Chapter 144: Chapter 122: The Difficulty of Foundation Establishment (2)

When Lü Zhong explained his intentions, Li Hejun was overjoyed. Her body trembled with excitement as she said, "That’s wonderful! This way, Master, you’ll be able to earn so many more Spirit Stones!"

’Why are you more excited than I am?’

Lü Zhong waved his hand for Li Hejun to quiet down and continued, "I will deliver the printing press later. For now, you need to find a suitable location to build a workshop. In the future, the storybooks will be printed in the completed workshop."

"Yes!" Li Hejun nodded emphatically.

"Also, choose a few simple and kind-hearted helpers," Lü Zhong added.

With his master’s assurance, he no longer feared that the storybooks’ popularity would attract malicious intent. Expanding production was now imperative, which made hiring more people a necessity.

After explaining all the details, Lü Zhong handed over a Storage Bag.

Mortals could also use Storage Bags, but it was much more troublesome for them than for cultivators. They had to soak a Spirit Stone in their own Essence Blood, using this simple Blood Sacrifice Mixed Spirit Skill to merge the weak Spiritual Qi in their Essence Blood with the Spiritual Qi of the Spirit Stone, thereby meeting the minimum requirement to open the Storage Bag.

After a simple lesson, Li Hejun quickly learned how.

Seeing the contents of the Storage Bag, she gasped and covered her mouth, hastily trying to hand it back. "Master, this Storage Bag is too valuable. And for a mere mortal to possess something like this... I cannot accept it."

Lü Zhong pushed her hand back and said:

"Don’t worry. Wangxian Town is right under the Heling Sect’s nose. No one would be bold enough to cause trouble. From now on, all the printed storybooks must be packed in Storage Bags to make transportation easier."

"I understand," Li Hejun said, rubbing her hand and no longer trying to refuse.

...

「Several months passed in a flash.」

The construction of the printing workshop went very smoothly. After using the hydraulic printing press provided by Lü Zhong, the printing efficiency of the storybooks skyrocketed. With a sufficient supply of storybooks, the long-standing problem of pirated copies was resolved.

With the abundant book supply, they could even set aside a portion to be consigned to merchant caravans for sale.

At its peak, it could bring in five hundred Spirit Stones a month.

But what Lü Zhong had always feared eventually came to pass.

Driven by a desire for profit, the imitation and copying of the storybooks had never ceased.

At first, it was just shoddy plagiarism and imitation. But now, original storybooks had appeared with plots and writing that were in no way inferior to Lü Zhong’s originals, consequently stealing a portion of his market.

Recently, the income from storybook sales had stabilized at roughly one hundred Spirit Stones per day.

’I should be content with this,’ Lü Zhong told himself.

Upon reaching Late-stage Qi Refining, the Jade Solidification Pill was no longer suitable for consumption. It wasn’t that he had developed a resistance to it, but rather that Lü Zhong now had better options; the Jade Solidification Pill was simply not as cost-effective in comparison.

What he was currently taking was the Secret Pattern Pill, produced by his own Sect.

The Secret Pattern Pill was so named because its surface was covered in complex patterns resembling profound secret patterns. Its price was comparable to the Jade Solidification Pill, but its effects were twice as potent.

However, compared to the Jade Solidification Pill which could be bought freely, the acquisition of this Secret Pattern Pill was restricted.

Only thirty-six pills could be purchased with Spirit Stones each year. If one wanted to buy more, they had to be exchanged for Merit, with no discount on the price: twenty Merit points per pill.

At his current pace, Lü Zhong could completely refine one Secret Pattern Pill every three days.

By that calculation, he would consume at least a hundred pills a year.

’The Merit deficit is quite large. How am I supposed to obtain more?’

Lü Zhong figured it would be best if he could just use Spirit Stones to solve the problem, especially since he had saved up quite a few.

’I’ll ask around. Maybe I can find a way to trade for them.’

If the exchange rate was right, he wouldn’t mind trading for some.

Otherwise, he would just save them up to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Speaking of the Foundation Establishment Pill, that was another major headache for Lü Zhong.

The Sect Treasure Vault had Foundation Establishment Pills, but the price of ten thousand Merit points was daunting.

If he were to buy one outside, he could only go to an auction house and bid against others. Moreover, the price wasn’t the ten thousand Spirit Stones he had previously thought, but rather started at ten thousand Spirit Stones.

The average auction price for a Foundation Establishment Pill was around thirty-five thousand Spirit Stones.

Lü Zhong had originally thought that with the income from his storybooks, he would easily be able to buy several Foundation Establishment Pills. But after actually looking into it, he realized how naive his previous thinking had been.

By his calculations, even if the storybook income remained stable, it would still take a year to afford a single pill.

However, it was foreseeable that the storybook income would steadily decline, so the assumption of buying one Foundation Establishment Pill with a year’s income was not actually valid.

"The higher the cultivation, the greater the expenses. I guess I have to go back to my old trade," Lü Zhong said with a sigh of resignation.

To get rich, one must first draw talismans.

Making Golden Light Talismans was almost pure profit.

The only costs were Talisman Ink and Talisman Paper, plus perhaps a small expense for replenishing Spiritual Power.

Most importantly, making Golden Light Talismans was fast.

At Lü Zhong’s current speed, while ensuring his cultivation continued to improve, he could produce about ten sheets a day.

In comparison, the Qingyang Body Protection Secret Talisman was not only difficult to make, but its cost also accounted for a large portion of its selling price. All in all, although the profit from making this Secret Talisman was higher, the process consumed a great deal of Heart Power.

After doing the math, Lü Zhong felt much more at ease.

...

After delivering the latest storybook, Lü Zhong emerged from Shuini Cave Mansion.

Glancing at the scorching sun in the sky, he prepared to make a trip to the Purple Jade Forest on the back mountain.

Thanks to the goodwill he had built up by continuously delivering storybooks, his "convenient" master was now willing to answer his questions. She was no longer like before, always smiling while letting his questions go in one ear and out the other.

He had learned from Shuini that the best way to exchange Spirit Stones for Merit was not to trade with other disciples privately at a low rate, but to go to the Purple Jade Forest and trade with the disciples there.

Disciples like these usually had a large amount of Merit but also had a great need for Spirit Stones, so one could often exchange for their Merit at a favorable rate.

After crossing several covered bridges and jumping down to a mountain path below, Lü Zhong spent nearly an hour before he finally arrived at the Purple Jade Forest on the back mountain, where he was stopped by the disciples guarding the entrance.

Among the disciples at the gate, a Female Cultivator with her hair tied up asked politely, "Excuse me, Senior Brother, do you have a Purple Jade Order?"

In response, Lü Zhong raised the Token in his hand.

The Token was a palm-sized diamond shape, carved from a single piece of purple jade. Both its front and back were engraved with lifelike bamboo. When a small amount of Spiritual Power was infused, it would glow and display the words "Purple Jade Forest."

Seeing this, the guarding disciples immediately cupped their hands in respect and stepped aside.

"Senior Brother, please enter. You must come out within one hour. Please don’t make things difficult for us."

Lü Zhong nodded and stepped into the Purple Jade Forest.

The Purple Jade Forest wasn’t large, only about a hundred mu in size. It was planted with Purple Jade Trees, a rare species that could purify impurities from Spiritual Qi. Living inside was a special privilege, open only to disciples who had performed great merits and those who had entered the Sect through ancestral prestige.

After walking for a while, he came across an elderly Daoist in his sixties. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

When the man saw Lü Zhong, he seemed to guess his purpose and just shook his head.

Lü Zhong nodded to him in acknowledgment.

He continued searching and soon encountered another person.

This was a young man in a brocade robe and a coronet, a hint of arrogance in his eyes. Seeing Lü Zhong, he took the initiative to speak: "Fellow Dao... uh, Senior Brother, do you have three thousand Spirit Stones? I’m willing to trade one thousand Merit for them."

"I do," Lü Zhong replied concisely.

A one-to-three ratio. That was definitely a high rate.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried to find ways to exchange for Merit on his own, but no matter who he asked or where he inquired, the best rate he could find was one-to-five. He had never found a rate as high as this.

Without getting greedy, he readily made the deal.

The other party took the Spirit Stones and pulled out ten Jade Orders that shimmered with Spiritual Light.

Each Jade Order was worth one hundred Merit.

After the transaction was complete, the youth with the jade coronet hurried away.

Lü Zhong knew what he was in a hurry for: he was rushing to add Spirit Stones to a Spirit Gathering Array.

The opportunity to cultivate in the Purple Jade Forest was extremely rare, but to maximize its effects, a large amount of Spirit Stones was essential.

First, the Spirit Gathering Array would extract the Spiritual Qi from the Spirit Stones. Then, the Purple Jade Forest would further purify that Spiritual Qi, resulting in Spiritual Qi of extremely high purity.

Cultivating in this high-purity Spiritual Qi didn’t actually increase one’s cultivation speed by a huge amount.

Its proper use, in fact, was to break through bottlenecks.