Chapter 697: Thirteen Drops of Thunder Essence

What a spendthrift. What a prodigious, good-for-nothing, spendthrift!! No one expected Lu Yun to build an enormous garden using hundreds of trillions of crystals!

It was hundreds of trillions of premium crystals!

The crystal mountains that the Deaf Prince and other five prodigals possessed were only hundreds of billions of premium crystals, but they were already powerful enough to crush dao immortals.

Lu Yun, however, had sculpted a garden out of pure crystal, expending several thousands times more resources—not to create an immortal weapon or formation, but a useless garden!

Three hundred and sixty-eight trillion premium crystals was an astronomical number in the world of immortals. Immortal crystals were not only the main currency of the world, but also a resource necessary for cultivation. Crystals were also required to refine pills, treasures, talismans, as well as set up formations. What was the point of building a garden with hundreds of trillions of them?

Whether for show or cultivation, the garden was an enormous waste of resources!

Upon receiving the news, the heads of the thirteen merchant guilds rushed to the construction site, but were stopped by a magnificently grand formation.

Yama Kings Feinie, Aoxue, Huangqing, and Xingzi were personally holding down the fort. They’d set up formation upon formation with the Formation Orbs of Yin and Yang to isolate the area.

The crystal garden was prime bait to lure in the Ancient Tree of Life; this was too important a matter to risk any kind of disturbance. Thus, Lu Yun had gone so far as to set up formations with the Formation Orb to protect the land.

Construction was executed by his Infernum and bean soldiers, and he himself was in charge of the layout of the garden.

“What are you doing, Lu Yun?!” demanded the head of the Panorama Pavilion. Although the crystals were Lu Yun’s personal property, as a senior and ally, he felt it was his duty to guide Lu Yun onto the right path.

Among them, the Yellow Springs emperor harbored the most grievances. He’d extended an invitation to Yellow Springs Land more than once, but Lu Yun had either made excuses or dodged the invitation. It wasn’t until a few days ago that his replica Xing Chen had made a surprise visit to Yellow Springs Land, but only to procure ten trillion crystals from the land’s vault...

Ten trillion was an astronomical sum for Yellow Springs. The land was impoverished, compared to the other nine majors and nine lands, so the Yellow Springs emperor had to grit his teeth and tighten his belt to scrounge up the ten trillion.

The entire ordeal left the emperor frustrated and full of grievances. Not only had he lost his successor to Dusk Province, but he’d also given out ten trillion crystals without getting anything in return after becoming Dusk’s ally!

If the merchant alliance hadn’t given Yellow Springs a discount on lightning rods and crystal cannons out of secondhand guilt, the emperor would’ve torn up their treaty and spat on it for good measure.

He could tell from a quick scan of the ten trillion forming the garden’s foundations that they were the ten from Yellow Springs! The unique energy of the land remained on the crystals; he purpled with such rage that he almost lunged at Lu Yun.

……

“Ah, seniors, Your Majesty.” Lu Yun turned and smiled at the immortals clustered around the garden.

The emperor tasted blood at the back of his throat. He’d put on another disguise, yet Lu Yun was still able to recognize him at first glance and reveal his identity. Thank heavens he didn’t repeat how the emperor had bestowed the honors of honor upon Dusk Province with his presence, or the emperor would’ve spontaneously deviated on the spot then and there.

“I’m building a crystal garden to nurture the projection of the Dao Flower,” Lu Yun said with a smile.

“What? To nurture the Dao Flower projection?” Many were caught off guard.

Lu Yun had collected the projection earlier, planning to use it as bounty on the dao immortals of the Dongfang Clan. After retracting the bounty, the projection of the Dao Flower remained in his possession.

“That’s right,” Lu Yun responded matter-of-factly. “After all, it’s merely a projection that will dissipate when given enough time. That’s why this junior is building a crystal garden outside Dao City to nurture and sustain the image.”

Realization dawned on everyone; the Dao Flower was more valuable than the crystals. However, the revelation also turned many faces dark. With the projection of the Dao Flower, Lu Yun would still have a chance to establish a sacred land.

“I have a question,” someone said. “Are these all the immortal crystals you’ve gotten?”

“Of course.” Lu Yun nodded. “All of the crystals I’ve earned through coercion and my collaboration with the merchant alliance are here.”

“Hmph!” the immortal scoffed. “This seat risked making Donglin Taihuang my enemy when I killed thirteen void-ascended immortals of House Donglin… According to your words, you should pay me thirteen billion crystals. Can you still do so?”

The nascent spirits of thirteen void-ascended immortals appeared in his hand.

After a brief pause, Lu Yun checked their information with the Spectral Eye. They did indeed belong to Donglin cultivators, and they had indeed been killed by this immortal.

Void-realm cultivation methods were now mainstream resources in modern society. Many geniuses had obtained the basic method sold in Dao City and created ones that were more suited to them. The peak factions of the world had officially failed to monopolize the void realm.

It would be an exaggeration to say void-ascended immortals were common cabbages in the streets, but there was no shortage of them.

The popularization of heavenly formations had also allowed regular immortals to escape the fate of becoming obsolete. Thus, the retribution looming over Qing Yu for restoring the void realm had dissipated.

“I can’t pay you in crystals,” Lu Yun said with a nod.

“Harrumph!” the immortal huffed with a deep scowl.

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“If Sir Lu Yun can’t pay you,” interjected the head of the Panorama Pavilion, “the merchant alliance will offer the crystals.”

“There’s no need.” Lu Yun shook his head and produced thirteen drops of tribulation essence containing sword energy with a flip of his hand. He snapped his fingers and sent the essence to the immortal. “I don’t have crystals on hand, but I have a good amount of tribulation essence. Will this suffice as a substitute?”

“It will!” The immortal was overjoyed. Thirteen drops of tribulation essence were worth far more than thirteen billion crystals. Only idiots would turn down an offer like this!

Tribulation essence could be used to construct or strengthen an immortal constitution, making it useful for both cultivators and immortals. Without hesitation, the immortal offered thirteen nascent spirits to Lu Yun, who crushed them without even glancing at them.

“Alright, I’m making some changes to the bounty,” he announced. “The nascent spirit of a Donglin void-ascended immortal will fetch one drop of tribulation essence. The rest of the conditions remain unchanged.”