"Spirit stone prices falling below zero? How is that possible?" That was Mei Xuan's first reaction.
From her understanding of the cultivation economy, talisman coins were merely a universal equivalent, a guaranteed instrument created by the ruling class through its own prestige, divine abilities, and magic power. Previously, the Immortal Alliance and the Creation Sect had issued them separately. Only after the Central Sea War, when the two sides jointly established the Heavenly Reach Money House, had a semblance of unification been achieved.
"What is so difficult about minting talisman coins? They're nothing more than some spiritual materials inscribed using talisman dao techniques. The former have some value, and the latter add knowledge and power, but their main purpose is to prevent counterfeiting and make identification easier. In themselves, they're just scrap metal artificially endowed with the function of currency."
"When talisman coins first appeared, each was equivalent to one spirit stone, and the manufacturing cost was roughly a tenth of that. They could certainly be called expensive to produce. Later, everyone felt the cost was too high, so they improved their techniques and reduced the amount of spirit materials used, bringing it below one percent. They even switched to mortal materials, relying entirely on the authority of the top powers and the magic power marks of Great Powers to sustain them."
"Then, when the puppet world heavenly net you promoted rose to prominence, they simply went digital. With the costs spread out that way, they became very low, even below one thousandth."
What Mei Xuan said was indeed true. In the earliest days of talisman coins, various sects and aristocratic clans could even issue their own, though that right had gradually been taken over by the Immortal Alliance and the Creation Sect within their respective domains. The coins issued