This person was none other than Su Wanjun, a fellow cultivator from the group of ten sent from the cultivation world, hailing from Tianxuan Sect in the Southern Spiritual Region. He was a Nascent Soul early-stage cultivator.
"Elder Yao, please save me!"
Yao Yuchang: ...
Did this fellow Daoist Su not realize that Yao himself was currently being dragged along in a cage, looking just like a prisoner?
Save him? Yao Yuchang was hoping someone would come and save him too.
Yao Yuchang glanced at Su Wanjun but didn't respond.
It seemed that Su Wanjun finally realized that Elder Yao was also imprisoned, and he closed his mouth in disappointment, watching Yao Yuchang being dragged away in the cage.
As they passed by Su Wanjun, Yao Yuchang noticed that the second room they walked past also had someone imprisoned inside. To his surprise, he recognized this person as well—it was Luo Qiuzhi, the fifth elder of the Law Enforcement Hall from Wanxiang Sect in the Northern Spiritual Region, a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
In the third room was Hong Daoist from Wangyun Sect in Chongxiao Domain.
In the fourth room, Hua Daoist from Diguan Sect in the Southern Spiritual Region.
In the fifth room, Xu Daoist from Disha Sect in the Northern Spiritual Region.
In the sixth room, Liu Daoist from Hongyuan Sect in the Southern Spiritual Region.
...
By the time Yao Yuchang saw the familiar face in the eighth room, he closed his eyes in despair.
All ten of them from the cultivation world, except for that traitor He Yi, had been captured.
This is truly... If only they had ignored Xiushui City and Lingxian Sect and not asked any questions! After all, what did the changes in the mortal realm have to do with them? They should have just focused on their own investigation of the Shiji incident.
Now look what happened—they had all been captured in one fell swoop.
Filled with regret, Yao Yuchang was thrown into the ninth room by Liao Panting.
Once locked inside, Yao Yuchang immediately tried to use spatial magic to tear open a rift and escape, but this time he couldn't even create the slightest crack. It seemed this place could even suppress spatial techniques!
Realizing this, Yao Yuchang had no choice but to give up.
If this place could suppress spatial magic, then other techniques were likely unusable as well. There was no spiritual energy here, so he needed to conserve his energy.
Having just left the Dead Spirit Lands not too long ago, Yao Yuchang had developed a habit of conserving his strength.
Yao Yuchang wasn't too worried about his life. After all, their identities and backgrounds were significant. As long as Wan Wantong didn't want to draw the attention of their sects too soon, they wouldn't dare harm them.
However, being stuck in a spiritless prison for a long time was not ideal. Yao Yuchang sat in the room, frowning as he pondered his next steps.
Outside, after locking Yao Yuchang away, Liao Panting left Fanlong Institute to find Yuan Jinsheng and assign him the next task.
There were already enough cultivators working the fields, including Kui Jia Zunzhe and the other ten high-level cultivators, so it seemed wasteful to leave them idle.
Thus, Liao Panting instructed Yuan Jinsheng to assign them some productive tasks.
Things like refining pills, engraving formations, or crafting artifacts.
Among the group, only a few were specialists in these fields; otherwise, they would have been working in their sects' specialized halls, not sent out to conduct investigations. However, being cultivators from the cultivation world, they had seen and learned far more about the Four Arts of Cultivation than the average cultivator in the mortal realm, making them decent candidates for producing goods.
While it was unrealistic to expect them to create high-level pills or formations, with their strong spiritual power, they could certainly mass-produce low-level items.
Of course, if you want people to work, you need to offer them some benefits. Xiushui City's reward to these cultivators was periodic access to rooms with spiritual energy, plus a share of the spirit stones based on the amount of goods they produced.
Naturally, their share wouldn't be as high as the disciples of Lingxian Sect—it was only a tenth of what the sect members received.
After all, prisoners should be treated like prisoners.
Thanks to He Yi, their old acquaintance, these nine cultivators who threw themselves into Lingxian Sect's hands didn't create much trouble for the sect.
Nor did they stir up any waves in Xiushui City, instead providing the teahouses with new story material.
As the first successful transaction between the various sects and royal families at Xiushui City's Trade Center concluded, the shops on the newly established No. 1 Street in the commercial district opened smoothly.
All the shops in the commercial district made a big show of their grand openings, even spending mundane gold and silver to hire lion dance teams from the city to liven up the atmosphere.
Firecrackers, the ultimate symbol of festivity, were set off in strings of hundreds and thousands, their crackling sounds reverberating throughout Xiushui City.
Thankfully, this was Xiushui City. In an ordinary town, such an extravagant display would have caused chaos, with old houses likely having their walls shaken loose.
The excitement attracted not only cultivators but also many mortals who stopped to watch.
Even though they didn't understand anything about cultivation, it didn't stop them from enjoying the spectacle. When had they ever seen such a display before?
Not to mention, some mortals even had spirit stones in their possession.
Many visiting cultivators from afar were overjoyed at the sight of the well-organized commercial street.
They visited each shop and discovered that every store specialized in different types of goods.
Some stores only sold pills, others only formations, some focused on artifacts, and others specialized in talismans.
Even among stores with the same general categories, there were differences. For example, the four stores that sold pills each had their specialties: one mainly sold recovery pills, another focused on offensive pills, while the other two were even more specialized—one sold life-saving and poison pills, and the other sold various functional pills.
The other stores were the same, offering distinct varieties of goods.
This setup fascinated the mortal realm cultivators, making them eager to explore and browse.
Moreover, they noticed that the stores didn't just offer a wide variety of items; they also had ample stock. Many low-level cultivators observed that high-level cultivators were already purchasing goods, but the shelves were replenished so quickly that nothing ever seemed to run out!
This was excellent news for them.
If this commercial street's shops could maintain this level of supply, then the mortal realm would finally have a place where they could consistently buy the cultivation resources they needed.
With that thought in mind, many cultivators, if not particularly tight on spirit stones, purchased items that caught their interest.
They hoped that as long as people kept buying, these stores would be able to stay in business for the long term.
Many also discovered Lingxian Sect's general store located at the end of No. 1 Street.
The items sold in this general store might not appeal to higher-level cultivators with more wealth, but for most low-level cultivators, especially rogue cultivators, this place was like a dream come true!