Immortal Path Space

Chapter 259: Purchasing Spirit Fields

Wang Hong was thrilled to receive a one-time income of six million Spirit Stones. In the Qingxu Sect, a Foundation Building Disciple only receives two thousand Spirit Stones annually. Typically, Foundation Building cultivators, apart from acquiring wealth through defeating others, could earn tens of thousands of Spirit Stones in a year, which was considered a high income.

However, the several million Spirit Stones Wang Hong now had likely represented the collective earnings of his faction over several years. The Immortal Way Trading Company, still operating covertly, needed to amass sufficient strength before transitioning to a more overt operation. With annual sales exceeding one million, even Golden Core cultivators would be envious.

Enhancing strength was urgent; delays could lead to discovery by others. However, the rapid advancement of his subordinates had to be managed carefully. A sudden group promotion to the Foundation Building stage would certainly create a stir in Azure Void City.

After waiting for over ten days and with the aid of some Pills, the cultivation levels of two of his subordinates who were at the peak of Qi Cultivation stabilized. Wang Hong gave each of them a Foundation Establishment Pill and several manuals on Foundation Building for them to advance on their own.

A day later, only one succeeded in Foundation Building, while the other emerged from the Cultivation Room dejected. Wang Hong simply patted his shoulder and handed him another Foundation Establishment Pill. The disheartened cultivator gratefully accepted the pill and returned to his cultivation.

The next day, this young cultivator successfully achieved Foundation Building and, upon exiting the Cultivation Room, prostrated before Wang Hong in deep gratitude before silently departing.

Wang Hong stayed around Liu Changsheng for about a month before secretly returning to his identity as Wang Hong and went back to Xu Lun.

Xu Lun's realm had stabilized, so Wang Hong gave him eight Foundation Establishment Pills for his cultivation. Ten days later, Xu Lun successfully achieved Foundation Building and returned two pills to Wang Hong. Xu Lun, having more daily responsibilities, only cultivated for two days to stabilize his realm before resuming his duties.

The preparations for the new store were almost complete, and the Immortal Way Trading Company agreed to supply goods for this large new establishment. As the manager, Xu Lun oversaw these operations personally.

Due to the store's size, Xu Lun recruited three assistant managers. Each floor of the three-story building was managed by one of them. Additionally, over thirty Qi Cultivation period attendants, evenly split between men and women, mostly worked on the first floor. These attendants were chosen for their good looks and cleverness, ensuring a pleasant experience for customers.

Wang Hong left the store's operations entirely to Xu Lun. A few days later, the new shop, named "East Zhou Trading," opened. Wang Hong chose this name with the hope that one day, his shops would span the entire East Zhou Cultivation Realm, similar to the Myriad Treasures Tower, with a presence wherever cultivators were found.

Due to the abundant supply of goods provided by the Immortal Way Trading Company, the grand opening of the new shop was a bustling success, keeping the over thirty attendants extremely busy.

He Yuan's injuries had healed by about seventy to eighty percent, but the remaining wounds seemed to have stabilized and showed no improvement despite consuming many Pills. He had no choice but to wait another year for his Jade Marrow Mushroom to reach eight hundred years of age and become a true healing panacea.

Luo Zhongjie's injuries were originally lighter and had fully recovered by now. Wang Hong planned to allocate the next Foundation Building opportunity to Luo Zhongjie. Since Zhang Chunfeng's departure, Luo had effectively become the chief instructor of his subordinates, and it was necessary for him to have corresponding strength.

However, Wang Hong decided to upgrade only Luo Zhongjie for now, with the rest to be gradually addressed later. Sudden collective advancement would draw too much attention; just providing a Foundation Establishment Pill for each of over thirty individuals was a significant undertaking.

Wang Hong gave Luo Zhongjie three Green Spirit Peaches, eight Foundation Establishment Pills, and instructed him to hand over any remaining pills to Xu Lun after his Foundation Building.

Additionally, Wang Hong left more than ten Green Spirit Peaches with Xu Lun for distribution, allowing one per month for any cultivator to exchange using contribution points. However, he strictly prohibited anyone from selling the Green Spirit Peaches externally or leaking any information about them. Even though these peaches were immature and only effective for Qi Cultivation period cultivators, Wang Hong preferred to avoid any unnecessary trouble.

With a substantial amount of Spirit Stones and Foundation Building cultivators at hand, Wang Hong was finally ready to pursue another long-planned venture: purchasing spirit fields. Continuously extracting various spiritual objects from his space was risky over time and in large quantities.

At present, his few small stores did not attract much attention, but as his business expanded, it would inevitably draw more scrutiny. There were always idle cultivators keen on investigating others, and probing into his business could lead to complications.

Although he had created the Immortal Way Trading Company as a cover, it was still a small-scale operation focused mainly on minor stores and tier-one spiritual objects. As the company emerged into the limelight and expanded, it would need its planting bases.

In the Cultivation World, a standard power needed a material foundation to thrive. Some powers possessed spirit ores, others excelled in trade, tool refining, or talisman making, but they all engaged in planting spiritual herbs to some extent.

With Luo Zhongjie's successful Foundation Building, Wang Hong summoned both Luo and Xu Lun to discuss his plans.

"I've called you here today to discuss something. I want to purchase some spirit fields for planting Spiritual Herbs. You both are more familiar with Azure Void City and its surroundings than I am. Do you have any suggestions?"

Xu Lun pondered for a moment before replying, "There are mainly two types of spirit fields: those within Azure Void City and those outside. The ones in the city are scattered and more expensive but convenient to manage, requiring only one or two Qi Cultivation cultivators as guards. The fields outside the city are larger, more concentrated, and cheaper. In some remote, unclaimed areas, if a Spirit Vein is found, one can even establish spirit fields without needing Spirit Stones. However, the external fields are riskier due to Demonic Beasts and treasure-hunting cultivators, necessitating at least one Foundation Building cultivator for protection. Master East, what type and size of spirit fields are you considering?"

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