Divine Convenience Store-Chapter 465 - 465: Major Powers Alerted

Violethaven Temple, Western Sacred Lands.
Elder Bing Xin knelt in front of the shrouded statue deep within the temple's violet halls. Her forehead was pressed upon the polished, soul-chilling floor, a gesture of absolute deference and profound failure.
Unlike with the Grand Elder Mu Wuyan, the shrouded statue remained dim. The Violet Deity has yet to send its will.
Instead, a person in deep violet robes stood at its side, the temple's current master. He was a man with a face that seemed ageless and severe, his presence as cold and unyielding as the violet jade throne he rarely left. This was Temple Master Zuo Tianqiong, an Immortal Embryo Stage cultivator who was currently at the pinnacle of cultivators existing within the Western Sacred Lands, barring the ancestors who remained in seclusion as they were nearing the end of their lifespan.
"You may rise, Elder Bing Xin," He said, his voice devoid of warmth. "Relay your . Omit no detail. I wish to understand the full scope of this failure. You've been provided with everything. Three Void Refinement Stage experts and yet, you even failed to unleash that Anchor and utilize the Soul Lure Array. Wuyan's junior sister is also as incapable, it seems."
Bing Xin kept her gaze lowered, unable to meet the Temple Master's piercing eyes. "Temple Master, the fault lies with me. I underestimated not their strength, but their methods. Their… 'convenience'."
She rose slowly, her voice a monotone recounting of a nightmare. "Our intelligence was catastrophically flawed. The Shopkeeper knew of our plan before it was even fully in motion. He turned our covert operation into a public spectacle, a 'Flash Raid Commission' posted on his realm-wide information network for all to see."
Zuo Tianqiong's eyes narrowed slightly, but he remained silent, letting her continue.
"He mobilized an army of nearly three thousand cultivators in a matter of hours," Bing Xin ed. While she hadn't been there personally, she witnessed it from the Impervious Flare Sect's recordings of the siege. "And they were armed not just with their own techniques, but with the store's products. They were supported by a logistical network that provided them with real-time tactical data and even dropped aura-enhancing totems onto the battlefield from the sky. They fought our Impervious Flare allies with… weaponized snacks."
The last part came out as a pained whisper. Even saying it aloud felt insane.
"Snacks?" Zuo Tianqiong repeated, the single word dripping with glacial contempt. Mu Wuyan's also echoed the same 'convenience', the unusually high-quality products of the said store. And that is why he immediately ordered a follow-up operation. The Nine Heavens Exquisite Body attracted their attention to that region but the store had now become an obstacle that even the Violet Deity told them to get rid of.
"A hyper-volatile chili seasoning, aerosolized and delivered via instant noodle packets," Bing Xin clarified, forcing the words out. "It completely neutralized the Vindicators' defensive formations, turning their disciplined army into a chaotic, blinded mob."
A muscle in the Temple Master's jaw twitched. From Elder Bing Xin's words, it was not a mere failure but a humiliation from the backwater region.
"And Xiu Jian?" Zuo Tianqiong's voice was now dangerously quiet. "A mid Void Refinement master of stealth and illusion. Do not tell me he was defeated by a spicy noodle."
"No, Temple Master," Bing Xin said, shaking her head. "He was defeated by something far worse. An ambush of impossible proportions. The Spirit Severing Ancestors were a mere distraction. The true trap was a team of Nascent Soul Sect Masters, concealed by a store-bought illusion artifact that even a Void Refinement's senses could not penetrate."
She recounted the final, terrifying battle. The simultaneous summoning of five Void Refinement-level divine projections from their strange 'Celestial Duel Gear'. The final, coordinated power-up of the Ancestors themselves, using another set of store artifacts to temporarily elevate one of their own to the Void Refinement Stage.
"Six Void Refinement-level opponents against one," Bing Xin concluded, her voice barely a whisper. "Temple Master. They can muster that kind of strength from the Divine Convenience Store's artifacts alone. I'm afraid, Void Refinement Stage experts like me would not be enough to deal with them anymore."
Zuo Tianqiong was silent for a long moment, the temperature in the hall dropping by several degrees. The sheer, calculated absurdity of it all was beginning to sink in. They had been outmaneuvered at every single turn by a completely alien doctrine of warfare. The Liu Clan was an exiled force within the Western Sacred Lands. He never thought of them as a threat when their Patriarch remained to be Liu Tianfeng, who stagnated within the Void Refinement Stage since their exile years ago.
"And the Shopkeeper himself? A mere mortal shouldn't have the power to move the entire region even if divine beings propped him up as their mouthpiece."
"He… He's not a simple character either, Temple Master. He underwent his Minor Tribulation," Bing Xin said, her voice now filled with a genuine, instinctual fear. "And that tribulation was out of the ordinary. It was an execution order from the Heaven's Will. A celestial lotus of five elements with a core of annihilating lightning. The pressure it exuded… it dwarfed our own battle. And yet he survived it and achieved a Perfect Foundation."
The Temple Master's cold composure finally cracked. A deep, ugly frown marred his ageless face. He had seen records of such phenomena in the temple's most ancient, forbidden archives. Tribulations of that scale were reserved for beings who posed a fundamental threat to the very laws of the realm. Beings who were destined to become gods… or devils.
Just as the weight of this final, horrifying revelation settled, a trembling acolyte scurried into the hall, bowing so low his head touched the floor.
"Temple Master… a message. From the Temple of Unending Spring."
Zuo Tianqiong's eyes flashed with a cold light. Finally. The ascetics were famously neutral, but their power was undeniable. With their support, they could still crush this upstart merchant. "Read it."
The acolyte's voice trembled as he read the simple, devastating message. "The Temple of Unending Spring acknowledges the rise of a new Dao. We will not interfere. We will remain in seclusion to observe. The Violethaven Temple is to cease its requests for alliance."
Silence.
Then a crack echoed within the hall, "Good. Good. How dare these monks reject us? Do they truly believe they are untouchable?"
His rage was a cold, silent thing, far more terrifying than Elder Jinshi's explosive fury. He paced the hall, his mind, a razor-sharp instrument of political and military strategy, working at a furious pace.
However, he also abruptly calmed down, his voice returning to its neutral tone.
"No matter. The Jade Sovereign Sect, the Celestial Flame Order and the Mangrove Covenant have already relayed their support. Our old alliances still hold true. It seems we must adapt our methods. This 'convenience' is a cancer spreading from the East. A direct surgical strike has failed. We will now treat it systemically."
He turned, his cold gaze sweeping over Bing Xin and the assembled deacons. His earlier anger had been sublimated into a chilling, calculated resolve.
"Forget about the Eastern Abyssal Region temporarily. Let them have their little victories. Let them grow complacent in their little ecosystem of snacks and games. This 'convenience' can be dismantled once we've gained more control over these foreign anomalies. Secure the Towers and gain everything there is to gain inside them. Infiltrate the Anchors and make contact with the Outer Realm forces. The Violet Deity's will is absolute. This world is destined for order, for purity. The chaos of the Outer Realms is a temporary affliction, a tool to be used. The chaos of this 'convenience'… is a disease of the soul that must be purged."
---
At the same time, in another powerhouse within the Western Sacred Lands, the Supreme Sun Church's pope knelt before a grand, sun-drenched altar. It was a place of radiant gold and blinding white light, quite a contrast to the Violethaven Temple's cold violet gloom.
The Pope, an old man with a kind face and eyes that held the warmth of a morning sun, was listening to a from a young, golden-armored paladin.
"...and that is the current state of affairs, Your Holiness," The paladin, a young woman named Aurelia, concluded. Her voice was filled with a sense of breathless wonder. "The Divine Convenience Store is more than a merchant house. It has now become a new center of civilization for that region. Their Shopkeeper, Lin Mo, has united the Eastern Abyssal Domain's chaotic factions, repelled an Outer Realm incursion with… weaponized seasonings, and has just hosted a lecture given by divine beings from the Divine Pantheon. Our missionaries have yet to reach the said store. However, they have encountered merchants who spoke of its wonders."
The Pope remained silent, his gaze fixed on the golden sun emblem that dominated the altar.
He had received a revelation from the Supreme Sun Himself. They are to make contact with this new establishment backed by the Divine Pantheon. To find out their true intention.