Chapter 56: Something

Seeing the pigeon fly off, Yulou considered his words before speaking.

“Cousin Rong, I have a half-baked idea I’d like your guidance on.”

Wang Rongsheng nodded in surprise and said.

“You needn’t be so formal, Yulou—speak freely.”

Yulou was a prodigy the clan chief favored, worthy of the title “Qilin Son of the Wang Clan.”

Thus, despite his higher cultivation and greater age, Wang Rongsheng held Yulou in high regard.

This respect was earned step by step through Yulou’s own wisdom.

“Whether my plan to promote the Baibao Pavilion through horse racing is successful remains uncertain, so I’ve thought of a new idea.”

Hearing Yulou had another new idea, Wang Rongsheng felt a quiet exasperation.

Business thrives on genuine goods and honest conduct; even when innovating, one must prioritize stability and minimize risk.

Yet this young man constantly schemes for novelty.

It wasn’t strange—within this cage-like cultivation world, Yulou saw the only viable path forward as clinging tightly to his clan.

Only if the clan thrived could he benefit.

If the clan faltered, his frail frame would struggle to survive in this cruel world.

Thus, the sooner the Baibao Pavilion was established, the better the Wang Clan’s prospects would become.

And Yulou’s own future would grow wider and smoother.

That’s why he was so desperate to act, to change the present and confront an unpredictable future.

Wang Rongsheng had reservations about Yulou’s urgency but hesitated to voice them outright.

After all, Yulou held no direct conflict of interest with him, so he merely smiled and asked.

“Oh? What idea?”

Yulou didn’t notice the resistance in Wang Rongsheng’s gaze—he assumed his cousin still valued him highly.

“Cousin, I plan to launch a special blind-box gambling event at the Baibao Pavilion to stimulate customer spending.”

Hearing the word “gambling,” Wang Rongsheng grew even more wary.

“Gambling? That’s dangerous. The Wang Clan doesn’t lack for small sums—we must proceed with caution.”

“Also, what exactly do you mean by… blind box?”

“Here’s the thing: the highest-cultivation customers in Qingxi Alley are merely Qi Refining stage.”

Most are cultivators from small families or lone cultivators, and overall, they’re quite poor.

Yet they often attend the horse races, and many have developed the habit of betting on them.

So I devised a unique sales method—I call it ‘gambling blind box’—we simply need to…”

As Yulou explained, Wang Rongsheng understood his intent, pondered long and hard, then spoke.

“Yulou, is this idea your own, or did some dubious cultivator suggest it to you?”

Hearing this, Yulou was startled.

He realized his cousin didn’t trust him.

“Cousin, this idea may seem unorthodox.”

“But from the customer’s perspective, every item inside the Baibao Pavilion’s blind box is worth at least half the spirit stones paid.”

This gives buyers psychological security; and if they draw a high-value item, they stand to profit greatly.

Though called ‘gambling blind box,’ it differs fundamentally from gambling where one loses everything.

I certainly don’t associate with dubious cultivators—this blind box concept is entirely my own.”

Appointed by the clan chief, Wang Rongsheng now served as the Wang Clan’s steward in Qingxi Alley, with authority over all its assets there.

Without Wang Rongsheng’s approval, his plan couldn’t be implemented at the Baibao Pavilion.

So Yulou answered with great care and thoroughness.

“Yulou, I do trust you—but how do you guarantee the blind box sales won’t lose money?”

“If we profit, it means the customers lose.”

“After losing once or twice, perhaps thrice, they’ll stop buying—then the blind box sales won’t last.”

“If we don’t profit, and give all the gains to customers, sales might surge—but what’s the point for us?”

Wang Rongsheng’s logic was simple: Yulou’s plan sounded plausible but was fundamentally a zero-sum game—someone always lost.

“Cousin, I’m just discussing this with you. All endeavors involve profit and loss—if you disagree, consider it unmentioned.”

Yulou sighed.

“Do less, make fewer mistakes; do more, make more mistakes—this truth holds everywhere.”

He’d merely proposed a plan, yet Wang Rongsheng questioned him.

To act was never simple.

The risk of failure, the pressure from superiors—both were unavoidable.

But perhaps one of his words had moved Wang Rongsheng, for this cousin, whom Yulou barely knew, finally gave his approval.

“Very well—I’ll let you use Baibao Pavilion’s spirit stones to run one trial blind box event.”

“If it works, we continue.”

“If it fails, we stop after one round—what do you say?”

Yulou had no choice but to agree.

What he didn’t know was that at that decisive moment, Wang Rongsheng wasn’t thinking about whether the event would succeed or whether the Baibao Pavilion would profit or lose.

The event’s outcome and the Baibao Pavilion’s profits meant nothing to Wang Rongsheng.

Yulou was the shopkeeper—if trouble arose, it was Big-Headed Wang Yulou who’d bear the responsibility.

Wang Rongsheng’s real concern was whether Yulou intended to use Baibao Pavilion’s public funds to buy the Purple Copper Breaking Staff from him.

Hence the new scheme—to persuade him.

After all, Yulou was the Baibao Pavilion’s chief manager; purchasing the Purple Copper Breaking Staff would go through the official ledger between Baibao Pavilion and Huafeng Workshop—procedurally sound. Why should Wang Rongsheng interfere?

The Wang Clan had already provided him with sufficient resources to reach Qi Refining’s peak. Wang Rongsheng’s top priority now was cultivation—he had no reason to make enemies.

Haven’t you heard: Never bully the young, only the old!

The next day, Qingxi Alley, Wang Clan’s Baibao Pavilion.

“You’re sure this method will work?”

Bai Lu, dragged here by Yulou, stared at the wooden boxes on the counter, her tone brimming with doubt.

As an orphan raised by others, she had no lack of courage to question Yulou.

She asked this only because she feared his attempt would fail.

As a noble scion of the Wang Clan, Yulou and Yuan had never looked down on her—they treated her as a friend.

From a friend’s perspective, Bai Lu was deeply worried.

“Cultivators and ordinary people differ greatly, yet in human nature, many things are the same.”

Ordinary people crave greed—beauty, wealth, status…

Cultivators also harbor delusions—fantasizing about divine fortune, eternal life…

As long as the chance exists, everyone believes they might be the chosen one.”

Among thousands of cultivators in Qingxi Alley, and tens of thousands in its sphere of influence, could there really be a shortage of greedy fools?

The Baibao Pavilion’s blind boxes cost twenty spirit stones each, containing at least four different talismans worth ten spirit stones on the market.

If some fool got lucky and drew the Purple Copper Breaking Staff, he could make a fortune.

After the Red Lamp’s harvest, all magic tools had skyrocketed in price—the four-layer-restricted Purple Copper Breaking Staff was worth at least eighty spirit stones.

Buy one, profit fourfold!

(The five-layer-restricted Purple Copper Bead was priced at sixty spirit stones by Wu Jinyan—but he was lowballing, and bead-shaped tools lacked prestige, hence the low price.)

Yulou believed: if so many were willing to bet on horse racing, someone would surely buy blind boxes!

If unsold within ten days, once Yang Qi’s advertisements launched for the next horse race, the accumulated stock of blind boxes would be cleared by horse-racing gamblers.

That was the true source of his confidence in proposing the blind box plan to Wang Rongsheng!

Wang Yulou wasn’t an idiot—he wouldn’t launch a blind activity!

“Do you think you’re the chosen one?”

Bai Lu didn’t know how seriously Yulou had prepared—she was merely curious how a Wang Clan scion viewed himself.

Yulou paused, then chuckled bitterly.

“The chosen one? Hah! Which chosen one loses both parents young, then grows up in such a wretched era?”

Perhaps Wang Clan scions seem lucky to you—but before true power, the Wang Clan is merely a slightly larger ant.”

Wang Xianmao feared Yulou’s brilliance would harm him, but his worry was unnecessary.

Yulou knew his path, knew how to act—he would not be lost.

Since this world was cruel, and the Ten Sects of the Immortal Alliance squeezed the marrow from bones,

then he would climb to the summit—where no one could ever oppress or control him.

Cultivate. Cultivate amid the mortal world. Cultivate amid peril. Cultivate in solitude.

Since he’d come to a world where immortality and godhood were possible, Wang Yulou had no intention of wasting his life at the bottom.

He wasn’t sure if he had great ambition—but he had the courage to face the climb.

That was enough. Enough to begin.

But how to begin?

Start by running the Baibao Pavilion well and solidifying my position within the Wang clan!

“A bigger ant? How could that be?”

Bai Lu could not see the eternal Day of Immortality, and thus could not comprehend how the Ancestral Master Mangxiang had drained the Red Lantern Sect dry to prove his path to the Golden Core.

In her eyes, the Wang clan was not an ant at all—it was one of the thickest thighs in Qingxi Alley, the Foundation Establishment immortal clan that wandering cultivators looked up to.

“Hahaha, enough of that. Come on, place all the blind boxes on the shelves in front of the counter, and open the doors—hope we get more customers today.”

Yulou gave the order, and Bai Lu and the clerks scrambled into action—some opened the doors, others organized the inventory.

Morning sunlight streamed through the Baibao Pavilion’s entrance, gilding the jade-paved floor, and customers began to trickle in.

Yulou did not approach customers to push the blind boxes; instead, he watched as Bai Lu and the others handled them.

He was the shopkeeper—he couldn’t do everything himself. Delegating tasks appropriately gave him the time he needed to cultivate.

Although the upper limit of daily Qi Refining for the Qi Gathering stage was locked by higher cultivators, Yulou still had many areas to refine beyond increasing his cultivation base.

To Yulou’s surprise, today’s customers were even more numerous than yesterday’s, and those who entered the Baibao Pavilion refused to leave.

They didn’t examine the goods or call for clerks—they simply stood before the timed auction platforms, staring at the items on display without moving.

Apparently, these customers had been watching the Baibao Pavilion’s timed auction for a while, unwilling to bid early, waiting until the final day to arrive.

How to put it? This behavior had the same charm as wandering through a supermarket, lingering by the seafood section, waiting for the fish to flip belly-up.

Yulou’s unease melted away.

Since taking charge as head shopkeeper of the Baibao Pavilion, both of his initiatives—the Trio Nine-Discount Group and the Timed Auction—had succeeded.

Look at the crowd gathered before the timed auction platform—the traffic-driving effect was visibly excellent.

With such feedback, Yulou’s confidence in the blind box campaign grew even stronger.