Ye Shu, Yan Changlan, and Xiao Ming sat in the carriage, hearing some commotion outside.
Xiao Ming said, “I’ll go check it out.”
Yan Changlan nodded at him, “If there are any concerns, come back and discuss them with us.”
Xiao Ming agreed and went out.
Shortly after, Xiao Ming returned with a booklet in his hand and handed it to them, saying, “Senior Brother, Taoist Shi, please take a look.” As he opened the booklet for them, he explained, “The ones blocking the road were a few itinerant cultivators. Due to the scarcity of resources, they seek to make a living near the iron mine. This booklet is their solution.”
The booklet detailed several streets, each lined with various shops, with a few lines of small text near each shop, describing their names and general operations.
This map took up two full pages. Beyond this, each subsequent page depicted the interior of a shop, with dense text on the reverse side explaining in detail what the shop sold, how it operated, prices, and other information that visitors might want to know.
After looking through it, Ye Shu inwardly praised the ingenuity of these itinerant cultivators.
They were quite adept at seizing opportunities. With this picture album, at least until the iron mine was exhausted, they could exchange it for some silver to sustain their cultivation.
Yan Changlan couldn’t help but sigh after admiring the picture album.
The picture album is extremely exquisite, showing just how hard those rogue cultivators work. If he hasn’t joined the Baixiao Sect and met Azhuo, he might have to live without the protection of a sect, constantly striving to make a living. After all, unlike Azhuo, aside from a bit of martial skill, he knows nothing of other crafts. He isn’t entirely useless, but he lacks any particular talent.
Thinking about it, he truly felt quite useless.
Afterward, Yan Changlan inquired about the price of the picture album.
Xiao Ming replied, “Two taels of silver per album.”
Yan Changlan increasingly realized how hard it was to make money—Selling twenty albums only earns forty taels of silver, which seems all the more difficult.
However, this thought was fleeting, as his attention quickly returned to the iron essence.
Iron ore is refined into iron after calcination, iron is refined ten times into refined iron, and refined iron is refined a hundred times into iron essence.
As this small town formed around the gathering of iron mines, most of the shops primarily sold iron. Among them, the abilities of the shopkeepers varied greatly, leading to different types of iron being sold.
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.
Some of the most common iron shops sold only the ore directly extracted from the mines, sold by the pound, requiring buyers to refine it themselves. More upscale ones sold the refined iron directly, but this iron still contained impurities. It was suitable for making utensils, but for crafting weapons, it required several rounds of refining. The higher-grade ones sold refined iron, which could be used to forge formidable weapons for ordinary people. The highest grade ones sold iron essence, typically used for crafting magical tools.
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This iron mine attracted so much attention from cultivators not only because it was a rich mine, but also for a very important reason: it wasn’t a single vein mine, but a combination of various types of iron ores, including a large amount of Ziyang Iron. Ziyang Iron was a high-grade iron capable of being refined over a thousand times.
Xiao Ming had never been to this place before. After looking through the picture album, he couldn’t help but ask, “Taoist Shi, which type of iron essence is Master looking for?”
Ye Shu replied without hesitation, “It is Ziyang Iron essence.”
Xiao Ming understood.
In other words, they needed the top-grade iron refined a thousand times.
It wasn’t surprising. A master craftsman with such exquisite crafting skills naturally pursued perfection in their craft. How could they be satisfied with ordinary iron essence? Of course, they would buy the best iron essence available.
Having made up his mind, Xiao Ming said, “Ziyang Iron essence is only available in three or four shops, and the total quantity isn’t much. If we want to buy it, we may have to visit several shops.”
Yan Changlan said, “That’s alright. We have plenty of time. We can take our time and choose.”
Ye Shu agreed deeply.
After some conversation, the group arrived near the town.
As this place originally used to be on the outskirts, the ground was vast, so the roads in the town formed here were very wide.
The carriage proceeded straight in without any obstacles.
Planning to stay here for a few days, the group first arrived at the largest inn in town and settled in. After handing over their horses and carriage to the innkeeper, they rested briefly in their respective rooms before heading out. They went directly to various iron shops.
Around many of the iron shops, the sound of hammering echoed incessantly from low stone houses.
In an ordinary mortal world, such a cacophony of sounds would be overwhelming, but in this town, where the sounds rose and fell in harmony, it seemed to take on a special rhythm, becoming somewhat pleasing to the ear.
Ye Shu first went to the iron shop mentioned in the picture album, which belonged to the Chen family, one of the major forces dividing the iron mine.
Upon entering the iron shop, it was exactly as depicted in the album.
The shop was spacious, with dozens of large shelves on both sides. Most of the shelves held iron ingots, iron ore, and a few shelves displayed iron essence of different grades, quite well-stocked.
Ye Shu walked directly to the finest-looking iron essence and asked, “What is the price of Ziyang Iron essence?”
The iron essence here mostly coalesced into beads, each about the size of a thumb, not necessarily perfectly round, but upon weighing, each one was roughly a catty.
In theory, with refined iron refined a thousand times, its price should be a thousand times the value of the iron refined. However, it’s uncertain how they calculate it here.
Seeing Ye Shu’s earnest attitude, the shopkeeper could tell he genuinely intended to buy, and his smile became more cordial. “Ziyang Iron essence is the best iron essence. Each bead is priced at ten taels of silver, and there is no deception.”
Ye Shu nodded. “How much iron essence does your shop have?”
The shopkeeper’s mind raced, and after a quick calculation, he replied, “Iron essence is rare, but we can produce about one to two hundred thousand catties in the shop.”
Ye Shu then said, “Since there’s only about one to two hundred thousand catties, I’ll take it all.”
The shopkeeper was suddenly astonished.
Where does this wealth come from? Does he want to buy all one to two hundred thousand catties? What could he possibly want to do with it? Calculating quickly, one to two hundred thousand catties would cost one to two million taels of silver, which is not a small sum.
Ye Shu directly took out a stack of silver tickets.
The proceeds from earlier sales of the formation had not yet been used up, so they could be used now.
Seeing that this person could produce the money upfront, the shopkeeper didn’t dare to delay. He immediately called several assistants to the secret treasury at the back and brought out all the high-grade iron essence. The densely packed iron beads were all placed in storage bags. After Ye Shu inspected them, he transferred them to the Hunyuan Pearl.
Then, all the silver tickets were handed over to the shopkeeper.
The total amount of iron essence traded was 180,000 catties.
Ye Shu naturally knew that there must still be some leftovers in the shop, but he didn’t mind.
Any shopkeeper would always keep something in reserve. Otherwise, if another customer came by and there was nothing suitable, it would be embarrassing for the shop…
Next, Ye Shu’s group visited the remaining few major shops.
As expected, each shop only had about a hundred thousand or so catties of Ziyang Iron essence. After Ye Shu bought them all, totaling about six to seven hundred thousand catties, he spent six to seven million silver tickets.
As a result of buying all the Ziyang Iron essence, Ye Shu had only a little over a million silver tickets left in hand. The rest were gold leaves stored in the Hunyuan Pearl.
And this was not yet finished. Ye Shu then went to visit those smaller shops.
Not limited to just Ziyang Iron essence, he also bought some other rare types of iron essence that had a limited production but were still of top quality. By the time he had visited all the shops, he had spent nearly a million taels.
After that, Ye Shu still had over 400,000 taels left in silver tickets.
Such extensive purchasing naturally attracted a lot of attention. Those who were curious about their origins soon found out that Xiao Ming was from the Xiao family in Baishi City, and Yan Changlan was likely from the Baixiao Sect. As for Ye Shu, his background was unclear, but since he had connections with both the Xiao family and the Baixiao Sect disciples, he must be an outstanding individual… While several million taels of silver might seem like a lot to ordinary people, it wasn’t surprising if it was a large force coming to make purchases.
Later, Xiao Ming took the initiative to take responsibility for the matter, claiming it was for the Xiao family’s purchases, which reduced much of the attention.
Ye Shu and Yan Changlan exchanged a glance, understanding the Xiao family’s approach.
Seeing the two men’s appreciation, Xiao Ming was secretly pleased.
After the extensive purchasing spree, someone suddenly came to their door.
Xiao Ming, wanting to befriend Ye Shu and being a junior brother of Yan Changlan, took the initiative to engage with the stranger.
The person was very polite and asked, “Would any of you be interested in mineral exploration?”
Xiao Ming raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by mineral exploration?”
Ye Shu and Yan Changlan were also unaware—the picture album hadn’t mentioned it.
The person smiled and said, “Although this is an iron mine, some strange objects have formed deep within the mine, encased in layers of iron ore. Extracting these strange objects is difficult and labor-intensive. Some people get lucky and find valuable items, while others end up with worthless junk. If it’s the former, it’s great; if it’s the latter, it’s a waste of time and effort. Therefore, the owner of the mine has outsourced a few sections where these strange objects are likely to be found to wealthy individuals. These wealthy individuals have created this exploration game. If anyone is interested, they can go to a section of the mine and extract a piece of the ore wall containing the strange object. Whatever they extract belongs to them. Of course, if the item is valuable, it can be sold on the spot.”
His voice had a hint of enticement. “Earlier, some cultivators found a piece of red gold in the mine. Others found iron amber, and some even dug up Tie Xu Grass, all making a substantial profit. I see that you all seem quite well-off. Would you be interested in mineral exploration?”
Yan Changlan was indeed somewhat interested, but since he came to accompany Ye Shu, he wouldn’t go if Ye Shu didn’t. Xiao Ming was also interested but intended to follow the decisions of the other two.
Therefore, the one to make the decision was Ye Shu.
After a brief consideration, Ye Shu said, “Let’s go then.”
Thanks for the chapter!!