Chapter 119: Earning Money
Chapter 119: Earning Money
With regards to earning money, Lin Dong did not have much business acumen like Xuan Su. However, he did not plan on constructing a business empire. All that he wanted, was enough elixirs to aid his cultivation.
After he thought about it, he realized that he only had two means to earn money. One was to refine Yang Yuan Stones using the refining power of the Stone Talisman. Since he could basically refine one Yang Yuan pill from three Yang Yuan Stones, this was triple the efficiency of an ordinary practitioner. However, he did not have enough Yang Yuan Stones at hand and most factions with considerable power, would not so easily sell such an item. As for collecting them, it would be way too troublesome.
Thus Lin Dong could only turn to the other simpler method. That was to directly sell the elixir pills he refined with the Stone Talisman.
Lin Dong was able to refine five elixir pills from one grade five elixir. Moreover, not only were the elixir pills that were obtained after this kind of refining mild and extremely easy to absorb, it was also several times more effective than consuming the elixir the normal way.
Based on Lin Dong’s conjecture, if others consumed a grade five elixir, the amount of medicine power they could absorb would not even be one fifth of the entire amount contained within that particular eilixir. Most of the medicine power would settle in the body or disperse. While a single elixir pill was already comparable to this kind of effectiveness.
In other words, to an ordinary person, it would be much more worthwhile to directly purchase and consume an elixir pill instead of buying a grade five elixir. And this was also the fastest method Lin Dong could think of to earn money…
…
Of course, if he wanted to sell elixir pills, he would naturally have to go to the Thousand Gold Auction House. Only there, could he receive the best rate.
Therefore, Lin Dong straightened up himself before he exited the inn and headed directly to the Thousand Gold Association.
The current Lin Dong was also considered as a sinecure of the Thousand Gold Association, which meant that he held some status there. Thus, when he was seen, a servant girl quickly appeared and brought him before Xuan Su, who was currently in the middle of dealing with some matters.
“Hehe, little brother Lin Dong, it’s been so long since you’ve come to find this elder sister. I almost thought that you had already forgotten about me.” Xuan Su, who was flipping through some documents, lifted her lovely face and smiled sweetly at Lin Dong when she heard the sounds of his footsteps. Her smile was truly a mesmerizing sight.
Lin Dong replied with a dry laugh. He was at a little at loss of how to deal with the teasing of this beautiful woman who exuded a mature and graceful charm. He knew that Xuan Su was not that much older than Xia Zhilan and she only called the former aunt due to family seniority.
“Speak then, what did you come to this elder sister for?” Xuan Su put down the documents in her hands and smiled gently.
“I’m thinking of auctioning off some items at the Thousand Gold Association.” Lin Dong did not beat about the bush. After muttering to himself for a moment, he retrieved two jade bottles from his Qiankun Bag. In each jade bottle, there were ten elixir pills refined from grade five elixirs.
“Oh?”
Xuan Su’s gently lifted her pretty umber-black eyebrows as she extended a slender lily-white hand to retrieve an elixir pill from the jade bottle. She fiddled with it for a moment before softly saying: “This is an elixir pill refined from an elixir right?”
“Yes.” Lin Dong chuckled as he nodded his head.
Xuan Su pondered for a while before she called a white-haired elderly man over and passed the elixir pill to him. This elderly man was evidently very experienced in judging elixir pills. After some examination, he was somewhat astonished as he asked: “This should be an elixir pill with Mental Energy recovery properties. It has a gentle nature and it’s effect is at least that of a grade five elixir.”
“Oh? Looks like little brother Lin Dong possessed some treasures.” Upon hearing these words, Xuan Su was also a little amazed. To think that a single elixir pill could actually match up to a grade five elixir.
“This old man suggests to set the auction price of this elixir pill at 300 Yang Yuan Stones. Due to the fact that this elixir pill has Mental Energy recovery properties, most of the buyers would be Symbol Masters. These customers are considered very wealthy and if they fight over it, the price will perhaps rise even higher. What does Manager Su think?” The white-hair elderly man said.
“Okay.” Xuan Su slightly inclined her head, she clearly felt that this price was appropriate.
Likewise, Lin Dong was also very satisfied with this price. One pill for 300 Yang Yuan Stones, then twenty pills would be equivalent to 6 000 Yang Yuan Stones. After conversion, that would be 600 Yang Yuan pills, which was no small sum.
“Manager Su, if you successfully auction off these elixir pills, you can pay me in Yang Yuan Stones.” Lin Dong smiled and said. If he refined Yang Yuan Stones himself, he could even double or triple his profits. Thus it was not worthwhile for him to directly ask for Yang Yuan pills.
“You need a middle level Qiankun Bag to store so many Yang Yuan Stones.” Xuan Su stared at Lin Dong as she softly chuckled: “Little brother Lin Dong, a middle level Qiankun Bag is normally priced at about 2 000 Yang Yuan Stones. Since you’re a sinecure of our Thousand Gold Association, how about I charge you 1 000?”
After hearing this, Lin Dong was stunned before he could not help but feel an ache in his heart. A low level Qiankun Bag only costs about a hundred Yang Yuan Stones, yet a middle level one actually costs ten times as much?
“Then we’ll do as Manager Su says.” No matter how much it hurt his heart, Lin Dong knew that these things were essential. Though a low level Qiankun Bag was cheap, the tiny bit of space it had was really inadequate.
“Pfff.”
When she saw that pained expression on Lin Dong’s face, Xuan Su could not help but cover her mouth to stifle her laughter: “Little brother Lin Dong, this elder sister is only teasing you. Take this middle level Qiankun Bag as a gift from our Thousand Gold Association, you are not allowed to reject, else I won’t help you auction these elixir pills.”
As he gazed at the attractively graceful Xuan Su, who was now knitting her eyebrows and held back her laughter, Lin Dong could only force a smile as he nodded his head while secretly sighing in his heart. As expected of the Thousand Gold Association, they were probably the only ones who were able to give away an item worth several thousand Yang Yuan Stones with a wave of a hand.
“Manager Su…”
“You’re so young, where did all these formalities come from? If you don’t think I am old, call me big sister Su instead.” Upon hearing Lin Dong call her Manager Su, Xuan Su could not help but feel a little unhappy as she remarked.
“Alright then…big sister Su.” Since he was born, Lin Dong had never seen such a formidable woman. Thus, he could only helplessly nod his head before he said: “I need a slightly higher tier Secret Art. Hence, may I ask big sister Su to help me watch out for one.”
“High level Secret Art?”
After hearing this request, Xuan Su’s umber-black brow slightly furrowed. A third-rate Secret Art was very easy to obtain, yet a second-rate one was slightly more difficult and as for a first-rate one, it was even rarer. Even their Thousand Gold Association would rarely come across one.
“Sure, I will pass down the instructions and make sure someone keeps a look out. If anyone wants to auction one, I will secretly intercept and allow you to discuss with the seller in private.”
“Many thanks big sister Su.”
Lin Dong let out a sigh of relief as he cupped his fists and thanked her. Although he had earned quite a sum today from the elixir pills, he knew that there were many rich people in Yan City. If someone else took fancy on it, he would have a tough time obtaining it.
“Leave the elixir pills here first, I will begin to auction them off over these few days. As for the Secret Art, I will contact you when there is news.”
Lin Dong smiled and nodded his head. Though they had finished their discussions, based on his understanding of her temperament, Lin Dong did not dare to leave immediately. Thus, he accompanied Xuan Su and chatted with her for a while before taking his leave.
…
Over the next few days, without the elixir pills to supplement him, his cultivation pace slowed down slightly. Yet, this was ideal as one needed both tension and relaxation to make up a good cultivation regiment. If one blindly immerses oneself in constant tough training, one’s efficiency will drop.
As for the auctioning of the elixir pills, one could not help but say that the Thousand Gold Association was indeed powerful and capable. In merely three days, they successively auctioned off all twenty elixir pills. The intelligent Xuan Su’s business methods were pretty good. She did not auction off all the elixir pills at one go, but instead split them up into batches. These kind of elixir pills were extremely beneficial to Symbol Masters, yet even for important items like this, it would be hard to increase their price if there were too many. After all, the rarer something was, the greater its value.
Thus, during these batch by batch auctions, the wealthy Symbol Masters fought over the twenty elixir pills till their prices reached 8 000 Yang Yuan Stones in total, an amount that far exceeded Lin Dong’s expectations.
After receiving this quantity of Yang Yuan Stones, Lin Dong once again used up two whole days to refine them all into Yang Yuan pills.
Therefore, Lin Dong was now in possession of 2 600 Yang Yuan pills. His originally dried up funds had practically exploded in an instant…
With this bountiful harvest, Lin Dong monetary foundations were once again solid. He went out to purchase a batch of rather good quality grade five elixirs before immersing himself in intensive training again.
On the third day after he continued to immerse himself in intense training, Xuan Su suddenly sent someone from the Thousand Gold Association to inform him that the item he needed, had finally made an appearance.
After hearing this news, Lin Dong practically jumped for joy on the spot. While he enjoyed the benefits of the Yin Yang Pearl over this period of time, Lin Dong increasingly found that ‘Qingyuan Art’ was lacking.
This kind of feeling was akin to a rather good car being powered by a subpar engine, resulting in the car’s true horsepower to be thoroughly unable to be displayed.
As such, this matter was a constant pain in Lin Dong’s side, therefore, after hearing that there was news of a high level Secret Art, he did not hesitate in the slightest as he straightaway left the inn and made a beeline for the Thousand Gold Association.
If that Secret Art was really appropriate, he would obtain it no matter the price!
He had suffered enough from that old bull dragging a cart like efficiency of ‘Qingyuan Art’!