Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 262 How to Make Money
Wolong Manor is quite famous in Xiao Kingdom, and can almost be considered the second most powerful sect after Yuxu Sect. Although its master is only a third-rank cultivator, the manor has many disciples and even the local government has to give it some face. It is much stronger than the former Sword Casting Manor.

Therefore, Zuo Ting, as the third master of the manor, had already eaten all sorts of strange and wonderful "immortal foods" that were circulating in the martial arts world. He had even tasted half of a fresh immortal peach.

But none of those "divine delicacies" are as extravagant as this ordinary flatbread in front of us.

The powerful "qi" loosened his long-stagnant energy channels—a sign that he was about to break through to a higher realm.

Immediately afterwards, he could no longer hold back. He apologized to everyone, gathered his inner energy, rushed out of the inn, found an open space outside, and began to circulate the surging inner energy within his body.

"Brother Zuo is about to break through!"

Jiang Wanli was sitting facing the inn's main entrance. He swallowed the steamed bun in his mouth and looked at Zuo Ting, who was surrounded by aura, in the distance, his tone full of envy.

Zhu Ye, fanning himself with a folding fan, exclaimed, "Zuo Ting, the third master of Wolong Manor, possesses an exquisite Wind and Thunder Blade Technique... As far as I know, Master Zuo is currently a fourth-grade Acquired Venerable. If he breaks through again, he will become a third-grade Innate Venerable, just one step away from the Grandmaster realm!"

Li Heng also said, "Brother Zuo looks to be under forty, doesn't he? That's impressive!"

The three people at another table had finished their meal and were paying their bill as they left, discussing Zuo Ting's breakthrough. However, just as they stepped out of the inn, they heard Che Lin deliberately raise his voice: "So what if he breaks through to become a Grandmaster? If he really joins the White Stone Immortal Sect, even with the cultivation of a Grandmaster, he will have to exhaust all his strength before he can cultivate immortality. Tsk, it's a pity that he broke through at this time!"

Shi Yizhi, being young at heart, was furious upon hearing this and spat out, "Hmph, how arrogant!"

Che Lin merely glanced at Shi Yizhi and the others indifferently, without saying a word, and even gave a cold laugh before hurriedly leaving.

Jiang Wanli couldn't help but stare in astonishment: "What level of cultivation does this person have to be so arrogant!"

Zhu Ye waved his folding fan and said, "He is only slightly inferior to me, with a cultivation level of about the fifth rank."

Shi Yizhi was both shocked and indignant: "He looks like he hasn't even grown his first hair yet, and he's already at the fifth rank?!"

Zhu Ye glanced at Shi Yizhi, nodded, and silently swallowed the words, "You look like you haven't even grown up as much as him yet."

After a while, everyone had eaten and drunk their fill and chatted for a long time before Zuo Ting finally arrived.

Zhu Ye was the first to offer his congratulations: "Congratulations, Brother Zuo, on breaking through to the third-grade Innate Venerable!"

Others also offered their congratulations: "Congratulations!"

Zuo Ting, beaming with pride, paid for his portion of flatbread and said, "Thank you for your rudeness. Let's get going to the Peach Blossom Goddess Temple now!"

The group had been staying at the inn, waiting for Zuo Ting to go to the Peach Blossom Goddess Temple. Upon hearing this, they immediately changed their location.

The Peach Blossom Goddess Temple is a very simple little temple. Six people can fill the temple to capacity.

The temple keeper stepped forward and, upon hearing that the group had come to request incense and buy talismans, immediately beamed with joy: "One stick of incense costs ten coins, and the ash lasts for three days! As for talismans... it depends on what kind you want. Thunder curse talismans cost one hundred coins each, demon-suppressing talismans cost eighty coins, and exorcism talismans cost ten coins!"

Jiang Wanli clicked his tongue in amazement: "So expensive!"

Zhu Ye then cupped his hands and asked, "What kind of talisman is that that's pasted on the door?"

Upon hearing this, the temple keeper's enthusiasm waned somewhat, and he replied, "Oh, those are talismans for warding off evil spirits. They cost three coins each, and one talisman lasts for three days!"

"I want this talisman to ward off evil spirits, and..." Li Heng said, secretly counting the rooms he would be staying in tonight, and added, "I want three of them!"

After saying that, Li Heng took it upon himself to say to everyone, "Miss Yang, I'll buy yours too. It doesn't cost much in total, so I'll pay for the talisman!"

"Let's get a few more, just in case something unexpected happens, we won't be left unarmed," Yang Muqing said. "We can each buy our own."

Upon hearing this, Li Heng couldn't bear to insist any longer and could only nod: "Alright then, I'll take two!"

Zuo Ting then said, "I'll take one!"

Some people wanted three, some wanted two; everyone bought amulets to ward off evil.

When it was Yang Muqing's turn, she said, "I need two talismans to ward off evil, one thunder spell talisman, one demon-suppressing talisman, three exorcism talismans, and one stick of incense. Thank you for your help, temple keeper."

With Yang Muqing as his "big customer," the temple keeper immediately beamed with joy and enthusiastically handed the first lit incense stick to Yang Muqing's hand.

Then he added, "Just offer incense here and silently recite 'May the Peach Blossom Goddess bless you' three times. As for the incense ash, you don't need to wait until it's completely burned. As long as a bit of the incense burns down and falls into this ash, I'll collect a handful for you, and that will do the trick!"

"Then thank you very much, temple keeper."

The temple keeper said cheerfully, "No need to thank me, no need to thank me. If you encounter any trouble, just come find me! I dare not say anything else, but there is nothing in Peach Blossom Village that I cannot handle!" Everyone bought talismans and incense, carefully collected the incense ash, and then dispersed.

Li Heng planned to go to the general store to ask what he could sell for money, since he had just heard from Yu Shang at the inn that he could fish and sell his catch.

Zhu Ye was anxious to find the "key to pass through the pass," saying that she planned to wander around the village to see if she could find out any information.

Zuo Ting didn't say where he was going, while Yang Muqing planned to return to Tangquan Villa to chat with Miss Hu again.

For a moment, only Jiang Wanli and Shi Yizhi remained in front of the Peach Blossom Goddess Temple.

Jiang Wanli asked, "Senior brother, what are your plans?"

Shi Yizhi shook his head, looking bewildered: "I don't know what I can do either. We've asked the village head, Miss Hu, the innkeeper, and the temple keeper along the way, but they all know nothing about the so-called 'key to passage.' I really don't know where to start looking."

“Otherwise, let’s go and ask around to see if there are any ways to make money, and earn some money for food first,” Jiang Wanli said. “Although the money I get from Sister Yang is enough for seven days’ food if I spend it sparingly, I still feel bad about taking it for free.”

Shi Yizhi nodded: "That makes sense. Shall we go and inquire at those shops?"

Jiang Wanli clapped his hands and said, "That's exactly what I think too!"

So the two hurried south, and when they saw the first shop with a sign, they went straight in and asked the shopkeeper about ways to make money.

"Making money? My slaughterhouse can do it all! If you know how to hunt, here, I'll give each of you a hunting bow. Go into the mountains and hunt some game, then sell it to me!"

The shopkeeper was a burly man with a belly as big as a woman several months pregnant. He wore a dirty burlap apron and, while speaking, expertly pulled two rough, simple wooden bows from behind the counter, slammed them onto the counter, and added:
"If you're not good at hunting, you can learn how to butcher livestock here. You can help out, and I'll pay you ten coins for every hour!"

Jiang Wanli was somewhat surprised upon hearing this: "This... in this village, are wages calculated by the hour?"

I've never heard of wages being calculated like this before!
The shopkeeper replied, "Isn't it because you outsiders always disappear after working for a short while! These past few days, Master Hu has been celebrating a wedding, so there are many guests, and they need a lot of meat every day. I'm not only short of meat, but also very short of manpower!"

Jiang Wanli glanced fearfully at the gutted deer and rabbit hanging in the shop, then decisively picked up the wooden bow and said, "Well, I'll try hunting then..."

Shi Yizhi remained unfazed by the bloody sights, but the thought of the filth from slaughtering livestock made him reluctant. So he took the wooden bow and thanked the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper waved his hands repeatedly: "It's alright, it's alright. As long as you can hunt wild game and sell it to me, I won't lose money!"

After leaving the slaughterhouse, the two walked a few steps further and saw a shop with a signboard decorated with clothing patterns; it was probably a secondhand clothing shop.

Shi Yizhi walked past without even glancing at him, but Jiang Wanli grabbed him and whispered, "Senior brother, do you remember? Just now at the inn, those two female warriors from the Dragon Pool Sect said that they learned they could make money by selling fish because they met a fisherman, and that fisherman told them! Moreover, that fisherman even gave each of them a fishing rod! They thought fishing was too slow, so they went into the water to catch fish!"

Shi Yizhi was somewhat confused: "Brother Jiang means..."

Jiang Wanli added, "Look, when we went to the slaughterhouse just now, the shopkeeper gave each of us a wooden bow!"

At this point, Shi Yizhi suddenly realized—

"Brother Jiang, are you saying that in this village, wherever there is a place to make a living, they will give us something?"

"Of course!"

Jiang Wanli laughed and said, "How about this, let's go to each shop and ask around, and finally see where we can make the most money, then do that kind of work, and we can also get all the items along the way. Who knows, it might be related to that 'pass key'!"

At this point, Jiang Wanli became even more excited, saying, "Senior brother, think about it. In all my years of traveling around, I've never seen a shop that would willingly give out fishing rods or hunting bows when accepting items! Even if these things are crude, they're still worth some money, right? Besides, why would they prepare so many identical hunting bows or fishing rods? Unless they were planning for us to take them all! Or maybe they had no choice but to take them because of some 'pass key'!"

There were no RPG games in this era, so Zhang Chengdao's thoughtfully designed "quest" for making money as a beginner was successfully misunderstood by everyone. As a result, Jiang Wanli and Shi Yizhi really did run all over the village with great enthusiasm. In addition to hunting bows, they also collected fishing rods, sickles, hoes, axes, pickaxes, and shovels. It was so abundant that the two of them almost couldn't carry it all!
"A fishing rod can be used to catch fish, and fish can be sold for money. A sickle can be used to cut herbs in the mountains. A hoe can be used to till the land. An axe can be used to chop firewood. A pickaxe can be used to mine minerals. A shovel can be used to clear silt... Apart from tilling the land as the old farmer mentioned and clearing the silt from the pond at Master Hu's house, how much you can earn from the others depends on luck!"

The two squatted in an open space near Hu Yuanwai's house, staring at a pile of tools in front of them, analyzing them non-stop.

Shi Yizhi nodded and continued, "Slaughtering costs 10 coins, processing herbs costs 12 coins, and you can wash clothes at the secondhand clothing shop for 3 coins per piece. These are the clear ways to earn money. If you keep doing these, you can earn at least 50 coins a day, which is more than enough to eat."

"But we didn't come here just to eat!" Jiang Wanli said, somewhat discouraged. "We only have seven days. It's too difficult to find any 'key to passage'! A whole day has passed, and we haven't found out a single clue!"

Shi Yizhi thought for a moment and said, "How about we go hunting? I've been learning riding and archery from my father and brothers since I was a child. Putting aside everything else, I can hit the bullseye every time. Hunting shouldn't be a problem. Even if the butcher shop owner charges a low price, it's still more than these fixed wages, right?"

What Shi Yizhi said made a lot of sense, but Jiang Wanli was dumbfounded: "But I don't know how to use a bow and arrow!"

(End of this chapter)