[Jiashen, Year of the Monkey, June 6th]
Finally settled in Shimen City!
They rented a small courtyard in the south of the city. The facilities and protection were very complete, and there was a high-level spirit gathering formation that could gather spiritual energy for cultivation. It was just the right size for three people to live in.
But the rent is very expensive, requiring five hundred high-quality spirit stones per month.
In a large world like the Qinglong World, only high-grade spirit stones and ultimate-grade spirit stones can be traded. Even though he has one million high-grade spirit stones, he still feels a little stretched.
The people at the rental office said that if you don’t want to spend money, you can go to Jieshi Ridge to dig a cave yourself, or join the Eastern Star Alliance to work, and you can rent a house at half price.
The wilderness is dangerous, and joining the Eastern Star Alliance is not an option for the time being. It is better to prepare for a rainy day and find a way to earn spirit stones in advance.
Zheng Yougong asked me to go out, and I happened to ask him what kind of business was better in Shimen City.
I came home late, and Xie Jingshan actually locked the gate from the inside and wouldn't let me in. Anan wouldn't do such a stupid thing, so it must have been him.
How audacious! How unreasonable!
…
[Jiashen, Year of the Monkey, June 7th]
Xie Jingshan is still begging for mercy, ignore him!
If he can break the formation I set up around his house, I will take his last name from now on!
Anan said we are childish, but it is Xie Jingshan who is childish and he was the one who started the trouble first. What does it have to do with me
After yesterday's investigation, I found that the fastest way to earn spirit stones in Shimen City is to hunt dragons.
There is a tribe of earth dragons in Jieshi Ridge, and all of them are treasures.
Originally, the earth dragon clan here was managed by the Dragon Husbandry Bureau of the Biyou Palace. Ever since Yinglong appeared in the Qinglong Realm, the earth dragon clan united to destroy the Dragon Husbandry Bureau and fled into the Tuntian Gorge deep in the Jieshi Ridge and never came out.
I only recently learned about the differences between the two factions of dragon herders in the Azure Dragon Realm.
The Biyou Palace herds dragons by selecting suitable dragon herders from a young age and having them enter the dragon clan’s territory to practice and live with the young dragons and establish a solid partnership. Even if there are some small tricks, the dragon clan will be willing to follow and fight together most of the time.
Moreover, the dragon herder of Biyou Palace only herds one dragon in his lifetime, and once he chooses one, he will not change it.
The Fulong Sect is different. Its methods are cruel, mainly relying on violent taming and forced confinement. As long as the dragon herder has the ability, he can tame multiple dragons at the same time.
The funny thing is that since Yinglong appeared, the palace that suffered the most serious losses was the Biyou Palace. More than 90% of the dragon herders lost their dragons. Some were injured by the dragons around them, while others were killed directly by dragons.
Zheng Yougong said that this verified the old saying that those who are not of my race must have different hearts. He felt that the Fulong Sect's method of herding dragons was correct.
After Yinglong appeared, although some dragons under the control of the Fulong Sect rebelled, most of them were unable to escape and were still under the control of the Fulong Sect.
But now, Biyou Palace still insists on peace talks with Yinglong, intending to return to the previous time of peaceful coexistence.
Zheng Yougong also said that if the Mahayana Immortal King of the Azure Dragon Realm had not come from the Biyou Palace, and the Azure Dragons around him had not grown up with the Immortal King and they were as close as brothers, proving that the Biyou Palace's method of herding dragons was feasible, this disaster might have directly destroyed the Biyou Palace.
Currently, Biyou Palace is facing internal and external troubles and has no time to take care of too many things. The Earth Dragon Clan of Jieshi Ridge has lost the protection of Biyou Palace and has become the prey of the monks here.
The starting price for a Jindan-stage earth dragon is at least one million high-quality spirit stones, and it is still unknown how high the final price will be.
It’s a pity that the dragon clan is huge in size and possesses various restrictions and dragon magical powers, making it extremely difficult to capture. The independent cultivators in Shimen City need at least five Jindan cultivators to lead a team and twenty at the peak of the foundation building stage before they dare to enter the Swallowing Sky Gorge to look for earth dragons.
Anan and I don't plan to take part in dragon hunting. It's too dangerous.
Anan is still learning water alchemy and refining, so I decided to refine some five-element thunder beads and consign them to the business.
…
[Jiashen, Year of the Monkey, June 12]
After being trapped for five days, Xie Jingshan actually came out!
I was puzzled until I saw Xie Jingshan feeding Jixiang in the afternoon, then I suddenly realized it.
This traitor! I'm going to throw it into the Lotus Cave to help the flower mouse raise its cubs!
Zheng Yougong came to see me again. Xie Jingshan tried to please me and asked me to mind my own business. He pretended to be me and went to accompany Zheng Yougong. He told him everything I wanted to find out, and said he wanted to apologize to me for what happened last time.
My three clones are not enough, so it’s better to leave this small matter to him.
It feels so strange to see Xie Jingshan become like me.
The restoration of the Golden Book of Imperial Conferment has been completed, and it can still continuously absorb the power of incense from the Iron Palm Realm, and the number has increased dramatically recently. I guess it is because Guangling and others began to develop in Xitingzhou where the Iron Palm Sect is located that such an effect was achieved.
I plan to refine the remaining incense energy into incense money and save it up, and then go to the Black Demon Mountain Ghost Market to buy Yellow Spring Flowers and Sanzu River Water.
I have also improved the new "Golden Snake Sword Palm" and will officially start practicing it today.
In addition, I also bought three Nascent Soul stage exercises that are currently circulating in the market in Shimen City. Although they are only mid-level Xuan-grade, I can also refer to them to see the differences between the Nascent Soul cultivators in the Azure Dragon Realm and the Earth Spirit Realm.
Spend money like water, make money require hard work!
…
[Jiashen, Year of the Monkey, June 22]
Anan accepted a bounty mission for an escort in the city and went to explore the Black Demon Mountain.
No one knew what Xie Jingshan had done, but when he saw Zheng Yougong on the street today, he turned pale and ran away.
I have good news today. I finally received a reply from the Supreme Elder at the Eastern Star Alliance headquarters.
It turned out that she was injured when she helped us resist the aftermath of the fight that day, and one of the two parties in the fight was a famous demon from the upper realm. She was worried that she would be targeted by the demon, so she ran to a farther realm and hid for a while.
The Supreme Elder said that she would find a way to communicate with the Big Dipper Alliance to see if we could leave, but she said the possibility was not high, so we should not worry and just stay in the Azure Dragon Realm to practice for a while.
Fortunately, I didn't completely rely on the Supreme Elder to rescue us, so I didn't feel disappointed.
The consignment of my Five Elements Thunder Beads went smoothly. The shopkeeper of Juguzhai even tried to defraud me. Fortunately, I was careful and did not ask him how the sales were going when I visited him. I apologized to him directly and said that I wanted to consign to someone else, who offered a higher price.
The shopkeeper of Juguzhai was visibly anxious and was trying to pretend. Don't be fooled by his old appearance. When I, Jiang Yuebai, came out to set up the stall, he was still blowing his nose and playing in the mud.
Finally, he told me the truth. It was true that sales were not good at first, but people who had bought used ones came back later and bought all the remaining ones, and even paid deposits to place orders.
I used the newly-produced Guishui Thunder Pearl and Crimson Palace Thunder Pearl as bait, and asked the shopkeeper to raise the price from fifty top-grade spirit stones per pearl to fifty-five top-grade spirit stones. I would supply him with one hundred pearls per month, exclusively.
That way, after deducting costs, there's more than enough to pay my share of the rent.
I sell the Guishui Thunder Pearl and the Crimson Palace Thunder Pearl in limited quantities, one for three hundred high-grade spirit stones, and only two per month.
This thing is extremely powerful. If it weren’t for the high prices in Qinglong Realm, I would keep it as a trump card and would not sell it.
But I saw a low-level earth-grade martial arts technique in the largest auction house in Shimen City, and the starting price was 50,000 high-grade spirit stones.
There will never be enough spirit stones, so I’ll sell them like this for a while. When the demand for the thunder beads increases, I’ll sell them secretly on the black market.
…
[Jiashen, Year of the Monkey, July 1st]
Xie Jingshan finally found a job and no longer had to live off his savings.
Although he doesn't know anything, he has a family background in business and opening a shop. He is currently running a medicine shop in Shimen City that is about to close due to lack of business.
He didn't know how he convinced the female boss to give him three months, and if he couldn't revive the store, he wouldn't take a penny of his salary.
If possible, I will pay him 30% of the net profit every month.
Xie Jingshan is very capable, but I am the one who is tired!
He gave me a bunch of pill recipes, all of which were beauty pills, muscle-building pills, scar-removing water, and other elixirs that male and female monks used to maintain their appearance and figures. He asked me to help him refine them and he would give me a commission.
If you have the chance to make money, you’d be a fool not to make it. So just work harder.
…
[Jiashen, Year of the Monkey, July 6th]
It has been exactly one month since Anan came to Shimen City. She also returned from Black Demon Mountain with some minor injuries. She said that Black Demon Mountain is indeed not peaceful, and Shimen City is more peaceful.
But this time Anan earned a bounty of three thousand high-quality spirit stones, so she decided to take a few days off to continue learning alchemy and refining before going out to accept bounties again.
Xie Jingshan also started to get busy, repairing the shop during the day and practicing at night.
I also followed the steps and everything went smoothly.
After I finish refining the elixir that Xie Jingshan needs today, and the thunder beads that I will give to Juguzhai next month, I plan to go to the Black Demon Mountain Ghost Market with Anan.
(End of this chapter)