The next morning, a visitor arrived at Luo Chen's courtyard. It was Xiao Yue, the gentle young girl who had gradually grown more confident over the past few months.
"Big Brother Luo, this is the income for this month, a total of six hundred twenty low-grade spirit stones." she said softly, her eyes bright with excitement as she retrieved a pile of spirit stones from her storage pouch and blinked.
Luo Chen raised an eyebrow, noticing the familiar storage pouch in her hand. "Did your grandfather give you his storage pouch?"
Xiao Yue gently caressed the storage pouch with a deep expression and nodded lightly.
It was more than just a storage pouch. It was also her father's keepsake.
The pouch had belonged to Leaping Tiger, her father, who had fallen in the deadly match on the Debate Platform. Before his final battle, he had entrusted the pouch to Old Yuan, her grandfather and never to return. All he left behind was the elderly and the young, a pair of vulnerable dependents.
“Grandfather said my business is growing, and I'm handling more goods and spirit stones now. It's more convenient with a storage pouch,” Xiao Yue explained.
Using a storage pouch at just the second stage of Qi-Refining was something possible only in the relatively safe inner city.
Luo Chen felt a tinge of envy. Why didn't he have such an inheritance when he transmigrated?
He lightly tapped the spirit stones and calculated their accounts based on pricing. He had initially invested two hundred spirit stones—half for producing celestial beans and popcorn, the other half for purchasing pineapple wine.
Now he had recovered over six hundred, which was a decent profit. It was just a pity that Dahe Market had only one Debate Platform; otherwise, the business could have expanded significantly.
After doing the math, there were no major discrepancies.
Luo Chen wasn't worried about the Yuan family deceiving him.
First, this small business was something he started on a whim, casually.
Second, the Yuan family's reputation was well-known. When he brought them a simple wheelchair, Old Yuan had gifted him a hundred-year-old green gourd in return.
And third! Looking at the young girl, Luo Chen couldn't help but smile.
This was also his way of building goodwill. By caring for a disabled man and a young girl, he had earned a considerable amount of goodwill within the Poshan Gang.
When Dragon Coil Tiger and the leader of the Mining Hall decided to support him, these factors likely played a role.
After storing most of the spirit stones in his pouch, Luo Chen set aside thirty low-grade spirit stones and handed them back to Xiao Yue.
"Here, take this—it's your pay for last month."
Xiao Yue carefully placed the spirit stones into her pouch, her soft and delicate face lighting up with excitement. This was the first time she had earned spirit stones through her own hard work. She was finally no longer a child who could only rely on her father and grandfather!
Seeing the excited girl, Luo Chen couldn't resist ruffling her smooth hair. "Work hard, and I'll give you a raise in the future! Your Brother Luo isn't some heartless and unscrupulous boss."
"Mm-hmm!"
"Oh, there's some snacks I made over the past few days in the room. Pack them up—it'll be enough for you to sell next month."
"Okay, I'll go get them!" Watching the little girl excitedly rush into the room, packing the celestial beans, beef jerky, and popcorn into her storage pouch one by one.
Luo Chen couldn't help but smile.
In truth, this small business was quite decent. The profits weren't large, given that the Debate Platform was the only venue.
But earning a few hundred spirit stones extra per month was something anyone would be happy with.
It's just that if I get busy in the future, I might not have the time to make these snacks. Luo Chen rubbed his chin, pondering how to handle this. He couldn't let Xiao Yue taste success and then immediately lose her job, could he?
With these thoughts, Luo Chen left the inner city.
At the city gate, Zhou Yuanli and Liu Qiang were already waiting for him.
Seeing the two, Luo Chen's lips curved into a smile! I, Little Luo, am now someone who gets escorted to and from work by bodyguards!
"Hall Leader Luo, are we heading straight to Crescent Moon Valley?"
"No, today we're going to the Lancang Dock!"
Zhou Yuanli said with concern, "That's Dajiang Gang territory."
"Isn't it also our territory?" Luo Chen countered.
With that, he paid no further attention to the two and activated his Cloud-Stepping Boots, flying leisurely toward the Lancang Dock.
The two exchanged glances and quickly followed.
***
The Lancang Dock was the largest external dock connected to Dahe Market. It connected Dahe Market internally and the Lancang River externally, serving as a crucial hub for south-north transit and logistics.
For large spirit materials that couldn't easily be transported in storage pouches, almost everything was moved by water routes.
After all, you couldn't exactly have cultivators carrying thousand-meter-long logs or iron ore dozens of meters thick flying across thousands of li. Because of this, the interests tied to the Lancang Dock were enormous.
In fact, a commercial district the size of a small town had sprung up around it and the ruler of this area was none other than the Dajiang Gang.
Of course, the Poshan Gang now had a foothold here too.
After the deathmatch on the Debate Platform, the Poshan Gang had forcibly inserted themselves into the water transportation business.
After greeting Wang Yuan, who was stationed here, Luo Chen, along with his two bodyguards, eagerly headed toward the dock.
A dozen large ships were docked neatly within the harbor.
Along the way, many early and mid-stage cultivators were busy, moving goods or transporting passengers. Others shouted loudly, recommending various cultivation resources to rogue cultivators newly arrived at Dahe Market.
Luo Chen watched with great interest before arriving at his destination.
It was a large ship marked with the characters "Jia Er".