noffsinger Chapter 19 Making Money
Chapter 19 Making Money
Good things like mutated eggs don't happen every day; such opportunities are rare and depend entirely on luck.
The practice of the Thunder Breathing Technique has reached a critical point. The increase in proficiency from further practice has slowed down. There are too many things that require money right now, so it's time to focus my energy on making money.
Zhou Qiuyuan has had a few ideas in the past few days.
The first is related to the alchemy and drug testing of elixirs.
After the cataclysmic changes in the world, some herbs mutated, and the supply of herbs became limited, resulting in a decrease in the availability of the elixirs that were once available.
The pharmacists began researching pills made primarily from exotic beasts and medicinal herbs. As more and more mutated substances were added, the pills deviated from their original medicinal properties, yet they still had miraculous effects.
The pills available on the market have been tested over time and have minimal negative effects, which is the result of repeated trials by test subjects.
Some new medicines concocted by pharmacists need to be tested for efficacy and to determine if there are any serious hidden dangers. Only after confirming that the new elixir is safe will the pharmacist dare to release it to the market.
Once a new elixir with excellent effects is developed, the pharmacist will become famous and reap both fame and fortune.
To become a pharmacist, one must first become an apprentice. Pharmacists are usually very secretive and will hold back some of their skills when passing on them to their apprentices. Even if one is lucky enough to become an apprentice, it is impossible to learn anything and make money within several years.
Another related factor is the trial participants.
Drug testing is extremely dangerous. Newly refined pills, without any improvements, have many hidden dangers. If you're lucky, and the pills you test are beneficial and harmless, you might even gain some advantages.
If you're unlucky, the new elixir contains erysipelas, which can cause vomiting, hair loss, and coughing up blood in mild cases, and death in severe cases.
It is precisely because the new elixir has such severe side effects that no one would test it on themselves unless they were desperate.
Zhou Qiuyuan possesses the ability to see into the future, which allows him to confirm whether there are any problems with the new pills he is testing.
The rewards for body refiners to test medicines are far higher than those for ordinary people; they can earn at least tens of thousands of coins per test, so they can be considered for this option.
Zhou Qiuyuan's only worry was that the side effects of the pills would remain latent for a long time, and that the toxicity of various pills would mix in his body, eventually leading to his death when a large amount of toxicity erupted.
The second method is to find bargains.
By taking advantage of the time difference in future dreams, one can buy low and sell high, making it easier to profit than a normal merchant.
It's like finding a mutated egg; making money depends entirely on luck.
If you're lucky, you might encounter a great opportunity and make a lot of money at once; if you're unlucky, you might only be able to make ends meet.
The third method is to explore the outer city.
The area inside and outside Black Swamp City is like two different worlds; opportunities are scarce and incomes are low within the city.
Take her parents for example. Shen Wan only earned ten coins a day at the pulp mill, which was not enough to make a living.
Zhou Chengwu earned twenty-five copper coins at the mine outside the city, which was much higher than his income from the pulp mill.
The value of ordinary people's labor has always been suppressed to a very low level. They can't earn much money by working, let alone support the cultivation of body refiners.
Zhou Qiuyuan did not want to work in the outer city like his father and earn hard-earned money. His goal was to find mutated beasts and rare herbs outside the city, and even rare and precious natural treasures that cultivators regarded as treasures.
Over the years, many lucky people have left the city. Some have found precious materials for immortal cultivation and exchanged them for spirit stones from immortal masters.
Some people encounter rare and precious materials, exchange them for acquired spiritual roots for cultivating immortality, and become cultivators.
Some people encountered a powerful demon, and simply by bringing back the news, they received unimaginable wealth.
The myth of instant wealth outside Black Swamp City attracts countless people who flock there, hoping to seize the opportunity to soar to great heights.
Zhou Qiuyuan obtains information about the treasure in a future dream and finds a safe path to bring it back safely.
This method requires luck, and its potential is even higher.
The area inside and outside Black Swamp Castle seemed like two different worlds. Without the restraint against fighting within the castle, the law of the jungle was on full display.
Ordinary people who do not travel with acquaintances are very likely to encounter accidents when leaving the city alone.
Zhou Qiuyuan had not yet reached the Body Tempering Realm, and without spiritual tools, he could not deal with the alien beasts. His outcome of leaving the city was not much different from that of an ordinary person.
It is unclear whether dying in future dreams will have any impact. If dying in future dreams does not bring any extra benefits, why risk dying?
Exploring the outer city and testing drugs are not safe enough; one can only act as a middleman, picking up scraps.
Kuronuma City has markets in the west, south, and north districts, but the east district is the most prosperous and lacks the conditions for markets to thrive.
Xijie Market is one of the busiest areas in Xicheng District, comprising four streets where daily necessities, food, secondhand goods, and antiques are sold.
The western street mainly sells second-hand goods, hence its nickname "Second-hand Goods Street." The items are reasonably priced, and most of Zhou Qiuyuan's household appliances and second-hand clothes were sourced from here.
Compared to the bustling streets in the evening, the West Street Market is very quiet at midday, with few pedestrians.
Zhou Qiuyuan arrived at the quietest North Street, where the stalls mainly sold antiques such as porcelain, jade, and bronzes, as well as niche items like calligraphy and paintings.
After the disaster, many wealthy families fled to Blackswamp City to seek refuge, while some families fell into poverty and had to sell their ancestral property to survive.
People often make a fortune by finding bargains at the stalls on North Street.
Zhou Qiuyuan's gaze swept across the stall, attempting to use his astonishing wisdom from both lifetimes to uncover the hidden treasures and find an opportunity similar to the mutated egg.
The shrewd stall owners glanced at the boy's brown clothes, but most of them showed no enthusiasm to approach him and solicit customers.
Only one old man wearing a straw hat pointed to a chamber pot covered in red paint and said, "Young man, this is a porcelain piece from the Qianlong era, the emperor's personal chamber pot. If I weren't short of money, I wouldn't be willing to sell it! I'll sell it to you for a rock-bottom price of one thousand coins."
"A thousand coins for a chamber pot? You expect people to buy it to drink water?"
After the great disaster, the dynasty had long since vanished like smoke. Who would be interested in the emperor's chamber pot?
This is a world of immortals, where cultivators embody their individual power.
No one is interested in the emperor's chamber pot, but if it were a fairy's chamber pot, there would be plenty of wealthy people eager to absorb some of the fairy's aura.
Zhou Qiuyuan walked from south to north for an hour without blinking, his eyes getting dry from looking around.
He has no ability to appreciate antiques and cannot find any hidden gems.
Ordinary people struggle to make ends meet every day, while those with a little wealth invest in physical cultivation or the path of immortality, making it difficult for antiques to enjoy a booming market.
After resting for a while, Zhou Qiuyuan went to three other markets, but still found nothing.
He pondered whether to go to the markets in other districts, and suddenly an idea came to him.
"Why do some things have to be done personally? I can get information for free in future dreams and profit from it in the real world."
"In my future dreams, I'll pay others to collect information about getting rich quick for me. There's no need to spend time looking for opportunities that might appear at any time."