Cultivation Begins From The Desert

Chapter 649 - 633: Nascent Soul Stage Puppet! [Subscribe Requested]

FD, come back in half an hour) After more than a month of continuous artifact refining, hundreds of orders were completed, and within less than three months of Zhouyang taking over "Jade Spring Tower," this originally ordinary shop has leaped to become the best business in Jinsha Marketplace.

Thanks to the huge influx of customers brought by this Great Refiner event, a large number of elixirs, magical artifacts, and spirit talismans accumulated in the store were sold off, and in just a few months, the sales revenue exceeded that of the past ten years combined.

As for Zhouyang himself, he also steadily harvested nearly two thousand low-grade Spirit Stones during this Great Refining, and his pocket suddenly swelled.

He is not one to favor himself over others, as he eats meat, he also lets his clan brothers Zhou Yu and Zhou Xiong, who work in "Jade Spring Tower," drink some soup. With a big gesture, he directly gave each of them a bonus of one hundred Spirit Stones, as a reward for their busy days.

This money doesn’t have to come out of his own pocket, it can just be deducted from the revenue of "Jade Spring Tower," anyway, with the sales figures of the past few months there, no one in the clan can oppose it.

Another two months passed, and just as Zhouyang predicted, the entire Jinsha Marketplace’s custom magical artifact business rapidly declined due to market saturation, even the sales of finished magical artifacts dropped significantly.

This slump is expected to take a long time to recover, as magical artifacts are not consumables like elixirs or spirit talismans, some high-tier artifacts can be used for generations, lasting for thousands of years if cultivators often warm and refine them with magical power.

But this is no longer Zhouyang’s concern, as he and "Jade Spring Tower" have already made enough profit in this event, even if they don’t sell a single magical artifact for the next ten years, they are still in the profit.

Since he discovered that cultivating within the Earth Fire Chamber helps him break through his cultivation barrier, he spends twenty days each month in it, not refining artifacts, just releasing the earth fire to burn the empty furnace, while he practices magic nearby.

This method proved effective, as two to three months of cultivation in the Earth Fire Chamber gradually weakened the cultivation barrier confining Zhouyang, until there was only a shallow layer left.

At this moment, Zhouyang felt that as soon as he found a place abundant in spiritual qi and secluded himself for several days, he would surely be able to break through this thin barrier and advance to the Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation.

With this feeling, he immediately left the Earth Fire Chamber, planning to return to "Jade Spring Tower" to enter secluded cultivation for a breakthrough.

Just as he reached outside "Jade Spring Tower," he heard the sound of his clan brother Zhou Xiong quarreling with a customer inside.

"I say, fellow Taoist, we do business with an open door, I don’t want to insult anyone. If you truly believe the item in your hand is a treasure, you can go to another shop and see if they are willing to exchange a Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifact for your useless stone!"

"Useless stone? How dare you speak like this? This is Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold that even earth fire cannot refine, at least a Tier Four Spiritual Object! Swapping a Tier Four Spiritual Object for a single Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifact, you’re profiting greatly, do you understand?"

"Heh, do you think picking up any hard rock makes it a Tier Four Spiritual Object? Does a Tier Four Spiritual Object not emit any spiritual qi? Are you fooling a ghost? I’m telling you, if you don’t leave, don’t blame me for being unkind in throwing you out!"

"Unkind? What can a lowly Fourth-Layer Qi Cultivation cultivator like you do? I won’t stoop to the level of an ignorant lackey. Bring your shopkeeper here; I hear he’s a Tier Two High-grade Refiner. If he comes to look, he’ll definitely know that my claims are true!"

Zhouyang stood outside listening, a curious expression briefly flashed across his face. Immediately, he moved his steps and strode into the building.

Entering the building, he instantly saw his clan brother Zhou Xiong glaring at a burly middle-aged man in confrontation, the middle-aged man had a head-sized black mineral in his right hand.

This burly middle-aged man’s cultivation was at the Eighth-Layer Qi Cultivation; no wonder Zhou Xiong felt aggrieved even on his own turf.

Seeing Zhouyang enter, Zhou Xiong appeared to have found someone to back him up, his momentum increased, angeredly pointed at the burly middle-aged man and said: "Brother Nine, you came at the right time; this guy brought a rock without spiritual qi fluctuation and insists it’s Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold, asking to swap this stone for Brother Nine’s consigned Fire Cloud Banner artifact!"

The "Fire Cloud Banner" was the Red Banner Spiritual artifact Zhouyang acquired from defeating sand bandits in the Desert Sea. It was Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifact, and its refining methods were quite unusual, providing him with much artifact refining insight.

However, he already had enough artifacts, so after thoroughly researching this artifact, he put it up for sale alongside other spiritual objects and artifacts collected from the sand bandits. While most were sold, this one remained due to its high price.

Thus, upon hearing Zhou Xiong’s words, Zhouyang immediately cupped his hands towards the burly middle-aged man and said: "I am Zhouyang, the shopkeeper of this ’Jade Spring Tower.’ May I ask if my clan brother’s words are true? Can you hand over the spiritual object in your hand for my appraisal?"

"You are the renowned Zhouyang of ’Jade Spring Tower’? You do look as young as the legends say, but I wonder if you’re as powerful. I hope your reputation isn’t false!"

The burly middle-aged man with his thick eyebrows and big eyes fidgeted, eyed Zhouyang with suspicion, while loudly talking and simultaneously handing the black mineral over to Zhouyang.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Xiong immediately jumped up and screamed: "Brother Nine, look, this guy is too disrespectful. Don’t let him deceive you. We’ve seen such tricks often in this business; I bet that rock has been assessed by artifact refiners in at least ten other shops. If it was a treasure, it would’ve been taken already; would we still have a chance?"

"Thirteenth Brother, rest assured, I know what I’m doing. You go ahead and attend to other customers."

Zhouyang flashed this clan brother a reassuring look, smiled slightly, and reached to take the black mineral handed over by the burly middle-aged man for a closer examination.

He studied all artifact refining classics collected by the Zhou Family and read "Record of Wondrous Treasures of Heaven and Earth" given by his father Zhou Xuanhao, knowing over a thousand kinds of minerals and spiritual objects. But even after scrutinizing the black mineral, employing magical power refinement and divine sense penetration analysis methods, he could not match it to any known spiritual objects.

The only certainty was that this stone, devoid of any spiritual qi, was indeed very hard. The burly middle-aged man’s claim that earth fire couldn’t refine it seemed not to be a lie.

However, Zhouyang definitely did not believe the burly middle-aged man when he claimed that this pitch-black mineral was Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold.

True Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold comes from the Upper Realm, with a grade of at least Tier Five. The spiritual energy fluctuations it emits can be sensed from hundreds of miles away, unlike this pitch-black mineral, which doesn’t emit any spiritual energy at all.

Of course, although this pitch-black mineral is not Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold, it certainly isn’t the worthless stone that Zhou Xiong mentioned. Just by its hardness and heat resistance, which even Earth Fire can’t refine, it surely isn’t an ordinary mundane object.

Zhou Xiong himself must know this; the reason he said the pitch-black mineral was a worthless stone was probably due to his anger at the burly middle-aged man for asking exorbitant prices, as well as his intention to lower the price.

If they could acquire this pitch-black mineral at a lower price and bring it back to the clan for old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan to appraise, perhaps with his knowledge, he could recognize its origins.

However, Zhouyang knew that since the burly middle-aged man dared to ask for the mineral in exchange for a Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifact, he certainly wouldn’t sell this exotic treasure cheaply.

So, on the surface, Zhouyang continued to widen his eyes, examining the mineral as if trying to identify its origin while actually contemplating the lowest price the burly middle-aged man could accept.

After pondering for a while, he formulated his plan.

With a flash of regret in his eyes, he addressed the tense-looking burly middle-aged man, saying, "Esteemed friend, forgive me for my ignorance, I truly cannot discern anything remarkable about your mineral."

With that, he extended his hand to return the mineral to the man.

Seeing this, the burly middle-aged man’s face darkened, and he snorted heavily, "Humph, it seems you are just someone with an undeserved reputation, unable to recognize Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold, yet claiming to be an Artifact Refining Master!"

"Say what you like, esteemed friend, but trying to trade this unknown mineral for a Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifact just won’t work, let alone my [Fire Cloud Banner], which is a premium among Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifacts and won’t be sold for less than eight hundred Spirit Stones." Zhouyang smiled slightly, unaffected.

"What unknown mineral? This is clearly Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold! Don’t speak nonsense if you don’t recognize it!" The burly middle-aged man’s face twitched, filled with rage as he loudly protested.

"Yes, we are indeed ignorant, wasting your time to earn Spirit Stones. Since you insist this is Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold, why not sell it at the Yellow Sand Sect or Chen Family’s shop? Such a treasure like Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold is too much for a small clan like ours, the Zhou family, to handle. You should take your business elsewhere!"

At some unknown point, Zhou Xiong had arrived, sneering coldly at the burly middle-aged man with a sarcastic tone and eyes filled with resentment.

In his view, this man was just here to cause trouble for "Jade Spring Tower," which had been doing brisk business lately. And just recently, Zhouyang rewarded him with a bonus of one hundred Spirit Stones due to increased shop sales, so he naturally detested anyone trying to disrupt their business.

"You..." The burly middle-aged man was both embarrassed and angry, pointing at Zhou Xiong, ready to curse him, but seeing Zhouyang’s suddenly fierce gaze and imposing aura made him swallow his words.

He had visited the shops of the Yellow Sand Sect and Chen Family, but their staff were not as easy to manipulate as Zhou Xiong. After both the treasure appraiser and artifact refiner at their shops denied that the black mineral was a Spiritual Object, they unceremoniously drove him out, and he didn’t dare say a word.

After Zhouyang intimidated the burly middle-aged man with his aura, his face also sank. Gazing sternly at the man, he spoke, "Esteemed friend, I respect your courage and understand how difficult cultivation is for loose cultivators. If you truly desire the [Fire Cloud Banner] artifact, I’m willing to make friends with you. I’ll purchase your ’Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold’ at the price of a Tier Two Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact, and you can acquire the artifact for another five hundred Spirit Stones."

Upon hearing these words from Zhouyang, the burly middle-aged man immediately showed signs of interest. After glancing at Zhouyang’s expression again, hesitated for a moment, he finally nodded and said, "Alright, since the shopkeeper said so, I, Zhong Quan, will accept your friendship and proceed as you suggested!"

In fact, the burly middle-aged man Zhong Quan knew that the black mineral he possessed bore no resemblance to the legendary "Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold." This object was something he discovered within a "Celestial Pit" in the Desert Sea, and after searching the entire "Celestial Pit," he found only this mineral fitting the treasure criteria, which led him to believe it to be "Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold."

However, over the years, he has visited all the shops in the marketplace, tirelessly persuading them, only to find no one willing to purchase the mineral at the price of "Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold." This made him stop considering the mineral as "Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold."

The repeated insistence that it is "Extraterrestrial Marvelous Gold" stemmed only from his reluctance to let go of the time and effort wasted over the years, combined with his desire to avoid selling something found by chance at a low price.

Before Zhouyang, others, even if curious or willing to gamble on the mineral, offered no more than fifty Spirit Stones, which he naturally refused as he wouldn’t sell the treasure so cheaply.

Now, with Zhouyang willing to buy it at the price of a Tier Two Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact, although he still felt somewhat unwilling and suspecting that Zhouyang might have noticed something, he dared not gamble anymore.

Missing this opportunity would mean he wouldn’t find anyone offering higher than Zhouyang’s price in the Jinsha Marketplace. Once today’s events spread, his detractors might multiply tenfold or a hundredfold, and even he couldn’t bear it.

Once he accepted the deal, it was as if he let go of a certain obsession, causing a subtle change in his heart and mind. The Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation bottleneck troubling him for years showed signs of breaking.

This discovery delighted him immensely. He immediately handed over five hundred Spirit Stones and the pitch-black mineral to Zhouyang, took the "Fire Cloud Banner" artifact that had captivated him, and hurriedly bid farewell to Zhouyang to return home and prepare for his breakthrough.

Witnessing this, Zhou Xiong couldn’t help but curse, "That scoundrel lacks manners, taking advantage and running away. If it were Seventh Uncle, he would have driven such troublemakers away long ago instead of allowing them to act recklessly here!"

"Enough, Thirteenth Brother, say no more. I returned to instruct you on a few matters; I’m going to seclude myself in the backyard to break through to Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation. No matter how significant an event unfolds, do not disturb me."