Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!-Chapter 742 - 720: To Get Rich, Build Roads First_2
Leng Yutang is truly the lucky star of Sand Hill City! Mr. Jiang is the savior of the entire city!
Thinking of this, thanks to the savior, she easily and safely passed through the Earth Fire, and even had the time to take out the Communication Stone to assign tasks to her subordinates, insisting that the Divine Statue be completed as quickly as possible!
"Hmm, probably afraid of being devoured by the Abnormal Fire," Jiang Yuan responded while busy checking the details that popped up on the system.
The further down one goes, the better the quality of firestone, yet it’s still not recognized by the system as a production material. However, as such efficient and environmentally friendly fuel, its price should be high. Why is Sand Hill City so poor?
Could it be that on the Wilderness there are abundant resources, with better fuel alternatives?
The Earth Fire that were fleeing one after another, those trembling in surrender if they couldn’t escape, showed to be devoured and refined by the Abnormal Fire.
He decided not to alert the enemy for now, to wait until he found the Abnormal Fire and dealt with it, then release the Earth Spirit Flame and Ice Flame, let them have their fill. Maybe they could even gain some experience points and level up.
Coincidentally, most of Sand Hill City’s Bear Demons couldn’t withstand the power of the Earth Fire, helping to consume it thoroughly and eliminating the safety hazard, so that they could continue mining.
[Earth Fire Essence: A mutation essence formed by the rising temperature from long-term and large-scale Earth Fire accumulation. Cultivators of Fire Element Techniques could achieve twice the results with half the effort by absorbing its energy. Collectable and usable with Fire Gathering Basin]
[Fire Gathering Basin: Blueprint available for purchase in the privilege mall. Can be crafted at a workstation or forged by an Artifact Refiner. Fires below the Celestial Realm can all be collected and gathered.
The finished product is a Primary Fire Gathering Basin, capable of collecting a certain amount of Fire Essence; statable to the Intermediate level in the Treasure Forging Workshop. It can gather a large amount of Fire Essence; upgraded to the Advanced level it can serve as a medium, allowing the fire source energy to be absorbed and refined by a cultivator]
Just as he reached the deepest part of the cave to descend, Jiang Yuan caught a glimpse of a good thing—a compressed experience pack!
"Sir, you must not!" Seeing him ready to reach out and grab the small flame no larger than a walnut, Ming Qingyan instinctively stopped him.
Then she realized the other party could even control Abnormal Fire, surely a great talent in Fire Element, how could he possibly be afraid of this?
She smiled awkwardly and explained, "This item is born in areas where Earth Fire gathers. It looks small and pretty but has great power. Even I dare not touch it lightly. Please forgive my momentary loss of composure, sir."
Sure enough, as soon as the other party’s fingers touched, the troublesome flame was easily collected, as if he casually picked up a stone from the ground.
Jiang Yuan looked at the small flame in the storage bag and asked, "This is Earth Fire Essence, only born where Earth Fire gathers. I wonder, City Lord, does this item frequently appear in the Sky Pit?"
"Occasionally. I dare not handle it casually. If encountered during mining, we temporarily avoid the area and it naturally disappears after a while. The Sky Pit has been sealed for over three years, so there should be a lot,"
Ming Qingyan, with eyes full of interest, seemed to have found something to repay the gentleman’s kindness, immediately inquiring, "Since sir can tame it, is there a use for this item? If it’s useful, I’ll make sure to collect it whenever more Earth Fire Essence is found."
Sand Hill City is truly a treasure trove!
"That would be great. I’ll ask Daoist Leng to craft a Fire Gathering Basin Magical Treasure to securely and conveniently collect Earth Fire Essence," Jiang Yuan took a few steps and picked up another small flame.
No matter when, the thrill of free treasure is always irresistible!
"I’ve noticed that the firestone extracted from the Sky Pit is of very high quality, yet the city isn’t wealthy?" The more he wandered, the more puzzled he became, hence he asked, "What’s the price of firestones?"
When it came to resource sales, Ming Qingyan sighed heavily, "Don’t even mention it. Firestones are handy and can freely control temperature, so theoretically, the higher the quality, the higher the price they should fetch.
The problem is, our Sand Hill City is located in a corner, far from the nearest city, separated by an entire desert, making it too remote.
Building Teleportation Arrays require technical skill, and so far there is only one array leading to the nearest city—Silver Valley. The visiting merchants all come through it.
Sand Hill City doesn’t have good Cultivation Techniques, and the Bear Demons’ strength is much weaker than Demon Cultivators in other cities.
Furthermore, resources are single-tracked, and the trade routes can easily be blocked. The firestones can’t be stored in the Storage Bag but must be packaged and transported in specially made large wooden boxes. If prices can’t be agreed upon, without a Teleportation Array, it’s hard to ship them out in large quantities.
Thus, it fuels the arrogance of those merchants who collaborate and dominate the firestone sales routes, setting the price they want.
If you’re not satisfied, tough luck. Several conflicts have arisen, all ending in Sand Hill City’s defeat.
On top of that, due to the cold poison, the residents live in constant fear. To stabilize the situation and prevent external invasions from power struggles, they can only swallow their pride and accept the circumstances.
Finally, having a chance to vent her grievances, Ming Qingyan dug up a piece of top-quality firestone from the ground.
The colorful, brilliant flames vanished instantly. She swiped away impurities with a bear’s paw, "Please look, such fine firestone! Yet those unscrupulous merchants jointly suppress the price, needing twenty pieces to exchange for one Spirit Stone! The ones on top with slightly lower quality are even cheaper.
Though we mine and cultivate simultaneously, not delaying each other, naturally leading to slow speed. The high-quality firestone’s production is low and priced low, resulting in the city’s meager income.
Trapped in a vicious cycle, income barely suffices daily expenses, unable to accumulate enough funds to seek better cultivation techniques, leaving the city without High Realm Great Demons, more oppressed by external alliances.
Meanwhile, some muddle-headed individuals don’t unite to resist external threats for Sand Hill City’s benefit. Instead, they’re persuaded by unscrupulous merchants, claiming that a woman in power is soft-hearted and secretly colluding to cause internal turmoil and seize authority.
If they genuinely had the ability to defeat me, with resourcefulness to lead the tribe to a better life, I would accept it.
Yet they lack the ability! They even collude with merchants, taking their benefits to sow trouble in the city, forcing us to tackle endless headaches and giving us no time to cultivate, slowing our power growth, making it increasingly hard to safeguard the city.
Those muddle-headed ones grow more arrogant, refusing discipline, claiming we’re incompetent as managers..."
"External and internal problems, City Lord Ming, you have it tough," said Jiang Yuan, thinking how even in a remote place, peace wasn’t easily found. If those rebellious bears learned a bit about class struggle, perhaps they wouldn’t be led astray by outsiders.
Without real strength, being kept as a remote bodyguard—if they actually seized power, wouldn’t they become the other’s puppet? History shows that those who betrayed their own to serve the enemy rarely met good ends.
As a City Lord, she was already quite competent, unlike Carefree City’s Lord who never involved himself in everything....
Ah? Carefree City!
Suddenly his eyes lit up, realizing Xie Chenyuan’s fondness for living in Carefree City was for the overflowing delicacies.
From handling demon beast’s massive bodies to processing meat and running restaurants, nowhere does one not need fire as fuel.
If he could connect the dots, allowing Sand Hill City’s firestones to be sold in Carefree City, then shipped elsewhere through their extensive Teleportation Arrays, wouldn’t it obviate the merchants’ monopolizing suppression?
"Currently, the city is in lockdown due to the severe cold poison. Those rich merchants value their lives and haven’t caused trouble. If they learn the cold poison problem has been solved by you..."
The counterpart continued to sigh, Jiang Yuan immediately replied, "This is the perfect opportunity! The Angry Fire Bears who’ve been bribed by merchants will spread the news of the cold poison solution. So, we need to inform the citizens about its source.
No, not only tell the citizens but also extensively advertise, letting everyone know the cold poison originates from the Sky Pit, where spores carried by the valley wind drift in any part of the city.
In other words, as long as one resides in the city, they might be parasitized by the Insect Demon. To prevent the spread of cold poison, Sand Hill City will not host any visitors.
The Teleportation Array allows two-way travel; if one side doesn’t accept, transmission is futile, making it apt to temporarily block the city’s array from functioning. This can grant Sand Hill City some time, easing your secret consolidation.
Meanwhile, I’ll leave Elixirs and Capture Nets with you, and teach you how to use them and identify when the Insect Demons are mature. Whoever causes in-fighting in the city infected by cold poison would only face death!
Using technical monopoly to control the city can eliminate many troubles.
As for the firestone sales route, I’ll contact a few friends to see what prices they offer. If favorable, think about getting the Teleportation Array set up first.
To prosper, roads must be built first. Once the goods can be transported out and exchanged for money, allowing everyone to see tangible benefits, the city residents won’t be easily swayed by deceit."
