While Lin Mu was busy cultivating the True Gold Body Forging Arts in the Kong Plane, a different series of events were happening in the real world.
At the Long Cloud sect, a group of powerful elders were gathered in the main hall and were conversing.
"How are the things going in the Center?" Patriarch You Yi questioned one of the elders.
"Things are going just as he planned, Patriarch. There were some hiccups, but our people managed to handle them. With the help of the teleportation gates, our response time has been reduced to nearly ten percent of what it used to be in some cases.
Even in the areas that are a bit distant, we have cut out response time by fifty percent." The elder responded.
"Good, keep that up." Patriarch You Yi replied, feeling pleased.
"You will also be happy to know that the merchant Jingming Shang has secured two areas that we can set up the teleportation gates in." Another elder chimed in.
"Oh? Please do tell." Patriarch You Yi prodded.
"Both of them are in the south western area, with one being near the West Ocean Sect's territory and the other one being near the capital of Green Loom Kingdom." The elder spoke.
"Oh? They actually managed to find a place in the Green Loom Kingdom? That's good." Patriarch You Yi replied.
"Indeed. We will now have a streaky revenue stream from there and Jingming Shang will be seeing dividends every week." The elder added.
"Good! Make sure that he has everything he needs in setting things up." Patriarch You Yi stated.
"Of course, patriarch." The elder agreed.
The Green Loom Kingdom was located to the south west of the Great Zhou Continent. It was a mid sized kingdom but was very rich due to being a major supplier of clothes to all the empire.
The Green Loom Kingdom was literally named after the many textile mills that existed in the kingdom. The soil and climate there was perfect to grow various forms of textile crops such as cotton, Spring hair reeds, and other textile fibers like silk.
They used to be a weak kingdom a long time ago, and the people living there were very poor. But it all changed when the royal family collapsed and another clan took over. This clan pursued economic and business interests instead of military power, like many others, allowing them to improve the condition of the kingdom very fast.
Of course, with money came many greedy eyes, but that was taken care of by the same thing. The Green Loom Kingdom became one of the biggest supporter of the mercenaries and rogue cultivators back then.
And once they gained more power and riches, they gained the support of one of the top sects, the West Ocean sect allowing them a firm foothold. The west ocean sect was located on the very edge of their border near the ocean and would receive tributes from them.
Thus graining an entry point into the Green Loom Kingdom was very good for the alliance. The Green loom Kingdom exported their clothes and fabrics to the entire empire and would be used from all classes of people.
Since they exported many qualities and grades of fabrics, there were always buyers for them. It was even said that the Imperial family of the Great Zhou Empire specifically only got their fabrics from the Green Loom Kingdom.
This was the special gift that the Green Loom Kingdom would prepare for them every year and received some special benefits from the Imperial family for that.
It wasn't that these robes were just used by the mortals either, they could be used by cultivators to further refine them into spirit tools and spirit robes. Over the years, the Green Loom Kingdom had gained enough power to have their own group of specialized cultivators that made such fabrics.
With such a wide variety of products, one could imagine the demand across the empire and the cost of it as well. The further one had to import from, the higher the cost that they would have to incur.
Which was why the cost of Green Loom Kingdom Fabrics was the highest in the Northern Lands. And among the three kingdoms of the Northern lands, the highest rate was in the Eastern Ming Dynasty.
Thus if Jingming Shang managed to establish a foothold there, they could procure the fabrics for a fraction of price and sell it for a few percent lower than the others in the Eastern Ming Dynasty.
Such profits were something that even the top sects would not take lightly.
"I have something to report as well, patriarchs." An elder from the Black Dune sect spoke up.
"Please go ahead." Patriarch Shandian said.
"We have been investigating the traces of the Northern Tribes according to the clues obtained from the old woman Ku Waowen and have some leads." The Black dune sect elder replied.
"You did?! Tell us what you found then." Patriarch You Yi said with urgency.
They had been investigating this for a while now and most of the leads had ended up being dead. The elders could only assume that the incident at the Kushao ruins had ended up alarming the Northern Tribes and they were thus left with no other choice but to hide everything and purge their traces.
Additionally, Ku Waowen did tell them that they were supposed to report to their superiors at least once a month and if they didn't, they would be assumed dead and every link to them would be cut off.
Of course, more than a month had passed since then and the Northern Tribes had evidently worked to hide their presence even more. Thus hearing that they finally had a lead was the good news they had been wanting for a while now.
"Our disciples have been sent out to find the traces of the Northern Tribe spies and one of the groups did end up suspecting a few people. They are currently still investigating, but this is a good start for us."
