei Huang calculated various expenses and then said, "Oh, it's a little over. After doing this set, there is only 40 million left. After deducting my 10 million kickback, you will only have 30 million left, but this is already the most cost-effective plan. Or else, let's deduct a little more?"

The bearded sect leader swallowed his saliva and didn't want to bargain anymore, "No, no need, this is fine."

Thirty million Yuan Ying pills, such a huge sum of money that he would wake up laughing even in his sleep!

Hei Huang didn't say much when he saw that the other party was so useless.

After settling a fool, there are still a few waiting.