Chapter 308: Training Mission

"One hundred and fifty thousand Spirit-Concentration Pills..." Wen Yulong couldn't help but exclaim as he stared at the gourds filling the entire warehouse.

Chu Liang stayed calm, waving his hand to store the Spirit-Concentration Pills into his storage artifact one by one. The warehouse would fill up about two of his storage items, and he had brought four more just in case.

This scene seemed like an exaggeration.

Finally, Wen Yulong couldn't help but ask, "Senior Brother Chu, what are you going to do with so many Spirit-Concentration Pills?"

What's the point of purchasing this many Spirit-Concentration Pills?

Chu Liang smiled slightly and did not answer.

The explanation would have to start two days ago, when the higher-ups of the Mount Shu Sect decided to mint more sword coins. When Venerable Wen Yuan made the announcement, most disciples were confused and couldn't understand the reasoning behind the decision.

However, when the news was released, Chu Liang sensed that something was wrong.

It was decided that the thirty-five peaks of the Mount Shu Sect would issue thirty percent more sword coins, and the resources for disciples would also increase by thirty percent. Additionally, the Sword Exchange Hall would raise their pay, and all the halls on Mount Shu would increase their prices by thirty percent. With the price increase, it almost seemed as though the influx of sword coins had become meaningless.

But this meant that the sword coins that Chu Liang was hoarding immediately depreciated.

He immediately realized that the higher-ups of the Mount Shu Sect were targeting him. It happened sooner than he anticipated, but he had expected them to use such methods.

It seemed that although the higher-ups of the Mount Shu Sect had never studied economics, they had enough wisdom to quickly come up with countermeasures once they recognized the problem.

However, Chu Liang also had a well-thought-out contingency plan.

If Chu Liang had been heartless, he could have taken advantage of his market foresight and made large-scale purchases of pills, spirit plants, and other valuable commodities within the Mount Shu Sect.

With these items having limited stock, the sudden large-scale purchase would result in the market becoming depleted. With the Mount Shu Sect having issued more sword coins, everyone would have money, which would drive prices extremely high.

While prices were extremely high, he could release the items in batches at those high prices and accumulate more sword coins. This would lead to the depreciation of the money held by the Mount Shu disciples. With his ample capital, he would maintain control of the market.

Of course, by doing so, he could anger the higher-ups and bring about more direct sanctions.

Even if there were no sanctions, Chu Liang felt reluctant to cause trouble on Mount Shu. After all, no matter how much he could scheme, he was doing it to his own sect, which meant that his fellow disciples would be the ones to suffer in the end.

Mount Shu was just a small pond, and sword coins were merely like sect contribution points, circulating only among the few thousand people in the Mount Shu Sect, with a fixed amount at any given time.

After playing this game for merely half a year, Chu Liang was about to become the richest person on Mount Shu...

Once a few more batches of earnings from the Berry Park were settled, he would undoubtedly be the richest. Therefore, there was no point in continuing this struggle with the higher-ups.

But Taotie City was different.

Taotie City was the hub of commercial activities, and its currency was recognized by the entire world of immortal cultivators.

The amount of spirit-stone coins in circulation was sufficient for over a hundred thousand cultivators. In fact, the current trend showed that the currency was even starting to be used among mortals and ordinary people.

In some locations, commoners were even using Taotie City's beast coins for transactions involving more expensive items.

If Mount Shu was a pond, then Taotie City would undoubtedly be an ocean!

Chu Liang had accumulated significant capital in the small pond, but in the vast ocean of Taotie City, this amount of capital only barely granted him the qualification to step into the game.

First, he needed to exchange his sword coins for hard currency.

The people in Taotie City were willing to exchange various sects' spirit-stone currencies because they could use them to trade for resources at those sects. If they discovered that the same amount of sword coins could be exchanged for fewer resources at Mount Shu, they would definitely lower the exchange rate.

Fortunately, the market had yet to react to the changes, allowing Chu Liang to expend a large amount of sword coins before the market realized that their value had depreciated.

However, he needed to carefully consider the type of hard currency he should choose for the trade.

The obvious answer was pills. Everyone needed them, making pills the easiest item to sell.

He could easily spend tens of thousands of sword coins on an artifact or a spirit beast, but it would be difficult to sell them.

For hard currency, pills such as Qi-Concentration Pills and Spirit-Concentration Pills were the best options. However, the quantity of Qi-Concentration Pills was too large for him to manage, so Chu Liang set his sights on Spirit-Concentration Pills.

Spirit-Concentration Pills were usually bought in bulk, which meant that even slightly famous alchemists would never bother to refine these pills.

Most of the Spirit-Concentration Pills in the Taotie City were really provided by the immortal sects in the Divine Nine.

Only immortal sects could support a hall for large-scale pill refinement, like the Hall of Alchemy, which had enough disciples to mass-produce lower-level pills like Spirit-Concentration Pills and sell them to Taotie City's pill shops for profit.

Chu Liang had firsthand information that, due to the recent battle at Mount Shu, the Hall of Alchemy was destroyed by Taowu and would take at least twenty days to restore its previous production capacity.

This meant that the supply of Spirit-Concentration Pills in Taotie City would drop by ten percent for a while.

Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't have much impact because there would still be enough supply in the market. But what if someone bought up a large portion of that supply?

The stock of Spirit-Concentration Pills at Precious Pill Pavilion alone wasn't enough to meet Chu Liang's needs. They helped him contact several other pill shops, and Chu Liang ended up buying over half of Taotie City's supply in one go.

Due to the bulk purchase, he managed to get a discount. The normal price for Spirit-Concentration Pills was two for one sword coin, but he got five pills for two sword coins.

He set aside a few thousand sword coins as readily available assets and invested the remaining sixty thousand sword coins, purchasing a total of one hundred and fifty thousand pills.

"Junior Brother Wen, please stay in Taotie City for a few more days. I'll take care of all your expenses," Chu Liang instructed before leaving. "Keep a close watch on the prices of Spirit-Concentration Pills in the city. If the prices start to increase, inform me immediately."

"Alright," Wen Yulong agreed cheerfully, despite feeling a bit puzzled.

...

Chu Liang returned to Mount Shu with a sense of great satisfaction, having achieved a bountiful harvest.

He wasn't worried about the purchase of the Spirit-Concentration Pills being a failed investment. He could always use them himself. The Golden Core Puppet needed three pills daily for training and more during fights. He could save them and use them gradually.

Shortly after returning to Silver Sword Peak and contemplating a visit to the fruit garden, he received an urgent summons from Heaven-Reaching Peak, prompting him to come over immediately.

Chu Liang rushed over and found Senior Sister Jiang, Xu Ziyang, and Ling Ao already waiting upon his arrival.

Jiang Yuebai sat gracefully in the front row, her appearance still radiant, but Chu Liang couldn't help but notice a slight dullness in her eyes.

She didn't seem very happy.

Xu Ziyang was his usual self, unaffected in demeanor. He stood tall, chest out, head held high, radiating confidence. Since his battle with Chu Liang, he appeared even more determined.

Ling Ao, on the other hand, had undergone quite a change—he had trimmed his bangs.

The grand peak master, Wang Xuanling, sat on top. Upon Chu Liang's arrival, he gave a slight nod and motioned for him to take a seat.

"After every Mount Shu Summit, the top four disciples will typically embark on a mission together. It serves as both an opportunity for training and a way to foster teamwork," Wang Xuanling explained once everyone had gathered. "This year, due to recent events, the mission was postponed. Now that the Mount Shu Sect has recovered, it's time to resume this tradition."

The disciples understood this tradition well.

The mission's purpose was to foster teamwork rather than solely for training. With the Immortal Sect Conference scheduled to take place next year in the Capital of Yu, the four of them would probably represent Mount Shu, provided nothing unexpected occurred.

They needed to cultivate strong teamwork in order to effectively represent their sect in battle.

"There's a suitable mission available here, so I suggested it to the sect leader as your training mission," Wang Xuanling continued. "Go back and get ready. You will leave at noon tomorrow; don't be late."

"Yes!" the four responded in unison.

After leaving the pavilion, Chu Liang caught Jiang Yuebai's eye, and they exchanged a knowing glance before heading towards Treasured Pagoda Peak together.

It wasn't clear if the top four needed to work on their teamwork, but Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai definitely had a strong bond.

At their usual spot, Jiang Yuebai sat down gracefully.

"Senior Sister Jiang, are you feeling unhappy about something?" Chu Liang asked.

Jiang Yuebai lowered her head and whispered, "Chu Liang... I discovered that the person who may have broken the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda was actually my teacher's great-grandfather."