Chapter 142 – The Advent Cult’s Pawn: The Black Dragon Trading Company (5k mega chapter)

With that, Su Xing handed over a storage ring.

“This storage ring has two million in cash, plus some dungeon props and equipment. Take it and use it for now!”

Wang Qingxuan hurriedly shook her head:

“No, senior, this is far too valuable! I can’t accept it!”

Su Xing simply pressed the storage ring into Wang Qingxuan’s hand.

Two million—for the current Su Xing, it really wasn’t much.

What was truly more precious inside the storage ring was a bottle of budget-version Essence Nurturing Pills, Organ Tempering Pills, and a bag of Spirit rice—those were the real good stuff that could genuinely boost one’s strength!

“Junior, just keep these things… But whatever you do, don’t let anyone know I gave you all this!”

Su Xing said gravely.

Hearing this, Wang Qingxuan nodded obediently, her heart swelling with gratitude once more.

After comforting Wang Qingxuan, Su Xing escorted her back to the Dormitory, then called Jin Congxue.

He asked her to help investigate matters related to the Black Dragon Guild.

After finishing all this, Su Xing stroked his chin in thought:

“Come to think of it, although Qingxuan nearly fell into dire straits before… she shouldn’t be a bad person at heart.”

“But in the future timeline, she joined the Advent Cult. That massive shift… was probably triggered by this Black Dragon Guild incident!”

“Could it be that this Black Dragon Guild has some connection to the Advent Cult?”

Su Xing fell deep into thought.

Regardless, this Black Dragon Guild was no good organization—when the Class Users under them died, they didn’t even issue survivor benefits.

Wang Qingxuan’s future path of betraying the human race was absolutely inseparable from this incident…

“Still, as for what exactly the connection is, I’ll just have to wait and see!”

Su Xing thought to himself, then entered the Blessed Spirit Field and began another week of pill refinement.

Over the course of the week, Su Xing skillfully refined six thousand pills, and even found time in between to go comfort Wang Qingxuan a few times.

Until one day, Jin Congxue sent Su Xing a message.

“The Black Dragon Guild investigation you asked me to do last time has results. The situation is somewhat complicated… Also, this week’s goods have arrived. Let’s meet at the usual place!”

Looking at Jin Congxue’s text message, Su Xing packed up the pills he’d refined that week and headed straight for the villa.

In the room, Su Xing found Jin Congxue meticulously dressed up.

Today, Jin Congxue had gone with a youthful style—a blue floral-print camisole paired with a neat little leather skirt, sexy yet retaining an air of innocence.

“Go ahead then—what’s the situation with the Black Dragon Guild?”

Su Xing sat down at the table with practiced ease, eating heartily while asking questions.

Jin Congxue looked somewhat serious as she nodded:

“Based on my investigation, this Black Dragon Guild has only been established for a little over ten years, yet it grew from a small workshop of just a few people into one of the top ten guilds in Capital City, with a scale exceeding ten thousand members!”

“There’s even a Martial Emperor-stage powerhouse holding down the fort in this Black Dragon Guild!”

“That surprised me even more, so I dug deeper and discovered that the Black Dragon Guild has close ties to the Black Dragon Trading Company… Simply put, the Black Dragon Trading Company is the Black Dragon Guild’s front—specifically handling money laundering and acquiring precious dungeon props and equipment on the market!”

After a pause, Jin Congxue continued:

“And in order to expand, this Black Dragon Guild has resorted to every underhanded method imaginable!”

“In the past few years alone, the death rate of Class Users running dungeons under them has exceeded thirty percent! Thousands of Silver-stage and above Class Users have mysteriously died or gone missing.”

“Moreover, survivor benefits for Class Users who died during missions have never once been paid out. This matter caused quite a stir, but the Black Dragon Guild has deep connections, and ultimately it all just fizzled out.”

Su Xing nodded slightly after hearing this—it aligned perfectly with his earlier suspicions.

At this point, Jin Congxue looked at Su Xing with a half-smile and asked:

“You’re asking about this for that little junior of yours, aren’t you?”

Su Xing was momentarily stunned, blurting out: “How did you know?”

Jin Congxue rolled her eyes and said:

“It’s not like you tried to hide it—of course it was easy to find out!”

“Besides, the ambiguous relationship between you and that Wang Qingxuan… you didn’t actually think I had no idea this whole time, did you?”

Jin Congxue rolled her eyes flirtatiously.

Su Xing’s face flushed red at this. Good grief—caught red-handed. How mortifying.

Seeing Su Xing fall silent, Jin Congxue got down to business:

“That little girl Wang Qingxuan really does have it rough. I heard her parents died during a dungeon mission—and it wasn’t just her parents. Of the one hundred and twenty Class Users who participated in that mission, every single one died. Not a single survivor!”

“And no survivor benefits were ever paid… I also heard that when little Wang Qingxuan went to demand the benefits, the person in charge even threatened her.”

Su Xing frowned slightly, puzzled:

“Threatened?”

Jin Congxue nodded:

“That’s right! A young girl all alone, quite attractive, who’d just lost her source of income… That person in charge basically told her if she wanted the survivor benefits, she’d have to give herself to him!”

Black lines appeared on Su Xing’s forehead. Good grief—trying to get both the money and the girl? This Black Dragon Trading Company really was rotten to the core!

Jin Congxue then handed over the detailed intelligence she’d gathered to Su Xing.

Afterward, Jin Congxue moved on to actual business.

“That’s all on the Black Dragon Trading Company front… Oh right, here are your goods for the week!”

“As for those herbs you asked me to find last time, I’ve already tracked them down. Seven days at the fastest, half a month at the slowest, and they’ll be in your hands!”

Su Xing nodded and handed over the new week’s pills.

After exchanging pleasantries, Su Xing returned to the academy and once again entered the Blessed Spirit Field.

Converting this week’s goods into simulation energy, Su Xing’s energy surged again, reaching over thirty million!

Over thirty million—it seemed like a lot, but for Su Xing, it truly wasn’t enough to spend.

“Sigh, can’t spend it all, absolutely can’t spend it all!”

“These thirty million energy points are only enough to get me from the fourth layer to the seventh layer of the Divine Power Realm… I can barely even afford the energy costs for advancing my cultivation now!”

Su Xing sighed, his resolve to make money growing even stronger.

On June 3rd, 2024 of the New Era, Su Xing began a new round of simulation.

“Begin simulation!”

【Ding! This simulation consumes 3,900 energy points. Remaining energy: 30,330,000 points. Remaining simulation attempts: unlimited.】

【Simulation begins!】

【Drawing a green talent costs 1,000 energy points, a blue talent costs 10,000 energy points, and drawing a purple talent costs 100,000 energy points. Would you like to draw?】

“Draw a purple talent!”

Su Xing silently commanded.

【Congratulations! You have obtained the purple talent: Descendant of Shennong!】

“Descendant of Shennong? That name sounds pretty impressive! What type of talent is this?”

Su Xing’s heart stirred as he turned his gaze to the simulation panel.

【Descendant of Shennong】: Purple talent. Your affinity with all plants is greatly enhanced. You can effortlessly cultivate and ripen spirit plants, drastically reducing their maturation time. Additionally, your resistance to toxins is greatly increased. PS: Ever since Shennong died from tasting the hundred herbs, his descendants have developed significantly enhanced resistance to deadly poisons.

Upon seeing this Descendant of Shennong talent, Su Xing’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Hot damn, this is totally the upgraded version of the Plant Affinity talent! With this, growing spirit plants will be way easier!”

“And it even comes with a built-in toxin resistance buff—an absolutely god-tier talent for a farmer!”

Su Xing was instantly filled with anticipation for this talent as he turned his gaze to the simulation panel.

【In the Blessed Spirit Field, you realize you are in a simulation.】

【You begin experimenting with the spirit plants in the Spirit field. Sure enough, the Shennong talent is far superior to the previous Plant Affinity.】

【You casually plant a seed and are able to rapidly ripen it. In just one week, it begins to take root and sprout—more than double the previous speed!】

【Your wood-attribute spiritual energy has an even stronger ripening effect on plants. The Spirit grain in the Spirit field grows plumper and more full.】

【You plant thirty Spirit-Gathering Flower seeds with pleasant surprise, and these Spirit-Gathering Flowers begin to thrive and grow!】

【You begin carving out time to cultivate fallow fields. In just one short week, you plant another ninety mu of Spirit grain, bringing the total amount of Spirit grain in your Spirit field to a full hundred mu!】

【A week later, Jin Congxue brings you the millennium ginseng and other herbs she found. Though the quantity isn’t large, it’s enough for you to refine several Life-Sustaining Pills.】

【During this period, Wang Qingxuan has visibly lost weight. Though she no longer washes her face with tears, she often appears lost and absent-minded—a completely different person from before.】

【Whether for Wang Qingxuan’s sake or to investigate the connection between the Black Dragon Trading Company and the Advent Cult, you decide to pay a visit to the Black Dragon Guild.】

Su Xing nodded slightly at this, murmuring:

“As expected, the Descendant of Shennong talent’s effects are astonishing. At this rate, this simulation should be able to produce a massive batch of Spirit-Gathering Flowers!”

“As for the Black Dragon Trading Company, it’s definitely worth investigating…”

Su Xing thought this to himself, his gaze turning to the simulation panel.

【One day, you take the supreme-grade Disguise Pill and Breath-Concealing Pill you refined yourself. After confirming you won’t be discovered, you infiltrate the Black Dragon Guild.】

【Through your divine sense perception, you detect that the Black Dragon Guild has no shortage of powerful fighters—there are several Heavenly King-stage powerhouses alone, along with many Master-stage and Grandmaster-stage Class Users.】

【The rumored Martial Emperor doesn’t seem to be present in the guild at the moment. With your strength, you easily infiltrate the innermost depths of the Black Dragon Guild.】

【This is an ordinary-looking small courtyard, resembling a typical siheyuan, but you increasingly feel that something isn’t right about this place.】

【So you deploy your divine sense, meticulously searching every corner of this place, hoping to find some clue.】

【But the entire courtyard appears to have no issues whatsoever, until you extend your divine sense one hundred and fifty zhang underground—that’s when you finally discover something amiss!】

【This is a secret chamber hidden at an extreme depth!】

Su Xing raised an eyebrow at this.

One hundred and fifty zhang underground—that’s nearly four or five hundred meters, isn’t it?

At that depth, forget using it as an air-raid shelter—you wouldn’t even have to worry about a nuclear bomb scorching the surface!

“What kind of secret could possibly need to be hidden nearly five hundred meters underground?”

Su Xing pondered this, his gaze returning to the simulation panel.

【Though this secret chamber is hidden at an extreme depth, you still manage to locate an extremely well-concealed mechanism through your divine sense.】

【You trigger the mechanism, descend a long flight of stairs, and successfully enter the secret chamber.】

【The scene inside the secret chamber shocks you, because this chamber is filled entirely with manipulated puppet-people!】

【With your exceptional divine sense, you can detect faint spiritual energy imprints on each of these people.】

【This means that behind these puppet-people is a cultivator! And it also means that behind the Black Dragon Trading Company stands a cultivator!】

【Just as a flicker of surprise passes through your heart, having already triggered the mechanism, these puppet-people are awakened and all rush to attack you.】

【Based on prior intelligence, you know that these puppets are mostly previously missing Class Users, with strength ranging between Gold rank and Master-stage.】

【Against such strength, even if a hundred puppets attack simultaneously, you have nothing to fear.】

【Without much effort, you defeat every last one of these puppets.】

【You then swiftly search through the secret chamber.】

【Inside this chamber are a considerable number of valuable equipment pieces and weapons, ranging from blue quality to legendary quality, numbering no fewer than several hundred!】

【These are all equipment the Black Dragon Guild obtained from dungeon instances. You don’t hesitate much before storing them all in the Blessed Spirit Field.】

【Next, you discover several ledgers in the secret chamber, containing detailed records of the sordid dealings between the Black Dragon Guild and the Black Dragon Trading Company.】

【You even find a secret letter hidden in a concealed compartment!】

【This secret letter mentions several key terms: the Advent Cult, and Lord Dragon.】

【You quickly collect the ledgers and the secret letter, then loot every valuable dungeon item and piece of equipment from the chamber before preparing to flee the Black Dragon Guild.】

【You know full well that you’ve triggered the chamber’s mechanism and are now exposed—a Martial Emperor-stage powerhouse could arrive at any moment.】

【So instead of returning to the school, you head to the busiest Class User trading market in Capital City.】

【You find the right moment, and when no one is paying attention, you slip into a corner and enter the Blessed Spirit Field dungeon!】

Su Xing now understood clearly—the Black Dragon Trading Company truly was colluding with the Advent Cult in secret!

“As far as I know, the Advent Cult only has two cultivators, and Lord Dragon… that should be referring to Protector Dragon!”

“Black Dragon Trading Company, Black Dragon Guild… Protector Dragon. I see now—it all connects!”

Su Xing furrowed his brows slightly. In a previous simulation, he had killed a Martial Emperor from the Black Dragon Trading Company, and shortly after, Old Dog Zong had come knocking.

And Old Dog Zong had connections to Protector Dragon. Perhaps Old Dog Zong had come looking for him on Protector Dragon’s orders all along!

“This Protector Dragon’s strength is unfathomably deep—probably no weaker than Old Dog Zong, if not stronger. This is going to be troublesome!”

Su Xing was curious about what exactly was written in the Black Dragon Trading Company’s ledgers and the secret letter, so he silently intoned:

“Activate immersive simulation function, duration: one hour!”

【Ding. You have successfully activated the immersive simulation function, spending 100,000 simulation energy. Remaining energy: 30,130,000 points.】

A flash of white light passed before Su Xing’s eyes, and in the next instant, he appeared inside the Blessed Spirit Field.

The surrounding scenery hadn’t changed much. Su Xing directed his gaze into the storage ring.

Sure enough—several ledgers and a secret letter.

After reading them carefully, Su Xing’s expression shifted. He finally understood the true origins of the Black Dragon Trading Company.

The Black Dragon Trading Company was nothing less than the Advent Cult’s public-facing organization!

The core leadership of the Black Dragon Trading Company were all people whose souls had been controlled by Protector Dragon using puppet arts!

And the reason the Black Dragon Trading Company and Guild had been able to rise so rapidly over the years was because the Advent Cult and Protector Dragon had been secretly supporting them from behind the scenes.

In return, the Black Dragon Trading Company and Guild provided the Advent Cult with intelligence, as well as many precious dungeon items and equipment!

The secret letter revealed that Protector Dragon appeared to be nearing the end of his lifespan and intended to extend his life through “blood sacrifice” methods.

And the stronger the sacrificial targets, the better the results!

That was why so many Class Users in the Black Dragon Guild had been dying in recent months! They hadn’t failed dungeon missions at all—they had been brought into dungeons to serve as blood sacrifice offerings for Protector Dragon.

As for the ledgers, besides recording the real accounts, they also documented the number of blood sacrifice victims.

In just half a year, the blood sacrifice count had reached a staggering twenty thousand people! Beyond members of the Black Dragon Guild, many independent freelance Class Users had also been used as blood sacrifice targets.

“This is outrageous! How dare this Protector Dragon be so bold! This is Capital City! The Black Dragon Guild actually has the nerve to openly conduct blood sacrifices here?”

Su Xing could hardly imagine that such a massive tumor as the Black Dragon Guild had gone uncleansed for so many years.

Besides operating covertly, there were likely Advent Cult spies embedded within Great Xia’s upper echelons, serving as their protective umbrella!

After finishing the secret letter, Su Xing turned his gaze to the dungeon items and equipment inside the storage ring.

One look, and Su Xing was startled.

“Good lord, this many high-grade pieces of equipment—how much simulation energy must they be worth?”

“Hiss… and such an enormous chunk of tier-four exotic metal?! Dear heavens, that must weigh two or three tons! Wouldn’t that alone be worth tens of millions of simulation energy?”

Su Xing’s heart began to race.

Just this one massive chunk of exotic metal, combined with all the surrounding high-grade equipment—the total simulation energy value couldn’t be less than a hundred million!

“Gulp~”

Su Xing swallowed hard, desire welling up in his heart.

“In the simulation, I managed to seize all of this. In reality, couldn’t I do the same?”

“That’s a hundred million simulation energy points! Enough to boost me to the peak of the Spirit Transformation stage!”

Su Xing could hardly resist the temptation. To accumulate this much energy solely through the Tarot Trading Company, he would need at least two months.

But now, as long as Su Xing infiltrated the Black Dragon Guild, entered the secret chamber, and stole everything—he could become fabulously wealthy overnight!

Though the allure of treasure stirred his heart, Su Xing forced himself to calm down, murmuring:

“No, even if I’m going to seize this cache of equipment, I can’t be so reckless about it!”

“At the very least… I need to see in the simulation whether doing this will get me discovered, whether there’ll be any danger.”

A hundred million energy was a fortune to Su Xing, but only on the premise that he wouldn’t be exposed.

Otherwise, no amount of energy would be worth the risk…

Soon, the immersive simulation ended.

Su Xing returned to the real world and eagerly looked at how the future unfolded in the simulation.

【Having uncovered the conspiracy between the Black Dragon Trading Company and the Advent Cult, you are even more alarmed.】

【For safety’s sake, you decide to hide in the Blessed Spirit Field for half a month.】

【Soon, half a month passes, and you reappear in the real world.】

【The Class User trading market looks no different from usual. You proceed with extreme caution, pretending to browse and select a few low-tier pieces of equipment before returning to the Dormitory.】