Chapter 247

Chapter 247: Disrupting the Business Community

Every time Li Hui drew ten talismans, he succeeded in creating seven and wasted three. This was the result of using artifact fragments, leaving him feeling quite disheartened.

Fortunately, his speed was quick enough; employing the Reverse Scale pattern allowed him to achieve eighteen times his usual speed. Coupled with the Cloud-Brush Dragon Claw Technique, he began preparing Blood Ignition Talismans in quantities of thousands.

The big man Zhong Yuan, the young boy Jin Feng, and Chef Zhao were next door, passing him talisman brushes and talisman ink, enabling them to draw Blood Ignition Talismans and Spirit Sense Talismans.

Even if they were unsuccessful, it was still good practice, and they had plenty of supplies to spare.

After preparing Blood Ignition Talismans, he moved on to Exotic Blood Talismans, with a success rate of seventy percent. He interspersed his efforts with Spirit Sense Talismans. Li Hui concentrated on these three types of talismans, putting aside other spirit talismans for now, planning to push the success rate to eighty percent first.

Thanks to his previous accumulation of a large number of Leaves of Blood Banana Trees, once prepared into talismans, they became currency. The artifact fragments in the hands of the Blue Moon Island practitioners quickly concentrated in Huo Qiniang’s possession to ensure Li Hui could consume at a feverish pace.

Yao’er was overjoyed; she loved gathering scraps of artifacts to make a base. Mother’s accompanying insect demons also liked to munch on them, little did she expect that her father would arrive with so much.

This unusual acquisition finally caught the attention of merchants on Blue Moon Island. When it came to artifact fragments and treasure fragments, they had a considerable stock.

Merchants sent representatives to negotiate, and Huo Qiniang was polite, stating they would trade spiritual shells for treasure fragments, and swap Blood Ignition Talismans, Exotic Blood Talismans, and Spirit Sense Talismans for artifact fragments. Of course, it wasn’t a one-talisman-for-one-fragment deal; it was one talisman for ten fragments, and they even had to weigh them—quantity must be sufficient.

This was also a monopolized business; if they didn’t want to trade, they could just leave.

On the surface, it appeared that way, but few noticed that as massive quantities of Blood Ignition Talismans, Exotic Blood Talismans, and Spirit Sense Talismans flooded in, they began to gradually impact the talisman market on Blue Moon Island.

By the next day, when practitioners purchased spirit talismans, they inevitably associated them with artifact fragments, generally feeling the prices were high and not worth it.

At this moment, Li Hui had already produced three Spirit Motion marks on Blood Ignition Talismans, followed by three Spirit Motion marks on Exotic Blood Talismans and Spirit Sense Talismans. With low-level artifacts in exchange, one could obtain hundreds of talismans. It seemed the artifact fragments were forgotten; the crew members approached with reluctance to purchase, pushing merchants in the artifact market to come rushing in to negotiate bulk deals, urgently selling massive amounts of artifact fragments, all without exception settled with Blood Ignition Talismans.

This was not Huo Qiniang begging them to sell, but they were coming to trade of their own accord, which changed the nature of the transaction entirely, allowing her to dictate their approach and garner substantial benefits.

Blood Ignition Talismans served as a currency produced in-house, recognized and quietly used for monetary functions. Chef Zhao used them widely when going out to buy ingredients, making it easy for others to see enough profits, allowing them to circulate quickly on Blue Moon Island.

Eventually, Li Hui pushed the success rate of the three types of talismans to eighty percent, but this achievement was aided by the silver snake bracelet. Without external support, his success rate would have been dismally low.

Before he knew it, over a hundred thousand Blood Ignition Talismans, Exotic Blood Talismans, and Spirit Sense Talismans ended up in the practitioners’ hands. In less than two hours, blood merging talismans, failing blood talismans, and cleansing blood talismans appeared in succession, and occasionally, a few Blood Energy Talismans and Unceasing Blood Flow Talismans surfaced, all boasting seven to eight Spirit Motion marks.

Some practitioners even came requesting talismans, trading all sorts of rare and peculiar items. Unexpectedly, the ship’s owner accepted everything that came their way, even taking on many scrappy items.

Sea area practitioners deemed these miscellaneous items worthless, whereas they might be highly valuable for land cultivators. Collecting one hundred items, even if just one was sold for a high price, would be a gain.

People were naive, there were many talismans, and they came quickly!

By the third day, hundreds of thousands of blood talismans and scouting spirit talismans flooded into Blue Moon Island, causing the practitioners’ demand for talismans to plummet. When the damage-dealing talisman appeared, practitioners rushed to acquire it, with hundreds of crew members lining up, struggling to keep up with the demand.

Merchants handling talismans on Blue Moon Island could no longer remain complacent.

Before, they merely laughed, trading low-level blood talismans for artifact fragments and worthless items, thinking how naive people could be to believe there were so many Leaves of Blood Banana Trees for talisman creation, and questioning whether talisman ink didn’t require an investment.

Once the damage-dealing talisman was released, Huo Qiniang started exchanging for precious items, effectively stirring the merchants’ interests. How could they agree to this?

However, just as these merchants came together, they were notified by Huo Qiniang that there were no more spirit talismans available, leaving them feeling as if they had just struck at thin air. Checking the recent purchase list of the ship, they suspected it was preparing to leave the island. Since they understood the need for moderation, they were forced to drop the matter!

Li Hui had just dipped his toe into Blue Moon Island, with his goals still a vast distance away! Despite a million reasons to flee far and fast, he wouldn’t leave easily without enough capital.

Some changes began to emerge on the island.

The market dedicated to talisman business suddenly became desolate, with hardly any practitioners coming to purchase spirit talismans! At the same time, items shipped from other islands such as vermilion, fish oil ink, rhinoceros horn ink, sea blue talisman paper, shell powder talisman paper, and scale-patterned inkstones began to stagnate in sales.

Everyone kept a mental account. Li Hui connected artifact fragments with low-level spirit talismans, effectively redefining talisman prices.

While the price difference might have been acceptable, the disparity was too great to ignore.

Consumers began to scrutinize talisman merchants with a cautious eye, harboring doubts about the prices of talisman ink and talisman paper, as no one wanted to be deceived into becoming a fool.

The islands were not like the mainland, where one could travel anytime; often, shipping relied on ocean currents and trade winds. Some special situations could obstruct routes for many years, leading sea traders to hoard goods extensively.

Coincidentally, the Hongmo Sect had placed significant pressure on the sea area, causing practitioners to travel very slowly, leading to severe accumulation of goods.

Merchants clenched their teeth, refusing to lower prices, but in reality, they bore immense pressure, as placing substantial capital on goods could lead to trouble easily. In recent days, trainloads of vermilion hadn’t settled payments, and ship owners inevitably voiced complaints. If those grievances spread, they would only get worse.

People feared rumors! Nine out of ten were spreading word that merchants selling talismans wouldn’t last long, and soon they would be forced to close down, necessitating a fire sale of spirit talismans to repay debts. Everyone just waited to scoop up the bargains!

This situation alarmed the small families on the island. As local factions, they were most attuned to price fluctuations in goods. Hearing rumors, they immediately opened their stores overnight to check their talisman ink and blank talisman paper. Even at ten to twenty percent below market price, they tried to move stock quickly, but regrettably, no buyers appeared.

The wind had shifted rapidly, even causing spirit talismans to stagnate in sales; let alone talisman-making supplies, practitioners eager to explore the craft also awaited developments.

What to do now? Somehow, someone made the decision to approach Huo Qiniang.

“Here I am, the mountain comes to me!”

Qiniang declared they were preparing to leave, that the master family had shifted focus to artifact refining, thus came to collect artifact fragments and treasure fragments, planning to take them back for melting in the volcanic mouth. They were open to procuring some talisman-making supplies but in limited quantities, ideally settling with various goods.

“Alright!” The visitor eagerly responded, thinking as long as there is no loss, they could at least recover costs, completely unaware they were stepping into a trap and unwittingly taking the lead.