Lin Xuanzhi said, “There are day and night in this space. It’s currently morning, but if you come back later, you’ll see the moon too. It’s just that the time here moves faster than that of the outside. One year inside the space equates to only a single day outside. If Ah Hen were to plant spiritual herbs here, he would surely reap a lot.”
“Really?” Yan Tianhen’s eyes lit up.
Lin Xuanzhi smiled and nodded, “The temporal change in a pocket dimension is much different from the outside world.”
Yan Tianhen seemed to be imagining a bright future of making a fortune by planting spiritual herbs.
“This feeling is good!” Yan Tianhen exclaimed excitedly, “However, let’s first clean up the weeds.”
Lin Xuanzhi laughed, “The weeds in this place won’t be so easy to pull out. We have to rely on special grass-swallowing worms.”
Yan Tianhen asked, “How can a grass-swallowing worm be as good as me?”
“If you don’t believe me, try it yourself.”
Yan Tianhen performed the hand seals and began to try uprooting the weeds. He didn’t know whether the weeds had been rooted for too long or whether they were a different type from the outside world, but it took him a lot of effort to pull out just two weeds. In addition, the spiritual Qi in his body had almost been exhausted.
When Yan Tianhen rested for a while and then pulled out the third weed, the weeds that had been pulled out before actually grew out again!
Yan Tianhen touched his head, “How could this happen?”
Lin Xuanzhi laughed, “Time moves faster here so if you pull it, it will be easy for new seeds to break through the ground. There will be no end to it.”
Yan Tianhen sighed and stopped trying. “Let’s go and get some grass-swallowing worms, but the price of them is too expensive. I can’t afford it.”
A grass-swallowing worm was a kind of insect that could replace human labor to devour weeds. This kind of insect was expensive. One insect could easily cost tens of thousands of gold. It often slept on the ground after eating and drinking its fill, plus it only had a short life span of one quarter, so its cost-effectiveness was not too high. At least for some people who specialized in growing spiritual plants, the price of a grass-swallowing worm wasn’t as cheap as the price spent on labor.
Hence, grass-swallowing worms were pretty useless existences; only a few people would buy them.
If Yan Tianhen hadn’t attempted it and found that the weeds in here were really beyond his ability to solve, he wouldn’t be willing to buy grass-swallowing worms at all.
Lin Xuanzhi looked at Yan Tianhen’s small face, which was full of reluctance, and couldn’t help but laugh, “Ah Hen doesn’t need to feel distressed. Although there are weeds everywhere in this soul plate, the spiritual Qi gathered here is definitely much stronger than any other place because it has been nurtured by forged stones for thousands of years. Therefore, even if grass-swallowing worms are placed here, they won’t die easily, and it’s even possible to change their breeds. At that time, when these grass-swallowing worms give birth to children and grandchildren, we can sell them as well.”
Hearing this, Yan Tianhen’s eyes lit up and he rushed to nod, “If that’s the case, it’ll solve all our problems once and for all. This is really great! Before it’s too late, let’s go and buy some grass-swallowing worms now!”
Since Yan Tianhen said so, how could Lin Xuanzhi refuse him?
So Lin Xuanzhi took Yan Tianhen out of the soul plate’s space and flew them by sword toward the foot of the mountain.
Although there were similar shops in the sect, Profound Sky Sect didn’t do a good job in this respect because the prices of the things inside the shops were much higher than those outside. Not to mention, the quality wasn’t guaranteed, and most of the shops that could be opened in the sect had all kinds of powerful forces behind them. The shopkeepers also dragged their feet to the extreme. They’d especially slaughter new sheep who hadn’t learned how to fly on a sword yet and therefore had difficulty getting in and out of the sect gate.
As for Lin Xuanzhi, who could fly the sword back and forth in less than a quarter of an hour, naturally, he would not suffer for this dumb decision in the sect.
At the foot of the mountain, Lin Xuanzhi brought Yan Tianhen straight to a spiritual plant shop.
This spiritual plant shop was run by the Yuan family and it was a time-honored shop in Profound City. Lin Xuanzhi’s own shop also had spiritual herbs, but because the cost of grass-swallowing worms was too high, he dared not raise them easily. So for the time being, Yin Yang Studio could only sell spiritual herbs, instead of grass-swallowing worms.
When Lin Xuanzhi came to shop in the Yuan family’s spiritual herb shop, the shopkeeper showed a somewhat unpredictable expression.
The shopkeeper looked at Lin Xuanzhi, “If it were someone else, I would certainly sell these grass-swallowing worms without another word. I wish I could sell these ancestors, but it’s not convenient for me to sell them to you.”
Yan Tianhen was a little puzzled and foolishly asked, “Why? When did my Dage enter your blacklist?”
The shopkeeper looked distressed and hurriedly shook his head, “Little friend, how can you think so? I know you have a good relationship with my young master so I don’t want to swindle your money. I might as well tell you the truth. This grass-swallowing worm has always been a useless existence. Even our Yuan family only uses it to eat the weeds in the most difficult spiritual plant fields, but most people would employ laborers to do it. Moreover, this grass-swallowing worm is not easy to cultivate, so the price is very expensive. If it is not too difficult to remove the weeds, it’s better not to buy such a thing. To be honest, we’re the only family that sells these worms right now, but we don’t make any profit from it; we even make a loss. So our young master is now considering not selling these.”
“Don’t!” Yan Tianhen hurriedly said, “Uncle, although grass-swallowing worms are expensive and seem unprofitable, they have the advantage of swallowing any kind of weed. Some weeds are poisonous, and some weeds have fire, but if the worms swallow them, they’ll be fine, unlike a person who’ll be injured.”
The shopkeeper looked at Yan Tianhen and couldn’t help but think that although the child looks strange and had a lame leg, his heart was very soft and kind. He was a good child.
The shopkeeper thought for a moment, then smiled, “You’re right. The grass-swallowing worm still has its value.”
Lin Xuanzhi interjected at the right time, “We are really in urgent need of grass-swallowing worms. The shopkeeper might as well sell some of them to us.”
The shopkeeper couldn’t persuade them, so he told a servant to pick out two grass-swallowing worms and put them in a casing for Lin Xuanzhi.
“These two are the best we have. You keep them first.” The shopkeeper informed them.
Lin Xuanzhi brought out his treasure card and handed it to the shopkeeper, who waved his hand, “Forget it. I can’t sell these two grass-swallowing worms anyway. I’ll just give them to you.”
Lin Xuanzhi shook his head, “How could I do this? If the shopkeeper does this, again and again, I won’t dare to enter your shop anymore.”
Both of them refused each other several times. However, seeing that Lin Xuanzhi was very persistent, the shopkeeper had to accept Lin Xuanzhi’s money at cost price.
When they got the two grass-swallowing worms, they left the store.
They originally intended to return directly to Profound Sky Sect, but Lin Xuanzhi suddenly changed his mind. He decided to take Yan Tianhen back to their house and see how Ling Chigu was cultivating now.
As soon as they went out, they met Shi Yongtai who came out of nowhere. Shi Yongtai was followed by several guards with bloody and evil auras.
When Shi Yongtai saw Lin Xuanzhi, he stepped forward with a smile on his face, blocking the two men’s paths.
“Oh! Boss Lin, did you come to the Yuan family’s shop to buy spiritual herbs? Isn’t your Yin Yang Studio’s slogan ‘there’s only what you can’t imagine, not what you can’t buy’? It’s only been a few days after opening, but even you, the master shopkeeper, are too lazy to go to your own shop.” Shi Yongtai was full of ridicule.
Lin Xuanzhi glanced at the men behind him and saw that they were all killers, “What does that have to do with you? However, why don’t I see Elder Houtu in these two days? Maybe he found out that your Yongtai Manor was going to close down, so he ran away in advance?”
The corner of Shi Yongtai’s mouth uncontrollably twitched a few times, his eyes flashing with resentment.
Shi Yongtai grouched, “Who knows what little tricks you’ve done behind my back? I just wanted to leave your father and work alone. Unexpectedly, you embarrassed me everywhere and even poached my two right-hand men. You Lins are really unkind!”
Because they were in front of the Yuan family’s spiritual herbs shop, many guests came and went to buy spiritual herbs. Shi Yongtai’s voice was rather loud, and with five or six guards behind him, it was easy to attract people’s attention.
When the crowd looked their way, they’d see Lin Xuanzhi, the leading character who was now very famous in the whole of Profound City and had been talked about everywhere. They were even more excited and couldn’t help standing by to watch one by one.
Shi Yongtai’s words had undoubtedly intended to make everyone think Lin Xuanzhi was an extremely unkind person.
Instead of getting angry, Lin Xuanzhi smiled and said slowly, “Shi Yongtai, I haven’t even settled the account with you yet. I wanted to let you off but I didn’t expect that you’d beat me to it. Yongtai Manor was originally called Serene Herb Manor, but it was my father’s property. Shortly after my father’s accident, Serene Herb Manor was embezzled by you and became the present Yongtai Manor. You said that we wronged you; that is truly ridiculous.”
Shi Yongtai stuck out his neck, “If you’re capable, show me some evidence.”
“The best evidence is that the two local elders, who are not accustomed to your way of doing things, are no longer willing to work with you.” Lin Xuanzhi lightly described.
The two Houtu Elders were the reason why Shi Yongtai resented Lin Xuanzhi the most. If it weren’t for Lin Xuanzhi’s meddling, how could the Houtu Elders have disappeared overnight, leaving only a word to go their separate ways from him?
He confessed that he’d never done anything wrong to the elders over the years, and the treatment he gave them was very generous. But unexpectedly, these two ungrateful old bastards would do such a thing as betraying their master, scaring Shi Yongtai half to death! However, Shi Yongtai never thought about what a despicable wretch he was when he arranged the post for the elders. Shi Yongtai gnashed his teeth, “It’s really hateful of you to steal my people behind my back! If you do business like this, you’ll sooner or later suffer the consequences. The most taboo thing for business people is having their talents poached by their peers. Such behavior is particularly detestable and unkind.”
Lin Xuanzhi curled his lips, “I don’t know the elders’ whereabouts at all. You said that I was the initiator, but you can’t talk with empty words. It’s no wonder that people left, when you can’t even conduct yourself well.” Lin Xuanzhi airily waved a hand to Shi Yongtai, “Manager Shi, there’s still more to come. I’d like to see how long the Yongtai Manor that you stole will last. Goodbye.” Lin Xuanzhi pulled Yan Tianhen away while Shi Yongtai looked at them gloomily behind them.
During the opening period of Yin Yang Studio, Shi Yongtai found out that his business in Yongtai Manor had fallen by more than one level. After Shi Yongtai secretly investigated, he realized that the spiritual herbs sold by Lin Xuanzhi’s Yin Yang Studio were exactly the same as that of Yongtai Manor, but the quality was much better than his. The price was also a little cheaper.
Shi Yongtai was so angry that he immediately followed Lin Xuanzhi in a price war, reducing the price of spiritual herbs in Yongtai Manor by 20%.
After that, Lin Xuanzhi was still selling at the original price, and the passenger flow in Yongtai Manor quickly returned. The contents of the shop were plundered by the major customers, so Shi Yongtai was still complacent. A few days later, he received news that the spiritual herbs in Yin Yang Studio had also lowered their price.
Shi Yongtai immediately reduced the price again.
Yin Yang Studio deliberately opposed Shi Yongtai by also adopting the method of low-price sales.
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Sarah: So for some reason, there is no chapter 341 but the story still flows perfectly as is, which is why tomorrow, there won’t be any chapter and we’ll resume on Monday for 342. This is so that Ea and I can keep up with our current pace of translating!! Hope you don’t mind~ Good thing this doesn’t end in a cliffhanger hehe!
