Chapter 2: Five Yuan a Month

The next day, early morning.

Luo Chen woke up early and packed the pills from the cutting board into five jade bottles, ten pills per bottle.

He put on his only decent low-grade dharma robe, grabbed his low-grade flying sword, and hurried out the door.

He had to get into the city early; otherwise, once the sun was up, the better stalls for rogue cultivators would be taken.

Perhaps due to the heavy rain that had fallen all day yesterday, the roads in the outer city were quite muddy.

The closer one got to the center of the outer city, the more intense the smell became—a mixture of excrement, medicinal herbs, humans, and demonic beasts.

Especially with the damp, earthy scent mixed in, the sensation was truly hard to bear.

But Luo Chen was already used to it.

An hour later, he arrived at the city gate.

Upon entering the inner city, Luo Chen couldn't help but take a deep breath.

As expected, the air in the inner city was much better!

"I heard the inner city is built on a first-grade spirit vein, which is quite beneficial for the cultivation of Qi Refining stage cultivators."

"When I have money in the future, I must buy a house in the inner city!"

Secretly encouraging himself, Luo Chen headed straight for the rogue cultivator area in the southwest corner.

In front of a bluestone slab, more than half of which was covered with yellow talisman paper and animal hides, an old man was busy at work.

He finished arranging the hides, stood up to stretch, and happened to see Luo Chen arrive.

"Fellow Daoist Luo, you're a bit later than me this time."

The old man’s name was Chen Xiuping, a sixth-level Qi Refining cultivator and a veteran of the Dahe Market.

He had lived here for decades, making a living by crafting talismans, and he also possessed a decent skill in tanning talisman hides.

Given his income level, he could actually barely afford to rent a place in the inner city.

However, the old man was a bit stingy; he would rather live in a wooden shack in the outer city for one low-grade spirit stone a month than pay ten times the price for a stone house in the inner city.

He even calculated his stall expenses down to the last detail.

Stalls in the rogue cultivator area required rent paid to the market management.

One stall cost one spirit stone per month.

The large stall space was enough that, if they squeezed in, there was still about half a square meter left after displaying the talismans and hides.

He simply offered that half-square meter to Luo Chen, and the two of them split the rent.

Was Luo Chen getting the short end of the stick?

Not necessarily. If he rented another stall, he would have to pay one spirit stone a month.

Besides, not many cultivators liked sharing a stall with others.

So, Luo Chen didn't really lose out, but Old Man Chen definitely profited.

After a brief greeting, Luo Chen set out his goods in front of the stall.

Twenty bottles of Bigu Pills!

Seeing the quantity, Old Man Chen couldn't help but be surprised. "Fellow Daoist Luo, your alchemy skills have improved again!"

It was no wonder he said that.

Luo Chen usually came to set up his stall once every seven days, about four or five times a month.

Each time, he would sell about fifteen or sixteen bottles of Bigu Pills.

This time, he had brought out a full twenty bottles!

It was clear that he had made significant progress in refining Bigu Pills.

In reality, that was indeed the case.

In seven days, excluding the day spent at the stall and buying materials, he had six days left—half for processing materials and half for alchemy.

In other words, he only had three days of actual refining time.

Previously, Luo Chen would push himself to the limit to finish two batches a day, yielding about five bottles of Bigu Pills, as the material wastage rate was quite high.

But yesterday, his Bigu Pill refining technique had advanced from Perfect proficiency to Grandmaster level.

That final batch alone had yielded five bottles!

Combined with some good luck and reduced wastage, he had managed to scrape together twenty bottles this time.

"Not at all, just practice makes perfect!" Luo Chen smiled modestly, though there was a hint of pride in his eyes.

Having just reached Grandmaster-level proficiency in Bigu Pill refining was, after all, something to be proud of.

Chen Xiuping shook his head. "There are a few other fellow daoists who sell Bigu Pills, but none of them can produce twenty bottles in five days like you."

As he spoke, he reached out toward the nearest bottle.

"You didn't mix in flour to make up the numbers, did you? As your senior, I have to keep an eye on things for you; don't go ruining the reputation of our stall."

Luo Chen watched him with a chuckle, already picking up a talisman covered in red lines.

"I heard that last time someone bought your Qi-Concealing Talisman, it didn't work, and they got their backside bitten by a demonic beast. Perhaps I should take one back to study it for you; we can't have you ruining our stall's reputation!"

Old Man Chen panicked. Ignoring the pills in his hand, he hurriedly snatched the talisman back from Luo Chen.

"You sell five bottles of Bigu Pills for one spirit stone, and you have the nerve to trade them for my three-spirit-stone Qi-Concealing Talisman!"

"Give it back! Give it back!"

Luo Chen watched with a smile as the old man carefully placed the talisman in the most prominent spot.

The Qi-Concealing Talisman was Old Man Chen's flagship product!

Among his low-grade talismans, which usually sold for one spirit stone each, this was the most expensive, starting at three low-grade spirit stones.

In fact, the Qi-Concealing Talisman was also the best-selling, especially for those cultivators who went into the mountains to hunt demonic beasts.

A spirit talisman that could mask one's blood aura for an hour could save a life at a critical moment; its value was no less than that of many defensive talismans.

Sometimes, Luo Chen actually envied Old Man Chen.

Selling a single talisman earned at least one spirit stone, and he easily cleared over a hundred a month!

Unlike himself.

In the past, he would work himself to the bone to bring in twelve spirit stones a month, and after deducting costs, he would only have six or seven left.

If he then deducted half a spirit stone for rent, half for the stall fee, and one for daily food and drink, he would only have four or five left.

And that was only after a year of transmigrating and grinding hard to save money.

It was hard to imagine what kind of life the original owner had lived in the early days.

But the envy was only fleeting.

Luo Chen knew very well that each of the four main arts of cultivation had its own difficulties.

Alchemy relied on volume and had higher profit margins, but the difficulty lay in mastering the various pill formulas; one never knew how many batches would be wasted from entry-level to proficiency.

Talisman crafting relied on quality; every talisman was said to condense the cultivator's entire essence, energy, and spirit during the drawing process. A single mistake meant total failure.

Moreover, talisman masters often didn't live very long—no one knew why.

Take Chen Xiuping, for example; he looked old, but he was actually only in his sixties—well, that did seem quite old.

However, since Qi Refining cultivators could theoretically live to be 120 or 130, sixty-something was still considered "young."

Switching to become a talisman master was impossible; he could never spend his whole life doing "homework" like that.

He’d rather stick to alchemy and rolling pills.

Besides, Luo Chen knew his own situation: his newly attained Grandmaster-level Bigu Pill refining technique meant his income would double from here on out.

Although a monthly income of ten stones was still not enough to support a long-term cultivation path (net income), at least things were moving in the right direction.

And, he could start a new project soon, couldn't he?

Just as Luo Chen was filled with beautiful hopes for the future, Old Man Chen tugged on his sleeve.

"Business is here!"

(End of chapter)