Chapter 51: The Snowballing Wealth

Deep within the black market, Lin Chuan, once again draped in his black cloak, stood before the counter of the Myriad Treasures Chamber of Commerce.

Manager Zhao behind the counter wore a full smile, though the corners of his eyes twitched uncontrollably—the "Spirit Puppet Wood" this mysterious guest had sold them half a day ago had now been bought right back at the original price.

A short while later, Lin Chuan returned to the Earth Fire Courtyard carrying three sections of Spirit Puppet Wood, which were entirely emerald green and shaped like human bones.

Old Zi had been waiting for a long time. The moment he laid eyes on the Spirit Puppet Wood, a look of greed flashed in his eyes.

"Good stuff!"

Old Zi rubbed his hands together. "With this quality, the spirit puppets refined from it can last at least three years!"

Lin Chuan tossed the Spirit Puppet Wood to him. "Finish the refining as soon as possible. Zhang Yida's split soul is already prepared."

Old Zi nodded repeatedly, cradling the Spirit Puppet Wood as he floated toward a temporarily converted artifact-refining room.

Over the next three days, the Earth Fire Courtyard was exceptionally busy.

Old Zi worked day and night without rest to refine the spirit puppet avatars; meanwhile, Zhang Yida's physical body endured the tempering of the "Human Pill Art" twice a day. Because his soul had already been elevated to the peak of the Profound Martial realm, he was able to withstand it.

Every session of tempering caused Zhang Yida excruciating pain, but the results were also immediate.

"Hoo—"

On the evening of the third day, Zhang Yida let out a long breath and opened his eyes.

To his astonishment, his cultivation had leaped from the third layer of the Spirit Martial realm all the way to the sixth layer!

"Th-this is way too fast!"

In disbelief, he checked his Dantian inwardly. The spiritual energy there was abundant, his meridians were unobstructed, and there was not the slightest sensation of instability.

Old Zi's voice drifted in from outside the door: "Kid, come take a look at your new helpers!"

Zhang Yida stepped out of the alchemy furnace room and instantly froze in his tracks.

Inside the alchemy room, the original single alchemy furnace had turned into four. In front of three of the furnaces sat a "himself"—those were the spirit puppet avatars controlled by his split souls, and they were skillfully refining Spirit Gathering Pills!

"This..."

Zhang Yida rubbed his eyes. The three avatars turned their heads simultaneously, flashing identical smiles at him.

"The main body is awake?" said the first avatar. "The furnace temperature has already been properly controlled."

"The second batch of pills has also begun refining," the second avatar followed up.

"The third batch will be ready to yield pills in just a moment," the third avatar added.

Zhang Yida's jaw dropped. The sensation of talking to oneself was utterly bizarre.

Yet very soon, an alchemist's instinct drove him forward to inspect the avatars' operations.

"The heat control is quite good, and this refining technique is identical to mine..."

He muttered a subconscious evaluation, then remembered that these avatars were literally himself, and their techniques were his own.

The three avatars nodded in unison: "We learned it all from you."

Witnessing this scene, Lin Chuan and Fatty standing at the doorway exchanged a smile. The first step of the plan had succeeded.

Seven days later, when Lin Chuan returned fully loaded from another spirit-grade secret realm, the Soaring Firmament Apothecary had undergone earth-shaking changes.

The moment he stepped into the Earth Fire Courtyard, he was stunned by the sight before him—the courtyard was piled high with jade boxes containing pills, while Zhang Lin, Li Yu, and Wang Tiehu were flusteredly tallying the numbers.

"Brother Lin!"

Wang Tiehu was the first to spot Lin Chuan and shouted excitedly, "You're finally back!"

Lin Chuan glanced over the jade boxes, roughly estimating at least ten thousand Spirit Gathering Pills. "Is this... one week's output?"

Zhang Lin wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face beaming with pride. "To be precise, it's five days' output! Ever since the younger cousin got those three... uh... helpers, our production has quadrupled!"

Li Yu added, "And the quality hasn't dropped in the slightest. In fact, due to the clear division of labor, our pill-success rate has even increased by half a percent!"

Lin Chuan nodded with satisfaction. This already exceeded his expectations.

Just as he was about to inquire about the pawnshop, Zhang Lin eagerly began his report.

"Brother Lin, following your instructions, nine days ago we officially opened the 'Soaring Firmament Pawnshop'."

Zhang Lin pulled out a thick ledger. "Out of the sixty-two million lower-grade spirit stones lent out in the first batch, we recovered seventy-five million principal and interest combined within seven days!"

"A profit of thirteen million?"

Lin Chuan raised an eyebrow. "How is the situation with bad debts?"

Wang Tiehu eagerly interjected, "Almost none! With Old Zi's soul contract in place, nobody dares to default. The few who didn't return simply perished within the secret realms."

Li Yu added, "The seventy-five million we recovered has already been lent out again. The second batch of borrowers started entering the secret realms successively yesterday, and we should be able to recover over ninety million in seven days."

Lin Chuan rapidly calculated in his mind.

At this rate, in less than a month, his capital would double. Such exorbitant profits made even the most insane financial leverage on Earth pale in comparison.

"Well done."

Lin Chuan retrieved several jade bottles from his storage ring. "This is your reward."

Zhang Lin and the other two took the jade bottles, opened them, and instantly let out gasps of shock—inside were Profound-grade superior-grade "Marrow-Cleansing Pills," each worth over ten thousand lower-grade spirit stones!

"Th-this is too precious!"

Zhang Lin's hands were trembling slightly.

Lin Chuan waved a hand dismissively. "This is only the beginning."

He paused. "Starting today, each of you will receive a half-percent share of the profits from the Soaring Firmament Apothecary and the Soaring Firmament Pawnshop."

Upon hearing this, the three of them stood frozen on the spot.

A half-percent sounded small, but given their current profit velocity, that amounted to an income of several million spirit stones per person annually! Within the inner city of Heavenly Fortune City, that was enough to qualify them as minor magnates.

"L-Lin... Brother Lin..."

Wang Tiehu was so excited he became incoherent. "My life, Wang Tiehu's life, belongs to you from now on!"

Lin Chuan smiled and shook his head. "What would I want your life for? Just work hard."

He turned to Zhang Lin. "During the days I was away, is there anything else I need to know?"

Zhang Lin composed himself and reported, "My cousin's side... has added another twenty-six... um... helpers. But the earth fire arrays in the alchemy room can only support a maximum of five people refining pills simultaneously. We need to purchase five more courtyards equipped with earth fire arrays."

"Five courtyards?" Lin Chuan was slightly startled, then burst into delight. "Alright, small problem!"

Lin Chuan handed the seventy-some million lower-grade spirit stones he had harvested over the past seven days to Zhang Lin, tasking him with purchasing the five Earth Fire Courtyards, while directing the remainder of the funds to continue being lent out. He then turned and returned to the main bedchamber.

During these ten days, he had spent seven of them locked in slaughter within secret realms, pushing his cultivation to break through to the eighth layer of the Spirit Martial realm. He needed a few days of quiet seclusion to consolidate his boundary.

Two days later, when Lin Chuan emerged from seclusion once more, his entire demeanor had grown even more restrained.

Seeing that everything was on the right track and his wealth was snowballing rapidly, Lin Chuan wasted no time and plunged right back into another spirit-grade secret realm.