Chapter 370: Nine Transformations of the Wandering Dragon
The first day of business was over.
That night, Jiang Chen and his three companions gathered to count their earnings over a late-night meal that rivaled the finest spirit cuisine.
The small Storage Bag was upturned, unleashing a cascade of clinking, shimmering light. A river of Low-grade Spirit Stones poured out, dotted with the richer gleam of Mid-grade Spirit Stones. The pile grew until it carpeted the entire floor, leaving them with nowhere to stand.
Low-grade stones formed the vast majority, but the sheer, glittering mass of it all made everyone’s eyes widen in disbelief.
A chorus of sharp, indrawn breaths filled the room.
“I remember our best day back on Fire Peak,” Jin Fugui said, his voice laced with awe. “We only made sixty Mid-grade Spirit Stones.”
“I thought we’d be lucky to clear a hundred,” Mo Yu added, shaking his head. “I never dreamed we’d break a thousand!”
“It was the bundles,” Lin An mused. “They sold like crazy.”
Everything they sold—Spirit Pills, herbs, talismans—was of the highest quality. The pills, in particular, were Top Grade. That, combined with the “core disciple effect” from Qin Hao and Chen Tian’s endorsements, made business absolutely explode.
Though individual pills and talismans were available, they accounted for a surprisingly small portion of their sales.“Starting tomorrow,” Jiang Chen said with a calm smile, “our profits will snowball. We’ll hit our peak in three to five days, enter a stable period for the next six to ten, and then see a gradual decline after half a month.”
Mo Yu frowned. “Can our supply of pills and talismans keep up?”
Lin An’s eyes widened in realization. “He’s right! The herbs we bought aren’t Top Grade.”
“The first day was about market penetration,” Jiang Chen waved a dismissive hand. “You always lead with your best product. Once we have a loyal customer base, we can slightly lower the quality and price, mixing them in. Besides, I haven’t even brought out the batch of Spirit Weapons I acquired.”
Of course, “acquired” was a euphemism for “privately forged.” He had driven the costs down to almost nothing. Each weapon was specifically designed to counter the Yin and malevolent energies of the Secret Realm.
There was the Evil-Breaking Awl for Metal Spirit Root cultivators.
The Evil-Burning Lamp for Fire Spirit Roots.
The Thunder-Startling Pearl for Thunder Spirit Roots.
The Soul-Suppressing Vine Whip for Wood Spirit Roots.
The Cold Water Filth-Breaking Mirror for Water Spirit Roots.
And the Mountain-Suppressing Seal for Earth Spirit Roots.
Most were inscribed with one to three spirit patterns, with only a few reaching the four-to-six pattern range.
The Spirit Weapons were the real cash cow. With the forging molds he’d created, as long as he had the raw materials, mass production was simple.
Next, the four began to divide the day’s haul.
“You don’t need to give me a share,” Lin An said first. His only real contribution had been running errands and purchasing herbs. He hadn’t invested his life savings like Jin Fugui and Mo Yu.
“Effort is its own reward, but hard work deserves payment,” Jiang Chen replied, tossing him a Mid-grade Spirit Stone. “You’ve been running yourself ragged for days. You’ve earned it.”
“Thank you, Mas—… Senior Brother!” Lin An stammered, his face flushing with excitement as he caught the stone.
Jiang Chen then turned to Jin Fugui and Mo Yu, his tone growing serious. “This isn’t like Fire Peak. You both invested everything you had. The profit-sharing has to reflect that.”
His own initial investment had been over ten thousand Spirit Stones, plus another ten thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones he’d… persuaded Senior Sister Yu to provide. Jin Fugui had sold his spirit beasts and land deeds, and with Mo Yu’s savings, their combined contribution was over ten thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones as well. All told, their initial capital was nearly forty thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones.
The talismans had the lowest overhead, using straw from matured spirit rice. The Yang-attribute herbs were a mix of homegrown and purchased stock. Since he personally refined the Yang-attribute pills, their cost was also minimal. The real expense, the unavoidable one, was the variety of materials needed for forging the Spirit Weapons.
Still, earning over a thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones on day one meant recouping their investment was merely a matter of time.
“You did me a huge favor a few days ago,” Jin Fugui said quickly. “I should take the smallest share.”
“Business is business,” Jiang Chen countered, shaking his head.
Calculated in Mid-grade Spirit Stones, the split was as follows:
He received 949.
Jin Fugui received 230.
Mo Yu received 100.
With the profits divided, the group dispersed for the night. Jin Fugui and Mo Yu returned to their respective homes, while Lin An headed for his small earthen hut.
Jiang Chen remained in the stone house. As he funneled the Spirit Stones into his Jade Green Gourd, he casually circulated his water spiritual energy, forming a Cleaning Talisman in a flash of light that scoured the bowls and chopsticks clean.
With that done, he picked up the jade slip for the Nine Transformations of the Wandering Dragon and descended to the cultivation chamber on the second sublevel. As a self-proclaimed “Master of Time Management,” he couldn’t afford to waste a single second.
The higher his cultivation advanced, the less rest he required. He filled nearly every waking moment with research—studying techniques and spells, practicing alchemy and artifact forging, or checking on the spirit plants in his portable space.
Hours slipped by in the silent, enclosed chamber. As he delved deeper into the technique, a sudden impulse made Jiang Chen call up his attribute panel.
Special Effect 1: Stripping Technique
Jiang Chen stared, completely baffled. What is this?
He had learned countless techniques and spells, but he’d never seen anything like this. There was no “Novice” tag, no level indicator—just a single, enigmatic question mark. It was as if the system itself had no data on the technique’s abilities or effects. There wasn’t even a tooltip.
A sense of unease crept over him. “System,” he commanded tentatively, “upgrade Nine Transformations of the Wandering Dragon to the first layer. Or to the Expert level.”
[Sorry, unable to upgrade…]
Jiang Chen’s jaw tightened. You can’t do it?
[Lacking Dragon Bloodline. Unable to proceed with upgrade!]
So that’s the problem, he realized. The records for the Nine Transformations of the Wandering Dragon explicitly stated that one must absorb a dragon’s bloodline to learn it. He had assumed the system’s heaven-defying power would let him bypass that requirement. He never imagined it would be a hard-coded prerequisite.
Very well. Jiang Chen stored the jade slip. With a flicker of movement, he vanished from the chamber and reappeared inside his portable space, materializing in the air above Dongting Lake as if by Teleportation.
The lake was of a respectable size, yet its inhabitants were pitifully few—only ten fish in total.
Spotting their master, the Dragon Carp swarmed toward him, mistakenly assuming it was feeding time.
Jiang Chen activated his Gentle Water Art. With a simple beckoning gesture, a column of water rose from the lake, lifting a single Dragon Carp and suspending it in the air before him.
All the Dragon Carp shared the same appearance: plump, crimson-scaled, and shimmering with a faint golden light. This was because each one possessed a minuscule, diluted trace of a demonic dragon’s bloodline.
Jiang Chen extended his right hand toward the helpless fish. His expression was a mask of cold pragmatism as he uttered the command, “Stripping Technique!”