Chapter 100: My Surname is Yuan

A simple Yuan Yuan Dan made Zheng Fa realize his very real poverty.

According to Sister Zhang's record in the "Foundation Establishment Method of Talisman Dao," condensing each talisman in the dantian requires swallowing pills—and likely due to drug resistance, the number of pills needed increases.

Before reaching the third level of Qi Refining, one Yuan Yuan Dan can condense one talisman.

But after condensing three talismans, two Yuan Yuan Dan are needed.

For the final four talismans, one must swallow three Yuan Yuan Dan.

Zheng Fa roughly calculated that mastering this Foundation Establishment Method would require three to four hundred spirit stones.

At this price, Zheng Fa greatly doubted how Sister Zhang could have achieved Foundation Establishment before.

Oh, she is truly a Nascent Soul disciple; then there is no problem.

Stepping out of the Nine Turns Pavilion, Zheng Fa walked toward the market at the valley entrance—wanting to earn spirit stones, the only path he could think of now was selling talismans.

He needed to conduct a market survey.

The market is the liveliest place in the Jiushan Sect.

The not-narrow street was packed with a crowd rubbing shoulders and elbows.

From the shops on both sides came the rising and falling shouts of clerks.

They sold everything.

Spirit artifacts, pills, magical treasures, spirit herbs...

Even some very obscure items:

Zheng Fa saw a shop selling puppets; the puppets inside, how to put it—very human-like, very beautiful, very sparing on fabric.

They did not look like proper puppets at all.

He walked to the entrance of a small shop selling pills and asked, "Does your shop sell Yuan Yuan Dan?"

The shop owner looked at Zheng Fa for a long time: "Yuan Yuan Dan? The one sold for twenty spirit stones at the Nine Turns Pavilion?"

"Yes."

The shop owner smiled self-deprecatingly: "The most expensive pill in my small shop is only one spirit stone per pill; for rare pills like Yuan Yuan Dan... even if I had them for sale, would you dare to eat them?"

"..."

Indeed, one cannot swallow pills recklessly; the money saved is not much, but one might lose a life.

He strolled around the market; the items sold in the shops here were indeed not high in price.

The highest unit price was only one or two spirit stones.

Compared to the Yuan Yuan Dan costing twenty spirit stones, these were very good quality and cheap.

What made Zheng Fa feel strange was that there were no shops selling talismans in this market, not a single one.

Walking to the end of the market, he finally saw that the market was not just the few rows of houses in front—there was also a place resembling a flea market.

Rows of stalls, like adjacent squares, extended neatly from the market to the riverside.

The items sold on the stalls were of all kinds.

Broken magical artifacts.

Spirit herbs of unknown freshness.

Books piled up messily.

The only common point was—they all looked worthless.

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

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

The most numerous stalls in the market were those selling talismans; at least six out of ten sold this thing.

... The talisman-selling trade seems a bit competitive.

Zheng Fa walked around and found that the business at the talisman stalls was obviously worse than other stalls; almost no one was there—even the meat flatbread stall had a queue!

He squatted beside a talisman stall and looked at the talisman paper displayed on the stall.

They were all ordinary-quality Yellow-grade talismans, and the types were very common.

The stall owner, who had been idly slumped on a small reclining chair, seeing a customer finally arrive, immediately stood up and asked enthusiastically, "Senior Brother, what do you want?"

"What are the prices for these?"

"Jin Jiafu, fifteen sheets for one spirit stone."

"Spirit Eye Talisman, twenty sheets for one spirit stone."

"Earth Escape Talisman, ten sheets for one spirit stone."

"..."

Listening to his introduction, Zheng Fa calculated that the production cost for a skilled talisman master was about thirty sheets per spirit stone; here, the prices for Yellow-grade talismans were roughly between ten and twenty sheets per spirit stone.

About half profit.

Seems not so bad?

Seeing him silent, the stall owner thought he found it expensive: "Senior Brother, do not think your junior brother here is quoting random prices. My stall also requires rent; for every transaction, I must pay money to the Jiushan Sect..."

"... What is your profit margin on this business?"

Zheng Fa asked.

The stall owner made a bitter face: "Ten percent profit."

"..."

That is to say, selling over three hundred talismans is needed to earn one spirit stone.

Looking at the desolate business at this stall, how long would it take to sell those three hundred talismans?

"To be honest with you, if I had not been momentarily confused and rented this stall from a senior brother, I would never have been willing to do this business." The stall owner pointed to the surrounding talisman-selling stalls: "There are too many talisman masters in the Jiushan Sect!"

Zheng Fa glanced at the surroundings.

He finally understood why there were no shops selling talismans in the market district—slightly higher rent would be crushed by these stalls.

The stall owner looked Zheng Fa up and down, seeming to think he didn't want to buy talismans; frowning for a moment, he said, "You don't also want to do this business, do you?"

Zheng Fa nodded lightly, feeling a bit embarrassed at being seen through.

"A new disciple?"

"Yes."

"... So you are a junior brother. Listen to your senior brother's advice: first settle your heart and practice drawing talismans well—then wade into this muddy water." The stall owner, hearing he was new, knew there was no profit to be had, immediately flopped back lazily onto his chair, and pointed at Zheng Fa: "Every new disciple is poor and wants to set up a stall here—yet very few can last three months. This business is not for new disciples to meddle in."

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

"Zheng Shidi?"

Before Zheng Fa could speak, a slightly puzzled voice came from afar. Zheng Fa looked up; it was Han Qi and the other two.

"Han Shixiong."

"Zheng Shidi, this is..." Han Qi looked at the talisman stall before Zheng Fa, somewhat confused: "Do you still need to buy these things?"

The senior brother running the stall heard this and grew a bit angry.

"What do you mean? I've worked in this market district for ten years, I have a name and reputation... Who doesn't say my talismans are drawn well!"

"... " Han Qi glanced at him, his expression somewhat strange: "Zheng Shidi is a perfectly fine mystic-grade talisman master; why would he buy your yellow-grade talismans?"

"?"

"What is Zheng Shidi doing today?"

"Wanting to earn some spirit stones." Zheng Fa asked an extra question: "Senior Brother, do you know the market price for mystic-grade talismans?"

"Mystic-grade talismans?" Han Qi thought for a moment and said, "The price is hard to say, but it's basically ten times the price of yellow-grade talismans."

Zheng Fa felt slightly relieved in his heart.

Just now, seeing the situation in the market district, Zheng Fa had been quite worried in his heart.

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

At this price for mystic-grade talismans, if he drew a hundred talismans a month, he should still be able to earn ten or twenty spirit stones.

"Is Junior Brother... short of money?" Han Qi hesitated for a moment and asked.

"What kind of words are those..." Zheng Fa looked at him: "Doesn't Senior Brother lack them?"

He still remembered this person's operation of scamming new disciples on the boat.

Han Qi seemed to have thought of this too, let out a dry laugh, and then appeared somewhat conflicted.

The group wandered around the market once more, then walked toward the market district exit. A small building with its door half-closed caught Zheng Fa's attention.

This small building was in an excellent location, right at an exit of the market district; if a shop were opened here, business would probably be good.

But the door of this small building was ajar, and two men guarded the entrance; not only did they have no intention of welcoming guests, they seemed to be preventing anyone from entering accidentally.

"That is the office of the Huang Guanshi of the market district." Han Qi followed his gaze, seeming to know his confusion: "If disputes arise within the market district, people will be sent here to handle them. I heard the room inside is where the market district accounts are kept; ordinary people cannot enter. You should also be careful—Zheng Shidi, don't think he is just a Huang Guanshi, but the market district is the foundation of our Jiushan Sect."

Zheng Fa nodded; he understood Han Qi's meaning.

Now that the Baixian Alliance has enjoyed a thousand years of peace, commerce has instead developed extraordinarily.

Just looking at the flow of people in the market district shows that most of Jiushan Sect's revenue probably comes from here.

The position of the market district Huang Guanshi carries a certain meaning of low rank but great power.

"Has Senior Brother never seen the face of this Huang Guanshi?"

"No." Han Qi said, "But I heard this Huang Guanshi is often not here; he is a hands-off manager."

As the two walked past the front of the small building, Zheng Fa suddenly heard someone call his name: "Zheng Fa?"

"?"

Zheng Fa looked up; a window on the second floor opened, and Yuan Shijie's face poked out from inside. She waved at Zheng Fa: "Come up!"

"... " Zheng Fa turned his head to glance at Han Qi beside him.

"Yuan Shijie?" he asked somewhat hesitantly, "Can I enter this place?"

"What can or cannot? This place is under my management!" Yuan Shijie, seeing him dawdle, grew a bit impatient: "I need to see you for something!"

The two disciples at the door exchanged glances, stepped aside to the left and right, and Shen Shi Yi for Zheng Fa to enter.

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

Han Qi, behind him, originally dared not enter, but those two disciples probably thought they were together; they kept staring at him, and seeing him not move, grew impatient and urged: "We told you to go in!"

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

On the second floor of the small building was a study that looked like it was used for official business; inside stood a large table—on the table lay a pile of account books haphazardly arranged.

Yuan Shijie's gaze at the account books seemed to be sparking fire.

"Yuan Shijie?"

Zheng Fa was somewhat puzzled about why she had summoned him, but then he saw Yuan Shijie suddenly look up, her eyes full of resentment.

"?"

"It's you who gave those problems to Zhang Shijie, isn't it?" she asked in a low, mournful voice.

"... Yes."

Crack!

"So she looks down on my account books! So many! All of them I have to calculate!" Yuan Shijie slapped her hand on the account books: "She said they were too simple! This! Where! Is! It! Simple!"

"... "

Zheng Fa understood; because of those problems, Zhang Shijie's happiness threshold had risen.

So Yuan Shijie's calculator, used exclusively for slacking off—had gone on strike!

The former hands-off manager Yuan Shijie could only crouch here and calculate bitterly.

Sister Yuan glared fiercely at Zheng Fa for a long moment, then suddenly looked at Han Qi behind him, as if something occurred to her, and her expression grew even angrier.

"Han Qi?"

"Sister?"

Han Qi's face showed a hint of surprise; after all, this market manager was a big shot in his eyes, yet she actually knew him?

"You and Zheng Fa have a pretty good relationship?"

Han Qi's eyes darted around.

It seemed Zheng Fa was quite familiar with this Sister...

That deserves praise!

"The first time I met Zheng Shidi, I felt he was a dragon among men and admired him greatly!"

"So Zheng Shidi is better than me, right?"

"?"

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

"Sister Yu... an?"

Han Qi shuddered, recalling how this person had seen him and Zheng Fa chatting and laughing downstairs just now.

Suddenly, he felt a panic akin to being caught in the act of adultery.

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

The three of them, Han Qi included, listened with pale faces.

"Well, you did steal them."

The three of them, Han Qi included: "?"

"But stealing from Sister Zhang... that's a bit much!"

Sister Yuan looked at Zheng Fa as if he were a greedy mistress who had dug out her wall.