Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

Soon, the first batch of spiritual smoke from the Palm Heaven Diagram was produced, totaling three thousand packs.

It's still a pack of ten, and the packaging is even more exquisite than when Gou An made them individually before.

One pack costs 10,000 gold coins!

If all three thousand packages are sold, that would amount to thirty million demon gold.

Thinking of this, Gou An couldn't stop smiling.

Unfortunately, this demon gold can only be used for basic living expenses in the City of Ten Thousand Demons, and cannot be used to buy spirit stones.

However, once we establish sales channels, everything else will be easier to manage.

After all, he is now in charge of delivering pills to the three major mines. As long as the sales channels for this spirit smoke are established, he can always find a way to obtain spirit stones.

To boost sales, Gou An even invited Master Wenxu to partner with him in selling the products.

After all, Master Wenxu has a wider network of connections and more seniority in the City of Ten Thousand Demons than I do. With his help, the spirit smoke can be sold even better.

All you need to do is ask the virtual real person for 30% of the profits, and you don't need to worry about anything else.

As expected, they had the help of the True Man Wenxu.

In less than half a month, the spirit smoke had already spread throughout the city.

It started with advertising in taverns; if someone smoked a cigarette while eating, it would immediately attract the attention of others.

Furthermore, the fact that the Demon King had smoked the spiritual smoke in public during the alchemy competition left a deep impression on many onlookers.

Although this item is very expensive, some people still pool their money to buy one.

Gou An noticed this and gave instructions to Liu Dayong and the others in the Palm Heaven Map.

The tenderest and best leaves of the tobacco plant are used to make high-end tobacco, while the less desirable leaves are used to make low-end tobacco.

The high-end ones still cost 10,000 demon gold coins per pack, while the low-end ones cost 500 demon gold coins per pack. In between, there are also mid-range spirit smokes, costing 2,000 demon gold coins per pack.

In this way, three different prices and grades of spirit smoke can cover all levels of monsters.

As the sales of spirit tobacco increased, Gou An had no choice but to use most of the spirit fields in the Palm Heaven Map to grow spirit tobacco and increase production demand.

As a result, there were not enough people in the Palm Heaven Map, and Gou An even considered buying some slaves.

However, if I actually did that, it would easily arouse suspicion.

After all, it's rather strange that they suddenly bought so many slaves and then disappeared without a trace.

As for the raw materials of the spirit tobacco, Gou An had already come up with an explanation.

During the decades he was trapped in the secret realm, he discovered a mountain covered with this plant. He collected a lot of it and stored it all in his storage bag, and his stock was sufficient.

In less than a month, Gou An's first batch of spirit cigarettes had sold out.

After deducting the 30% profit that he gave to Master Wenxu, he earned more than 20 million demon gold, basically achieving financial freedom.

This stuff is incredibly profitable!

For Gou An, it's basically zero cost.

Because the cultivation and production of spirit tobacco were handled by the monsters in the Heavenly Palm Diagram, he didn't need to pay them any wages.

The sales channels were mostly handled by Master Wenxu, so he could just sit back and collect the money.

As sales improved, Lingyan's reputation grew, but on this day, Master Wenxu suddenly found Gou An.

The two sat facing each other in Gou An's courtyard, drinking tea leisurely and at ease.

"The elder's sudden visit, is it because the spirit incense has sold out again?" Gou An asked curiously.

"There's still quite a bit left, but you'll need to speed things up." Master Wenxu smiled, then added, "There's another matter I need to discuss with you."

"What is it?" Gou An asked.

"The profits from this spirit tobacco are so terrifying, and this business is growing bigger and bigger, but I'm starting to feel uneasy!" Master Wenxu suddenly said with a heavy expression.

"What's the rush?" Gou An chuckled. "Is it because making money is too easy?"

"No!" Master Wenxu said with a serious expression, "If it's just you and me making money from such a profitable business, problems will arise sooner or later."

Upon hearing what Master Xu said, Gou An frowned slightly: "Please explain in detail, Elder."

"I told you before what the three most valuable things in the City of Ten Thousand Demons were, do you still remember?" Master Wenxu suddenly asked.

"Of course!" Gou An nodded: "Pills, beautiful women, cultivation techniques!"

"That's right!" Master Wenxu nodded as well: "These three businesses are actually being handled by the Demon King's Mansion itself. Others can only get scraps."

"Look, originally the pill business of the three major pill halls was just a cooperation with the Demon King's Mansion, but as the business became better and better, what happened in the end? They were forcibly merged and became under the actual control of the Demon King's Mansion."

"Look at that Scarlet Moon Pavilion. As the largest brothel in the City of Ten Thousand Demons, it seems that the owner is controlled by the Red Moon Serpent Demon, but in fact, it is also controlled by people from the Demon King's Mansion behind the scenes."

"As for cultivation techniques, these are strictly controlled by the Demon King's Palace; they haven't even circulated privately within the city!"

"Besides these three things, there is another valuable item, which is the trade in demon slaves, also controlled by the Demon King's Palace."

At this point, Master Wenxu paused, took a sip of tea, and continued, "Now that the sales volume of our spiritual smoke is so large, it must have already attracted the attention of the Demon King's Mansion."

"Instead of waiting for them to take over, we should offer it up voluntarily."

Upon hearing this, Gou An frowned even more deeply: "Then wouldn't I be doing all the work for someone else?"

"We humans have an old saying!" Master Wenxu said, "When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head."

"In the end, isn't this City of Ten Thousand Demons ultimately ruled by the Demon King's Palace?"

After hearing this, Gou An fell into deep thought. Although he felt somewhat uncomfortable, Gou An knew that what Master Wenxu said was true.

"In the City of Ten Thousand Demons, there's no such thing as paying taxes. But once a business grows big, it needs a powerful backer. Then, profits are shared with that backer to ensure the business can continue." Master Wenxu chuckled bitterly twice and said, "My abilities and status aren't enough to be your backer, so I'll have to find someone else."

"Who?" Gou An asked.

"The best choice would naturally be Venerable Cangxuan!" True Master Wenxu answered directly, clearly having already decided on his candidate: "Although this spiritual smoke is not a pill, it still has the effects of a pill, and since you are also an alchemist, it is perfectly legitimate to seek him out."

"How exactly should I do it?" Gou An scratched his head, clearly not very good at this kind of thing.

"Simple!" Master Wenxu said, "We just need to give a portion of the profits to Venerable Cangxuan. With him as our backer, no one in Ten Thousand Demon City will dare to touch our business."

"How much should be split?" Gou An asked again.

"Sixty percent!" Master Wenxu held up a six with his right hand, looking very serious.

"Sixty percent?" Gou An's eyes widened in disbelief. "So much is being given away?"

"We can only get a small share if our powerful backers take the lion's share!" Master Wenxu said. "If we are unwilling to give up our share, we may end up not even getting a small share."

Seeing Gou An hesitate, Master Wenxu had no choice but to continue persuading him: "This item itself has huge profits. Even if we give 60% to Venerable Cangxuan, we can still make a profit."

Gou An knew that what Master Wenxu said was right, but he was still a little reluctant to part with him.

After much hesitation and silently weighing the pros and cons, he finally nodded: "Sixty percent, sixty percent!"

"It's good that you understand, Fellow Daoist!" Seeing Gou An agree, True Immortal Wenxu beamed with joy, then continued, "I'll only take 10%, and you can easily get 30%!"

"Let's go by what the real person says!" Gou An sighed.

"Perfect timing! Tonight, we can host a dinner for Venerable Cangxuan and get this matter settled!" Venerable Wenxu stroked his beard and said with a smile.

"Alright, let the real person arrange everything!" Gou An finally nodded.

Soon, night fell.

Under the arrangement of Master Wenxu, Gou An arrived at the most luxurious restaurant in the City of Ten Thousand Demons.

I've heard that the master behind this industry is the Venerable Cangxuan.

Inside the private room on the top floor.

Gou An and Master Wenxu took their seats early and waited. After a long while, the door opened and the old fox, Master Cangxuan, walked in.

However, he was not alone; he was followed by the Demon King's messenger, the white crane who hosted the alchemy conference.

"Please have a seat, Venerable Master!" Master Wenxu immediately stepped forward to greet him.

The old fox nodded and took his seat in the main seat, while the white crane sat silently to the side.

"You've suddenly invited me to this banquet. What brings Elder Xu here?" the old fox said slowly. "Is there something the Pill Hall can't handle?"

Recently, the old fox has hardly come to the Pill Hall, and the main affairs are proceeding in an orderly manner according to the previous arrangements.

"Rest assured, Master, everything is fine at the Pill Hall!" Master Wenxu immediately smiled and poured wine for the old fox: "It just so happens that there is a business deal we would like to discuss with you."

"Business?" The old fox raised an eyebrow. "What kind of business?"

"Quiet Dust Spiritual Smoke!" Master Wenxu replied, "It was just sold in the city, and the response was quite good."

"Oh!" The old fox nodded. "So this is it. I've heard a little about it; it seems to sell quite well!"

"Indeed excellent!" Master Wenxu continued with a fawning smile, "However, this business has grown too rapidly and become too large. Relying solely on Fellow Daoist Gou and myself, we fear we may not be able to maintain this enterprise. Therefore, we would like to ask you to take care of it. We are willing to share 60% of the profits!"

Upon hearing this, the old fox picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and then replied with a smile, "That wouldn't be appropriate. I haven't done anything; how can I take the lion's share?"

"What do we need the Venerable One to do?" Master Wenxu asked with a smile. "Just having the Venerable One stand behind us and support us is more important than anything else!"

"A mere 60% profit margin isn't even enough for me."

The old fox beamed with delight at what the Venerable Master Xu said: "Since you've put it that way, then I agree to help you with this favor. You can do this business with peace of mind; no one will stop you."

Gou An watched the unspoken conversation between the two and couldn't help but admire them secretly.

Unexpectedly, this set of social etiquette is also applicable in the City of Ten Thousand Demons.

With the cooperation with the old fox concluded, the white crane beside him suddenly stood up and said to Gou An, "Fellow Daoist, I've heard that this spiritual smoke is your exclusive secret recipe, and only you can make it."

"Exactly!" Gou An nodded.

Bai He smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist is truly remarkable. To be able to create such a wondrous object all by yourself is something even the Great King greatly admires."

"You flatter me!" Gou An tried to smile like Master Wenxu, but he couldn't manage the same obsequiousness.

Although this white crane is not a protector of the country, it is considered a favorite of the demon king, and most people cannot afford to offend it.

"I came here with Venerable Cangxuan today because there is something I would like to discuss with you, fellow Daoist!" Baihe said slowly.