Cultivation: I Can Solidify Equipment Attributes

Chapter 240: Chapter 232: New Market Town

The settlement’s scale steadily expanded over the next month.

Li Yuan started selling Talismans and pills to the Loose Cultivators living at the outpost. The prices were twenty percent lower than at Yunyang Marketplace, and the quality was even better.

After the news spread, Cultivators from several nearby areas frequented by Loose Cultivators came over to make purchases. Some left right after buying, while others, seeing the good conditions of the outpost, simply decided to stay.

By the end of the month, the number of resident Loose Cultivators had increased from over ten to more than thirty.

But the rate of growth was slowing down.

The reason was simple: Evil Qi.

The Evil Qi in the outpost’s core area had been mostly absorbed by him, but some residue remained. It wasn’t a major issue, but one had to divide their attention to resist it.

The periphery was still Ghost Mist Forest territory. Loose Cultivators coming from the direction of the marketplace had to pass through a dense patch of Evil Qi to reach the outpost. Early-stage Qi Refining cultivators found this journey very uncomfortable, Mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators could barely endure it, and only Late-stage Qi Refining cultivators were largely unaffected.

Moreover, the outpost’s area was limited. The passive absorption range of his Evil Essence Assimilation was about a hundred zhang. Beyond this range, the Evil Qi concentration returned to the normal levels of the Ghost Mist Forest. Simply relying on his passive absorption wasn’t enough to expand the low-Evil Qi area.

Li Yuan was planning to set up multiple linked Gathering Evil Arrays to absorb the Evil Qi.

Just then, the Early Warning Array stirred.

Li Yuan swept the area with his Divine Sense. Chen Yi had arrived.

Chen Yi walked a lap around the outpost, looking at the stone houses, the arrays, the Gathering Evil Array, and the Loose Cultivators coming and going, before finally sitting down on a rock near an open space.

"Li Dao You, there is something I’d like to discuss with you."

Li Yuan sat down across from him.

"This settlement of yours, have you considered making it bigger?"

Li Yuan glanced at him but didn’t reply.

Chen Yi spoke rather quickly.

"The Primordial Yang Sect has taken notice of the situation here. More and more Loose Cultivators are active around the Ghost Mist Forest—mining, gathering herbs, hunting demons—and the demand for manpower is considerable. But these Loose Cultivators don’t have a fixed place to rest. They have to run back to Yunyang Marketplace every time to resupply, which is very inefficient."

He glanced in the direction of the outpost.

"You already have the basic framework here. The location is good, the Evil Qi is low, there are protective Arrays, there are residences, and there’s a supply of Talismans and pills. If it were expanded and developed into a formal marketplace, it would benefit both the Sect and the Loose Cultivators."

"The Primordial Yang Sect is willing to provide support,"

Chen Yi said.

Li Yuan remained silent, waiting for Chen Yi to continue.

"The initial construction costs, the building of houses, the deployment of arrays, and even the allocation of administrative personnel will all be handled by the Sect."

He paused for a moment.

"But there are conditions."

"What conditions?"

"First, the marketplace’s management rules must follow the Primordial Yang Sect’s framework; you can’t just make them up yourself. Second, the Sect will station administrative personnel here, and they will be responsible for the marketplace’s daily operations. Third, thirty percent of the marketplace’s income must be handed over to the Sect."

"Fourth, the sale of prohibited items is not allowed within the marketplace, nor is harboring wanted Cultivators. Fifth, any expansion or modification of the marketplace must be reported to the Sect in advance."

The conditions were numerous, but they were also to be expected.

’The Primordial Yang Sect wouldn’t be spending money and effort for nothing. Their purpose in supporting the marketplace’s construction is to establish a stable forward outpost in the Ghost Mist Forest region, making it easier to manage the activities of Loose Cultivators and the development of resources in this area.’

"And in exchange?"

"The Sect will bear all initial construction costs for the marketplace, including houses, arrays, roads, and warehouses. The salaries of the administrative personnel will also be paid by the Sect, not deducted from the marketplace’s revenue."

Chen Yi held up two fingers.

"After the marketplace is built, you will own half of the land within it. The Sect will take the other half for its station, shops, and administrative office. Of all the profits from the normal operation of the marketplace—stall fees, shop rents, and the like—you will take seventy percent, and the Sect will take thirty."

"However, the daily administrative expenses of the marketplace, including array maintenance, building repairs, and the daily consumption of the administrative staff—these will be paid out of your seventy percent."

"You don’t need to provide the personnel, just convert the cost into Spirit Stones."

Li Yuan pondered for a few breaths, then began discussing the various details with Chen Yi.

After the discussion, Li Yuan made some calculations.

’Seventy percent of the profit minus administrative expenses... the actual amount I’d get depends on the marketplace’s scale and business conditions. When the scale is small, administrative costs will be a high percentage, so profits will be thin. Once the scale increases, the percentage of administrative costs will drop, and the profits will grow thicker.’

’I might not earn much in the early stages, but the long-term returns are considerable.’

’Besides, the greatest benefit isn’t Spirit Stones.’

’It’s resources.’

’Once the marketplace is established, a large number of Loose Cultivators and traveling merchants will trade here. Increased circulation of goods means more opportunities to find items with entries. My entry perception covers a three-chi radius. With people constantly coming and going in the marketplace, the number of items passing by me each day will far exceed what I could find by visiting shops one by one.’

"Alright."

Chen Yi nodded, his expression showing no surprise, as if he had known all along that Li Yuan would agree.

"I’ll go back and report this. The Sect will arrange for people to come over as soon as possible."

Less than three days after Chen Yi left, the construction team from the Primordial Yang Sect arrived.

The leader was an Early-stage Foundation Establishment Array Master, followed by over a dozen Qi Refining Stage disciples and more than thirty hired Loose Cultivators as laborers.

The construction work began immediately.

The disciples of the Primordial Yang Sect and the hired Loose Cultivator laborers were responsible for building the houses and roads. Stone houses shot up one after another, their specifications more uniform and their walls smoother than the ones Li Yuan had built with his Earth Transporting Skill. A main road, wide enough for two horse-drawn carriages to pass side-by-side, extended from the center of the outpost in four directions.

The Array Master was responsible for setting up the arrays.

They were primarily Gathering Evil Arrays, arranged in concentric rings. Each layer had a larger coverage area, the quality of the Array Foundation Stones was higher, and the laying of the Conductive Spirit Sand was more meticulous.

After all five layers of the Gathering Evil Array were activated, the low-Evil Qi zone expanded from a radius of one hundred fifty zhang to nearly five hundred zhang. The concentration of Evil Qi within the entire planned area of the marketplace dropped to a considerably low level.

Li Yuan observed the entire process from the side.

The Array Master’s technique was clearly different from his own. When he set up arrays, he followed the steps of his legacy one by one—by the book, but a bit rigid. The Array Master’s movements were more fluid and natural. The placement of the Array Foundation Stones didn’t strictly follow a standard geometric pattern; instead, it was fine-tuned according to the terrain and the flow of the Spirit Vein. The laying of the Conductive Spirit Sand wasn’t done in stiff arcs either, but with subtle curves and variations, as if writing some kind of Spirit Pattern.

Li Yuan used his Divine Sense to meticulously record every detail of the Array Master’s process.

He noted the degree of fine-tuning for the Array Foundation Stone positions, the patterns in the curved variations of the Conductive Spirit Sand, and the connection angles of the linked nodes, comparing them one by one with his own methods to identify the differences.

The core difference lay in the utilization of the terrain’s Spirit Vein.

The standard method was to place Array Foundation Stones in a fixed geometric arrangement, without considering the terrain. The Array Master’s method was to first survey the direction of the Spirit Vein beneath the ground, then place the Array Foundation Stones on the Spirit Vein’s nodes, using the natural energy flow of the vein to assist the array’s operation.

An array set up this way consumed less Spiritual Power, ran more stably, and had a longer maintenance cycle.

Li Yuan absorbed these techniques and made corresponding adjustments to his own array system.

At the same time, Li Yuan also helped out, practicing his array-setting skills.

Construction continued for more than half a month. Just as the Array Master finished setting up the final Gathering Evil Array, a panel popped up.

[Array Dao: Tier One Array Dao—Proficient (0/800)]

His Array Dao had advanced from Skilled to Proficient.

The accumulation of observation, learning, and hands-on practice had allowed him to leap a major level in one go.

After finishing the arrays, the Array Master left with his disciples, while the Loose Cultivator laborers continued to build houses and roads.

The overall framework of the marketplace was now in place, but it was far from finished. The main roads were completed and half the houses were built. The locations for warehouses and shops had been marked out but construction hadn’t started. At the current pace, it would take at least another month or two to be fully completed.

Based on Li Yuan’s previous observations, the Array Foundation Stones of the Gathering Evil Array would become saturated with Evil Qi and need replacement every three to five days. The Primordial Yang Sect would send people to replace them periodically. The removed, saturated Array Foundation Stones were normally considered waste material that required special disposal.

Li Yuan had already arranged with Chen Yi to have all the replaced Array Foundation Stones left for him.

Holding a saturated Array Foundation Stone in his hand, his Evil Essence Assimilation directly extracted the Evil Qi within to temper his body and soul. The concentrated Evil Qi in a single Array Foundation Stone was equivalent to the amount he would absorb from two or three days of cultivating in the depths of the Ghost Mist Forest—several times more efficient.

Five layers of Gathering Evil Arrays, with five Array Foundation Stones per layer, made a total of twenty-five. A batch was replaced every three to five days, yielding twenty-five saturated Array Foundation Stones each time.

The supply of his cultivation resources had skyrocketed.

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