Willow branches on the moon,
Make an appointment after dusk.
In the evening, west of Qingyun Sect and outside Yunlaifang City.
Under the silvery moonlight, the entire city appeared before our eyes.
Fangshi is very large, occupying the entire valley, two to three hundred feet long and twenty to thirty feet wide. The streets are criss-crossed and lined with shops of all sizes. Although the buildings are not beautiful, they each have their own characteristics.
The entire city is divided into four areas by a crossroads, two of which are occupied by rows of shops. The entrance of each shop is very lively, with countless customers entering and exiting.
The other area is a relatively wide square. The stalls of the cultivators surround the square, and there is a sparse "return"-shaped path out. As for those who were selecting trading items, they walked in twos and threes in the middle of the open space with stalls on both sides, coming and going, and there was a sense of worldly business.
As for the last area, it is occupied by a huge and beautiful building. Those who go in and out are either wealthy monks holding [spiritual weapons] and wearing [spiritual clothes], or powerful monks whose whole body is filled with spiritual pressure. As far as Lin Chen knew, this was a higher-standard auction house.
At this time, the sky was getting a little dark. In the market, the bronze lamps placed on both sides of the road lit up one after another, illuminating the shops and squares clearly.
However, these lamps did not contain any burning materials such as lamp oil. Instead, they held a fist-sized luminous pearl that emitted soft light all over.
This is the night pearl. The light it emits not only illuminates the stalls under the lamp as if it were daytime, but in Lin Chen's opinion, its brightness is even comparable to the incandescent lamp in the previous life.
Although it was evening, there were many more people in the square than during the day. Not only were some new stalls added to the square, but the number of people shopping at the stalls also increased dramatically. A large number of immortal cultivators poured in at this time. The square made this place lively for a while.
Yunlaifang City is a city under the control of Qingyun Sect. There is a permanent foundation-building monk in the city, and there are more than a dozen monks who have reached the late stage of Qi training [Cyclone Realm] to manage daily affairs.
Not only that, you can often see groups of monks walking majestically in Fang City. The cultivation level of each of these patrolling teams is above the innate stage. There are many monks who have the [Yangyuan Realm] in the early stage of Qi training, wearing Spirit armor carries a large number of talismans and will respond quickly to any disturbance.
Of course, Qingyun Sect collects a large amount of rent from the store every year, and it has its shadow in the most profitable auction house and alchemy and weapon refining business in the city.
In the evening, a young man wearing a gray robe from the outer gate of Qingyun Sect, a bamboo hat on his head, and a black gauze on his face, with a somewhat thin figure, walked slowly from a distance.
It took a lot of time to stop and go along the way, so it was already evening when we arrived.
Lin Chen glanced at Fangshi, and then walked straight inside.
Passing by the square, Lin Chen glanced there and quickly looked away. He recalled that when he first came to Fangshi a few years ago, he always felt that he was the legendary son of destiny and was blessed with good luck, so he wanted to run to the square to pick things up. As a result, I missed it and didn't pick it up. Instead, I dropped nearly a hundred spirit stones into it.
From then on, he said nothing and ran directly to the store. Although it was a little more expensive, it was better than being cheated.
Lin Chen did not go directly to the destination. Instead, he walked a few times outside the usual routine. After finding that no one was following him, he went straight to the destination - the Baofu Shop.
This store is located on a busy street. There were people coming and going in the store, and it was very lively.
Lin Chen walked into the store. The store is antique, with shining pearls inlaid on the ceiling, and cabinets surrounding it, with various talismans placed on them.
"Sir, what kind of talisman do you need? Our Talisman Shop has all kinds of..." As soon as Lin Chen entered the door, a waiter immediately came to greet him.
"I'm looking for your shop owner Wu Xueting." Lin Chen interrupted his speech before he could finish.
The waiter was stunned for a moment, but he immediately reacted and walked into the back room.
Not long after entering, a middle-aged female cultivator with a plump figure in purple clothes came to greet her.
This person is Wu Xueting, the owner of Baofu Shop.
"It turns out to be Fellow Daoist Zhang." She seemed to know Lin Chen and couldn't help but smile after seeing him.
Zhang Ping is Lin Chen's pseudonym when he goes out.
Lin Chen nodded noncommittally and said lightly: "Old rules."
Wu Xueting immediately understood and used her delicate palm to guide it with one hand.
"please."
Then he walked in front and led the way.
Then the two of them went upstairs and entered an antique small room next to it. The room was covered with a carpet and had all the necessary items.
Wu Xueting closed the door, asked Lin Chen to sit down, and calmly took out a teacup and poured hot tea for Lin Chen.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, I wonder what kind of talismans you brought today?" Wu Xueting asked with a smile.
Lin Chen did not reply, but took out ten stacks of talismans from the [storage bag], placed them on the table, and said lightly: "Let's inspect the goods, follow the old rules."
When Wu Xueting saw this, he didn't take it seriously. After dealing with him for many years, he naturally knew that the other party was not a person who liked to talk nonsense during transactions.
"One hundred first-grade high-grade spiritual talismans, three hundred first-grade medium-grade spiritual talismans, and the remaining 600 first-grade low-grade spiritual talismans. Based on the different types of spiritual talismans and their rarity, I count 2,100 spiritual stones, fellow Taoist. What do you think, fellow Taoist?" After some calculations, Wu Xueting asked softly.
Two thousand one hundred spiritual stones is a huge sum of money for a Qi-refining monk. After all, most Qi-refining monks can earn one or two spiritual stones a day, and a few hundred yuan a year is considered pretty good. Yes.
Only monks who have achieved success in various immortal arts such as alchemy, weapon refining, and talisman making can earn enough spiritual stones for their own cultivation.
However, there was no joy on Lin Chen's face. Instead, he frowned and asked immediately: "The price of spiritual talismans has increased again?"
"That's right." Wu Xueting nodded, and then handed over a small book, "This is the price increase of various spiritual talismans in the market in the past three months."
Whether buying or selling magic talismans, their prices are not static, but rise and fall according to the overall market conditions.
Lin Chen glanced at her, took out the gloves from the storage bag, put them on, took the notebook, and started reading.
The talismans he made were of high quality and large quantity, and were very popular in the market.
The reason why she chose to sell in this store is because the other party promised that every three months, she would spend a certain amount of money to collect statistics on the purchase, sales, and price trends of spiritual talismans on the market.
"Fellow Taoist, as the price of spiritual talismans has increased, can't we make more money? Why does Taoist friend seem unhappy?" Wu Xueting couldn't help but ask softly as Lin Chen continued to analyze the data in the book.
"The dynamic balance of the supply relationship is the basis for the price of spiritual charms to remain stable in the market. However, the spiritual charms entering the market this year have basically remained within a certain range, but the prices have continued to rise. What do you think this means?" Lin Chen looked at He glanced at her and suddenly asked.
supply?
Wu Xueting was stunned when she heard this, but she still roughly understood its meaning.
"What do you mean, fellow Taoist, in the market, the demand for spiritual talismans is rising, but the supply remains unchanged, so the price continues to rise?"
"That's right." Lin Chen nodded.
To put it simply, the more you buy, the more you sell, the more you sell. When many merchants see the profits, they raise the price of the talismans.
"But isn't this a good thing?" Wu Xueting didn't understand.
"A good thing?" Lin Chen repeated these two words softly and continued, "Except for what is needed for practice, a monk's consumption of spiritual stones to purchase spiritual talismans is basically maintained at a certain limit. The same is true when it is extended to a group of monks."
"If the source of spiritual stones increases, at most the price of elixirs will increase. After all, spiritual talismans are not required for practice." Lin Chen put down his notebook, stood up, walked to the window, and looked down at the crowd downstairs.
"The price of the elixirs required for practice has basically remained unchanged." Wu Xueting murmured. For some reason, listening to Lin Chen's calm words, she felt a bad premonition in her heart.
After all, pills are an indispensable item for most practitioners, and in Yunlaifang City, she is naturally very sensitive to the price of pills.
"Could it be that more monks are buying?" Wu Xue hesitated and said.
"There are only so many elixirs available in the market. If the number of monks increases, the price should also rise. It is impossible for new monks to only buy magic talismans and not elixirs, right?" Lin Chen asked rhetorically.
"Besides, you've been here for so long. What big thing happened in Yunlaifang City that the whole monks had to buy spiritual talismans to fight?"
"This..." Wu Xueting was speechless for a moment, and after thinking about it carefully, she found that it was indeed not the case. "Then what do fellow Taoists think the reason is?"
"You and I both know that casual cultivators lack spiritual stones and cannot afford spiritual weapons, so most of the time, they use spiritual talismans to assist in combat. So looking at the situation..." Lin Chen was silent for a moment, "Then There are only two possibilities left.”
"Which two?"
"The first is to open up wasteland in the Hengduan Mountains. In order to obtain more resources, casual cultivators and sect monks purchased a large number of talismans for use in battles, just like the time fifty years ago."
Fifty years ago, north of the Qingyun Sect, in the Hengduan Mountains, a Golden Core stage monster was killed by the Qingyun Sect's Qingyang Zhenren. Later, in order to obtain the huge territory left by the Qingyun Sect, the Qingyun Sect launched a vigorous land reclamation operation. Huge benefits were obtained in one fell swoop.
"Is it possible that Shang Zong is going to launch another wasteland reclamation operation?" Wu Xueting was stunned.
"If it was a land reclamation operation, then the attack-type charms should be the best sellers. After all, the main enemy is the monster that protects the treasures of heaven, material and earth. But after observing the market this year, the continuously rising charms tend to focus on healing, defense, and escape. , so I prefer the second possibility." Lin Chen pointed at the account book with an expressionless face.
"What's possible?"
Lin Chen did not answer, but stared out the window blankly. The evening breeze blew from outside, gently blowing on the wind chime on the window sill, making a clear and sweet tinkling sound.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang?"
Hearing this, Lin Chen turned his head, looked at her deeply, and whispered a few words: "A precursor to war."
For a moment, the atmosphere in the venue seemed to freeze. It was obviously a hot night, but Wu Xueting felt a lingering chill.
