Late Stage of Qi Refining, Double Good Fortune

Chapter 50 Late Stage of Qi Refining, Double Good Fortune

Hongya Market, Ling Shou Zhai.

More than a month later, the number of customers at Ling Shou Zhai has decreased significantly.

Now that people aren't here to buy or sell anything, those cultivators who have already been to the shop won't come back.

However, in the eyes of some cultivators who have sold items at the Spirit Beast Shop, the Spirit Beast Shop pays a higher price for certain items than other shops.

Therefore, when some cultivators go out on adventures and obtain certain spiritual items, they will always include the Spirit Beast Shop among the three shops when comparing prices.

That morning, a middle-aged man in black with late-stage Qi Refining cultivation strode into the Spirit Beast Hall.

After entering the shop, he greeted the counter familiarly, saying, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, I've brought you business again."

Behind the counter, Zhou Chun, who was reading a book, immediately stood up and looked at the person who had come in after hearing these words.

Upon seeing the newcomer's appearance clearly, he smiled and cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "So it's Fellow Daoist Lin! What treasure have you acquired this time?"

"It's nothing special, just a few spiritual herbs I picked when I went to hunt demons with some fellow Daoists a few days ago."

As the man in black spoke, he reached into his storage bag at his waist, took out three wooden boxes, and placed them on the counter.

Then, seemingly nonchalantly, he said, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, please take a look and see how many spirit coins these items are worth."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Zhou Chun responded and opened the first wooden box, taking out a ginseng-shaped medicinal herb about the size of two fingers and examining it carefully.

He first turned the medicinal herb around and examined it carefully, looking for any damage or breakage, as well as its length, size, and patterns.

Then bring it to your nose and sniff it intensely, inhaling its medicinal and ginseng-like aroma.

Then, he pinched and rubbed the ginseng root with his fingers a few times to verify that it was not a fake glued-together product.

After examining the medicinal herb by looking at it, smelling it, and inspecting it, Zhou Chun placed it back into the wooden box and said to the man in black, "One freshly harvested yellow ginseng root, aged between fifty and seventy years, in perfect condition with no damage. Our purchase price is seven spirit coins!"

Upon hearing this, the man in black's eyes flickered slightly, but he said, "No rush, let's look at the other two."

Seeing this, Zhou Chun smiled and nodded, then opened the other two wooden boxes and took out the medicinal herbs inside to examine them.

"A newly harvested silver orchid, in perfect condition and without damage, is offered for five spirit coins by our store."

"A newly harvested Candleflame Grass, slightly damaged, will be purchased for eight spirit coins."

After quoting the prices of the spiritual herbs in the three wooden boxes, Zhou Chun put the herbs back into the boxes and asked the man in black, "Fellow Daoist Lin, are you satisfied with my prices? Would you like to sell these spiritual herbs to my shop?"

"The price is indeed fair. It seems that Mr. Lin will be a frequent customer of your store from now on."

The man in black smiled slightly, revealing a satisfied expression.

Then he pushed the three wooden boxes in front of Zhou Chun and left with the twenty spirit coins Zhou Chun had given him.

After the man in black left, Zhou Jiasheng, who was sitting on a chair in the shop, got up and walked to the counter. In front of Zhou Chun, he opened the three wooden boxes and examined the three spiritual medicines again.

Then, looking at Zhou Chun, he said calmly, "The Yellow Sprout Ginseng is over sixty years old, so a price of seven spirit coins is normal."

"The silver thread orchid is mature and ready for medicinal use, and the price of five spirit coins is normal."

"The roots and stems of the Candleflame Grass have slight damage, resulting in some loss of medicinal efficacy. It's also difficult to preserve for long periods; it's worth at most seven spirit coins!"

At this point, he shook his head at Zhou Chun and said, "You're still too young. You need to learn and do more. Put that spirit coin on your tab for now!"

"Yes, nephew understands."

Zhou Chun responded and noted the transaction down in the ledger.

After the ledger was finished, he said softly, "Actually, I know that the Candle Flame Grass is not worth eight spirit coins, but the purchase price of the first two kinds of spiritual herbs is basically the same in each shop. Since that Fellow Daoist Lin still came to our Spirit Beast Hall under such circumstances, he is obviously not satisfied with the purchase price of the Candle Flame Grass in other shops."

"In that case, I personally believe that if we can offer him a discount of one spirit coin this time, so that he will give priority to our Spirit Beast Shop when selling spirit items in the future, then that spirit coin will be well spent!"

Zhou Jiasheng's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked at him with surprise.

After staring at Zhou Chun for a long while, he finally let out a long sigh with a complex expression: "I am not as good as you!!"

After saying that, he laughed self-deprecatingly and said, "I, Zhou Jiasheng, have lived for decades and always prided myself on being mature, prudent, and worldly-wise. I never expected to be taught a lesson by a young junior like you. How laughable!"

His feelings at that moment were so complex that they were hard to describe.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun quickly said, "Uncle Sixteen, you're too kind. There's nothing wrong with what you did in this matter. Don't you see that the shopkeepers and clerks of other shops do the same thing?"

He finished speaking with a slight wry smile and said, "My nephew's actions were merely opportunistic. Perhaps when that Fellow Daoist Lin comes again and sees there's no profit to be made, he won't come back!"

No, you don't need to comfort me.

Zhou Jiasheng shook his head, looking at him with a complicated expression, and stretched out his hand, saying, "Although I had opinions about what you did before, I'm not blind, and I can still distinguish between the facts and right and wrong!"

"You're absolutely right. If we can offer customers discounts that other shops don't have in these small details, we'll have a much better chance of winning their favor and making them choose us first when they buy spiritual items next time. Plus, it won't give other shops an excuse to cause us trouble!"

At this point, he said with complete conviction, "No wonder the clan leader insisted on sending you here for training. It seems he discovered your extraordinary insight and ingenious ideas long ago!"

From that day on, Zhou Jiasheng's attitude towards Zhou Chun changed significantly.

Even if he makes a mistake when appraising certain spiritual items later, he will not scold him with a sour face, but will calmly tell him where he went wrong and how to correct it.

In his spare time, he would even tell Zhou Chun some examples of how he had been cheated when he was learning his craft, so that Zhou Chun would know how to identify the methods of some experienced counterfeiters.

However, this means that Zhou Chun's plan to secretly acquire spiritual herbs will not have a chance to be put into action for the time being.

Fortunately, he wasn't in a particular hurry, and he calmly studied this knowledge every day.

As time passed, three months after Zhou Chun arrived in the market, his cultivation finally broke through to the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage after consuming the tenth Jade Ginseng Pill, officially entering the late stage of Qi Refining.

Unlike his previous cultivation advancements, which were all within the mid-stage of Qi Refining, this breakthrough in a minor realm brought Zhou Chun tremendous benefits.

First, his mana increased by nearly 60%, allowing him to fully activate the [Moon Blade Meteor Wheel], a first-tier high-grade magic weapon, for more than 15 minutes in battle.

Then his divine sense was also greatly enhanced, and the range of his divine sense detection jumped to more than eighty feet. He could control three or four magical artifacts at the same time without feeling any pressure.

At the same time, due to his breakthrough in cultivation, the power of the two secret techniques he had already learned, especially the "Five Elements Spirit Armor Technique," was also greatly enhanced.

And good things come in pairs.

Not long after the news of Zhou Chun's breakthrough in cultivation reached the family, the patriarch Zhou Daoyi promoted him to a core member of the family and Zhou Zhengyong to an elite member.

It turned out that after much bargaining and negotiation, the Crimson Iron Vein could finally be announced for mining.

After much discussion, the Crimson Iron Mine was jointly acquired and mined by five major cultivation families. The Zhou family, being the discoverer of the mine and able to provide Purple Mansion stage combat power to deter those who might covet it, was granted a 30% share of the mine's profits.

The Sun family of Jinfeng Ridge is closest to the mine and will provide a rest and supply area for the cultivators mining the mine free of charge. They are also willing to undertake part of the mining tasks and receive a 30% share of the mine's output profits.

The Wang family of Red Medicine Valley has a cultivator at the Purple Mansion stage who is willing to share the task of purifying and removing the turbid evil energy from half of the Crimson Iron Ore, in exchange for a 20% share of the mine's profits.

The Mu family of Biyun Mountain and the He family of Qingzhu Mountain, because they only shared the task of purifying and removing the turbid evil energy from the Crimson Iron Ore and providing military deterrence, each only received 10% of the mine's output profit.

After the five major cultivation families agreed on the profit distribution, they each sent people to the Sun family in Golden Maple Ridge to oversee and protect the mine.

At the same time, a large number of low-level independent cultivators were recruited to mine ore.

News of the appearance of this crimson iron ore vein quickly spread throughout the market.

In an instant, the entire cultivation world of Lanzhou was stirred up because of this mine.

"Recently, the cultivation world in Lanzhou has been quite a stir because of that mine. The clan leader said on Eagle News that we should also pay attention to the opinions of cultivators in the market about this matter."

"I need to stay here and oversee the shop. You, my nephew Zheng Chun, will take care of this matter."

Inside the Spirit Beast Pavilion, after reading the letter brought by the messenger eagle from the family, Zhou Jiasheng explained the situation to Zhou Chun.

The Zhou family's trained communication eagles can travel thousands of miles to deliver messages.

Moreover, apart from taking off and landing, the flying eagles fly at altitudes of over a thousand feet. Unless a Foundation Establishment cultivator or a flying demon beast takes action, it is difficult to intercept such a flying eagle.

Therefore, the market area can exchange correspondence with the Jiufengling family every ten days, exchanging information that does not require much secrecy.

Because of the array formation in the market, the flying eagles cannot enter. Usually, Zhou Chun would temporarily leave the market at fixed times to go to the mountaintop outside and use signals to notify the circling flying eagles to land, and to send and receive letters.

Upon hearing Zhou Jiasheng's words, he was moved and immediately replied, "I understand. Then I'll have to trouble you, Uncle Sixteen, with the matters in the shop."

(End of this chapter)