Chapter 66: A Faster Way to Earn

By the third morning, the future caravan yard had begun to look like one.

Most of the larger stones were gone.

The worst dips had been filled and packed down.

Workers had set the first row of thick wooden posts along one side, leaving enough space between them for spirit beasts to be tethered without crowding each other.

The new trough was still unfinished.

The Core remained silent.

Lin Yuan preferred it that way.

Once finished, the yard could become useful even before he spent sixty spirit stones integrating it.

For now, he had another number on his mind.

Three hundred twenty.

The Returning Current Foundation Art.

Lin Yuan had spent the past two days thinking about how to reach that amount faster.

The obvious answer was simple.

Earn more.

The less obvious part was how.

Wandering Cloud Tavern was already busy.

Its eight rooms filled regularly, while Blackstone Inn handled much of the overflow.

The shops and Travelers’ Market had also brought more activity into Central Blackstone.

But Lin Yuan couldn’t simply raise every price because he wanted a cultivation technique.

He needed another source of income.

Fortunately, Blackstone had recently become full of merchants.

Lin Yuan was carrying a sack of vegetables toward the kitchen when Gao Rui called to him.

"Lin Yuan."

He stopped.

Gao Rui stood outside his storage shed beside a merchant Lin Yuan didn’t recognize.

Several wooden crates rested on the ground between them.

"What?"

"This man wants to leave goods here and continue east."

The merchant cupped his hands.

"My name is Luo Cheng."

Lin Yuan returned the greeting.

Gao Rui tapped one of the crates.

"He’s asking whether anyone in Blackstone can sell these for him."

Lin Yuan looked at Gao Rui.

"You have a storage shed."

"I store things."

"Very impressive."

"I don’t sell them."

Luo Cheng opened the nearest crate.

Inside were bundles of dried medicinal plants.

"Common herbs," he explained. "Mostly used for poultices, teas, and ordinary medicine."

"Why not take them east?"

"The price isn’t good enough."

"And west?"

Luo Cheng glanced toward the route notice.

That answered the question.

The goods weren’t valuable enough to justify carrying by hand through the damaged section, but taking them back east wouldn’t earn him much either.

"So you want someone here to sell them."

"Yes. I can leave them for a month."

Lin Yuan looked toward Qiao’s shop.

Luo Cheng immediately shook his head.

"I already asked him."

"And?"

"He offered me a price."

"Bad?"

"Very."

A voice came from farther down the road.

"It was fair!"

Qiao had apparently been listening.

Luo Cheng ignored him.

Lin Yuan almost did the same.

Then he looked at the crates again.

"How much are you trying to sell?"

"All three crates."

Lin Yuan frowned.

"I run a tavern."

"I know."

"Then why are you asking me?"

Luo Cheng hesitated.

"Gao Rui said you’re the person to ask when something involves Blackstone."

Lin Yuan slowly turned toward Gao Rui.

Gao Rui looked away.

"I may have said something similar."

Lin Yuan sighed.

Apparently the problem had become his.

Lin Yuan didn’t agree immediately.

He carried the vegetables inside and prepared lunch.

But the idea stayed with him.

The Travelers’ Market gave merchants somewhere to trade.

Gao Rui gave them somewhere to store goods.

Qiao already had a shop and customers.

The problem was that those pieces weren’t connected.

A merchant who wanted to leave Blackstone either took his goods with him or left them sitting in storage.

By the end of the lunch rush, Lin Yuan had an idea.

He went to find Qiao.

The shopkeeper was arranging bottles of lamp oil.

"You tried to buy Luo Cheng’s herbs."

"I try to buy many things."

"How bad was your offer?"

Qiao looked offended.

"It was an excellent offer."

"For you."

"That’s usually the goal."

Lin Yuan leaned against the counter.

"What if you don’t buy them?"

Qiao paused.

"Then why are we talking?"

"You sell them for him."

That got his attention.

"For a share?"

"Exactly."

Qiao thought for a moment.

"So I don’t spend anything buying the stock."

"No."

"I display some of it here."

"Yes."

"And if it sells, I keep an agreed share."

"That’s the idea."

Qiao considered it for several seconds.

"What if nobody buys it?"

"Then Luo Cheng still owns it."

Qiao nodded slowly.

"That’s less stupid than I expected."

"Thank you."

"It wasn’t a compliment."

"I know."

By afternoon, Lin Yuan, Qiao, Gao Rui, and Luo Cheng were standing inside the storage shed.

The arrangement didn’t need to be complicated.

Luo Cheng would keep ownership of the herbs and set the lowest price he was willing to accept.

Gao Rui would store the crates as usual.

Qiao would display a small amount in his shop and handle any sales.

If something sold, Qiao received a share for his work.

Luo Cheng listened, then looked at Lin Yuan.

"And you?"

"What about me?"

"Your fee."

Lin Yuan paused.

"My fee?"

"You arranged this."

Qiao immediately spoke.

"Charge him."

Lin Yuan ignored him.

Luo Cheng didn’t seem bothered.

"I expected to pay something."

Lin Yuan considered it.

"One low-grade spirit stone."

Luo Cheng blinked.

"For arranging everything?"

"Yes."

Qiao stared at him.

Lin Yuan looked back.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Say it."

"You’re terrible at making money."

Lin Yuan ignored him.

Luo Cheng handed over one low-grade spirit stone.

Lin Yuan accepted it.

It wasn’t much.

But the arrangement had worked.

By evening, Qiao had sold only a few bundles.

That didn’t matter.

Two other merchants had already heard about the arrangement.

One wanted to leave a crate of ordinary tools.

Another had several rolls of cloth he no longer wanted to carry west.

Lin Yuan stopped both before the idea expanded too quickly.

"Not today."

The cloth merchant looked disappointed.

"Why?"

"Because we’ve tried this exactly once."

"It worked."

From inside Qiao’s shop came a voice.

"It worked very well."

Lin Yuan looked toward the doorway.

"You sold a few bundles."

"Successful bundles."

Lin Yuan turned back to the merchant.

"Come back tomorrow."

The man agreed.

That was enough.

Lin Yuan had no intention of becoming a full-time broker.

He already had a tavern to run.

But Blackstone now had merchants who couldn’t easily move their goods, storage space to hold them, a market that attracted buyers, and shopkeepers willing to sell for a share.

The pieces were already there.

The damaged road had simply given people a reason to connect them.

That evening, Lin Yuan checked the Territory Core.

He wasn’t expecting another development.

None appeared.

Instead, the familiar territory information opened before him.

His attention moved to Territory Revenue.

It had increased again.

That wasn’t surprising.

The tavern, shops, and remaining merchants were still doing business throughout Blackstone.

Lin Yuan didn’t try to separate one transaction from another.

There was no point.

The important part was simpler.

Blackstone’s economy was finding new ways to function around the damaged western road.

He dismissed the panel.

The opportunity was larger than Luo Cheng’s three crates.

Lin Yuan thought about the wagons outside.

Gao Rui’s storage shed.

Qiao’s shop.

The Travelers’ Market.

Merchants who wanted to continue traveling without taking every crate with them.

He had spent months making Blackstone a place where travelers could stop.

Now even their goods could stay behind and keep selling after they left.

Lin Yuan took out the spirit stone Luo Cheng had paid him and rolled it once between his fingers.

It wasn’t much.

But if Blackstone could create more opportunities like this without requiring Lin Yuan to personally handle every sale, it was worth paying attention to.

He put the spirit stone away.

The Returning Current Foundation Art was still expensive.

At least now, he had found another way to work toward it.