Chapter 482: The Candy Shop at the Foot of Azure Flame Peak

"Your sugar figurines are so exquisite. How much for one?"

"Fifty copper coins a piece. Full weight, full measure. There's a scale over there—weigh it yourself. If it's light, just swap it for another."

At the foot of the Yanghuang Sect's Azure Flame Peak, a new candy shop had opened. Not only were the prices cheap, but the candy was also extremely sweet and exquisitely crafted.

This made many disciples of Azure Flame Peak go out of their way to buy from it.

Within the Yanghuang Sect, Azure Flame Peak was considered one of the top-tier Spirit Peaks. Its strength was quite impressive, and it had a clean record.

"Boss, won't you lose money doing business like this?" a disciple from Azure Flame Peak asked Qi Suian curiously.

He saw Qi Suian lying lazily in a rocking chair, occasionally fanning himself with a cattail fan to ward off the heat.

The Spirit Masters of the Yanghuang Sect specialized in yang- and fire-type Spiritual Techniques. Therefore, to facilitate their training, the sect was located in a region with a higher ambient temperature.

"It's still just sugar. What's there to lose?" Qi Suian said nonchalantly.

Some people had coveted Qi Suian's recipe, but after getting their hands on it, they discovered it was just a common, run-of-the-mill formula.

The reason it tasted so good was simply because he used a lot of sugar, coupled with skillful hands that made the figurines look good.

Of course, imitating it was no problem, but they would definitely lose money.

Not only would they need to use high-quality ingredients, but they'd also have to hire a sugar figurine master. With these added expenses, the costs would just keep rising.

This left the other candy shops willing but unable to compete.

"This is way sweeter than the candy from other shops," the Azure Flame Peak disciple said with the candy in his mouth, then left, shaking his head in satisfaction.

People were willing to go out of their way not just because the candy looked good, but mainly because it tasted great and was cheap.

It was also an excellent snack to pass the time.

To an ordinary family, fifty copper coins was a considerable sum, but to the sect disciples, fifty copper coins could barely buy anything.

They used silver taels, which were much more valuable than copper coins.

Cultivating Spiritual Techniques and extracting Spiritual Power naturally required aids. The former could speed up learning and mastery, while the latter could increase extraction efficiency.

Any random one of these aids would cost at least ten taels.

Besides that, Spirit Masters also had to eat, drink, and relieve themselves.

Spiritual Power's effects were to enhance strength and cast Spiritual Techniques; it didn't grant abilities like abstaining from food.

To maintain the potency of their Spiritual Power, Spirit Masters also needed to eat.

However, they were much like the Pixiu—they only ate and never defecated. Every nutrient from their food was absorbed completely, leaving no need for excretion.

They were short-lived, but had sufficient advantages.

Regarding their short lifespans, it seemed that due to conflicts during various missions, not many Spirit Masters lived to an old age.

It was only because of the recent years of peace, without any large-scale battles between sects, that even reaching middle age was considered a long life.

That's right. The short lifespan of a Spirit Master wasn't due to them wringing out their cells to obtain Spiritual Power, but because of all the dangerous missions.

Most Spirit Masters didn't live long enough to die of natural causes.

As for these missions, they came from wealthy merchants, noble families, and other ordinary people who would pay to hire Spirit Masters.

The clients hired the sect, and the sect would then dispatch a team of Spirit Masters after evaluating the mission.

Therefore, Spirit Masters weren't aloof and remote beings, but instead had deep and frequent interactions with ordinary people.

This was to be expected, as their Combat Power had not yet reached world-shattering levels.

Even a Top-Grade Spirit Master couldn't cast several Spiritual Techniques in a row; an individual's power was not enough to decide the outcome of a war.

Thus, they couldn't separate themselves from ordinary people, and the situation of them viewing common folk as ants did not arise.

What's more, the vast majority of Spirit Masters in the major sects came from ordinary backgrounds.

Although everyone possessed mixed-blood genes and could theoretically extract Spiritual Power...

...that was only in theory. In reality, only one in a thousand would have the required aptitude, while the rest fell short.

So even if they could extract Spiritual Power, their upper limits and efficiency were practically nonexistent.

Hence, it wasn't a world of universal Spirit Masters. Besides, if the number of Spirit Masters grew too large, the sects certainly wouldn't be able to support them all.

After all, they were Extraordinary Beings; their consumption was bound to be far greater than that of ordinary people.

"Mister, I'm here!"

"Do you have any more Yanghuang Zhenren figurines?" a cheerful voice called out.

Qi Suian glanced over at the speaker. It was a young boy, a Spirit Master acolyte from the Yanghuang Sect's Azure Flame Peak, named Zuo Fan.

A Spirit Master acolyte was similar to being in preschool; only after graduating would they become a true Spirit Master.

If they couldn't graduate, they wouldn't be able to become a disciple of the Yanghuang Sect and would just be sent back.

However, this boy was an orphan who had been taken in by the sect at a young age. If he failed to graduate, he would most likely be assigned to work in one of the sect's industries to make a living.

An organization as powerful as the Yanghuang Sect naturally had its own monopolized industries, and quite a few of them at that.

"Zuo Fan, you're here again," Qi Suian said, casually handing him a Yanghuang Zhenren sugar figurine.

Yanghuang Zhenren was the founding patriarch of the Yanghuang Sect. He didn't actually look like this, but Qi Suian had used modern anime and design principles, making him look incredibly cool.

It was also the best-selling item in Qi Suian's candy shop.

No one came looking for trouble, either. Most people saw how Extraordinary, refined, and dashing their patriarch looked and didn't have the heart to say anything.

After all, he wasn't uglifying or slandering him, so they weren't going to fuss over an ordinary person's means of making a living.

"Yep, I just got out of class," Zuo Fan said with a grin.

Qi Suian, however, shook his head. "Zuo Fan, your aptitude isn't very good. You should save up your money to find a wife in the future."

As he spoke, Qi Suian handed the sugar figurine over.

Advice was one thing, but business was business, and Qi Suian knew how to keep them separate.

He didn't have much of an impression of most of the Azure Flame Peak disciples, but he remembered Zuo Fan quite well.

It was for no other reason than he felt the boy before him had the air of a protagonist.

He had observed this planet but hadn't found its corresponding protagonist. He didn't know if they were dead, hadn't been born yet, or simply weren't on this planet.

"I don't want to find a wife! I'm going to become the Sect Leader of the Yanghuang Sect!" Zuo Fan declared.

This made the people nearby chuckle, but when they saw it was Zuo Fan, the laughter grew even louder.

This wasn't the first time he'd shouted something like this, so many people knew about the Zuo Fan with poor aptitude who wanted to become the Sect Leader of the Yanghuang Sect.

Qi Suian, however, didn't laugh. He simply said, "Ambitious."

'What else was there to say?'

"Mister, my graduation exam is the day after tomorrow. Do you want to come and watch?" Zuo Fan invited Qi Suian.

Hearing this, Qi Suian was left speechless.

'Is that something a normal person would ask?'

"Not really. I just want to lie here," Qi Suian said bluntly.

'Usually, it's the parents of the Spirit Master acolytes who go to watch the exams. I'm not related to Zuo Fan in any way, so why would I go stick my nose in?'

'To be honest, with a personality like Zuo Fan's, if he doesn't have a protagonist's plot armor or a powerful benefactor, he won't live for more than a few years even if he does manage to become a Spirit Master. The plot armor is just my guess, and a benefactor... that's even less likely. Even if a benefactor wanted to mentor someone, they would choose a talented individual, not someone with such poor aptitude. In my opinion, he'll be lucky just to graduate.'

"Ah... Mister, you're way too lazy," Zuo Fan said, his face falling as he heard Qi Suian's words, the sugar figurine still in his mouth.

It seemed Qi Suian's refusal was a considerable blow to him.

"Mm, that's right. I was too hardworking before, so now I just want to be a little lazy," Qi Suian replied frankly.

'In situations like this, it's best to be direct. No point in being subtle or dropping hints. With Zuo Fan's emotional intelligence, he wouldn't get it anyway. You have to tailor your speech to your audience.'

"Okay, then... you can come to my graduation ceremony instead, Mister," Zuo Fan said, not looking too disappointed. It wasn't the first time he had been rejected.

He then left with the sugar figurine in his mouth, bidding Qi Suian farewell. "See you tomorrow, Mister!"

The kid was clearly a carefree sort; though he'd been rejected, he didn't take it to heart.

Qi Suian liked this kind of personality. 'At least I don't have to worry about him backstabbing me,' he thought. 'Then again, why would anyone go out of their way to backstab a candy shop owner? That's just ridiculous. My candy doesn't have some secret recipe; it's just good and cheap.'

The morning passed quickly. After the freshly made sweets like sugar figurines and candies sold out, the shop grew quiet from noon onwards.

The shop also stocked things like rock sugar and white sugar, but sales for these were low.

Since their quality was no different from other shops, the big buyers who dealt in bulk already had their fixed suppliers and were unlikely to switch.

This was why the other shops hadn't gone out of business, which also saved Qi Suian a lot of trouble.

Although they all sold sugar, their primary business models were different.

Qi Suian focused on retail, while the others focused on wholesale.

To Qi Suian, these types of sugar were more like raw materials than goods for sale.

'Progress is pretty good. I estimate I'll be able to implement the shuttle and concealment technologies before I finish sorting and adapting.' Qi Suian wasn't actually just lazing around in his rocking chair every day.

He was performing multiple tasks simultaneously; they just didn't require him to move.

'The Doomsday Game, on the other hand, hasn't shown any reaction. If it didn't stir occasionally, I would have thought it was dead.'

Then, his gaze shifted to the cosmos.

'I might not want to move, but that doesn't mean I can't explore what's out there. That's why I released Fei, letting it take a satellite sub-unit into space to act as my observer. It's not that I didn't want to explore space in the previous Doomsday Worlds; it was that the environments were unsuitable and I never had enough time. Things are different now, so of course I have to check it out. Just because this planet's energy level is low doesn't mean all planets are. The universe is vast and boundless; there must be more powerful civilizations and systems out there. They might be useful to me. I'm idle anyway, and just moving at high speed through space doesn't consume many resources. If worst comes to worst, I can just have Fei break down into fibrous form and munch on some asteroid belts or planets. That should be enough to replenish its energy.'