Chapter 7

Just, "make money?"

At this thought, Tanggu couldn't help but fall into a bitter smile. Using money, he could; making money, however, was not something he was particularly good at. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been living in such a dilapidated little thatched cottage for so long. His only income was the monthly remuneration from the martial academy.

Moreover, it was very clear that starting this month, the original three stone coins he could earn would now be greatly reduced, with a maximum of only one coin. And in the future, whether he would even have that one coin was uncertain.

Thinking about this, Tanggu got up from the bed and took out a small blue-gray cloth bag from his chest, untied the rope, and opened it. At this moment, inside the small blue-gray cloth bag, several dozen oddly shaped stone coins, each engraved with a beast's head, lay quietly. The stone coins were round, light gray, of uniform weight, and resembled bone pieces. One of them was even missing half.

These stone coins were the equivalent currency used by the people of Stone Rock Town. Counting carefully, there were a total of thirty-three and a half. Including the one he had just received today, it made thirty-four and a half.

A pill that could help a martial practitioner break through from the Qi Sensing stage to the first level of the Qi Dao stage, the "First Turn Pill," was worth about one hundred stone coins each. He was still short by sixty-five and a half stone coins.

This was precisely why Tanggu was so worried. If things were as before, he could save three coins a month, thirty-six coins a year, and in two years, he might have enough. But now, with only one coin a month, he would only have twelve coins a year. To gather the remaining sixty-five and a half coins, it would take him another five to six years.

In five to six years, the "Little Blood Sinew Fruit" would already be ripe and would have long been eaten by the gold-type first-level beast, the "Phantom Flame Copper Eagle." It would be too late.

Tanggu sighed, rewrapped the blue-gray cloth bag, and carefully put it back in his chest. It seemed that this matter had to be resolved, and it had to be done quickly, at least before the "Little Blood Sinew Fruit" was fully ripe. Otherwise, there would be no more opportunities.

But how could he solve it?

At this thought, Tanggu lay down again, his arms flat behind his head, and gazed at the stars outside with a blank look.

"I wonder if the things from that other world would work here?"

Tanggu's eyes flickered, but after a moment's thought, he shook his head and rejected the idea.

"Cement? Perfume? Glass? Minerals?"

"No!"

"Those things require a lot of money and time, and there's no guarantee they would sell well in this world. They might even be laughed at as foolish."

"If I rashly tried to make these things, I wouldn't even know how I would die."

To make money, it had to be low-cost, high-profit, quick to see results, and not too technically demanding. Otherwise, it wouldn't meet Tanggu's current needs.

But what could he do?

His mind raced, and various items flashed through his thoughts.

"Flashing by... right... lanterns..."

Suddenly, Tanggu's eyes lit up, as if he had an idea. He quickly sat up and went to the square table. He found a piece of paper under the table and began to draw and write quickly.

After a moment, the paper was completely filled. He looked at it for a while, seemingly unsatisfied, and quickly crumpled it up, throwing it on the floor. After a short while, another piece of paper was filled, but he was still unsatisfied and crumpled it up again.

This happened several times... finally.

On the clean white paper on the table, a strangely shaped item was now drawn, something no one in this world had ever seen before. It was a square, brightly colored paper lantern, with various figures and flowers painted on it. Inside, a candle was lit, and at the bottom, there was a small wooden wheel. Once the candle was lit, the heat would rise, the paper wheel would spin, and the lantern screen would show scenes of people and animals chasing each other, and objects changing.

Yes, this was the legendary "Walking Horse Lantern."

In the other world, this lantern was very famous. During festivals like the Lantern Festival, Qixi, and Mid-Autumn Festival, many stores would sell them. They were colorful, with various shapes and designs.

Square, hexagonal, octagonal, round, basket, victory, fish, gourd, long, mugwort, glasses, rings...

Lotus, moon rabbit, flying birds, fish boats, dragons, phoenixes, Xi Zi, white cranes, Maitreya, and various other creatures.

As long as you lit a candle inside, it would keep spinning, and the changing light would tell a wonderful story.

Making this item didn't require a lot of money, time, or skill, making it perfect for Tanggu's needs. Moreover, its unique and novel design, which no one had seen before, would likely attract attention and possibly cause a frenzy once it was released.

Thus, Tanggu's days of hardship would come to an end.

However, although he had drawn the plans and shapes for the lanterns, Tanggu temporarily lacked the materials and wanted to rush out to buy them immediately. Unfortunately, looking outside, it was already late, and the sky was full of stars. Even if he wanted to buy them now, no stores would be open.

In the end, Tanggu could only suppress his excitement, drew a few more lantern designs on the paper, and then went to bed.

...

The next morning, Tanggu woke up with red, panda-like eyes, having been excited all night. Despite his eagerness, he still carried out his daily tasks methodically: meditating on the stone stele, cleaning the martial academy, watching the swords in the bamboo grove, and then returning to the academy.

After receiving his midday meal, Tanggu quickly left the academy. He gathered the materials he could find on the mountain, such as bamboo, wood, silk tassels, feathers, and shells. Then, he reluctantly spent four gray stone coins at a shop to buy a large amount of silk, clear balls, frames, colored paper, rice glue, colored candles, brushes, and ink.

With everything ready, it was time to start making the lanterns.

At first, Tanggu was unfamiliar and ruined a few, but after several failures and wasting four sets of materials, he finally gained experience. On the sixth attempt, he successfully made one.

It was a pale white paper lantern, with the inside covered in red gauze. The candlelight shone through the perforations, creating a beautiful and unique atmosphere in Tanggu's small thatched cottage. The humble and shabby cottage suddenly seemed more elegant and refined.

With the success, Tanggu was overjoyed and continued to make more. Soon, ten lanterns of different colors and shapes, each more dazzling than the last, filled the small room, creating a vibrant scene.

Among them, the yellow "Walking Horse Lantern" he spent three to four hours making was the most outstanding. This lantern, called "The Peony Pavilion," when lit, emitted a bright yellow light, casting a mysterious orange hue on everything around it. The lantern spun, and the warm candlelight created a series of large shadows on the walls, spinning faster and faster.

The light seemed to detach from the axis and fly, with the paper figures inside moving and intertwining, telling stories of joy and sorrow, such as the tale of Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei.

This yellow lantern was the one that required the most effort from Tanggu. Each figure was vivid and carefully crafted, and the effect was excellent, making it the most valuable. It was worth the effort.

This single lantern was more precious than the other nine, carrying Tanggu's greatest hopes.

Finally, Tanggu wrote a few lines of poetry on it:

"Love knows no reason, once it starts, it goes deep. The living can die, and the dead can live. If the living cannot die, and the dead cannot live, it is not the ultimate love."

These were the famous lines written by Tang Xianzu in "The Peony Pavilion."

Satisfied, Tanggu held his best hopes and sold the lanterns to buy the "First Turn Pill" and the materials needed for his soul transformation.

Tanggu, holding the ink brush, finally fell into a deep sleep, exhausted from the night's work.

...

Stone Rock Town was a transit point to the Chaotic Beast Sea. Despite its small size, it had a significant flow of people. During the middle of the month, when the sea beasts were active, the town was bustling with activity.

Many martial cultivators, sword cultivators, and even legendary beast hunters would pass through here to enter the Chaotic Beast Sea, leading to the emergence of many "ground markets" for trading.

A "ground market" was an underground market, not officially recognized, and thus did not require the payment of taxes to the major families of Stone Rock Town.

Every city had its official large treasure halls, medicinal halls, and rare beast shops, but it also had such underground markets.

The "Floating Fence Corner" in the east of Stone Rock Town was a very lively "ground market," open only from the afternoon to the evening of the 15th day of each month. It was located in a remote area, with a foul smell, but it was never short of people.

Today was the 15th day of the month.

During the day, the place was dead silent, but as dusk approached, it became lively. Countless small stalls and vendors appeared from nowhere, throwing a cloth on the ground and placing a few items on it, then sitting behind and shouting.

"Centuries-old blood crow root, thirty stone coins each, come and buy quickly!"

"Top-quality Star Language Flower, on sale, only fifty-eight stone coins each, buy now!"

"Freshly made, freshly made, three bottles of Green Dragon Birth, for nourishing qi and blood, enhancing cultivation, one hundred stone coins per bottle, only here, no other branches, don't miss the opportunity!"

"Passing by, take a look... genuine purple jade, from the Two-Eared Fox Clan, the best ingredient for making the 'Purple Light Pill,' worth a fortune, today only three hundred stone coins..."

Hearing their calls, many people gathered around the stalls. Occasionally, a few stall owners would look towards the east of "Floating Fence Corner," where a small stall was surrounded by a crowd, with various voices coming from it.

"Little brother, what is this?"

"A lantern, you say it's a lantern, but it's so strange, it spins and tells stories?"

"Hey, don't push, how much is it? I want the red one, no one can take it from me!"

"This... okay, let's call it a 'lantern.' How do you use it?"

Behind the stall, a calm, gray-clothed young man, though simply dressed, smiled and patiently answered the various questions of the crowd.

Even in the midst of the crowd, his unique calm and steady demeanor was evident. On the ground in front of him, seven large and three small, ten lanterns of different colors and shapes were displayed, with boats, horses, dragons, and phoenixes.

Some of the lanterns had candles already lit, spinning and creating a magical light show, with figures and animals moving as if in a sand shadow play.

...

Thank you all for your votes. The first update, with two more to follow. I apologize for the slow writing and late updates.