A/N

I know not everyone likes different POV chapters, but I think Wei Lin's cultivation method is really interesting, I wanted to give a glimpse of its potential.

My Patrons loved this chapter and I hope you all do too :)

Chapter 132: A Profitable Transaction

Wei Lin watched in stunned silence as Ke Yin vanished into the mist, the massive queen wasp and her elite guards shot through the air after him, leaving him and Lin Mei alone within the protective dome of the Symphony Shield formation.

Well, not entirely alone.

Dozens of lesser Voidneedle Wasps still circled them. Most were at the third stage of Qi Condensation, with a handful of fourth-stage specimens mixed in. Under normal circumstances, even one of those fourth-stage beasts would be a serious threat.

"He's insane," Wei Lin sighed, watching another wave of wasps test the barrier's strength. Their stingers struck the formation's surface in perfect unison, creating ripples of light that spread across the dome like water. "Completely and utterly insane."

Lin Mei knelt down beside one of the formation's anchor points, feeding it qi. "Focus, Wei Lin. We need to maintain the formation."

Right. The formation.

Wei Lin moved to another anchor point, placing his hand on the glowing sigils. He could feel the steady drain as the barrier converted their qi into protective energy. With both of them working together, they could probably maintain it indefinitely against opponents of this level.

But that wasn't going to help Ke Yin.

"We can't just hide in here," Wei Lin said, watching another coordinated strike splash harmlessly against the barrier. "He's out there fighting a stage-six beast by himself!"

"Along with three stage-fives," Lin Mei added helpfully, which did nothing to improve Wei Lin's mood.

"Not helping, love."

A particularly aggressive wasp slammed into the barrier right in front of Wei Lin's face. Instead of bouncing off like its brethren, it pressed its stinger against the surface, trying to inject void energy directly into the formation's matrix.

Wei Lin stared at the pulsing darkness gathering around the wasp's stinger. Void energy. Actually, that gave him an idea...

"Cover me for a second," he said, pulling his hand away from the formation anchor.

"Wait..."Lin Mei's eyes widened. "What are you doing?"

Instead of answering, Wei Lin carefully extended his right hand through the barrier. The Symphony Shield parted like water around his arm, maintaining its integrity while allowing controlled movement. Thank the heavens for Ke Yin's recent obsession with formations.

The nearest wasp immediately took advantage, its stinger plunging towards Wei Lin's exposed hand. But that was exactly what he wanted.

Wei Lin activated his merchant's method, creating a special "transaction space" around his hand. The moment the stinger made contact, he felt the familiar sensation of foreign energy being absorbed into his inner world.

Void energy. Real, genuine void energy.

In his mind's eye, Wei Lin could see his inner world responding. The spiritual marketplace that formed his core was already preparing a new stall, specially designed to handle this rare commodity. If he could gather enough...

The wasp pulled back, confused by the lack of effect. Wei Lin, not sure if he could handle anymore, quickly withdrew his arm back inside the barrier before it could try for a second strike.

"Are you insane?" Lin Mei demanded, dividing her attention between maintaining the formation and glaring at him. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking," Wei Lin replied, showing her his still-intact arm, "that void energy is incredibly rare and valuable. Do you know how much I would need to pay to get even such a small amount? These wasps are practically giving it away!"

Lin Mei's expression suggested she was seriously reconsidering their relationship. "We're in the middle of a battle, and you're thinking about saving money?”

Their argument was interrupted by another synchronized attack from the swarm.

This time, Wei Lin noticed something interesting – the wasps' coordination seemed slightly less perfect than before. There were tiny delays between strikes, millisecond gaps in their formation.

"Look," he said, pointing to where two wasps had actually bumped into each other during their latest attack run. "Their hive-mind connection must have a limited range. They're starting to lose sync with their queen."

Lin Mei's eyes narrowed as she studied the swarm's movement. "You're right. Their attacks are getting sloppier." She paused, then added, "We might be able to use that."

Wei Lin nodded, already seeing where she was going with this. "The formation lets things pass through from the inside, like my arm earlier, so the same should apply to our attacks, right?"

"Only one way to find out." Lin Mei gathered a small amount of qi, compressing it into a single drop of water. With careful precision, she flicked it toward the barrier.

The droplet passed through without resistance, expanding into a razor-sharp needle that caught one of the wasps by surprise. The projectile didn't do much damage – these weren't normal insects, after all – but it proved their theory.

"Well," Wei Lin said, grinning as he began gathering energy for his own attack, "this just got a lot more fun."

He focused on the void energy he'd managed to absorb, using his cultivation method to process it. Converting foreign energy always came with a cost – he'd lose some power in the exchange – but it was worth it for the versatility.

"Lin Mei," he called out, "can you create an opening in their formation? Something to break up their defensive pattern?"

She nodded, already moving her hands in a complex pattern. Water essence gathered around her, condensing into dozens of floating spheres. "Ready when you are."

Wei Lin closed his eyes, concentrating on the energy conversion. Void energy was tricky – it naturally wanted to drain and consume rather than be channeled. But everything had a price, everything could be traded.

In his inner world, the marketplace shifted and realigned. The newly formed void energy stall connected briefly with his fire essence shop, creating a unique exchange rate. Power flowed through the spiritual pathways he'd carefully constructed, transforming from one type of energy to another.

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When Wei Lin opened his eyes, his right hand was wreathed in purple-tinged flames.

"Now!" he called out.

Lin Mei's water spheres shot through the barrier in rapid succession, creating a complex pattern of movement that forced the wasps to adjust their formation, causing quite a few of them to crash into each other, their degraded hive-mind connection unable to compensate for the sudden chaos.

Wei Lin thrust his hand forward, sending a concentrated blast of void-infused fire through the Symphony Shield. The flames passed through the barrier without resistance, maintaining their cohesion as they streaked toward the closest fourth-stage wasp.

The insect tried to dodge, but its movements were sluggish without proper coordination from the hive-mind. The flames caught it squarely in the thorax, and for a moment, the wasp was surrounded by a corona of purple fire.

Then its carapace began to crack, void qi fighting against fire qi, destroying the beast from the inside out. The wasp's wings seized up as its energy channels collapsed, and it dropped down like a stone.

Wei Lin allowed himself a small fist pump. "Ha! How's that for—"

"Incoming!" Lin Mei's warning cut off his celebration as three wasps launched a coordinated counter-attack.

Wei Lin quickly put his hand back on the formation anchor, reinforcing the barrier just as the stingers struck. The Symphony Shield held, but he could feel the strain in the formation matrix. These wasps might be weaker individually, but they could still coordinate enough to be dangerous.

"We need a better strategy," Lin Mei said, her hands already moving to gather more water essence. "We can't keep dividing our attention between maintaining the formation and attacking. One slip and they'll break through."

She was right, of course. Wei Lin's cultivation method was perfect for converting their void energy into something more lethal, but the process took time. Time they didn't have if they needed to constantly reinforce the barrier.

Unless...

"What if we take turns?" Wei Lin suggested. "One person maintains the formation while the other attacks. We can switch off every few minutes."

Lin Mei considered this, absently deflecting another wasp strike with a water needle. "That could work. But we'd need perfect timing on the switches, or they'll exploit the gap."

"Leave the timing to me." Wei Lin grinned, already doing calculations in his head. "If there's one thing I know, it's how to maximize efficiency."

They quickly settled into a rhythm. Lin Mei would maintain the formation while Wei Lin gathered void energy and converted it into various elemental attacks. Then they'd switch, with Wei Lin holding the barrier while Lin Mei launched precisely targeted water techniques.

It wasn't a perfect system – they were basically fighting defensively, picking off individual wasps when the opportunity presented itself. But it was sustainable, and more importantly, it was working.

Wei Lin had just finished converting another batch of void energy into fire qi when he noticed something odd. The wasps' attacks, which had been growing steadily more erratic, suddenly stopped completely.

The entire swarm hung motionless in the air for several seconds, their wings beating in confused patterns. Then, as if responding to some distant signal, they scattered in all directions.

"What just happened?" Lin Mei asked, watching the wasps disappear into the mist.

Wei Lin lowered his hand, letting the flames dissipate. "Ke Yin," he said with certainty. "He must have defeated the queen. Without her controlling the hive-mind..."

"We should go find him," Lin Mei said immediately, already moving to deactivate her side of the formation. "He could be hurt."

"Wait." Wei Lin caught her arm. "What if some of those wasps circle back? Or worse, what if we run into something else out there? This is still the beast grounds."

"So we just wait here while our friend could be bleeding out somewhere?"

"No of course not, I’m just saying we should—"

A figure emerged from the mist, and Wei Lin instinctively gathered energy for an attack. Then the light fell on the newcomer, revealing a familiar face.

"Ke Yin!" Lin Mei cried out. "Are you alright?"

Their friend looked... well, he looked like he'd just fought a stage-six spirit beast and its elite guards. His outer robes were torn in several places, but Wei Lin noticed something odd - wherever the fabric had been shredded, there seemed to be a layer of thin, vine-like plants clinging to Ke Yin's body, completely covering any skin that would have otherwise been exposed.

The plant coverage was a little strange, but it could just be Ke Yin being modest. But more importantly, despite the disheveled appearance, his friend was alive.

"I'm fine," Ke Yin said, stepping through the barrier. "Just tired. How did you two fare?"

Wei Lin deactivated his side of the formation, letting the protective dome fade away. "Oh, you know, just the usual. Fought off a swarm of deadly wasps, collected some void energy, probably traumatized Lin Mei..."

"He stuck his arm outside the barrier to let them sting him," Lin Mei reported, giving Wei Lin a look that suggested this discussion wasn't over.

"Really?" Ke Yin raised an eyebrow. "How much void energy did you manage to collect?"

"Enough for a proper void energy stall," Wei Lin smiled proudly. "Give me time. I’ll soon be able to use it in battle!”

As Wei Lin took a closer look at Ke Yin, he noticed his friend was leaning rather heavily against the tree. "Maybe we should head back? Take you to the medical pavilion to get checked out?"

"It's just a scratch," Ke Yin assured them, which Wei Lin didn't believe for a second. Anyone who'd challenge a stage-six beast probably had a very skewed definition of 'just a scratch.'

As they began making their way back toward the beast grounds' entrance, Wei Lin found himself thinking about everything that had happened. The coordinated defense, the void energy collection, the synchronized attacks... it had all worked far better than he'd expected.

"Hey," he said suddenly, causing both Ke Yin and Lin Mei to look at him. "We actually make a pretty good team, don't we?"

Lin Mei smiled, slipping her hand into his. "We do. Though next time, maybe we could practice with something a little less deadly?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Ke Yin asked, and Wei Lin couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

Knowing Ke Yin, probably not.