Murder and Plunder, Has My Turn Finally Come?

Repeat customers were a demographic Luo Chen had always valued deeply! He had also been striving to cultivate regular customers of his own, rather than constantly mooching foot traffic off Old Daoist Chen. However, common goods like Fasting Powder—even after he began turning out mid-grade batches—weren't going to build much of a loyal following, not to mention his output was strictly limited. The Myriad Wonders Pill, on the other hand, had offered him an opportunity. After a few casual words, Luo Chen set out all his pills. Old Daoist Chen glanced over again. With the quantities clear at a glance, he mused inwardly that Luo Chen's alchemy skills must have truly made a breakthrough. With each market stall he set up lately, the goods brought out only grew in number. Naturally, his own "spirit stone loan" had definitely played a part in that. As the sun rose higher, more and more cultivators arrived for the market, and both Luo Chen and Old Daoist Chen made their opening sales one after the other. "Fellow Daoist Little Luo, what a coincidence!" "Indeed, what a coincidence!" Luo Chen greeted Zeng Wen warmly, pointing toward the jars and bottles before him. "Care to pick up a few?" "I'll take some!" Zeng Wen picked up five vials of Fasting Powder, turning them over in his hands as he spoke. "Your craftsmanship really is something else. I tried your Fasting Powder last time, and it was actually upper-grade—leaps and bounds better than what anyone else sells." "As long as it keeps your belly full. Thank you for the kind words, Fellow Daoist." "Give me two vials of Myriad Wonders Pills while you're at it!" "Right away." With unspoken understanding, Luo Chen tucked two vials of Myriad Wonders Pills from the stall into Zeng Wen's hands. The two exchanged a knowing smile; nothing more needed to be said. A cultivator browsing talismans nearby seemed to be an acquaintance of Zeng Wen's. "Brother Zeng, that spotted tiger slaughtered at Butcher Li's yesterday was your prize, wasn't it? That trip into the mountains really was quite a haul!" "Ah, that demonic tiger was terrorizing the mortal world, so I was merely enacting justice on heaven's behalf. It's nothing worth mentioning, nothing at all." "Too modest, aren't you? What are you buying there?" Zeng Wen discreetly slipped the Myriad Wonders Pills into his storage pouch while holding up the vials of Fasting Powder. "Just grabbing some Fasting Powder to stockpile for my next trip into the mountains—makes things easier. Brother Duan, let's catch up later. I've got urgent business, so I'll be taking my leave." Zeng Wen hurried off. The cultivator he had addressed as Brother Duan looked puzzled. Then he watched as Luo Chen reached into the bag beneath the stall, pulled out two exquisite jade vials, and set them on display. Didn't Zeng Wen just buy those same things? "What kind of pills are these?" Luo Chen's eyes lit up. "Myriad Wonders Pills. Interested in learning more, Fellow Daoist?" ... Customers came and went, yet the banter never changed. Outrageous asking prices met rock-bottom counteroffers. The seller bragged about how exceptional the goods were, while the buyer nitpicked, pointing out flaws by the score. Then, once a mutually agreeable price was struck, the deal was done. Unlike the aloof loose cultivators who simply sat cross-legged in meditation before their stalls, this bluestone spot was far livelier. Both the old man and the youth possessed thick skins and silver tongues. Whenever Luo Chen had a free moment, he would talk up Old Daoist Chen's talismans, helping him sell a few sheets. Perhaps because it was a major market day, Luo Chen's pill business went smoothly. By the end of the morning, almost everything was sold. All thirty vials of Fasting Powder were sold, bringing in six low-grade spirit stones. All twenty vials of Myriad Wonders Pills were sold, bringing in a hundred low-grade spirit stones. The disparity between the two was astronomical. Yet when viewed purely in terms of profit, the Myriad Wonders Pills yielded zero net gain, barely breaking even. By contrast, after deducting the cost of materials, Fasting Powder yielded a clean net profit of three spirit stones. With his Master-level proficiency in Fasting Powder, Luo Chen could probably earn more if he scaled up production. Yet the market for Fasting Powder was fixed, and its consumption rate had an upper limit; earning more would only amount to a few extra spirit stones at best. By seizing this opportunity to grind his proficiency with the Myriad Wonders Pill, he could unlock massive profits down the line. Industrial transition, opening new channels. A brief period of growing pains was entirely acceptable! Old Daoist Chen kept badgering him to repay the debt, so Luo Chen had no choice but to hand over fifty stones on the spot. Then, as soon as he repaid it, he wheedled and pestered the old man for half a day until he borrowed it right back. "Don't worry, I can definitely pay you back. You've seen my earnings lately with your own eyes! Just consider it sponsoring an impoverished cultivator's training. Once I strike it rich, I'll repay you tenfold!" "How about this? My pills are all sold out, so I'll work for you this afternoon and help you sell talismans!" "Trust me, if I help you clear your stock early, you can head back and craft a couple extra talismans, and you'll earn it all back with interest." Through relentless sweet-talking and cajoling, Luo Chen managed to keep the 106 spirit stones in his pouch. The price, of course, was spending the afternoon as temporary labor. "Huh? Did something happen over by Brother Wang?" Luo Chen, who was hawking talismans, looked up and noticed that Wang Yuan's stall was surrounded by a crowd not far away. Curious to see the drama, he started over, but Old Daoist Chen grabbed his arm. "Stay back!" "What's wrong?" "Did you forget what happened the last time something like this went down?" Luo Chen halted, recalling a scene from two years ago in the original host's memories. That moment back then bore an uncanny resemblance to this very instant. "Enemies coming to settle a score?" Old Daoist Chen looked over with a complicated expression. "Most loose cultivators might be solitary loners, but some still have close friends and kin." "It's one thing when someone dies, but when their dharma artifacts and Daoist robes are put on display for sale, anyone who stumbles upon them will find it hard to swallow that anger." Realization dawned on Luo Chen. Sure enough, tension crackled within the crowd over there. It looked as if a full-blown fight could erupt at the slightest disagreement. Wang Yuan was at Qi Refinement Layer Seven, so anyone bold enough to surround him couldn't have a cultivation much lower than his. If a brawl really broke out, going over to gawk would make it all too easy to get caught in the crossfire. "They won't fight. Rest assured, fighting is strictly forbidden in the inner city." Old Daoist Chen shook his head. He had seen far too much of this sort of thing. All one could say was that for someone who lived on the edge of a blade like Wang Yuan, walking in the dark long enough meant eventually running into ghosts. Sure enough. After uttering a few harsh threats, the three cultivators departed the loose cultivator bazaar in indignance. Wang Yuan maintained his usual lukewarm expression, sitting cross-legged in front of his stall with drooping eyelids, looking as though he had barely woken up. "Selling bloodstained dharma artifacts like that carries huge risks!" Luo Chen muttered. "Why doesn't he just sell them directly to Wanbao Pavilion?" Old Daoist Chen scoffed. "Wanbao Pavilion buys them back at half price, tosses them into the furnace for a quick refurbishment, and then sells them for more than the original price. How could that ever earn as much as running a stall yourself?" So that was why! Luo Chen understood now. The quality of dharma artifacts at the loose cultivator bazaar varied wildly, relying entirely on a cultivator's own eye. Moreover, without being reforged in a furnace, they were far too conspicuous and easily recognized by friends of the original owner. Their sole advantage was probably that they were much cheaper than official prices. "Right now, all I've got on me is a low-grade dharma sword—and a rust-pitted one at that." "Once I have money in the future, should I hunt for bargains at the bazaar, or buy from Wanbao Pavilion?" Stroking his chin, Luo Chen found himself pondering the matter just as he used to agonize over whether to buy a BMW or a Mercedes in his past life. Daydreams were fleeting. Working as a laborer lasted the entire afternoon. Once he finished helping Old Daoist Chen clear out his talismans, he hurried off to purchase the raw ingredients he needed. After several large consecutive purchases, he had already struck an agreement with the vendors to hold stock for him whenever possible. So even though time was tight, he still managed to spend every last one of those hundred-plus spirit stones. Not a single cent remained! Going all-in was a form of wisdom. Luo Chen never lacked the courage to go all-in, especially in the early stages—even if he lost everything, the worst that could happen was starting over from scratch. By the time he carried the bulky snakeskin sack on his back and headed home, the sky had darkened once more. Luo Chen strode along the dirt path in the outer city, occasionally humming a tune: "I cannot drift with the ebb and flow, for the sake of the longevity I love so..." Suddenly, Luo Chen's footsteps came to an abrupt halt. Under the moonlight, four figures blocked his path. A dark night, high winds, murder and plunder... Has my turn finally come? Luo Chen's heart sank with a thud, plunging straight to the bottom of the Lancang River.