Chapter 937: A Minor Disturbance |
Meng Zhang wanted to completely subdue the sword spirit of the Surprising Swan Sword, so he naturally wouldn't take advantage of it. Instead, he wanted a fair duel to make the spirit willingly submit.
Although the sword spirit Surprising Swan Child had just received the nourishment of Meng Zhang's Primordial Spirit power, its strength was still far from recovering to the Primordial Spirit stage. Currently, it only possessed the strength of the Gold Core stage.
Meng Zhang also controlled his own Cultivation Base at the Gold Core stage and engaged in a battle with the Surprising Swan Child.
Despite being just a sword spirit, Surprising Swan Child's swordsmanship was superb due to the influence of its original master. It had rich sword-fighting experience and mastered several brilliant sword techniques.
Especially a set of Surprising Swan Sword Techniques, when displayed, had an extraordinary momentum that even made Meng Zhang admire it.
Though he admired it, Meng Zhang didn't hold back. He didn't use his most powerful sword techniques but instead alternated between a few common ones. After half a day of fighting, the outcome of the battle was without suspense, and Meng Zhang completely defeated Surprising Swan Child, making it fully submit.
With the sword spirit's complete submission, it didn't take Meng Zhang too much time to thoroughly control the Surprising Swan Sword.
Meng Zhang tried to practice the sword techniques he mastered, and the more he displayed them, the more he liked this flying sword.
Controlling the flying sword like an extension of his arm allowed him to greatly enhance the power of his sword techniques.
True Monarch Luowenhui didn't attach much importance to the Surprising Swan Sword in the past and treated it as an ordinary Fourth Rank flying sword. Naturally, he wouldn't invest too much effort in treating the sword spirit's injuries.
Meng Zhang's superb swordsmanship would become one of his main means of combat in the future, so he was willing to invest in healing the Surprising Swan Child and restoring the full power of the flying sword.
The compensation from the Three Big Merchant Families and the Shang Family for Taiyi Sect's various cultivation resources was gradually being delivered to Taiyi Sect.
Whenever a batch of cultivation resources arrived, Meng Zhang would carefully inspect them together with the cultivators from the sect to check for any hidden problems.
This time, the Three Big Merchant Families and the Shang Family didn't play any tricks. They honestly admitted defeat and the delivered cultivation resources had no issues.
With this batch of cultivation resources, many of Taiyi Sect's problems could be solved.
Not to mention other things, the compensation of Void Nether Stones from the Three Big Merchant Families alone would ensure the normal operation of the Mother-Child Transmission Disc for a long time.Although the various parties involved in the war did not intentionally publicize the outcome of the battle, the result of the fight quickly spread.
The methods used by the Three Big Merchant Families in this battle were widely circulated in the Jiuqu Province.
Many cultivators who had purchased cultivation resources from these big merchant families couldn't help but feel suspicious.
At this time, various rumors began to spread everywhere.
It was said that the magic tools sold by the Tool and Talisman League secretly contained backdoors, allowing the cultivators from the league to regain control of these magic tools at any time.
As for the pills sold by the Wonderful Pill Union, they were rumored to be tampered with, with malicious forbidden techniques hidden within them.
By triggering these forbidden techniques, cultivators who consumed the pills would be completely controlled by the Wonderful Pill Union and turned into their puppets...
All kinds of true and false rumors were spreading rapidly.
For a moment, the reputations of the Three Big Merchant Families and other external big merchant families suffered significant damage, greatly disrupting their businesses.
With no other options, the Three Big Merchant Families jointly approached the Governor's Office and requested their support to clear their names.
After thinking for a while, Governor Zhang Wei also believed that such unfounded rumors should not be allowed to spread unchecked.
The Three Big Merchant Families' extensive entry into the Jiuqu Province and gradual control of its commerce were actually in line with the interests of the Dali Dynasty, with considerable support from the local populace.
The Governor's Office of Jiuqu Province, the Alchemist Guild, well-known Primordial Spirit True Monarchs, Gold Core Daoist Masters, and others all came forward to debunk the rumors, stating that the goods sold by the Three Big Merchant Families were absolutely problem-free.
The Three Big Merchant Families had to put in considerable effort to barely quell these rumors.
In the process, each of their businesses suffered significant losses.
Taking advantage of this situation, local cultivation forces exerted their efforts and managed to regain some territory and market share.
However, once the rumors were suppressed, the markets they had regained were almost entirely lost.
Fortunately, rumors were difficult to completely eliminate. Also, Taiyi Sect had indeed caught the Three Big Merchant Families off guard with their actions.
In the Jiuqu Province, some cultivators began to have suspicions about these external big merchant families to some extent.
Locally produced cultivation resources still found some market, occasionally finding buyers here and there.The Three Big Merchant Families, led by the Great Unity Trading Alliance, placed the blame for this turmoil on Meng Zhang, believing that he was behind the scenes causing trouble.
However, they were mistaken about Meng Zhang this time.
Meng Zhang was not the instigator of this turmoil. He heeded the warning from the Governor's Office and had no intention of starting any trouble.
The mastermind behind this turmoil was Xu Mengying, the Cult Master of the Yellow Lotus Sect. After leaving Taiyi Sect and returning to the sacred mountain of the Yellow Lotus, she personally participated in the battle and was well aware of all the details. She quickly devised this plan to undermine the foreign big merchant families, led by the Great Unity Trading Alliance, by spreading various rumors.
In this plan, the members of the alliance formed by Meng Zhang actively participated and played a supporting role, working together to amplify the impact of the situation.
The local cultivation forces, long suppressed by the external big merchant families, immediately followed suit as soon as someone made a move, actively spreading the rumors, and desperately trying to reclaim lost market share.
Upon discovering this situation, Meng Zhang, of course, took advantage of it and incited further actions, benefiting from the situation.
After all, the cost of spreading rumors was low, but the effect was significant.
Taiyi Sect had engaged in similar actions more than once in the past.
With just a slight signal from Meng Zhang, the disciples of the sect would naturally take action, intensifying the turmoil.
Only after the Governor's Office intervened did Meng Zhang calm things down, instructing Taiyi Sect and its affiliated forces to maintain a low profile and avoid attracting attention.
Being resented by the Great Unity Trading Alliance and other big merchant families was not a big deal. After all, they had long-standing grievances, and adding a bit more enmity was nothing significant.
As long as they didn't openly provoke the Governor's Office, Meng Zhang had no reservations.
Though the turmoil didn't last too long, it caused considerable losses to the Great Unity Trading Alliance and the other two big merchant families.
They acted generously this time, even under the influence of the rumors, they promptly handed over the compensation materials to Taiyi Sect as agreed, giving no excuse for any further conflicts.
Xu Mengying's actions this time were quite remarkable, inflicting the greatest damage to the enemy with the least cost.
Meng Zhang praised her methods multiple times in front of the sect's disciples, encouraging them to learn from her.
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