Fei Xin's trading caravan caused a stir in demon territory, which did not go unnoticed by the high-ranking officials of the Demon Alliance.
They attempted to unmask the clandestine trading caravan.
However, Fei Xin, aided by Huang Feifei's intelligence network, operated with such elusiveness that the demons found it difficult to apprehend them.
Since direct capture proved impossible, they resorted to economic countermeasures.
Various factions released their stockpiled resources at low prices to stabilize the market.
Fei Xin and his intelligence organization collaborated to analyze the production and inventory levels of different commodities.
They identified several items with low demon reserves and proceeded to purchase as much as the demons were selling at reduced prices.
Once the demons had largely depleted their own stocks, Fei Xin's group began to drive up prices.
The demons were not foolish; since Fei Xin was disrupting their operations, they decided to retaliate by sending their own agents to disrupt his.
It was under these circumstances that Zhou Ji accepted this prestigious mission from a demon elder.
His background was similar to Zhang Yi's; he was born human, orphaned, raised by demons from a young age, and then placed as a mole within human society.
However, his undercover mission involved organizing a human trading caravan that traveled between various human cities.
Before the rift between humans and demons, his role was not particularly significant.
But since the breakdown of relations, it was finally his time to shine.
A few days prior, his superior handed him one million immortal stones, instructing him to purchase immortal herbs within human territory and, incidentally, to inflate prices.
In his hundreds of thousands of years of life, this was the first time he had ever seen so many immortal stones.
As he received the stones, his hands trembled with excitement.
Zhou Ji vowed to complete this mission flawlessly, earning the admiration of everyone.
Having worked as a mole and a merchant for so many years, he had become intimately familiar with various business tactics through observation.
With a million immortal stones in hand, manipulating prices was a simple matter.
Zhou Ji led his caravan directly into Juntian City.
He first toured various shops in the city's marketplace, gaining a thorough understanding of the supply and demand for different goods.
Given the ongoing conflict between the two sides, strategic resources should have been in high demand.
However, Juntian City remained as it always was, with ample supply of strategic materials and stable, orderly prices.
For instance, by the time Zhou Ji received his mission, the price of ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Saliva Grass from the demon side had already been driven up to over 600 immortal stones.
Yet, within Juntian City, Dragon Saliva Grass of the same quality was priced at only 50 immortal stones.
He inquired at several shops, and all reported sufficient stock, available in any quantity desired.
Zhou Ji decided to start with Dragon Saliva Grass.
He planned to invest all of his one million immortal stones in acquiring it.
His intention was to buy up all the Dragon Saliva Grass in human territory, leaving humans without healing medicine.
Furthermore, the Dragon Saliva Grass he acquired would not go to waste; simply smuggling it across the battle lines would multiply its value tenfold.
Zhou Ji and his subordinates began discreetly purchasing Dragon Saliva Grass within Juntian City.
Juntian City did indeed have a substantial reserve of Dragon Saliva Grass. They continued to buy, spending immortal stones like water, yet the price of Dragon Saliva Grass remained unchanged.
Zhou Ji persisted in his daily purchases, having already spent a hundred thousand immortal stones, but the price remained at 50 immortal stones per stalk, with no change.
This made Zhou Ji begin to doubt himself, unsure if his one million immortal stones were sufficient to inflate the price.
He was perplexed. Dragon Saliva Immortal Grass was not typically used in large quantities, and even major sects did not cultivate much of it.
Increasing cultivation area in the short term would only yield harvests ten thousand years later.
He simply couldn't comprehend why humans would stockpile so much Dragon Saliva Grass.
Unbeknownst to him, in Xiao Fei's third Jianmu World, due to its vast size, abundant wasteland, and sparse population, and a desire not to waste land,
Xiao Fei had scattered various immortal herb seeds indiscriminately throughout the world. They grew wild, like weeds, covering the mountains and plains.
Normally, there was no need for so many immortal herbs, but with the current war in the Immortal Realm, it was the perfect time to harvest and sell these wild-growing immortal herbs.
Now, the newly emerged fourth Jianmu World was even vaster, with more potent immortal energy, and currently uninhabited.
However, Xiao Fei had already sown seeds of various immortal herbs throughout the entire world.
He believed that before long, another large batch of unsellable immortal herbs would be produced.
Xiao Fei felt somewhat like a legendary old farmer; whatever he planted ended up being unsellable.
Zhou Ji's large-scale acquisition of Dragon Saliva Grass in Juntian Realm, though conducted discreetly, did not escape Xiao Fei's notice.
This was because the stable supply and unchanged prices of strategic materials within human territory were entirely due to Xiao Fei's contributions.
The sudden tenfold increase in Dragon Saliva Grass sales was naturally something he was aware of.
Huang Feifei had already dispatched intelligence personnel to investigate covertly.
Xiao Fei cooperated by reducing his shipments, which in turn caused the price of Dragon Saliva Grass in Juntian City to begin a slow ascent.
Zhou Ji was overjoyed and immediately increased his purchasing efforts, pouring vast sums of immortal stones into acquiring Dragon Saliva Grass.
Concurrently, Xiao Fei was concocting a new poison in his spatial realm, intending to introduce it into the Dragon Saliva Grass.
To develop the new poison formula, he specifically sought out Xuan Tian Dao Zun and humbly requested his guidance.
Xuan Tian Dao Zun generously taught Xiao Fei a method for creating a poison known as "Hua Xian San" (Immortal Dissolving Powder).
This poison was formulated from over three hundred medicinal ingredients. Some of the ingredients were mildly toxic or slightly toxic, while many others were entirely non-toxic.
However, through clever blending and combination, these over 300 ingredients underwent a drastic transformation when mixed together, becoming a potent toxin.
This Hua Xian San poison was highly effective against immortals below the Heavenly Immortal realm and was very difficult to detect.
However, its effectiveness diminished significantly against Heavenly Immortals and above, and it had no effect whatsoever on those at the Immortal Lord level.
Xiao Fei stealthily infused the refined poison into the Dragon Saliva Grass and then devised a way to mix it with normal Dragon Saliva Grass to sell to Zhou Ji.
The toxicity of this poison was not exceptionally strong, but it possessed a significant advantage: it was extremely difficult to detect, and its effects were only felt after poisoning.
The toxicity caused minimal harm to the bodies of Heavenly Immortals, but even they could not identify the poisoned stalks from a pile of Dragon Saliva Grass.
Zhou Ji's discreet acquisition of Dragon Saliva Grass in Juntian City lasted for over a year, during which he finally spent all of his one million immortal stones.
Under his influence, the price of Dragon Saliva Grass in Juntian City successfully rose from 50 to 180 immortal stones.
While this price still did not match that of the Demon Alliance, it was sufficient to make the humans feel the pain of war.
Having spent one million immortal stones, Zhou Ji packed the acquired Dragon Saliva Grass, discreetly transported it out of Juntian Realm, successfully traversed the front lines of both armies, and finally returned to demon territory.