The Divine Sea Realm man was portly, with a warm smile and a gentle demeanor. His clothing was adorned with gold and jade, more like a wealthy gentleman than a cultivator.

Lu Ye suddenly understood who this person was.

Seeing Lu Ye's gaze, the portly Divine Sea Realm man spread his large sleeves and floated over, landing in front of Lu Ye. With a broad smile, he cupped his hands in greeting, "Greetings, Young Friend Lu. I am Jin Fuhai of the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, humbly holding the position of shopkeeper. I have been ordered here to make some handovers with you."

Upon hearing this, even Shui Yuan at the side was moved. The shopkeepers of the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union are not the same as those of ordinary merchants. The influence of the entire Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union spans across the Nine Provinces, including local territories and the Spirit Stream battlefield as well as the Yunxi battlefield. To say that this organization has a sky-reaching reach would not be an exaggeration.

The Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union can also be considered as a third-party faction of the Nine Provinces, but its principle is harmony breeds wealth, and it never interferes or participates in the confrontations between the Haotian Alliance and the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge. The cultivators within the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union focus mainly on commerce and trade.

This organization's tentacles spread throughout the Nine Provinces. Even Spirit Stream Realm cultivators have dealings with them, and the more one engages with them, the more one senses their mystery.

The most mysterious among them are those referred to as shopkeepers. These are the most powerful people within the entire Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, and they are few in number, totaling only ten.

These individuals are not to be easily insulted, irrespective of their cultivation level, because they themselves represent the colossal entity of the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union.

Such people are positioned at the apex of the Nine Provinces; not just anyone can meet them. Only the sect masters and elders of the top sects have the privilege to see them.

Across the Nine Provincial States, each has a shopkeeper in charge. Apart from these nine, there is another who oversees the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union: the Head Manager.

In history, from the Second Manager to the Ninth Manager, people have seen them. However, there is no record of anyone ever seeing the Head Manager. Some rumors even suggest that this Head Manager never existed and that the entire Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union only has nine shopkeepers.

Lu Ye had naturally heard rumors about the shopkeepers of the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union before. He didn't pay much attention as he felt he wouldn't have deep interactions with them and saw no necessity in focusing on it.

Now though… he roughly understood the situation regarding the Head Manager, as elusive as a divine dragon.

For such a colossal entity like the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union to stand tall in the Nine Provinces for so many years, with thriving commerce and no invasion from the two major factions, it is evident that an extremely powerful force supports it. Such power would definitely make the two factions cautious; otherwise, this juicy piece would have been divided up long ago.

Moreover, the goods within the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union often have seamless exchanges with those in the Heaven's Augury treasure vault… the situation is clear: the so-called Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union is undoubtedly a product secretly supported by Number Nine.

The so-called Head Manager is Number Nine!

Not to mention outsiders never having seen the true face of the Head Manager, even within the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, from the Second to the Ninth Manager, they have never seen him.

Heaven's Augury will not easily present itself to people, just as Number Nine previously told Lu Ye. It wants to maintain its mystery, for only mystery can invoke awe.

Jin Fuhai said he was ordered to do handovers with Lu Ye, and Lu Ye immediately knew what it was about.

Previously, he had Lann Qiyue gather Spirit Rice from nearby human villages to send back to the Nine Provinces when the passage between worlds opened, to alleviate the urgent need of the mortals there.

He originally had some headaches about how to send back the Spirit Rice and how to distribute it once there. Now that Number Nine brought in the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, it saved him a lot of trouble.

With people from the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union handling things here, as long as he handed over the Spirit Rice to them, they would naturally transport it back to the Nine Provinces. As for distribution issues, there was no need to worry; the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union's tentacles spread throughout the Nine Provinces, and they knew best where mortals urgently needed food to save lives.

In a sense, Number Nine's order saved him many troubles.

"Which rank is Manager Jin?" Lu Ye asked.

Jin Fuhai beamed, "I am ranked third, responsible for commerce in Bingzhou. Should Young Friend Lu have any items to buy or sell in the future, feel free to contact me… Well, I wonder if Young Friend would mind exchanging imprints?"

The individuals at the level of a shopkeeper in the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union each have towering eyes; no one can easily enter their sight. But Lu Ye is different; this is a command personally issued by the mysterious Head Manager, so how could Jin Fuhai not take it seriously?

Honestly speaking, not only are there rumors outside that the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union doesn't really have a Head Manager, even within the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union, they, the shopkeepers, have sometimes doubted whether the Mercantile Union truly has such a Head Manager because no one has ever seen them!

But this time, Jin Fuhai personally experienced the terror of the Head Manager.

Because that command was directly issued through the battlefield marking, and through the trace back of the message, Jin Fuhai discovered that another imprint branding had mysteriously appeared in his battlefield marking without him ever adding it.

Such a thing is utterly impossible; for an imprint branding to be preserved, it must be mutually exchanged, just like the proposal he presented to Lu Ye. If Lu Ye agrees, then they can exchange imprint brandings to facilitate future contact.

An imprint branding unexpectedly appearing, unseen, is an extremely shocking occurrence, implying that someone left an imprint within his marking without his awareness; achieving this feat means they could easily take his life.

What further shocked Jin Fuhai was that when he attempted to contact the other party, he found he couldn't do so at all.

The Head Manager's power was entirely beyond his imagination.

And how could he dare to disobey the commands issued by the Head Manager?

Furthermore, Lu Ye himself is currently the most prominent rising star in the Nine Provinces, and developing a good relationship with someone like him aligns with the mercantile union's goal of profit-seeking.

Therefore, for both public and private reasons, exchanging battlefield markings with Lu Ye can only bring benefits, no downsides.

Naturally, Lu Ye had no reason to refuse. Although he had already discerned the true face of the Store Manager, Number Nine often behaved business-like; someday, he might actually need to utilize the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union.

As the saying goes, the more friends you have, the more paths you have.

They exchanged battlefield markings.

Lu Ye looked up and asked, "Junior Sister Lann, where is the Spirit Rice stored?"

"Follow me!" Lann Qiyue led the way.

Lu Ye and Jin Fuhai hurried to catch up and soon arrived at the place where the Spirit Rice was stored. Bags of Spirit Rice immediately filled their view, but since time was limited, the amount gathered wasn't too much. However, if used sparingly, it could still relieve the urgent needs of the ordinary people in the Nine Provinces.

As long as they get through this initial phase, more Spirit Rice can be sent back to the Nine Provinces over time.

It was at this moment that Jin Fuhai realized what he had to hand over with Lu Ye, and he couldn't help but be moved, "Young Friend Lu, even while in an alien world, your heart is with the Nine Provinces human race. It's truly admirable. Please rest assured, Young Friend, I guarantee with the integrity of the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union that this Spirit Rice will surely be delivered to where it's most needed."

"Then I must trouble your alliance."

The matter of Spirit Rice is a minor issue; how to more effectively and swiftly conquer the entire Blood Refinement World is what the Nine Provinces cultivation world most needs to consider now.

If cultivators from other domains acted, there might not be many resources to draw upon. In such an enormous domain, the cultivators could only fend for themselves and do things individually.

But it's different for Nine Provinces cultivators. With Number Nine, it can achieve comprehensive coordination.

Lu Ye had some ideas before, but he had no channel to communicate them with Number Nine. There should be no problem now.

Thus, he left Jin Fuhai and the people from the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union to handle the Spirit Rice matter, lightly calling in his heart, "Number Nine!"

He called out several times without any response, which made Lu Ye frown. He looked up at the sky, where dark clouds still covered the heavens, and the mystical battle beyond the Nine Heavens was still ongoing, leading Lu Ye to suspect if Number Nine was busy contending with the will of Heaven and Earth in this realm, unable to spare attention for a reply.

But on second thought, Number Nine is just an Artifact Spirit; it shouldn't have such a problem.

If so, then it's that he's calling for Number Nine the wrong way. In the Nine Provinces, Heaven's Augury is everywhere, so he can communicate with Number Nine anytime, anywhere. But this is ultimately the Blood Refinement World, and the will of Heaven and Earth here still exists. Without an intermediary, he cannot contact Number Nine.

The so-called intermediary would be the Heaven's Augury Pillar or his own battlefield marking.

He raised his hand to his battlefield marking and called again.

Fortunately, this time he finally got a response from Number Nine: "I'm here!"

"How is the battle going?" Lu Ye asked.

He couldn't perceive the advantages or disadvantages of the clashes between the wills of Heaven and Earth, so he could only ask Number Nine, the one involved.

"Easily managed." Number Nine's voice was calm and measured, but the tone carried a hint of disdain and pride.

Lu Ye smiled; he hadn't realized Number Nine had this side to it.

But thinking about it, if Number Nine wasn't at an advantage, Heavenly Punishment would have descended long ago. It's precisely because Number Nine has the upper hand that there is no Heavenly Punishment, allowing the Nine Provinces cultivators to invade the Blood Refinement World smoothly.

"There are three things I need your help with," Lu Ye began.

"Go ahead."

"The first thing is about the Spirit Rice. The amount I've gathered isn't much, so I hope more cultivators can help collect Spirit Rice and send it back to the Nine Provinces."

With the power of one person being small, collective effort is strong. If other cultivators from various anchoring points join in collecting Spirit Rice, the efficiency will be much higher.

"That's simple – I'll assign them some Spirit Rice collection tasks!" Number Nine replied.

Lu Ye nodded; it was a good idea. For Nine Provinces cultivators, only two things can ignite their enthusiasm: merit when cultivation is low, and battle merit as cultivation grows!

As it's a task, once completed, there will naturally be rewards in this aspect, which can significantly spark their enthusiasm. It's expected that various transmission points will soon have a large amount of Spirit Rice sent back to the Nine Provinces.