novelraw Chapter 609 - 608: An Accidental Encounter with Huang Niu’Er
Chapter 609 - 608: An Accidental Encounter with Huang Niu’Er
Standing on the corridor of over a dozen floors and glancing out, the spacious and luxurious, and the cramped and simple shops lined up closely together.
Each shop emitted a variety of lights, bustling with crowds coming and going. The dazzling array of signs made Jiang Yuan go in circles twice without finding a shop that customized name cards, so he stopped to ask a shop assistant from a nearby cloth shop who was soliciting customers.
"You have to go down to find the shop." The shop assistant enthusiastically walked to the edge of the corridor, pointing in the direction near the ground, explaining: "The higher you go in Golden Chicken River Market, the bigger the business they do and the more money is needed. The lower you go, the cheaper the shop rent, and the more small businesses there are.
Customizing name cards is an easy job that any small Artifact Refiner can take on; it doesn’t make much money. The Artifact Refiners on the middle and upper floors don’t bother with these. You need to go down and look. I recommend ’Jin Lang Small Manor’ on the second floor above ground. The Artifact Refiner there does exquisite work and charges reasonably.
If you’re visiting Golden Chicken River Market for the first time, inevitably you might get dazzled by the dense floors and corridors. Why not buy a map from the grocery store next door? That way, you can check out more stores and compare prices."
Jiang Yuan handed a few pieces of Spirit Stone to the enthusiastic shop assistant as a tip, making his smile reach his ears as he bobbed his head repeatedly with gratitude.
"The world of the demon cultivators is no different from the human world." He noted that the assistant was clearly a Ninth Layer Foundation Establishment Realm demon cultivator, higher than Yun Mo’s realm when he first met him.
Yun Mo could lead a small team in seclusion in the wilderness as a king, yet this shop assistant bowed and scraped for a stable job in the market and some tips in the form of Spirit Stones.
This reminded him of that proverb with a strong Tangshan flavor—money is truly a wonderful thing!
"Nothing is more important than health; nothing is worse than having no money," his mother’s often-repeated wisdom now echoed in Jiang Yuan’s heart as true wisdom. He then turned to buy a market map from the neighboring grocery store.
The map, which cost two Spirit Stones, was beautifully drawn. He even found his own Cloud Grocery Store on it, noted as not yet officially open.
Following the directions on the map, he reached the ground as a fine rain fell on the bluestone, reflecting a hazy glow like candlelight, with demon cultivators occasionally passing by under umbrellas, the air filled with the scent of wet rain.
Jiang Yuan lifted his eyes, searching for Jin Lang Small Manor, but his gaze swept past a street corner and found an ancient, cramped little shop. A half-worn banner hung at its entrance, blown by the wind to reveal a simple puppet image.
"Eh? Is the owner of this store actually a Puppet Master?" He glanced at the map, marking a small shop labeled "Huang Family Store" with a note.
Shops on the ground floors were small and crowded, so this map didn’t even have a note for them. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would have thought it was a restaurant or something.
He was still thinking about Yun Shu’s big renovation project, considering a visit to the small shop after customizing the name cards, but didn’t hold too much hope. After all, just judging by the storefront... it’s not about judging by appearances, mainly because a truly remarkable Puppet Master wouldn’t be living so constrained.
Like Qian Duoduo, the Talisman Master in Cloud City, the title "Talisman Master" sounds impressive but, in reality, he’s not proficient, and the runes he draws can’t sell at high prices. After deducting costs and the like, he doesn’t make much money.
It’s the same in all professions. One must either be top-notch, have good fortune, or be good at promotion. As long as you have one of these, you can become very wealthy.
In the Wilderness World with many demon cultivators, truly wealthy ones are still a minority.
Since the owner of the Huang Family Store doesn’t seem too well-off, it’s likely they can’t take on such a large-scale renovation project, especially since Yun Shu, as a puppet, is at a very high level, and most cultivators can’t tell she’s not human.
"Customer, are you looking to purchase a puppet?" Huang Niu’Er emerged from the store, feeling gloomy while cursing the wretched rainy weather.
Lifting his eyes, he saw a noble-looking cultivator passing by, and hurried to offer business, saying, "The puppets made by my grandma can serve tea, entertain, and even do hard labor. Puppets don’t talk back or cause trouble, and the price is very affordable!"
Huang Niu’Er, with his bright eyes fixed on Jiang Yuan, who clearly appeared to be a wealthy man, wore a full smile, eager to seek a big business or good opportunity.
Last night, he witnessed the shop assistant from the backstreet restaurant, who, because of his sweet talk and cleverness, was favored by a passing noble guest, who was even willing to spend fifty thousand Spirit Stones and asked the restaurant owner to allow him to take him as a disciple!
The noble guest riding a luxurious carriage had several attendants and didn’t mind the shop assistant wearing short sleeves and shorts, even affectionately having him ride together in the carriage to leave the market.
His playmate, who was once far inferior, transformed into a distinguished gentleman overnight, making Huang Niu’Er’s eyes red with envy and jealousy biting his teeth almost to pieces.
He was long tired of the monotonous and boring life where the market seemed to see the end in one glance and also wanted to go outside and explore the world.
But his grandma was unwilling to part with her strong labor, flatly refusing, claiming the world outside was dangerous due to his low realm and intending to trap him here doing hard labor for her.
Last night, she heard that the shop assistant had met a noble and struck it rich and was worried he had other ideas, reversing to scare him, saying that the assistant had average talent and nothing useful, and whether it was fortune or calamity was uncertain.
How could it be a calamity?
He couldn’t help but roll his eyes, thinking the old lady truly muddled, still trying to deceive him like a child who didn’t understand. Being favored by a noble and achieving great success is luck accumulated over several lifetimes!
She was just afraid her little slave would run away, coaxing and threatening to trap him.
When young and ignorant, he truly thought she meant well for him; now that he had grown wings, he couldn’t always be kept in the dark and had to plan for the future.
Therefore, Huang Niu’Er these past two days actively approached well-dressed and wealthy cultivators whenever he saw them.
He even purposely let his cute little cow tail out, wagging it slowly and high up in the air—the restaurant owner personally said that the distinguished guest saw the little waiter’s tail exposed outside, touched it and thought it was extremely cute, no matter what insisted on taking him as a disciple to enjoy glory and wealth.
Ha! How is his thick and short ugly tail more adorable than mine?
It’s just luck that he met the important person first, otherwise, if my little tail wagged a few times, where would he have the chance to rise to power?
Thinking this, Huang Niu’Er wagged his tail even more vigorously, widening his eyes to make himself look cuter.
[Huang Niu’Er: A juvenile Hexagonal Bull Demon in the Second Layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Only three days after birth, lost his parents due to a tribal war, luckily rescued during the chaos by Puppet Master Huang Hanying who raised him and taught him cultivation techniques.
However, Huang Niu’Er, though small in stature, has a big heart, is vain, rebellious, ungrateful to Huang Hanying’s discipline, and thinks vainly of social climbing by associating with distinguished guests in the market...]
The two only exchanged a glance, Jiang Yuan scanned the detailed information about the other party rapidly, raising an eyebrow.
Apart from labeling him as an Evil Cultivator, this is the first time he’s seen the system use so many derogatory terms to describe a little demon.
He felt a bit sorry for the Puppet Master who worked hard to raise him only to be betrayed.
Thinking to spare some time to help the other party’s business, but for now, forget it, a guy with no gratitude flaunting and ingratiating himself, responding to him only gives him face!
Jiang Yuan turned his face away coldly, ignoring the other party, and directly went up the second-story corner stairs, entering Jin Lang’s shop located right above Huang Family’s outlet.
"What can I craft for you, sir?" Jin Lang, the shopkeeper, saw someone enter and enthusiastically stood up to greet him.
His true form is a Golden Lion, tall and sturdy, with golden wavy explosive hair tied back with a black headband, paired with bare muscular arms; he seemed fierce despite his young age, but he treated people and guests as if a spring breeze.
"I’m an unconventional Artifact Refiner, specializing in custom crafting slightly offbeat magical artifacts and items. Here’s the catalog, all items listed can be refined." He smiled as he handed over the catalog, patiently waiting as the guest flipped through it page by page, not delaying his polishing work.
A year ago, Jin Lang came to open a shop in the Golden Chicken River Market, still a proud Artifact Refiner. Ambitious yet unskilled, he always hoped to land big deals crafting unique treasures but couldn’t compete with high-level big outlets, so his business nearly had to close due to poor trade.
Fortunately, awakened by Puppet Master Granny Huang’s one remark, he instantly figured it out.
He adjusted his business scope, specializing in crafting small items that large outlets overlooked, offering fair prices and decent quality. As the reputation grew, his shop quickly came back to life.
Moreover, since being enlightened about doing business, Jin Lang completely focused on understanding the cultivation technique of artifact refining, his cultivation began progressing rapidly, breaking through to the Wisdom Realm within just a few months.
Causing Granny Huang’s young apprentice from the bottom layers to be extremely envious.
Jin Lang told him to calm his mind, polish, and comprehend cultivation techniques, and then cultivation would naturally progress, but the child seemed to not quite understand the principle of "cultivating the heart first in cultivation," heard him frequently argue with Granny Huang in recent days.
Having received the benefit of enlightenment from Granny Huang, Jin Lang inevitably felt some concern for her.
"This nameplate is indeed attractive, but what function does it serve once crafted?" Jiang Yuan surveyed a full page of optional styles, finding them quite similar to business cards.
The problem is, a business card at least leaves a contact address, phone number, or some information, and the recipient can contact anytime but there’s no phone number on this nameplate, what’s the use in giving it to someone?
Jin Lang’s thoughts were interrupted, smiling as he explained, "Different grades of nameplates have distinct means of contact.
Sir, see this cheapest type, when the recipient holds the nameplate and channels spiritual power, they can sense the address you stored in the nameplate;
This type places a Communication Stone on the nameplate to automatically add the other party’s contact means; this type, when infusing spiritual power, the nameplate can project a map guiding to the address stored within..."
After hearing the explanation, Jiang Yuan immediately realized, so all the information is hidden inside.
Quite interesting, huh!
Casually taking out the nameplate given by Qu Luming from his Storage Bag, he asked, "What level is this nameplate, can it be custom-made?"
"Sir, this card..." Jin Lang took it with both hands and immediately his eyes lit up, Upper Grade Magical Artifact!
My goodness! A nameplate willingly crafted into an Upper Grade Magical Artifact, this Cultivator named Qu must be really wealthy!
"If you wish to create a similar nameplate, you’d need to wait a few more days and it’s quite costly, honestly, this is no ordinary nameplate for contact but an Upper Grade Magical Artifact that can save your life in critical moments!"
He patiently explained, "With spiritual power, you can directly contact the other party; if the other party allows, you can even see their location through this nameplate, and even consume a nameplate for teleportation to the other party’s side.
Of course, these functions are only within a certain range, too far and it won’t work. Overall, it’s similar to a Teleportation Talisman but falls short of it, the teleportation process isn’t that comfortable."