Immortality Begins as an Alchemy Master 143

Chapter 126: High-End Black Market, Recycling Used Artifacts.

2024-07-15

Chapter 126: High-End Black Market, Recycling Used Artifacts.

Luo Chen knew this story, or rather, many people did. Somewhere, a gold mountain and gold mine were discovered, and countless people flocked there, trying to strike it rich.

Did these people ultimately find gold?

Many lucky ones probably did!

But the ones who really made money were the clever people who sold shovels, food, clothes, and provided lodging.

These smart people not only made money, but also avoided the dangers and injuries that could have occurred during the gold rush.

Of course, when it comes to cultivation resources related to Foundation Establishment and Golden Elixir formation, they can’t be measured in gold.

But the principle remains the same.

He, Luo Chen, didn’t need to be a gold prospector, but he could use this opportunity to get more Spiritual Stones.

After alchemy that day, he hurried back to the Inner City. He went to purchase materials for Blood-Burning Pills and also had Yuan Xiaoyue purchase other main ingredients for him. He planned to secretly refine some Blood-Burning Pills and then auction them on the black market. During this sensitive time, Blood-Burning Pills would definitely sell for a high price!

After purchasing the materials, Luo Chen stayed in the courtyard that day.

The next morning, before he went out, he heard an argument outside.

Pushing open the door, a scene of pulling and tugging appeared before him.

“Xiao Duan, don’t go, really don’t go.”

“There are already Qi Refining Nine Layers cultivators who have died in the Ancient Plains Mountain Range, why would you still wade into this muddy water?”

“Listen to Xia Jie’s advice, that place is definitely not a good place!”

Luo Chen, Gu Caiyi, Murong Qinglian, Qin Liangchen, and Bai Meiling, each leaned against their own doors, watching this scene.

Feng Xia pulled Duan Feng’s sleeve, her eyes filled with tears.

Duan Feng remained silent, his eyes unwavering.

*I knew it, you two are having an affair!* — Luo Chen. (Internal monologue)

Ignoring the gazes of others, Feng Xia’s hoarse voice was like blood weeping.

“Do you know that this relic dispute is no longer limited to the Qi Refining period? Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage from Great River City have already begun to set off, and even Foundation Establishment cultivators from nearby cities are on their way.”

“What will you use to compete with those Foundation Establishment cultivators?”

At her last words, Duan Feng’s eyes became even colder. He gently, but firmly, brushed Feng Xia’s hand away.

“I know, I know all this.”

“But time waits for no one!”

“That old dog doesn’t have many years left to live. If I don’t quickly reach Foundation Establishment, how can I personally avenge my mother’s death!”

His low words rendered Feng Xia powerless.

Murong Qinglian sighed and advised, “Xiao Duan, you really need to think this over carefully!”

Qin Liangchen scoffed, “I don’t know about other things, but Old Man Mi has mobilized the full strength of the Broken Mountain Sect to rush to the relic. Just his Qi Refining Nine Layers cultivators alone number fifteen, and among them are people like Luo Wu Di, who are not necessarily weaker than you.”

Duan Feng paused, showing hesitation for the first time. He was not impulsive or foolish, and naturally could associate many things.

The Broken Mountain Sect was like this, what about the Great River Gang? What about the Mystical One Clan?

What about the five Foundation Establishment families behind the Mystical One Clan?

And would the many sect forces in Great River City also be tempted?

Could he, a Qi Refining Nine Layers cultivator, obtain a share of the opportunity amidst a pack of wolves?

But if he didn’t go, would he ever have the chance to reach Foundation Establishment in his life?

Feng Xia gratefully looked at Qin Liangchen and his wife; she really didn’t want Duan Feng to go to Ancient Plains Mountain Range to die. But she found that Duan Feng’s originally hesitant expression was subtly becoming firm again.

“Heh.”

Suddenly, a light chuckle came.

Duan Feng frowned, only then realizing it was Luo Chen, squatting on the doorstep, eating Tian Yang fruit in large mouthfuls.

“What are you looking at me for? Only an idiot would think of risking their life to compete.”

“Isn’t it the way of cultivators to strive against heaven and defy fate?” Duan Feng said.

Luo Chen quickly waved his hands.

“No, no, no, everyone strives against heaven and defies fate. Heaven hasn’t wronged or provoked you.”

“Besides, isn’t cultivation about striving for resources?”

“You’re not without means. There’s such a good opportunity to earn a large sum of Spiritual Stones right in front of you, but you haven’t noticed. Calling you an idiot is being kind.”

Opportunity?

Duan Feng was stunned.

Clapping his hands to brush off the Tian Yang fruit juice, Luo Chen stood up.

“Considering you joined my Pill Hall a few days ago, this Hall Master will show you a clear path!”

…

That afternoon.

Under Qinghe Mountain.

As the largest and safest entrance to the Ancient Plains Mountain Range, this place always had the most concentrated flow of people.

This was Luo Chen’s first time here.

Outside Qinghe Mountain, shops lined up one after another, bustling with activity, no less lively than the several small commercial streets in the outer city, only slightly less bustling than the scattered cultivator market in the Inner City.

Those selling talismans, restaurants, those purchasing medicinal herbs, medical clinics treating external injuries, and more.

Luo Chen even saw a branch of the Connecting Clouds Trading Alliance set up here, to purchase fresh heavenly treasures at the first opportunity.

“It seems that there are quite a few people with my kind of thinking!”

Luo Chen sighed, nodded to Duan Feng, Feng Xia, and the others behind him.

Duan Feng’s expression was a little unnatural, but he gritted his teeth and moved.

From his storage pouch, he took out a large pile of miscellaneous things.

A forging furnace, large and small hammers, pliers, carving knives, rulers…

A pool of unclear, blue-green viscous liquid, several large buckets of differently colored liquids with a fishy smell.

A palm-sized compass, several transparent luminous mirrors.

And, a huge banner three zhang high.

With Feng Xia’s help, the two of them got busy.

Soon, an open-air forging shop was set up.

Not only that, but the brass-colored banner was also erected.

On it were written four large characters, and rows of small characters marked in a bright red liquid.

“Fenghai Forging Family!”

“Professional repair of low- and mid-grade artifacts, refurbishment, maintenance, and modification of high-grade artifacts.”

“High-price purchase of second-hand artifacts, price negotiable!”

Fenghai Forging Family was the name of this small shop, chosen by Luo Chen! It subtly incorporated Duan Feng’s name, while immediately letting people know what the shop did. If someone didn’t understand, the small characters below would make it clear. Luo Chen also had shares in this shop!

Most of the equipment was purchased by him using his Spiritual Stones for Duan Feng.

Not only that!

“Here are five low-grade artifacts and two mid-grade artifacts that can be sold.”

“Also, I’ll give you two thousand Spiritual Stones as seed capital to buy low-price, damaged artifacts.”

Luo Chen took out a large pile of scattered Spiritual Stones from his storage pouch and gave them to Duan Feng. His previous net worth, after receiving an advance on his dividends, plus the income from the two small shops, and the loot he’d taken from those three groups of robbing cultivators, had skyrocketed to seven thousand. Taking out two thousand Spiritual Stones now was nothing.

Duan Feng said strangely, “Didn’t you say high-price purchase?”

“Higher than the Myriad Treasures Building, isn’t that a high-price purchase?” Luo Chen said as a matter of course.

Uh…

Well, Duan Feng was speechless.

The Myriad Treasures Building always halved the price when purchasing artifacts. You bought it just now, and they would dare to offer half the price. If you say that it’s higher than half-price, then it really is a high-price purchase.

“After you collect them, Xiao Duan, repair them slightly, and then sell them again at a slightly lower price than the Myriad Treasures Building.”

“No, the price of artifacts has risen now, sell them at the original price of the Myriad Treasures Building.”

“If the customer is unwilling, you can make a drastic price reduction, pretending to sell at a loss.”

“Drastic! Remember, it must be drastic!”

Duan Feng listened attentively, nodding from time to time. He really didn’t understand this business knowledge. But seeing Luo Chen speak so confidently, there must be great wisdom in it.

“Don’t let go of those severely damaged artifacts, you can buy them for a few Spiritual Stones.”

“Don’t you know the Golden Melting Iron Technique? Melt them down, the resulting casting materials can be used to repair artifacts, or sold to the Myriad Treasures Building or Immortal Construction Residence.”

“High-grade artifacts involve more complex formations. If you don’t understand, don’t easily take them on, lest you damage your reputation.”

…

Great wisdom?

Actually, there was no great wisdom in these words. They were merely basic business knowledge of buying low and selling high. In addition, Duan Feng indeed had this skill, so he could operate it.

Would you say cultivators don’t understand? That’s a joke.

But understanding is one thing, having technical support is another.

And even with technology, so what? You still need seed capital!

Without Luo Chen’s advice and the provision of a large sum of Spiritual Stones, ordinary cultivators wouldn’t be able to do this business.

Even if all these were in place, what then? Encountering unreasonable robbing cultivators, directly killing and seizing treasures, everything would be in vain.

But Duan Feng was not afraid of these things. His Qi Refining Nine Layers cultivation, once ranked among the top three in the Heavenly Pride Rankings, was enough to allow him to deal calmly with enemies below the Foundation Establishment stage.

Furthermore!

“Take this!”

Duan Feng quickly reached out and took the token Luo Chen threw to him. He looked closely; the front had the ancient seal character “Broken,” and the back had the character “Pill.”

“This is my Broken Mountain Sect Pill Hall token, which can command the nine halls of the Broken Mountain Sect cultivators.”

Duan Feng’s eyes widened; so awesome!

Luo Chen coughed lightly, “Of course, being able to command is one thing, whether they listen is another. But most cultivators will give you some face when they see this token.”

This was not a lie on Luo Chen’s part. When the Pill Hall was opened, Mi Shuhua had gathered most of the Qi Refining Late Period cultivators of the entire sect. When Luo Chen gave Valley-Clearing Powder to those Late Period cultivators, Mi Shuhua said that everyone should support Luo Chen. At that time, those people all “agreed readily.” Later, a batch of Xuan iron tokens were specially customized for the Pill Hall. However, currently, only Luo Chen, Si Kong Shou Jia, and Gu Caiyi possessed these tokens. A few days ago, Duan Feng joined the Broken Mountain Sect, so giving him one was reasonable.

Luo Chen had high hopes for this artifact repair shop and second-hand junk artifact recycling point! He valued it far more than the Chenyue Snack Stand or the Honey Snow Ice City! Second only to his main alchemy business!

Now was the perfect time; the price of artifacts was skyrocketing. Ordinary cultivators couldn’t afford new artifacts, but with Fenghai Forging Family, who couldn’t repair and reuse them for three more years?

For example, Luo Chen had seven jadeite knives, and one was damaged. Unable to form a complete blade storm, its power was greatly diminished. Without Duan Feng repairing it, this set of flying knives, which were comparable to high-grade artifacts when formed into an array, would lose half their power. Even if Duan Feng hadn’t done it for free, Luo Chen would have been willing to spend dozens of Spiritual Stones. The Foundation Establishment cultivator, Elder Chu, from the Myriad Treasures Building, had also casually mentioned that ordinary cultivators only knew how to fight and kill, and didn’t understand artifact maintenance.

It could be said that in the area of artifact repair, there was a naturally huge market.

If Duan Feng ran it well, Luo Chen didn’t know how many Spiritual Stones he would get!

“By the way, like alchemy, forging also requires fire. What about your fire?”

…

…

Luo Chen then realized that Duan Feng had not purchased large quantities of firewood or coal.

Duan Feng said strangely, “What’s most abundant under Qinghe Mountain is fire.”

“Huh?”

Next, Luo Chen saw Duan Feng run into the Connecting Clouds Trading Alliance branch behind. When he came out, he was carrying a large handful of green grass.

“Qinghe Demons, first-rank wood-attribute demonic spirits. When ignited, the firepower is extremely powerful, not inferior to earth fire.”

“Moreover, the size of the fire can be freely controlled by controlling the length of the Qinghe Demon inserted into the furnace.”

As he spoke, Duan Feng, by way of demonstration, inserted a Qinghe Demon into the forging furnace.

*Pop!*

A small fireball was struck, and the tail of the Qinghe Demon slowly burned. He gently pushed it in a little further; the fire intensified instantly. He pulled it out a little, and the fire became much smaller. Faintly, a crisp wail could be heard.

“Ugh!”

“You’re so cruel!”

Luo Chen’s eyes lit up! He hadn’t been to the Ancient Plains Mountain Range for a long time, and there was such a good thing here. When was it discovered?

What would the effect be if this thing was used for alchemy?

Also, this thing is dead, right? How can it still cry out?

“It was discovered last summer.” Duan Feng said unnaturally, “Before, these several mountains nearby were all covered with Qinghe Demons, these harmless wood-attribute demonic spirits, so this place became the main passage into the mountains.”

“But last summer, a Foundation Establishment cultivator passed by. He found the Qinghe Demons annoying, and used Foundation Establishment true fire to burn them, causing a huge fire that almost burned down an entire Qinghe Mountain.”

“That’s when people discovered that these Qinghe Demons were particularly fire-resistant.”

“But Qi Refining cultivators couldn’t make them burn no matter what.”

“Later, the Connecting Clouds Trading Alliance researched a special technique to activate the burning of Qinghe Demons, and then issued a reward, asking cultivators to capture Qinghe Demons and sell them to them.”

“After obtaining them, they processed them slightly and sold them to other places at a higher price.”

After hearing this explanation, Luo Chen suddenly understood. No wonder he hadn’t noticed it before; it turned out that this thing needed special processing using Foundation Establishment techniques to unleash its true power!

Suddenly, looking at Duan Feng’s unnatural expression, he thought of a possibility.

“No way, you’ve caught this thing before, haven’t you?”

Duan Feng shifted uncomfortably, “When I went into the mountains to hunt demonic beasts, I would always bring back a few Qinghe Demons and sell them to the Connecting Clouds Trading Alliance.”

“And now you’re buying them back at a higher price? And you didn’t haggle?”

“Uh, that’s right.”

Damn!

There are people who are even more of a profiteer than me!

Connecting Clouds Trading Alliance, I remember you!

Luo Chen was exasperated. He said to Duan Feng, “Next time you buy Qinghe Demons in large quantities, remember to haggle.”

“Oh!”

“Oh, what oh? Use the excuse of buying Qinghe Demons to maintain good relations with the cultivators of the Connecting Clouds Trading Alliance; you can also borrow some influence at critical moments.”

“Also, when you encounter danger, show that token, and mention my name, Dan Chenzi. If that doesn’t work, mention Mi Shuhua’s name, and try not to fight.”

After speaking, Luo Chen gave a few more nagging instructions before leaving with several bodyguards. As for those cultivators who were entering and exiting Qinghe Mountain, heading straight for the Ancient Plains Mountain Range, he didn’t even glance at them. What Foundation Establishment spiritual items, Golden Elixir opportunities, were these commoners even thinking about that?

After he left, Duan Feng stood there, feeling a little at a loss. In his early years in the Duan Family, he mainly studied forging. After his mother’s death, he left the Duan Family and came to Great River City, making his living by fighting. Now, he had to run a shop, which he really wasn’t used to.

Feng Xia stood beside him and sighed.

“Xiao Duan, don’t disappoint Luo Chen’s good intentions.”

Duan Feng nodded; he saw Luo Chen’s efforts. Purchasing a large amount of forging tools, taking out five low-grade and two mid-grade artifacts, and even giving him two thousand Spiritual Stones as working capital. Even the Pill Hall token representing his identity was generously given. To say he wasn’t grateful would be self-deception. Moreover, in the past, when Duan Feng was seriously injured, Luo Chen had generously given him a bottle of Deficiency-Replenishing and Pulse-Nourishing Liquid.

“So, sometimes you have to learn to adapt and change.”

“Not only for Luo Chen, but also for yourself.”

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Feng Xia looked at Duan Feng intently, her voice hoarse, “Do you remember how Yuan Xiaoyue usually does business?”

Yuan Xiaoyue! The girl who depended on her disabled grandfather. Thinking of her at White Stone Square, Duan Feng involuntarily swallowed.

“Be brave, Xiao Duan!”

Listening to the hoarse yet gentle voice beside his ear, Duan Feng closed his eyes, his spiritual energy surging, and opened his mouth.

“Fenghai Forging Family is open!”

“Professional repair of damaged artifacts, polishing and maintenance, custom modification, Fenghai Forging Family is the warmest logistical support on your path to the Dao!”

“Come have a look!”

“Can this thing really be used for alchemy?”

Luo Chen listened to the faint wails, his mind full of speculation. In the alchemy room, several fire attendants felt quite creepy. After the Hall Master returned today, he gave them a Qinghe Demon, and after igniting it, it was quite easy to use. It was just that the faint sounds that reached their ears made them feel uneasy.

“But the price is much higher than ordinary firewood.”

Being usable is one thing, but the cost is another. Luo Chen began to consider how to maximize the value of using Qinghe Demons as alchemy fire.

“Neither the myriad wonders pills nor the jade marrow pills need this kind of demonic fire.”

Luo Chen called the flames produced by the burning Qinghe Demon, demonic fire.

“With its powerful and easily adjustable firepower, it can be considered for refining second-rank elixirs, but the cost is likely to be too high.”

It’s a first-rank wood-attribute demonic spirit, which can be classified as a second-rank demonic beast. Although it’s the weakest and most harmless, and has no value, it still costs ten Spiritual Stones to buy one. Forging can use it because some minerals require extremely high temperatures. Ordinary artifacts must use earth fire. The Qinghe Demon is a clever workaround. The profit margin of a single artifact is far greater than that of an elixir. But elixirs don’t need such high temperatures, the melting point of medicinal herbs is far lower than that of minerals.

After some research, Luo Chen sighed in regret. This thing was indeed a good thing, but it was too impractical. He couldn’t use it yet.

“No, what if I use it to refine Blood-Burning Pills?”

The firewood used for Blood-Burning Pills before were not the common green steel wood or peach wood, but sweet wax wood. The reason it has this name is that there is a type of first-rank demonic beast that leaves behind a viscous fluid when it hatches and transforms. The taste is sweet, and the viscous fluid, after drying, looks like the candle tears after a candle burns. Therefore, it is called sweet wax wood. In the formulas he developed, one of the main ingredients for Blood-Burning Pills was precisely the exploding ape demon blood. The demonic fire contains a trace of demonic energy, which just promotes the fusion of the original exploding ape demon blood into other main ingredients. Compared to sweet wax wood, the demonic fire produced by burning Qinghe Demons is purer!

“One Qinghe Demon can burn for a long, long time, and it’s convenient for me to adjust the fire by myself.”

“Maybe I can try?”

For a moment, Luo Chen was moved.

Action speaks louder than words!

That night, Luo Chen, alone, activated his top-grade artifact, the Four-象 Cauldron. He directly added four sets of raw materials, using the Qinghe Demon as firewood.

After the raging fire, Luo Chen pulled out the half-burned Qinghe Demon.

“Isn’t this thing dead?”

“Why is there still a wail after burning?”

Luo Chen was certain that the Qinghe Demons he bought from the Connecting Clouds Trading Alliance were not alive. Living Qinghe Demons were very lively and often played among the trees and plants. But the ones he bought were like withered grass, definitely dead. Luo Chen couldn’t understand the principle, just assuming it was some kind of instinct left in the limbs and muscles after the creature died.

He couldn’t wait to open the lid. Blood-Burning Pills are different from other pills; after they are formed, the pill fragrance is a pungent, charred smell. If other pills have this smell, it’s basically a failure. But for Blood-Burning Pills, it’s very likely a success.

The lid opened, revealing seven crimson, blood-red low-grade pills inside.

“Seven pills!”

Luo Chen was stunned. He quickly counted the waste, and after a search, he determined that three-quarters of them had failed, with only one batch successful.

In other words!

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