Should I have Shang Huan increase the merchandise volume?
“The risk is too great,” Chen Mu shook his head.
If he wanted the jade plate to maintain consumption, Shang Huan would have to sell seventy-two bottles of Calming Spirit Pills each month to at least eighty customers.
If even one person got any odd ideas, the consequences…
“We can at most increase to thirty-six bottles,” Chen Mu set a limit.
Find another partner?
Chen Mu was somewhat indecisive.
…
The night.
At the Lower Courtyard on Jilong Road, within the mountains in the northern part of the basin plain.
Under the moonlight, a shadow flashed past the woods, a few palm-sized leaves gently swaying in the breeze.
The shadow rushed all the way, familiar with the paths, and arrived at the Underground Market District.
It was none other than Chen Mu, who had disguised his appearance.
He was now 1.82 meters tall, draped in a black cloak, with a robust and powerful figure, his face also covered with a bronze beast head mask, exuding a rugged and fierce aura.
In the market district, not far from the exit, Chen Mu casually found an empty spot to lay down a felt cloth and displayed twelve bottles of Calming Pills.
Then, he set up a brown wooden sign with two lines of elegant big characters written on it.
“For one White Jade Coin, thirty-two Calming Pills.”
After pondering for two days, Chen Mu decided to test the waters in the underground market by selling a batch of Calming Pills.
Though he appeared cool and composed, the Five Ghosts Paper Man was always lingering nearby, worried someone might suddenly cause him trouble.
Before long, a skinny man with a black cloth covering his face approached the stall.
“May I open it to take a look?”
“Look all you want,” Chen Mu said in a gruff voice.
The man poured out one Calming Pill, examined it carefully against the light, then sniffed it lightly at the tip of his nose.
“This elixir pill of yours…” he looked it over, then hesitated with a sigh and a shake of his head towards Chen Mu.
Chen Mu rolled his eyes and snatched back the Calming Pill.
“Buy it if you want, otherwise get lost!”
Return my elixir pill?
My elixir pill indeed has issues! But you definitely can’t tell! Do you think I am messing around with my Fifth Rank Pharmaceutical Technique?
“Why are you getting angry now?”
Read the latest on empire
“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to buy it.”
“Give me two bottles!”
The skinny man smiled sheepishly and took out two White Jade Coins.
Chen Mu casually accepted them and put them away.
“Pick them yourself!”
“And scram as soon as you’re done!”
The man smiled apologetically, compared the bottles, picked two, and hurried off.
It was as if a switch had been flipped.
After the skinny man left, people started coming to buy the Calming Pills one after another.
Chen Mu had prepared twelve bottles of Calming Pills to test the waters, and they were sold out in no time.
He immediately stood up, rolled up the felt cloth, and left.
After leaving the market district, he first used the Five Ghosts Paper Man to wrap himself in invisibility.
He then switched directions continuously, changing clothes on the go and applying scented potions to alter his smell.
It wasn’t until the moon was high in the sky that he arrived at a small hollow behind Low Mountain.
He didn’t go home but chose to stay in the hollow.
There, he had previously dug a cellar.
There were food and drink, ventilation, and dryness, and even three exits, ready for escape at any moment.
Not only that, but he also had two Ghosts floating in mid-air, constantly monitoring the surroundings.
It wasn’t until the next day, when daylight was bright, that Chen Mu was convinced that last night’s trip had been safe and secure, with no one tracking him.
Chen Mu returned to the Low Hill Courtyard and sat in a rocking chair, scratching his head.
“Shouldn’t someone have ambushed me on the way, forcing the source of the elixir out of me?”
“This doesn’t fit the mainstream plot, does it?”
“I really am not any kind of main character.”
“Of course, it’s also possible that nobody has noticed I’m selling elixir pills.”
“I need to be even more careful in the future.”
Only then did he feel at ease to count the previous night’s earnings.
“After deducting one coin for the cost, I netted eleven White Jade Coins.”
“Shang Huan can still provide thirty-six White Jade Coins.”
“Just one or two more trips to the underground market, and I will have enough for a month’s expenses,” Chen Mu let out a sigh of relief.
Although there are risks,
if I make small shipments frequently, and have Shang Huan share the responsibility, the risk of being detected immediately drops by a great deal.
If I give it all to Shang Huan to sell, that fat guy might crash and burn.
With Gongsun Sheng around, he isn’t afraid of being ratted out by Shang Huan,
but to find a new shield is always not so convenient.
…
Five days later, Chen Mu safely returned from the Underground Market once again.
The twelve bottles of Calming Spirit Pills were quickly sold out.
The tracking and investigation Chen Mu had been worried about didn’t happen.
“That’s right.”
“In the entire basin plain, there are thousands of disciples in the Lower Courtyard.”
“A few dozen bottles of Calming Spirit Pills being swiftly digested is the norm.”
After that, Chen Mu visited the Underground Market every five or six days.
Each time he sold, sometimes twelve bottles, sometimes just five or six.
His appearance was different every time.
After several visits, there had not been a single mistake.
“Should I release a bigger batch of goods all at once?” Chen Mu was tentatively excited.
“Forget it. Safety first.”
Small batches, different identities, and irregular releases were the safest way to go.
…
Below Low Mountain, within the Yellow Bud Rice Fields.
Chen Mu strolled among them.
Groups of cold well water, large and small, emerged out of thin air, poured onto the earth near the different stalks of Yellow Bud Rice.
Looking at the palm-length, lush and yellow heads of the Yellow Bud Rice, Chen Mu nodded with satisfaction.
Perhaps because of the Jade Plate, the well water in Low Hill Courtyard contained more Earth Spirit Vital Energy.
Combined with Chen Mu’s increasingly refined planting skills, the Yellow Bud Rice was growing splendidly.
Every time Old Hao came over, he envied Chen Mu so much that his face twitched.
The land that this mentor planted was not as good as what his disciple, Chen Mu, could produce.
Pop!
With a soft sound, a black and red elixir pill the size of a peanut zoomed through the air.
A fist-sized, unknown brown beetle was pierced clean through.
“These annoying insects are becoming more numerous.”
According to Old Hao, the closer to maturity the Yellow Bud Rice got, the more insects and beasts coveted it.
These past few days, Chen Mu had had to assign two Five Ghosts Paper Men to patrol non-stop.
He wasn’t too concerned about the yield,
but the hard-grown crops were about to mature; he couldn’t just stand by and let them be destroyed by pests, right?
Just as he was thinking, a flash of green caught his eye from the corner.
Whizz!
Green doubled, then quadrupled, and almost in the blink of an eye, a large swarm of green beetles had appeared in the Yellow Bud Rice sky.
Clang!
The Heartless Bell tolled, followed by billowing black smoke.
In the blink of an eye, the green beetles were completely devoured by the Five Ghosts Bag.
“These insects…” Chen Mu frowned.
Jie Jia had mentioned before that this was a new type of pest.
He had encountered it once before, and now that the Yellow Bud Rice was about to mature, these pests had returned.
“Thank goodness for the Heartless Bell.”
Otherwise, there was really no way to quickly eliminate these rapidly multiplying pests.
…
Three days later, deep into the night, the Yellow Bud Rice Fields.
Clang!
The sound of a bronze bell spread throughout the fields.
A swath of green beetles fell rustling to the ground.
Inside the Low Hill Courtyard.
Chen Mu sat under a wooden canopy, observing the Yellow Bud Rice Fields through the perspective of the Five Ghosts, frowning.
“Still coming?”
If he hadn’t had the Five Ghosts patrol and watch tonight,
at least a couple acres of the Yellow Bud Rice Fields would have been ruined.
“Is it just my field that’s having an outbreak, or is there a problem across the entire basin plain?” Chen Mu felt something was off.
Could it be a pest calamity?!
“I have the Five Ghosts patrolling and the Heartless Bell for pest control.”
“But what about Old Hao?”
“What about the other farmers?”