Chapter 97

In the blink of an eye, half a year passed.

Yan Buji continuously guided the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, ruthlessly taking out seven spiritual stones to accelerate his cultivation.

Finally, after eight months, Yan Buji completely finished drawing qi into the body and began, following the Planting Tree Manual's method of circulating energy, to train a thread of magical power!

At the instant this thread of magical power entered his dantian, Yan Buji widened his eyes, released his spiritual sense, and carefully observed his body for any possible abnormalities.

Fortunately, the true essence and magical power inside his dantian were separated by the Flower Pattern Profound Skill, clear and distinct.

"Succeeded?! Is it really that simple? It seems the Flower Pattern Profound Skill is even more miraculous than I imagined; this is absolutely not a divine art used only by mundane martial artists breaking into the Heaven-Human Realm! Even in the cultivation world, it would probably be a top-tier profound skill!"

Yan Buji lamented that his earlier choice had not been wrong; if he hadn't spent twenty years in Lin Shan Cheng, where would he have obtained the Profound Accumulation Secret Order?

However, the Profound Accumulation Secret Order and its related gold foil should be left for later investigation; for now, the magical power cultivated from the Planting Tree Decision occupies only a tiny spot in his dantian, and Yan Buji still mainly relies on true essence.

Or should we wait until we compile a decent cultivation method before abandoning the Blood Heaven Ascension Degree?

Yan Buji pinched his chin and pondered carefully for a long time.

However, during the Lianqi Phase, he still needs to rely on true essence to keep his combat ability at a certain level; otherwise he wouldn't even be able to cast a normal technique, which would be no different from Liu Feng back then.

Let's talk about it after passing the Lianqi Phase.

Yan Buji smiled, got up, and intended to go to the market again to see if he could find any news about the ingredients for Clear Vision Liquid.

Even at the moment he refined magical power, Yan Buji still could not sense the existence of spiritual qi, which left him speechless.

He had thought that at least after cultivating magical power he would be able to sense spiritual qi, but it seems that because of the Martial Dao Profound Skill within him, he is completely unable to perceive spiritual qi.

In that case, it's unknown whether the Sanhua Tong Secret Method could enable him to see spiritual qi.

"The agreement with Chen Li still has eight years left."

Yan Buji thought, having finally entered the cultivation world after so many years, he didn't know whether these eight years would allow him to break through to the tenth layer of Lianqi, i. e., the peak of the Lianqi Phase.

A few days passed.

Yan Buji came to the market again; this time, based on some spiritual medicines he had previously obtained from the cultivator Liu Chuan who had ambushed him, plus some simple formulations for healing cultivator injuries casually noted in the Baicao Gate secret manual, he prepared a few, hoping to sell them.

He also needed to think of a way to make money.

Yan Buji didn't really understand how cultivators do business, but it seemed not much different from ordinary folk.

However, since he was doing business on someone else's turf, he probably still needed permission from the Flaming Bear Sect.

If there were an opportunity to join the Flaming Bear Sect, that would not be undesirable for Yan Buji.

This time coming to the market, he mainly wanted to see if there were any basic techniques he could learn; accumulating magical power to fill the dantian requires a period of bitter cultivation, and if he could also find a way to make a fortune and obtain more spiritual stones, that would shorten the time.

Now Yan Buji is essentially fighting for every second; he really doesn't want to waste too much time in bitter cultivation.

For him, the various costs of bitter cultivation are too high, plus his foundation is terribly weak; wasting that time in bitter cultivation and tempering is worse than finding a way to earn some spiritual stones first and then cultivate.

Doing business like this requires a period of time to investigate the market.

Yan Buji is quite versed in the ways of business, but unfortunately he has nothing in hand worthy of praise, nor any martial strength that could guarantee his safety.

So the simplest method is....

"Boss, are you hiring?" Yan Buji entered the Hundred Treasures Shop, smiling and cupping his hands.

"You aren't that guy from last month... what, can't get by anymore?" The portly cultivator stepped out, giving him a strange look.

"Yeah, being a wandering cultivator is too hard to endure; I really can't hold out. Spiritual stones aren't easily earned, and there's no one to guide my cultivation; it'd be better to just find a place to make a living." Yan Buji gave a bitter laugh.

The portly boss raised his eyebrows, looking at Yan Buji's appearance, and it wasn't strange that the other would have such an idea.

But here, where would he need any help?

Just as the boss frowned, intending to drive him away, Yan Buji suddenly reached out and said, "Boss, don't rush to refuse; I naturally have some ideas to improve the Hundred Treasures Shop's business—why not hear me out before refusing?"

"Oh?"

Seeing Yan Buji's calm demeanor, his gestures not those of a distressed mountain wandering cultivator but rather of a shrewd merchant, the boss curiously chuckled: "Then go ahead and say."

Yan Buji cupped his hands and said, "I have a few modest suggestions; I hope the boss won't mind my speaking freely here. Earlier, I observed that besides the boss, there are no other helpers in your shop, yet because most nearby cultivators actually wouldn't choose the Hundred Treasures Shop as a trading venue?"

The boss's face darkened.

Good fellow, that sentence stabbed him in the lungs; he nearly choked to death on his breath.

"Are you mocking me for not knowing how to do business?!" the boss retorted with a dark face.

"It's not like that; the boss's business is very mixed and varied, and for wandering cultivators the places they can actually choose are limited. But the boss here sells and buys everything, which instead makes people feel somewhat untrustworthy."

"Why would that be?"

"Just take the items on the boss's shelves—medicinal pills, spiritual materials, jade slips, all sorts of things piled together; upon entering, I first thought this place was a pawnshop."

Actually, the Hundred Treasures Shop is also doing pawnshop business.

"So what?" the boss asked, frowning.

Yan Buji smiled: "What do you think is the first reaction of an ordinary person entering a pawnshop?"

"Naturally it's to pawn things.... oh you mean, in my pawnshop, their goods would be pressed down in price, so they'd rather set up stalls outside and trade privately than use my channel?" The boss realized what Yan Buji meant and immediately responded.

"Yes, for these situations I have a solution, but I need the boss to hire me; I would work as this pawnshop... Hundred Treasures Shop's errand boy, managing business for the boss. If after one month the business here does not exceed three times the profit you previously had, I am willing to serve the boss for free for a year as compensation; conversely, during this month I will not ask the boss to pay me anything, but if I achieve such revenue, then the boss needs to employ me and pay me five spiritual stones per month for three years."

Yan Buji said lightly.

The boss covered his head and thought for a while.

It seems....

I wouldn't be losing anything, would I?

If the shop's revenue could increase by thirty percent, then hiring this person as his errand boy would only cost five spiritual stones a month, which would be no loss; if he couldn't achieve it, he'd still get a year of free labor.

But seeing his full confidence, the boss hesitated a bit: "Your terms.... aren't they overly confident?"

"Yes, so here I also hope the boss can provide a formal agreement certified by the Flaming Bear Sect, to serve as a guarantee of mutual credit, so we need not fear breach of contract." Yan Buji smiled.

Fortunately, before coming, Yan Buji had also done some investigation, knowing that the Flaming Bear Sect has a strict set of standards for managing the market, whether opening a shop or hiring staff, there are formal agreement documents.

Having this, one can guarantee that those opening shops here and the hired cultivators will not cause trouble.

Even if there truly are lawbreakers, one can still find the culprits.

The boss looked at Yan Buji, nodded, and said, "Fine, since you have that confidence, how about I leave the shop to you for a month? That's settled—if you can really boost this little shop's revenue by thirty percent, within three years you'll also be a shop assistant of my Hundred Treasures Shop."

"Then there's no problem."