"It's you!"
Li Xiuchang and someone behind Senior Brother Wang Long exclaimed in unison.
"You know each other?" Wang Long asked in surprise.
"We've met twice." Li Xiuchang smiled.
The person behind Wang Long was none other than the professional "flying boat taxi driver," Pockmarked Senior Brother. He had twice tried to recruit Li Xiuchang to ride his flying boat. The first time, Senior Brother Zhang Wanzhi had stopped him; the second time, Li Xiuchang had broken through his defenses with a single question: "Senior Brother, are you a talisman master?"
Seeing that Pockmarked Senior Brother still had some resentment in his eyes, Li Xiuchang magnanimously said, "If Senior Brother doesn't want to do it, it's not too late to change your mind now."
Pockmarked Senior Brother forced out a smile. "What are you saying, Junior Brother? You make me sound far too petty."
It wasn't easy for a Tier 1 Talisman Master to earn some spirit stones. He had fought hard to secure this job, so he was naturally unwilling to give it up.
Usually, when flying a boat to carry passengers, he could indeed earn more than one spirit stone a day if luck was on his side. But it was also entirely possible that he wouldn't pick up a single passenger all day.
The job Li Xiuchang had offered did not pay much, but its greatest advantage was its stability.
"If there's no problem, get to work!" Senior Brother Wang Long was already impatiently urging the three of them on.
The group immediately got moving. Wang Long led the three talisman masters in cutting the smoked meat and setting it on racks above the furnaces.
Li Xiuchang, meanwhile, began lighting the thirty furnaces one by one.
When they saw the thick smoke billowing from the furnaces, the three talisman masters still wore expressions of shock and envy, despite having heard Wang Long explain it beforehand.
Li Xiuchang did not hide it either. His Charcoal Attribute Mana could not be concealed, and the method of smoking the meat was no secret. Even if others knew about it, they could not imitate it.
One furnace could produce enough smoke to smoke roughly the equivalent of fifty strips of Spirit Meat at the same time.
The thirty spirit stones' worth of unranked Spirit Meat that Li Xiuchang had purchased was exactly enough to fill all thirty furnaces in one batch.
At this point, both the costs and the profits could already be calculated.
The production cycle for Smoked Spirit Meat was five days: one day for marinating and four days for smoking.
Hiring three talisman masters cost a total of twelve spirit stones for four days.
The raw materials cost thirty spirit stones.
The total cost was forty-two spirit stones.
As for the cost of renting the furnaces, it was basically negligible.
The thirty furnaces could produce 1,500 strips of smoked meat in five days. At a price of 1.5 spirit stones for ten strips, they could bring in 225 spirit stones.
After deducting the costs, Li Xiuchang could still make a net profit of more than 180 spirit stones!
Earning 180 spirit stones in five days was enough to make every Tier 1 craftsman in the outer sect green with envy, and every Tier 1 Talisman Master die of envy.
More importantly, if he reinvested those 180 spirit stones, hired more people, rented more furnaces, bought more raw materials, and increased production, he could earn even more!
Of course, whether he should expand production would still depend on how well this first batch of smoked meat sold.
All thirty furnaces began operating, and the three hired talisman masters were also completely occupied.
Only after observing them did Li Xiuchang realize that it was no easy task for each of these three Late Qi Condensation Senior Brothers to maintain ten furnaces at once.
They could barely stop for even a moment. They had to keep replenishing the Spiritual Power of ten furnaces, scurrying about nonstop like donkeys in a production team.
Clearly, Senior Brother Wang Long was making full use of every worker to save costs.
Li Xiuchang sighed. Senior Brother Wang had been such a warmhearted and honest man, yet he had also learned the capitalists' tricks and started exploiting his fellow sufferers.
There was no need for Li Xiuchang to handle the smoked meat himself anymore, so he took out the furnace artifact he had bought earlier, placed the marinated Tier 1 Demonic Beast Meat above it, and prepared to try smoking it.
He had only just lit the fire when Senior Brother Wang Long took over the task.
"Junior Brother, I'll keep an eye on it for you. Go take care of your own work."
Li Xiuchang was more than happy to let him. Wang Long could supervise the others while tending Li Xiuchang's furnace, killing two birds with one stone and freeing Li Xiuchang's hands to do something else.
He currently had two things to do. The first was to practice alchemy. The second was to try cultivating the "Fire Starting Skill" with the Spirit Tung Wood he had bought.
In the small courtyard at No. 18 in the Eastern Geng District, several people were working away in full swing, completely unaware of how great a commotion they had caused outside.
"What's that?"
"Who lit the beacon fire? Could someone be attacking the Immortal Dust Sect?"
"You're overthinking it. Our Immortal Dust Sect has no shortage of voice transmission methods. Why would we need beacon fires to send messages?"
"Exactly. Besides, who has eaten the heart of a bear and the guts of a leopard and dares attack our Immortal Dust Sect? Are they tired of living?"
The Immortal Dust Sect disciples coming and going gazed at the enormous column of smoke rising in the east and discussed it animatedly.
The column of smoke was a magnificent sight, like a waterfall connecting heaven and earth. It gathered high in the sky, growing thicker and thicker.
The Immortal Dust Sect's Sect Protecting Great Array usually did not block wind, frost, rain, snow, or mist. However, the great array also had the effect of gathering spiritual energy. Since the smoke carried spiritual energy with it, it was trapped by that gathering effect and could not disperse.
This strange phenomenon also alarmed the Immortal Dust Sect's outer sect Law Enforcement Hall.
Several patrolling disciples from the law enforcement teams gazed at the column of smoke and ground their teeth.
"It must be someone who forgot to put out the fire after refining pills or forging artifacts, causing a fire!"
"Or perhaps an Immortal Brew Master accidentally set the immortal brew alight!"
"These artifact refiners, pill refiners, and brewers never let anyone rest easy! We Talisman Masters have always kept to our duties, yet we're the ones living in such dire straits!"
"Heaven's justice is nowhere to be found!"
At that, all the Talisman Masters in the law enforcement team exchanged glances, sharing the same troubled feeling.
Just then, a Foundation Establishment cultivator flew over and shouted, "What are you standing around for? Hurry and follow me to put out the fire! If you delay and let it spread, watch out for Senior Brother Yan punishing you!"
At the words "Senior Brother Yan," the few of them shuddered. They hurriedly followed the Foundation Establishment cultivator toward the source of the smoke in the east.
"This smoke seems to be coming from the Eastern Geng District..." The Foundation Establishment cultivator frowned in confusion. "Those four in the Eastern Geng District have never caused trouble before. This is a first."
Li Xiuchang was cultivating inside the Quiet Room.
He circulated the "Fire Starting Skill." From the green Spirit Tung Wood in front of him, pale green energy continuously peeled away and was drawn into his Dantian through Li Xiuchang's Spiritual Aperture.
Fortunately, even after he had cultivated the "Fire Starting Skill" into the "Charcoal Burning Skill," the wood-attributed spiritual energy in the outside world could still aid his cultivation.
Only the primary and secondary roles had been reversed.
In the normal "Fire Starting Skill," wood-attributed spiritual energy was the fuel, the firewood, the auxiliary substance that nurtured the fire-attributed mana. The fire-attributed mana was the main component.
But in the "Charcoal Burning Skill" Li Xiuchang cultivated, wood-attributed spiritual energy was the main component, while fire-attributed energy had become the auxiliary.
After being tempered by fire-attributed spiritual energy, wood-attributed spiritual energy transformed into Charcoal Attribute Mana.
Li Xiuchang's constitution leaned more toward the fire attribute. During cultivation, the amount of fire-attributed spiritual energy he converted was far greater than the amount of wood-attributed spiritual energy, which made his cultivation speed slower.
After all, no matter how fierce the flames were, if there was little wood, they naturally could not produce much charcoal.
Fortunately, wood-attributed spiritual energy could be replenished from the outside world, making up for the insufficient amount Li Xiuchang could convert himself.
This could greatly increase his cultivation speed.
Li Xiuchang was immersed in cultivation when he suddenly heard a commotion outside.
"Someone's here?"
Li Xiuchang hurriedly stopped cultivating and pushed open the door to the courtyard. At a glance, he saw several people dressed in Law Enforcement Hall uniforms descending from the sky into his courtyard.
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