Chapter 52: Transitioning into Real Estate

When Lin Chuan walked out of the black market, the corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably.

Continuously sweeping through various spirit-grade secret realms over the past month had not only significantly boosted his wealth, but also elevated his cultivation realm to the first layer of the Profound Martial Realm through battles with secret realm beasts.

"The harvest these past seven days has been quite good."

He patted the bulging universe bag at his waist, inside which more than eighty million inferior spirit stones clinked merrily.

The streets of Heavenly Fortune City were bustling with people. Familiar with the layout, Lin Chuan navigated through several alleys and returned to the first earthly fire courtyard he had purchased.

Pushing open the courtyard door, Zhang Lin, Li Yu, Wang Tiehu, and Zhang Yida had been waiting for a long time.

"Brother Lin!"

Zhang Lin was the first to stand up, his face full of anticipation. "How did it go this time?"

Lin Chuan grinned and dumped the storage bag onto the stone table.

A cascading waterfall of spirit stones and crystal cards poured out, quickly piling up into a small mountain on the table, shimmering with an alluring glow in the sunlight.

"Over eighty-three million."

Lin Chuan dusted the spirit stone fragments from his hands. "Adding what we had before, how much do we have in total now?"

Zhang Lin immediately took out the ledger, his fingers gliding swiftly across the densely packed numbers: "Including the eighty-three million you brought back this time, the total assets of our soaring firm have reached over six hundred and ninety-eight million inferior spirit stones."

This figure instantly plunged the courtyard into silence.

The teacup in Li Yu's hand slipped and shattered on the ground, the tea splashing onto the hem of her skirt, but she remained completely oblivious.

"How, how much?"

Even Lin Chuan was stunned. Although he knew his wealth had grown rapidly over the past month, he had never expected it to approach the seven hundred million mark.

"Over six hundred and ninety-eight million."

Zhang Lin's voice trembled slightly. "According to our profit-sharing ratio, your personal wealth alone, Brother Lin, has exceeded six hundred and thirty million."

Lin Chuan slumped onto a stone stool, feeling as though none of this were real.

Three months ago, when he had just transmigrated to the Cangxuan Continent, he was still a penniless nobody. In just three short months, he had become a multi-hundred-millionaire.

"Chuan'er, you son of a bitch are truly a genius."

Little Fatty's voice echoed in his mind, carrying barely disguised amazement.

"When your dad here first cultivated to the Venerable Martial Realm, I didn't even have such a hefty net worth. You've only just broken through to the first layer of the Profound Martial Realm, yet you've accomplished something I couldn't even do in my early Venerable Martial days."

Lin Chuan rolled his eyes in his consciousness: "After pretending so much in front of outsiders, do you really think you're my dad? You're my good for nothing son, I'm your dad!"

"Hey, isn't this praising you?"

Little Fatty chuckled. "Though, to be fair, your money-making speed really startled me. If I could make money like this back then, it wouldn't have taken me over sixty thousand years to cultivate to the pinnacle of this universe."

"If you had the brain of your dad here, wouldn't you have gone back to Earth to find me long ago? Would you have needed to drag me into this place?"

Lin Chuan delivered a merciless counter-strike.

Little Fatty was instantly rendered speechless, only muttering after a long pause: "Brat, your wings are getting stiff, aren't they?"

Lin Chuan paid no more attention to Little Fatty's rambling and shifted his attention back to reality.

Zhang Lin and the others were still excitedly discussing the use of this astronomical wealth, their faces beaming with unrestrained joy.

"Brother Lin, should we start expanding the scale of our lending business next?"

Wang Tiehu suggested, "Now, the low-tier cultivators in Heavenly Fortune City all know that our soaring firm has great credibility and disburses loans quickly."

Lin Chuan shook his head, his gaze sweeping over everyone present: "No, I plan to gradually phase out the lending business."

These words were like a basin of cold water poured over everyone's heads.

Zhang Lin widened his eyes: "Phase it out? Why? This is precisely the most profitable time!"

"Precisely because it's the most profitable right now, that's why we should exit."

Lin Chuan picked up a spirit stone crystal card and twirled it between his fingers. "Have you guys calculated how many low-tier cultivators in Heavenly Fortune City have the capability yet lack startup capital?"

Li Yu pondered for a moment: "Around one million or so."

"Correct."

Lin Chuan nodded. "And we have already provided lending services to four or five hundred thousand people. Calculating at a minimum of two thousand inferior spirit stones borrowed per person, a small fraction of these people are already capable of independently covering the costs of entering secret realms and no longer need us."

He paused for a moment and continued, "More importantly, those who have extra money left over after deducting their own entry fees into secret realms will definitely imitate us and provide lending services to those around them as well. Within just a few rounds, our profits will plummet drastically."

Zhang Lin and the others looked at each other in dismay, clearly having failed to consider this angle.

Lin Chuan's analysis was like a sharp blade, dissecting the hidden worries beneath the superficial prosperity.

"Then... what should we do next?"

Li Yu asked cautiously.

The group began to discuss animatedly.

Some suggested opening a medicine shop, some said establishing a chamber of commerce, and others recommended investing in secret realm exploration teams.

Lin Chuan listened quietly, nodding from time to time, but his eyes always retained a hint of noncommittal thought.

The discussion lasted for about half an hour, and in the end, everyone unanimously agreed that expanding to run a medicine shop and a chamber of commerce was the most suitable path, because the lower-class people of Heavenly Fortune City had already grown wealthy, and wealth naturally bred consumption.

Lin Chuan was quite satisfied with this conclusion, but he still felt something was missing.

He suddenly looked at Zhang Lin and his wife: "Brother Zhang, Sister-in-law, what was your original purpose for coming to Heavenly Fortune City?"

This question left the couple stunned.

Recently, following Lin Chuan to make money—even with each of them only taking a half-percent share of the profits—their assets had reached tens of millions of inferior spirit stones, and for a moment they had truly forgotten their original intentions.

After a dozen breaths, Li Yu finally snapped out of it as if waking from a dream: "We... we originally just wanted to buy the smallest studio apartment in Heavenly Fortune City, so that our child would be born with official city residency."

"Snap!"

Lin Chuan snapped his fingers, his eyes flashing with shrewd brilliance.

"Not just you, all ordinary folks who come to Heavenly Fortune City share the initial goal of obtaining city residency. And right now, the cheapest small studio apartments in the outer city—measuring a mere ten by ten feet—cost five thousand inferior spirit stones."

He stood up, resting both hands on the stone table: "What if we buy a piece of land and develop housing?"

This idea struck everyone's minds like a bolt of lightning. Zhang Lin's mouth fell open: "But... but the land prices in Heavenly Fortune City..."

"That's why we need to make a move now."

A shrewd glint flashed in Lin Chuan's eyes. "Low-tier cultivators are just starting to get rich, and large-scale housing demand hasn't formed yet. We can stockpile land at low prices and then build high-rise apartment buildings."

Wang Tiehu didn't pay attention to the specific term "high-rise apartment buildings" and merely frowned: "But building houses requires a massive amount of capital and time..."

"We have seven hundred million in capital."

Lin Chuan interrupted him. "As for time, the craftsmen in Heavenly Fortune City all possess cultivation bases, making their construction speed far superior to the mortal world. A building can be put up in no time. More importantly, we can do pre-sales."

"Pre-sales?"

Everyone asked in unison.

Lin Chuan smiled and explained: "It means having homebuyers pay a portion of the deposit first, and we use that money for construction. This not only solves the issue of capital turnover but also locks in clients in advance."

Zhang Lin's eyes grew brighter and brighter: "Brilliant! This way, we only need to shell out the principal for the land, and we can get the houses built."

"Not just that."

Lin Chuan continued, "We can also introduce 'installment payments,' allowing those cultivators who temporarily cannot produce the full sum to continue taking out loans from our soaring firm. Of course, a certain interest rate will apply."

Li Yu drew a sharp breath: "This... this is simply combining lending and housing!"

Lin Chuan smiled without answering.

This business model, commonplace on Earth, sounded like sheer fantasy in the cultivation world. But he knew that the essence of commerce was the same everywhere—discovering demand, satisfying demand, and creating profit.

"However..."

Lin Chuan suddenly changed the subject, "The prerequisite for launching this project is that we must acquire a large amount of land."

He looked at Wang Tiehu: "Brother Tiehu, go inquire if Heavenly Fortune Tower has any land for sale."

He then turned to Li Yu: "Sister-in-law, you are responsible for finding craftsmen to build the houses."

Finally, he instructed Zhang Lin: "Brother Zhang, you continue to wrap up the lending business while simultaneously starting publicity for our new project."

As for Zhang Yida, his current job was to comprehend the daily alchemy insights provided by his hundreds of clones, thereby improving his alchemy skills and cultivation realm.

The group accepted their orders and departed, leaving Lin Chuan alone in the courtyard.