Chapter 38: Actually Running a Wholesale Business Now

Although Lu City's bird market is named for birds, it doesn't just sell birds; standing at the street entrance, one can already see its classic antique district appearance.

Each shop displays shelves lined with porcelain, seals, clay figurines, and wood carvings; along the roadside, vendors spread out coarse cloth to display a few ancient artifacts awaiting inquiries, with only a handful of shops featuring flowers, birds, fish, and insects, adding a touch of vitality to this street saturated with antiques.

Feng Xue used his over-the-shoulder vision to scan each shopkeeper's head, searching among their varying lifespans for those with long lives; this world has a system of Merit and Evil Karma, and no matter how it operates, the principle of good and evil receiving their due remains inescapable.

Under such circumstances, if a person enjoys a long lifespan, it is either due to cultivation or accumulated virtue; in an antique street like this, one is far more likely to obtain genuine items from such individuals.

Thinking of this, Feng Xue recalled his quest to collect secret manuals; whether due to proximity or shared lineage, the spell Liu Aunt gave him was nearly identical to Ninth Aunt's, even lacking the 【Hutian】 and 【Yan Dao】 techniques, but adding a protective spell called 【Jin Shen Zhou】.

Feng Xue then visited other rice shops, but either they only accepted disciples or offered only these few spells, leading Feng Xue to realize that, at least in this area, the offerings available to shamans were limited to these.

"Still, I've acquired a new manual—maybe I can ask around elsewhere; who knows, I might find something?"

Optimistically thinking this, Feng Xue's gaze suddenly flickered—he had barely passed by, yet he keenly sensed a lifespan exceeding the norm by one digit.

Six digits—even if the first digit was only 1, that still meant three or four hundred years of remaining life!

Without hesitation, he turned back and saw a large armchair placed before a shop, where an elderly man with white hair and a youthful face sat calmly, holding a small red-clay teapot in one hand, a vintage record player beside him emitting faint, warbling opera melodies, his crossed leg bobbing gently to the rhythm, radiating the aura of a hermit amidst the bustling crowd.

Feng Xue thought, This must be him, and immediately walked over—yet before he could speak, the old man, without looking up, said:

"Prices are all marked. Take what you like. No haggling!"

Feng Xue glanced at the price tags on the shelves, his brow twitching—this was yellow field stone, this was Hetian jade; casually priced at over ten strings each. If the quality was high, some items were even more expensive than the spirit ghost in his pocket. Such astonishing prices, displayed openly on a leaky, open-air shelf, explained why passersby all kept their distance.

Come on—if there was even a single trap on this shelf, you'd be ruined the moment you brushed past, regardless of whether the goods were real or fake.

A disrespectful thought flitted through his mind, but Feng Xue had no intention of beating around the bush—he said directly:

"Elder, I wish to purchase some Jade Seals for cultivation. Quality need not be high, but I need large quantities. Where might I acquire them?"

Hearing Feng Xue's question, the old man—whose face showed not a single wrinkle despite his white hair—slightly lifted his gaze, his eyes lingering for an instant on Feng Xue's waist and fingers, then replied:

"You don't seem short on cash. Planning to make Jade Talismans or practice 【Eat Jade】? Your current level is too shallow—practicing it would do more harm than good."

Feng Xue had encountered the term 【Eat Jade】 in the 【Ingestion】 method—it required entry into the Dao to cultivate, forging jade bones and extending lifespan, one of the techniques on his mandatory list.

But it was still too early to discuss it now; he merely shook his head and said:

"Just making some protective items."

"You're young—don't talk so stiffly. Jade Talismans are Jade Talismans. I've seen everything. Your level doesn't need top-grade material—go to Nanshanju next door, fetch a hundred jin of scrap, carve it yourself. Don't forget to ask them for a copy of 【Jie Yu】."

The old man spoke with evident impatience; Feng Xue immediately bowed, then reached for a banknote to pay the customary consultation fee.

But the old man waved his hand:

"No need. I can tell you're someone with ambition. Who knows? In a hundred years, you might come to me as a customer."

"Then I accept your auspicious words," Feng Xue thought, realizing this was likely a major figure—he turned and walked toward the shop nearby bearing the sign 【Nanshanju】.

As if having already witnessed Feng Xue's exchange with the elder, the plump shopkeeper approached without waiting for a clerk to speak, smiling warmly. Feng Xue glanced at the man's lifespan—also around a hundred years.

The shopkeeper seemed to notice the shift in Feng Xue's gaze. Though unaware of what Feng Xue had perceived, since the old man had deigned to speak to him, this youth was clearly no ordinary person. The shopkeeper immediately lowered his tone from that of a senior to a more equal one: "Young brother, what are you looking for?"

"Just give me some scraps suitable for carving Jade Seals or Jade Talismans. And…," Feng Xue hesitated, unsure how to request the book without appearing to ride on the old man's reputation.

Fortunately, the shopkeeper had clearly encountered similar situations before—he immediately pulled out a small booklet:

"I understand, I understand. This one, right? Scrap's worthless—sold by the jin, ten wen per jin. Buy more, get more free!"

"Damn, you're really running a wholesale business!" Feng Xue thought internally, yet couldn't judge whether the price was high or low—his modern-world pricing sense had been thoroughly scrambled by this world's economy. If ten buns cost a jin, it was cheap; but considering a villa could be rented for three hundred wen a month—well, unless the jade was all fragments, discolored, dirty, or stiff, the price was fairly normal.

Even discounting the old man's suggestion of cultivating good will, simply due to the shopkeeper's status as a major figure, Feng Xue had to pay—might as well treat it as protection money!

After all, he wasn't short on cash!

Thinking this, Feng Xue pulled out three strings of cash:

"Give me three hundred jin!"

"Got it! Wait a moment! Hey you, go to the back courtyard and bring three sacks of scrap!"

At the shopkeeper's command, several clerks hurried to the back courtyard and returned moments later, carrying three coarse sacks. The boss opened each one, displaying the scattered jade scraps to Feng Xue:

"Three hundred jin, not a li less. Need me to deliver them to your lodging?"

"No need. Just set them down." Feng Xue glanced at the jade's quality and knew the price was far too low—he didn't care about weight discrepancies, waved his hand, and summoned all three sacks into his 【Hutian】 bag.

The boss blinked in surprise but wasn't overly shocked; instead, he reached to the nearby shelf and took a small green jade sword, two fingers wide and the length of a palm, offering it to Feng Xue with the hilt facing him:

"I said more buys get more gifts—you saved me delivery fees. This little thing is a bonus. The material's mediocre, but useful in many rituals."

Happy New Year's Eve! Don't forget to vote at month's end!

PS: Regarding Core Techniques, normal people lack sufficient Qi. Before entering the Dao, they rarely even use spells, because restoring Qi requires sacrificing lifespan. Thus, most Xuan cultivators before entering the Dao possess only the Qi naturally generated by their soul during cultivation.

Under such conditions, even if one were to refine a Core Artifact, it would only be nourished at the rate of natural Qi recovery—taking years or even decades to complete one artifact, let alone splitting the refinement.

As for cultivation, most newcomers don't practice spells at all—they learn them, but don't train, because they lack Qi. The protagonist is unusual—he wanted to use spells even as a beginner, hence the need to practice control.

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(End of Chapter)