Chapter 15: Fictitious Transaction

"Sir, if the information is correct, I will now stamp it with my professional seal," Wu Wan said in the shop, handing Chen Mobai the hard card certificate filled with the information of the owner of the magical artifact for confirmation. He then solemnly opened a safe, took out a red seal, and without needing to dip it in ink, directly stamped it on the certificate, revealing a large red oval seal of a First-Rank Appraiser.

The inner part of the seal was in regular script, with "First-Rank Appraiser" on the upper half and a series of numbers on the lower half.

"This series of numbers is a randomly generated anti-counterfeiting code each time the seal is stamped. After I register this certificate on the Immortal Gate website, anyone can input this series of numbers to view the certificate," Wu Wan explained.

Chen Mobai took the needle box and the certificate, and first checked it on his phone, but found the page to be blank, which left him puzzled.

"Have you not uploaded it yet?"

Wu Wan, unable to help but laugh, then logged into the Immortal Gate website with his account and uploaded the certificate for the needle box.

Chen Mobai tried again, and finally, the relevant page appeared.

"Master Wu, thank you for your hard work."

After paying 200 points of merit satisfactorily, Chen Mobai took the needle box.

"Little Chen, if you want to sell this magical artifact, you can list it in my shop. It will also help me accumulate some points. If you agree, I can not only refund your merit points but even provide you with the complete incantation for using this magical artifact for free," Wu Wan said. When filling out the owner's information earlier, he had already learned Chen Mobai's name and knew he was a student, only eighteen years old, with little social experience. A thought suddenly came to his mind.

In the Immortal Gate, due to the scarcity of resources, almost everyone who embarks on the path of cultivation will worry about spiritual energy and supplies. Many of them earn money by relying on the Immortal Gate website to open personal online stores.

Although Wu Wan had obtained a First-Rank Appraiser certificate and was considered a notable figure among Qi Practitioners, he was still striving for the resources needed for Foundation Establishment.

Besides this family-inherited shop, he also practiced alchemy in his spare time.

After all, being an appraiser doesn't bring in much wealth, and every cultivator who studies appraisal knowledge initially aspires to become an alchemist.

The personal stores on the Immortal Gate website accumulate points based on the merit points earned from buying and selling. The more points one has, the more they can exchange for official profound techniques, elixirs, and magical artifacts.

The Immortal Gate governs the Earth Primordial Star and upholds the order of the previous civilization. Although the Heaven Spirit Ancestor suppresses the world, economic crises have still occurred multiple times.

The main issue is the shortage of spirit stones. During wars, cultivators would immediately exchange their merit points for spirit stones as soon as they appeared in their accounts, even if they couldn't use them all, they would save them for their descendants.

As a result, no matter how many spirit stones the national bank had in reserve, it couldn't withstand the rush of millions of cultivators.

Economic crises ensued.

Although the Immortal Gate issued laws to prohibit the exchange of spirit stones, raise the exchange price, and even devised secret techniques to re-infuse depleted spirit stones with spiritual energy, the laws of market economics could not be eliminated, even by the Heaven Spirit Ancestor with his immense power.

However, over the past few thousand years, the Immortal Gate has gathered countless geniuses and wise individuals from the Earth Primordial Star.

A thousand years ago, someone proposed to open the Immortal Gate's national library, which houses 84,000 Daoist texts, allowing all cultivators to exchange them with points. These points could only be obtained by spending merit points on the Immortal Gate market.

For example, if Chen Mobai bought three Green Arrow Talismans online for 105 merit points, he would gain 105 points on his personal account.

This policy instantly revitalized the previously stagnant market economy of the Immortal Gate. In just ten years, 90% of the spirit stones stored by the public flowed back into the national bank, replaced by merit points in everyone's accounts.

Offline transactions could also earn points, but both the buyer and seller had to pay taxes to the Immortal Gate Tax Bureau.

For example, if Chen Mobai wanted to convert the 200 merit points he paid Wu Wan for the appraisal into points, he would need to pay 20% consumption tax to the Immortal Gate. This 20% tax is split equally between the buyer and seller, but the person receiving the money would be unwilling to do so unless Chen Mobai gave Wu Wan an additional 20 merit points, and then they would go to the tax bureau together.

After all, only spending earns points, receiving money does not.

Therefore, in the Immortal Gate market, before a transaction, it is always confirmed whether the consumer needs points. If they do, the tax is added to the total price in advance.

For this reason, the Immortal Gate does not force people to pay taxes, it is entirely voluntary.

But Chen Mobai was clearly not that kind of person.

He hadn't reached the point where he needed points yet.

"Master Wu, what do you mean? I don't understand," Chen Mobai said, a bit puzzled. Consumers earn points, but even if his magical artifact was sold in Wu Wan's shop, it wouldn't be related to him.

"I am an appraiser, and it's normal to earn money with my skills. If you sell this magical artifact to me, and I use my professional knowledge to complete the incantation for using the needle box, the selling price will naturally double. Do you agree?" Wu Wan smiled, and Chen Mobai shivered, a chill running down his back.

"Master Wu, this is a fictitious transaction, which is illegal," Chen Mobai said.

To earn points, fictitious transactions are common, even though taxes must be paid to the Immortal Gate, it allows a magical artifact to generate points from two transactions.

The official flagship store of the Immortal Gate website periodically releases elixirs and magical artifacts that increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment, which can be exchanged with points.

Wu Wan had been planning for this for a long time, accumulating points.

However, this behavior is similar to tax evasion in the previous mechanical civilization of the Earth Primordial Star. If caught, the Immortal Gate would penalize the cultivator until they were bankrupt.

"Many people do this. To promote economic circulation, the Immortal Gate turns a blind eye to it. If the tax revenue is insufficient at the end of the year, the higher-ups will only target the wealthy. You can rest assured," Wu Wan said.

"If you agree, I can guarantee that this needle box can sell for over 80,000 merit points," Wu Wan added, seeing Chen Mobai's hesitation. Although he looked young, he was already 45 years old, and if he didn't try to achieve Foundation Establishment soon, his chances of success would decrease.

Next month, the Immortal Gate flagship store would release a batch of Meridian Protection Pills, Spirit Enhancement Powder, and Qi Condensation Liquid, all of which increase the chances of Foundation Establishment.

Wu Wan was still 300,000 points short of being able to bid for one of them.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't dare to engage in fictitious transactions to earn points, but now that the path to enlightenment was right in front of him and he was short on funds, he wanted to try any opportunity to earn points.

What if he got lucky and successfully achieved Foundation Establishment?

"This magical artifact is a family heirloom. If I want to sell it, I need to consult with the elders at home," Chen Mobai said, politely declining.

Wu Wan didn't say much more, just looking regretful. After all, he was just trying to see if he could deceive the young Chen Mobai.