Chapter 175: Chapter 175: Becoming Wealthy_1 Mo Hua visited Mr. Zhuang the following day; after all, he was Mr. Zhuang’s registered disciple, and having been trapped in the spiritual mines for so long without visiting to check in on him, Mo Hua felt somewhat remiss. Mr. Zhuang was still asleep, so Mo Hua played a little Five Elements Chess with Old Kui. After such a long time, the chess skills of the two were still mediocre, without much improvement. However, Five Elements Chess, such a simple game, requires less painstaking effort; it’s more interesting to just play and kill each other’s pieces straightforwardly. Mo Hua and Old Kui were well-matched opponents; they took turns attacking and defending, fighting to a standstill. By the time Mr. Zhuang woke up, Mo Hua was feeling somewhat reluctant to part, but he said goodbye to Old Kui and went to meet Mr. Zhuang. Mr. Zhuang basically took a laissez-faire approach with Mo Hua, allowing him to learn on his own and come to him with questions, and he didn’t say much about it. Before leaving, Mr. Zhuang even complimented him, “Well done.” Mo Hua was very happy and smiled with his eyes narrowed. However, after leaving Mr. Zhuang’s bamboo chamber, Mo Hua felt somewhat puzzled. He clearly hadn’t discussed much with Mr. Zhuang, but Mr. Zhuang seemed to know everything… And praised him for doing well. Mo Hua furrowed his brow, wondering how Mr. Zhuang knew. Mo Hua was somewhat puzzled, but then he thought that Mr. Zhuang was an extraordinary man, perhaps divinely insightful. Besides, the commotion they had with the Qian Family was so significant that it was normal for Mr. Zhuang to be aware of it. Mo Hua nodded to himself and no longer dwelled on the matter. Mo Hua then went to see the siblings Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi. Bai Zisheng’s eyes brightened upon seeing Mo Hua, and he immediately complained, asking where Mo Hua had been all this time. Mo Hua recounted the events at the spiritual mines. Bai Zisheng listened with boiling blood and immense envy. Bai Zixi, who was ostensibly reading a book on the side, also got engrossed in the story, with her autumn-water-like eyes sparkling and the book in her hand tilting without her noticing. “Next time something like that happens, you must bring me along, so I can help you!” Bai Zisheng said spiritedly. “Even if I called you, what’s the use? Aunt Xue won’t let you go,” Mo Hua said indifferently. This comment from Mo Hua was like a bucket of cold water poured over Bai Zisheng’s head. Bai Zisheng instantly lost his dream. Like a frost-stricken eggplant, he lay on the ground, feeling that life had become somewhat dimmer. Mo Hua sighed, “I’ll bring you some food tomorrow.” Bai Zisheng immediately sat up straight, “It has to be spicy!” “Alright, alright,” Mo Hua said helplessly, then turned to see Bai Zixi also watching him, her eyes shining brightly. Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, “My mother is making Jade Crisp Cakes. I haven’t tried them yet, but they smell really good. I’ll bring some for you to try tomorrow to see if they’re tasty.” Bai Zixi nodded gently, her expression quite relaxed. The next day, Mo Hua brought the promised food as scheduled. Bai Zisheng ate heartily, while Bai Zixi nibbled on the translucent and fragrant pastry, appearing like a kitten, her eyes slightly squinted. Seeing them eating happily, Mo Hua couldn’t help but smile with his eyes narrowed as well. A few days later, Elder Yu instructed Mo Hua to go to the Monster Hunting Guild’s storage room to collect Spirit Stones. Many Spirit Stones were mined from the spiritual mines, and they couldn’t be distributed all at once as this might lead to wasteful extravagance or incite others to rob and create many problems. The Monster Hunting Guild also had to reserve a sufficient quantity of Spirit Stones for unforeseen needs. For this reason, the Spirit Stones stored in the storage room were to be distributed in timed intervals based on merit, following the principle of “a steady trickle runs long,” so the expenditure of Spirit Stones can last longer. Mo Hua queued outside the storage and after a short while received a Storage Bag with roughly three hundred Spirit Stones inside. It felt heavy in his arms. Over three hundred stones! That would be enough for a long, long time; for a short period, there was no need to worry about Spirit Stones anymore. And this was just the first distribution; there should be more after some time. Mo Hua was extremely delighted. Not just Mo Hua, everyone who came to collect Spirit Stones had smiles on their faces. Some, upon receiving the stones, were in disbelief and even shed tears of joy. The Loose Cultivators who struggled at the bottom of society had never seen so many Spirit Stones before. With these stones, their children wouldn’t have to starve, their cultivation paths were secured, and they wouldn’t have to work so desperately to earn Spirit Stones. Under the weight of heavy pressure, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief. And they could live like this for ten years! Mo Hua was somewhat relieved, but upon reflection, he felt a bit weighed down again. What about ten years later? Mo Hua furrowed his brows. In ten years, once the Spirit Stones ran out, wouldn’t everyone still live the same life, licking the blade and enduring hardship just like before? Mo Hua thought of Auntie Meng, Aunt Jiang, and Da’hu, along with the other familiar Monster Hunters. He thought of the tears they shed in life, the blood they spilled in hunting monsters, their bitter suffering, and the perilousness of their existence. Mo Hua felt an even heavier burden on his heart. Was there a way to make these good days last a little longer for everyone? This thought lingered endlessly in Mo Hua’s mind. Mo Hua thought about it while eating, while cultivating, and even when he was Drawing Formations. One day, while Mo Hua was flipping through Formation Books, he had a sudden flash of inspiration. He ran to the storage of the Monster Hunting Guild and found Elder Yu. A great number of Spirit Stones were stockpiled in the storage, and Elder Yu could not set his mind at ease, so he had been personally guarding it these days. Mo Hua asked, “Elder Yu, how did the Qian Family make their fortune?” Elder Yu was a bit surprised but still pondered for a moment and said, “The Patriarch of the Qian Family started as a Monster Hunter. Later, he saved up some Spirit Stones, quit being a Monster Hunter, and started the business of Artifact Refining and Alchemy…” “The Monster Hunters killed Monster Beasts and he would buy the materials they stripped off at low prices, hire Loose Cultivators to refine them into Spiritual Artifacts and Pills, then sell them to Monster Hunters at high prices.” “As time passed, his business grew larger. The price he paid for materials dropped lower and lower, the lengths of time he hired Loose Cultivators for grew longer and longer, and the Spiritual Artifacts and Pills he sold became more and more expensive. Naturally, the Qian Family became richer and richer.” Mo Hua asked doubtfully, “Didn’t anyone compete with them?” “They couldn’t be competed with,” Elder Yu shook his head. “Others weren’t as ruthless or cunning; they couldn’t match the Qian Family.” Mo Hua continued, “I’ve heard that the Qian Family started from nothing.” Elder Yu scoffed, “That’s just the Qian Family putting gold on their own faces.” “It’s not like that?” Elder Yu scanned the surroundings with his Divine Sense, ensuring there were no irregularities, then sat down, drank a cup of tea, and began to speak to Mo Hua, “I just said, the Patriarch of the Qian Family saved up some Spirit Stones. How do you think those Spirit Stones were saved up?” Mo Hua thought carefully and suddenly felt startled. Elder Yu raised an eyebrow, “We’re all Monster Hunters. Why couldn’t others save up, but he could? The amount of Spirit Stones necessary to open a Refinery Shop and an Alchemist’s Business isn’t small; a normal Monster Hunter couldn’t save up that much in a lifetime…” Mo Hua’s gaze sharpened, “What did he do then?” Elder Yu said, “The older generation of Monster Hunters told me that the Patriarch of the Qian Family was deceitful from young. When he went Monster Hunting with others, he even killed his companions to take the Monster Beasts’ inner cores for himself. Later he disguised himself as a bandit, robbing people on Big Black Mountain, and engaged in all sorts of swindling and cheating behind the scenes, willing to do anything for Spirit Stones. That’s how he accumulated his first fortune…” Elder Yu let out another cold laugh, “No horse grows fat without being fed at night, nobody grows rich without ill-gotten wealth; where in the world does ‘starting from scratch’ truly come from?” Mo Hua listened with a sinking heart. After Elder Yu finished his gossip and moistened his throat with another cup of tea, he suddenly remembered something and said, “You came to see me for something more than just a chat, didn’t you? Is there something you need?” Mo Hua’s eyes lit up, “Elder Yu, let’s also start our own Refinery Shop and Alchemist’s Business to earn Spirit Stones!” Elder Yu let out a chuckle, “Silly child, the Qian Family could save up the Spirit Stones to start their business through murder and deception. Where would we get that kind of capital?” Mo Hua smiled, “We don’t need to resort to killing or deception; we already have the capital.” Elder Yu shook his head, about to say something, when his heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he turned to look at the storage room. Piled up in the storage room were dense and numerous Spirit Stones—freshly mined from the Spiritual mines, and exchanged from the hands of the Taoist Court officials! “But… Refining Artifacts and Alchemy aren’t that easy.” “There are plenty of Alchemists and Artifact Refiners among the Loose Cultivators. If we’re short on manpower, we can just spend Spirit Stones to hire them,” Mo Hua responded. Elder Yu frowned and thought for a moment, “The most troublesome part is the Artifact Furnace and the Alchemy Furnace. To scale the business up, we’d need large, high-quality Artifact Furnaces and Alchemy Furnaces.” “Is making Artifact Furnaces and Alchemy Furnaces difficult?” “Their creation requires a lot of manpower, material resources, and fine iron, but the trickiest and most crucial aspect lies within the furnaces…” As Elder Yu said this, his heart suddenly pounded, and he couldn’t help but look toward Mo Hua. The most crucial aspect… was the Formation inside the furnace! Elder Yu connected the dots and experienced a moment of clarity. They were ready for everything! They lacked nothing! They had the Spirit Stones, they had the manpower, and for the most difficult part, the Formation… they already had Mo Hua. Elder Yu found it hard to believe for a moment.