Chapter 166
Chapter 166: Opening a Shop
First, I need to get some intel from the Star Dome.
Following the address provided by Du Xian, I head straight to the Four Path star cluster. The ship speeds ahead, heading toward the distant stars.
Meanwhile, in the direction of artifact forging, a man opens his eyes and looks toward his personal terminal, his gaze sharp. “Another one?”
“Ji Zheng.”
“Disciple is here.”
“Take Gao Chi and find someone named Wang Jie. He’s like those Frost Radiance sect disciples, but this one… kill him.”
Ji Zheng looks up, surprised. “Kill? Master, what is his power level?”
“Star Breaking Realm.”
“Then, I can go alone. No need to bring Gao Chi. His price is high.”
The man narrows his eyes. “I told you to go with him! This is a task directly issued by the Zhi Upper Realm, it cannot fail.”
Ji Zheng hurriedly responds and leaves.
The man turns back to his terminal, contemplating. Such a high reward for a mere Star Breaking Realm cultivator… is it worth it? Just as he’s thinking, the terminal beeps. He frowns and answers.
“Brother Bian, has the Zhi Upper Realm contacted you?”
“Did they contact you?”
“Last time, those Frost Radiance sect disciples were taken by your people. This time, it should be my turn to handle Wang Jie.”
The man sneers. “It wasn’t you who gave way last time; our people simply found him first. What? You want to ask for a favor now?”
“Don’t forget, Bian, you might not always have access to the pills you want.”
“Watch it, you pill sellers. I’m not afraid of you. That juicy prize will be ours.”
“Fine, we’ll see about that, drug dealer. Let’s wait and see.”
A few days later, Wang Jie arrives at the Four Path star cluster.
The star cluster—this isn’t the first time he’s seen it, but it’s certainly not as grand as this one. The Ninth Star Chain’s Green Square star cluster can’t even compare.
Every star here is enormous, and the screen shows countless flying ships, with people everywhere. It’s certainly different from the Lock Path interval.
The power detectors keep beeping. He’s already passed two from the wandering star realm. So many powerful people here?
The Zhi Academy doesn’t focus on martial strength, but that doesn’t mean they are weak.
Wang Jie’s expression grows serious. Suddenly, he feels a sense of relief. It’s a good thing he’s strong enough; otherwise, he might not have the advantage here.
He docks the ship and heads toward the Star Dome Trading Hall.
Here, they don’t just sell ships, but also various materials, tools, pills, and more—all gathered together in what’s called the Star Dome Trading Hall.
Wang Jie arrives and looks up at the towering structure, which seems to pierce the clouds and hollow out entire mountain ranges. He’s quite stunned. This must be the largest single building he’s ever seen.
Compared to Du Xian’s place, this is practically a storage room.
“Welcome, customer,” a familiar voice rings out. Wang Jie turns, stunned. “Du Xian?”
He hadn’t expected to run into Du Xian here.
Du Xian grins at him. “I’ve been waiting for you a long time, customer.”
Wang Jie, still confused, asks, “How did you get here? And how did you beat me here?” His Shen Wang ship had been heading non-stop toward the Zhi Academy, and even though Du Xian also had a Star Link-level ship, her position should have been farther away.
Du Xian smiles playfully. “Just because you can’t cross a refining field doesn’t mean I can’t. After all, every refining field has a Star Dome Trading Hall.”
“Come on in, customer.”
Wang Jie follows her, still confused. Du Xian is clearly very familiar with the place, just like she was with the Lock Path interval.
As he looks at the familiar rooms and tea, it feels like he’s back at the Lock Path interval.
“The Star Dome Trading Hall in the Four Great Training Fields is run by the same person—me. So no matter where you are in the refining fields, you can find me. Surprised?”
Wang Jie nods. “It’s convenient, at least. It’s easier to talk to someone familiar.”
Du Xian sits gracefully. “Let me guess. You’ve run into trouble and need some intel?”
Wang Jie responds, “I want to know how to establish myself here at the Zhi Academy. At least, I don’t want to be wrongly accused.”
Du Xian smiles slightly. “It’s simple. Don’t give others a chance to wrong you. As for establishing yourself…” She looks at him carefully. “You’re a Celestial Refinement Master. Do you really fear not being able to stand firm?”
“What do you suggest?”
“Well, you’re in the Four Path star cluster. This is also known as the Four Path marketplace. You could open a shop.”
Wang Jie is taken aback. “Open a shop?”
Du Xian nods. “Opening a shop, there’s a large flow of people, many eyes watching. You won’t be wronged easily. And opening a shop would also let you use your Celestial Refinement skills. You could even make money, right? I’m guessing you don’t have much left, considering how expensive the intel is.”
Wang Jie thinks for a moment. “Alright, I’ll open a shop.”
Du Xian beams brightly. “It’s easy to open a shop in the Four Path star cluster, but finding the right location is the challenge. The best places are around my Star Dome Trading Hall. I can arrange a spot for you, but the sign will have to be under my Star Dome Trading Hall’s name. How does that sound?”
Wang Jie looks at her and smiles just as brightly.
Du Xian, seeing his smile, suddenly feels something is off.
“Who said I want to open a Celestial Refinement shop?”
“Then what kind of shop are you opening? If it’s an artifact forging shop, I advise against it. There are too many artifact forging dao smiths already.”
“I’m selling pills.”
Du Xian is speechless…
Isn’t that going to steal her business?
In the end, the shop location isn’t beside the Star Dome Trading Hall. If Wang Jie had wanted a Celestial Refinement shop, Du Xian would’ve agreed, but selling pills? Whether his pills are from somewhere else or if he can even refine them, it’s still taking business away. There’s no way she’d allow that.
The Star Dome Trading Hall is already one of the largest pill vendors in the Four Path marketplace.
In truth, Wang Jie had thought of another idea, but he hadn’t mentioned it to Du Xian yet.
Du Xian tries to persuade him not to sell pills, but for Wang Jie, his only options are refining or pills.
At the moment, to open a shop, he needs seed money. He still needs to buy intel, and his funds are running low.
“I’m not sure if Star Dome would buy a Strange planet.”
Du Xian’s eyes light up. “You have a Strange planet?”
Wang Jie takes a sip of tea calmly. “I think so. I haven’t confirmed it yet. It came from Lie Qiu.”
Du Xian is impressed. “Customer, you’re lucky. So, are you looking to sell it? May I ask if that planet currently belongs to you?”
“It should. Lie Qiu used it to buy my life. Either way, it doesn’t belong to him. You can verify it. Once it’s confirmed, you can pay me.”
“Of course. But I must inform you, the trade of a Strange planet involves a lot. Unlike intel, there’s ownership, location, difficulty in mining, and the potential power evaluation of the planet. All these will affect the final price.”
“Go ahead and verify it. Just give me an offer. I trust you won’t cheat me.”
Du Xian smiles brightly. “Of course.”
Wang Jie remembers something. “By the way, I want to pay with rare star stones.”
Du Xian is surprised. “Rare star stones?”
Wang Jie nods. “Yes, rare star stones.”
Du Xian hesitates. “Rare star stones don’t circulate much in the market. Anything discovered is usually collected by the major factions. The truly unique rare star stones are kept as collectibles. If you want them, it’ll have to be the more common ones.”
Wang Jie isn’t bothered. He needs rare star stones for refining pills. Ordinary star force wouldn’t work well for the process.
At the Frost Radiance sect, Celestial Refinement pills used Frost Hua star force, and ordinary star force wouldn’t have much effect. Star force is just a material, and like any material, it should have its characteristics.
He wants to use strange star force to refine pills to sell and improve their quality. This is a profitable venture. But without Master Luan, he has to figure it out himself.
For now, he’s not picky. Any rare star stone will do.
Du Xian agrees but reminds him that rare star stones are priced similarly to starsea stones, and their price can vary depending on their unique power.
After discussing these details, Wang Jie moves on to buy the intel.
Du Xian initially thought he was going to buy information to help Zhi Qing against Xing Xue and the others, but to her surprise, he’s buying intel on influential individuals in the Three Paths within the Four Path marketplace, all full star realm cultivators. It’s not about helping Zhi Qing at all.
She doesn’t quite understand what Wang Jie intends to do.
As for the price of the intel, it’s two million star stones.
“What? How much?”
Du Xian’s smile remains unchanged. “Two million star stones. A special friendship price.”
Wang Jie grits his teeth. “I bought Nie Zhou’s intel for only fifty thousand star stones.”
“That was for a dead man, and a lock force cultivator at that. Now, you’re buying intel on full star realm cultivators, some even in artifact forging dao, alchemy dao, and formation dao—people with influence. If this information leaks, we’ll be implicated. You wouldn’t want us to lose our footing in the Black White Heaven, right?” Du Xian says, sounding a little aggrieved.
Wang Jie thinks to himself, I don’t trust you at all. Don’t even talk about selling information on realm lords in the Black White Heaven…
Reluctantly, he digs into his pockets. He has no choice—the information is in their hands.
If he had more time, he could’ve gathered this intel over six months or a year, but he doesn’t have that kind of time.
He believes the news will reach the Zhi Upper Realm eventually.
Xing Xue can help him, and Zhi Qing can deal with him.
The Lock Path interval might be beyond their reach, but the Zhi Academy is not.
No time to wait.
Two million star stones. Fine.
At least it’s less than the four million he was scammed for at the Lock Path interval.
Now, Zhi Academy has only scammed him two million. Not bad. He’ll earn it all back once the shop opens. It’ll happen soon. Definitely.