Chapter 248 - 240: The Mist Forest Marketplace Situation

Chapter 248: Chapter 240: The Mist Forest Marketplace Situation

After returning to the Marketplace from the Evil Ore vein, Li Yuan sat cross-legged in his stone house and opened his panel to check the status of his special equipment slot.

The Evil Vein was operating stably, and the fluctuations of the entire Evil Qi circulation system were clearly reflected in his perception. The location of every piece of Evil Ore deep within the vein was perfectly clear, as if a meridian extending hundreds of feet had grown inside his own body.

At the bottom of the panel, a line of small, gray text appeared next to the hexagonal special equipment slot.

[Condition to unlock next special equipment slot: Permanently activate one purple-quality trait (0/1)]

’Purple traits.’

The highest quality he had encountered so far was blue; he had never even seen a purple trait before.

Li Yuan made a mental note of the condition and put it out of his mind for now. The matter of a purple trait couldn’t be rushed. He’d deal with it when he found one.

In the days that followed, the Marketplace entered its official operational phase.

The manager from the Li family, arranged by Li Ze’an, was the first to arrive.

A middle-aged, Late-stage Qi Refining Cultivator arrived at the Marketplace with three attendants. He rented three adjacent shops on the southern section of the main street all at once and, by that afternoon, had hung up the Li family’s sign and opened for business.

Two of the shops sold Spirit Grass, while one specialized in Demon Beast materials. From the most common Qi Gathering Grass to Tier One Top Grade Spirit Medicines, from beast hides and bones to Beast Cores and poison glands, the shelves were filled to the brim. The prices were five percent lower than in Yunyang Marketplace, yet the quality was clearly better.

The Li family was in the high-volume business, targeting the Loose Cultivators who frequented the areas around Lingxi Valley and Ghost Mist Forest. Previously, these people had to make a special trip back to Yunyang Marketplace to trade after hunting Demon Beasts and gathering herbs. Now, with shops right on their doorstep, it was much more convenient. On the very first day the three shops opened, many Loose Cultivators came in to ask about prices.

Two days later, Qin Ruoshuang’s Purple Abyss Trading Company also opened a branch store.

The storefront was located on the northern section of the main street. It was managed by a Late-stage Qi Refining Female Cultivator with one assistant, primarily selling pills and Talismans, as well as some everyday Spiritual Artifacts.

The Purple Abyss Trading Company was quite famous in the Yunyang Marketplace area. The moment its branch opened, it drew a significant amount of foot traffic.

Li Yuan opened a shop of his own as well.

It was located in the middle section of the main street, right next to the plaza. The storefront wasn’t large—just a single room—and it specialized in selling his homemade Talismans and pills.

The prices were ten percent lower than in Yunyang Marketplace.

The quality of his Talismans was top-tier among Tier One products, and the quality of his pills was equally consistent. With his perfected Tier One Talisman Making Skill and proficient Alchemy, he had no trouble selling his creations.

He hired a Qi Refining Cultivator who lived in the Marketplace to handle daily sales. Li Yuan was only responsible for supplying the goods; he didn’t tend the shop himself.

As the shops opened one after another, the Marketplace’s appearance became completely different from the previous gathering place for Loose Cultivators.

In his capacity as Pavilion Master, Li Yuan took a walk around the Marketplace to inspect the operations of its various departments.

Two patrolling Cultivators were collecting stall fees along the main street. When they passed a stall where an argument had broken out, they said just a few words, and both parties immediately settled down.

In the guard posts at the four corners of the Marketplace, the members of the guard team remained stationary, but the Sensing Jades at their sides glowed with a faint light.

In the two-story stone building at the end of the main street, ledgers, jade slips, and rental agreements were piled halfway across a desk. The manager of the administrative office didn’t even look up, clearly swamped with work.

In addition to patrols, guards, and administration, compared to Qinghe Marketplace, this Marketplace had a special division.

The Array Maintenance Team, which was coordinated by the administrative office.

Several Qi Refining Cultivators who understood Arrays were responsible for replacing the Array Foundation Stones and inspecting the operation of the interlocking Arrays. The twenty-five Array Foundation Stones of the five-layered Gathering Evil Array had to be rotated every three to five days. The replaced Sacrificial Array Stones were then delivered to Li Yuan’s stone house for him to absorb the Evil Qi within them using Evil Essence Unification.

However, now that he had the Evil Vein special equipment, the Evil Qi around the ore vein could circulate on its own along the system, no longer seeping out chaotically as before. As a result, the concentration of Evil Qi to the south of the Marketplace had dropped further, significantly reducing the pressure on the Gathering Evil Array.

In the long run, the frequency of replacing the Gathering Evil Array’s stones could be gradually reduced.

After inspecting all the departments, Li Yuan was generally satisfied with the overall operation. The personnel were in place, responsibilities were clear, and there were no major issues with coordination between departments.

The sounds of voices and clashing tools came from the west side of the Marketplace.

Li Yuan walked over to take a look.

The personnel sent by Qin Ruoshuang had arrived. A dozen or so Loose Cultivator laborers were busy in an empty plot of land in the northwest corner of the Marketplace, surveying the terrain, clearing weeds, and marking the boundaries of the Spirit Fields.

A Late-stage Qi Refining Female Cultivator was directing them from the side, holding a roll of blueprints and occasionally speaking in low tones with an Array Cultivator beside her.

The sites Qin Ruoshuang was helping to develop for the Spirit Fields were in areas around the Marketplace with lower concentrations of Evil Qi, mainly to the west and north. These directions were farthest from the depths of the Ghost Mist Forest, and with the multilayered coverage of the Gathering Evil Array, the residual Evil Qi had already been reduced to a very low level.

But ’very low’ didn’t mean ’nonexistent’.

The cultivation of Spirit Grass was extremely sensitive to Evil Qi. Even trace amounts of residual Evil Qi would affect the quality and yield of the Spirit Grass.

Therefore, the Spirit Field District needed an additional layer of the Gathering Evil Array to completely draw away the residual Evil Qi, as well as a protective Array to shield the Spirit Fields from invading Demon Beasts.

The laying of the Arrays was handled by the Purple Abyss Trading Company’s own Array Cultivators, and the materials and labor were also covered by the company. The development of these Spirit Fields was an ongoing project, not something that could be completed in a month or two.

Li Yuan watched for a while without interfering, then turned and walked back to the main street.

At dusk, the manager from the administrative office came looking for him.

"Pavilion Master Li, there is a matter I’d like to discuss with you."

The manager was a middle-aged Cultivator in his forties who was methodical and spoke directly. "The Sect needs to register the Marketplace’s official name on its documents for future official correspondence and public announcements. The current name everyone uses, ’Ghost Mist Forest New Marketplace,’ is a bit informal."

Li Yuan thought for a moment.

"Let’s call it Mist Forest Marketplace."

The manager nodded and recorded the name on a jade slip.

Watching the manager leave, Li Yuan resumed his cultivation.

After Mist Forest Marketplace had been in operation for a full month, the administrative office delivered the first profit report to Li Yuan.

The total revenue included stall fees, shop rents, and temporary lodging fees from passing Loose Cultivators. After deducting personnel salaries, Array Foundation Stone consumption, and daily maintenance expenses, Li Yuan’s seventy-percent share came out to less than one hundred Spirit Stones.

The amount wasn’t large, but the Marketplace had just opened. Being able to break even already showed that the place had potential.

Once the number of merchants and the flow of people increased, the revenue would naturally rise as well.

Li Yuan put away the Spirit Stones and started to handle another matter.

Several prime shop locations on the Marketplace’s main street were still vacant. They faced the plaza and had the highest foot traffic.

He had deliberately left them untouched before, but now that the Marketplace’s operations were on the right track, it was time to cash in on the value of these storefronts.

Li Yuan released a notice through the administrative office, putting the permanent operating rights for five of these shops up for public sale at eight hundred Spirit Stones each.

The so-called permanent operating rights entailed purchasing the long-term possession and transfer eligibility for the storefront. As long as the owner operated according to the rules and paid rent on time, the Marketplace could not arbitrarily reclaim it. The monthly rent, which covered daily maintenance, patrols, and Array expenses, was a separate fee, so the two did not conflict.

The day after the news was released, someone came to inquire.

A Loose Cultivator who ran a Magical Artifact repair business bought one on the spot, paying the full amount in Spirit Stones immediately. Mist Forest Marketplace’s location was closer to Ghost Mist Forest and Lingxi Valley, so Loose Cultivators returning from demon hunts had heavily worn-out Magical Artifacts, creating high demand for repairs.

The other four were bought up by a manager from a small faction, who said he planned to run a pill and Spirit Grass business.

Five storefronts brought in a one-time payment of four thousand Spirit Stones, with a stable rental income to follow each month.

Including the ten shops from Li Ze’an and the two from Qin Ruoshuang before, nearly half of the storefronts on the Marketplace’s main street now had owners. The remaining storefronts were left available for any interested merchants who might move in later.

With a lot more Spirit Stones on hand, Li Yuan flew to Yunyang Marketplace to do some shopping.

His goal this time was very clear.

’An Earth Element Cultivation Technique.’

Li Yuan had been to the Cultivation Technique shops in Yunyang Marketplace a few times and had a rough idea of their inventory.

He landed outside the south gate, walked into the city, and headed straight for a Cultivation Technique shop on the eastern section of the main street.

There weren’t many Earth Element Cultivation Techniques in the shop. Li Yuan chose a Qi Refining Stage Earth Element technique called "Thick Earth True Art" for one hundred twenty Spirit Stones.

He put the jade slip away, restocked on some Alchemy and Talisman-making materials while he was there, and then flew back to Mist Forest Marketplace.

That afternoon, Li Yuan began cultivating the Thick Earth True Art in his stone house.

He poured his Divine Sense into the jade slip, completely absorbing the technique’s operational pathways and methods for guiding Spiritual Power.

Following the technique’s guidance, Li Yuan sent the first wisp of Spiritual Power into a branch of his meridians.

He mastered the basics quickly.

A notification popped up on the panel.

[Cultivation Technique: Thick Earth True Art — Entry (0/200)]

Li Yuan didn’t stop and continued to circulate his power.

The blessings of his multiple traits became apparent one by one during his cultivation.

For him now, the barrier to entry for a Qi Refining Stage Cultivation Technique was no longer high. His proficiency rose at a visibly rapid pace.

During his cultivation, another notification popped up on the panel.

[Permanent activation condition for Essence Gathering and Meridian Condensing (White) has been met]

[Permanently activate?]

’Essence Gathering and Meridian Condensing.’ The effect was to actively absorb Spiritual Qi within a ten-zhang radius of himself.

The condition for permanent activation was to cultivate continuously for more than thirty-six hours within an Array he had set up himself.

[Permanent activation successful]

[Essence Gathering and Meridian Condensing (White) has become a permanent trait]

After Essence Gathering and Meridian Condensing became permanent, Li Yuan continued to cultivate.

In less than a month, he had pushed his Thick Earth True Art all the way to the Great Success stage.

[Cultivation Technique: Thick Earth True Art — Great Success (0/3200)]

The panel immediately displayed a second notification.

[Permanent activation condition for Thick Earth Amplification (White) has been met]

[Cultivate one Earth Element Cultivation Technique to Great Success (1/1)]

[Permanently activate?]

’Thick Earth Amplification.’ This was the white trait from the Earth Transporting Skill jade slip he had bought in Yunyang Marketplace. He had never equipped it and had kept it in his storage bag.

Li Yuan took out the Earth Transporting Skill jade slip from his storage bag and equipped it.

[Thick Earth Amplification (White) has become a permanent trait]

The jade slip in his palm dissolved into white light and flowed into his body.

The power of his Earth Magic increased by thirty percent. His Earth Transporting Skill, Earth Shield Skill, and Earth Escape Technique were all simultaneously enhanced.

Li Yuan raised his hand and conjured an earth shield. The moment Spiritual Power flowed into it, the shield’s surface rapidly condensed from its original earthy yellow to a deep, stone-like brown. Its edges were as solid and sharp as if they’d been cut, and it was noticeably thicker and heavier than before.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and sensed the changes in his Dantian.

Thick Earth True Art was his eighth immortal cultivation technique.

The bonus to his Spiritual Power limit from his Spiritual Essence expanded with each immortal cultivation technique he mastered. With eight techniques, the bonus was now approaching its thirty-percent cap.