Chapter 883 – Price Increase: 50%

Based on the Golden Core cultivator’s memories, the Verdant Depths Realm could also be considered a world in the evil alignment camp—it simply wasn’t as deeply inclined toward evil as the Immortal Realm.

“Since this place is so fixated on ‘kinship hierarchies’ and ‘weighing self-interest,’ then I’ll simply do as the locals do.” The corner of Mo Lan’s lips curved upward.

After returning to the mirror space, she began adapting the “Celestial Profound Society version of Card Magic” for localization, crafting an entirely new “Verdant Depths Society version of Card Magic.”

The first thing she did was adjust the pricing on all cards. Referencing the conditions in the Verdant Depths Realm, she raised everything by 50% to 100% above the original base prices!

The cost of joining the Society also changed—from paying permanent psychic power equivalent to 6 Mana worth of permanent Mana, to paying permanent psychic power equivalent to 8 Mana worth of permanent Mana.

The price increases would likely slow the Verdant Depths Realm’s development speed, but for Mo Lan, it meant she could earn more Mana at a smaller cost.

She wasn’t worried that people in the Verdant Depths Realm would refuse to buy in after the price hike.

The terms in the contract had already stipulated that the Verdant Depths Realm’s world consciousness must cooperate with her to end the era of immortal cultivation. Not only could it no longer use source power to bestow things like spiritual roots upon the world’s intelligent beings, it also needed to withdraw spiritual energy as quickly as possible and shift toward an environment more suited to Magic.

With no more path to immortal cultivation, no one would refuse Magic.

Even if someone from the Verdant Depths Realm eventually entered the Well of the Sky and made contact with other worlds, gaining other channels for acquiring magical knowledge—given the temperament of the Verdant Depths Realm’s people, the price of that knowledge wouldn’t be any cheaper than what was in her cards.

The cultivators of the Verdant Depths Realm were already accustomed to paying exorbitant prices for scarce resources. Raising the card prices might actually make them subconsciously perceive the knowledge as “more valuable”—more worth striving for and cherishing.

After adjusting the pricing, Mo Lan turned to refining the visual design of the cards, ensuring that the Verdant Depths Society’s cards exuded an unmistakable “Verdant Depths flavor” inside and out.

When it came time to fabricate the promotional content for the “dream revelation,” the theme shifted from “a manifestation of the Heavenly Dao delivering a warning” to “an otherworldly inheritance—a secret treasure for strengthening your clan in the Age of Magical Decline.” It emphasized the Verdant Depths Society’s practical value as a new avenue, a new trump card for enhancing clan strength in the waning age of immortal cultivation.

After meticulously crafting the dream promotional content for the Verdant Depths Society, Mo Lan left the mirror space and used Star Language to reconnect with the Verdant Depths Realm’s world consciousness, which had been silent for quite some time.

“Per the contract, you are required to cooperate with me and deliver this footage to all intelligent beings in this world in the form of a dream revelation.”

Mo Lan then played through the carefully designed dream promotional footage.

In the imagery, there was no longer any compassionate “manifestation of the Heavenly Dao.” Instead, it presented sleeping minds with a stark, practical vision of the “Age of Magical Decline”—spiritual energy growing ever thinner, cultivation becoming increasingly difficult, no new cultivators being born—stirring deep anxiety about their clans’ futures.

Immediately after, an ink-jade invitation from the Verdant Depths Society descended from the heavens. The focus was on showcasing the Society’s magical inheritance—something different from traditional immortal cultivation, capable of rapidly forming new combat power even in an environment devoid of spiritual energy. It could open new resource channels for clans, enhance their comprehensive strength, and serve as a “secret treasure” that would give clans the first-mover advantage in the coming upheaval—perhaps even allowing them to rise above the rest!

The entire revelation was steeped in pragmatism and profit-driven appeal.

The Verdant Depths Realm’s world consciousness gave no response. Mo Lan irritably pulled out the contract and began reciting the penalties for breach.

“Sigh… I understand…”

The Verdant Depths Realm’s world consciousness replied with obvious reluctance. Performing dream-sending on such a massive scale would consume yet more of its already limited source power—it was simply too painful! But the contract was the contract. It had no choice. So while internally cursing Mo Lan’s “cunning” and “stinginess,” it dutifully fulfilled the contract’s terms and began this unprecedented campaign of “dream marketing.”

However, the contract never specified the dreams had to be sent at night!

Fueled by a strange, almost petulant defiance, it pulled every single person in the world into the dream right then and there!

Mo Lan could clearly perceive a reluctant yet overwhelmingly vast power of the world surge violently, like an invisible tsunami that instantly swept across and engulfed the entire Verdant Depths Realm!

And right now, it was high noon, with the blazing sun directly overhead.

On the grand martial training grounds of a certain immortal cultivation clan, an elder who had been instructing the younger generation mid-sentence suddenly went blank-eyed, swayed on his feet, and fell asleep standing right where he was.

Before the young disciples around him could even cry out in alarm, they too collapsed like harvested wheat, toppling over in waves, sinking into slumber.

The entire training ground was filled with the soft sound of snoring in an instant.

At the edge of a spirit field rich with spiritual energy, several cultivators tasked with tending the clan’s important Herb Gardens were carefully inspecting the growth of their spirit plants.

Suddenly, a jade hoe clattered to the ground from one’s hands as he slumped against the field ridge, fast asleep. The others exchanged bewildered glances, but before they could investigate, the same drowsiness engulfed them like a rising tide.

In a private dining room of a restaurant in a bustling cultivation town, two Foundation Establishment cultivators from different clans were arguing red-faced over the allocation of the next batch of mineral ores.

Without warning, one of them tilted his head to the side and slammed it against the table with a thud, breathing evenly in deep sleep.

His opponent stared blankly, about to mock him for pretending to sleep because he’d lost the argument, when his own eyelids grew heavy as lead, and he too slumped over the table, unable to rise.

In the grand hall of an imperial palace in a mortal kingdom, a midday court session was underway. The emperor was listening to a minister’s report when suddenly, the Grand Preceptor—ranking first among all civil and military officials—began snoring steadily right in front of the entire court, without any warning whatsoever. Then, like a plague spreading, from the emperor on his dragon throne to the guards outside the hall, they all collapsed into sleep in waves. The golden throne room instantly transformed into a venue for a collective afternoon nap.

Across the entire Verdant Depths Realm, whether cultivator or commoner, regardless of where they were, at the moment when the noonday sun blazed at its peak, everyone was forcibly dragged into a shared dream about the “Age of Magic,” “otherworldly inheritance,” and “the future of their clans.”

A few minutes later, the elder on the training grounds snapped his eyes open. Seeing the disciples around him just waking up with the same bewildered expressions, each holding an ink-jade tablet identical to his own, he immediately crushed a communication jade talisman he kept on his person with all possible speed: “All core clan members, to the ancestral hall for an emergency council, immediately! This concerns the rise and fall of our clan!”

The cultivators by the spirit field, upon waking, didn’t check themselves first—they lunged toward those precious spirit herbs. Only after confirming everything was unharmed did they breathe a sigh of relief, then immediately rushed back to their clan.

The cultivators who had just been arguing in the restaurant sprang to their feet almost simultaneously. Who had time to worry about their business dispute now? Each tossed out a hasty “Family emergency—we’ll talk another day” before bolting out the door like their eyebrows were on fire, racing back to their respective clans.

…