60: Money Gang

One day later,

You tidied up the inside and outside of the small wooden house, and it was finally barely habitable.

Afterward, you went to the open-air market stalls and bought ten bottles of qi gathering pills, spending fifty Spirit Stones.

Returning to the wooden house, you took out the Formation Plate for the Spirit Gathering Array and injected a strand of Spiritual Qi—

“Swish! Swish!” With a few sounds, the Formation Flags flew out rapidly, forming a miniature Spiritual Qi vortex at eight positions in the courtyard.

Watching the Spiritual Qi in the air slowly being drawn into the courtyard, your brow relaxed slightly.

You took a deep breath, walked into the wooden house, sat down on the wooden bed, and began circulating the "Azure Spirit Art" to Cultivate.

The second year,

Just as you were Cultivating, the blue identity jade pendant at your waist suddenly lost its luster, followed by a “crack” as a fissure appeared.

You knew that Ji Bin was dead.

Your heart panicked, unsure of what consequences would follow!

You decided that after leaving seclusion, you must quickly get a new identity jade pendant.

The tenth year,

You finally reached the fifth level of Qi Refining.

At the same time, your "Illusionary Form Technique" had also reached the third level.

For these nine years, besides going out to buy qi gathering pills, you basically stayed inside Cultivating.

Fortunately, you were in the Heavenly Human Realm and could already practice Grain Avoidance—and absorbing Spiritual Qi every day could sustain you.

However, you only had twenty-three Spirit Stones left.

You tried Cultivating without qi gathering pills, but the speed was unbearably slow.

The most urgent matter now was to quickly obtain an identity jade pendant.

Regarding the identity jade pendant, you had also inquired about its uses—

If it was an identity jade pendant belonging to the Liu Clan, you could collect corresponding supplies from the Central Hall every year.

If it wasn't from the Liu Clan, it was equivalent to a pass within the Liu Clan Immortal Family's territory. If you were caught without one, you would have to serve as a mine slave for life.

Thinking of the identity jade pendant, you suddenly remembered someone—your neighbor, Yang Yan.

Yang Yan was a chatterbox with many friends.

When he saw you coming, he greeted you enthusiastically: “Brother Qin, I see you’ve been diligently Cultivating for so many years, how are you still only at the fifth level of Qi Refining?”

You smiled helplessly: “I apologize for making Brother Yang laugh.”

“With your Aptitude, even if you Cultivate for another lifetime, you won't be able to form a foundation. You might as well be an ordinary person and live freely and happily!” he said bluntly.

Those words stung, but you could only force a smile: “Brother Yang, I heard you have connections to obtain a white identity jade pendant?”

Upon hearing this, his eyes immediately lit up: “Brother Qin needs one?”

You nodded.

He immediately said happily: “For the sake of being neighbors, I’ll charge you one hundred Spirit Stones!”

“So expensive?” Your eyes widened.

“Not expensive, this is already the internal price,” he waved his hand.

“Brother, I don't have enough Spirit Stones. Can I trade it for a flowing cloud boat?” you asked.

You thought it over and realized that the only item worth some money was this flying Spiritual Artifact, the flowing cloud boat.

His eyes lit up, then he frowned, pretending to be troubled: “Alas, never mind, never mind. Since we are neighbors, I’ll trade it to you.”

So, he handed you the white identity jade pendant, and you gave him the flowing cloud boat.

Although you obtained the white identity jade pendant, you started worrying about Spirit Stones.

You pondered that you needed to learn a skill—but this thought was quickly dismissed.

Because you felt your Aptitude was too poor; you probably wouldn't learn anything even if you studied for a lifetime.

Moreover, even if you wanted to learn Alchemy, you couldn't afford the consumption of medicinal materials.

Not only that, but you had also inquired that Pill Formulas were guarded like life secrets by Alchemists, and ordinary people could never learn them.

Even if you had a Pill Formula, given your Aptitude, you would probably lose money refining every single batch.

After all, you had previously tried to refine a realm breaking pill; the loss was particularly huge, and you couldn't control it at all.

It was unlike the Medicine Bodhisattva, whose efficiency and success rate in Alchemy were ten times yours.

In other words, the Medicine Bodhisattva made a profit refining realm breaking pills, while you lost money doing it.

Thinking about this, your eyes suddenly brightened, and you looked at Yang Yan: “Brother, the way you sell identity jade pendants seems quite profitable? Can you bring me along? We can get rich together?”

Yang Yan smiled: “Brother, this is a business where we risk our lives for money. Are you really daring enough to do it?”

“Tell me about it!” you became interested.

He lowered his voice: “To be honest, I am a member of the Money Gang.”

“You are from the Money Gang?” You were shocked.

You had heard of the Money Gang; it was an infamous Gang in the nearby slums, committing all sorts of evils like murder for treasure, arson, rape, and robbery.

“Then this white identity jade pendant, did you extort it from ordinary people?” You understood instantly.

Yang smiled and nodded.

Your eyes lit up, feeling this trade was quite suitable for you, so you smiled and said: “Tell me the details, I’m interested!”

Yang Yan grinned and began to explain carefully.

You listened intently, and the more you heard, the more you felt this path was tailor-made for you.

You realized your Aptitude was lacking, so following the Righteous Path was definitely out of the question.

For example, Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and doing business were all unsuitable for you, mainly because they were prone to losses.

You felt that risk-free businesses like murdering for treasure were especially suited to you.

Just like killing Ji Bin, you easily obtained over a thousand Spirit Stones.

You had an epiphany—to become rich quickly, plunder was the only way.

Just like the massive Liu Clan Immortal Family, didn't they also start by seizing territory and robbing resources?

And those Dynasties, didn't they all grow stronger by annexing other nations?

You became more excited the more you listened, and immediately asked Yang Yan to introduce you to join the Money Gang.

From then on, you were also a member of the Money Gang.

Yang Yan clapped your shoulder and laughed heartily: “Haha, good brother, I knew long ago that you and we are on the same path!”

“Brother Yang is joking. Come on, let’s go listen to music at the brothel; I’m treating today,” you said generously.

But Yang Yan waved his hand: “Not so fast, you just joined the Gang. I’ll take you to meet our local Hall Master.”

“Coincidentally, the Hall Master is marrying his one hundred and twenty-eighth concubine today, let’s buy a gift before we go,” he added.

You two chatted as you walked, both in very high spirits.

You were elated because you had found a 'path to wealth,' but you didn't understand why Yang Yan was also so happy.

Along the way, he introduced you to this Hall Master of the Money Gang, whose name was Hall Master Jiang He.

Hall Master Jiang He outwardly ran the Jiang Clan Merchant House, but secretly he was a Hall Master of the Money Gang.

Because a lot of the Gang's stolen goods were sold through the Jiang Clan Merchant House, Hall Master Jiang He was considered a famous rich man in this area.

What shocked you the most was—the Jiang Clan Merchant House also sold grain dispelling pills and qi gathering pills, and their monthly shipment volume was astonishing.

You had already investigated the consumption of grain dispelling pills and qi gathering pills.

This giant city had a population of over a billion, and ninety percent of the people needed grain dispelling pills and qi gathering pills; the annual consumption was simply astronomical.

If these ninety percent of people bought one bottle of grain dispelling pills from you, you wouldn't have to worry about Spirit Stones for the rest of your life.

Even if the Jiang Clan Merchant House only occupied one ten-thousandth of the market share, they were already making a fortune, with staggering turnover.

Yang Yan seemed to notice your envy and smiled: “If you perform well this time, and if you can catch Hall Master Jiang’s eye, maybe you can get grain dispelling pills and qi gathering pills from him at a low price. You sell them at a markup, and you’ll get rich.”