The Dream of a Commercial Empire

At the critical moment, Lin Chen urgently called out in his heart, "System, exchange for one year of cultivation."

[Ding, one spirit stone deducted, cultivation exchange successful]

In an instant, Lin Chen's depleted spiritual power was fully replenished.

At this point, he was less than ten meters from the ground.

The next moment, he regained control of his flying sword, swooped down, and soared back into the air.

"So it can work like this?"

Lin Chen's heart raced with excitement, "As long as I have spirit stones, my spiritual power will never run dry."

This was something no one else could achieve.

Midway up the mountain, Ming Bufan, Qi Ruming, and Jian Rushuang looked up at Lin Chen flying back and forth, all sighing with emotion.

"Senior Brother, back when you practiced flying swords, you fell over eighty times, right?"

"Third Junior Brother, I think you fell a hundred and ninety-eight times."

"He hasn't fallen once, just like me." Jian Rushuang's eyes blazed with fighting spirit, and the long sword strapped to her back trembled with a hum.

"Second Junior Sister, Lin Chen can't withstand a single strike from your sword. If you cleave him dead, there'll be no one to cook."

Hearing Ming Bufan's words, Jian Rushuang's battle intent slowly faded.

Then she said, "Senior Brother, I want to eat roast chicken."

"No problem." Ming Bufan replied with a smile.

Seeing this, Qi Ruming quickly rubbed his hands together, "Senior Brother, I want to eat roast goose..."

"Scram!" Ming Bufan's face instantly darkened.

Qi Ruming immediately shut up, "Got it."

He smiled awkwardly and turned to leave.

Watching him walk away, Ming Bufan restored his cheerful expression, "Rest assured, Second Junior Sister, I'll tell Lin Chen right now—roast chicken for lunch."

A moment later, Lin Chen received a paper crane message.

"Roast chicken? Let me show you the power of a hanging oven and sealed pot."

Lin Chen landed back on the ground and quickly got busy.

Having accepted so many precious gifts from them, cooking a meal was the least he could do.

"System, I wonder if this culinary skill of mine can be exchanged for cultivation?"

[Host, allow me to introduce the Universal Exchange System]

"Exchanging this kind of life skill just requires gold coins, right?"

[Yes, Host, gold coins are sufficient for life skills]

"Alright, max out my cooking skill."

[Ding, 28 gold coins deducted, 28 years of cultivation exchanged. Cooking skill perfected. With this culinary mastery, any food the Host makes will make people's mouths water.]

Lin Chen silently absorbed the memories.

He was pleasantly surprised to find that his sense of smell, taste, sight, hearing, touch, and even intuition had all been enhanced.

Though the improvement was modest, it played a crucial role in bringing out his cooking ability.

With just a sniff, he could identify what scent was in the air and where it came from.

With a single taste, he knew whether the five flavors in a dish were balanced.

Similarly, the enhancements to his sight, touch, and hearing allowed him to control the heat, cooking time, and everything else to perfection.

"Not bad! Looks like I'm not completely useless after all."

Lin Chen went to the vegetable garden and watered it.

Then he checked on the eggs that had been incubated.

Earlier, his Third Senior Brother had set up a Flame Gathering Array for him.

It was a simple beginner-level formation that maintained a constant internal temperature.

A single spirit stone could last a long time.

Comparable to a modern automatic incubator.

With nothing else to do, Lin Chen dragged a reclining chair into the courtyard.

He brewed a pot of tea, lay back in the chair, and basked in the afternoon sun while sipping his drink.

"If only I had some barbecue, a bit of beer, and a hanging roast meat platter... ahh..."

Thinking of this, Lin Chen sat up straight. He took out a jade slip, activated the Divine Seal Art, and engraved the images of all the utensils he wanted into it.

Once done, he checked it over again to confirm everything was correct.

"Tomorrow, I'll give this to Third Senior Brother and have him forge these for me. As for brewing wine..."

He looked at the large vats in the courtyard. "Add another set of brewing equipment."

His perfect culinary skills also encompassed the knowledge of brewing; doing this was a piece of cake.

After finishing the re-engraving, he stood up. "I also need to produce a large amount of charcoal. I'll go chop wood now and procure a batch of spices."

Lin Chen decided to bring all the modern delicacies over here.

They say cultivators can abstain from food; let's see if they can resist the temptation of fine cuisine and fine wine.

If this path worked, he'd have another money-making scheme.

If he could promote it in the future, he'd open a chain of stores and rake in the big money.

Only with a sufficient supply of spirit stones could he grow quickly.

Lin Chen had already begun planning his business empire.

As soon as he thought of it, he acted. He went down the mountain directly.

By chance, he passed by Third Senior Brother's training ground and stopped.

"Third Senior Brother..."

Lin Chen greeted him at the entrance, but before he could say another word, Qi Ruming pulled him straight into the courtyard.

"Hahaha... Lin Chen, you've come at just the right time." Qi Ruming's eyes gleamed as he stared at Lin Chen.

Lin Chen swallowed. "Third Senior Brother, is something the matter?"

"Hahaha... it's nothing, really." Qi Ruming slapped Lin Chen heavily on the shoulder, thumping loudly.

It nearly drove him into the ground.

"You've got a good build, it's just... just..."

This rough and rugged man was acting all shy. Lin Chen couldn't stand it. "Third Senior Brother, we're brothers. If you have something to say, just say it. If I can do it, I won't refuse."

"Straight to the point! So, Big Senior Brother had you roast chicken—can you roast goose?"

"Of course!" Lin Chen took out the jade slip. "Third Senior Brother, this is exactly why I came. Take a look—these are the blueprints. Can you forge them?"

Qi Ruming took the jade slip, and Lin Chen added, "Just use ordinary iron to forge it."

"No problem at all. This little thing will be done in an hour." Qi Ruming gave his word.

For a true artifact refiner, these things were like children's toys.

No need to engrave formations, no need to search for materials—just make the corresponding molds, cast them, grind, and polish.

"Third Senior Brother, I also need some iron skewers, like this..."

The two chatted for a while, then Lin Chen left.

Qi Ruming told him where to chop wood, and he flew off on his sword.

With a means of transport, he was much faster.

In less than a quarter of an hour, he reached the chopping site.

Before he even landed, he could hear the relentless thud of axes cutting wood.

When he touched down, he saw over a hundred people chopping wood here.

Lin Chen was puzzled. Why didn't the sect make some saws for logging?

Chopping like this was not only slow but also consumed a lot of energy—completely inefficient.

Was this just to torment these menial laborers?

Lin Chen didn't understand, and neither did the laborers. They all grumbled endlessly.

"When will this ever end?"

"I thought joining the sect would make me someone important. Who knew I'd be working day and night, worse off than a beast!"

"If I don't finish the task, I don't get to eat. I've been here three days and gone hungry seven times. I feel like I'm dying!"

"Do you all want a taste of the whip?"

At that moment, the menial labor overseer cracked his whip and shouted loudly.

"Your talents and aptitudes are low, and your physical bodies are full of impurities. This labor isn't oppression—it's to purge those impurities. If you can endure, you will surely gain something."

Crack! Crack!

The overseer lashed his whip again. "Anyone who doesn't want to work can leave right now. The sect won't stop you!"

As soon as those words were spoken, everyone quieted down.

Lin Chen stood not far away, watching this scene, feeling a pang of emotion.

He thought of himself—sweeping courtyards, tending flowers, growing vegetables, drinking tea, basking in the sun...

And then he looked at these people—it was like comparing heaven and earth.

Lin Chen shook his head and went off to the side to pick trees suitable for making charcoal.

"Overseer, there's a menial laborer over there just standing around doing nothing!"

Just then, a sharp-faced, monkey-like laborer pointed at Lin Chen and shouted loudly.