Demon Sword Sect's Undercover-Chapter 778 - 777 A Daoist Keeper

The Wu Sect’s action was fairly swift among the sects on the continent; they began the construction work thirty years ago. Over time, the building complex began to take shape, and, in recent years, is now recognizable enough for occupancy.

It’s impossible to wait for everything to be complete before relocating because construction will never stop. Once the main works had a rough outline, everyone moved in and began to add to it slowly, as needed. To truly build it into the likeness of an Immortal Mountain would take hundreds of years to accomplish.

This included the transformation of the Five Elements, the establishment of the Mountain Gate Formation, and even the rearing of spiritual beasts and immortal fowls, among various functional palaces—just too many things to list.

Liu Yishou, the Daoist, has been quite busy lately. In fact, in recent years, cultivators like him with specific responsibilities have all been busy because moving is painful and cumbersome for everyone, and with the Wu Sect’s extensive operations, it’s a massive project.

There are immense collections of Cultivation Technique Diagrams and Books, a variety of Artifact Treasures, Elixirs and Talismans, Array Plate materials, and so on... The treasures of a Daoist lineage nearly two thousand years old encompass countless aspects and are incredibly troublesome to move. They must be inventoried, preserved, and cross-checked.

Just the Cultivation Technique Diagrams and Books took a full year to move, and this task couldn’t be completed simply by having more hands; the more people involved, the more cluttered it became, making it more difficult to find room for everything. Thus, the true burden fell on those library-managing cultivators, who had to package, place, categorize, and tally everything to ensure every Jade Scroll was in its proper place.

After moving the Skill Technique Diagrams, now they are in the process of moving the Elixir and Talismans, which has been ongoing for three months and is nearing its end; next are the various Artifact materials, another significant task that’s likely to take even longer than the Skill Technique Diagrams did.

Liu Yishou happens to be one of the few library managers responsible for Artifacts suitable for Tongtian Third Realm cultivators, which also represents the most substantial category among all artifacts.

Artifact treasures suitable for Golden Core Upper Cultivators are several magnitudes fewer, and those for Nascent Transformation ancestors are even rarer. These treasures are managed by Golden Core library managers, and a few thousand pieces were not considered significant.

The real issue was with the artifacts of the Tongtian Third Realm. There were tens of thousands of them, making the organizing process extremely complex. Losing or damaging just one item would mean that the library managers had to compensate, risking their own fortunes with one small mistake, so the pressure was immense.

In situations like this, no one was willing to help, preferring to avoid the possibility of being implicated in any misunderstandings. The library managers suffered, working tirelessly day and night. Eventually, they managed to get most of it sorted, just waiting for an order from above to start transporting everything to Langya Mountain.

Today, he finally got some free time to attend to personal matters. Starting next month, with the transportation of Artifact Treasures underway, he would be restricted to moving between the Mountain Gate and Jiangning City, leaving no private time for himself.

Returning to his luxurious private residence, as a Natural Realm cultivator he held some status in Jiangning City, especially given his position which brought him many opportunities to make a bit extra on the side—of course, within the boundaries of the rules. He wasn’t foolish enough to act recklessly without any concerns.

He was without family; at nearly two hundred years old, any relatives he might have had were long gone. If he didn’t decide to start a family of his own, he would continue to be alone.

The Wu Sect had a system in place for managing subordinates; positions such as Liu’s as a library manager would never be given to cultivators with flourishing descendants—it was too easy for them to develop inappropriate thoughts and use public assets to satisfy personal desires. Such instances had not been uncommon throughout history.

It was best to be solitary. Even if greedy, one would only prepare some resources for ascending to the Upper Realm, but ultimately, there were limits.

Although he had no family, that didn’t mean he had no interests or hobbies. Apart from striving to ascend to higher realms, he also had his personal schemes, which were not to be discussed publicly.

In the vast residence, he was the sole master, served by dozens of servants, living a life of luxury in fine clothes and gourmet food—a life that could be considered carefree.

The butler Old Zhu came out to meet him, "Master, your guest has been waiting for a long time."

Liu Yishou nodded and strode quickly towards the floral hall, "Prepare some wine and dishes, I have guests to entertain."

Inside the floral hall, a Daoist with the appearance of handsome middle-aged high-crowned gentleman stood up, the very epitome of Daoist Sect elegance. He was a cultivator from a peripheral branch of a Daoist lineage in the Southeast region and also a Natural Realm cultivator.

Liu Yishou hurried forward, "I apologize for keeping Daoist Zhou waiting for so long, please forgive me."

Daoist Zhou smiled gently, "Brother Liu is diligently attending to his sect’s duties, where is there any offense?"

The two men took their seats as host and guest, and the servants brought them tea again. Liu Yishou went on to explain further,

"All these trifles are so complicated. Just one command from above, and we’re running around like headless chickens down here. Tens of thousands of artifacts need to be classified according to the Five Elements, and their rarity and provenance need to be documented... Many of these tasks are quite inane, no idea which Upper Cultivator up there decided to give us this method to torment ourselves with."

Daoist Zhou laughed, "Isn’t that normal? In our Southeast, many sects take the opportunity to organize and re-archive during relocation. It’s a common practice. After this sorting, Brother Liu won’t have to bother with these trifles for decades, and that’s a good thing."

Liu Yishou raised his cup in a toast, "I hope so. The only sensible thing done above has been to temporarily cease the lending and gifting of Artifact Treasures during the move, to seal them for a bit, which helps with accounting and prevents mistakes..."

Daoist Zhou nodded, "Wise. It’s easiest to make mistakes while moving and dealing out artifacts at the same time, and you would be the one to get punished in the end. It’s better this way."

Liu Yishou, thinking they had chatted enough, got to the point, "I wonder what good items Brother Zhou has brought me this time?"

Daoist Zhou looked around covertly and mysteriously brought out a couple of treasures, "This time, it’s really good stuff, artifacts for Golden Core Upper Cultivators. I’ll need Brother Liu to take a look at them."

This was one source of Liu Yishou’s extra income—appraising for others and trading treasures, through which he had made a substantial profit.

He had met Daoist Zhou months earlier through a merchant friend, and they got along well; a trustworthy man with access to curious and rare items, there was potential for business. They became friends on the trading floor, and after several transactions, Liu had made a tidy profit.

Why insist on doing these trades before the move? Because there were simply too many items in storage, many of which were unused, obsolete, or discarded—this was within the rules.

With such extensive family assets, there were always items that had been stored away for hundreds or thousands of years. How to assess them was partly within his purview. By turning these items over in trade, even if there were only very few damaged items among the tens of thousands, it was enough to feed his greed.

Of course, he also had to bribe the Golden Core Upper Cultivators above him, which ordinary items couldn’t handle; that’s why he had asked Daoist Zhou to find some treasures suitable for Golden Core cultivators. They swapped items, each benefiting their own interests...

Moving was a once in a millennium opportunity; not to fully take advantage of it would be a waste of such a chance.