Days passed by like a spring stream and Lin Mu entered seclusion.

He felt the need to get strong as soon as possible and felt the urge to do so even more now that his workload had been reduced. With the alliances working better than ever before and tasks split up, Lin Mu had less stress.

Jing Luo was going to train the elders that were proficient in formations how to assemble the teleportation gates and also manufacture enough of them so that they could be sent to the places they had chosen.

Teaching all the elders would take him nearly a week, while making the sets of teleportation gate components would take him at least five days for each. With the assistance of the many elders, it was way faster than before, but Jing Luo still needed to work for the main parts.

They would send out each set as soon as it was complete and the elder would set them on the place that was decided. The first location was none other than the Fenlong Kingdom and the teleportation gate there was set up fifteen days after the last meeting Lin Mu had with everyone.

Since Lin Mu spent his time in the Kong Plane cultivating, activating those gates didn't take him much effort. Once the gate at the Fenlong kingdom was complete, Lin Mu got a visitor who brought him a report.

He was currently sitting in a forest in the Kong plane and reading the long report that was given to him.

"Jingming Shang certainly did his due diligence." Lin Mu muttered as he started to read.

Lin Mu learned that the network Jingming Shang had made has been expanding decently. Every week more and more people joined them and there were already rumors in the kingdoms that there was a secret power recruiting people.

It gave them something to talk about and got them interested in it. They were lured in with the promise of profits and resources, which Jingming Shang could reasonably give them due to the revenue they were making from the expanded network.

While Lin Mu might have preferred to stay hidden a bit more, Jingming Shang took a different route. However, he didn't implicate the alliance either. Only the high ranking members of his group knew of the true alliance and Jingming Shang simply manipulated the rest of them.

He was good enough to know what they desired and how to give them that. 

Jingming Shang also mentioned that he was going to run low on funds soon enough.

"Hmm… if he's running low on funds, then perhaps it is time for him to start using the Kong plane and the teleportation gates. He did say that we can make as much as ten times the profit or even more on many items." Lin Mu muttered to himself, reading this.

Since the network that Jingming Shang made ran on mutual interest and profits, funds were essential to run it all. Once people realized that there was no more profit to be made, the entire network might come collapsing down.

Thankfully, the trade plan Jingming Shang made keeping in mind the reach of the teleportation gate made it so that they would soon be reaping a large profit. 

Funds were essential for running anything in the world; from sects, to kingdoms, to even a war. Lin Mu and the sects needed them too and while the Long Cloud Alliance had a decent amount of them, they couldn't just squander it all on this.

With Jingming Shang's work, they would have a cash influx as well as an expenditure that should balance things out.

Lin Mu then read the routes that Jingming Shang had planned out for the trades.

"So the Eastern Ming Dynasty's herbs to be sent to the kingdoms in the west. These will be taken through the Light Harmony sect's gate and leave through the Black Dune sect. 

Same will be done for the myriad of resources that are in the Great Southern Forest. The Long Cloud Alliance will send multiple disciples to gather and harvest materials from the forest.

There will always be a great demand for them." Lin Mu analyzed.

He could see the benefit in doing all this and felt like Jingming Shang was very smart in doing business.

'Man can quite possibly own an entire kingdom one day if he keeps this up.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu kept reading more and took about an hour to finish the report. By the end of it, he was throughly impressed by Jingming Shang's intellect.

"Seems like we certainly made a good choice with him." Xukong who had been silent for a while spoke.

"Indeed, senior. If things really progress as planned, our effort won't go wasted. Plus, with more and more merchants joining Jingming Shang, he is getting closer to tracking down Gu Yao.

They already managed to find a couple of shipments that were suspected to be sent by Gu Yao. They were heading to the Zither Wind sect and the West ocean sect." Lin Mu replied.

"Hmm… let things proceed, then. You have been far too involved in those matters and haven't been able to focus on cultivating as well. Now that you have the time, it's best to focus on it." Xukong stated.

"Mmm… once Jing Luo is done with his work, and the gates are set, we will be able to take the next step. I still have to meet up with Wu Hei and explain everything to him. He will also be our biggest link to Gu Yao and where he actually is.

Same with the Northern Tribes. Ku Waowen's intel is proving to be good too as well. They did manage to find a couple of spies that were hidden in the three sects as well." Lin Mu replied.

"That's good. You should have a while till Jing Luo will be free, so we'll make the best of it." Xukong said as he thought of some things he would be teaching Lin Mu.

Lin Mu put away the reports and got ready.

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