However, as the owner of the shop, Wu Tao also took away three of its prized possessions.
It was no wonder Wu Tao was so shocked. These three treasures were extraordinary, renowned throughout the human race.
The first treasure was named the Starfire Thunderous Pearl.
Legend had it that this pearl was a single-use offensive artifact condensed by a cultivator at the late Nascent Soul stage. It had been used to slay countless alien races, its power being immensely formidable.
Before his death, this late Nascent Soul stage cultivator did not leave behind the legacy of how to condense these Starfire Thunderous Pearls, only a few dozen of them.
Of course, the fame of the Starfire Thunderous Pearl gradually faded with time, becoming idle treasures gathering dust in some treasure vault, never to be used by any cultivator.
After several hundred more years, the name of the Starfire Thunderous Pearl became even more obscure.
It was treated as an ordinary treasure, bought and sold casually. This continued until a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator named Liang Ping happened to obtain them.
This Foundation Establishment stage cultivator named Liang Ping later offended a Nascent Soul stage cultivator due to some incident and was pursued by him.
However, this Nascent Soul stage cultivator likely did not kill Liang Ping. Instead, Liang Ping used ten Starfire Thunderous Pearls to counter-kill him. This event shook the entire human race.
The reason the Starfire Thunderous Pearl possessed such terrifying destructive power was that it was condensed from all the fires in heaven and earth.
The second treasure was named the "Golden Silk Dragon Tendon Belt"!
The "Golden Silk Dragon Tendon Belt" possessed a passive energy-dispelling technique, a feature alone worth over a hundred thousand spirit stones.
The so-called energy-dispelling technique was capable of reducing the power of spells and divine abilities by a multiple.
And "passive" meant that regardless of whether the user was conscious or had spiritual energy, this technique would be effective.
The third treasure was named the "Azure Sky Immortal Silk Umbrella"!
The "Azure Sky Immortal Silk Umbrella" was an extremely powerful defensive artifact, crafted from Xuanhuang Stone and clear water from the nine heavens, making it impenetrable by most spells.
Tongguan City, Xingyi Street.
News of the Seven-Colored Pavilion changing owners spread throughout Xingyi Street.
As he walked out of the main entrance, he saw many people, carrying goods, waiting outside.
Seeing this scene, Wu Tao raised an eyebrow, then walked out with a beaming smile.
What was originally a relatively spacious mansion entrance was squeezed into a narrow passage by their sheer numbers.
Wu Tao naturally knew the reason for this scene; it was simply how merchants operated.
He had anticipated it beforehand, but he hadn't expected so many people.
Among the cultivators waiting patiently outside, there was almost no one whose cultivation was inferior to his. They were all shopkeepers of various establishments.
After a few pleasantries, although Wu Tao and these people could not be called friends, they at least became familiar faces.
They addressed each other as "fellow Daoist," and the interactions were quite pleasant.
In the following months, Wu Tao began to frequently visit the cave mansions of several nearby Foundation Establishment cultivators, humbly seeking advice on the necessary precautions after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.
Shenglong Pavilion, Xinyi Tower, Longmi Pavilion, Wancao Tower, and Beiji Tower were the five largest and most influential shops on Xingyi Street, possessing the strongest backing.
Among the five, Shenglong Pavilion was the most powerful, dominating the most lucrative businesses, and its patron was naturally the City Lord's Mansion.
Xinyi Tower, Longmi Pavilion, Wancao Tower, and Beiji Tower, on the other hand, were backed by the families of Vice City Lords Lü Liang (Wu Tao's father-in-law), Deng Yiping, Jiang Xinglai, and Lu Liang respectively. They constantly engaged in fierce competition, jointly monopolizing other profitable businesses.
Wu Tao's current Seven-Colored Pavilion was a subordinate of Beiji Tower.
The remaining shops were in a more chaotic state; as long as they didn't violate any rules, they would do whatever business was profitable.
Understanding this, Wu Tao began to ponder what unique characteristic his shop could develop, as every shop had its own signature.
However, before he could devise a plan to earn spirit stones, the deadline for his next mission arrived.
Because Wu Tao had advanced to the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment realm, he automatically became the captain of Squad 32 of Type A, leading ten late-stage Foundation Establishment members to the notorious "no man's land," the Ten Thousand Mines Mountain Range, to search for Blood Marrow Spiritual Jade.
The underground world was vast, and even with a hundred powerful races combined, they only occupied a portion of its territory.
Spiritual lands, sacred lands, and treasure lands would not be missed by the hundred powerful races. However, dangerous and ferocious lands, while not of the highest value, were often used as buffer zones, becoming special no man's lands.
Fifty thousand li north of Tongguan City lay a mountain range stretching nearly a million li, named the "Ten Thousand Mines Mountain Range."
Within the Ten Thousand Mines Mountain Range, the mountains soared into the clouds, with treacherous terrain, numerous caves, and frequent occurrences of poisonous mists.
Beneath the mountains lay swamps, basins, active volcanoes, and ice peaks of minus one thousand degrees, a chaotic landscape of conflicting terrains forming a deformed mountain range.
It was desolate, barren, and rife with peril.
This mountain range was named the Ten Thousand Mines Mountain Range because it concealed over ten thousand intertwined and complex mineral veins.
These veins, large and small, were buried deep underground, crisscrossing each other in a most peculiar manner. Moreover, most of the ores produced from these veins were valuable.
The various ores in the Ten Thousand Mines Mountain Range were priceless and could be used to forge all sorts of defensive artifacts. Aside from artifacts, even the steel-hard withered spirit stone and the crystal-like marrow jade were incredibly miraculous and rare, difficult to obtain even with immense wealth.
However, for reasons unknown, these mineral veins in the mountain range were extremely difficult to excavate, with most being located beneath perilous terrain. Unearthing them would require great effort.
If it were only this difficult, as long as there was profit to be made, powerful races would vie for control of the territory.
But even more bizarrely, after excavating the mineral veins, a curse-like rule would emerge, leading to the deaths of a large number of excavators.
This was precisely why this place had become a paradise for fugitives from various powerful races.
Although the Ten Thousand Mines Mountain Range, due to its peculiar circumstances, had avoided occupation by powerful races, it still attracted numerous fugitives, ruthless individuals, and bandits from various races due to its ten thousand crisscrossing mineral veins.
These fugitives, ruthless individuals, and bandits from various races each occupied a considerable territory, forming factions. Disputes and attacks occurred almost daily over the mining veins and the slaves who excavated the ores, with occasional outbreaks of major chaos.
If a mineral vein was unearthed, it was always at the cost of countless lives.
The fugitives, ruthless individuals, and bandits within the Ten Thousand Mines Mountain Range were no easy adversaries. Any outsiders passing through were invariably forced into mining.
In Wu Tao's hand, he held a jade slip that resembled a jade scroll.
This jade slip appeared ancient, with text and graphics subtly appearing on each page, resembling a map.
This jade slip was named "Ten Thousand Mines: Strange Transmissions," and it was some basic information given to him by the mission assigner before the mission.
The Ten Thousand Mines Mountain Range was indeed as the rumors suggested, rather peculiar.
It was uneven and lacked a sense of continuous expanse, filled with illogical aspects and seemingly contradictory scenes everywhere.
From above, it appeared as if a massive spiritual vein had been chopped into dozens of segments.
All mountain ranges, as long as their feng shui was not disturbed, could breed spiritual veins. If one was exceptionally lucky, they might even breed top-grade spiritual veins.
Of course, in this world, most spiritual veins in mountain ranges had been artificially extracted for other uses.
Wu Tao was somewhat aware of this. The foundation of the mountain range before him should have been excellent, and it should have contained a large spiritual vein.
However, for some unknown reason, this mountain range had been severed into dozens of pieces. With a vast amount of spiritual energy leaking out, even ordinary ores had mutated, transforming into the current Ten Thousand Mines Mountain Range.
Wu Tao and his ten team members floated in mid-air, a strange thought suddenly appearing in his mind.
However, he immediately shook his head and dismissed the thought, deeming it unimportant.
"Let's infiltrate first. I want to see how chaotic this so-called no man's land, this land of chaos, can truly be."
Muttering to himself, Wu Tao, along with his ten team members, transformed into eleven streaks of light and descended towards the ground.
"Whoosh..."
As Wu Tao's and his team's feet touched the ground, a gentle breeze blew, and their expressions instantly changed.
A strong, pungent smell of blood assaulted their nostrils.
"Such... a strong smell of blood... Damn it, what in the world happened here..."
As Wu Tao's group walked forward, the scene ahead underwent a drastic change.
A blood-colored, mist-filled encampment. The clouds in the sky were also blood-colored, blocking the sun and the sky.
"What kind of cursed place is this?"
A late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator under Wu Tao, named Xiao Jinghe, exclaimed in surprise.
"Judging by the scale of this, it's the work of the Blood Clan!"
Wu Tao explained to Xiao Jinghe and the other nine green recruits.
The blood clouds covered the sky, not a single living creature was visible in the encampment, and the pungent smell of blood permeated the air. These signs all indicated that something terrible had happened here.
"Captain, how did it become like this?"
Another team member, Guo Yuan, asked.
Because the previous Squad 32 of Type A had been sent on a special mission and was completely annihilated with no survivors, Wu Tao, the current captain, and these team members were all part of a new team.