: Treasury depletion, targeted intelligence, hoarding and speculation!

"Disciple greets Ancestor." She bowed as always.

Lu Yuan looked at her, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Still calling me Ancestor."

Gu Qingxue's body stiffened slightly.

She raised her head and met Lu Yuan's playful gaze. A blush rose again on her beautiful face.

She bit her lower lip, her voice barely audible, yet clearly reaching Lu Yuan's ears.

"My husband."

These two words seemed to have exhausted all her strength.

Lu Yuan nodded in satisfaction.

"Speak, what is it?"

Gu Qingxue then explained her purpose: "Husband, the sect's treasury... is almost empty."

A hint of worry crossed her face: "Whether it's the rewards for advancing to the True Disciple level in the upcoming Inner Disciple Grand Competition, or the cultivation resources for all the True Disciple disciples this month, we're almost out of money to distribute."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan frowned slightly.

He knew that the sect's treasury was so depleted because of him.

Firstly, the sect had spent a large amount of its treasure trove resources to support his cultivation to the late Nascent Soul stage.

Secondly, in order to prolong his life, he further emptied the sect's savings accumulated over hundreds of years to purchase a large number of rare longevity pills.

His primary cultivation technique, the Evergreen Wood Technique, should have extended his lifespan far beyond that of other cultivators of the same level.

However, his path of cultivation had been far too risky.

In his early years, in order to compete for resources and fight with others, he would often burn his life essence and use secret techniques.

Over time, this led to a severe depletion of his vital essence. If he hadn't cultivated the Evergreen Wood Technique, he wouldn't have even lived to the lifespan limit of two thousand years for the Nascent Soul stage.

It should be noted that ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators, due to hidden injuries from their early years or losses from battles, are considered to have reached a very old age if they live to be 1,800 years old.

"I see."

Lu Yuan nodded: "I will handle this matter myself."

After Gu Qingxue left, Lu Yuan fell into deep thought.

The quality of the three pieces of intelligence updated daily is not consistent.

Moreover, the value of white intelligence is not high, and the potential gains are within a certain range.

The system requires a whopping 100,000 Destiny Points to upgrade from Level 1 to Level 2.

Relying on daily random refreshes, who knows when that will be?

Looking at his current 12,000 Fate Points, Lu Yuan made a plan in his mind.

Instead of waiting passively, it's better to take the initiative.

He decided to use his Destiny Points to obtain targeted intelligence.

[Please set the intelligence gathering direction, host.]

"Information on how to quickly earn a large number of spirit stones within the territory of Zhao." Lu Yuan thought to himself.

[The level for targeted intelligence gathering is set to: Purple.]

[Requires 1000 Destiny Points.]

[Confirm?]

"confirm."

With a thought from Lu Yuan, one thousand Fate Points vanished instantly.

The next moment, a brand new purple intelligence message appeared before his eyes.

[Purple Intelligence: In three days, Qingyangzi, a third-tier alchemist from the Four Seas Merchant Guild in the capital of Zhao, will publicly announce a new second-tier Foundation Establishment Pill recipe that he obtained from an ancient cultivator's cave.]

This formula has a stronger medicinal effect and a higher success rate. Its two main ingredients, Dragon Blood Vine and Illusion Star Grass, are both common second-tier spiritual herbs, but the demand for them is extremely high.

In order to monopolize the market, the Sihai Chamber of Commerce had long ago secretly stockpiled almost all of the Dragon Blood Vine and Illusion Star Grass on the market.

After the formula is released, they will manipulate the market by releasing it in small batches, aiming to drive up the prices of the two main ingredients a hundredfold in a short period. The intelligence includes the coordinates of two undiscovered locations abundant in Dragon Blood Vine and Illusion Star Grass, both deep within the Hundred Thousand Mountains. [Click to view coordinates]

After reading the intelligence report, a glint of light flashed in Lu Yuan's eyes.

It's the Sihai Chamber of Commerce again.

It seems I have quite a connection with this chamber of commerce.

However, the other party's scheme of hoarding and manipulating the market was indeed ingenious.

If it weren't for having the system at my disposal, I probably would have ended up like everyone else, getting ripped off.

But now...

A faint smile appeared on Lu Yuan's lips.

He immediately used his divine sense to summon Gu Qingxue again.

Before long, Gu Qingxue arrived at the cave dwelling.

"Husband," she called softly, a hint of inquiry in her cool, jade-like face.

"Qingxue, I need you to do something immediately." Lu Yuan's tone was serious: "You must immediately summon all the Golden Core elders, Foundation Establishment cultivators, and inner disciples above the seventh level of Qi Refining in the sect, and have them put down all their current affairs and head to the Hundred Thousand Mountains as quickly as possible."

As he spoke, he handed over the two jade slips.

"These two jade slips contain the coordinates of two locations. You will personally lead the team and have them gather all the Dragon Blood Vine and Illusion Star Grass within the range of these two coordinates, at all costs."

Gu Qingxue took the jade slip, scanned it with her divine sense, and a hint of confusion flashed in her eyes.

Dragon Blood Vine and Illusion Star Grass.

These two are merely the lowest-grade second-tier spiritual herbs. They are rarely sought after except as auxiliary ingredients in some low-grade pills, and their value is extremely low.

Why would the ancestor suddenly issue an order to go to such great lengths to collect these two medicinal herbs?

But she didn't ask.

She simply nodded solemnly: "This disciple understands."

"There's one more thing," Lu Yuan added. "This matter must be kept strictly confidential. To prevent the news from leaking out, we don't need to notify the First Elder Jiang Wuyai, the Second Elder Zhao Wuji, and the Third Elder Liu Mengxi."

If they ask, use the excuse of guarding the sect and preventing external enemies to keep them within the sect.

Upon hearing this, Gu Qingxue felt a chill run down her spine.

She was incredibly intelligent and immediately realized that these three elders were probably in trouble.

A chill ran through her.

But she didn't ask any more questions; she simply made a mental note of it.

"I will take care of it immediately."

Gu Qingxue is extremely efficient.

Within half an hour, all the cultivators who met the requirements had gathered in the Qingyun Sect, except for the three elders who were deliberately left behind.

Led personally by Sect Master Gu Qingxue, they flew majestically towards the direction of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

For the next two days, Lu Yuan stayed in the cave to consolidate his cultivation.

As he expected, the daily updated intelligence was all low-value white-hat intelligence, which he casually skimmed over.

On the morning of the third day.

Gu Qingxue led the sect's main force back.

Each disciple's face showed a hint of fatigue, but even more so, excitement and confusion.

They handed over all the medicinal herbs they had collected in the past two days.

When Lu Yuan looked at the two piles of spiritual herbs piled up like mountains in front of him, even he couldn't help but show a satisfied expression.

There are tens of thousands of dragon blood vines.

There are also more than 8,000 Illusionary Star Grass plants.

This practically emptied out those two coordinate points completely.