The acquisition of a divine crystal was a mere interlude for An Jianyou, a fleeting moment of pleasure.
Madam An, with a wave of her hand, took care of the day's shopping.
Having been away for two to three months, they were preparing to return to Blue Star. Today was a day for rest and for buying some specialty items from the Shattered Sea to gift to friends and family.
There were indeed many strange and unique local products here, especially those from foreign races.
"This is for Dad, this one for my mentor."
"This is for Yiluo Xi, this one for my mentor."
"This is for Instructor Black Blade, this one for my mentor."
"This is for Yiyue Luxi, this one for my mentor."
"This is for Miss Silver Bell, this one for my mentor."
"..."
After browsing the entire day, An Jianyou finally ceased her shopping spree when the two storage rings on her index and middle fingers were completely filled.
It was already late at night, but Da Mi Luan City, as expected of a super metropolis, showed no signs of late hours.
Stars hung in the sky, and their light, though not as dazzling as the sun, illuminated the entire city. The scenery seemed even more captivating than during the day, with an apparent increase in the number of wealthy merchants and nobles moving about.
The night deepened, and District 10 became even more lively.
Despite it being a day off, An Jianyou had not forgotten her initial goal – the research report.
While she shopped, she had completely emptied her mind, not observing too closely, nor did she disperse her divine sense – doing so was considered a highly taboo act. Although it couldn't see through objects, it was akin to a pair of eyes wandering aimlessly, and if one targeted a powerful individual with a bad temper, being beaten up would be considered light.
An Jianyou, although a mythical being, could have her divine sense escape the notice of most, and she wouldn't engage in such impolite behavior.
However, the memory and observational abilities inherent to a mythical existence far surpassed mortal limits.
Even without paying close attention, as she began to recall, those scenes stored at the edge of her memory could be presented with the clarity of a movie replay.
This was leisure and work, accomplished simultaneously.
However, as An Jianyou began to reminisce, she discovered something peculiar.
"Have the prices in Da Mi Luan City increased slightly?"
"Not across the board, but mainly in the categories of strange artifacts and potions, which have risen by about 30% compared to a month ago."
Such fluctuations were common in larger oasis cities.
Depending on the frequency of trade caravans, imported goods could fluctuate several times within a month.
However, this was Da Mi Luan City, where supply and demand had long been stabilized, and prices had remained consistent for hundreds, even thousands, of years. A change of even 10%, let alone 30%, was abnormal.
"Did they really change? We only visited a few weapon shops."
Liu Ying scratched her head, her eyes filled with confusion.
They were only at the non-human and commander levels. While their memories were much better than ordinary people, they weren't to the point of photographic recall, and besides, she hadn't paid attention at all.
Who pays attention to such things when out shopping!
"Um… I… I just wrote some things down, and the prices have indeed increased."
Seeing Xu Yun speak hesitantly and then pull out a small notebook from her embrace, filled with dense numbers, Liu Ying was astonished.
When did you record that?
Taking notes while shopping? That's too much dedication!
The remaining person, the burly Xiong Tianshuang, spoke thoughtfully, "I scanned some armor and strange artifacts just now, and now that you mention it, they do seem a bit more expensive."
Liu Ying: "???"
So, you were all competing!
An Jianyou took Xu Yun's notebook, filled with a lot of information, and scanned it at lightning speed. "Potions have seen the biggest price increase, yes, specifically restorative and combat potions. As for cultivation-type potions like Blood Snake Body Tempering Potion, their prices are about the same as before."
"The price increases are not limited to high-level potions. White-grade stamina recovery and strength amplification potions, etc., are all increasing, albeit by a smaller margin… These low-level potions have very low profit margins, so why would their prices change? Strange."
An Jianyou fell into thought.
It was as if an unseen undercurrent was surging beneath the calm surface of the sea.
Could it be that Da Mi Luan City was about to erupt into a full-scale war with some dominant power? There were no rumors of such a thing!
With this thought, An Jianyou lost much of her interest in further shopping and hurried back to Oasis Number Three. This oasis had not yet been named by their mentor, but it was already the intelligence network center established by the Spark of Hope in the Shattered Sea, receiving data and information from all over every moment.
These messages varied in size, from minor details like the brief mission progress submitted by mercenaries when completing tasks – a requirement from the Mission Guild that affected task evaluations.
For mercenaries, it didn't require much effort; those with strong writing skills would elaborate, while those with poor writing skills would summarize in a few sentences. However, for the Mission Guild, these subtle pieces of information, when integrated from various sources, could yield significant intelligence.
However, sifting through and summarizing such fragmented and voluminous information was not an easy task.
An Jianyou prided herself on her sharp mind after ascending to the mythical realm, but if she were to process so much information, she would go insane. It would require at least a hundred An Jianyous.
Who exactly was processing all this information?
The information aggregated at Oasis Number Three had already undergone preliminary processing, with no useless data remaining. Various messages and materials were stored in categorized sections.
The Strange World had no computers, but it still had storage crystals and strange artifacts.
These were stored in newly constructed underground data repositories beneath the magnificent tall tower. With An Jianyou's clearance, she could freely access any area. After bidding farewell to Liu Ying and the others, she entered the data repository, picked up a crystal storing information, scanned it with her divine sense, and then returned it to its place in an instant. She picked up the second crystal, and so on.
Her eyebrows gradually furrowed.
"No, this doesn't look like Da Mi Luan City is about to break out into full-scale war."
If anything significant were to happen in the Shattered Sea, super-powers like the Hidden Kill Pavilion would undoubtedly be informed of it much earlier.
However, the Mission Guild was not the Hidden Kill Pavilion. It had only been in operation for two and a half months and lacked the complex relationships accumulated over centuries by the families behind the Hidden Kill Pavilion.
While the Guild had a wide coverage, its depth was far from sufficient, currently only cultivating "grassroots mercenaries." Those powerhouses who came from great noble families or top affluent families disdained to mingle in lower-tier circles like those of mercenaries and assassins.
Therefore, the Guild had almost no contact with the upper circles of the Shattered Sea.
As such, it could not obtain the secrets that were only vaguely circulated among the elite.
But,
As An Jianyou reviewed the intelligence from various parts of the Shattered Sea, she was astonished to find, "The prices of war-related materials in places like the Seven Star Alliance, the Crimson Lotus Empire, and the Ancient Moon Dynasty… are also rising! The increase is similar to that in Da Mi Luan City."
"But it's impossible for the four human dominant powers to fight each other, nor is it likely to be a war with alien races."
In Da Mi Luan City, shops backed by the Sea Demon Palace and Wind Spirit Island were operating normally.
There was no sign of tension.
So, what exactly was causing the price increase?
An Jianyou's brows knitted together. She pondered deeply, resting her chin on one hand and waving invisible hands with the other, summoning intelligence materials and flipping through them without pause.
Suddenly, like a fish breaking free from heavy restraints and leaping out of the sea, An Jianyou's eyes lit up, as if reflecting a magnificent moon.
She went to a room where a large amount of old data was stored and found the secret she had vaguely heard about before.
– The historical origin of the Shattered Sea and the intermittently erupting tidal waves of disaster!
The Hidden Kill Pavilion had records of these disaster tidal waves, originating from the ancient God Wars. At that time, the divine battles shattered several, even a dozen, great domains. Some of the remaining fragments evolved into the current Shattered Sea, and some residual divine powers of the evil gods lingered to this day.
Perhaps it was the intermittent eruption of residual evil god powers, or perhaps with fewer evil spirits on the surface, more accumulated beneath the sea… The true reason was unknown, but it was clear that roughly every few hundred years, the Shattered Sea would experience a disaster tidal wave that engulfed the entire great domain.
At that time, countless evil spirits would surge out from beneath the sea, their intensity being ten or even a hundred times greater than ordinary evil spirit sieges.
"So, the soaring prices of war materials are likely due to large-scale procurement by major powers?"
"It must be that the dominant powers foresaw that the tidal wave of evil spirits was imminent!"
"I don't know how much time is left. If the tidal wave of evil spirits arrives, how should our organization deal with it?"
An Jianyou's delicate face turned serious. She continuously reviewed relevant past data and suddenly stopped at a more recent file.
The last tidal wave of evil spirits occurred… 113 years ago.
Hmm, only a little over a hundred years?
...
...
"The Shattered Sea is about to welcome a terrible tidal wave of evil spirits that will engulf the entire domain?"
On the panel - Apostle List, An Jianyou's avatar was flashing insistently.
Seeing her urgently transmitted message, Fang You also took it seriously and immediately had Xiao Huan retrieve relevant intelligence data. After comparison, he was 99% certain that it was indeed an impending tidal wave of evil spirits!
Once a guess is made, finding clues to confirm it is not far off.
The only doubt was...
"In the past, tidal waves of evil spirits erupted every two to three hundred years. Why is it so fast this time, only 113 years? Isn't that a bit too quick?"
"Xiao Huan doesn't know either~"
She was constantly searching the database, but what wasn't there, wasn't there. She couldn't conjure information out of thin air.
Although he found it strange, Fang You wasn't overly worried.
The harm of such tidal waves was great, but the dominant powers native to the Shattered Sea were the "tall ones" at the forefront. Even though he didn't particularly like their passive response strategies, he could only choose to defend at this time.
Fortunately, his own organization was small, and the only place that truly needed defending was Oasis Number Three.
The various branch offices and strongholds were actually located within large cities, so their safety was generally assured. At that time, the Guild could simply release more missions and call upon mercenaries to resist the tidal wave.
Beyond that, even if he wanted to do more, he couldn't.
Ensuring the safety of his own people first, and then doing as much as he could with his available strength, that was his principle.
"However, the residual influence of the God Wars that occurred a long, long time ago could stir up such a huge wave today. Just how strong was that ineffable evil god?"
He had also witnessed the God Wars.
However, this so-called witnessing was either through fragments of Sitina's memories, or Sitina's view of the God Wars was a reflection formed by the aftermath of countless great domains.
But even from such a distance, the terrifying power displayed in the images made him tremble.
Seven-awakening mythical beings, eight-awakening demigods, ninth-tier, tenth-tier.
It seemed that tenth-tier was godhood, yet evil gods were above gods.
Fang You shook his head. He wouldn't consider things that were too distant for now, otherwise, it would only undermine his confidence.
He switched to Qian Mian's perspective.
In the eerie environment, he couldn't find Qian Mian. All he saw were numerous grotesque and terrifying monsters, a scene of demons dancing wildly.
There were creatures with a thousand eyes, humanoid aliens formed from maggots, and insectoid, octopus-like beings, and so on.
Although there were some indigenous fantasy creatures in the Strange World, like fish-people with a large fish head and dead fish eyes, whose aesthetics were vastly different from humans, compared to these lackeys of the evil gods, their appearances were infinitely more benevolent.
Existing in such an environment, Qian Mian must be under immense pressure.
Regarding matters in the Shattered Sea, he should trouble Qian Mian's clones less and let him/her focus on dealing with the Crimson Emperor.
After two months of infiltration, Qian Mian had also gained considerable insights.
He/She had now climbed to the higher ranks of the Scarlet Moon faction – the Crimson Emperor faction, a renowned powerhouse below the mythical realm, and a high-ranking commander who normally directed the lackeys.
Of course, Qian Mian could only command within a certain range and could not violate the grand strategy set by mythical beings.
Having ascended to such a position, he/she naturally learned many secrets.
The Crimson Emperor's blockade was extremely tight, and with the passage of time, more and more rituals were being set up. Unlike the rituals commonly used by oasis factions, the rituals set up by the lackeys could directly borrow the power of the ineffable evil gods, and their might was far more terrifying.
Back then, the descent-avatar of a six-awakening blood-bearded priest could set up a ritual on Blue Star to refine tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, of people.
The ritual materials were also very simple; this was the terror of the evil god faction.
With these terrifying rituals, and at least four or five mythical beings, along with the demigod-level Crimson Emperor guarding the area, it was truly a dragon's den and a tiger's lair.
Fang You gave up the idea of possessing Xiao Huan again for a spree.
"I wonder if Qian Mian can disguise himself/herself as an evil god lackey to advance to the mythical realm. If so, then he/she would truly be among the high echelons of the Crimson Moon faction."
The intelligence provided by Qian Mian was written in the form of messages in the chat box.
The words were few, but the content was substantial.
In addition to numerous rituals, Qian Mian also provided an important piece of news.
It seemed that the Scarlet Moon faction was about to engage in a major war with a certain evil god faction. No, perhaps it had already begun. Qian Mian learned that dozens of tribes had been transferred to an unknown location, and more information was unobtainable.
Below the mythical realm, no matter how outstanding one was, they were merely tools in the eyes of beings like the Crimson Emperor.
"It's good that they're fighting, it's great that they're fighting!"
Fang You, as a pure human, wished that the two evil god factions would engage in all-out war, preferably to the point where the ineffable evil god's brain would explode.
Whichever side won or lost, he would be delighted.
A mutual destruction would be double the delight.
After all, no matter how they fought, it would be beneficial and harmless to him; this was the joy of a bystander!
...
...
As undercurrents stirred in the Shattered Sea, in the Fallen Star Grotto, the Burning Fire Marketplace became increasingly bustling.
Two months ago, this oasis was merely a sales outlet for the Burning Fire Chamber of Commerce. Now, more than half of the shops had set up stalls, and many large chambers of commerce used it as a transit point for trading.
Here, specialty products from several great domains were gathered. Although the scale could not compare to Da Mi Luan City, it had its unique advantages.
The Gilded Chamber of Commerce was a top chamber of commerce from the Eternal Frozen Land great domain.
The Eternal Frozen Land great domain produced many ice-elemental materials, which could be sold at ten or even a hundred times the price in outer domains. However, not only was the journey long and traveling to outer domains exceptionally difficult, but even if one could reach other great domains, it was hard to connect with local oases when unfamiliar with the surroundings.
The Gilded Chamber of Commerce, along with several other top chambers of commerce, agreed to trade their respective specialty products at the Burning Fire Oasis. This way, they avoided the dangers of long-distance travel to unfamiliar great domains and saved time. Furthermore, with the powerful Burning Fire Chamber of Commerce acting as an intermediary, there was no need to worry about being double-crossed.
It was a win-win-win situation!
This was also a benefit from the previous auction. Various chambers of commerce thought that since the trade routes were opened, they might as well utilize them, and more and more chambers of commerce began to use this place as a trade notarization center.
Naturally, the Burning Fire Oasis developed at an astonishing pace.
But today, the leader of the Gilded Chamber of Commerce frowned, "Strange, it's already been thirteen days past the agreed time. Why haven't the people from the Daylight Chamber of Commerce arrived yet?"
Traveling across great domains was uncertain, so a delay of two or three days was acceptable.
But over ten days was a bit too long.
Could they have encountered danger? But the Daylight Chamber of Commerce had traveled this route more than twice. It wasn't that they were completely unfamiliar with it, so they shouldn't have fallen into some death trap.
On the fourteenth day, the leader of the Gilded caravan finally saw the Daylight Chamber of Commerce's team.
However, the Daylight Chamber of Commerce team that drove into the oasis had suffered more than half casualties, their carriages were covered in bloodstains, and they looked like they had been through a brutal battle.
"What's going on?"
"The evil spirits have gone berserk. The evil spirits in the wild have become incredibly powerful, and they've all… all surged up!"