In the Qingyu Blessed Boat, Yuan Qingyue frowned tightly. Her eyes were a little complicated, and there was a slight blush on her face.
“Steward Zhou, what is the origin of that person? I haven’t seen him before! The ice energy is really pure, not low in strength, and he looks very young. Could it be that he comes from a big sect?” Yuan Qingyue’s eyes lit up as she asked.
Yuan Qingyue was beautiful and had a good family background. She usually met people who were very attentive to her. It was rare to meet someone who was honest and had extraordinary strength.
Zhou Li frowned. Looking at Yuan Qingyue’s expression, he knew that Yuan Qingyue might have a good impression of Bai Yunxi. However, looking at Bai Yunxi’s attitude, Steward Zhou was quite sure that Bai Yunxi had no feelings for Yuan Qingyue.
“Miss, that person and the cultivator who came out later should be a couple.”
Yuan Qingyue was stunned for a moment and said, “Steward Zhou, you read it wrong.”
Zhou Li shook his head and said, “It should be right.”
Yuan Qingyue sighed and said sullenly, “Is such an excellent man actually a cut sleeve*?”
“Miss, the man who came out later may be very strong.” Zhou Li said with fear.
Yuan Qingyue said with some surprise, “He’s very strong? How strong is it? It won’t be Foundation Establishment, right?”
Zhou Li shook his head and said, “I can’t see his cultivation. It’s really possible that he is a Foundation Establishment cultivator.”
“So, Luosha Town will have another Foundation Establishment master.” Yuan Qingyue rolled her eyes and said.
…
The fishing boat docked, and Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi went ashore.
There was a small town called Luosha Town by the sea. In the small town, many cultivators gathered.
As the saying went, relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, relying on the sea to eat the sea. The vast ocean contained countless treasures, attracting many cultivators to come to hunt.
Although Luosha Town was a small town, it was very prosperous. There were many shops on the streets that purchased sea beast corpses.
On both sides of the street, there were medicinal pill stores, talisman stores, spiritual material stores, spiritual weapons*… everything.
“We have a new batch of medicinal pills in our store. If you want to buy them, you can buy them as soon as possible. They will be sold out soon.”
“Clearing stock, clearing stock. The owner was seriously injured in a fight with others, and funds are urgently needed. Our store’s spiritual weapons, 30% discount.”
“The price of talismans is on sale. All the talismans in our store are one spirit stone, one spirit stone. For one spirit stone, you can’t be fooled.”
“The new formation plate has arrived. It is the best companion to open up a cave residence. Buy now before it’s too late.”
Bai Yunxi was walking on the bustling street with a look of surprise on his face.
“The merchants here also advertise?” Bai Yunxi asked in confusion.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “That’s right! Everyone needs to eat. It’s not easy!”
Bai Yunxi: “…”
…
“Tianyi Restaurant. Yunxi, there is a restaurant here!” Ye Fan said.
“There are also restaurants in the cultivation world, and there are quite a few. Many restaurants serve cultivators, and they cook with spiritual beast* meat. Not only will the dishes made with spiritual beast meat not affect a cultivator’s cultivation, they also have great benefits. However, because the materials are precious, the price is not low.”
“Yeah! Look at the menu.”
Ye Fan frowned and said, “It’s a bit expensive! I can’t afford it.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Bai Yunxi: “…”
“Let’s earn some spirit stones first. Let’s set up a stall at the free market we passed by. I just saw a lot of people setting up stalls there.” Bai Yunxi said.
Ye Fan rubbed his face and said, “Yes, yes, but it’s a bit embarrassing!”
Most of the stalls in the free market were set up by cultivators at the sixth and seventh levels of Qi Refining, and he was a senior of Foundation Establishment.
Bai Yunxi said indifferently, “If you feel ashamed, I’ll set up the stall, and you can just watch from the side…”
Bai Yunxi secretly thought. He and Ye Fan didn’t have a single spirit stone on their bodies, so how could they afford to care about face!
Ye Fan blinked and said, “But, you are a young master…”
Bai Yunxi shook his head and said, “Here, I’m not a young master, I’m just a pauper.”
Ye Fan said embarrassedly, “Yunxi, don’t worry, I will work hard to make money to support my family.”
Bai Yunxi: “…”
Ye Fan took a deep breath and couldn’t help but think of the glorious days, “I used to be a rich man. I didn’t use low-grade spirit stones, I would only use middle-grade spirit stones. Every time my parents left home, they would give them to me. Big brother would also give me money when he went out.”
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan, his face changed, and he said via voice transmission, “There seems to be no information on Cangxuan Continent here…”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Yes, the cultivation world is vast and boundless, and the continents are like islands scattered in the sea, and they are not connected. What is certain is that where we are now, the spiritual energy is slightly lower than that of Cangxuan Continent. The level of cultivation is also much weaker, and it should be far away from Cangxuan Continent.”
On Cangxuan Continent, there were many large sects with cultivators in the Nascent Soul stage, but there was only one sect with three Golden Core cultivators in this place.
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and said, “In this way, let’s gain a firm foothold here first, and then consider other things.”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Okay.”
…
Bai Yunxi set up a stall in the free market. There were many cultivators in the free market, and various shouts came one after another.
Bai Yunxi found a booth and put out some medicinal pills and talismans.
Ye Fan’s alchemy skills didn’t have to be said, and there was no need to talk about the art of making talismans either. However, constrained by the materials on earth, the grades of medicinal pills and talismans were a bit low. Ye Fan had already established his foundation. Some were useless to him now.
As soon as Bai Yunxi’s stall was set up, many people came to ask for the price. Most of them were female cultivators.
Most people would spend dozens of spirit beads and buy a few talismans. After a while, Bai Yunxi received a bag full of spirit beads.
Ye Fan gloomily watched Bai Yunxi chat and laugh with customers, with a stinky face.
“Fellow Daoist, can it be cheaper?” A female cultivator looked at Bai Yunxi with bright eyes and said shyly.
“It’s not expensive. Our price is already selling at a loss. Buy it if you want to buy it, or go away if you don’t want to buy it.” Ye Fan said angrily.
The female cultivator glanced at Ye Fan, and there was a look of grievance on her face.
Bai Yunxi looked at the female cultivator and said, “He’s joking. Ignore him.”
Ye Fan concealed his cultivation, and the female cultivator only thought that Ye Fan was Bai Yunxi’s follower. If she knew that Ye Fan was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, she might have run away long ago.
Several female cultivators by the booth were chatting, but they were wary of Ye Fan, and did not dare to make too much noise.
Bai Yunxi turned around, glanced at Ye Fan helplessly, stuffed a bag of spirit beads to Ye Fan, and said, “Go buy some talisman paper and cinnabar, and use them to draw talismans.”
Ye Fan looked at Bai Yunxi depressedly, and did not answer.
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan, smiled, and said, “Go quickly! You have to support your family.”
Ye Fan took the spirit beads and left in a sullen mood. Ye Fan thought to himself: he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, so he shouldn’t be so miserable.
Bai Yunxi set up a stall all afternoon, and they were almost sold out by the evening. In one afternoon, Bai Yunxi earned almost eight low-grade spirit stones, and more than 2,000 spirit beads. One hundred spirit beads could be exchanged for one low-grade spirit stone. In total, they earned about thirty low-grade spirit stones.
Bai Yunxi spent five hundred spirit beads and rented a small yard.
Ye Fan lay on a chair, took a deep breath, and said sullenly, “It’s too miserable.”
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and said, “It’s so miserable? Why is it so miserable?”
Ye Fan looked at Bai Yunxi and said, “In the past, our sect gave the outer sect disciples 10 low-grade spirit stones for a month’s living expenses! All my net worth now, if sold, would only be three months’ allowance for the outer sect disciples.”
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and said nonchalantly, “Three months. Not bad – you can earn three months’ pocket money in one day. Everything is difficult at the beginning, and everything will be fine.”
“But I am already at Foundation Establishment! In the sect, the disciples who are at Qi Refining have to call me Martial Uncle*.” Ye Fan said.
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and said, “Then I’ll call you Martial Uncle, okay?”
Ye Fan shook his head and said, “No, that’s too direct, and it makes me sound old.”
“I want to open a general goods* store.” Bai Yunxi said.
“General goods store? What do you want to sell?” Ye Fan asked.
“Pills, talismans, etc. I took a look. The flow of people in this town is very large. There are many loose cultivators* who go out to sea to hunt sea beasts in exchange for spirit stones. Talismans and pills are indispensable when they go out to sea. The medicinal pills in this small town are rare and do not seem to be able to satisfy the huge market here, but the alchemy resources here are very rich.”
There were very few spiritual herbs* in this place, but, as far as Bai Yunxi knew, alchemy did not necessarily need spiritual herbs. The materials of spiritual beasts were also acceptable. The price of alchemy materials was very low, and Ye Fan could buy alchemy materials at a very low price and sell finished products (pills) at a high price.
“To open a store, you have to rent a storefront.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “Yes, I went to the street to have a look. Cheaper storefronts cost only thirty spirit stones a year, so we can afford it.”
Ye Fan looked at Bai Yunxi, blinked, and said, “Whatever you say. In fact, we can consider selling a Foundation Establishment Pill. That pill is very popular wherever you go.”
There were still eight Foundation Establishment Pills in Ye Fan’s hands, and Bai Yunxi wasn’t yet ready to advance to Foundation Establishment. Even if he was, with Bai Yunxi’s qualifications, he wouldn’t need so many to build a foundation.
On the market, a Foundation Establishment Pill could be sold for 3,000 low-grade spirit stones. If they took it to an auction house, it would be very easy to sell for tens of thousands of low-grade spirit stones.
Bai Yunxi took a deep breath and said, “The Foundation Establishment Pill, let’s leave it for now.”
Foundation Establishment Pills were different from ordinary medicinal pills. They were generally in the hands of major sects and big commercial buildings. They were new to the scene. If they came out with Foundation Establishment Pills, they would easily be targeted by those local forces.
“You draw more talismans and let me sell them. There is no need to take risks.” Bai Yunxi said.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “I know. Really, you only know how to chat with those girls. You are happy to ignore me.”
Bai Yunxi sighed and said, “Then what can be done? They are customers, and customers are gods.”
Ye Fan said with displeasure, “A group of girls. How can they look like God…”
Bai Yunxi: “…”
…
A series of complex patterns were outlined, the talisman pen in Ye Fan’s hand moved quickly, and soon a talisman was formed.
Bai Yunxi took the talisman and said with admiration, “Ye Fan, you are really amazing.”
Only when Bai Yunxi came to the cultivation world did he know that the success rate of ordinary talisman masters was less than 30%, and they could only draw five or six talismans a day. Ye Fan was different. Ye Fan had at least a 90% success rate, which saved a lot on costs and increased efficiency.
Ye Fan nodded and said in high spirits, “I’m a genius, so naturally I’m amazing.”
Bai Yunxi had been buying talisman materials at low prices and selling talismans at high prices these days.
By earning the price difference crazily, Bai Yunxi had accumulated a net worth of almost a hundred low-grade spirit stones, and he also had some repeat customers.
“If you fancy a storefront, just rent one. Don’t go to the free market. I’m a little worried. That place is too messy.” Ye Fan said.
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “Alright. I’ve seen someone who is subletting.”
The shop Bai Yunxi was interested in was originally rented to a cultivator with a cultivation base at the seventh level of Qi Refining. However, that man went out to sea and did not return, and the landlord was now subletting it at a low price.
The path of immortal cultivation was extremely dangerous. If you didn’t pay attention, you would be doomed. Bai Yunxi had only been here for a few days, and his ears had grown calluses from all the stories about this or that cultivator’s unfortunate death.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Okay, I will listen to you.”
“Listen to me. I will greet customers, and you’re in charge of drawing talismans and alchemy.” Bai Yunxi said.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Okay, but you have to make yourself ugly.”
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan, shook his head helplessly, and said, “Actually, I noticed that people in the cultivation world all look good, so me looking good is nothing out of the ordinary.”
“How could it be? You didn’t see those female cultivators. They stared at you with gleaming eyes, and it was written all over their faces that they wanted to dig my corner.” Ye Fan said excitedly.
Bai Yunxi shook his head and said, “You think too much.”
Ye Fan shrugged and said, “That’s not it. Be careful in order to sail a ship for ten thousand years!” Ye Fan secretly thought: Bai Yunxi had recently undergone several times of washing scriptures and cutting marrow, and his appearance was getting better and better. His wife was already good looking. Now it was even more of a concern.
Bai Yunxi: “…”
…
Qingyu Commercial Building.
“Steward Zhou, are you looking for me?”
Zhou Li nodded and said, “Yes, miss, look at this talisman.”
Yuan Qingyue took a look at the talisman and said, “It’s a good talisman. Is there any problem?”
“This is a talisman from the free market. The quality is very good, but the price is very cheap. I don’t know if the other party does not understand the market or is in short supply of spirit stones. The talisman master from our commercial building has resigned. If we can invite this master, it will be of great benefit to our commercial building.”
A few waves of light flashed in Yuan Qingyue’s eyes, “Do you know who this talisman master is?”
Zhou Li shook his head and said, “I haven’t gone to investigate yet. I heard that a cultivator with good looks and a good temper is selling. I heard that this cultivator has a follower, but the follower has a bad temper.”
Yuan Qingyue said with some confusion, “Really? I’ll go meet him.”
***
T/N: Sorry for all the footnotes… once we get some terms out of the way, there will be fewer in future chapters. I did consider using the pop-up footnotes on CG, but right now, it’s just faster for me to do it like this. Maybe in the future.
*cut sleeve – I’m sure everyone already knows this from MDZS, but this is the ancient Chinese term for gay men.
*spiritual weapon (法器 fa qi). Previously translated as magic weapon. While the character “fa” is part of the character for magic (mofa), magic weapon always gives me Harry Potter vibes and I feel like I’m reading a HP fanfic. What “fa qi” basically means in the cultivation context is a device used by cultivators, i.e. it requires spiritual energy to run, hence the term spiritual weapon (weapon may be used interchangeably with device, artifact and tool). Usually this means a cultivator inputs their own spiritual energy to run the device (e.g. flying their spiritual sword). However, some can be used by ordinary people – they are either made with energy inputted (e.g. the jade pendants Ye Fan made on Earth, or the fishing net in the last chapter) where the device becomes ordinary or shatters once the spiritual energy runs out, or have a groove where you can input spirit stones like a battery.
*spiritual beasts – sometimes just referred to as sea beasts here. It’s just an animal that can cultivate/has spiritual energy. There is a distinction between those that are sentient (usually translated as demon beast like the black turtle, where they can transform into human form once their cultivation reaches a certain point) and those without sentience and are just killed to be eaten.
*Martial Uncle (shishu) – sometimes translated in other novels as Master Uncle. While in certain contexts, “shi” on its own can mean Master, in general in cultivation contexts it’s just used as a prefix to signify a martial relationship, e.g shixiong for senior brother and shidi for junior brother, etc. (Master is shifu if you didn’t know, combining “shi” with the character for father “fu”, which is why you often see the phrase, a master is like a father).
Anyway, the point of this footnote is, in cultivation novels, once someone’s cultivation surpasses your own, they are your senior. So even if you were originally peers (e.g. disciples accepted at the same time), if one reaches Foundation Establishment while the other is still at Qi Refining, the one with lower cultivation calls the other Shishu. For those not from the same sect, they usually just address them as “Senior”.
*general goods store – this technically translates as grocery store, but that always reminds me of food and they’re not selling food. The Chinese is 杂货 (zahuo), literally “miscellaneous goods”, so I went with general goods as that is the intent (general goods for cultivation use).
*loose cultivators – those not part of a sect.
*灵草 (lingcao) – spiritual grass or spiritual herb. Sometimes 灵药 (lingyao – spiritual medicine) is also used. Spiritual grass, spiritual herb and spiritual medicine will all be used interchangeably. They’re all just plants with spiritual energy that can be used for cultivation, healing, etc.
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