The Quest for Immortality Chapter 2813: Wartime Profiteering (3)
Previously on The Quest for Immortality...
"Engraving" Formation, is used for drawing and engraving, and the principle is quite simple.
However, there are many types of such Formation, and Mo Hua needs some time to try and verify each one.
But for Mo Hua, who has done research on more difficult and complex Secondary Thunder Formation Pattern principles and "Formation Flow" calculations, this workload is not large.
An hour later, Mo Hua has reconstructed the Formation used to engrave these "defective" patterns.
In other words, it is a Formation specifically used for engraving with glazes on a certain artifact refining production line.
Mo Hua constructs this set of Formation, then tries to let it generate "Patterns" unrestrictedly.
The generated patterns are all printed on white paper by Mo Hua.
As the Spiritual Power flows, the engraving Formation begins to operate.
Complex patterns appear on the white paper.
There are patterns of prosperity, phoenix rising, auspicious clouds, harmonious union of a hundred years... etc, all complex and beautifully luxurious.Mo Hua’s brow gradually furrows.
Just at this time, the pen’s edge of the engraving Formation changes, and it actually starts to engrave a character.
This character is a beautified character, embellished with flowers and wood, using jinxiu as its bone, looking splendid and beautiful, and the character is:
The character "Hua".
Mo Hua’s heart sinks.
Hua?
What does it mean?
Is this a Sect, or... an aristocratic family?
The Hua family?
Mo Hua frowns, a flash of insight comes to mind, suddenly recalling the noble and beautiful woman who made Young Master Tuoba act like a "lap dog" at the demon fighting arena in Great Desert City.
Young Master Tuoba seemed to call her "Miss Hua"?
That beautiful woman belongs to the Hua family...
The Hua family is related to the Great Wilderness.
So, does that mean the Tao Cultivation production line for these bottles and Fasting Pills also belongs to the Hua family?
Mo Hua’s gaze deepens.
If these Fasting Pills are from the Hua family, why have they ended up in the Great Wilderness?
Were they snatched by the Great Wilderness tribes?
No... they don’t seem to be snatched...
It seems more like the Hua family "traded" these Fasting Pills to the Great Wilderness?
Mo Hua takes out a Fasting Pill, sniffs it at the tip of his nose, catching a whiff of poor quality, and frowns tightly.
The quality control of these Fasting Pills is too poor.
In the Nine State, they are clearly low-grade PIlls. If the Hua family is a Great Family, they wouldn’t refine such inferior Fasting Pills.
The only possibility is that they deliberately crafted these "inferior" Fasting Pills with the intention of selling them to the Great Wilderness.
These inferior Fasting Pills are the "Great Wilderness exclusive" version.
They’re made for the people of the Great Wilderness. Thus, no matter how inferior they are, as long as they don’t kill anyone, it’s fine.
After all, there is no Hua family mark left on the pill bottles. No one knows these pills were refined by the Hua family.
The more inferior they are, the higher the profit margin.
But... why Fasting Pills? Why sell nothing else but Fasting Pills?
Because...
Mo Hua’s pupils shrink.
The famine!
In times of famine, Fasting Pills are not just simple supplies; they are life-saving items. No matter how inferior the Fasting Pills are, as long as they can be eaten and can save lives, they’re treasures.
The Hua family is stocking up on so many Fasting Pills with the intention of... disaster relief?
How is that possible?!
They’re probably planning to sell these hoarded Fasting Pills at sky-high prices during the famine years.
No matter how inferior the Fasting Pill is, it’s enough to make the major tribes facing hunger and deadly crises pay extremely high prices.
Mo Hua takes a deep breath.
Here in the Great Wilderness, belief is chaotic, power is complex, and tribes are strong. Conquering is impossible, and plunder is even more difficult.
If strength cannot conquer, then resort to trade.
Taking advantage of the famine by refining a large number of Fasting Pills to sell here in the Great Wilderness, making exorbitant profits.
Is this the Hua family’s plan?
Is the Hua family trying to make... disaster wealth?
Can it really be this simple?
Mo Hua takes out another Fasting Pill to sniff, discovering traces of aged grain aroma, indicating these Fasting Pills had been refined years ago.
But at that time, the Great Wilderness seemed... wasn’t experiencing famine?
How did the Hua family know that a famine would certainly happen in the Great Wilderness?
Did they anticipate that the war between the Taoist Court and the Great Wilderness would trigger riots, which would lead to famine, and famine would cause the value of Fasting Pills to rise sharply...
So they "gambled" on this?
Could it really be the case?
Mo Hua looked again at the series of patterns labeled "Fu Guihua".
The ability to engrave patterns like Fu Guihua and Dan Feng Chao Yang on the artifact refining production line indicates that most of the artifacts produced here were luxury items, superior noble spiritual artifacts.
Yet this line of luxury items has been repurposed by the Hua family to produce inferior Fasting Pills, suggesting the Hua family is convinced these Fasting Pills can yield substantial profits.
This is undoubtedly more than mere prediction or speculation.
The preciousness of Fasting Pills is directly proportional to the severity of the famine.
The more severe the famine, the more precious the Fasting Pills become, even more so than luxury items.
The effort to alter the production line and produce such a large quantity of Fasting Pills signifies the Hua family’s conviction rather than mere prediction.
The more Mo Hua untangles this, the more chilling he finds it.
But... why?
Why is the Hua family so certain that a massive famine will erupt here in the Great Wilderness?
Why dare to preemptively produce and stockpile large amounts of Fasting Pills?
Moreover, there’s another issue:
How did the Hua family transport these Fasting Pills to the heart of the Great Wilderness?
What is the route?
There’s still a crucial missing piece here...
Mo Hua frowned in contemplation, then suddenly realized this oasis is a "scam" and a "money pit", but essentially, it might serve as a material "transit station" for the Hua family?
If that’s the case, there must be... .
Mo Hua’s pupils shrank, and he immediately summoned Elder Bachuan, instructing him to bring people and search the entire oasis again.
This time, focus on finding sand tables or walls for any signs of deliberate destruction.
The group searched for most of the day before finally finding a wall.
The wall was completely shattered.
The oasis had been invaded, and broken walls are everywhere, not worth much surprise, and this wall was no different.
Under normal circumstances, upon seeing a shattered wall, everyone would just glance and disregard it.
But Mo Hua specifically instructed them to check for any anomaly in the walls and see if any wall had been "intentionally" destroyed.
Over a thousand Barbarian Soldiers meticulously searched ten times before finding this wall in a secret room’s corner.
This wall was entirely pulverized.
Upon closer inspection, it was crushed by Golden Core Power.
This was very suspicious.
Mo Hua stood in front of this destroyed wall, ordered the sand and grit to be gathered together, contemplated for a moment, and then began using the Great Wilderness Demon Bone Divination Skill to perform causal "retrospection".
He intended to see what this stone wall looked like before its destruction.
However, this kind of divination was very taxing.
Mo Hua’s computational power was limited, unable to calculate the entire scene, only bit by bit, cut into fragments and memorize them, and finally piece them together.
When Divine Sense was exhausted, he took a break and then continued calculating.
After half a day of effort, Mo Hua pieced the puzzle pieces back together.
Ultimately, after tremendous effort and exhausting Divine Sense, Mo Hua managed to fully restore the pattern on this wall.
As Mo Hua anticipated, it was a Map.
Moreover, this was not just any map, but a map of the entire Three Thousand Wilderness’s mountain and river layout.
A Great Desert map, possibly even the Taoist soldiers Court does not have.
Yet what shocked Mo Hua more was not the map itself.
On this map, some thick lines are highlighted.
These lines, following specific trajectories, gradually integrate and converge into a large enclosure, encompassing the most central area of the Three Thousand Wilderness.
Others might not understand what these lines signify.
But Mo Hua could.
With barely a moment of thought, he instantly realized.
These lines are "Famine Spread Lines".
This map precisely marked the routes and entire process of the famine spread in the Great Wilderness this time.
This famine is secretly orchestrated by Uncle Zhen.
Such a matter, Mo Hua himself couldn’t deduce.
But the Hua family has it in their hands.
This implies...
The Hua family’s ancestor probably spotted Uncle Zhen’s schemes long ago and clarified Uncle Zhen’s plan down to every detail.
Even timing for when the famine occurs, when it spreads, when it converges... all calculated.
These heavenly secrets, they witnessed.
They saw the impending disaster.
Then they...
Did nothing.
Not only did they do nothing, but they planned to exploit the revealed heavenly secrets, seize the opportunity to profit massively from the famine orchestrated by Uncle Zhen, and accumulate wealth from both war and famine.
The front lines were at war.
They... were making fortunes.