Wanling Hall, the ground was littered with seven salted fishes.

Hearing that The Matchmaking God had no intention of taking them as disciples, the Spider Demons came to Sun Wukong with tears in their eyes.

They wanted Sun Wukong to change The Matchmaking God's mind, but he remained unmoved.

So, they started rolling on the ground and acting cute.

"We're so awesome, why won't he take us."

"Yeah, yeah!"

"We still want to continue playing with the red strings."

After a long fuss, they became tired and lay down on the ground, falling asleep.

Wanling Hall finally became quiet as Sun Wukong saw they had no intention of leaving, so he made a decision.

"Tie them up, carry them back to Mountain and Sea City."

He instructed the Peace Officer.

Just as the Peace Officer was about to act, Daji entered Wanling Hall.

"Great King."

She bowed to Sun Wukong: "I came here to take these kids back."

Sun Wukong looked at her: "Are you their teacher?"

"Yes."

Daji nodded, she was the person responsible for these Spider Demons.

To be precise, these Spider Demons were learning to make clothes, specifically making clothes for her.

"What mischief have they got into this time?"

Daji looked at the Spider Demons, well aware of their mischievous capabilities.

"They're upset; please enlighten them."

Sun Wukong explained the situation to Daji.

Daji woke the Spider Demons up and comforted them while telling an inspirational story, hoping to convey that there are no shortcuts to success.

"Do you understand what this story is trying to say?"

Daji asked.

The Spider Demons nodded.

"The person in this story is really boring."

"He must have studied so hard because he had no kites to play with."

"Just like our junior sister."

"Our junior sister is exceptionally boring too!"

The Spider Demons clearly missed the essence of the story.

"Lingyun is much better than you."

Hearing all this skewed logic, Daji said irritably: "You always push your work onto her, now the clothes she makes are even prettier than yours!"

"We didn't want to learn that in the first place."

The Spider Demons argued confidently: "Sister, it was you who valued our ability to produce silk; who said that being able to produce silk meant we had to make clothes?"

"We can make webs; maybe we're better suited to building the Spiritual Network!"

"That's right."

At that moment, Immortal Zhenyuan also walked in.

"In that case, why not come with me and build a Barrier!"

"Barrier?"

"Really?"

The Spider Demons looked at Immortal Zhenyuan with sparkling eyes.

"Dear brother."

Immortal Zhenyuan ignored them and said to Sun Wukong: "Let me take these seven Spider Demons."

He had heard that these Spider Demons wanted to be The Matchmaking God's disciples and immediately came over.

Sun Wukong agreed.

Immortal Zhenyuan then turned his attention to the Spider Demons: "Would you like to be my disciples?"

"Yes, yes!"

The Spider Demons perked up immediately.

"Your senior brothers are all cowards; they can't even handle a Golden Cicada."

Immortal Zhenyuan stroked his beard, smiling, "But you, you are brave, you have potential!"

He needed disciples who dared to fly kites, adventurous kids.

The Spider Demons became excited: "Immortal, you are way more fun than that Matchmaking God!"

"That is."

Immortal Zhenyuan floated in the air: "How can The Matchmaking God compare with me?"

Sun Wukong couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, not knowing what earth-shattering events this group of one adult and seven small ones would cause in the future.

Thus, The Matchmaking God took the Lady Bone as his disciple, while the seven little ones followed Immortal Zhenyuan.

At the Spring Festival of that year, Wanling City, as was customary, carried out its annual summary.

Since solving the population problem, the development of Wanling Country had been able to meet its targets every year, except for trade.

The trade channels between Wanling City and the outside world had long been opened, but the pace of development was unexpectedly slow.

Sun Wukong placed great expectations on the Golden Path, but its progress was minimal year after year.

And in this year, the trade volume of the Golden Path had unprecedentedly decreased.

"Ao Luan, what's going on?"

Upon hearing the report, Sun Wukong finally couldn't hold back and asked.

He had full trust in Ao Luan, who was in charge of trade, and had let her handle it for years; today, however, he had to ask for some clarity.

Before Ao Luan could answer, Water Virtues Star Monarch spoke up for her.

"Great Saint, please do not blame the Fairy."

Water Virtues Star Monarch bowed and said, "Wanling City's population has surged annually, and our produced goods are primarily supplied domestically, with little leftover for foreign trade."

"Is that so?"

Sun Wukong looked at Ao Luan with a touch of interrogation in his eyes.

"Although there is that reason..."

Ao Luan sighed lightly, knowing she couldn't hide it from Sun Wukong.

She reported, "The Golden Path has encountered some troubles."

When the Golden Path was initially opened, everything went smoothly.

However, later on, the countries along the Golden Path began to increasingly extort the passing merchants, demanding a hefty sum from anyone crossing through, resulting in traders losing interest and trade development gradually stagnating.

In recent years, the countries had started charging even more for goods from Wanling Country, and fewer caravans traveled the Golden Path.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Sun Wukong asked.

"This is a minor issue."

Ao Luan replied, "I didn't want to trouble brother."

The matter had not greatly affected Wanling Country.

The number of demons in the Western Continent was more than initially expected, and small demons continuously came over. Thus, the human numbers traveling through the Golden Path to Wanling Country became less significant.

At the same time, Wanling Country's current demand for foreign trade was low, so Ao Luan felt it could be slowly addressed.

However, she hadn't expected that her temporary negligence would exacerbate the situation.

Especially this year, when trade volumes had actually decreased.

"Why do human nations act this way?"

Sun Wukong furrowed his brows and asked, "Didn't you say prosperous trade would bring them more benefits?"

"I did."

Ao Luan nodded, perplexed as well: "Over the years, I've sent people to negotiate with these countries, but they act as if weighed down by a scale, only caring about those promised pennies."

"Because of the constraints of Heavenly Rules, we can't give them enough pressure to force a change in their policies."

Ao Luan mentioned the biggest problem that restrained them.

Sun Wukong felt this issue might not be so simple.

As the Heavenly Venerate of the Western Continent, even if driven by selfish desires, the nations' actions still seemed odd.

"Could it be..."

A suspicion emerged in Sun Wukong's mind.

But his suspects couldn't interfere with humans, how could they change the attitude of these nations?

After the banquet, he called Ao Luan to his room alone.

"When you next send people to negotiate with the nations, I'll go along and have a look."

Sun Wukong said.

"You're going personally?"

Ao Luan was a bit surprised.

"I will assume a different identity,"

Sun Wukong replied.

He planned to personally investigate.

If it was indeed those two factions meddling, the situation was bound to worsen.

The Golden Path must be thoroughly opened.

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