Grain coupons were fine, but their limitations were severe.
For instance, within Qingming right now, grain held little appeal. Not long ago, several million jin of grain had accidentally rotted away. This was by no means intentional; the speed of constructing granaries simply could not keep pace with grain production.
To consume the surplus grain, Old Daoist Chuhe had bred over a hundred million guinea pigs and established several massive breeding farms. At this time, Qingming's cement output had surged, so the old daoist lavishly used reinforced concrete to construct the facilities. Each breeding farm was ten stories high, with legions of guinea pigs housed across the multi-story buildings.
Because space was tight and crowded, none of the guinea pigs were in high spirits, leaving eating as the sole joy of their rodent lives. Consequently, they grew faster and plumper. The old daoist followed suit and built several more identical breeding farms.
With guinea pig meat production skyrocketing, Qingming could no longer consume so much meat. Inspired by military food rations, cultivators from the Palace of Grand Beginning salted and boiled the guinea pig meat, canned it, and sold it in bulk to surrounding areas. The largest buyer, surprisingly, turned out to be Li Zhi. Li Zhi bought five hundred thousand jin of canned meat in one breath, clearly preparing for some major operation.
If there were grain coupons, naturally there could also be cloth coupons, oil coupons, steel coupons... But Wei Yuan felt this was insufficient to encompass all of Qingming's advantages. After careful deliberation, he decided to center a base currency on Qingming merits and contributions instead.
Following the naming conventions of this realm, the new currency's full name was: Qingming Benevolent Supreme Shangqing Fortune and Longevity Innate Merit Immortal Yuan—abbreviated as Qingming Immortal Yuan, or even simpler, Qingyuan or Immortal Yuan.
One Immortal Yuan was pegged to ten merit points and could be exchanged for one tael of immortal silver, thereby establishing the base currency value. To bolster the scarcity of the Immortal Yuan, however, Wei Yuan stipulated that while Immortal Yuan could be converted into immortal silver, immortal silver could not be exchanged for Immortal Yuan.
Qingyuan or Immortal Yuan was interchangeable with merit points and could be used to redeem any rare item on Qingming's Merit Registry. At present, items exclusively redeemable with merit points and desperately sought after by all factions were Longevity-Extending Pills and Dao Foundation training quotas.
After some thought, Wei Yuan placed nether iron, nether crystal armor, and weapons onto the Qingyuan purchase registry, and added redemption options for bulk commodities—such as high-grade forged steel ingots, military canned rations, flying swords for firearms, and the like—while removing "bait" items like the Longevity-Extending Pill from the list.
Having handed the proposal to the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World for refinement, Wei Yuan set about arranging the printing of the first batch of paper Qingyuan. Using jade paper as the base material, dedicated banknote paper was redesigned. With his experience in the otherworldly realm, the banknote dimensions were no longer an issue; he simply copied them directly, ensuring they were neither too large nor too small.
The focal point was the banknote imagery. The Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World churned out thousands of designs in one go, ultimately selecting a dozen or so for Wei Yuan to choose from. The very first one that caught his eye featured Wei Yuan's massive face boldly printed in the center!
Wei Yuan was taken aback, yet he also thought it seemed like a wonderful way to harvest karmic luck. After agonizing for a long time, he reluctantly set this design aside. In the end, he selected a design centered on the mountain gate of the Palace of Grand Beginning, set against the backdrop of Qingming's landscapes.
This way, the majority of the karmic luck would belong to the Palace of Grand Beginning, serving as another contribution Wei Yuan made to the sect. A small fraction filtered through the Palace of Grand Beginning would then flow to Qingming, allowing Wei Yuan to take a share. Although Wei Yuan would only receive two or three percent, it had the virtue of being safe, free of karmic entanglements and lingering liabilities.
With the design finalized, Wei Yuan set about arranging the printing.
Printing presses were not difficult; the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World spent one shichen designing and three shichen optimizing to produce a specialized banknote printing press. Not only were the printing plates exquisitely detailed, but several specially prepared strands of ice silkworm silk could also be incorporated during the printing process, vastly enhancing the tactile feel while making counterfeiting far more difficult.
To operate the printing press, a Dao Foundation cultivator only needed to turn the crank at a steady pace. Each Dao Foundation cultivator could work for three consecutive days in three-day rotations—an unrivaled method of patient grinding to temper one's Dao Foundation.
In the blink of an eye, the mint was built, and within three days, ten million face value of Qingyuan were printed. Wei Yuan subsequently hosted a grand ceremony for the issuance of Qingyuan. The cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning had never heard of such a thing, so without exception, every single one attended.
Facing the uncut sheets of banknotes stacked like a block of rectangular stone, Wei Yuan first invited Zhang Sheng to take action.
Zhang Sheng did not decline. With a shower of Azure Silk Rain sword qi, he instantly sliced the raw sheets neat and square, without the slightest deviation—a sight that brought immense satisfaction to the likes of Xu Henshui.
After cutting the sheets, Wei Yuan raised a hand and sprinkled a touch of immortal spiritual qi. In an instant, the banknotes shed all mundane vulgarity, glowing faintly with an ethereal, transcendent grace as a subtle fragrance wafted around them.
This was an additional anti-counterfeiting measure Wei Yuan added. Paper notes could be faked, but immortal spiritual qi was virtually impossible to replicate. If someone possessed the capability to truly imitate immortal spiritual qi, they would disdain doing such petty work anyway.
With his abundance of immortal plants, the thing Wei Yuan lacked least right now was immortal spiritual qi. Just a sliver of immortal orchid qi was enough to sanctify the entire ten-million face value of Qingyuan.
This was Qingming's first time issuing currency, an unprecedented event. The Palace of Grand Beginning cultivators watched the spectacle, yet many remained bewildered, unable to fathom why Wei Yuan would bother going through all this trouble when immortal silver was already readily available.
Only Xu Henshui, seeing Wei Yuan sprinkle out a wisp of immortal orchid qi, began practically glowing all over.
The moment the ceremony concluded, Xu Henshui could not wait. Grabbing Wei Yuan, he said, "If you ever run short on immortal orchid qi, just say the word! I have as much as you could ever want! Oh, right—do you still need immortal orchids?"
An immortal orchid was an immortal plant, and adhering to the principle that more was always better, Wei Yuan naturally welcomed any that came his way.
Xu Henshui immediately produced two bulbs—new shoots his Dharma Idol had divided out recently—and gritted his teeth. "My foundation has only just stabilized, so this is all I have for now. But if you still need more, I can barely manage to divide out two more shoots."
Wei Yuan was startled. Xu Henshui was practically about to damage his own foundation! He hurriedly said, "Enough, enough! Even these two shoots should stay with Martial Uncle to be nurtured first; only after some time will I have the strength to cultivate them."
Wei Yuan had only just advanced, and the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World still needed time to solidify. He dreaded that accepting more immortal plants might expand his Mindscape world by another ring, which would be troublesome.
The Myriad Transformations Realm alone had tormented Wei Yuan to death. It seemed like his cultivation had progressed at flying speed, but when carefully examined, it had basically relied on slaughter and plunder—devouring two minor worlds back-to-back, and in the end having King Buddha come knocking to spoon-feed him a mouthful before he finally reached consummation. Otherwise, Wei Yuan would likely have cultivated until his lifespan ran out without advancing.
With the Qingyuan produced, next came the second order of business. Wei Yuan addressed the cultivators, "Being closest to the pavilion, one catches the moon first. Would everyone like to take out a loan of Qingyuan? The annual interest is only ten percent. Borrow in Qingyuan and repay in Qingyuan, all processed through the Qingming Bank."
The crowd was momentarily at a loss, but core scions of great clans like Bao Yun, Cui Yu, and Xu Henshui caught on first. Bao Yun spoke up, "I'll borrow two million."
Cui Yu followed, "Then I'll take two million as well."
Xu Henshui said directly, "I'll take the rest!"
Wei Yuan was taken aback and said hurriedly, "It needs to circulate; you can't borrow it all."
Xu Henshui replied, "What's so hard about that? Just print more! How about printing another fifty million?"
Wei Yuan was stunned again. They hadn't even begun circulation, and inflation was already setting in?
He suppressed the urge and ultimately allowed Xu Henshui to borrow two million as well. Unexpectedly, Ji Liuli and Feng Chutang each borrowed one million, while Feng Tingyu took two million. In the blink of an eye, the ten million Qingyuan was completely carved up. Sun Yu and Yu Zhizhuo jumped in to join the excitement, and Old Daoist Chuhe, backed by the Hall of Jianmu, refused to lag behind. Thus, Wei Yuan had no choice but to print another ten million.
Watching Wei Yuan sprinkle immortal orchid qi once more, Xu Henshui was radiant with vitality, practically outshining everyone present.
With preparations complete, Wei Yuan officially issued the Qingyuan.
Overnight, notices of the issuance were posted across every city: all registered personnel of Qingming, regardless of status, would receive the corresponding Qingyuan for every merit point earned. Qingyuan could be used to purchase any supply other than the Longevity-Extending Pill. All existing entitlements tied to merit points remained entirely unchanged.
Even the most ordinary person, neither slacking off nor risking their life, needed only to work conscientiously for a month to earn one merit point. In ten months, they could earn an extra one Qingyuan—that is, one tael of immortal silver. Grain and meat prices in Qingming were low, and purchasing with Qingyuan offered additional discounts. When spent on grain and meat, this single tael of immortal silver was equivalent to a hundred and thirty taels of mortal silver.
Thus, a basic compensation system covering the entire territory was established for the first time. The realm was shaken, and overnight, Wei Yuan suddenly gained two million human karmic luck.
Chapter 795