Besides the regular goods, they offer some special items, such as Seventh Grade Demon Beast Meat, Eighth Grade Demon Beast Meat, Puppets, Secret Army, Demon Beasts, and even Cultivation Skills.
They probably handle items that are of no use to these major forces.
The Red Ant Commerce Association is different from other associations; they rarely stay in one place for long, arriving and departing quickly, and they only trade with the largest local powers.
Back then, my Blood Saber Sect was the most powerful, so they found us and established a trading relationship with us."
"Do they deliver the goods?"
"Sort of...
They first send envoys with a catalog of goods, and we place orders on the spot.
After some time, they deliver the goods.
They come about once a year, and it’s about time for them to arrive this year.
If the Ancestor is interested, I will inform the Ancestor then."
"Thanks for the trouble."
Li Yuan expressed his gratitude.
He is eagerly seeking a Cultivation Skill that contains the "Life Atlas." While these skills are not scarce in the Central Plains, he has no intention of going there... The Central Plains are so chaotic, risking his life for a skill? That’s impossible.
On the way back, he brought a jug of wine to pay his respects to Master Li, and only after did he ride away.
...
In a flash, dozens of days passed, the Ghost Realm had not expanded, and the envoy from the Red Ant Commerce Association had arrived with the catalog.
Li Yuan, Tie Sha, Elder Ding, and the man who brought the catalog sat around a round table.
Li Yuan glanced at the man, who was a Seventh Grade, his strength slightly inferior to Tie Sha.
Then, he seriously reviewed the catalog.
Comparing with the items Tang Chou needed, he quickly found a few and ordered them, then began the search for a Cultivation Skill.
Once he finished, he was unsurprisingly disappointed, as he hadn’t found the Life Atlas.
He looked up and asked, "Are there any Cultivation Skills or items above Seventh Grade?"
The man replied, "No."
Li Yuan took a 50 taels Gold Yuanbao from his pocket and placed it on the table, slowly pushing it forward.
The man stared at the Gold Yuanbao with a hint of hesitation in his eyes.
Li Yuan took out another 50 taels Gold Yuanbao and pushed it over.
taels of Gold Yuanbao, that’s 1000 taels of silver, which is quite a lot.
The man pocketed the gold, then said, "Cultivation Skills are impossible to have.
Items are exchanged one-on-one confidentially, not listed in the catalog.
But there are some booklets involving information above Seventh Grade that can be bought and sold."
Having said that, the man tossed out a small booklet.
Li Yuan took it, glanced at it; it was filled with titles like "Someone’s Diary," "Someone’s Cultivation Insights"...
He glanced at the man and asked, "Are these insights true?"
The man said, "Some are true, some are false, unverified."
Li Yuan understood; the books being sold in this batch were those discarded by upper levels but possibly containing some information, so they were given to the association to sell.
As for the price, it wasn’t cheap either, 10 taels of gold per book.
Looking at the situation, 10 taels of gold might just buy a piece of scrap paper.
It’s worth testing the waters.
Li Yuan thought for a moment and bought 40 books in one go, after all, he had earned nearly 8000 taels of silver from General Qing Xiang before.
The man wasn’t surprised; evidently, someone might have done something similar before, so he confirmed the titles of the books Li Yuan ordered, then said, "They will be delivered as soon as possible."
Li Yuan asked, "They won’t be copies, will they?"
The man chuckled, "Our credibility, the Sect Leader Tie should be well aware of."
Only then did Li Yuan nod.
The man added, "Any booklet, unless previously copied, is unique when it reaches us."
...
...
By the end of March,
in Baihua Manor, the flowers bloomed, the winery was built, the goods from the Red Ant Commerce Association arrived, and the 300 Fearless Army arranged by Tie Sha were in place, starting to patrol around the towers outside the manor,
and everyone was busy, all with their own tasks.
Xiaosheng and Niuniu hadn’t mastered Shadow Blood, yet Niannian reached the Ninth Grade.
Xiaosheng and Niuniu were disappointed for a long time, and they stopped playing with Niannian...
Niannian also couldn’t spare time to mend the relationship, as she was busy too, with Tang Chou constantly keeping her by his side to explain Puppetry knowledge, and having her practice personally while building the "Baihua Manor Puppet Defense Mechanism" for better mastery.
After the death of his brother, Zhou Jia went to pay respects once, then spent years watching over and sunbathing beside the winery. All he wanted now was to watch the Yanyue Sect’s last hope—Li Yuan, being able to do something for Li Yuan was enough to satisfy him.
The elderly people who came with the boss lady from Lianglong Mountain moved into the winery, where they brewed their wine, while the rooms next to the winery became their new home.
Yan Yu and the boss lady’s bellies finally started to swell a bit.
And during this period, there were trivial family matters, like Lady Yan sometimes having nightmares that weren’t truly frightening. She would dream of standing in a spooky room where a strange white figure stood at the window, but the figure faced away from her. No matter how she called, the figure wouldn’t turn around. Yet, oddly, this dream, which ought to be a nightmare, didn’t scare Lady Yan at all. It seemed as if the dream bore no ill will towards her.
For instance, Li Yuan, not giving up, further inquired with associations connected to the boss lady’s tavern for channels to purchase the "Life Atlas," and as expected, found none.
For instance, still unwilling to give up, Li Yuan, through Tie Sha, sought information on the "Ghost Market" from the Wild Honored Guests, and personally explored it, yet found no Life Atlas.