Making Money

"Wanting to speed up my cultivation, I could only improve my innate talent."

Chen Xuan thought to himself.

With the blessing of the Morning and Evening Destiny, he could use one day as a year, directly accelerating the cultivation of a martial art and gaining a year's worth of skill.

Even so, he still needed to cultivate faster.

There was only one path.

That was to improve his own innate talent.

"Branch Master!" Just then, a voice rang out. A hooked-nosed gang member entered the small courtyard where Chen Xuan was staying. "News has arrived from the prefectural city. Treasure Pavilion will be holding an auction in ten days."

This hooked-nosed gang member was named Liu An. He was an old member of the Red Sun Gang, clever and efficient in his work, and quite familiar with the situation in Tiannan Prefecture.

"Treasure Pavilion auction?"

Chen Xuan raised a brow and turned around.

"Yes!" Liu An said in a deep voice. "Treasure Pavilion is the largest merchant house in Tiannan Prefecture. Experts at or above the Seventh Layer of the Zhuqi Realm stand behind it, and its reputation is excellent. Every half year, it holds an auction in the prefectural city. It is said that Zhuqi Realm cultivation techniques, Marrow Cleansing Pills, and other treasures will appear this time."

"Marrow Cleansing Pills..."

A gleam flashed through Chen Xuan's eyes.

Marrow Cleansing Pills were medicinal pills capable of improving one's innate talent.

If someone with inferior aptitude took one, their aptitude could rise to average. If they then took five more, it could rise to above average.

His current innate talent was inferior. His qi meridians had been weak from birth, and after a year of bitter cultivation, he could only open a single qi meridian.

With thirty-six qi meridians in total, at his current pace, it would take thirty-five days to open them all. But if his innate talent rose to average, the speed at which he opened his qi meridians would surely increase greatly.

Chen Xuan currently had only one Great Merit, insufficient to exchange for a Marrow Cleansing Pill from the Guiyuan Sect. However, the Guiyuan Sect was not the only way to obtain one.

Those top-tier powers capable of dominating several prefectures could all refine Marrow Cleansing Pills.

It was just that medicinal pills capable of improving aptitude, like Marrow Cleansing Pills, rarely circulated outside. Even if most factions could refine them, they used them for their own disciples and would not sell them externally.

However, some chambers of commerce and merchant houses would put out resources unavailable elsewhere for auction, either to build their reputation or to consolidate their position and retain customers.

Such as Marrow Cleansing Pills, Zhuqi Realm cultivation techniques, and so on.

As the largest merchant house in Tiannan Prefecture, it was not strange for Treasure Pavilion to put Marrow Cleansing Pills up for auction.

"What is the starting price for a Marrow Cleansing Pill?"

Chen Xuan asked.

"Reporting to Branch Master, Marrow Cleansing Pills are extremely valuable. Their usual starting price at Treasure Pavilion is ten thousand taels of silver per pill, but people compete for them at every auction. The final selling price often falls between twenty and thirty thousand taels of silver."

Liu An answered.

"A starting price of ten thousand taels!"

Chen Xuan fell silent.

When he had first arrived in Tiannan Prefecture, he had encountered bandits and found several hundred taels in banknotes on their bodies. He had also found several thousand taels in banknotes on the merchant caravan members who had died at the bandits' hands.

After retaking Qingshi Town, Sun Tianxing had also rewarded him with three hundred taels of silver.

Chen Xuan's entire fortune at this point totaled five thousand seven hundred taels. He had thought that amount would be enough for ordinary worldly expenses.

Yet if he wanted to compete for a Marrow Cleansing Pill, he did not even have the right to bid.

To obtain a Marrow Cleansing Pill, he would need to gather at least thirty thousand taels of silver.

Looking at it now, the Guiyuan Sect requiring only two Great Merits for one Marrow Cleansing Pill was truly a benefit granted to its disciples.

Out in the outside world, such pills cost tens of thousands of taels of silver at the drop of a hat.

Liu An stood to one side. Seeing Chen Xuan silently lost in thought, he did not dare say more and merely waited quietly for instructions.

He understood the significance of Marrow Cleansing Pills to martial artists.

Especially for martial artists with inferior innate talent, one pill could improve their foundation.

"I'm short on money!"

Chen Xuan considered how to make money.

Five thousand seven hundred taels was a vast sum in the eyes of ordinary people, but it did not even reach the threshold for competing over a Marrow Cleansing Pill.

Moreover, he needed more than one.

One could only raise his innate talent from inferior to average. To raise it from average to above average, he would need another five.

That made six Marrow Cleansing Pills in all.

At thirty thousand taels per pill, that came to one hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver.

Let alone Chen Xuan, who was merely a branch master of the Red Sun Gang—even the gang leader would not earn one hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver in a year.

After all, most of the Red Sun Gang's profits had to be handed over to the Guiyuan Sect.

"Since normal methods are too slow, I can only use extraordinary methods."

A trace of coldness flashed through Chen Xuan's eyes.

The Blood Wolf Gang.

Aside from the Iron Sword Sect established by the steward of Ten Thousand Sword Villa, it was the Red Sun Gang's greatest enemy in Lianshan City—and also the nearest money bag.

As the saying went, while my neighbor stockpiles grain, I stockpile guns; my neighbor becomes my granary.

The Blood Wolf Gang had occupied Lianshan City for many years. It had more than ten branch halls under its command and controlled all the gray industries in Beicheng—gambling houses, brothels, protection fees, and more—as well as mines, taverns, medicine shops, and other businesses. Its monthly income was no less than several tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Rather than painstakingly save money, it would be better to take it directly from the Blood Wolf Gang.

Wasn't that a ready-made cash machine?

"Liu An."

"Your subordinate is here."

"Compile all information on the Blood Wolf Gang's branch halls into a detailed report, including each branch hall's scale, main sources of income, and the strength of its branch master." Chen Xuan said in a deep voice, "Also, focus on their flow of funds, especially the time and location where their silver is gathered each month."

"Yes, Branch Master!"

Liu An bowed and withdrew.

An hour later.

Liu An arrived at the study carrying a thick stack of documents.

"Branch Master, the Blood Wolf Gang has sixteen branch halls in Beicheng and the surrounding towns. This is all the information your subordinate has been able to gather."

Liu An placed the documents on the desk.

"You've worked hard."

Chen Xuan nodded, picked up the documents, and began reading from the start.

The Blood Wolf Gang's sixteen branch halls fell into two major categories.

The first category consisted of branch halls within the city, mainly concentrated in Beicheng's bustling districts, operating gambling houses, brothels, taverns, and similar businesses.

These branch halls had plenty of fat to skim.

But robbing them was far too risky.

Beicheng was the Blood Wolf Gang's main stronghold. The branch halls were close together, and once he made a move, reinforcements could arrive quickly.

Moreover, the Blood Wolf Gang's leader, Qin Sihai, was stationed within the city. He was an expert who had reached the Fourth Layer of Qi Casting.

If he alerted Qin Sihai, not even growing wings would let him escape.

Therefore, Chen Xuan immediately abandoned any thought of robbing the Blood Wolf Gang's city branch halls.

He would only consider it after breaking through to the Zhuqi Realm.

The second category consisted of branches in towns outside the city. Most operated iron mines, copper mines, and quarries around Lianshan City.

These branch halls were remotely located and relatively weakly guarded, but their monthly profits were not much either, only several hundred to around a thousand taels. Their branch masters were at the Seventh Stage of Body Tempering.

However, there were also branch halls among them that made serious money.

One was the Baishui Town branch hall, eighty li southeast of Lianshan City. It contained the Blood Wolf Gang's most important medicinal fields, where great swathes of herbs were grown. In particular, a herb called Blood Spirit Grass was one of the main ingredients for refining Body Tempering Pills.

The profit from Blood Spirit Grass alone exceeded ten thousand taels each month. Together with the other herbs, its monthly income surpassed twenty thousand taels of silver.