Chapter 184: Consumption-Free Magic Treasure
Shuang Xiahuai shook her head. "In real life, I’m just a regular student who’s learned some relevant subjects. The principle isn’t actually that complicated. If you had a professional study it in-game for a while, with so many materials available, they’d figure it out sooner or later."
"Besides, I wasn’t the one who discovered the Wooden Line. A female lifestyle player named Yu Lishan gave it to me."
Gu Yunxi paused for a moment. "A new player who joined in the same batch as you?"
Shuang Xiahuai nodded. "She’s probably studied a bit of a specialized field in real life too. When I was chatting with her, she noticed this spirit material had the property of stabilizing Spiritual Energy and told me to give it a try. But she’s not interested in this stuff, so she went to work for Fan Guzhou."
Gu Yunxi thought of Fan Guzhou, who was already well on his way to becoming the richest man in the game, and couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy. "Fan Guzhou’s business is really taking off."
Especially after the merger with the Feique Sect, the responsibility for all the Spirit Grass planting by the Feique Sect disciples was handed over to Chen Miaomiao and Fan Guzhou.
Fan Guzhou took out a loan and directly contracted more than half of the Feique Sect’s Spirit Fields.
Wouldn’t the Sect intervene in such a monopolistic move?
How could Song Jiulai intervene?
The man had scientific cultivation methods. The other players were all just independents, planting scattered plots here and there. It was better to let Fan Guzhou take charge of it all.
Besides, the other half was still left open for new players to do quests.
For this kind of venture, she would forcibly step in and make a partial investment, just to prevent Fan Guzhou from creating an actual monopoly in the game.
Fan Guzhou wasn’t working alone, either. He was partnered with Zhou Nvzi and a few others, and he had a large group of lifestyle players working under him with good pay and benefits.
In truth, Song Jiulai couldn’t really control this monopoly anyway. For instance, if Fan Guzhou got rich, he could implement the same model on the territory of other sects, and Song Jiulai would be powerless to stop him.
Right now, she could only manage things within the territory she controlled.
If Fan Guzhou could really become that kind of capitalist in a dog-eat-dog Cultivation World where people would rob you of anything they fancied—well, that would just make him a legend.
Shuang Xiahuai smiled. "There are still few players right now, and we don’t have much territory. Boss Fan managed to get a head start. Now that the Thunder Stone Mine is stable, we’re definitely going to be using it a lot. Why don’t we take out a loan from the system? We can set up a special Artifact Refining Workshop dedicated to researching Magic Treasures powered by Thunder Stone."
Artifact Refining requires a huge amount of Spirit Stones to support it.
What they had on hand was definitely not enough.
Gu Yunxi nodded. "Zhen Weida went home for a blind date. I’ll ask him and another brother when they get online. First, I’ll go ask for Master Xue Yao’s opinion."
Shuang Xiahuai thought for a moment and said, "If necessary, we should have Boss Han and the others make a trip to the Netherworld Sect. I read a book called ’Secret Annals of the Yunzhou Demon Cave Valley’ that mentioned there’s also a Thunder Stone Ore Vein near the Netherworld Sect. It said a Fourth Rank Thunder Stone Mine was discovered there, but it was only a passing mention, and who knows how many years ago that was. We can only have Boss Han and his team go and ask around."
Gu Yunxi was surprised. "When did you see that? How come I’ve never seen that book?"
Shuang Xiahuai said, "You don’t know? When Master Miao Miao had that local Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator, Tang Lingxiao, go sell Spiritual Wine, she also had him rummage through Liu Xian City and bring back all sorts of miscellaneous Cultivation Books. He brought back a batch of books a few days ago, with some written by cultivators and others by mortals."
Gu Yunxi gave her a thumbs-up. "You guys are legends at this game. Alright, I’m off to find Master Xue Yao."
Shuang Xiahuai nodded. "Go ahead. I’m going to work on stabilizing the Thunder Stone Mine a bit more."
After Gu Yunxi and Shuang Xiahuai finished their discussion, the system had already relayed their conversation, word for word, to Song Jiulai.
The system added, "This time, these players have really struck at the very heart of the Artifact Refining Sects."
Song Jiulai immediately knew what it meant.
She then waved her hand dismissively. "It’s not that serious yet. High-level Thunder Stone is still quite rare and can’t be supplied in large quantities."
"But First and Second Rank Thunder Stones are practically everywhere. Supplying Xuan-grade Magical Treasures with Second Rank Thunder Stones shouldn’t be a problem. When that time comes, every one of your disciples will have a zero-consumption Xuan-grade Magical Treasure. That’ll be enough for you to steamroll all the nearby sects."
Song Jiulai’s eyes narrowed.
’True.
These players really are experts at stirring up trouble and leaving people in shock.
The fact that they could even figure out something like Thunder Stone is truly a fatal blow to the Artifact Refining Sects.
A Magic Treasure that constantly consumes Spiritual Energy versus one that requires none from the cultivator.
One can only imagine how much the latter’s existence would disrupt the market.
And that’s not even mentioning that Thunder Stone can be used for more than just powering Magic Treasures.’
Song Jiulai sighed softly. "This technology is great, but we can’t let anyone know about it."
’I can get rich with the Feique Sect from the Spirit Fields, but these Magic Treasures are something the players really have to keep to themselves.
If other sects found out, the Longevity Sect would be absolutely finished.
Would they really let a small sect like ours control something so heaven-defying?
Unless they discovered the secret of the Thunder Stone themselves.
But they haven’t discovered it after all these years.
The Wooden Line needed to stabilize the Thunder Stone isn’t hard to find, but it has to be soaked in Poison Blood. This Poison Blood is something Shuang Xiahuai developed using chemical formulas. It would probably be a bit difficult for the sects in Yunzhou to figure out the principle behind it...
And there is one key point.
I remember that High-level Thunder Stone is very rare.
Normal spirit materials can go up to the Ninth Rank. Anything Seventh Rank or above is basically a peerless treasure, extremely difficult to obtain.
The highest rank of Thunder Stone she has ever heard of is only Sixth Rank.
Sixth Rank isn’t considered too heaven-defying.
After all, Magic Treasures of Saint-grade and above are all one-of-a-kind, and each one is incredibly difficult to acquire.
It’s unlikely the players would be able to research a material that could be fused with Thunder Stone; they just don’t have the resources for that.
But if they could get a stable supply of Fifth Rank Thunder Stone...
Song Jiulai pictured the scene and estimated that it would be enough to conquer Liu Xian City.
"It will take time, too," Song Jiulai calculated. ’The Feique Sect’s Spirit Stone ore vein is basically ours now, but our sect doesn’t have anyone who can reliably craft Xuan-grade Magical Treasures yet. Even Liang Xueyao fails sometimes. At the very least, we’ll have to wait for the next batch of players and see how many are interested in Artifact Refining...’
Song Jiulai pondered for a while, then suddenly thought of a key person. "Right, what’s Zhan Sheng doing?"
’She’s the only one in our sect with a Metal Spirit Root!
Such a priceless treasure.
In any other sect, she’d be coddled and cherished, protected at all costs.
But she just had to end up in our poor sect.
And I can’t even show her any special treatment, at least not openly. As the Sect Master, I have to maintain an appearance of fairness.’
The system checked. "She’s been skinning Demon Beast Skin for a few days and is going around talking to players and mortals. I think she’s probably trying to get a complete grasp of the sect’s situation."
"Then let her be."
Song Jiulai wore a tolerant smile. "As long as she can grow up strong, she is the future hope of our sect!"
The system reminded her, "That Zhai Xiaotian is also keeping an eye on her. He’s probably figured out that Zhan Sheng has a Metal Spirit Root."
Song Jiulai’s eyes narrowed.
Then she slapped her thigh. "That guy is always so mysterious! The day my strength is great enough, I’ll definitely make that Zhai Xiaotian come clean about what his deal is!"
"So, what about now?" the system asked.
Song Jiulai said, "Pretend I didn’t see anything."
"..."