Chapter 169: The Way of the Wealth God

Xu Jia chatted with the Daoist from Shanju Guan as he walked: "How do Earth Immortal True Persons dwell in the world? It is because their Primordial Origin is leakless, hence they enjoy longevity and long-lasting vision. Only they steal the Qi of all things for their own use; no external things can steal their Qi, unless it is Heaven and Earth."

Meanwhile, he led the people toward the Jin Chan Miao.

The golden toad sat in the temple and grumbled to Xu Jia: "Great Immortal, these wicked people still owe the Yin Treasury; how could they possibly fill it for us!"

Xu Jia pacified him: "It will become an industry soon. These people are free to use anyway, and there is no need to pay them."

The Jingzhu Daoren recognized this evil Treasure Basin: "How could the True Person offer this thing up?"

"This thing has already been enlightened by the Wealth God; the evil wealth has turned into righteous wealth, so there is no need to worry."

"How many acres of fields have been opened now?"

"These lazybones are all just slacking off. When Xiao Jinchan makes a fuss, they can't do anything; when Xiao Jinchan doesn't make a fuss, they don't work. If the fuss is light, they can endure it; if it's heavy, they just lie on the ground and roll around. They only move when whipped."

Xu Jia said: "Right now, it's all a punishment mechanism forcing them to work, with no reward mechanism. You have treated them all as your slaves. Although these things are bastards, they still have some human rights. You can try to divide them: reward those who work more and work well, and even make their status higher than others—for example, turn four hours of work a day into three hours. As for the others who don't cooperate, you make them go from four hours a day to five."

"Also, give them one day off every seven days, so they don't actually get worked to death, or there will be no one left to work."

"Great Immortal, you are truly wise!" The golden toad recorded this idea.

"These are just the wisdom of those who came before."

Xu Jia did not intend to use this reclaimed land to grow food; it would most likely be used to grow medicinal herbs or the like.

If one wanted to grow paddy rice, water sources would be a major problem. There were only small streams here, and building irrigation canals would be another massive project.

If only growing medicine, Xu Jia had Qiu Jinsha under his seat, as well as Jingchi from Di Gou Quan. In ten days or half a month, even if they couldn't summon clouds and rain, creating a humid wind, combined with casting a layer of mist Qi, could keep the soil moist enough so it wouldn't dry out and die.

"How much Wealth Treasury have you accumulated now?"

"Not even half. However, among these people are thugs from casinos. They are plotting to trick the casino owners into coming here. Those who can run casinos must have heavy windfall wealth; we can make a big profit from them."

The golden toad planned: "The government policy is no tax on reclaimed fields for five years, half tax for ten years, and full tax after ten years. However, I calculated that since your father, Great Immortal, is a Recommended Man, these fields don't need to pay taxes at all. And because they were obtained through reclamation, they can be completely hidden and not entered into the Fish Scale Register."

"Whether we grow medicinal herbs or other crops on these fields, we are guaranteed a profit!"

Xu Jia felt it was "exploitation" as he listened, so he said: "I have a set of Wealth God cultivation techniques here; do you want to practice them?"

"What Wealth God cultivation techniques?"

In his past life, Xu Jia also reclaimed land in America, and the most common devils in America were capitalist vampires. Therefore, he had certain attainments in finance.

Xu Jia spoke eloquently:

"This method is divided into six realms. The first realm is called Value Awakening."

"As a Wealth God, you need to realize the principle that all things have value. By perceiving the combination of material resources and labor, you awaken your own cognition of 'value creation.' Insight into the socially necessary labor time contained in items allows you to judge their value."

"The second realm is called Surplus Value Extraction. Upon mastering this realm, the Wealth God can comprehend the method of extracting surplus value from the labor process, constantly accumulating one's own Wealth God Dharma Power just like extracting the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi, achieving rapid expansion of wealth through optimizing resource allocation and increasing labor efficiency."

"The third realm is called Capital Circulation. As a Wealth God, you can build a self-operating wealth capital circulation system, flexibly converting assets such as industry, commerce, and currency to achieve continuous appreciation of wealth, completing the process of money begetting money."

"In this realm, you can understand that wealth is like flowing water and a whirlpool, thereby dispatching various assets to complete the cycle of rotation, while also acting like a whirlpool that automatically attracts and releases wealth and capital, ensuring the cycle is not interrupted and is constantly optimized."

"Once you reach the fourth realm, you can comprehend the most important law within the Wealth God Authority, which is exploitation!"

"Whether they are eating or shitting, they will accumulate wealth for you, but you must weigh the distribution of benefits!"

"Thereby reaching the fifth realm, Crisis Insight: foresee and utilize the cyclical economic crises of wealth, absorbing energy from them and converting it into the improvement of your own cultivation and Dharma Power. Foresee the essence of market bubbles and financial crises, predict market fluctuations, and take this opportunity to make a fortune from national disasters. The more miserable others are, the richer you become. All the money in the world will be concentrated in your hands!"

The golden toad was stunned: "How does this sound like a demonic art?" Zhang Zhenji even faintly wanted to make a move to strangle Xu Jia.

"This child must not be left alive!"

Xu Jia laughed and said: "Of course, righteousness and evil are but a single thought apart. In the final realm, after experiencing the ultimate accumulation of wealth, one realizes that true wealth is taken from the people and used for the people. The wealth earned through capital operation is shared with the people, thereby abandoning individual wealth accumulation and pursuing the prosperity of all commoners, achieving the supreme goal of a world without poverty. It is like the Pure Land mentioned by the Buddhist school: endless food, endless fine wine, everyone has what they need, everything is free, no money for medical treatment, no money for childbirth, no money for schooling..."

Zhang Zhenji listened with great yearning: "Adding this to the previous parts, why does it feel even more like a demonic sect's demonic art?"

"This is a Wealth God cultivation method, and it is a method of turning from evil to righteousness," Xu Jia said. "I think the current model of the golden toad is very suitable for this set."

The golden toad nodded repeatedly: "Great Immortal, since you have such a miraculous technique, why not bring it out earlier!"

Xu Jia laughed: "I only thought of this because I saw you using this method to control these lazybones, gamblers, and bullies. Although I made this technique up, you can certainly try it and refine some Wealth God Magic Tools, such as an Asset Scale."

Enlightened by Xu Jia, the big and small golden toads around him were all very restless: "Turn debt into assets! Turn debt into assets!"

The golden toad said: "I want to mortgage the debt you are carrying, Great Immortal, and use your reputation and mine as a guarantee to make a new loan and get real gold and silver!"

Xu Jia was surprised to hear this: "Who would be willing to mortgage to you?"

"I want to issue bonds and let these desperadoes sell them! I will pay the interest!" The golden toad said: "Thereby developing the Jin Chan Money Shop. I want to hold the wealth of Yushan County in my hands!"

"You catch on quickly! Very smart! But this interest is not a small amount!"

"It doesn't matter, I will use it for investment!" Having heard the technique, the golden toad had already grasped its essence: "I think we can take over Dizang An. Once taken over, it's just collecting money every day; we only need to recruit a few nuns to sit there."

"That won't do!" Xu Jia stopped him in time: "That will attract the Pojun Tianmo! You have to change your thinking. You forgot what I tested: let you revitalize this place at Lan Shi Huo!"

"But the initial investment here is too high, and it's hard to recover in the later stages."

"That is why we need you, the Wealth God." Xu Jia warned: "You understand what I mean! I named you Duobao so that you would walk on the right path!"

The golden toad Qian Duobao had no choice but to say: "I was bewitched by the Yin Demon in the basin. He just said that you must be the reincarnation of a Great Demon King. If he is released, he is willing to honor you as the Demon Lord, Great Immortal."

Xu Jia chuckled: "This Yin Demon is full of tricks; no need to pay attention to him. You just need to operate according to what I said. If nothing else, at least I hope Qingtian Zhen can gradually become prosperous under your operation, and then drive the prosperity of Yushan County, accumulating enough wealth for me to build a Sanqing Daoguan."

"If it were before, I would have felt that the matter of Lan Shi Huo would take three to five years to see initial results, but now, it can start making a profit in less than a year!" The golden toad boasted.

Xu Jia left this place. The Jingzhu Daoren and Zhang Zhenji still looked at Xu Jia strangely, while Xiaopangdun's eyes were sparkling. He really wanted to memorize the technique just now, but he only remembered a few concepts; his brain was not flexible enough.

"True Person! Are you really not related to the Longevity Sect?"

"No!" Xu Jia said: "If I were from the Longevity Sect, I wouldn't be talking to you like this. There is nothing else now, let's return to Yushan and go to your Shanju Guan first."

"But what you said just now was truly terrifying!"

"It just sounds scary. Actually, I made it up randomly. How would I know any Wealth God cultivation techniques? I was just coaxing that golden toad, otherwise he would have been slacking off too."

"It doesn't sound like it," the Jingzhu Daoren deliberated: "Wealth is all dog shit. Although one cannot do without it, one should have less of this desire and cultivate more purity."

Xu Jia felt that he might have somewhat shattered their Dao hearts, but he didn't blame them.

All the way from Lan Shi Huo to the Shanju Guan on the mountainside of Yushan, he kept theorizing to them about the essential phenomenon of the collapse of a dynasty, which is economic collapse, or the collapse of the tax system.

But this only made the two of them more certain that Xu Jia wanted to accomplish some great undertaking, and they fell into a state of conflict.

But Xu Jia had truly "made up" that Wealth God cultivation technique.

(End of this chapter)