Chapter 95: Birds of a Feather

Chapter 95: Birds of a Feather

"I understand."

Fat Dragon nodded solemnly, his expression grave.

Chen Qiu didn't waste any more time and immediately followed the instructions conveyed by the Heavenly Dao Talisman. He added the poison mist and neutralizing medicinal ingredients into the warm vat in a specific order, soon feeling a slight stinging sensation.

The spiritual energy within his body began to surge like a boiling cauldron, growing increasingly violent.

Instinctively, he closed his eyes, preparing to circulate his Heart Technique.

But in the next instant—

He quickly opened his eyes, his mouth twitching in pain.

Under the entry for "Sky Deficient One," his other senses had also been enhanced, including his sense of pain.

Damn, I'll just keep my eyes open. Practicing with open eyes doesn't affect my cultivation; it just feels a bit weird, like when someone is kissing you and you don't want to stare into their eyes. Usually, at least one person keeps their eyes closed.

If both are stubborn, the scene becomes rather heartwarming.

Time flew by.

Chen Qiu wasn't in a hurry. He circulated his Heart Technique while experiencing the slight pain caused by the toxins permeating his body. As a Spellcaster, he wasn't a Toxin Cultivator, so he wouldn't have felt even this much pain if he were one.

Many Toxin Cultivators grew up consuming toxins, and their spiritual energy was emerald green.

Their attacks naturally carried toxicity.

Meanwhile, on the other side—

The scholar, who had initially been reluctant, gradually became filled with admiration and awe. He couldn't believe the number of thoughts swirling in the mind of the skinny young man beside him, who was only at the Qi Condensation Stage.

For instance, during their journey, they had casually chatted a few times.

They talked about his identity as Great Xia's top Sword Cultivator, which he had now openly acknowledged. With the revelation of the Memory Stone, his enemies would undoubtedly come looking for him. Since he couldn't hide anymore, he no longer wanted to conceal his identity.

They discussed his past rivalry with Ji Taiping for the title of Great Xia's top Sword Cultivator.

They also talked about his fame in Great Xia.

A man named Liu Zide had given him this advice:

"You can occasionally daydream and space out while gazing at your late wife's hairpin in front of others. What's the point of being a powerful Sword Cultivator if you can't do that? There's always going to be someone who's the strongest Sword Cultivator in the world. This persona is strong, but to maintain it, you'll constantly face challengers."

"But what if I die one day?"

"We can switch to a safer and more memorable persona."

"Even if you're not the strongest Sword Cultivator one day, you'll still have your unique charm."

"The persona of a devoted widower suits you perfectly. Go to those brothels filled with beauties, and while others indulge in the pleasures of the flesh, you can sit alone in a blue robe on the upper floor, gazing at the moon with a weathered expression as you sip wine."

"Capture this moment with a Memory Stone and ask a few scholars to compose poems about it."

"Then, pay some Spirit Stones to hire admirers. Wherever you go, they'll shout enthusiastically, and others will become curious about you."

"Moreover, people follow the crowd. When many people like something or someone, it's easier for others to like it too."

Liu Zide had shared a lot, and these were just the most basic strategies. He hadn't even mentioned the more ingenious ones.

What a brilliant mind!

If he had known all these tricks back then, he couldn't imagine how formidable he would have been.

Inside Autumn Far City.

The scholar sat cross-legged on a chair, gazing at Liu Zide in the courtyard not far away. Liu Zide was anxiously directing the men with urgency, and the scholar couldn't help but raise his teacup to his lips, sighing softly, "What a brilliant mind."

The bearded warrior sitting beside him remained silent, his gaze fixed on the ants on the ground.

His brother loved fame the most.

Liu Zide was the best at making people famous.

These two were a perfect match.

Birds of a feather.

Not far away, Liu Zide was shouting into his Communication Bracelet, "No matter how much that woman with the Nine Yin Strength offers, tell her I'll pay ten times more!!!"

"Money is not an issue, do you understand?!"

"Get her on the fastest Flying Vessel and bring her to Autumn Far City as soon as possible!"

Then he turned to the nine men pretending to be Evil Suppressing Cultivators and yelled, "Have you ever seen an Evil Cultivator before? Can't you act more brutal and inhuman?!"

"A pitiful and virtuous White Robed Maiden from a righteous sect is standing right in front of you."

"And you ask her if she has a husband?!"

"Show some brutality, do you understand?!"

The White Robed Maiden standing among the nine men tilted her head, her eyes sparkling with flirtatiousness as if they were dripping with water. She looked at Liu Zide and said in a coquettish tone, "Boss, this is my first time in front of so many people, with so many of you."

"Can I have two more Spirit Stones later?"

"Yes, yes!!!"

Liu Zide pointed his finger at her nose and shouted, "I'll give you a head start, can you stop acting so seductively?!"

"You're supposed to be a virtuous maiden from a righteous sect, do you understand?!"

"You're supposed to be innocent, naive, and pitiful!"

"If you act any more seductively, I'll kick you out. I can find a dozen seductive women with ten Spirit Stones. Do you understand?"

"Action!"

The White-Robed Maiden pouted and nodded slightly, looking a little aggrieved.

"Yeah, that's it! That's the feeling!"

"Alright, get the Memory Stone ready, and let's do it again!"

After a few incense sticks' worth of time...

"Perfect!!!"

Liu Zide nodded with satisfaction. Without bothering to review the footage in the Memory Stone, he immediately handed it to the burly man standing nearby, who was clad in armor with his bare chest exposed. Liu Zide spoke with urgency and seriousness.

"There are no seals on this Memory Stone, so feel free to replicate it!"

"Take it and get me 300,000 copies as fast as you can!"

"Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," the burly man replied, his expression extremely serious as he nodded heavily. Then, holding the Spirit Stone, he rushed out of the courtyard to find his boss.

He had initially held a grudge against Liu Zide in Mountain Opening City.

But later, this grudge was resolved.

Moreover, Liu Zide had given them a substantial reward, asking them to run errands like communicating with the local bosses of other cities. Such tasks were definitely more suited to their expertise!

"Huff!"

After finishing this scene, Liu Zide dared not delay for a moment. He glanced around and noticed that the man and woman with the "Nine Bulls Power" and "Nine Yin Strength" entries hadn't arrived yet. He couldn't help but curse again into the Communication Bracelet.

"Did he die on the way here?"

"Did he go home halfway to attend a funeral?"

"If they don't arrive within an hour, they're all talking nonsense! The Spirit Stones I gave them are enough for them to take the fastest Flying Vessel. If they're trying to save on Spirit Stones and skimp on this, they'll miss my opportunity!"

"If they can't do it, just get lost! Can you understand?"

". . ."

The scholar, seated cross-legged on a chair, took a sip of tea from the cup in his hand and glanced at Liu Zide, who was bustling about in the courtyard, his heels barely touching the ground. He couldn't help but twitch his lips.

This guy was so fierce.

And his language was rather crude.

"Alright, let's continue with the second scene!"

Liu Zide casually wiped the sweat from his forehead, glanced at the script he had prepared earlier, and shouted to several men and women who were already prepared in the distance: "You'll play the role of a Peak Core Formation female cultivator."

"You're a renowned Demon Cultivator, and in a major battle, you're unfortunately severely injured and lose all your cultivation, falling into a remote and impoverished village. You three will play the role of Qi Condensation First Layer cultivators."

"Alright, get the Memory Stone ready!"

"Let's begin the third scene!"

"You'll play the role of the current Empress, and then..."

"No, no, no!" The scholar, who had been sitting cross-legged on a chair nearby, almost calmly, nearly spat out the mouthful of strong tea he was drinking. His eyes flashed with shock, and without worrying about consuming Spirit Energy, he immediately slapped the chair and flew towards Liu Zide, his voice trembling slightly.

"Brother, I really can't do this. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Do you have a grudge against Chen Qiu? If this scene is filmed, it's hard to say how many people in Xuzhou will survive. It's not a joke."

"Can't you really do it?" Liu Zide shook his head regretfully. "If you can't, then forget it. It's a shame, though. If we could capture this huge gap in status, it would definitely go viral. Never mind, let's move on."

"Then the next one."

"Let's continue with the third scene. This time, you'll play the role of a Golden Core Powerhouse Sect Leader with Foundation Establishment Cultivation. To help your sect take a step further, you reluctantly let your wife..."

"Let's begin the ninth scene!"

"Give them a close-up! These two together will definitely go viral!"

"The twelfth scene!"

"Can you show some emotion? Do you understand what 'emotions' mean? Don't deliver your lines so dryly; can't you be a bit more excited?"

"You are a Side Branch Descendant who has been humiliated for three years, and after breaking through to Foundation Establishment, you suddenly gain the Seven-colored Entry, skyrocketing your strength. These people before you are your former enemies who have insulted you."

"Now, they fear you and smile insincerely in your presence."

"Put yourself in his shoes. If you were this useless fellow, what would you do? Yeah, that's right, go for it!"

"The seventeenth scene!"

"The thirty-eighth scene!"

"The seventy-ninth scene!"

"The..."

The sun rose and set.

More and more outsiders poured into Autumn Far City. After a large amount of Spirit Stones were invested, the Zhao Family Commerce in Xuzhou mobilized their family resources to serve Liu Zide.

Even the early Golden Core Formation House Master personally accompanied Liu Zide, following his orders.

He couldn't help but constantly stretch his lips towards his ears, as the amount of Spirit Stones invested was almost equivalent to the Zhao Family Commerce's annual profits. He even wanted to call Liu Zide his elder brother.

In these times, it was not easy to find such a generous patron.

Occasionally, he would even reveal a hint of Golden Core Formation aura, making the actor playing the Golden Core Formation cultivator in the Memory Stone seem even more realistic.

At the same time...

A large number of Memory Stones were continuously replicated, and the scholar personally delivered them to the local bosses in Xuzhou's 47 major cities, asking them to distribute them for free. Then, starting from these cities, they quickly spread to the surrounding villages and small counties.

Everything was proceeding smoothly and efficiently.

Liu Zide's leadership skills were indeed exceptional, and his ability to inspire others was equally impressive. He managed every little detail with precision, ensuring that nothing went wrong.

However, Liu Zide's current state seemed less than ideal. He had gone without sleep for a long time and had only sipped a little water, his face pale to the point of appearing on the verge of fainting. The physician from Autumn Far City was already on standby nearby, occasionally providing Liu Zide with medications to maintain his mental alertness.

As he had stated, Liu Zide intended to act swiftly, catching everyone off guard by radiating his influence across forty-seven cities in Xuzhou. Speed was of the essence, and he was willing to pay a premium, even several times the usual price, to achieve this.

Almost every family in Xuzhou that had the business of producing Memory Stones was in a frenzy. The heads of these families, with flushed faces, personally visited their workshops, standing on the front lines to motivate their workers.

"Work your asses off for me! After this job, everyone will get triple their monthly wages this month!!!"

To be honest, Memory Stones were a niche business with a steady stream of orders, but not a major one.

However, a big client had suddenly appeared.

The client's first words were straightforward.

"Double the price, pay first and receive the goods later. I want as many as you can provide."

With just these simple words, almost all the workshops in Xuzhou that produced Memory Stones were thoroughly motivated. Everyone was deployed, working day and night, halting all other operations to focus solely on producing Memory Stones.

They had lived their entire lives without expecting that one day, they would become wealthy through Memory Stones.

Indeed, life was full of opportunities.

"Dig, dig like your lives depend on it!"

The most basic material for making Memory Stones was a type of stone called Softstone. At that moment, in all the mines within Xuzhou that possessed this stone, the mine owners, their faces flushed with excitement, were personally present, whipping their whips and cheering on the miners.

They even brought several women from brothels to dance seductively on a high platform to boost morale.

"Brothers, give it your all!"

"Swing those pickaxes like there's no tomorrow! After this job, we're all going to the brothel for three days, and I'll be treating everyone!"

He was just a side branch descendant of the family, assigned to this unwanted mine that didn't earn much Spirit Stones in a year. He never expected to receive so many large orders, with many small families buying Softstone at a premium.

Although he didn't know what was happening, he understood one thing—he was about to make a fortune!

"Hurry, hurry!!!"

In a shop in Autumn Far City, the shopkeeper shouted into a Sound Transmitting Talisman: "We're sold out! Someone is buying up all the Qi Supplement Pills in Autumn Far City! Ask your sect to send more; we've never had such good business before!"

"Where are the flying vessels? Weren't there many docked here in the past?"

"I don't know why, but today, there are suddenly many more people using flying vessels, and we don't have enough. Some haven't even returned yet."

"No, what about the girls from the brothels in Autumn Far City? I've visited three brothels, and the madams all told me the girls were out. What, are the girls from your brothels also gone? Did they all go into seclusion together?"

"Sir, you may not be aware, but today, many people have requested the services of brothel girls for the entire day. We're running short of girls."

"Damn it, madam, you still have your charms. Are you still taking on customers?"

"Hehe, you have a good eye, sir."

Throughout Autumn Far City and even in Xuzhou, after fifteen thousand Spirit Stones were lavishly spent, a huge commotion ensued, and countless people in several industries became frantically busy.

The fifteen thousand Spirit Stones were directly spent in the lower-tier market area, benefiting so many people that even if they had been spent at an auction, they wouldn't have had such a significant impact.

Liu Zide resolutely executed his plan, pushing speed to the limit. In just one day, he created nearly a hundred influencers who gained fame through unconventional means.

The scholar couldn't help but wince at this spending rate, often wondering if Liu Zide was unaffected because he wasn't spending his own Spirit Stones.

Putting that aside, Liu Zide hired a Foundation Establishment Cultivator to save time for bathroom breaks. This cultivator's sole task was to use Spirit Energy to collect Liu Zide's urine and transport it to a nearby dry toilet while he was issuing orders.

It wasn't a tiring job, but it was a bit demeaning for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

However, after twenty Spirit Stones were spent, such dignity instantly vanished.

And so—

Twelve hours passed, and Chen Qiu emerged from the vat of pills, leaving the miniature world and reappearing in the temple near Mountain Opening City.

"Phew," Chen Qiu sighed, looking at the small green Demon Fire on his fingertip and murmuring with satisfaction, "Finally, I have an additional means of attack."

With the aid of the Enlightenment Stone, the Nine Toxins Dark Soul Technique had reached the Great Profound Realm.

Just a glance at this small flame was enough to sense the terrifying destructive power it contained.

He had made an appointment with the shopkeeper the previous night to meet at midnight in this temple to remove the seals from the remaining Storage Rings. It was now past midnight, and the shopkeeper seemed to be late.

Just at that moment, a streak of gleaming longsword suddenly shot out from outside the temple, hovering in mid-air. The scholar then appeared, sitting cross-legged in the air, before falling heavily to the ground. He looked up at Chen Qiu and Liu Zide, his face pale as he rasped out, "Brother Qiu, Liu Zide asked me to deliver a message to you."

"A message?" Chen Qiu furrowed his brows and glanced at the communication bracelet on his finger, but there was no message. "Isn't there a communication bracelet? Why did he send you here in person?"

"He said he didn't dare to tell you."

"What? What's the matter that he doesn't dare to tell me?"

"This..."

Even the scholar winced and sucked in a few breaths of cool air before mustering the courage to speak, "Liu Zide said that the 15,000 spirit stones are almost spent, with only 3,000 spirit stones left. He's a bit short on funds and wants to ask if you can provide another 10,000 spirit stones."

"What?"

Fat Dragon, who was standing nearby, almost popped his eyes out in disbelief. He roared in anger, "That's 15,000 spirit stones, not 15,000 copper coins! How could he have spent almost all of it in just one day? That bastard!"

"Even if he was throwing money into the river, it wouldn't be this fast, right?"

Fat Dragon rolled up his sleeves and walked towards the scholar, "Come, take me to him. I'll teach him a lesson he won't forget!"

". . ."

Chen Qiu's face remained expressionless as he remained silent, repeatedly telling himself to stay calm. After taking a deep breath, he spoke in a slightly trembling voice, "Are you sure he didn't throw all the spirit stones into the river?"

"No."

The scholar shook his head and took out an account book from his bosom, "I'm not trying to speak for him, but I've witnessed most of the expenses, and they weren't wasted. He even hired three accountants from Zhao Family Commerce, and all the expenses are recorded here."

"But the spending is a bit too fast."

"The City Lord of Autumn Far City even allocated a separate area outside the city for him."

". . ."

Chen Qiu took the account book and scanned it. The expenses were neatly recorded, and the book was over forty pages thick. Many of the expenses seemed necessary.

Before he could speak, the scholar took out a storage bag from his bosom and handed it over, "This is the Heavenly Blessing for the group of 67 people that Liu Zide will receive tonight at midnight. The highest-ranked person among them is already at 829th place on the Fame Ranking Chart."

"Liu Zide said that today's main focus is on replicating the Memory Stones, and they haven't been widely distributed yet. Tomorrow, after a large-scale distribution and some time for the news to spread, there will be a big harvest."

Chen Qiu took the storage bag and probed it with his divine sense. A total of 67 Inferior Celestial Path Foundation Realm Cultivation Pills were neatly arranged inside, looking quite tempting.

"Hmm..."

After a moment of thought, Chen Qiu took out a storage ring containing 10,000 spirit stones from his bosom and tossed it over. With a serious expression, he said, "Tell Liu Zide that if he spends 25,000 spirit stones and only earns a few hundred Inferior Celestial Path Foundation Realm Cultivation Pills in return..."

"He can experience the true meaning of Extreme Bliss in this world."

"Understood!"

As the scholar's voice faded, his figure disappeared from the spot. In the blink of an eye, he arrived in Mountain Opening City and tossed the storage ring filled with spirit stones to Liu Zide, who was eagerly waiting nearby.

"Here, Brother Qiu gave this to you."

"But Brother Qiu specifically said that if 25,000 spirit stones are spent and you only earn a few hundred Inferior Celestial Path Foundation Realm Cultivation Pills, you can look forward to the rest of your life."

"Don't worry."

Liu Zide's cheeks flushed with an abnormally excited red hue, his face pale, and dark circles under his eyes. He looked like a sickly person as he pocketed the storage ring. He then took out dozens of spirit stones and threw them towards the crowd around him, who had been eagerly awaiting, and roared.

"Triple the price!"

"Tell those family workshops that I'll pay three times the price. Let them work faster! We need more Memory Stones!"

"The early bird catches the worm. Those who are slow will eat shit!"

In the temple within Mountain Opening City, Chen Qiu inwardly felt a bit sorry for his own finances as he glanced at his suddenly deflated wallet. Just the night before, he had obtained 18,000 low-grade spirit stones and 24 medium-grade spirit stones from the storage ring.

In the blink of an eye, after receiving the storage ring, 10,000 spirit stones were gone.

Did Liu Zide even understand the concept of 20,000 spirit stones?

However, Chen Qiu quickly shifted his attention to the 67 Inferior Celestial Path Foundation Realm Cultivation Pills in the storage ring.

To be honest, he was quite satisfied with the first day's harvest.

With 67 people on the rankings, it meant that Liu Zide had at least filmed 67 scenes and quickly spread the Memory Stones to the point where these 67 people became famous enough to be ranked. This speed was already impressive.

He believed that if there were no unexpected events, the harvest in the following days would only increase.

Finally, he understood why the Wang family head from Yuncheng was so bold in his gamble. It wasn't that the family head had a particularly strong will, but rather, having someone like this as your strategist meant that once you approved their plan, you'd have to go all-in and risk it all.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end