Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 100 - 6 My Surname is Yuan

Chapter 100: Chapter 6 My Surname is Yuan

A simple Yuan Condensing Pill made Zheng Fa realize his true poverty.

According to the records of Sister Zhang in the "Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method", every talismanic script condensed in the Dantian requires consuming elixirs—due to resistance, the number of elixirs consumed increases progressively.

Before reaching the third level of Qi Refining, one Yuan Condensing Pill could condense one talismanic script.

However, after condensing three talismanic scripts, two Yuan Condensing Pills were needed.

And for the last four talismanic scripts, three Yuan Condensing Pills were required.

Zheng Fa roughly calculated that this Foundation Establishment method would need three to four hundred Spirit Stones.

At this price, Zheng Fa seriously doubted how Sister Zhang managed to cultivate it before Foundation Establishment.

Oh, she is a true Nascent Soul disciple, so that’s not a problem.

Stepping out of the Nine Reincarnation Pavilion, Zheng Fa headed towards the workshop at the valley mouth—selling talismans seemed to be the only way to earn Spirit Stones right now.

He decided to conduct a market survey.

The workshop was the busiest place in the Jiushan Sect.

The streets, though not narrow, were packed with throngs of people brushing shoulders.

Calls from shop assistants surged back and forth from the stores on both sides.

They were selling all sorts of things.

Spiritual Artifacts, Elixirs, Magical Treasures, Spirit Grass...

And even some niche items:

Zheng Fa saw a shop selling puppets—let’s just say they were humanoid, beautiful, and sparingly clothed.

Definitely not your typical puppets.

He approached the front of a small shop selling elixirs and asked, "Does your shop sell Yuan Condensing Pills?"

The shopkeeper looked at Zheng Fa for a long time, "Yuan Condensing Pill? The one sold by Nine Reincarnation Pavilion for twenty Spirit Stones each?"

"Yes."

The shopkeeper chuckled self-deprecatingly, "The most expensive elixir in my little shop costs only one Spirit Stone each. Yuan Condensing Pill, such a rare elixir... Even if I had it, would you dare to consume it?"

"..."

Indeed, one should not indiscriminately consume medicines. Saving a small amount of money isn’t worth risking one’s life.

After wandering around the workshop, the shops here indeed offered everything at low prices.

The highest price was merely one or two Spirit Stones.

Compared to the twenty Spirit Stones for a Yuan Condensing Pill, they were truly cost-effective.

What surprised Zheng Fa was the absence of any shops selling talismanic scripts in the workshop, not a single one.

At the end of the workshop, he realized that the workshop wasn’t limited to just the few rows of buildings in front—there was also a marketplace-like area.

Rows of stalls, neatly aligned like blocks from the workshop extending to the riverbank.

The stalls were selling an assortment of things:

Broken Magical Artifacts.

Spirit Grass of uncertain freshness.

Books piled up haphazardly.

Their only common feature—they all looked inexpensive.

Zheng Fa even saw someone selling pancakes—just the ordinary meat pancakes found in the mortal world.

He felt like he had walked from a luxury store to a regular mall, and then onto a wholesale market.

In the market, stalls selling talismanic scripts were the most numerous—six out of ten stalls were vending these items.

...The business of selling talismans seemed quite saturated.

Zheng Fa strolled around and noticed that the stalls selling talismanic scripts were doing slightly worse than the others. Hardly anyone was around—yet, ironically, there were queues at the meat pancake stall!

He squatted beside a talismanic script stall and observed the talismans displayed.

These were all of average quality, Yellow-grade talismans, and quite common in variety.

The stall owner had been idly slouching on a lounge chair. Seeing a rare customer, he immediately stood up and greeted enthusiastically, "Brother, what are you looking for?"

"What are the prices here?"

"Fifteen sheets for one Spirit Stone for a Golden Armor Talisman."

"Twenty sheets for one Spirit Stone for a Spirit Eye Talisman."

"Ten sheets for one Spirit Stone for an Earth Escape Talisman."

"..."

Listening to his introduction, Zheng Fa did the math. The making cost for a skilled Talisman Master is approximately thirty sheets per Spirit Stone, while here, Yellow-grade talismans were priced between ten to twenty sheets per Spirit Stone.

Almost a fifty percent profit.

Sounds not too bad?

Seeing him silent, the stall owner thought he found it expensive, "Brother, don’t think I’m arbitrarily quoting prices. I have to pay rent for this stall too, and every transaction requires a payment to the Jiushan Sect..."

"...What’s your profit margin?"

Zheng Fa asked.

The stall owner grimaced, "Ten percent."

"..."

Which meant selling over three hundred talismanic scripts just to earn one Spirit Stone.

Looking at the sparse business on this stall, how long would it take to sell those three hundred scripts?

"I wouldn’t have chosen this business if I hadn’t naively rented this stall from my senior brother," the stall owner pointed to the other talisman-selling stalls, "There are too many Talisman Masters in the Jiushan Sect!"

Zheng Fa looked around.

He finally understood why there were no talismanic script shops inside the workshop—slightly higher rent would get crushed by these stalls.

The stall owner, seeing Zheng Fa looking around and seemingly not interested in buying talismanic scripts, frowned thoughtfully, "Don’t tell me you also want to enter this business?"

Zheng Fa nodded slightly, a bit embarrassed to be figured out.

"New disciple?"

"Yes."

"...I see you’re a junior brother. Take my advice, better to focus on mastering the art of talisman painting first before diving into this muddy water." Hearing he was new, the stall owner knew there wasn’t much to gain and lazily reclined back into his chair while advising Zheng Fa, "Every new disciple is poor and thinks about setting up a stall here—but very few last more than three months. This business isn’t for new disciples."

...Is starting a business in Jiushan Sect this difficult?

"Junior Brother Zheng?"

Before Zheng Fa could reply, a slightly puzzled voice came from a distance, and Zheng Fa looked up to see Han Qi and two others.

"Senior Brother Han."

"Zheng, what is this..." Han Qi looked at the talisman booth before Zheng Fa, a bit puzzled, "Do you still need to buy these trinkets?"

The brother manning the booth grew a bit angry at that.

"What do you mean? I’ve been working in this workshop market for ten years, and I’m well-known... everyone says my talisman painting is good!"

"..." Han Qi glanced at him, his face a bit odd, "Zheng is a good Xuan-grade Talisman Master, why would he buy your Yellow-grade talismans?"

"?"

...

"Zheng, what are you up to today?"

"Trying to earn some Spirit Stones." Zheng Fa further inquired, "Does brother know how much Xuan-grade talismans cost on the market?"

"Xuan-grade talismans?" Han Qi thought for a moment and said, "The price is hard to say, but they are generally about ten times the price of Yellow-grade talismans."

Zheng Fa slightly relaxed in his heart.

Looking at the situation in the market just now, Zheng Fa was quite worried.

After all, the talisman masters of Jiushan Sect seemed really competitive.

Given the price of Xuan-grade talismans, he could probably earn ten to twenty Spirit Stones if he painted a hundred talismans a month.

"Are you... short of money, brother?" Han Qi hesitated a moment before asking.

"Saying that..." Zheng Fa glanced at him, "Don’t you lack it, brother?"

He still remembered this person’s tricks on duping new disciples on the boat.

Han Qi seemed to recall that as well and chuckled awkwardly, then appeared a bit vexed.

They strolled around the market a bit more and then walked out towards the workshop market, a small building with the door ajar caught Zheng Fa’s attention.

The location of this small building was excellent, situated right at an exit of the market, and it would probably do good business if it had a store.

But the door was slightly open, and two men guarded it, not only not welcoming guests but seeming to prevent inadvertent entry.

"That is the office of the workshop market’s management," Han Qi followed his gaze and seemed to understand his doubts, "If there are disputes inside the market, someone would be sent from here to handle them. It’s said that the accounts of the market are handled inside, and ordinary people cannot enter. Be careful—Zheng, you might think it’s just an administration office, but the workshop market is the foundation of our Jiushan Sect."

Zheng Fa nodded; he understood what Han Qi meant.

Now that the Hundred Immortals Alliance had been peaceful for a thousand years, commerce had become unusually prosperous.

From the flow of people in the market, one can see that probably most of Jiushan Sect’s revenue comes from here.

The position of the market manager was somewhat humble yet powerful.

"Brother, have you seen this manager?"

"No," Han Qi said, "But I heard, this manager often isn’t here and is a laissez-faire type of shopkeeper."

As the two passed in front of the small building, Zheng Fa suddenly heard someone calling him, "Zheng Fa?"

"?"

Zheng Fa looked up and saw a window on the second floor open, and Yuan, his sister, poked her face out and waved at him, "Come up!"

"..." Zheng Fa turned to look at Han Qi beside him.

"Yuan sister?" He asked hesitantly, "Can I even enter this place?"

"Why would you not be able to? I manage this place!" Yuan was a little impatient seeing him dilly-dally, "I have something for you!"

The two disciples at the door looked at each other, stepped aside to give way, signaling Zheng Fa to enter.

Zheng Fa hesitated for a moment then walked into the small building.

Han Qi originally dared not enter, but the two disciples probably thought they were together, kept staring at him, and when they saw he wasn’t moving, they urged somewhat impatiently, "You were called to enter!"

Han Qi could only tremble and follow Zheng Fa into the small building.

On the second floor of the small building was an office-like study room, with a large desk set inside—on which various account books were scattered haphazardly.

Yuan’s gaze at the account books seemed fiery.

"Yuan sister?"

Zheng Fa was puzzled about why she wanted to see him, then he saw Yuan abruptly lift her head, her eyes filled with resentment.

"?"

"Was it you who gave those quizzes to Zhang?" she asked ominously.

"...Yes."

Slap!

"So she’s unsatisfied with my accounts now! All these! She wants me to calculate them!" Yuan pounded on the accounts, "She says they’re too simple! What! In! The! World! Is! Simple!"

"..."

Zheng Fa suddenly understood; because of those quizzes, Zhang’s threshold for happiness had been elevated.

So Yuan’s lazy calculator—went on strike!

The previously laissez-faire shopkeeper, sister Yuan, could only squat here and toil through the calculations.

Yuan glowered at Zheng Fa for a long while, then suddenly looked towards Han Qi behind him, her expression becoming even angrier as if she thought of something.

"Han Qi?"

"Sister?"

Han Qi had a bit of a delight on his face, after all, the manager of the market was a big shot in his eyes, and she actually recognized him?

"Are you and Zheng Fa quite close?"

Han Qi’s eyes darted around.

Zheng seemed quite familiar with this sister...

He had to flatter!

"When I first met brother Zheng, I felt he was exceptional, a real dragon among men, and I admired him immensely!"

"So, you’re saying Zheng is better than me?"

"?"

"Didn’t you hear what Zheng Fa called me?" Yuan’s gaze turned very dangerous, "My surname is Yuan."

"Master... Brother Yuan?"

Han Qi shuddered, remembering the laughing and talking with Zheng Fa downstairs, which this person had seen.

Suddenly, he felt a sense of panic like being caught cheating.

"Zheng Fa, those three were originally my people! You stole them..."

Han Qi and the others turned pale as they listened.

"It’s just stealing them."

Han Qi and others: "?"

"But you stole Zhang... That’s a bit too much!"

Yuan’s gaze at Zheng Fa was like looking at a greedy mistress who was challenging her by stealing her subordinates.