Divine Convenience Store-Chapter 276: Sieging Bone Ash Syndicate Territory

Inside the frontline walled village of the Bone Ash Syndicate.

The Bone Ash Head honcho stationed there stood atop the village's central watchtower. He's cloaked in ashen robes with his arm and the entirety of his neck etched with glowing runes. His skeletal staff vibrated with necrotic energy, its tip carved from the femur of some spiritual beast.

Below, his Skeletal Sentries, hulking constructs of bone and covered in thick ash, clattered into formation. Their hollow eye sockets glowed with a malevolent red light. They were certainly different from the skeletons of the Bone Ash Syndicate members that the High Priest and his group encountered on their way back to the temple.

With the Syndicate's signature ash-forged runes amplifying the sentries' resilience and strength, they were unafraid against the poison of the cult.

"Hmph. Poison Demon Cult? How foolish of you to come to our territory," The honcho sneered, the sound of it carried over the village's barricades. "You think your Arachnid and Wasp Branches are enough to overrun our Syndicate? These walls have stood against worse than your cult's parlor tricks."

His second-in-command, a gaunt, tall woman named Marrow Weaver, adjusted the rune-etched gauntlets on her wrists. Unlike typical cultivators who rely on formations and arrays, the Bone Ash Syndicate's power system was drawn from ancient hieroglyphs they unearthed in a tomb where their headquarters were located. The first runes they managed to decrypt and uncover allowed them to transform spiritual energy into necrotic energy and gave them the ability to tamper with corpses and skeletal remains.

"Scouts report Venom Master Xun's Doom Spiders are holding position, but the Wasp Branch is circling. They're probing for weaknesses. Should we unleash the Ashborne Golems now?"

The honcho's skeletal staff tapped the stone floor, releasing a pulse of energy that rippled outward.

"Not yet. Let Xun commit her forces. Her arrogance will be her undoing. The sentries will grind them down, and when her spiders falter, the golems will crush what's left."

Marrow Weaver broke into a grim smile. "And her detour to Fanling City? Our spies confirm she's fixated on that Shopkeeper. If we disrupt her plans there–"

"Leave Fanling to our informants," The honcho cut in, his eyes narrowing. "The Divine Convenience Store is a variable we'll address later. For now, we break Xun's momentum here. Signal the sentries. Engage."

A low horn blared, and the Skeletal Sentries surged forward, their bone-plated limbs crunching against the forest floor. The ash-forged runes flared and shrouded them in a faint miasma that corroded spiritual energy on contact. The Syndicate's walled village loomed behind them, its spiked barricades bristling with runed traps.

—

Back in the forest, Venom Master Xun's eyes sparkled with poisonous delight as the Skeletal Sentries emerged from the treeline.

Their clattering forms moved with unnatural precision, with each step sending faint tremors through the ground. The miasma curled around them was a problem, but not an insurmountable one.

It's not as if they had been slacking off in uncovering their opponents' strengths and weaknesses. They had been studied long before and her confidence didn't just come out of nowhere. Not to mention, the Divine Convenience Store products have proven more than once how they could turn a normal battlefield into a one-sided slaughter.

"Huangfeng," She ordered. "Deploy the Wasp Branch to flank. Harass their rear and draw their attention. My Doom Spiders will handle the frontline."

Huangfeng nodded, his black armor buzzing as he signaled his warriors.

The Wasp Branch took flight, their wings buzzing like a storm as they darted through the canopy, aiming for the sentries' exposed flanks. Their sleek spears, tipped with venom-laced spiritual energy, gleamed in the dim light.

Their huge hunting wasps also appeared, hunting for their summoners that were hidden somewhere nearby.

Xun raised her hand, and the Doom Spiders scuttled forward in eerie unison. The largest among them, a hulking beast nearly ten feet tall, led the charge. Its mandibles dripped with corrosive venom, and its silk-wrapped legs churned the earth.

The smaller hatchlings followed, weaving webs that shimmered with faint spiritual energy, ready to ensnare anything that came too close.

As for her Acolytes and Priests, they either rode them or ran beneath.

When the Skeletal Sentries closed in, Xun waved her hand, her peak Core Formation Stage cultivation spreading over the entire battlefield. She projected her Golden Core, which instantly radiated in an eerie purple glow, turning the Doom Spiders into a synchronized force of predatory beasts.

Her spiritual energy wove through the hatchlings, amplifying their venom and strengthening their silk, transforming the battlefield into a deadly trap of her design.

The Doom Spiders met the Skeletal Sentries head-on, their mandibles clashing against bone-plated limbs. The sentries' ash-forged runes flared, their miasma corroding the spiders' outer carapaces, but Xun's venom was no ordinary poison.

Infused with her cultivation and laced with traces of [Abyssal Nectar], a mystical plant she refined when forming her Golden Core, it seeped through the runes, weakening the sentries' necrotic bindings.

The largest Doom Spider tore through a sentry's arm, its venom dissolving the bone into a brittle ash that crumbled underfoot.

High above, the Wasp Branch struck with surgical precision. Their venom-laced spears pierced the sentries' joints, exploiting gaps in their rune-covered armor. The Hunting Wasps, massive insects with barbed stingers, dove from the canopy, their attacks coordinated by the Wasp Branch's summoners hidden in the treeline.

Each sting injected a paralytic toxin, slowing the sentries' movements and leaving them vulnerable to the spiders' relentless assault.

Huangfeng's voice cut through the chaos, calm but commanding. "Focus on their rune cores! The miasma stems from there!"

Xun's lips curled into a wicked grin as she observed the battlefield, her Viewing Jade still glowing faintly in her hand. The Bone Ash Syndicate had underestimated her, assuming their runes could withstand her cult's unconventional tactics. She tapped out another quick thread.

[Skeletons crumble, runes fade. The Syndicate's defiance is but dust in my web. #ConvenienceConquers – Arachnid Mistress.]

"Are you watching, Shopkeeper?"

—

Meanwhile, far from that battlefield, the Divine Convenience Store continued its operation normally. The Red Lotus Academy returned to rent the [Divine Arena & Exhibition Hall] and let their students challenge the other customers in both casual games of Celestial Duel or one with Awakened Celestial Duelist mode activated.

Xiao Ya happily volunteered to open the betting stall there while Liu Xiaoyu acted as a facilitator along with Grandmaster Lian.

As for Lin Mo, he just lingered near the counter where the First Princess energetically played the role of a cashier.

From time to time, they would talk about the Southern Wu Kingdom. Its history and the intricate politics that shaped its current state.

Wu Meiyu's voice carried a mix of pride and subtle frustration as she recounted the kingdom's rise under her father's rule. Nonetheless, her eyes hinted at the weight of expectations placed on her as the First Princess.

Lin Mo listened attentively, his merchant's instincts picking up on the unspoken tensions. Her rivalry with her royal brother, the Crown Prince, was turned to the extreme by the loyal retainers from both sides.

She admitted that leaving the royal capital gave her a sense of peace away from the treacherous battleground that was the Royal Court. Naturally, she also admitted that her… infatuation with the store products was her main motivator.

When Lin Mo brought up her plans, she held firm about her initial proposal. The partnership with the store.

"Sounds like your court is a battlefield of its own," Lin Mo remarked, swiping a customer's spirit stones with ease and then handing out a change of a few lower-grade spirit stones. "No venomous spiders or skeletal sentries, but just as cutthroat."

Wu Meiyu's lips curved into a wry smile, her fingers deftly scanning a [Celestial Duel Card Pack] for a young cultivator. "You're not wrong, Shopkeeper. At least here, the chaos is profitable. Back home, it's just… exhausting."

Her tone softened, a rare vulnerability slipping through her royal facade.

Lin Mo nodded, his grin softening. "Profit's nice, but peace is rarer. If you ever need a break from the crown's weight, the store's always open. Might even throw in a free [Heavenly Mulberry Bar]."

Her eyes sparkled with amusement, but before she could retort, a faint chime from the [Divine System Interface] drew Lin Mo's attention.

A new Bulletin Board Thread was trending, it's about the ArachnidMistress laying siege on the Bone Syndicate Ash territory while lifting the banner of 'convenience'.

She mentioned using store products to gain advantage at every turn and claimed that it wouldn't take long before they claimed the frontline walled village of the syndicate.

His fingers paused over the interface, the jade slip from Venom Master Xun burning a metaphorical hole in his pocket.

Xun's audacity was no surprise, but her speed in engaging the Syndicate and broadcasting it meant her web was spreading faster than he'd anticipated.

The thread's comments were already ablaze, with cultivators speculating about her motives and the store's role in her campaign.

"Trouble?" Wu Meiyu asked, catching his shift in focus.

"Just another customer spinning her own legend," Lin Mo replied. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

He tapped the interface to skim the thread. Xun's post was bold, almost theatrical, and the hashtag #ConvenienceConquers was gaining traction. She was tying her conquest directly to the store's influence, which was both a boon and a complication. It would be fine if they were only peddling store products but they're actually conquering territories.

"She won't send the vengeful Bone Ash Syndicate to our door, right?" Lin Mo helplessly sighed.