Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Revisiting the Eastern Continent (3)
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The flute-playing girl Seoran and her thousand-strong owl legion arrived safely in the Eastern Continent.
Naturally, there was a teleportation array manager here as well.
Seoran completed the simple procedures and stepped outside.
The stone palace had changed a great deal.
It had been renovated for use as a base.
Seoran checked the guide map and headed to base headquarters.
Headquarters was overseen by the chief officer, Geum Jungpae.
“What? Investigator Ryu! What brings you here?”
“Hello, Investigator Geum. I’ve come to assist with the Great Spirit Forest search. It’s embarrassing to relax while everyone else is so busy on my account.”
“Investigator Ryu, your character is truly virtuous. I always learn from you.”
“Oh, no, not at all.”
“And so humble too... Anyway, perfect timing. There’s a meeting soon. Join us.”
The two exchanged pleasantries for a bit.
Then, right on schedule, they headed to the meeting room.
A three-eyed cat was seated at one side of the round table.
Everyone discussed likely locations for the Immortal Fruit.
“For now, let’s rule out outside the Great Spirit Forest. Areas with sparse population have thin spirit energy, while areas rich in it are dominated by the Ten Great Sects.”
The search area narrowed sharply to the Great Spirit Forest.
“The surface layers of the Great Spirit Forest are the same—no Immortal Fruit there. It’s the territory of the Five Elements Treefolk, and the mountain beasts roam freely too. If one had formed, it would’ve been found already.”
Only the deep layers remained.
“The area around the great rift seems unlikely too. It’s no environment where an Immortal Fruit could form. The erosion is so severe it’s practically half the underworld.”
Exclude the great rift vicinity.
“Even within the deep layers, we can skip the outskirts. They’re too close to the surface, with frequent puppet exploration team traffic. Any spirit herbs or spirit trees would’ve been harvested clean long ago.”
The three-eyed cat, munching on raisins, spoke up.
“But isn’t an Immortal Fruit just a fruit? Fruits don’t grow in the deep layers, do they?”
Seoran, the only one here who had tasted an Immortal Fruit, replied.
“An Immortal Fruit is called a fruit, but it’s really just a lump of condensed spirit energy. Unlike regular spirit herbs, spirit trees, or spirit fruits, it doesn’t grow from seeds. They say it forms anywhere—underground or underwater—as long as the conditions are met.”
“So in the Great Spirit Forest, rich in wood spirit energy, the odds of a wood Immortal Fruit are high?”
“That’s about right.”
“I know a few spots with relatively high wood spirit energy density. I’ll mark them on the map.”
Geum Jungpae handed over a map.
It was a deep layers map they’d pieced together over the past decade.
The three-eyed cat took a charcoal stick and marked several X’s.
With the meeting proceeding smoothly, everyone was in high spirits.
“This might go faster than we thought?”
“We could wrap it up before the year’s end if we’re lucky.”
“I’ve got a good feeling about this!”
“Shall we launch the search operation right away?”
“Great idea!”
The Great Spirit Forest investigation team laughed cheerfully.
Their recent streak of good luck had everyone optimistic.
This was around early spring.
Time flew by.
The sweltering summer.
Regrettably, no cicadas chirped.
The Great Spirit Forest deep layers were a no-flight zone, after all.
A meeting was underway at investigation team headquarters.
“Nothing on your ends, right?”
“South side’s a bust, no matter how we looked.”
“What about the east?”
“Yes, ours too...”
Dozens of decisive realm investigators, a thousand owl puppets, and one tireless primordial spirit realm investigator who didn’t even sleep.
The team combed every inch of the Great Spirit Forest deep layers.
But they hadn’t glimpsed even a hint of an Immortal Fruit—only useless ancient ruins.
People regained their senses.
“Focusing solely on the Great Spirit Forest search isn’t working.”
“We need to consider other approaches soon.”
“Common sense says the Ten Great Sects are the most likely to have an Immortal Fruit. They monopolize most of the Eastern Continent’s cultivation resources.”
“Agreed. We should investigate the Five Elements Treefolk and mountain beast groups too, but the Ten Great Sects are the prime suspects.”
“Let’s start investigating immediately.”
“But which sects? We can’t probe all Ten Great Sects at once with our resources. We need to prioritize.”
“Track procurement routes? Cultivation resources usually flow through auction houses, right?”
“Top-tier auctions never record bidders. And something like an Immortal Fruit would trade far more discreetly.”
“Wait, hold on. This is beyond intelligence gathering. Say one sect has it—how do we get it? By force? Or sneaking in to steal it?”
“True, it requires caution. Starting a war with one could drag everyone else in.”
“A power struggle would inevitably expose us. The worst-case scenario.”
“The Ten Great Sects are hurting financially these days. Why not inquire? Offer to buy their treasures.”
“I doubt they’d sell an Immortal Fruit unless the sect was on the brink of collapse.”
Seoran, who had been listening quietly, asked.
“Huh? Financial troubles? The Ten Great Sects?”
Geum Jungpae replied.
“Ah, Investigator Ryu wouldn’t know. Let me explain.”
And he began.
*****
Ten years ago, Seoran sealed the great rift.
On her way home, she’d thought:
‘Nah, no way it’ll collapse that badly, right?’
Of course, things went as Seoran expected.
The Ten Great Sects didn’t collapse from this.
But they had taken a fatal blow.
The great rift, sucking in everything, was sealed.
As a result, the extremely imbalanced heaven-and-earth spirit energy dispersed evenly across the Eastern Continent.
The outskirts, starved of spirit energy, came back to life.
From another angle, it meant a sharp drop in spirit energy density near the Great Spirit Forest, claimed by the Ten Great Sects.
And ambient spirit energy density greatly affects self-recharging mechanisms.
Most of the Ten Great Sects’ facilities shut down.
For sects that had clung to the Great Spirit Forest sucking up the honey, it was a bolt from the blue.
The spirit energy density, stable for millennia, plummeted in days.
To compare, it was like having solar panels everywhere and the sun vanishing overnight.
Puppets handling most labor.
Cultivation facilities for spirit herbs, spirit trees, and spirit fruits.
Plus all other automated facilities reliant on self-recharging—everything ground to a halt.
The Ten Great Sects descended into chaos from Seoran’s sudden apocalypse.
Spirit energy supply was effectively cut off.
If it dragged on, all spirit herbs would wither.
Desperately, they prioritized restarting cultivation facilities.
With the most urgent issue handled, a choice loomed.
An unexpected energy crisis—how to cope?
Only two options.
First: Abandon automated facilities.
Pointless to say, but that meant sect collapse.
Instant death.
Second: Run everything on spirit stones for now.
The stones would melt like salt in water.
A slower death.
An extreme dilemma: die either way.
Like most organizations in similar straits, the Ten Great Sects chose the second.
They had a plan, at least.
Their vaults brimmed with immense spirit stones.
The cartel’s capital, amassed over thousands of years from across the continent, was formidable.
They could sustain the astronomically higher maintenance costs for a while.
Now, they had to find a solution before the stones ran dry.
Improve self-recharging efficiency, or overhaul their systems entirely.
Anything to avoid death.
All because of the pebble Seoran tossed into the pond.
*****
After the explanation, Seoran fell deep in thought.
They must’ve scraped together every spirit stone they could.
In such a crisis, would they leave the mountain folk’s deposits in their banks untouched?
Even short of forced seizure, hadn’t they slashed reserve ratios to the limit?
Rising maintenance costs worsening finances.
Inevitable drop in reserve ratios.
The mountain folk’s deep-seated distrust of the Ten Great Sects.
Seoran suddenly shouted.
“I’ve got a great idea!”
Geum Jungpae asked.
“What is it?”
“The Ten Great Sects are desperate for every spirit stone right now! Think they ignored their own banks?! No way! They definitely dipped into those deposits!”
“Well, sure, they used some. But what’s that got to do with anything?”
Seoran hopped onto the round table and declared.
“Of course it matters! What we want is for the Ten Great Sects to sell off their hoarded treasures! You said they won’t until collapse looms?! Then beat them until they’re on the brink!”
“How?”
“Hit their banks! Publicize the financial woes, the slashed reserve ratios, and the mountain folk’s distrust! One big shock, and it all crumbles! I’m a genius after all!”
It took time for Seoran to calm down.
Soon after, with her excitement subsided, she explained her plan in detail to the investigation team.
Sprinkling in apt examples midway, everyone quickly grasped it.
The goal: Trigger a chain of bank failures in the Ten Great Sects’ banks.
A bank run operation, plain and simple.