A Cheap Shop

Chapter 39: A Cheap Shop

Luo Mu toyed with the student token that symbolized his status, a smile spreading across his face. Enrolling at Jinxiu Academy had once been something he'd only dared dream about, but now it had become reality. It was only natural that he felt excited.

By now, Luo Mu had already left Jinxiu Academy and was strolling down the street. After the old man had handed him his identity token and uniform and explained some of the Academy's basic rules, Luo Mu had finally felt at ease enough to leave.

The Academy was currently on break, with a month to go before classes resumed. In other words, there would be no instructors giving lessons during that month. Anyone who wanted to study on their own could browse the texts in the Library Pavilion.

The old man had also told Luo Mu that he could use this time to learn more about the Academy, get familiar with the surroundings, and settle on a dormitory room, saving himself the hassle once classes began.

As for lodging, Luo Mu had other plans. He wasn't going to live inside the Academy. Since he needed to raise spiritual insects, he obviously wouldn't choose to stay on campus. If other students happened to discover him raising spiritual insects, it might bring him another heap of trouble.

He'd spent the past few days rushing along without a break, and hadn't had time to feed the little ones in his Spirit Beast Bag. His most pressing task was to find himself a place to live.

A shop became his first choice.

He could set aside a spot in the shop to rest, while also opening it for business. For Luo Mu, it was the best of both worlds. And what would he sell? Pills, of course. He was still only a beginner at alchemy, but that didn't mean he wouldn't improve.

Luo Mu believed that if he put in enough time, he would eventually be able to refine pills himself. After all, he had three pill recipes: one for a Qi Gathering Pill, one for Bone Melting Liquid, and one for Soul Severing Powder.

Aside from a few auxiliary ingredients still missing for the Soul Severing Powder, he had plenty of the ingredients for the Qi Gathering Pill and Bone Melting Liquid. He'd gotten them from Bai Shu's Storage Bag that day. Once he became familiar with alchemy, he would start refining those two.

The Qi Gathering Pill was useless to Luo Mu, but it was a treasure to cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage. Each pill also sold for a hefty price, making it his first choice for the shop.

Luo Mu planned to use the Bone Melting Liquid to improve his own strength, but he would have to wait until he found a cultivation technique suited to him. Too much medicinal power had already accumulated in his body. If he couldn't find a way to circulate it and kept blindly consuming poisons, the backlash would make him suffer.

He also planned to refine the Soul Severing Powder as soon as possible. According to the recipe, it could affect even cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Realm. If its poison was truly that potent, Luo Mu wanted to see whether he could use it to help himself establish his foundation when the time came.

What excited Luo Mu most about opening a shop was that he could buy all kinds of poisonous herbs, saving himself a great deal of time spent traveling around. Cultivators generally didn't need many poisonous herbs, except for people like Luo Mu who enjoyed refining poisons. All in all, poisonous herbs were much cheaper and easier to buy than spirit herbs.

After weighing things carefully, Luo Mu decided that opening a shop was indeed necessary. But the cost of doing so made him curse inwardly.

Just moments ago, he'd asked the proprietor of a shop that was up for transfer about the transfer fee and monthly rent. His face had turned ashen on the spot.

The shop had once been a general store, but business had been so poor that its owner could no longer keep it running and decided to transfer it. The transfer fee alone was two hundred spirit stones, and the landlord also charged fifty Low-grade Spirit Stones a month in rent. How could a miser like Luo Mu accept that?

He couldn't even bring himself to haggle. He simply turned and left...

Three days later, on a secluded street in the northern part of Jinxiu City, Luo Mu stood before an ordinary-looking shop, wearing a bitter smile.

Calling this place, named "Luo's Apothecary," ordinary was already generous. To put it bluntly, it was a dump. And this rundown "Luo's Apothecary" had now become Luo Mu's property.

Over the past three days, Luo Mu had searched every corner of Jinxiu City, from east to west and north to south, but hadn't found a suitable shop. Some had transfer fees and rents so high that he couldn't bear to part with the spirit stones. Others were in terrible locations, with so little foot traffic that opening a business there made no sense.

He hadn't liked this shop at first, either. The street was extremely remote, and few cultivators ever came by. Opening a business here seemed out of the question.

So why had Luo Mu chosen it? Because it was incredibly cheap. The shop was selling for just two hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones. Many other shops charged that much just for the transfer fee, but this one was being sold to Luo Mu for the same price. Seeing such a bargain, the tightfisted Luo Mu had been sorely tempted and agreed. Today, he'd even replaced the shop's sign with one that read "Luo's Apothecary."

The shop had two floors. The upper floor was for resting, while the lower one was for business. To be honest, Luo Mu could hardly believe that such a large shop had sold for only two hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones.

The location might have been remote and unsuitable for business, but Luo Mu didn't have much worth selling yet. He could have sold the sixth-grade Qi Gathering Pills in his Storage Bag, but how could a mere sixth-grade pill make a name for him?

Once he had mastered alchemy and could refine pills in large quantities, he could build a reputation with pills that improved cultivation. With a name for himself, cultivators would seek him out no matter how remote the place was.

There was another reason, too: the more secluded the location, the more peace of mind Luo Mu would have while raising spiritual insects. That had been one of the reasons he'd decided to buy the place despite its remoteness.

Still, Luo Mu couldn't shake his doubts. Even if the location was extremely secluded, the shop shouldn't have been this cheap. He'd bought a two-story building for just two hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones. It was hard to believe.

He should have been happy to have found such a bargain, so why was he wearing a bitter smile? Because after twice striking it rich from the dead, he'd finally managed to save several hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones in his Storage Bag, only to spend three hundred in a few short days. How could that make him happy?

He was a miser, after all!

Whatever the case, Luo Mu was now a resident of Jinxiu City with a deed to his name. It didn't matter when the shop opened for business. What mattered was that he had a place to stay.

He took out the deed once more to check it. After confirming everything was in order, he turned and entered the shop, then shut the door behind him. He pushed his doubts about the shop's ridiculously low price to the back of his mind.

Luo Mu went straight up to the second floor.

The second floor was simple, with nothing but ordinary furniture and no other decorations. Luo Mu sat down in a chair and summoned three Octagonal Spikes.

The moment they appeared, all three Octagonal Spikes flopped weakly into his palm. It seemed that not having time to feed them for the past few days had left the little ones terribly hungry. From the way they ignored Luo Mu, it was easy to imagine how much resentment they held.

Luo Mu let out a wry laugh, then bit his finger and dripped a few drops of blood into his palm. Like cats catching the scent of fish, the three Octagonal Spikes perked up at once and each began lapping up a drop.

A moment later, they had sucked the blood dry. Luo Mu set them on the table to let them breathe some fresh air. If they stayed cooped up in the Spirit Beast Bag all the time, they might develop problems one day.

Then Luo Mu swept his sleeve, and two streaks of green light flashed. Five White Jade Ants and thirteen Plum Blossom Snakes appeared on the floor. He took several large chunks of monster-beast meat from his Storage Bag and tossed them down. The five White Jade Ants rushed over like the wind, while the Plum Blossom Snakes slithered restlessly across the floor, too afraid to approach.

White Jade Ants were notorious ferocious beasts among demonic insects. By instinct, the Plum Blossom Snakes could clearly sense the danger radiating from them. Now that there was food, the snakes were just as hungry, but they still didn't dare try to snatch any.

If they hadn't known that both species had the same master, the Plum Blossom Snakes would probably have fled far away long ago. They were lucky just to be here watching the White Jade Ants eat.

Luo Mu frowned at the sight. From now on, he'd better feed them separately, lest some gorge themselves to death while others starved.

In the blink of an eye, the five White Jade Ants had swallowed several chunks of monster-beast meat. Seeing how they still looked unsatisfied, Luo Mu cursed them as gluttons under his breath, then stuffed them all into the Spirit Beast Bag, whether they liked it or not.

With a sigh, he took out the last of the monster-beast meat in his Storage Bag and tossed it to the Plum Blossom Snakes. Once they finished these chunks, Luo Mu would have no more monster-beast meat. If he didn't want his little ones to starve to death, he'd have to visit a restaurant. They ought to sell monster-beast meat there.

That would be another expense!

With no source of income and several bottomless pits to feed, Luo Mu felt pressure rolling toward him like a tidal wave, leaving him nearly breathless.

"Looks like raising spiritual insects really is impossible without spirit stones." Other than sighing to himself and venting his frustration, Luo Mu couldn't think of any other way to ease his feelings.

Only after the thirteen Plum Blossom Snakes had finished eating did Luo Mu release the five White Jade Ants again. He ordered them to stay within the shop, then wearily made his way toward the wooden bed.

He really was tired after traveling these past few days.

Before resting, Luo Mu specifically warned the five White Jade Ants not to eat anything in the shop. Only after giving them this instruction did he dare rest easy.

Luo Mu didn't want to wake up and find the shop he'd just bought reduced to a pile of rubble. If the White Jade Ants got hungry enough, they might well do something like that. He decided it was better to be careful.