"Qingyuan Realm Fairy Directory"

You successfully defeated the Demonic Puppets and passed the first trial. In the second trial, Escape from the Tiger's Jaws in an Illusory Realm, you chose to save people. Leading the villagers you had rescued, you crossed dozens of miles of mountain roads before finally leaping into a raging Great River to shake off the tiger demon.

Because you spent too much time on the second trial, your results were poor. In the end, you entered the Warrior Monk Institute in 198th place.

Elder Jingyun was displeased that you had failed to place in the top three, causing the prize he had specially prepared for you to be given to another disciple. Yet he said nothing, merely urging you to cultivate diligently in the Warrior Monk Institute.

After entering the Warrior Monk Institute, you were free of the day-after-day drudgery of heavy chores, though you still had to complete tasks assigned by Bodhi Temple every year.

The Sacred Emperor of Nine Heavens of the Nine Abyss Dynasty would be leading his civil and military officials, as well as the princes and princesses, on a visit to Bodhi Temple. To fulfill its duties as host, Bodhi Temple was lavishly constructing palaces and reshaping mountain peaks.

You noticed a task requiring someone to travel to the East Sea and purchase a thousand tons of East Sea Snow Crystal Wood. You had already wanted to go to the East Sea to find Ji Xinyu, so you decisively accepted the task.

You, along with your two fellow disciples Tai Yue and Tai Song, took a Flying Boat from the Western Regions to the East Sea. After flying for three days and three nights, you finally arrived at one of the East Sea's most renowned markets: Purple Bamboo Market.

"So this is Purple Bamboo Market? It truly is magnificent!"

As Jiang Chuan looked at the distant sight, he could not help but sigh in awe.

The vast azure ocean was like a blue gemstone, crystal-clear and translucent.

Stalk after stalk of thousand-zhang-tall purple bamboo rooted themselves in the Bi Hai, like towering violet-gold mountains encircling a lush green island.

Purple mist draped down from the bamboo leaves as though violet sunset clouds were flowing. Together with the cultivators passing by atop auspicious clouds, riding spirit beasts, or flying on swords, the entire island seemed even more overflowing with immortal grace.

Such a wondrous sight was something he had never seen before, even across two lifetimes.

"Bamboo Immortal Island has managed Purple Bamboo Market quite well, but across the entire Qingyuan Realm, it is only mid-tier at best. It is far inferior to Myriad Flower Market, which was established by the Myriad Wood Dao Palace."

Tai Yue, carrying a short halberd on his back, spoke.

"Such a magnificent Purple Bamboo Market is only mid-tier? Myriad Flower Market..."

Curiosity surfaced in Jiang Chuan's eyes. "I must go and see it when I get the chance."

The Flying Boat landed at Purple Bamboo Market. Tai Yue, Tai Song, and you went to Purple Bamboo Pavilion, the largest shop in the market, to purchase East Sea Snow Crystal Wood. After a round of haggling, the deal was finalized, and you were to return to Purple Bamboo Pavilion in three days to collect the goods.

Once the transaction was settled, you used the excuse of wanting to stroll around Purple Bamboo Market and separated from Tai Yue and Tai Song.

You learned that Cloud Mist Pavilion, an enterprise of Nine Heavens Palace, also had a branch in Purple Bamboo Market. You thus went there to see whether you could run into Ji Xinyu.

Monastics did not speak falsehoods, but you believed that since you would return to secular life in the future, you did not truly count as a monastic. Thus, upon arriving at Cloud Mist Pavilion, you falsely claimed to be Ji Xinyu's friend and inquired about her whereabouts.

After learning that Ji Xinyu had gone to the Northern Territory with fellow disciples to hunt demonic beasts, you left helplessly. At the same time, you secretly prayed that Ji Xinyu would not die between the jaws of some demonic beast.

On your way back to the inn where you were staying, you spotted a Heavenly Dao Pavilion shop.

Like Bodhi Temple, Heavenly Dao Pavilion was one of the Nine Outer Sects in the eyes of Immortal Dao Cultivators. It specialized in divining heavenly secrets and sold all manner of confidential information.

You wanted to pursue Ji Xinyu, but other than knowing her name and that she was an outer disciple of Nine Heavens Palace, you knew nothing else about her.

So, you entered Heavenly Dao Pavilion, intending to purchase information about Ji Xinyu. But faced with the price of one thousand Spirit Stones, and with fewer than one hundred Spirit Stones in your Storage Bag, you could only leave helplessly.

Staring at the three dragon-flying, phoenix-dancing golden characters of Heavenly Dao Pavilion on the black plaque, Jiang Chuan let out a soft sigh.

"Sure enough, a single coin can stump a hero! I'm truly too poor right now. But how am I supposed to make money? Pill refining? At my level, the chances of losing money are probably greater than the chances of making it."

During the previous simulation, Jiang Chuan had been transferred from the Chores Institute to the Pill Room because it was short-staffed, and thus learned pill refining for three years.

Using the Pill Room's earthfire and a Treasure Grade Alchemy Furnace, Jiang Chuan would still fail four or five out of every ten batches of pills he refined.

Now, without a Treasure Grade Alchemy Furnace or even earthfire, Jiang Chuan felt that succeeding with four out of ten batches would already be like burning incense in gratitude to heaven!

If not a single batch succeeded, he would lose everything!

"Is there any business with little investment, low risk, and high profits?" Jiang Chuan's thoughts surged as he racked his brains.

"Scamming people, killing for loot?"

"The investment is low and the profits are high, but the risk is also considerable. What if I run into some old schemer playing the pig to eat the tiger? That would be troublesome." Jiang Chuan shook his head and dismissed the idea.

"Find a wealthy fairy, live off her, and bleed my father-in-law dry of Spirit Stones?"

Jiang Chuan stroked his chin. "That's a good idea, but where am I supposed to find such a rich fairy? It would be great if someone sold the Qingyuan Realm Fairy Directory."

Jiang Chuan abruptly froze, then his eyes lit up.

"If nobody sells the Qingyuan Realm Fairy Directory, I can sell it! I can also sell How to Make a Fairy Fall in Love with You and How to Win a Fairy's Favor! A complete set of fairy manuals!"

"There must be no shortage of cultivators harboring fantasies. As long as they have fantasies, they might become my potential cash-cow customers."

Pursuing fairies might not necessarily make one rich, but teaching others how to pursue fairies made it easy to get rich!

Having settled on his grand plan for making a fortune, you nevertheless had no Spirit Stones in your pocket to purchase all sorts of fairy-related information from Heavenly Dao Pavilion. You could only helplessly return to Bodhi Temple with your two senior brothers, carrying the Storage Bag containing over a thousand tons of East Sea Snow Crystal Wood.

After returning to Bodhi Temple, you cultivated while constantly accepting pill-refining tasks from the sect's External Affairs Hall to earn Spirit Stones.

Three months later, you broke through to the fourth layer of the second realm. At the same time, the Nine Abyss Dynasty, led by the Sacred Emperor of Nine Heavens, arrived at Bodhi Temple. Having just emerged from seclusion, you were immediately assigned by the elders to receive Song Yanlin, the Minister of Revenue of the Nine Abyss Dynasty, and his family.

Seeing that you were young, Song Yanlin repeatedly probed for many of Bodhi Temple's secrets through roundabout questions during your conversations.

Having lived two lives, you knew that he was gathering intelligence.

Thus, you casually revealed that you possessed exceptional talent and were valued by Elder Jingyun.

Just as you had expected, Song Yanlin gave you quite a few pills and spiritual items over the following days, hoping to draw closer to you.

You refused no benefits that came your way. At the same time, you learned much from Song Yanlin about the major powers of the Qingyuan Realm, including some information you found most interesting—information concerning the fairies.

One month later, the Sacred Emperor of Nine Heavens departed with his civil and military officials, princesses, and princes. Soon afterward, Maha Hall, another of the Nine Outer Sects alongside Bodhi Temple, sent an elder from its sect to visit Bodhi Temple.