The sun was shining brightly, and the swallows were chirping melodiously.
The "Selling Incense to Make Money" plan had been underway for two days.
Sales were zero.
Jin Xu felt there might be some problems with the plan, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what the issues were.
In the great hall, the young Taoist sat on a meditation cushion older than himself.
He silently awaited the arrival of the first incense buyer.
Instead of an incense buyer, an unexpected acquaintance appeared. It was Zhao Dabao, the young master of the Zhao family, who had once invited him for a meal in Gusu City.
"Jin Xu, I just knew it was you!"
A cheerful, portly man in a golden silk robe walked into the hall.
He then proceeded to say, "When I was at Yingchun House a few days ago, seeking pleasures with Xiangxiang, I heard that two hundred miles outside of Gusu City there emerged an extraordinary person, a young Taoist with powerful ability to subdue demons, and what's most intriguing is that this young Taoist, whenever he exorcises demons, is accompanied by two stunning beauties. I immediately thought of you."
"Would you like to buy some incense?"
Jin Xu, sitting on the meditation cushion, was unmoved by Zhao Dabao's small talk.
What? Zhao Dabao doubted he heard correctly.
"Blessed tall incense, five hundred wen a stick."
Eventually, Zhao Dabao spent two taels of silver to buy four thick sticks of blessed tall incense.
Jin Xu was happy, as the hardest thing is to start, but with a beginning, things should hopefully become easier.
Indeed, just as Zhao Dabao was about to discuss his main business with Jin Xu,
another voice came from outside.
"Young Taoist, I've come to deliver some scrolls to you!"
"Would you like to buy some incense?"
A moment later, Xu Qian, who came to deliver the scrolls, also ended up purchasing four sticks of tall incense.
"Young Taoist."
"Jin Xu."
Both men called out in unison.
Zhao Dabao looked at Xu Qian and chucklingly said, "This gentleman must be the watchman, right? It seems you are on official duty; you go ahead, you go ahead."
After a few polite refusals from Xu Qian, he stepped forward and handed the copied scrolls to Jin Xu.
"I had intended to bring these scrolls to you the day before yesterday, but Xiangxiang from Yingchun House simply wouldn't let me leave, so clingy she was, insisting on marrying me. It took me great pains to comfort her before I could escape. Hence the delay."
"Yingchun House, Xiangxiang?"
Had he just heard that name before?
The young Taoist looked at the seventh-grade watchman with a complex expression.
Xu Qian, thinking Jin Xu was just envious of him, gleefully went on with another long tale of his adventures with Xiangxiang.
The young Taoist then glanced at Zhao Dabao.
Zhao Dabao cheerfully remarked, "Birds of a feather, birds of a feather."
Jin Xu checked the contents of the scrolls, and it was exactly as Xu Qian had described that night.
The young Taoist returned the copied scrolls to him, then saw him pulling out a few shiny stones from his chest.
"This is the reward for the case in Da An Village, originally there was also a hundred taels of gold, but a transcendental being like yourself surely wouldn't care for such worldly items, so I gave it to Xiangxiang. I've only brought these ten mid-grade spirit stones to you."
He continued recounting his story with Xiangxiang.
Jin Xu accepted the mid-grade spirit stones with a calm expression.
He hadn't seen them before, but from the fantasy novels he had read, these were supposed to be quite valuable.
Thus, he was willing to take a look first, then consider the matter of the hundred taels of gold.
Holding them in his hand and probing them with golden spiritual power, he sensed some slight spiritual energy inside.
With a light inhale.
Gone?
The exuberant Xu Qian was also stunned.
He saw the young Taoist accept the spirit stones, place them in his palm, and in an instant, the mid-grade spirit stones turned from being full of spiritual energy into a small pile of useless gravel.
Mid-grade spirit stones.
He could absorb one for half a month!
Was that even a second?
Then Xu Qian saw the little Taoist pick up the remaining nine mid-grade Spirit Stones one by one.
Soon, there were neatly arranged ten small piles of discarded stone debris in front of him.
"Is he tricking me? There's less Spiritual Energy here than in a bucket of water from the backyard well."
Jin Xu thought to himself while recalling what An Laoxiang had said a few days ago, that it was under Xu Qian's guidance he had prepared such a sincerely generous gift.
New grudges and old resentments!
He raised his hand and pointed at Zhao Dabao, asking Xu Qian.
"Do you know how he found this place?"
Xu Qian, clueless, stared at the fat man in a golden silk robe, who was always chuckling.
"Xiangxiang from Yingchun House told him after their fun was over, that I was here."
.....
Xu Qian retreated to a corner of the main hall, experiencing another social death, and decided that if he ever went to Yingchun House again, he would be a dog.
At that moment, Zhao Dabao cheerfully stepped forward.
He had been listening in for a while and had roughly understood the situation.
However, it was clear that his skin was much thicker than Xu Qian's. Acting the part was a necessary skill for the ladies in a brothel, after all. He even advised the watchman to see the lighter side of things.
He then turned around and deeply bowed to Jin Xu.
"Jin Xu, please help me. My life is at stake this time, Elder Zhao."
The Zhao family was a prominent clan in Gusu City.
The family had members serving as officials at court, as well as those who had joined sects and those who remained to cultivate within the family.
Zhao Dabao was the beloved only child of the head of the Zhao family and he was also very capable, always managing the family business and dealing with people in the best way among his peers.
But he couldn't cultivate.
Even though his own father was a Nascent Soul Realm warrior, he tragically lacked a Spirit Root.
If he didn't look so much like his father, he might have suspected he wasn't his real son.
According to rumors circulated by the servants within the mansion, it seemed that his inability to cultivate was due to an injury his mother sustained while pregnant with him.
Zhao Dabao didn't know the truth.
He had never even seen his mother.
He had asked his father about it once, and afterward, those servants who had gossiped disappeared.
Being precocious, he never asked his father again.
"What's this about your life being at stake?" Jin Xu asked while sitting on a cushion.
"Didn't you Taoists have a feast in Gusu City last time?"
Could this man be asking for the cost of the meal now?
Zhao Dabao didn't know what Jin Xu was thinking and continued, "That feast was to celebrate a junior of the Zhao family who had advanced to the position of steward in the inner gate of Medicine King Valley. That person is my cousin. I recently heard that he is returning to the Zhao family and wants to support his father in becoming the clan leader."
Is this a case of relying on one's son to leverage the father's position?
Then Zhao Dabao explained to Jin Xu that his inability to cultivate would become a point of attack against his father.
Although his cousin's father wasn't as high in cultivation as Zhao Dabao's father, this cousin was bringing back an elder from Medicine King Valley.
It was said that this would also bring some deals regarding Spiritual Medicines to the family and Medicine King Valley.
Jin Xu pondered what a Spirit Root was.
Why hadn't his master mentioned this to him during his cultivation training?
He then opened his mouth.
"So, do you want me to help you kill that cousin of yours, or his father, or maybe that elder?"
Jin Xu was not one to kill without a reason.
"Not that... No! What I discovered was a Formation containing an Enlightenment Pill that hasn't appeared in years. I want you, Jin Xu, to help me, Old Zhao, retrieve it."
Zhao Dabao wiped the non-existent cold sweat from his forehead, nearly misled by the young Taoist.
"Enlightenment Pill?"
"The one said to forcibly awaken a Spirit Root in ordinary humans who do not possess one?"
Xu Qian, standing in the corner of the hall, chimed in.