Chapter 37 Business is booming
From the time he started "selecting generals" to the time he prepared the blind box shop, Zhong Cai still insisted on refining pills every day.
Now he no longer needs to refine Soul Nourishing Pills every day, and the top-grade Qi Replenishing Pills are almost useless to Wu Shaogan now. So Zhong Cai took the remaining hundred or so pills and swallowed one every day during his cultivation time—even though it was so extravagant, it was enough for him to cultivate for several months, so he was in no hurry to continue refining them.
Therefore, Zhong Cai chose two kinds of pills to refine in turn.
One is the Heart-Protecting Pill, and the other is the Jade Complexion Pill.
Neither of the two pills was as difficult to refine as the Soul Nourishing Pill. After Zhong Cai spent some time figuring out their techniques, he quickly regained the ability to produce a full batch of pills per batch. The success rate also rapidly increased to over 80%.
Among them, the Heart-Protecting Pill was something Zhong Cai urgently needed for her next minor realm advancement, so she put in more effort and gradually produced a top-grade pill. However, not every batch could produce one, but the remaining pills gradually remained at the high-grade level.
The Jade Complexion Pill was used in a short time, and in the end, no high-grade pills were produced. There were about four to six high-grade pills per batch, and the rest were medium-grade pills.
·
As Zhong Cai gradually produced pills, Wu Shaogan would take some time each day to prepare blind boxes, which would then be delivered to Huxing City by the Qingkong Puppet.
Zhong Cai handed over all the Jade Complexion Pills, some top-grade Heart Protection Pills, and a number of resources to Wu Shaogan for processing. After Wu Shaogan estimated their value, he randomly stuffed them into different blind boxes.
Once the chance of getting a top-grade Heart-Protecting Pill stabilized, Zhong Cai went into seclusion.
With the Heart-Protecting Pill in hand, it's only right to quickly break through to the seventh level of the Heavenly Guidance Realm.
·
Starting from the seventh level of the Heavenly Guidance Realm, cultivators enter the stage of Blood Tempering.
Blood tempering begins with tempering the heart's blood, and at the same time tempers the heart. Once successful, the heart can drive the tempering of blood throughout the body, reaching all other internal organs.
This is the second major hurdle at the beginning of cultivation.
Zhong Cai sat cross-legged and took the finest heart-protecting pill.
The surging medicinal power instantly swept into his body and seeped into his bloodstream.
The blood kept flowing, propelling the medicine through the heart and quickly enveloping it.
Zhong Cai waited quietly for a while, until the medicinal defense of her heart was extremely stable, before she began to circulate her profound energy, gradually penetrating into her heart and slowly refining it from the inside out.
Each time the profound energy surges, the heart contracts sharply, and the blood is tempered in the process.
At the same time, the inner wall of the heart also becomes tougher with the circulation of blood...
·
After five days and nights of painstaking effort, Zhong Cai finally completed the task.
As Zhong Cai pushed open the door, she was not surprised to see Wu Shaogan at the entrance.
—These past few days, Wu Shaogan has remained in the courtyard as usual, without the slightest distraction.
Wu Shaogan looked at Zhong Cai with concern, a relaxed expression on his face, and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Cai, on your successful breakthrough."
Zhong Cai said smugly, "Of course I went smoothly!" He then looked at Wu Shaogan and said, "After the breakthrough, I have more Xuan Qi, so I can give you more precious medicines later."
Wu Shaogan didn't stand on ceremony with him, but smiled and said, "Then I'll be waiting."
·
After Wu Shaogan broke through to enlightenment, he spent one or two hours each day studying talismans and dealing with blind boxes. The rest of the time he was constantly driving his soul to absorb the heavenly soul, and everything went relatively smoothly.
However, the mutual absorption between souls during the process of condensing the primordial soul is extremely painful. Although Wu Shaogan has a very strong tolerance for this, it is still difficult to endure every day under such a painstaking process.
If you suddenly increase the speed, there is a risk that the pain will be so intense that your soul cannot bear it.
However, this can be alleviated with precious medicines or elixirs.
Zhong Cai was very dissatisfied with this.
Because he has the pill formula but lacks the skill, even if he can try to refine level two pills after more training, he really can't refine level three pills.
Zhong Cai absolutely did not want Wu Shaogan to take those low-grade pills, but this would mean Wu Shaogan would have to endure immense pain every time he cultivated, which he also did not want.
Then, Zhong Cai came up with a solution.
He successively used contract talismans to contract the second and third grade wood and fire elements.
Although Zhong Cai still uses first-grade wood and fire when refining pills on weekdays, she spends time every night first familiarizing herself with second-grade, and then third-grade...
With this gradual approach, it's impossible for Zhong Cai to control these two types of wood and fire with perfect ease, but it's feasible to simply refine out the impurities in second- or third-grade precious medicines by putting in some effort.
Therefore, Zhong Cai sent the Azure Sky Puppet with the superior Soul Nourishing Pills he later refined to merchant houses in different cities to open up more channels and to try his best to acquire rare medicines that could alleviate the pain of the soul.
Among suitable precious medicines, the second-grade ones are less effective, while the third-grade ones are more suitable for the symptoms.
But Zhong Cai chose to have it all.
Anyway, money is no object, and level three is relatively rare. He might fail to remove impurities, so it's better to be prepared.
As a result, Wu Shaogan's cultivation this time was actually easier than when he was highly regarded in the Wu family.
The Wu family didn't hesitate to prepare third-grade rare medicines, but in the end, they were in high demand but not in demand, and the manpower capable of doing this was limited, so the collection was slow and gradually not much ended up in his hands—and then Wu Shaogan had an accident.
·
Zhong spent two or three days extracting more than twenty bottles of various precious medicinal juices that would help with the consecration ceremony, and handed them over to Wu Shaogan to keep.
Wu Shaogan refines some every day, but his reserves are still sufficient.
The two sat at the stone table, eating and chatting.
Zhong Cai suddenly said, "Old Wu, the shop has been open for a few days now, how do you think business is?"
Wu Shao chuckled dryly, "If we open for business, most of what we'll sell will still be low-end blind boxes."
Zhong Cai thought about it and agreed.
In a level-five city, those who can produce Xuanzhu must be at least cultivators at the Palace Opening Realm, far fewer in number than those at the Heavenly Guidance Realm.
Only after more people make a fortune from low-end blind boxes, and word spreads, will it attract wealthier cultivators.
Zhong Cai then said, "I've already broken through, shall we go over tomorrow?"
Wu Shaogan nodded: "If the shop hasn't sold any intermediate blind boxes by the time we get there, we'll open a few of the better ones."
Zhong Cai said with a grin, "I'll be a shill."
Wu Shaogan chuckled softly.
Zhong Cai then asked, "Is the disguised rare treasure ready?"
Wu Shaogan took out a piece of sky-blue solidified fat.
Zhong Cai observed carefully and found that, apart from the different smell, at first glance, it was no different from the other rare and precious material recorded in the Record of Rare Treasures—Azure Sea and Sky Blue—that could restore a cultivator's aptitude.
It was made by Wu Shaogan himself, with the right medicinal juice provided by Zhong Cai.
No one else but each other would know that it's a fake.
·
The Azure Sea and Sky can also restore a cultivator's aptitude, but there's only a 30% chance of success when merging it into the divine soul. Afterwards, if the cultivator summons their companion treasure again, the restored aptitude depends entirely on fate.
The worst might be a low-grade item, while the best could reach the top of the Xuan grade.
This kind of "treasure that restores qualifications" is undoubtedly very suitable for Wu Shaogan now.
Unless it's an Earthly Grade, no one can figure out what his true aptitude is.
·
Zhong Cai praised, "Old Wu, your skills are quite good!"
Wu Shaogan put "Azure Sea and Sky" into a suitable box, waiting for the time to go to the shop to "buy blind boxes" so that he would pretend to draw one, but actually take it out of his own mustard bag.
·
The next day, the whole family set off together.
Zhong Da and Xiang Lin took turns driving the carriage, while Bi Cen and Qiao Hong rode along on horseback.
Qingpeng and the little wolf were lying in the car, but they were growing bigger every day, and in a while they probably wouldn't fit anymore.
Zhong Cai remembered and quickly said, "Old Wu, remind me to buy animal sacks this time."
Wu Shaogan agreed, "Okay."
·
Lake Xingcheng.
Upon returning to the Li family home, Li Xiaowei immediately swallowed the Jade Complexion Pill.
Her trusted maidservant thoughtfully held a bronze mirror and stood guard beside her.
The moment Li Xiaowei opened her eyes, the pretty maid immediately held up a mirror and looked at Li Xiaowei's face.
Li Xiaowei gently stroked her face, her cheeks flushed, looking beautiful and charming.
The pretty maid exclaimed in delight, "Miss, you're so beautiful!"
Li Xiaowei's laughter was clear and crisp, like a silver bell.
"I am indeed more beautiful than Wei Jian! Let's see if he still dares to keep trying to seduce Sister Qiu! Humph!"
The pretty maid echoed her sentiment, but sighed inwardly.
Her young mistress has always been perceptive, yet she always felt that Young Master Wei Jian had feelings for Miss Qiu Lianxin and wanted to compete with her in beauty.
But Young Master Wei Jian clearly sees Miss. He cares about her appearance because Miss likes beautiful women. He often appears in front of Miss Qiu Lianxin because he is worried that Miss will fall in love with her and marry into the Qiu family.
The pretty maidservant felt a little helpless.
Young Master Wei Jian was rather clueless. His young mistress was close to Miss Qiu because she wanted a kind older sister, but she had no particular preference for women. Moreover, his young mistress intended to arrange a marriage, and Young Master Wei Jian was clearly a suitable match in every way. All he had to do was propose marriage; why make things seem like enemies?
The pretty maidservant, observing from the sidelines, also felt that Wei Jian was more sincere than the usual marriage partners. However, every time she spoke up for Wei Jian, he would immediately anger her mistress again. If she mentioned it further, her mistress would accuse her of favoring an outsider. Helpless, she could only watch the two of them torment each other.
While Li Xiaowei was filled with all sorts of worries, she started rummaging through drawers and cabinets.
The pretty maidservant snapped out of her daze and quickly tried to dissuade her, saying, "What is Miss looking for? I'll go."
Li Xiaowei said, "I remember there are some inconspicuous jewelry and old clothes that I don't need anymore. Find them for me and go out to a general store to pawn them. Come with me again tomorrow, and we'll go to that blind box shop again."
The pretty maid was taken aback, and said with some difficulty, "Miss wants to... pawn some things to buy blind boxes?"
Li Xiaowei said matter-of-factly, "It's just for fun. And blind boxes are a bit expensive, but the items inside are rare, so I'm not losing out."
The pretty maid was conflicted.
She felt... she was still at a disadvantage.
However, the pretty maid had to comply with Li Xiaowei's decision.
So she quickly packed up a bunch of things, handed them to a few attendants to sell, and scraped together twenty gold coins.
·
The next morning.
Li Xiaowei said spiritedly, "Let's go!"
Unfortunately, before she could even step out of the courtyard, she ran into her elder brother, Li Yonghui.
Li Yonghui is only over thirty years old and cares deeply for his younger sister whom he has watched grow up.
Therefore, Lai Siu-wai's large-scale sale of old items was quickly discovered by Lai Wing-kwan.
With a serious expression, Li Yonghui asked, "Why did you pawn so much stuff? Why didn't you tell me you needed money?"
Li Xiaowei blinked, looking a little embarrassed.
Li Yonghui pressed, "What's wrong?"
Knowing that her older brother cared about her, Li Xiaowei hesitated for a moment before explaining the whole story.
Li Yonghui frowned slightly.
My sister just had a passing interest and wanted to buy some low-end blind boxes for fun, so there's no problem with that.
However, he was more interested in the defensive formation that was said to be more powerful than the Li Family Ancestral Hall, as well as the higher-grade blind boxes.
After a moment's thought, Li Yonghui said, "I'll go with you."
Li Xiaowei immediately perked up and asked repeatedly, "Big brother is interested too?"
Li Yonghui said gently, "Yes, I'd like to buy a few too."
Li Xiaowei immediately said, "That's perfect. Big Brother can try buying some mid-level blind boxes to open, one Xuanzhu or ten thousand gold coins each will do. I remember Big Brother got some spare money before..."
As Li Yonghui listened, he began to make plans.
Whether to try it or not, go and see for yourself first.
With Li Yonghui accompanying them, the servants were left at Li Xiaowei's house.
·
Blind box shop.
Li Xiaowei led Li Yonghui in, immediately handing over twenty gold coins and saying readily, "Shopkeeper, I'm here to buy low-level blind boxes! Twenty!"
The puppet stepped out in response and took out a mustard seed bag.
Li Xiaowei skillfully used her mind to immerse herself in the process and select blind boxes.
Beside him, Li Yonghui watched this scene quietly without saying a word.
However, when he entered the room, he did quickly sense the suppression of the defensive formation on him. The one in their Li family ancestral hall was level five, so this one... was probably level six.
While Li Xiaowei was busy, Li Yonghui looked around.
On both sides were five-layered, sealed metal shelves, the contents of which were not visible, but different numbers were affixed to their surfaces.
Li Yonghui had some guesses, pointed to the metal rack, and asked, "Shopkeeper, what's in here?"
The puppet replied, "Resources that blind boxes cannot support."
Li Yonghui: "So the numbers correspond?"
Puppet: "Yes."
Li Yonghui roughly understood, and glanced at his sister.
Li Xiaowei was still choosing when she noticed her older brother's gaze and turned around in confusion.
Li Yonghui shook his head slightly, without urging him.
He continued to observe the shelves... the different shelves were all different sizes.
After a short while, Li Xiaowei selected twenty low-level blind boxes.
Li Yonghui turned his gaze over.
Li Xiaowei exclaimed excitedly, "Big brother, I'm going to start!"
Li Yonghui became somewhat curious and said with a smile, "Let's open it."
Li Xiaowei took a deep breath and opened the first blind box.
Thirty silver coins.
Li Xiaowei was a little disappointed.
Li Yonghui silently calculated that he had lost seventy taels of silver.
Li Xiaowei continued driving the second, the third...
They are fifty silver coins and one piece of first-grade refined iron.
Li Yonghui did the calculations again. Based on the size of this piece of first-grade refined iron, it weighed about thirty catties, and each catty was worth four to five silver... The two blind boxes together would result in a small loss, or at least break even.
Li Xiaowei continued driving...
Li Yonghui looked at the screen and made estimates as he went:
Each of the eight items was worth between twenty and fifty taels of silver, and all of them resulted in losses.
Five of them are primary resources such as ores and rare medicinal herbs, and they are all operating at a loss.
To date, Li Xiaowei has opened sixteen blind boxes.
Li Yonghui watched as his sister's expression shifted from anticipation to calm, and then to disappointment.
He knew perfectly well that this kind of shop would never easily let its customers benefit; they were just gambling on that extremely rare possibility.
Li Xiaowei took a handkerchief from the pretty maid and wiped her face.
Then, she looked at Li Yonghui.
Li Yonghui: "What?"
Li Xiaowei said, "Big brother, how about you drive the remaining four for me?"
Li Yonghui was taken aback, then laughed and said, "You didn't come by yourself?"
Li Xiaowei sighed and said, "I'm having such bad luck today. Why don't we see how lucky my older brother is?"
Li Yonghui agreed.
Under Li Xiaowei's tense gaze, Li Yonghui opened the last few blind boxes one by one.
The first one only got five silver coins, less than what Li Xiaowei offered.
The second one is a small bottle.
Li Xiaowei immediately exclaimed with delight, "Big brother, this is a pill! You're so lucky!"
Li Yonghui's heart stirred slightly. He took out the bottle and uncorked it.
Li Xiaowei leaned closer and asked anxiously, "What kind of pill is it?"
Li Yonghui glanced at it and replied, "Low-grade Qi-replenishing pill."
Li Xiaowei said with a hint of regret, "Why isn't it the Jade Complexion Pill?"
Li Yonghui handed the bottle to Li Xiaowei and said, "It's more suitable for cultivators at the fourth level of the Heavenly Guidance Realm and below. It's better than nothing."
Li Xiaowei put away the pills and said, "I also opened one yesterday. I'll take both together when I cultivate." Then she quickly urged, "There are two left, Big Brother, hurry up and open them to see what else is left?"
Li Yonghui started the third one.
This time, the number "thirty-two" appeared.
Li Yonghui looked at the shelf on his right, and on the surface of the third shelf, there was this number.
Li Xiaowei looked over and immediately understood. Pointing to that layer, she asked the puppet, "Is it that one?"
The puppet walked to the front of the shelf and opened that shelf.
In an instant, a flash of cold light appeared.
Li Yonghui pulled Li Xiaowei along, but the cold light wasn't an attack; it was just the spiritual light that came with the Xuan weapon.
The puppet reached in and took the contents out.
It was a long sword.
Its entire body is emerald green, with a translucent luster, as if it were carved from jade.
It looks really good.
Li Yonghui asked in surprise, "A mid-grade level two Xuan sword?"
Li Xiaowei's face was full of surprise: "This sword must be worth more than a hundred gold coins, right?"
Li Yonghui pondered, "It's a water-attribute mystic artifact, and its price should be between one hundred and fifty and two hundred gold coins."
Li Xiaowei: "Making a fortune!"
Li Yonghui nodded.
With just this one mysterious weapon, his sister has already earned back more than double the gold she spent in the past two days.
Li Xiaowei was extremely excited and urged again, "Big brother, this is the last one!"
Li Yonghui opened the last one—thirty silver.
That was to be expected.
·
Li Xiaowei is very satisfied with this blind box.
Although it was her brother who opened the boxes and got the good stuff, it was she who chose the blind boxes!
Ultimately, she was also very lucky.
Li Xiaowei was still not satisfied and wanted to buy a few more blind boxes to open, but she was out of money.
After thinking for a moment, Li Xiaowei tentatively asked, "Big brother, how about I sell you this Xuan sword? I don't use swords anyway."
Li Yonghui's lips twitched slightly: "Big brother isn't using a sword either."
Li Xiaowei was very disappointed.
Li Yonghui frowned and instructed, "Don't buy any more today."
Li Xiaowei was unwilling to give up: "I can get good items, so why can't I buy them..." She felt that she was not very impulsive and argued, "If they hadn't given out any good items and were just trying to scam money, I would have left after playing twice. But this shop is quite honest. It's just that we found it early. If we had waited any longer, I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to squeeze in even if we wanted to buy something."
Li Yonghui still had some doubts, but the items from the blind boxes were indeed quite good, so it wasn't easy to forcefully stop them.
After arguing, Li Xiaowei's feverish mind cleared up a bit.
After thinking for a moment, she said, "Didn't you want to buy one too, brother? You can buy it, and I'll open the shop for you."
Li Yonghui paused for a moment, then took out one hundred taels of gold.
Li Xiaowei: "You don't drive the intermediate level..."
Li Yonghui said, "Let's try it first."
Li Xiaowei didn't necessarily want her older brother to open the intermediate blind box, after all, it cost a Xuanzhu, and if they lost money, it would be a huge loss.
She was just a little curious.
·
Li Yonghui's thoughts sank into his mustard seed bag; instead of carefully selecting, he simply took out the full amount.
In an instant, blind boxes piled up on the long table next to the brother and sister, like a small mountain.
Li Xiaowei and Li Yonghui exchanged a glance.
—How magnificent!
Then, the brother and sister each sat on one side and started driving one by one.
Unsurprisingly, the most common offers were different amounts of silver.
·
Just then, several young men walked in from outside.
The leader was dressed in a magnificent brocade robe, which was simply dazzling in color. But his appearance was still quite handsome, and he managed to pull off the look of the robe.
He spotted Li Xiaowei immediately and mocked, "Li family girl, with so many boxes piled up, are you selling all your belongings? If you're really that short of money, why don't you call me brother, and I might lend you a few."
Upon hearing this voice, Li Xiaowei instantly wanted to turn around and curse.
However, Li Yonghui's voice slowly rang out.
“My sister has several brothers, so she doesn’t need to recognize another one outside.”
Upon hearing this, the young man in fine clothes froze.
He then realized that opposite Li Xiaowei, who was hidden by the stack of boxes, was Li Yonghui, the genius of the Li family with low-grade aptitude, who was also playing with a box.
Li Yonghui glanced at the young man in fine clothes.
The young man in fine clothes immediately bowed and said, "Brother Yonghui."
The other young men who had come in with him, all with smiles on their faces, also became more reserved and quickly greeted him.
Li Yonghui saw through the thoughts of these flashy brats, sneered, and ignored them.
Li Xiaowei raised her eyebrows and waved the newly opened bottle at the elegantly dressed young man, Wei Jian.
"Did you see that? The Jade Complexion Pill!"
"I got a mid-grade one yesterday, and a low-grade one today."
"If you're so capable, why don't you open a few yourself?"
Li Xiaowei paused for a moment, then said, "You guys better behave yourselves. This shop is different from the others. If you try anything funny here, you'll be in for a world of trouble!"
Then, she stopped paying attention to Wei Jian and his group.
·
Wei Jian had no idea that Li Xiaowei had actually sold her old items. He was just out for a stroll with some friends when he unexpectedly spotted Li Xiaowei while passing by.
He felt it was quite a coincidence, but he never expected that a moment of rudeness would directly offend his future brother-in-law.
At this moment, after being reminded by Li Xiaowei, Wei Jian and the others also realized that this shop was unusual, and naturally became cautious.
A skinny, monkey-like young man approached the puppet, looked it over, and then asked about the shop.
The puppet still gave a curt reply.
Wei Jian and the others listened and gradually understood what was going on.
If Li Yonghui weren't here, Wei Jian would definitely have said a few more sarcastic things, comparing himself to Li Xiaowei, but he didn't dare to now.
They looked at each other in bewilderment.
The skinny young man whispered a few words to Wei Jian.
Wei Jian nodded, agreeing that it made sense.
The earlier mockery was no use in turning things around, so now they're all giving me face and opening blind boxes.
If he finds something good, he'll just give it to the Li siblings as an apology.
·
With Wei Jian and his group around, the blind box shop suddenly became lively.
They can hang out together and stroll around aimlessly, which means they all come from well-off families, hold high positions in their households, and have considerable wealth.
Everyone is now taking orders, some buying as few as 30 or 50 blind boxes, others buying over 100.
After buying them, they open them, and then they compare them with each other.
At first, Wei Jian and the others offered silver, so they were all very casual. Whoever offered the least silver would laugh at each other.
But as they drove on, the skinny young man got his goods first, obtaining a top-grade Qi-replenishing pill!
For them, there is still a quota for purchasing low-grade Qi-replenishing pills within the family each month, but mid-grade ones are allocated by the family, and they rarely get to obtain them.
As for top-grade ones, there aren't any in the family at all!
At the time, someone exclaimed enviously, "Monkey, you're so lucky!"
Wei Jian was also a little envious. After casually opening a box, he blurted out, "There are actually cultivation techniques inside!"
At that moment, everyone else in the shop turned their attention to it.
Several of Wei Jian's friends vied to search for it.
Someone shouted, "The Canglang Sword Manual! It points directly to the peak of the Palace Opening Realm!"
The others also became excited:
"Directly targeting the peak of the Palace Opening Realm? Isn't that a top-tier second-order cultivation technique?"
"I can't believe you can get something of this caliber from a gold-plated blind box!"
"I definitely won't cultivate this, but its value is undeniable!"
"Wei Jian, you're lucky! Even the cheapest second-tier cultivation technique costs a thousand gold!"
"If this goes to an auction house, it'll easily fetch three or four thousand!"
Wei Jian felt very proud and unconsciously looked at Li Xiaowei.
Li Xiaowei was also somewhat envious, but when she met Wei Jian's gaze, she felt that he was provoking her, so she glared at him.
Wei Jian: "..."
Li Yonghui, who was also watching this side, looked at the sword incantation in Wei Jian's hand, and then thought of the level two Xuan sword that his sister had drawn earlier, and felt a little strange.
·
When they found something good, Wei Jian and his friends hurriedly opened the blind boxes, all hoping to get something even better and make a fortune.
Even if you don't make a fortune, the one with the best luck is still very successful, isn't he?
So every time they open several blind boxes in a row and don't get anything, they cry and wail.
Before they knew it, everyone had emptied their wallets, with each person spending at least 140 or 150 yuan on average, and some even spending over 300 yuan.
The more blind boxes they opened, the more enthusiastic Wei Jian and his friends became, and the louder they got.
Blind boxes were piled up everywhere. After Wei Jian and his group collected some resources, they had the puppets collect the empty blind boxes.
The puppet naturally complied.
Wei Jian and his team continued opening the blind boxes. Several of the boxes left outside had their lids open, revealing the high-quality resources inside.
Unfortunately, all the luck today belongs to Wei Jian.
Apart from him, no one else has ever released level 2 resources.
·
The noise grew louder and louder, drawing in passersby.
Wei Jian and the others were very excited and all started explaining the situation at once.
Passersby were also tempted after seeing the resources displayed around them.
After hesitating for a moment, the passerby gritted his teeth and bought blind boxes from the puppet—not daring to buy more than three.
The passerby was unlucky; two of the three blind boxes contained silver, and the next one contained a piece of Tier 1 savage beast meat—worth less than one gold.
We lost money.
Although passersby were still itching to buy, they had limited funds and quickly restrained themselves, leaving the blind box shop in a hurry.
However, the lively atmosphere inside the shop was very appealing.
One passerby left, but more passersby came in out of curiosity.
Everyone who came in opened a blind box...
·
While the Li siblings had finished opening their blind boxes, Wei Jian's side was already bustling with activity.
As more passersby walked in, most of them gathered around Wei Jian, while others came over because there were too many people there...
Li Yonghui called to his sister, then got up and left the shop.
Li Xiaowei wrinkled her nose: "That guy surnamed Wei is too lucky. If we hadn't gotten a level two Xuan sword, I would have lost face!"
Li Yonghui raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
The two of them opened a hundred blind boxes afterward, and overall they lost more than half of their money.
But Li Xiaowei seems to have a special affinity with the Jade Complexion Pill, as another mid-grade one appeared later.
Li Yonghui said, "The person behind this shop is very good at business."
Li Xiaowei happily touched the medicine bottle and said nonchalantly, "Let him make his money, I'll make mine."
Li Yonghui didn't seem to mind much, only advising, "Don't get too obsessed."
Li Xiaowei readily agreed.
The two walked towards the Li family's house.
A handsome young man in a yellow shirt walked towards us.
Upon seeing the two, the young man in the yellow shirt greeted them with a smile, "Yonghui, Xiaowei, are you out for a walk?"
Li Xiaowei looked at the young man, a strange smile appearing on her lips, and said, "Brother Zhang, it's been a long time."
Li Yonghui also said gently, "Yinghua, let's have a drink together another day."
Zhang Yinghua smiled and agreed, then said to Li Xiaowei, "I took on a mission from the sect and went on a long trip, which is why I wasn't in the city."
Li Xiaowei greeted Zhang Yinghua and said mysteriously, "My brother and I weren't taking a walk, we just came out of the shop." She turned around and pointed in a direction, "Look, that's it. My brother and I both like it. If you're interested, Brother Zhang, you can go and take a look."
Zhang Yinghua nodded and then arranged a time to drink with Li Yonghui.
Then, the Li siblings separated from Zhang Yinghua.
Once they were a distance away, Li Yonghui said, "Xiao Wei, Yinghua is a good friend of mine. He's of good character and has a powerful sect backing him, so we don't need to go through the usual family marriage arrangements. He has a good impression of you. If you're interested in him, I can put in a good word with him..."
Li Xiaowei immediately interrupted, "No! Big brother, don't play matchmaker! I treat him like my own brother, I have no romantic feelings for him. He treats me like his own sister, he's only nice to me because of you."
Seeing that the girl was resistant, Li Yonghui stopped bringing it up.
Li Xiaowei secretly felt a pang of sympathy for Zhang Yinghua: "Big Brother is such a blockhead. Brother Zhang clearly has feelings for Big Brother, what does it have to do with me? If Big Brother continues to be so oblivious, Brother Zhang will eventually give in..."
Thinking of this, Li Xiaowei said, "Why don't you just buy my Xuan Sword, big brother?"
Li Yonghui looked down at her.
Li Xiaowei: "Brother Zhang seems to be of the water element, and he even practices swordsmanship. Since you two are such good friends, you can give him this as a birthday gift when it's his birthday."
Li Yonghui pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "Not a bad idea."
Li Xiaowei immediately burst into laughter.
Li Yonghui did the math; his friend's birthday was in a few days, so it was indeed a good time...
·
It took five or six days for Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan to arrive at Huxing City by carriage.
The two checked into an inn and then casually ordered a few dishes in a private room at a nearby restaurant.
Zhong Cai had just taken a sip of tea when she heard a lively commotion below, with people occasionally mentioning things like "blind boxes" and "good stuff."
Just then, the waiter brought over the prepared dishes.
Zhong Cai stopped the person and asked, feigning curiosity, "Do you know what they're talking about?"
The waiter immediately understood and said with a smile, "You two are new here, aren't you?"
Zhong Cai nodded and said, "We're out for a stroll."
The man then began to tell the story vividly.
"Our Huxing City has beautiful scenery and lots of interesting things to do. You two have really made the right choice by coming here!"
"What those customers downstairs are talking about is actually a newly opened shop in our city. It's been open for less than half a month, and business was slow for the first few days. But then, for some reason, it attracted a group of young masters from prominent families in the city..."
"The things that shop sells are weird, they're called 'blind boxes,' which means nobody knows what's inside. You buy blind boxes and it's all down to luck! And you know what? Quite a few of them have turned out to be good stuff!"
"Several people made a lot of money, and now they've attracted a lot of people... Someone calculated that in just a few days, at least tens of thousands of blind boxes have been sold."
"Everyone is still being careful, only daring to buy low-grade items. Mid-grade and above require Xuanzhu and Xuanshi stones, and who knows what good things they can get! I see that you two are both very wealthy, why don't you go and give it a try? Maybe you'll become famous overnight!"
·
Zhong Cai listened with a smile, and only after the waiter had finished speaking did she say, "What you said makes sense. Since we're here, we'll go take a look later. If it's interesting, what's a few more expensive ones?"
Upon hearing this, the waiter enthusiastically said, "If you two are really interested, I'll take you there later! There won't be any errand fee. I just want to broaden your horizons so you can show off to other customers later."
Zhong Cai waved her hand and readily said, "Okay. We'll call you to join us after we've finished eating."
The waiter immediately became even more enthusiastic and recommended several of the restaurant's signature dishes.
Zhong Cai took them all, fully demonstrating his wealth and arrogance.
Wu Shaogan couldn't help but smile as he watched Zhong Cai putting on an act.
Zhong Cai secretly rolled her eyes at him.
Wu Shaogan quickly composed himself.
·
After finishing their meal, Zhong Cai indeed had the waiter lead the way.
The waiter sat at the front of the carriage, giving directions to Xiang Lin, who was driving.
After sensing Xiang Lin's unfathomable aura, the waiter shrank back, feeling even more certain that he would finally be able to open his eyes this time!
When he goes back to work as a waiter, he will have more to talk about to satisfy customers and receive more tips.
Now, he only needs to make this one trip.
·
In front of the blind box shop.
The store was already packed with people, and the storefront was small, with many people peering inside and others watching from the doorway.
"It's open! Third brother, you're no good, another thirty silver coins?"
"Don't talk about me, aren't you only fifty?"
"Mine is good! It's a medicinal pill!"
"That's nothing, only one gold coin each. I've gotten much more expensive ones before!"
"I know, I know, it's a low-grade Jade Complexion Pill, right? Resell it for ten gold coins!"
It was very noisy.
Zhong Cai could already hear all sorts of noise before she even opened the car window.
He was in a great mood, his face beaming with joy.
Wu Shaogan couldn't help but chuckle, reaching out to rub his face and reminding him, "We need to get off the bus now."
Zhong Cai immediately stopped, but the smile in her eyes was still bright.
Wu Shaogan mouthed: We've made a fortune!
Zhong Cai also mouthed: That's awesome!
The two looked at each other and smiled.
After Zhong Cai had had her fill of joy, she calmly raised her voice and said, "Xiang Lin, go ask if we can still get in? We want to buy the intermediate blind boxes!"
Xiang Lin agreed.
The shop assistant was also delighted. Seeing that Xiang Lin was quiet and reserved, he quickly followed him, squeezing through the crowd while loudly proclaiming, "Excuse me! A distinguished guest is about to open a mid-level blind box! Excuse me—"
With the waiter's loud voice, the crowd actually parted to make way.
Many people are curious about blind boxes of intermediate and higher levels, but no one is willing to take the risk.
Now that someone has finally tried it, aren't they eager to see it for themselves?
Soon, Xiang Lin returned and opened the car door.
Zhong Cai pulled Wu Shaogan along and they jumped out of the car together.
In the crowd, some people recognized Wu Shaogan and whispered among themselves:
"It's him... He used to be so successful..."
"It's not surprising that it's him, anyway, there's no use in saving up Xuanzhu..."
"I heard he married a male wife, the one next to him is probably..."
"Let's go! Let's go take a look!"
"I think he must have been unlucky, otherwise how could he have ended up like this..."
Others who didn't know the details listened and couldn't help but gossip.
·
Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan pretended not to hear the noise and went straight into the shop.
Originally, many people were scattered around opening blind boxes on the long tables, but because they heard that someone wanted to buy the intermediate box, they temporarily stopped opening them and decided to see what was going on first.
For a moment, the shop became quiet.
Zhong Cai took out a whole box of Xuanzhu pearls, rummaged through them, grabbed ten, and handed them to the puppet, saying, "Ten for now."
This move shocked everyone in the shop.
Are they really not treating Xuanzhu as a resource? They didn't even try, just gave us ten intermediate blind boxes?
Many cultivators couldn't help but look at Wu Shaogan, only to see that he remained calm and showed no sign of distress.
For a moment, many people who knew Wu Shaogan recalled his former self, feeling a mix of sadness and admiration.
The puppet took out a new mustard seed bag.
The previous guests had never seen this before, and they all looked at it with interest.
It seems there's no difference.
Zhong Cai then beckoned to Wu Shaogan with a bright smile: "Husband, why don't you pick a few too?"
Wu Shaogan paused, not expecting Zhong Cai to address him that way.
Zhong Cai glared at him secretly.
Wu Shaogan walked over calmly.
The two seemed to have both sunk their thoughts into a mustard seed bag.
Immediately afterwards, a row of ten boxes appeared on the long table.
The design is similar to that of a low-end blind box, but it is larger overall.
Zhong Cai shook the box, and when she heard a clinking sound, she opened it.
Undoubtedly, it was filled with gold.
The number ranges from tens to hundreds.
We all lost a lot of money.
The onlookers erupted in commotion.
"I knew it! This is such a huge loss!"
"That's six already! They're only worth a little over a thousand gold coins, not even worth a single Xuanzhu!"
"Luckily I didn't grit my teeth and buy it, otherwise I'd be regretting it now!"
·
Even though they were losing so much, Wu Shaogan and Zhong Cai didn't seem to care much.
The onlookers couldn't help but think that it was one thing for Wu Shaogan to spend a lot of money, since he had been blessed, but he had married a male wife and hadn't even had his uterus consecrated yet, and he was still so... generous?
Of course, some people secretly mocked the two for being pretentious, but they didn't say it out loud.
When Zhong Cai continued opening the blind boxes, the noise subsided again.
·
Zhong Cai opened a note.
The puppet took out a complete fox pelt from the sealed shelf on the left.
Zhong Cai took it and said, feigning delight, "This is good." She then gave Wu Shaogan a sweet smile, "Husband, I'll have someone make you a new outfit when we get back. You'll definitely look good in it."
Wu Shaogan: "...Okay."
Zhong Cai happily opened another blind box.
They published a third-tier cultivation technique. Since it's a cultivation technique, they can't afford to lose money.
The third blind box contained a rare medicinal herb of grade two.
·
Those watching from the sidelines saw that Zhong Cai had drawn three items in a row, two of which were definitely profitable, and couldn't help but think that they were quite lucky.
It was at this moment that Zhong Cai opened the last blind box.
Inside the blind box, a clear, turquoise color was revealed.
Zhong Cai looked at it curiously, then beckoned Wu Shaogan over and said, "Husband, what is this? It looks like a rare and precious treasure?"
Wu Shaogan looked over.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Wu Shaogan's pupils suddenly contracted!
Then, he put the items into his mustard seed bag, took Zhong Cai's hand, and quickly left.
The onlookers looked at each other in bewilderment.
Xiang Lin then led his bewildered waiter out the door.
More people realized what was happening and quickly chased after them.
"Did he get his hands on something good?"
"Can anyone recognize what that is?"
"Look! He went to rent a training room!"
Anyone who runs fast can see that Wu Shaogan, with his male wife in his arms, quickly arrives at the nearest training ground.
The defenses here are tight, and there are many training rooms.
Once inside, the training room will be sealed off.
·
Everyone was wondering—
What exactly did he offer?
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