Chapter 35: Xie Jiuniang’s Thriving Business

For seven consecutive days, Xie Jiuniang ventured deep into the assessment grounds. 

She encountered more and more people along the way, mostly in groups of three or two, looking haggard and worn out. 

In contrast, Xie Jiuniang was spotless. With her small stature, she would squeeze into crowded areas and diligently set up her stall, focusing on selling talismans.

They were all common talismans found in the market, such as Agility Talismans, Insect Repellent Talismans, Vajra Talismans, and Defensive Talismans. 

The only rare talisman she sold was the Binding Talisman.

Strategically important talismans like Explosive Talismans, Invisibility Talismans, Earth Traversing Talismans, Aura Concealment Talismans, and Flying Talismans were not sold at all.

It wasn’t as if no one tried to rob Xie Jiuniang along the way, but they had to catch up to her first.

Even those who managed to catch up couldn’t defeat her. The number of talismans on her body was enough to make one question their life choices.

At first, the Nascent Soul elder in charge of the assessment didn’t pay much attention. Later, they discovered this oddity who has been selling goods at high prices everywhere and earning a fortune.

Even the jerky was almost sold out!

The four people who followed, including Cheng Huaixin, were surprised. “Someone actually bought the jerky?”

“What? Want some?” Xie Jiuniang looked them up and down. “If you don’t buy it soon, there won’t be any left.”

“No, no thanks!” Cheng Huaixin and the others quickly shook their heads. They’d rather starve than eat it!

Xie Jiuniang sighed with regret. “You don’t know what’s good.”

The jerky that no one bought outside was selling like hotcakes here.

It’s not like having enough Fasting Pills meant you didn’t have to worry. You still needed the ability to hold onto them.

According to Xie Jiuniang’s knowledge, this year, the elders in charge of the sect’s assessment were not kind. To increase the difficulty, they arranged for over a thousand inner sect disciples to disguise themselves among the crowd, specifically to rob the little newbies of their Fasting Pills.

As time passed, the further they went, the harder it became to travel. The number of people running out of supplies would only increase.

Her business would only get better.

Most of the people participating in the assessment came from well-off families. Their daily routine consisted of cultivation and more cultivation. Expecting them to fend for themselves and find food?

Don’t make it difficult for the kids. They couldn’t figure it out.

This was the wisdom gained from Xie Jiuniang’s previous life.

As for those who didn’t have enough spirit stones to pay?

As long as they didn’t lose their minds, there were always more solutions than difficulties. They could either exchange spiritual plants and materials, or add a 10% interest to the bill and sign an IOU.

With a signature and handprint, it was all clear and above board.

Of course, Xie Jiuniang didn’t agree to IOUs from just anyone. Only those she had a good impression of from her previous life and had a decent reputation.

As for deadbeats, she refused them without exception.

At the same time, Xie Jiuniang also noticed that apart from Cheng Huaixin and Mo Chuan’s group, no one else deliberately approached her.

After being tricked by her, Mo Chuan never showed up again. However, she did meet the Gan siblings once. They had already separated from their teammates, and they were delighted to see her. They immediately purchased two bone knives and various talismans.

Surprisingly, the Gan siblings left right after making their purchase, without proposing to team up with her.

Could it be that Mo Chuan had given up?

Cheng Huaixin only stood there for a while and witnessed the three people trading with Xie Jiuniang. “Fellow Daoist Xie, I see your business is doing well.”

“It’s alright, just getting by, haha.” Xie Jiuniang played it down. “Fellow Daoist Cheng, what do you want to buy this time?”

“Do you have Insect Repellent Talismans? I’ll take ten.”

“You’re lucky you came early. There are only a dozen or so left.” Xie Jiuniang took out ten Insect Repellent Talismans. “Among the talismans, Insect Repellent Talismans sell the best.”

She felt delighted after taking the spirit stones.

In just seven days, 90% of her small inventory had been sold. She initially planned to wait for her parents to open a small shop in the sect’s market and have them help sell the goods.

Now, there was no need to bother them.

Her spirit stone income amounted to almost 80,000, and she had also acquired a fair amount of miscellaneous items in exchange. Most importantly, the prices she sold it were several times higher than outside.

The jerky was even more of a zero-cost business.

A wild demon boar alone yielded almost 500 pounds of jerky. Just selling a few of them meant profit. Moreover, during the assessment period, there was no shortage of meat to pick up. Many people killed demonic beasts and left the carcasses on the spot.

It was literally free meat!

It was just that no one had ever been able to participate in a major sect’s assessment as leisurely as Xie Jiuniang.

“Master, if I eat some more spirit stones, I might recover a small portion of my memory. Perhaps I’ll remember some divine-level techniques or immortal-level sword arts…”

The sword spirit in the covenant space had been quiet for a few days, but seeing the pile of spirit stones, it couldn’t help but want to freeload.

The corners of Xie Jiuniang’s mouth curled up slightly. “How many tens of thousands of spirit stones do you need to eat to guarantee you’ll remember?”

“Not sure, it’s a matter of probability…” The sword spirit mumbled.

“Then forget it. You’re obviously a huge resource drain. My family’s business is small. We can’t afford to keep you.” It was better to use the spirit stones to enhance her own cultivation first.

Due to their contractual relationship, the sword spirit could vaguely guess some of her thoughts. It wanted to cry and weakly said its a childish voice, “I-I can work for you.””

“What can you do?”

“I can do many things. I can kill demonic beasts, find spiritual plants, slice meat, and make jerky.” The sword spirit strived to prove its usefulness.

Xie Jiuniang said with a hint of disdain,  “I haven’t seen you work before. How do I know if you’re capable or not?”

“I can try it first.”

“Alright, you can try tonight.”

Xie Jiuniang didn’t want to reveal the existence of the broken sword yet. Tonight, they could find a cave to rest, set up a formation, and conveniently let the sword spirit try its hand at work.

That night, inside a mountain cave.

A broken sword flew around, working diligently.

It was very efficient at slicing raw meat.

Because its stingy master said that it could keep half of the spirit stones earned from the jerky.

Halfway through, the sword spirit couldn’t help asking, “Stingy Master, you’ll really give me half of the earned spirit stones, right? Not just adding it to my account?”

“Yes, what’s earned on the day will be settled on the day, no record-keeping.” Xie Jiuniang was quite generous.

If you want the horse to run, you have to let the horse eat grass first.

Xie Jiuniang had a flash of inspiration and found a way to speed up the jerky-making process. She used a large pot to boil the sliced meat strips together with saltwater.

Once cooked, the meat was scooped out and placed on a stone slab. A few Dust Repelling Techniques later, it was about 70-80% dry.

Xie Jiuniang didn’t care if the jerky tasted good or not. As long as it didn’t kill anyone, it was fine. Then, one person and one sword began their journey of selling jerky.

Xie Jiuniang’s direction and route were not fixed. Cheng Huaixin and the others couldn’t keep up even if they wanted to, so they had no choice but to give up and focus on the assessment.

Ever since the sword spirit could earn spirit stones every day, it worked tirelessly through the night as if injected with chicken blood, putting in extra effort.

Xie Jiuniang’s business thrived more and more.

Not only did the examinees know about a little girl selling jerky everywhere, but it also became a hot topic within the sect.

Over a hundred disguised sect disciples also wanted to target Xie Jiuniang, this little fat sheep. However, she always set up formations when resting and fled quickly whenever someone set their sights on her.

Not a single person managed to catch her.

These good times came to an end after twenty days into the assessment.

Xie Jiuniang encountered over a dozen sect disciples working together to block her way. She wasted more than thirty Explosive Talismans to escape.

“Damn it, these bastards are ruthless! Bullying a little girl like me, they have no shame!”

“It must be because we earned too much and attracted attention…”

Xie Jiuniang cursed inwardly as she fled.

The inner sect disciples blocking Xie Jiuniang weren’t having it easy either. They were all covered in dust and dirt.

Where did this little rich girl come from?

How come the talismans on her body seem inexhaustible?!

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