Managing the custors at the front of Forge Peak Residence was not particularly difficult, and Hongi had hired suitable hands for the job.
However, outsiders could never truly be trusted like family, and Hongi could not simply take in anyone as a disciple.
As a result, Zhong Ningyao went to the back hall to assist Hongi, while Yulou was tasked with looking after the shop.
Thanks to the anticipation building up for the Red Lantern Illumination Sect's immortal-cultivator version of the Double Eleven shopping festival, the number of cultivators in Clear Stream Market had surged to the point where people were forced to sleep on the streets. Consequently, Forge Peak Residence had seen an increase in foot traffic recently.
Then again...
Yulou leaned back in his chair, browsing through a cultivator's travelogue. When soone walked in, a quick glance from the corner of his eye told him everything he needed to know—they were just here to broaden their horizons.
A low-grade spiritual artifact crafted by a proper artificer required at least three basic layers of restrictions, pushing the price to forty spirit stones minimum.
Forty spirit stones was not much compared to the apprenticeship fee the brothers had paid, nor could it compare to the Mirror Silver Golden Thread Shield.
Yet, even for such a small amount of spirit stones, many rogue cultivators still could not afford it.
When engaging in magical combat, they usually relied on simple spells, basic talismans, or mortal weapons infused with a bit of spiritual materials. Fighting this way ensured they would not lose money.
Yes, lose money.
The rogue cultivators were so impoverished that many could not scrape together even fifty spirit stones even if they bled themselves dry.
If the talismans used during a spiritual duel were too expensive, they would still end up at a loss even after winning and looting the spoils.
"Shop assistant, how many spirit stones for your cheapest spiritual artifact?" a middle-aged rogue cultivator asked.
"Eighty spirit stones, and it is a flying sword. A flying sword refined from rank-nine Cold Refined Iron and rank-nine white elm wood. Would you care to take a look?" The shop assistant began promoting Hongi's specially offered simplified version of a flying sword.
"A flying sword made of Cold Refined Iron and white elm wood? For only eighty spirit stones?" The middle-aged rogue cultivator's eyes imdiately lit up, and he urged the assistant to bring it out for a look.
The assistant looked over at Yulou, who stood up and retrieved Hongi's monkey-version flying sword from the cabinet.
However, when he opened the box and saw the flying sword inside, even soone as well-mannered as Yulou was startled.
At the Ghost Market Auction, the simplified Cold Refined Iron flying daggers that Hongi sold at least had a blade the size of a finger, which still held so rit.
But this eighty-spirit-stone flying sword the assistant was pushing...
It could be called the 'Simplified Version 2.0—Infant Monkey Type.' It was practically a further downgraded version of an already downsized concept.
The flying sword was only the size of a pinky finger, and it looked as if it had been split down the middle, leaving only half a pinky's worth.
It was hardly a flying sword, and could barely even pass for a flying dagger. At most, it was just a slightly thicker flying needle.
To be able to refine all three basic layers of restrictions into such a tiny space showed that Hongi's accomplishnts in the artificing path were truly extraordinary.
Yulou held the box, presenting it to the inquiring cultivator as he introduced it. "Take a look. It may be small, but it still possesses three layers of restrictions, and its blade is indeed forged from Cold Refined Iron. You are well aware of the properties of Cold Refined Iron. A spiritual artifact made from this kind of spiritual iron holds a massive advantage in magical combat. Spiritual artifacts made of inferior materials like wood or fabric cannot withstand its strikes."
The middle-aged rogue cultivator was also soone who had survived the cultivation world for many years. Though he remained at the bottom, he had seen plenty of excellent spiritual artifacts used by others.
He stared at the flying sword in the box, remaining silent for a long ti before looking up at Yulou.
Staring at the excessively young Yulou, this rogue cultivator, who had wasted half his life and was still stuck in the Qi Drawing realm, felt a wave of lancholy. He asked hopefully, "Would seventy-five spirit stones be acceptable?"
To him, this piece of garbage among low-grade spiritual artifacts was no garbage at all.
It was a premium treasure for the destitute, the dream weapon of a poor man.
It might look ridiculous, but it truly possessed three layers of restrictions, and it really was made of Cold Refined Iron!
"Our prices are fixed, Fellow Daoist. This artifact was refined by my master, Householder Redbrow. It looks small, but all low-grade spiritual artifacts are small. There are so even smaller than this, but do those contain Cold Refined Iron? Furthermore, the restrictions my master refined into it are far more practical than those made by ordinary artificers. Eighty spirit stones might sound expensive, but Cold Refined Iron weapons are rarely made into low-grade artifacts. To tell you the truth, we have already sold several of these flying swords over the past couple of days."
Cold Refined Iron, Cold Refined Iron, and more Cold Refined Iron!
Spiritual artifacts made from this type of spiritual iron truly possessed unique qualities. Piercing through fabric-based spiritual artifacts was as easy as reaching into a pocket, and it could easily show its prowess against spiritual wood artifacts.
It offered zero utility, but in terms of offensive capability, the cost-effectiveness was undeniable!
Moreover, artificers usually crafted Cold Refined Iron into mid-grade spiritual artifacts for the sake of profit and to hone their artificing path. Low-grade Cold Refined Iron artifacts rarely lingered on the market for long.
Even the rit Hall of the Red Lantern Illumination Sect would not carry this kind of simplified Cold Refined Iron flying sword—they considered the profit margin too low.
Only soone with Hongi's extraordinary artificing path would bother, as he refused to pass up even the smallest bit of profit.
Staring at the flying sword in the wooden box, the middle-aged rogue cultivator gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, eighty it is. I will give you forty spirit stones as a deposit first, so please hold it for . As for the remaining forty, once the rit Hall of the Red Lantern Illumination Sect arrives, I will exchange my rit points for so spirit stones and make up the difference!"
Yulou hesitated for a mont and closed the box. Disappointnt washed over the middle-aged rogue cultivator as he turned to leave.
He had finally encountered an artifact he liked, and by gritting his teeth, he could just barely afford it, but...
Perhaps this was simply how life went.
Thinking this way, a wave of uncontrollable bitterness welled up in his heart.
"Please wait, Fellow Daoist! I will apply a wax seal to this box and keep it until you return to claim it. However, we can only hold it for two months. Any longer than that will not do. What do you say?"
Two months was a tiline based on Forge Peak Residence's inventory turnover rate.
Yulou was rely Hongi's disciple, not his son. He could not casually give away Hongi's profits just to play the part of a generous benefactor.
"That works, that works!"
The rogue cultivator joyfully handed over the deposit and left with the receipt Yulou had written for him.
He carefully placed the thin sheet of paper into his robes, terrified that sothing might happen to it.
After spending half his life pursuing immortality to no avail, he was finally about to possess a genuine spiritual artifact!
Yes, it was incredibly small, but all low-grade spiritual artifacts were small.
Yes, it only had three layers of restrictions, but it could still be smoothly manipulated using divine sense.
Yes, it looked ridiculous, but it would beco a reliable partner and assistant.
With this, he would be able to straighten his back a little more when traveling in the future.
With this, he would finally have a trump card during magical combat.
With this, even if he failed to reach the next stage of cultivation in the future, he could still leave a treasure behind for his descendants.
The simplified flying sword was far from perfect, but to the person buying it, it was absolute perfection.
Touching the defensive spiritual artifact around his waist given to him by the Patriarch, Yulou could feel the spiritual rhythm within the artifact gently brushing against his palm.
Similar to his senior martial sister's two spiritual artifacts, this belt artifact could automatically protect Yulou whenever he encountered danger.
The divide between a clan descendant and a rogue cultivator was like an insurmountable chasm.
Yulou was no immortal. In this sea of suffering artificialized by grand cultivators, he could barely keep himself afloat. How could he possibly harbor the saintly desire to rescue others?
An insurmountable chasm separated clan descendants from rogue cultivators.
An insurmountable chasm also lay between Yulou and Jiang Baobian of the Purple Palace family.
And an insurmountable chasm existed between Jiang Baobian and the soon-to-arrive True Person Danri.
The path to immortality was long and arduous; one must forge ahead with determination!
The journey was filled with tribulations; one's resolve must be as unyielding as iron!
Having finished the urgent task of balancing the accounts, Zhong Ningyao and the two brothers no longer had to work. She was now leading the brothers along the road toward the Clear Stream Racetrack.
Horse racing was the most popular gambling activity in Clear Stream Market, held once every ten days, and a race happened to be scheduled for tonight.
"Gao Jian, Gao Jian... he might as well change his na to sothing that reflects how much he loves slaughtering innocents. He has already beaten two alleged bandit cultivators to death. Both he and his master are absolute beasts." Zhong Ningyao complained bitterly about Gao Jian's brutal behavior.
"Senior Martial Sister, we shouldn't speak so carelessly while out in the open..."
Yulou was highly satisfied with Yu'an's cautious warning. It seed those few slaps from Uncle Rongyuan had truly been effective.
"You have no idea. The production cost Gao Jian paid my father was ten spirit stones for a single firework artifact. Those firework artifacts are made from ordinary iron, with only a thumbnail-sized piece of purple copper added. He claid that refining a single layer of activation restriction onto the purple copper would suffice. That man nad Jiang took over ten thousand spirit stones from the Unity Fee just to produce a little over a hundred of those cheap items. If you ask , all hundred-plus pieces combined didn't even cost five hundred spirit stones!"
Senior Martial Sister Ningyao truly detested them. Jiang Baobian's greed was far too unsightly.
The Unity Fee paid by shops like Forge Peak Residence had been completely embezzled by those beasts.
In her eyes, Jiang Baobian was deceiving the Red Lantern Illumination Sect above while hoodwinking all the cultivators of Clear Stream Market below. Why shouldn't she curse him a few tis?
"Watch your words, Senior Martial Sister. These matters are beyond our control, so it is best not to dwell on them. Thinking about it only brings vexation," Yulou said in a low voice.
"Why did it suddenly get brighter?"
Zhong Ningyao possessed the highest cultivation base and was the first to sense sothing amiss.
It was clearly dusk, the exact hour when the sun was sinking behind the western mountains, yet the world around them suddenly grew brighter.
Yu'an raised his head, looking toward the sky. "Why are there two suns in the sky?"
With two suns hanging in the air, both Yulou and Zhong Ningyao froze in astonishnt.
There were indeed two suns in the sky.
One was the reddish-orange setting sun, while the other was a brilliant, golden blazing sun.
Yulou felt a shiver run straight up his spine. The sheer shock rippled through his nerves, traveling all the way up to his brain, causing him to shudder violently.
"Is this the Red Lantern Illumination?" Zhong Ningyao murmured softly.
Yu'an remained silent. Seeing his elder brother still standing there dazed, he smoothly shielded Senior Martial Sister Ningyao by pulling her behind him.
Afterward, he quietly stepped beside his elder brother, his hand subtly brushing against the Thousand-Mile Talisman on his leg and the Hundred-Li Wanderer Escape Talisman hidden inside his sleeve.
If that second sun wasn't caused by the people from the Red Lantern Illumination Sect, they would flee imdiately!
He would drag this staring idiot, Yulou, along and run for their lives!
'When trouble arises, retreat behind the crowd; when benefits appear, let fellow Daoists go first. Always keep a Thousand-Mile Talisman ready on your leg to safeguard your life on the immortal path!'
The boy who strictly adhered to family rules, Yu'an, stepped forward!
Wang Rongyuan would say: "I told you those slaps would yield results!"
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