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Xiaoqiu said, "Huh, Your Highness-"

Xie Xiyi took a sachet-shaped storage pouch from his waist and tossed it to Xiaoqiu. "Give him these spirit stones."

He smiled faintly. "I'd like to see just how well he can keep you."

Xiaoqiu understood. He had become the stake in their wager. Delight spread across his face, but he immediately reined it in when he saw Xie Xiyi's expression and feigned heartache. "Your Highness, I can't bear to leave you-"

Xie Xiyi said, "Then don't go. Give the sachet back."

Xiaoqiu immediately scrambled up and tucked the sachet into his robes. "Your Highness, I'll go move my things right now."

With that, he slipped away without looking back.

Xie Xiyi walked to the window. Beneath the lush purple bamboo grove, that dragon was bent over in front of the quarters... planting vegetables?

Xie Xiyi closed the window and paid him no more attention.

Yes, that was right. Chi Yu was planting vegetables.

He had bought seeds at the market at the foot of the mountain, then returned, plowed a large patch of empty ground in front of his dormitory, and sowed them.

Before elementary school, Chi Yu had lived in the countryside with his grandparents. He had transplanted rice seedlings and grown vegetables. Whatever he did, he did quickly and well. That was his talent.

Of course, cultivation was important, but it wasn't that important, so after leisurely sowing the seeds, he didn't use any spells to stimulate their growth. He simply took his time and waited for them to grow naturally.

Once Xiaoqiu brought his bedding over, Chi Yu shifted the large screen separating the two rooms forward, reducing the kitchen space by half and leaving enough room for a bed. That made it into a shared twin room at a hotel.

Sometimes Xiaoqiu also felt that his closeness to Chi Yu was a little inexplicable. Whatever else, he was a member of the imperial family. Though born of a concubine, he had never been neglected, thanks to the Great Xia Imperial Clan's particular circumstances. He had grown up in luxury and hardly lacked the little bit of attention Chi Yu gave him.

But he simply liked Chi Yu.

With some people, just being near them filled your heart with joy.

Hehe, His Highness has been unhappy all the time lately because that zither broke. I don't want to stay by his side anyway.

Chi Yu had chopped up the original bed to make a stove, so when he went to the market to buy seeds, he bought a bed as well.

Now that he had money in his pocket, all of it earned himself, Chi Yu splurged and bought Xiaoqiu a spirit-treasure bed that allowed him to cultivate automatically even in his sleep. It cost twenty middle-grade spirit stones.

Xiaoqiu wasn't short of that kind of money. Although spiritual energy was thin on the Eastern Mirror Continent, the Great Xia Imperial Clan had deep reserves, and he received a monthly allowance of ten middle-grade spirit stones. Still, they hadn't known each other long, and Chi Yu was already spending that much on him. He was rather touched, though he still had to say, "I don't have any money. I can't pay you back."

Chi Yu laughed. "As if I need your measly pennies! I'm a Forbes rich-lister. Even your prince might not have as much money as me. Hmph."

He had twenty billion yuan now!

Anyone else want a piece of me?! .jpg

Besides, Lecturer Hong had clearly been awed and won over by his domineering aura. He treated Chi Yu exceedingly well, had issued this month's cultivation resources early, and had even paid out of his own pocket to give him a Sumeru Ring.

Sumeru Rings were very rare. The protagonist of Divine Path hadn't obtained one until he reached the peak of the Golden Core Realm, challenged a Nascent Soul cultivator above his level, killed him, and seized it from him. Even the protagonist had only gotten to use a Sumeru Ring after truly reaching the peak of the Golden Core Realm, while he already had two!

Moreover, for a long time, the currency in Divine Path had been low-grade and middle-grade spirit stones. Top-Grade Spirit Stones only became commonplace on the Myriad Firmament Continent. That alone revealed a very clear pyramid structure.

Auctions on the Eastern Mirror Continent used low-grade spirit stones. Auctions on the Wangxian Continent, the Wildlands, Penglai, and the Zizai Continent all used middle-grade spirit stones, while bids in the Northern Wilderness Realm and on the Myriad Firmament Continent were made in Top-Grade Spirit Stones.

All the wealth flowed into those last two continents.

As for Nine Nether and the Demon Realm... uh, those two continents didn't use spirit stones as currency.

In short, Chi Yu was now a bona fide rich guy.

For a rich guy to spend two hundred thousand buying someone a bed was like buying a cup of milk tea. Small change.

Chi Yu looked so proud, huffing and humming to himself, and Xiaoqiu thought he looked absolutely wonderful like that.

By rights, every cultivator in the cultivation world was handsome or beautiful, and appearance was practically the least noteworthy thing about them. Yet Xiaoqiu felt that Chi Yu looked better like this than any cultivator he had ever seen.

I like him!

Xiaoqiu nodded earnestly. "When His Highness came to the Zizai Continent, he only brought 148 Top-Grade Spirit Stones, 2,760 middle-grade spirit stones, and 8,090 low-grade spirit stones."

Chi Yu: "..."

Damn it, this crown prince is actually pretty rich.

Still, Chi Yu suspected that if Xiaoqiu kept talking, he would end up learning even the color of the crown prince's underwear. He hurriedly interrupted, "Wait, you don't need to tell me these things."

He paused, then patiently guided him. "These are your prince's private affairs. I'll never repeat what you've already told me, but to be safe, you'd better not talk about his affairs to others, in case someone with bad intentions sets their sights on him. As the saying goes, the tallest tree catches the wind. It's no secret that your prince is the designated Buddha-son. Though I think the atmosphere in the Chan Sect is good, you should never let down your guard around others. Do you understand?"

Xiaoqiu said, "Oh..."

He hurriedly nodded. "I understand. I won't say any more."

He was secretly annoyed with himself. He had clearly sworn before His Highness, yet once he was in front of Chi Yu, he still hadn't been able to resist.

Chi Yu said, "Good. Your prince is a decent person, but you're his weakness. If someone wanted to harm him, getting to him through you would be easy. You need to protect him, understand?"

Xiaoqiu's eyes shone as he nodded emphatically. "I understand!"

What he said was actually the same as what his father had told him!

I really did pick the right person to like, he thought.

It's just that his name is a little embarrassing. Why is he called Long Aotian? It sounds so unbearably tacky.

Still, he wouldn't say that aloud. Xiaoqiu called sweetly, "Big Brother Aotian."

Chi Yu: "!!"

Oh my, blushing all over.jpg

That felt great!

When Suoluo and Qiye arrived outside Chi Yu's dormitory, they spotted that familiar child at once.

They spoke through private transmissions. "Are those two sharing a room?"

"This is bad. They're in the same academy, and now his servant is sharing his room. Our rich patron might slip away."

"We need to think of something."

"Have him take us both on? Twenty middle-grade spirit stones a month would do."

"Probably not. You can hire a Golden Core Realm bodyguard outside for twelve, and the Chan Sect's academic atmosphere is too good. Nobody bullies anyone."

"The crown prince is so ostentatious and arrogant, yet nobody beats him up. I'm very disappointed in the Zizai Continent's cultivators."

Their chat didn't delay their business. They found Chi Yu. "Well, Junior Brother Long, how are you doing? Settling in?"

Chi Yu smiled. "I am. This place is really nice."

"That's good, that's good." Suoluo gazed at him with eyes that could practically be called tender and affectionate.

Chi Yu knew perfectly well what these two wanted and got straight to the point. "You want to get some spirit stones out of me? Wasn't what I gave you before enough?"

Chi Yu was so blunt that Suoluo jumped and hurriedly explained, "The two of us are at Suffering Truth Academy. We only get three middle-grade spirit stones a month for cultivation. That's too little, nowhere near enough to cultivate with. Besides, we're both artifact refiners, so money's tight. Seeing that you're well-off, we thought we might pick up some work from you. You're generous, after all."

Qiye nodded furiously beside him, smiling at him.

Chi Yu: Got it. The lackeys have arrived.

But unlike the protagonist, Chi Yu had no intention of taking on lackeys.

Lackeys needed managing, and Chi Yu found that a little troublesome.

So he refused without even thinking. "I don't have any work for you."

Suoluo and Qiye immediately looked disappointed.

"But," Chi Yu said with a smile, "if you want to make money, I do have an idea."

The brothers' eyes immediately lit up, and they hurriedly brought out their treasured Snow Ridge fragrant tea to treat Chi Yu.

Chi Yu didn't refuse. He sat down and enjoyed the brothers' service as they brewed and rinsed the tea.

Once the tea had reached the right temperature, Chi Yu lifted his cup and took a sip to moisten his throat before saying, "Making money isn't actually difficult. If you come looking for work from me, you can only earn as much as I can give you.

"Even if it weren't me, if you offered your services to other cultivators, you'd only earn a dozen or twenty middle-grade spirit stones a month. Is that much money? Not at all. Broaden your horizons. You can't just do business with one or two people. You need to look at the whole world and earn money from cultivators everywhere. That's how you really make money."

"Huh?" Suoluo and Qiye's eyes widened. "How would we do that?"

Even Xiaoqiu came over and sat down, holding his breath as he listened.

Chi Yu spoke with easy confidence. "There are plenty of ways. A more basic one would be to leverage your status as Chan Sect members. Quite a few cultivators come to the Zizai Continent to study every year, right? Aren't they completely lost after they arrive?

"Just like me. Without you two showing me around, I wouldn't even have known which way was which. For this money-making method, you'd compile information on all the Chan sects, large and small, and sell it. The price shouldn't be too high or too low. Two hundred low-grade spirit stones would be about right. Any more and cultivators won't pay, but too little won't work either, because this business can't last long. Once this business opportunity appears, since it's easy to imitate, competitors will emerge. So it's only a short-term business, but if you do it well, you should be able to earn a few hundred middle-grade spirit stones in a month."

"Of course, that's all short-term business. When it comes to making money, you need to look further ahead. You need to be able to keep harvesting cultivators' wallets over the long term.

"I've noticed something. Right now, cultivators use talismans for low-end communication, while high-end communication uses Jade Tokens to transmit voices. Since you're artifact refiners, could you refine a kind of spiritual artifact, one that... let me think about how to explain it to you-"

Chi Yu thought for a while, then said, "As long as its holders can use it, multiple people could log into the same location and communicate across realms."