192: Chapter 192 Changes in the County Town

Just as the Jinhuai Branch was seizing the market, the Wuyang Pei Clan was vigorously engaging in major construction.

Pill Refining Room No. 1.

Pei Qingyun was concentrating on refining a Tier 2 Medicinal Pill, the divine power pill.

Unlike ordinary Tier 2 Medicinal Pills, the difficulty of refining the divine power pill ranks among the top three of all Tier 2 Medicinal Pills.

Even among Tier 2 Alchemists, fewer than thirty percent are capable of refining the divine power pill, and the success rate is extremely low.

A single furnace often only yields one or two pills.

Furthermore, the raw Materials for the divine power pill are significantly more expensive than those for ordinary Tier 2 Medicinal Pills.

These many factors combined keep the price of the divine power pill high.

However.

Pei Qingyun, who had been a First-Rank Alchemist for less than half a year, had already begun working on refining the divine power pill.

If other Tier 2 Alchemists saw this, they would only think Pei Qingyun was squandering precious resources.

The raw Materials for the divine power pill are expensive; the cost of refining a single furnace alone requires five hundred taels.

If the success rate cannot reach thirty percent, it is a losing business.

This is the reason why nurturing an Alchemist is equivalent to raising a gold-swallowing beast.

Suddenly.

A wisp of black smoke rose from the Pill Furnace, followed immediately by a pungent odor that permeated the air. In the blink of an eye, the entire Pill Refining Room No. 1 was tainted with this smell.

"Failed again..." Pei Qingyun let out a turbid breath.

To this day, Pei Qingyun could not remember how many times he had failed.

In just one month, roughly calculated, he had already spent nearly twenty thousand taels.

One must know that his Alchemy Aptitude was not bad either.

Not to mention, he also had the Analysis Technique to assist him.

This was equivalent to having a Great Master of Alchemy who never made mistakes teaching him Alchemy from start to finish.

Yet even so, after dozens of failures, he still had not succeeded.

If this were any other Alchemist, the failure rate would only be higher.

However, what gave Pei Qingyun the biggest headache was Pei Sixing coming to him from time to time to ask for guidance on Alchemy.

Ever since Pei Sixing became a First-Rank Alchemist, he had been tirelessly asking him for advice.

Although Pei Qingyun's level of Alchemy was more than enough to teach Pei Sixing, he did not have the urge to be a teacher.

These days, Pei Qingyun had been thinking about whether to find an Opportunity to send Pei Sixing away.

But in his experience, he had not heard of any Great Master of Alchemy planning to take on apprentices recently.

Just as Pei Qingyun was preparing to summarize his failure experience, he ran into Pei Sixing who had come to ask for guidance.

"Old Ancestor, regarding the refining method of the Blood-Activating Pill, Sixing still has one point he doesn't understand. What is meant by 'medium heat control' and 'hundred-breath circulation' and 'blood Qi source flow' here?" Pei Sixing asked respectfully.

"I will demonstrate it for you once, watch carefully." Pei Qingyun did not explain too much and immediately began to demonstrate.

The next moment, a small flame danced in his hand, as if it had been given life. After lasting for a full hundred breaths, a wisp of red blood Qi appeared around the small flame.

A few breaths later, the red blood Qi merged with the small flame. The originally light-colored small flame turned deep red, emitting a faint vitality.

"Sixing, have you understood?" Pei Qingyun restrained his blood Qi, and the small flame in his hand instantly extinguished.

"Old Ancestor, Sixing understands. It's just this method of micro-controlling blood Qi; Sixing has not yet fully mastered it." Pei Sixing nodded, his eyes pensive.

Pei Qingyun exhorted, "The method of micro-controlling blood Qi, although it has a certain degree of difficulty, with your Aptitude, as long as you practice diligently, it is not difficult to master this technique."

"Yes, Old Ancestor." Pei Sixing said.

After Pei Sixing left, Pei Qingyun returned to studying the refining method of the divine power pill.

Pei Qingyun still highly recognized Pei Sixing as the Family's Alchemy Genius.

He recognized not only Pei Sixing's Alchemy Aptitude, but also his attitude towards Alchemy.

Eager to learn, focused, strong thirst for knowledge...

Even if he were not born into the Pei Clan, with time, he would surely achieve great things.

...

In the blink of an eye, half a year passed.

A slender figure walked out of Pill Refining Room No. 1.

After half a year, Pei Qingyun had not only successfully refined the divine power pill but had also increased the success rate to forty percent.

Besides that, he had also mastered the refining methods of two other Tier 2 Medicinal Pills.

If he hadn't taken the formal Tier 2 Alchemist examination, he would already be a Tier 2 Alchemist now.

At the same time, his Martial Arts cultivation had also taken a solid step towards the Late Stage of the Six Bowels Realm.

Just like that, life seemed to pass by plainly.

Everything was developing in the established direction.

...

Jinhuai Prefecture City, Mingshui Street.

The scorching summer, it was now the sixth month.

The sunlight poured down like molten metal, the asphalt road steamed with rising heat waves, and the dust floating in the air was wrapped in a scorching aura.

On the street, people came and went.

Facing the baking of the scorching flames, most people had sweat on their faces, and their exposed skin was tanned dark by the sun.

A few ragged beggars lazily hid in the dark corners to cool off.

Occasionally, a Dragon Scale Horse carriage with the logo of the Yuanhang Trade Caravan drove past the main street of the district.

Passersby would unconsciously take a look.

The Dragon Scale Horse was tall and fierce, one-third larger than ordinary exotic beasts. In the Jinhuai Prefecture territory, Dragon Scale Horses were not common.

Since the establishment of the Jinhuai Branch, this Dragon Scale Horse carriage seemed to have become a beautiful landscape on Mingshui Street.

Whenever a Dragon Scale Horse carriage appeared, it was inevitably the Yuanhang Trade Caravan traveling.

Over the past six months, the Jinhuai Branch of the Yuanhang Trade Caravan had purchased a large number of courtyards in various major districts to build reserve warehouses and cargo transfer stations.

This also caused the invested funds to be almost squandered.

At first, these Great Families who invested did not understand Pei Tianquan's approach.

After all, this step was a bit too big.

But soon, the development speed of the Jinhuai Branch slapped them hard in the face; in less than three months, the total volume of orders received by the Jinhuai Branch had doubled.

More than half of the reserve warehouses were piled up with backlog goods.

In order to cope with the soaring number of orders, Pei Tianquan also began to recruit a large number of people.

Applicants in Jinhuai Prefecture City were endless, but most of them were ordinary Martial Artists and Escorts from fallen Escort Agencies.

Among the descendants of Great Families, there were very few applicants. After all, the transportation industry is also a hard job.

In terms of treatment, it was enough for ordinary Martial Artists and Escorts from fallen Escort Agencies. But for the descendants of Great Families, this treatment did not have much appeal.

Unless it was a management position at the Jinhuai Branch.

Besides, the vast majority of Great Family descendants served their own Family industries.

Only a few collateral branches would look for other ways out.

In addition, the various Great Families who invested were also trying to find ways to enter the management of the Jinhuai Branch.

However, Pei Tianquan had strict considerations for this. Some unimportant positions could be let go, and some quotas could be released appropriately.

But finance and procurement must be held in the hands of the Pei Clan.

To this day, the Jinhuai Branch had recruited nearly thousands of people, becoming a behemoth among the many trade caravans in Jinhuai Prefecture City.

Looking at the population of nearly one million in Jinhuai Prefecture City, at least eighty percent of the people knew of the existence of the Jinhuai Branch.

In just over half a year, achieving this feat was not simple.

Besides, the existence of the Jinhuai Branch also drove the economy of Mingshui Street. The most obvious change was that many businessmen and Great Families seemed to smell business opportunities and came to Mingshui Street to invest one after another.

Compared to more than half a year ago, there were more than a hundred new shops opened on Mingshui Street, and the business was not bad. Old shops also had significant growth compared to previous years.

These two situations undoubtedly reflected a problem.

The consumption power of Mingshui Street was improving.

But if there were a census, one would find that the passenger flow on Mingshui Street had risen by several tens of percent compared to previous years.

At noon, the ten or so elm tables in Haoji Noodle Shop were already full of guests.

But who would have thought that just half a year ago, this bustling Haoji Noodle Shop was facing the predicament of bankruptcy.

"Waiter, give me four bowls of beef noodles and three plates of spicy pancakes." A guest shouted.

"Guest, wait a moment, it's coming right up." The waiter replied.

The next moment, the waiter rushed into the kitchen and shouted, "Four bowls of beef noodles, three plates of spicy pancakes, urgent!"

On the other side.

The shopkeeper chatted with the anxiously waiting guests.

"Shopkeeper, your little shop's business is too hot. Every time I come, it's full. Over the year, I'm afraid you'll earn a lot of silver." A guest sighed with emotion.

"Guest, what are you saying, it's all hard-earned money. If it weren't for the change of luck, my little shop would have closed long ago." The shopkeeper explained with a smile.

"No way, your business is so hot, how could you close? Shopkeeper, you aren't joking, are you? In my opinion, your business is so good, you can completely recruit more people." A young guest from another place asked in confusion.

"Guest, listening to your accent, you are not a local of Mingshui Street, right?" The shopkeeper did not answer the guest's question, but asked back instead.

"I am from Jinling County, this time I am out for business. I heard that Mingshui Street is a good place for business, so I followed my uncle here." The young guest explained.

"Then you came to the right place. Actually, a year ago, this street was just a small alley that no one cared about. But ever since the Yuanhang Trade Caravan came, they carried out large-scale renovations on the surrounding small alleys, and that's how it got to be like this today. It can be said that if the Yuanhang Trade Caravan hadn't moved in, there wouldn't be today for Haoji Noodle Shop." Speaking of this, the shopkeeper showed a look of gratitude in his eyes.

"So that's how it is." The young guest revealed a look of sudden realization.

He didn't expect the influence of the Yuanhang Trade Caravan to be so great, indirectly revitalizing a street.

Just like that, the two chatted for a little while, and the sound of ordering food continued to come from the shop.

"Shopkeeper, I want two large bowls of fresh wheat noodles here."

"Alright, coming right up."

"Your four bowls of beef noodles are ready."

...

In fact, on this street, there were many small shops like Haoji Noodle Shop that were revitalized because of the renovation by the Jinhuai Branch.

The young guest was named Hai Yingsheng, who came from a third-rate family in Jinling County. Since childhood, his Aptitude was quite good, with the potential to break through to the Five Viscera Realm, but with the resources and economic strength mastered by a third-rate family, it was impossible to support him to become a Five-Viscera Martial Artist.

Often, descendants from such Third-Rate Families would choose to go out and venture, earning silver through business to support their own Martial Arts practice, and even break through the inherent class.

However.

Failure is the norm; most of them can only maintain food and clothing, or die in a foreign land without a sound. Of course, there are a few who settle down and have children abroad.

Only a very small number can successfully promote to the Five Viscera Realm because of Opportunity and hard work, break through the inherent class, and ascend to the position of a Great Family.

This Hai Yingsheng was carrying his dream to this Jinhuai Prefecture City.

Only sixteen or seventeen years old, he was already a Martial Artist at the Early Stage of Divine Power.

In terms of age and strength, he could not be compared with the direct descendants of ordinary Third-Rate Families, but compared with the descendants of ordinary Third-Rate Families, he was not bad at all.

Hai Yingsheng had also envied others' backgrounds. If he could be born into a Great Family, perhaps he would not be worse than some direct descendants.

But his background was not something he could decide.

Self-pity could not make the Martial Arts path achieve anything.

So, he carried hope and followed his uncle to Jinhuai Prefecture City.

He was no stranger to the reputation of the Yuanhang Trade Caravan. As one of the six counties in Jinhuai, Jinling County also had a branch of the Yuanhang Trade Caravan.

It's just that a county's land cannot be compared with the Prefecture City.

After hearing that the Yuanhang Trade Caravan had a branch in the Prefecture City, Hai Yingsheng thought about entering the Jinhuai Branch to learn the way of business, and at the same time, he could also come into contact with a broader world.

Not to mention, since its establishment, the Yuanhang Trade Caravan had been regarded as a legend among trade caravans.

Although they did not know the specific profits of the Yuanhang Trade Caravan, its scale was enough to dominate the market.

During this period, the Jinhuai Branch occupied thirty percent of the transportation industry market in Jinhuai Prefecture City.

Of course, while seizing the market, it inevitably damaged the interests of other forces.

After all, the cake of the entire Prefecture City was only so big. The birth of a powerful trade caravan would inevitably compress the living space of some weak trade caravans.

This point is unsolvable no matter which world it is placed in.

Unless Pei Qingyun could expand the market.

And there were only two ways to expand the market: one was to increase the population to expand the consumer market, and the second was to develop new resources and introduce population for export.

Many Escort Agencies without background were forced to disband because they could not compete with the Jinhuai Branch, with business volume dropping sharply for more than half a year.

Of course, among these Escorts, many chose to join the Jinhuai Branch.

But at the same time, some Escort Agencies survived tenaciously, and they were often supported by Great Families behind them.

But even so, the living space of these Escort Agencies was compressed to the extreme, and the profits generated were extremely limited.

The meaning of their existence was to provide security for the Great Families to transport goods.

After all, everything is safest only when it is in one's own hands.

Besides, some contraband also needs to be transported by their own Escort Agencies to be safe.

Therefore, even in the case of loss, the Great Family could not abolish it.

However, Pei Qingyun never thought of seizing the entire market of Jinhuai Prefecture City.

In his view, it was enough for the Yuanhang Trade Caravan to occupy fifty percent of the Jinhuai market.

The Yuanhang Trade Caravan eats meat, and other forces should always drink some soup, right?