Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Booming Business
Jiang Xu said with a wide smile,
"As long as you spend thirty Spirit Stones in our shop, you can receive a store membership!
From now on, as long as you meet a certain spending threshold each time you shop, you’ll receive a corresponding discount on your next purchase!"
"Thirty Spirit Stones!"
Lai Baoqiong’s eyes widened.
Thirty Spirit Stones was enough to buy a Lower Grade Magical Artifact.
He really didn’t have that many Spirit Stones on hand right now.
Seeing Lai Baoqiong’s awkward expression, Jiang Xu understood immediately.
"Sir, if you’re short on Spirit Stones, I have another way for you to gather enough in a short amount of time!"
"Oh? What way is that?" Lai Baoqiong was intrigued.
"If you know any other Cultivators who need to buy Talismans, you can refer them to my shop.
Based on the number of Spirit Stones they spend, I can give you a certain percentage as a kickback.
The more the Cultivators you refer buy, the bigger your kickback will be.
If the customers you bring in buy enough Talismans, you might even earn several hundred Spirit Stones!"
This time, Lai Baoqiong was completely stunned!
This little shop looked so unassuming.
But the owner actually had this kind of trick up his sleeve!
Not only was his stock plentiful and his prices good!
He even offered a variety of unheard-of discounts and promotions!
Seeing Lai Baoqiong’s reaction, Jiang Xu was secretly pleased.
’I have plenty of other tricks I haven’t even used yet!’
Things like store-wide prize draws for spending a certain amount, scarcity marketing, bundle deals, holiday sales, and so on.
Alas, it was only because the shop was too remote and had few customers that Jiang Xu had resorted to this strategy.
His goal was to create a chain reaction and build a reputation in the early stages.
Otherwise, with no customers, Jiang Xu would effectively be losing Spirit Stones.
Lai Baoqiong paid his Spirit Stones and left.
From the looks of it, he was in a hurry to find people to pitch Jiang Xu’s shop to.
...
After that, things went exactly as Jiang Xu had predicted.
The small shop’s fame was thoroughly established.
Business was so booming that customers came one after another.
They ended up buying out most of the Talismans in the store.
Only a small number of Tier One Middle Grade Talismans and all of the Tier One Upper Grade Talismans were left.
Those Tier One Middle Grade Talismans were all stock from the old man’s original shelves.
Jiang Xu didn’t dare embezzle any of it, handing over every single Spirit Stone to the old man without exception.
But whenever Jiang Xu gave the Spirit Stones to the old man, he never even glanced at them.
And so, Jiang Xu fell into a routine: selling Talismans during the day, closing up shop in the afternoon, and then beginning to craft Talismans.
This time, Jiang Xu began studying *Talisman Dao Introduction (Middle Volume)*, which covered Tier One Middle Grade Talismans.
Tier One Middle Grade Talismans had between twenty-eight and thirty-eight Runes.
According to this volume, the Tier One Middle Grade Talismans included the Rejuvenation Talisman, the Small Thunder Talisman, the Exorcism Talisman, and the Sharpness Talisman.
Among these, the Sharpness Talisman was the easiest to craft, while the Small Thunder Talisman was the most difficult.
The Sharpness Talisman could imbue a wielder’s Magical Artifact with its power, increasing its lethality.
To create Tier One Middle Grade Talismans,
one had to use Tier One Middle Grade Talisman Paper and Talismanic Ink, which were more expensive than before.
A dozen sheets of Tier One Lower Grade Talisman Paper cost one Spirit Stone.
A dozen sheets of Tier One Middle Grade Talisman Paper cost six Spirit Stones, and the price of Talismanic Ink had increased proportionally.
It was worth mentioning that the most difficult Talisman, the Small Thunder Talisman, required Talisman Skin—a medium for Talismans made from Demon Beast Hide.
Although the value of a Small Thunder Talisman was correspondingly higher, the initial investment for practice also increased.
However...
After a glance at his Storage Bag, Jiang Xu immediately stopped worrying about any initial investment.
After finishing his Talisman crafting in the afternoon, Jiang Xu would begin his arduous Cultivation at night.
Among his recent earnings were nearly twenty bottles of Qi Condensing Pills.
These Qi Condensing Pills were enough for Jiang Xu to raise his Cultivation to the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer.
With an ample supply of Elixirs, Jiang Xu’s Cultivation speed soared, and the progress bar of his Cultivation advanced at a visible rate.
Jiang Xu also took the time to refine the few Magical Artifacts he fancied.
The Tier One Upper Grade Blood-Colored Small Knife, a Tier One Middle Grade hammer, the Turtle Shield, and the Heart-Protecting Mirror.
With his current Spiritual Power, Jiang Xu could only spiritually control one Magical Artifact at a time, so refining more of them was useless.
Therefore, Jiang Xu had no intention of refining the Lower Grade Magical Artifacts. He planned to sell them all.
However, since those groups of Tribulation Cultivators had just died, Jiang Xu didn’t plan to put these Magical Artifacts up for sale immediately, or someone might notice something suspicious.
He would wait a while until everyone had forgotten about it before putting them up for sale.
「At the same time.」
A piece of news sent shockwaves through the Tribulation Cultivators in the Marketplace.
According to rumor, a few days ago, five waves of Tribulation Cultivators had chased a single "fat sheep" out of the city.
But in the days that followed, none of those who had left the city were ever seen again.
The rumor was that these Tribulation Cultivators had likely run into a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or possibly even a Foundation Establishment senior.
After all, among their number were three Cultivators in the Qi Cultivation Late Stage. If it wasn’t a Foundation Establishment expert, who could have possibly dealt with all of them?
There was even a rumor that the Profound Origin Sect had grown tired of the Tribulation Cultivators in the Marketplace and had taken action to clean them out.
For a time, every last surviving Tribulation Cultivator in the Purple Profound Celestial Marketplace temporarily turned over a new leaf.
The entire Marketplace trading area was transformed, and people no longer had to be on edge while making a transaction.
...
「One month later.」
After consuming a large number of Qi Condensing Pills to accelerate his progress, Jiang Xu had raised his Cultivation to the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer.
The Mana Fog in his Qi Sea had gained two more layers, and the amount of Magical Power he could wield increased accordingly.
The reason he had improved so quickly was that after his Cangmu Skill had advanced to the perfect stage, it had cleansed all the stored toxins and elixir impurities from his body.
Naturally, when he took Elixirs again, their effects were much stronger. Combined with the large quantity of pills, his Cultivation speed was naturally lightning-fast.
However, after reaching the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer, Jiang Xu clearly felt that his Magical Power was less stable than before.
All the effort his Cultivation Seed had put into refining his Magical Power was undone in an instant.
’How could this happen?’
Jiang Xu pondered for a long time before he understood.
The reason was that he had consumed a large number of Qi Condensing Pills to speed up his Cultivation. Relying solely on piling up Elixirs, rather than his own arduous Cultivation, would naturally lead to an unstable foundation.
Once the foundation was unstable, the bottlenecks encountered when advancing to the next Realm would be greater, ultimately increasing the difficulty of reaching Foundation Establishment.
There were solutions, however.
He could either find an Elixir capable of Strengthening the Foundation and Nourishing the Essence to stabilize his Cultivation.
Or he could rely on time, using arduous Cultivation to re-solidify his foundation before it was too late.
Or he could engage in frequent combat and Magical Combat, using trial after trial to solidify his Cultivation. The more frequent and dangerous the battles, the faster his foundation would solidify.
Given Jiang Xu’s temperament, fighting was out of the question. He didn’t want to fight, not in this lifetime. At most, he’d be willing to launch a sneak attack.
