Chapter 249

Chapter 249: Borrowing Chickens to Lay Eggs

Right now, it’s perfect to keep transactions limited to those below the Condense Essence Stage. A few extraneous details won’t matter, but going too far could lead to disaster.

These merchants are very crafty and have likely already looked into Paifeng Island. Since Li Hui can trade with the Demon Cultivator great monk, he must at least be at the Condense Essence Stage. A spiritual sense swept over the Wave Breaking Cone but found nothing useful, prompting a cautious retreat without further probing.

From beginning to end, both sides engaged in a battle of wits; the marketplace is a battlefield—a war without gunpowder.

Previously, Li Hui had arranged many small merchants in the talisman market, using a tactic of uniting forces. Although simple, it proved effective! Now, he aimed to unite numerous large merchants in the talisman market, horizontally connecting with merchants from other markets. In doing so, he subtly gained significant weight in this game; if he dared undercut the price for resources from the Wave Breaking Cone, he’d be swiftly taken down.

However, resources were still limited. After setting aside some unidentified items, little was left, and it still fell far short of expectations.

The solution lies in human ingenuity; what else could he trade?

Yes, there’s something! His mind stored a great deal of literature. Those cultivation methods that only reached the Bosa stage made Li Hui wince. Furthermore, the large number of miscellaneous books and biographies contained too little useful information—only talisman methods. By refining and selling the key parts of the texts, he could engage in a venture with great returns.

The bamboo tablet proved highly useful; just by concentrating on it, copious content would surface, followed by using a replication talisman to instantly create books.

The cultivation world has always held to the belief that “laws should not be passed lightly,” fearing that too easy access would diminish the heart to pursue the path. Li Hui found this thought quite reasonable, but it remained another person’s doctrine. The literature he filtered out and stored in his mind was indeed valuable wisdom.

Blank books and jade tablets, all came to life under his touch.

Li Hui looked down on these methods that only reached the Bosa stage, but for ordinary practitioners, these texts were treasures. What great fortune was needed to reach the All-Manifestation Realm? A mere Bosa stage in this lifetime was already satisfying enough.

Sea area practitioners were practical; for them, methods before reaching the Bosa stage were more than sufficient.

After acquiring minerals, Huo Qiniang started bulk selling literature, causing an immediate stir on Blue Moon Island. The disputes in the sea area were frequent, and practitioners often fought against each other and sought revenge, leaving little time to study cultivation methods, leading to a tremendous demand in this regard.

At this time of trading, Li Hui could secure a fair price; if he ensured only one copy of the literature was recorded, the price could spike tenfold.

In half a day, Huo Qiniang exchanged large quantities of supplies for literature. Ninety percent of the merchants rushed to the literature market to follow this trend, while the Wave Breaking Cone’s crew seized this opportunity to gather goods, simultaneously exchanging vast amounts of lower-tier spirit talismans for local essentials.

Once the talisman market merchants realized what was happening, Blue Moon Island’s purchasing power had virtually evaporated. They sought to confront Huo Qiniang but soon discovered her advantageous connections with large merchants in literature and minerals, gaining qualifications to conduct business freely on the island. Thus, it became more practical to sell these spirit talismans off the island promptly.

Without support from key figures in their community, exchanging spirit talismans for local goods would face limitations. Li Hui sought to break such restrictions, methodically seizing the initiative, ultimately becoming a participant in the business community.

Upon entering this circle, he had the obligation to uphold external pricing. Processing spirit talismans at lower prices could no longer be done, but obtaining supplies from businesses in the network would offer many discounts.

Blue Moon Island represented a small circle; the sea area Merchant Alliance covered a larger space. How could one hope to enter the larger circle without first engaging the smaller one?

Li Hui called Huo Qiniang to buy out all the low-quality alchemy stock from the herbal merchants. In the ship’s hold, they placed large casks, used Liu Su water to dissolve identical alchemy, and then concentrated it with Tianyi water into the Clear Void Cup, preparing seven and eight patterned pills for sale on the next island they reached.

Liu Su water and Tianyi water were exceedingly cheap in the sea area, while alchemy was relatively precious, leaving a substantial profit margin.

After the modifications, the Wave Breaking Cone would consume at least twice as much. If hidden wings deployed for short-distance flights, it would essentially be devouring spiritual shells. Additionally, the talisman formations were undergoing upgrades, similarly requiring spiritual shells to pay for spiritual energy.

To prevent problems, Li Hui laid down five identical talisman formations, ensuring thorough preparations.

As the saying goes, “Sharpening the knife does not fear cutting wood.” Though they had lingered on Blue Moon Island for a month, they could be back on the road in just two days…

In the blink of an eye, three more days passed. With the spirit talismans’ price drop opening the gates, other products began to decrease in price as well.

Li Hui rejoiced, “Finally! The trading in the sea area is waning, and these Blue Moon Island merchants surprisingly held out until now—what a loss for them! Qiniang, as these merchants’ funds flow back in, the bank’s business will surely thrive. This opens up path for us to not sell spirit talismans at depressed prices. We haven’t been forbidden from using spirit talismans as collateral to the bank. Moreover, according to their pricing, borrowing spiritual shells would neatly line up with our profit margins, so we’re still making money, the key being the volume.”

“Huh? We can play it this way?” Huo Qiniang’s eyes widened in wonder.

“Bribe the bank’s manager to expedite the loan process,” Li Hui continued to broaden Huo Qiniang’s perspective. “Once we latch onto this bank line, we can purchase merchant certificates for large sea merchants, allowing us to conduct business across regions. Even if conditions are harsh and we can’t obtain them, we should at least have the bank issue certificates to trade using their channels. We can use the Wave Breaking Cone as collateral, plus spirit talismans and alchemy, which will be our goods.”

Qiniang thought she was quite adept at calculations, but in comparison to Li Hui, she was nothing. She was like an old hen, always pondering how to hatch eggs, while Li Hui was thinking about using another’s hen to lay eggs.

“Remember, the bank must have more detailed sea charts and trading information for each island. Securing this information for you will be a substantial achievement.”

“Yes, Qiniang will obey. I will not disappoint you, Young Master.” Although Huo Qiniang was not a natural leader, she was an excellent supporting talent.

While those talisman merchants were racking their brains trying to figure out where to sell spirit talismans, Huo Qiniang had already bundled up stacks of spirit talismans to deliver to the Longde Bank. With the manager’s help, she successfully navigated the loan process, receiving large amounts of spiritual shells to frantically purchase from local merchants at network prices.

When returning, she asked the bank’s manager to check the stock, including items purchased before with the Wave Breaking Cone. Listing each item required a signature and seal, then she took out a huge sum in loans, continuing to buy, check, and borrow…

Li Hui was still unfamiliar with the sea area’s rules. In reality, engaging in maritime business, borrowing from the bank hinged on two things: how much cargo the ship could carry and whether the ship was sufficiently secure.

After observing the Bamboo Box Cage and the Storage Artifact in Huo Qiniang’s hands, the assessed storage space was moderate. However, the bank’s professionals rated the Wave Breaking Cone much higher, giving it a five-star elite rating based on its speed, defense, combat power, and other factors, indicating it could cycle through five loans with the bank.

Naturally, Longde Bank set strict measures to control things; they not only dispatched a practitioner to accompany the ship but also asked Huo Qiniang to provide a drop of her blood on a tracking formation disk. The bank had shops on most islands, was powerful, and possessed techniques to counter any debtor’s tricks to run off with the money.

Li Hui sighed, realizing he wasn’t the only clever one in the world. Others had already laid out the path, just waiting to profit.