Martial Arts: I Have a Wilderness World

Chapter 540: Chapter 288: Bulk Purchase

Hearing that Cheng Zongyang actually wanted to buy his method for raising Exotic Beasts, the butcher just chuckled.

"Kid, if you don’t have any business, scram. Don’t get in my way while I’m packing up."

Cheng Zongyang wasn’t annoyed. He just stood to the side and continued,

"Since you’re not willing to sell your method, I can buy your Exotic Beasts at market price. Same offer as before: I’ll buy as many as you have. If you don’t have enough, you can get more from others. I don’t care what price you get them for; I’ll still buy them from you at your price of five Spirit Crystals for every two catties."

Seeing how insistent Cheng Zongyang was, the butcher placed his things onto a flatbed cart, wiped his hands with a rag, and walked over. "Are you sure you want that much? The blood, too?"

Cheng Zongyang nodded. "It would be best to sell them to me whole and alive. I’ll take as many as you have. That way, we can butcher them ourselves as needed. You’d earn more that way, too, wouldn’t you?"

The butcher chuckled. "Heh, I’ve seen all sorts of people try to haggle, but someone wanting to buy them whole is rare. I raise One-Horned Iron Bulls. Each one weighs at least three thousand catties, which comes out to seventy-five Spirit Stones. I have six hundred and thirty-four more of them back at my place. Are you sure you can afford them? That’s an extremely high price in Spirit Stones!"

Cheng Zongyang’s eyes lit up. "You’re sure you’ll sell them all?"

’Over six hundred of them... that’s enough for Zhang Jinquan to draw their blood in rotation to create Growth Liquid, or even to cultivate more Red Jade Ganoderma. We could have a truly endless supply of blood.’

Seeing that Cheng Zongyang wasn’t joking and looked genuinely happy, the butcher thought for a moment and said, "Alright. But I need the payment upfront. Also, this business is under the protection of the Carefree Immortal Sect. Don’t even think about causing trouble."

Cheng Zongyang shook his head. "Payment upon delivery. We’ll settle the goods and the money on the spot. How about that?"

"Fine. Come with me." The butcher agreed with a nod.

Cheng Zongyang nodded. After the butcher finished packing, Cheng Zongyang got onto his beast-drawn flatbed cart, and they headed out of the city.

Along the way, Cheng Zongyang initiated a conversation.

He learned that the butcher’s name was Zhao Yonglong. But to his surprise, the man was actually a Cultivator at the Third Level of the Qi Cultivation Stage who had entered the Dao through martial arts.

At the same time, he also found out that Zhao Yonglong wasn’t the only person taming Exotic Beasts; others were raising them as well.

The Cultivation Immortality Sects in Zi’an County had developed a type of Spatial Treasure that they rented or sold to Cultivators and various powers. These were used for cultivating Spirit Rice, growing Spirit Vegetables and Spirit Fruits, and raising Exotic Beasts and Demon Beasts.

Zhao Yonglong was one such farmer who raised Exotic Beasts. He earned Spirit Stones for his Cultivation by raising them and selling their Exotic Beast Flesh.

After selling the Exotic Beasts, he had to deduct various husbandry fees he owed the Carefree Immortal Sect on credit, as well as site protection fees and other miscellaneous costs. Only the remainder was his own profit.

However, Cheng Zongyang didn’t ask about commercially sensitive topics like the man’s profit margins or costs. Even if he did, the answers wouldn’t necessarily be true.

But at the very least, he learned a few things about the agricultural side of the Cultivator world from Zhao Yonglong. He also found out that Zhao Yonglong sold Exotic Beast Flesh in the South District because it didn’t sell well in the three Cultivator-dominated districts: the North, West, and East.

Exotic Beast Flesh had the most significant effects on ordinary people and Martial Artists, so business in the South District was always quite good.

But the income from raising Exotic Beasts couldn’t compare to that from Demon Beasts, and the cost of raising Demon Beasts was also high. Everyone simply made their own choice. At least for him, creatures like Exotic Beasts were easier to control and cheaper to raise than Demon Beasts.

They continued heading toward the east side of Zi’an County until finally, under Zhao Yonglong’s control, they entered an Array.

The next moment, Cheng Zongyang discovered that this place was a seemingly endless plain, not the mountain peak he had seen from the outside.

This more or less satisfied Cheng Zongyang’s curiosity about the Magical Treasure Space Zhao Yonglong had mentioned. ’So many people are raising Exotic Beasts; a single mountain certainly wouldn’t be enough. If every County Town has this many people engaged in this kind of agricultural business, the total area of the Life Realm would definitely be insufficient.’

But raising them in these common Magical Treasure Spaces offered a different kind of advantage.

"Pretty surprising, isn’t it?" Zhao Yonglong chuckled at Cheng Zongyang’s reaction.

"This is an independent Magical Treasure Space, also one made by the Carefree Immortal Sect. Like I told you, it’s a Tier One Middle Grade Magical Treasure Space that I rent from the Immortal Sect. It’s only about three hundred mu, has no Spiritual Qi, and only contains the seven hundred Exotic Beasts I’m raising and the ordinary Spirit Grass I use to feed them."

Cheng Zongyang asked curiously, "Renting a Magical Treasure like this must be quite expensive, right?"

Hearing this, Zhao Yonglong gave a bitter smile but didn’t elaborate.

Magical Treasure Spaces were also divided into levels; just having one didn’t mean you had it made.

The first limitation was that it had to be fixed in one place; it wasn’t portable. These types of Magical Treasure Spaces were set up by the Carefree Immortal Sect, like constructing a house in a fixed location and then renting it out to Loose Cultivators or other powers.

Second, whether the space contained Spiritual Qi and its total area were crucial factors that determined its value. Tier One Middle Grade wasn’t the lowest, but it wasn’t that great either.

After that, he led Cheng Zongyang to inspect the One-Horned Iron Bulls.

He couldn’t appraise them formally, but feeling their auras, he knew from experience that they were Exotic Beasts. He estimated they were probably One-Star Level.

Seeing this, Cheng Zongyang began to make some calculations in his head.

’The fee for renting the Magical Treasure Space, the cost of purchasing the One-Horned Iron Bulls, the expense of cultivating the Spirit Grass in the space, and the protection fee for the Carefree Immortal Sect.’

’Adding up all these miscellaneous costs, selling a bull for seventy or eighty Spirit Stones, at least seventy or eighty percent of that must go to the Immortal Sect. That leaves only ten or twenty Spirit Stones for himself, maybe even less.’

Zhao Yonglong had said it took about five years to raise this type of Exotic Beast. ’By that calculation, after raising and selling all seven hundred Exotic Beasts, he would probably earn around ten thousand Spirit Stones over five years. That’s an average of a little over two thousand Spirit Stones per year.’