Divine Convenience Store

Marrow Weaver ran up the wall. Her fists were clenched as she saw their forces continuously get pushed back by the Poison Demon Cult forces. What was this disparity? They didn't lack the intelligence regarding the strengths and weaknesses of each branch of the cult. And yet, none of it seemed to be working.

The Bone Ash Syndicate's forces faltered under the relentless assault, their ash-forged runes flickering like dying embers against the tide of venom, silk and wasp stingers.

Marrow Weaver's gauntlets pulsed with necrotic energy, her sharp eyes darting across the battlefield. She wanted to go down there. To take down some key figures. However, her instinct told her it would be a horrible idea. She may have the strength equivalent to a Core Formation Stage cultivator but there were two Venom Masters there that should have similar strength. Especially Xun.

Before her eyes, the Skeletal Sentries, the once unbreakable wall of bone and rune that her superior boasted of, were crumbling faster than she'd ever seen.

The Doom Spiders' corrosive venom ate through their bindings, while the Wasp Branch's precise strikes severed their rune cores with surgical efficiency. The Hunting Wasps buzzed overhead, their barbed stingers sowing chaos among the Syndicate's rear guard. Those who could only summon small skeletons were being routed left and right, helpless against the tide of insects.

And if they raised their hands in surrender, they'd be hauled to the back, wherein some kind of atrocity was being committed. When they returned, they had already turned cloak, sending their skeletons against their former comrades.

"This shouldn't be possible," Marrow Weaver hissed in disbelief. "Our runes were tempered against their poisons. How are they–"

A low chuckle cut through her thoughts. The head honcho, who was silent throughout this ordeal, gripped his skeletal staff tightly. The femur-carved tip glowed with a sickly green light. "It's not just their venom, Weaver. There was another power at play here."

Marrow Weaver's gaze snapped to a group of Arachnid Branch acolytes weaving through the fray, their hands clutched what looked like talismans but they're glossy and not something that could easily crumple.

Whenever they activated them, power surged through their bodies.

He suspected them to be enhancement talismans, but those kinds of talismans shouldn't be that potent.

On the other side, a group of Wasp Branch Priests slapped some kind of glossy paper on their bodies. And once they did, what looked like a Spiritual Projection of ancient beasts and warriors would briefly appear before merging into their bodies, amplifying their strikes with an eerie precision that shattered bone and rune alike.

They defied the strength that the Syndicate carefully estimated. And yet, they still ended up underestimating the strength of the cult.

Marrow Weaver gritted her teeth as frustration filled her. "Those… they're from the Divine Convenience Store, aren't they? The Shopkeeper… They keep talking about spreading his influence, his convenience. Our people that were being turned… look at what they're holding."

She pointed at a group of former Syndicate members. Their necrotic energy summoned skeletons that swarmed the Skeletal Sentries. They were holding a round metallic vessel. Whenever they take a sip from it, their eyes would glow in satisfaction.

The head honcho's sneer deepened, his voice a low growl. "Convenience… What a fearsome word. Those trinkets are turning the tide. We underestimated the cult's reliance on this rumored store's wares. They're rewriting the battlefield. Go and send word to the headquarters. We have to prepare a countermeasure against 'convenience!"

As he growled that, an Arachnid Branch acolyte below slapped a glossy talisman onto a Doom Spider's carapace. The spider's mandibles flared with a violet glow, and its next strike shattered a Skeletal Sentry into a pile of ash, the runes fizzling out like damp firecrackers. Meanwhile, a Wasp Branch priest activated another talisman, summoning a spectral warrior that dove into his body, his spear strikes now cleaving through two sentries at once.

Marrow Weaver's heart sank. The Syndicate's intelligence had accounted for the cult's venom and numbers, but not this. The Divine Convenience Store's products were an anomaly, their effects defying the logic of traditional cultivation tools.

At this quickly changing tide, it wouldn't take long before their walls crumble against their siege.

His gauntlets flared with her necrotic energy and before the head honcho could stop her, she jumped out to join the battlefield below.

The moment her foot touched the ground, she slammed her fists on the ground, and there, a large skeletal construct was summoned beneath her feet. Its bones creaked as they knitted together into a towering, rune-etched monstrosity.

The skeletal construct loomed over the battlefield, its hollow sockets glowed with the same malevolent red as the Skeletal Sentries, but its size and power dwarfed them. Jagged bone spikes protruded from its limbs, and the ash-forged runes pulsed with a sickly light, radiating a miasma that thickened the air. Some acolytes and priests immediately went pale. They unluckily got crushed against its weight as it started to move. The rest scattered away.

Marrow Weaver stood atop its skull, her gauntlets crackling with necrotic energy as she surveyed the chaos. The Doom Spiders scuttled below, their venomous mandibles clashing with the remaining sentries, while the Wasp Branch's aerial assaults kept the Syndicate's rear guard pinned. Her lips curled into a snarl. She'd carve a path through this web, even if it meant burning through every ounce of her cultivation.

"Enough games!" she roared, her voice amplified by the construct's runes. "Poison Demon Cult, you'll choke on your own venom and convenience store wares! They're useless against true power!"

Venom Master Xun's indigo eyes glinted from her position at the heart of the battlefield, her Doom Spider mount rearing slightly as she took in Marrow Weaver's dramatic entrance. The skeletal construct was impressive, its necrotic energy truly a threat to almost everyone in her ranks.

Nevertheless, Xun's smirk didn't waver. If anything, it deepened, her fingers twirling the shimmering strand of spider silk with leisurely confidence.

"My, my," Venom Master Xun smilingly responded as her voice carried across the fray. "The Syndicate sends their prized puppet to dance in my parlor? How delightful. Shall I introduce you to convenience, little bird?"

She raised her hand, and the Doom Spiders shifted their formation, the smaller hatchlings weaved a lattice of glowing silk across the battlefield. The webs shimmered with spiritual energy, their threads laced with [Abyssal Nectar]—a paralytic toxin that could slow even necrotic constructs. The largest Doom Spider that carried her scuttled toward the skeletal construct, its mandibles dripping with corrosive venom.

"Here, try this one out." Venom Master Xun then threw a can of [Heavenly Dew Soda] across.

Marrow Weaver narrowed her eyes as she contemplated swatting it away or cutting it down. However, she ended up catching it in her hand.

As the cold seeped through even her gauntlets, her fingers reached for the pull tab. As the fizzy air escaped with a soft hiss, Marrow Weaver hesitated, her instincts screaming caution. The can's surface shimmered faintly, its metallic sheen catching the dim forest light in a way that felt almost alive. The label, etched with celestial runes, pulsed subtly, as if daring her to drink. She glanced at Venom Master Xun, whose wicked grin hadn't faltered, her indigo eyes gleaming with predatory amusement.

"Drink, little bird," Xun purred, her voice weaving through the battlefield's chaos like a silken thread. "Or are the Syndicate's bones too brittle for the Shopkeeper's gifts?"

Marrow Weaver's lips curled into a sneer, her necrotic energy flaring as she crushed the can in her gauntleted fist. The [Heavenly Dew Soda] sprayed outward, its sparkling droplets catching the light before sizzling faintly against her runes. The liquid didn't corrode her gauntlets, but the air around it shimmered with a cleansing aura that made her skin prickle uncomfortably.

Her skeletal construct shuddered beneath her, its runes dimming momentarily as the soda's latent spiritual energy disrupted their necrotic flow.

"You dare try this trick on me?!"

"How dare you waste a can of [Heavenly Dew Soda]?!"

They both screamed at the same time, causing both the Doom Spider and the skeletal construct to shudder at the pressure.

—

Back in the store, Lin Mo glanced at the counter, watching a can of [Heavenly Dew Soda] perspire as Wu Meiyu busily scanned the items the customer brought.

He then saw the latest comment under ArachnidMistress's thread.

"Skeletons crumble, runes fade. The Syndicate's defiance is but dust in my web. Those who dare to waste a can of soda deserve divine punishment!"

Lin Mo's lips twitched, a mix of amusement and exasperation. "What the hell is happening there?"

Catching that, Wu Meiyu raised an eyebrow, "Another admirer, Shopkeeper? You're collecting them faster than spirit stones. Should I send a message to my royal father and tell him that I finally found my Prince Consort?"

Lin Mo waved her off, his wry grin masking the calculations beneath. "Your Highness, do not talk about something like that lightly. I'm a humble shopkeeper, not a Prince Consort material. Besides, how did you arrive at that conclusion?"

Is she that desperate to get the store's partnership? There are still no available slots for the Official Distributor position!