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

"What is it?" Gou An was very puzzled, wondering what the other party wanted to say.

After all, he and Bai He didn't have much interaction.

Bai He smiled and then spoke, "Naturally, it concerns the spirit smoke."

"Spiritual smoke?" Gou Andun asked in confusion. "There is a sufficient supply of spiritual smoke right now. If you wish to purchase it, you can do so at any time."

"No, no, no!" Bai He quickly waved his hand, "The spirit smoke I want is not the kind you're selling."

"Huh?" Gou An clearly didn't understand what he meant.

"Fellow Daoist, the most expensive spirit smoke you sell here is only 10,000 demon gold coins per box!" Bai He said slowly. "Although this kind of thing is not bad, it is not worthy of the noble status of a Demon King."

"So what does the envoy mean?" Gou An was clearly even more confused.

A box of spirit smoke costing 10,000 demon gold coins isn't even high-class enough?

"I'd like you fellow cultivators to craft a special kind of spirit smoke!" Bai He laughed. "The price doesn't need to be too high, 500,000 demon gold per box will suffice!"

"Five hundred thousand?" Gou An was shocked on the spot; this wasn't even too expensive.

"That's right!" Bai He nodded with a smile, "It's five hundred thousand!"

Seeing Gou An's surprised expression, Bai He covered his mouth and chuckled, "Fellow Daoist, you can't possibly be unable to make it, can you? It doesn't need to be too good, just a little better than the current ones that cost ten thousand demon gold coins a box!"

"We can make it, but the price is just too high!" Gou An was a little uneasy. How come the profit margin is getting bigger and bigger?

"Of course!" Bai He chuckled softly, "Five hundred thousand is the price offered to outsiders. If I buy it from you, it'll only cost fifty thousand demon gold per box!"

Hearing this, Gou An finally understood what Bai He wanted to do.

This guy clearly wants the middleman to make a profit.

The round trip earns more than I would have made myself.

Indeed, in this world, if you want to make a business, you can't be honest; you have to be a shrewd businessman!

"I understand!" Gou An nodded: "If it's just a special edition, and it's still so expensive, I really can't come up with anything better in terms of packaging."

"Don't worry about that!" Bai He said, taking a storage bag from his sleeve and placing it on the table. "Inside is Dragon Embroidery Brocade, a top-quality material from the cultivation realm of the East Sea. We'll use this to wrap the specially supplied spiritual smoke from now on; it'll be more than high-class enough."

"Rest assured, Your Excellency, I will certainly handle this matter well!" Gou An immediately raised his wine cup and drank with Bai He.

Although making special spirit smoke is not a great thing for me, it is very useful because it allows me to be associated with the white crane.

Just like when you're an official in the imperial court, being able to be on good terms with the emperor's favorite eunuchs is extremely useful.

In this way, he not only had the old fox as his backer, but also made some friends with the white crane, which meant he could be considered to have gained a foothold in the City of Ten Thousand Demons.

After the banquet, everyone dispersed, and the two collaborations were successfully concluded.

For Gou An, it only meant he earned a little less demon gold; nothing else mattered, since he was the only one who had the items.

After Gou An returned, he personally began to study the production method of the special spirit smoke.

The spirit cigarettes, costing 10,000 demon gold coins per packet, already use the best parts of the spirit tobacco.

Therefore, the special supply of 500,000 demon gold per packet can only contain a little bit of valuable spiritual ingredients such as ginseng.

The amount used should not be too much, otherwise it will mask the original flavor of the spirit smoke.

After Gou An's adjustments, the specially made spirit smoke was produced.

Gou An calculated that the cost of such a packet of spirit smoke to him was only one thousand demon gold coins. But in the end, it could be sold for five hundred thousand demon gold coins.

The profits are absolutely terrifying!

When Gou An handed over the specially made spirit smoke to Bai He, he was very satisfied.

He reiterated to Gou An that the specially supplied spirit smoke could be sold to the public, but it must not be less than 500,000 demon gold per pack.

Another half month passed, and it was time for Gou An's once-every-ten-day mission to deliver pills.

Early in the morning, Xuanjiao Laoniu handed over the three storage bags he had prepared to Gou An.

Gou An left the city, boarded his own flying boat, and went to each mine to deliver the pills.

Upon arriving at the mine, Gou An was pleasantly surprised to find that many of the demon soldiers and generals on duty had a spirit cigarette dangling from their mouths.

In just over a month, business has spread all over this place, which Gou An never expected.

After delivering the pills to the two distant mines, the last place to go was the largest mine guarded by the rhinoceros demon, Black Horned Immortal.

Like the previous two mines, Black Horn also had a spirit cigarette dangling from his mouth; judging by its quality, it was a top-grade spirit cigarette that cost 10,000 demon gold coins per pack.

For Gou An, this is a good thing.

Since he likes smoking, it would be a natural thing to just exchange spirit smoke for spirit stones with him in the future.

As soon as he stepped off the flying boat, Black Horn immediately went to greet him: "Fellow Daoist, you've finally arrived!"

Gou An handed the storage bag to Hei Jiao. After Hei Jiao opened it and confirmed that the number of pills was correct, he put it away.

"The pills are effective, I'll head back now!" Gou An said, preparing to return.

Upon seeing this, Black Horn quickly urged him to stay, saying, "Fellow Daoist always comes and goes in a hurry, and it's been a long time since we've had a chance to catch up and chat. I've prepared a table full of spiritual wine and food today, so please do me the honor of having a bite."

Gou An couldn't refuse, so he had no choice but to agree.

It's still a stone table on the cliff, offering a panoramic view of the entire mine.

Several large jars of spirit wine were placed on the stone table, followed by a table full of large chunks of raw meat, bloody and very fresh.

"Fellow Daoist, please feel free to do as you please, don't be shy!" Black Horn plopped down, picked up the wine jar, and started chugging the wine.

Gou An was not as rude as him; he poured the wine into a bowl and sipped it slowly.

Blackhorn drank half a jar of spirit wine in one gulp, then picked up a piece of raw meat and swallowed it. After wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he stretched out his hand to the side.

The demon soldier standing nearby immediately understood and quickly took out a spirit cigarette and placed it between Black Horn's fingers.

The demon soldiers on the other side quickly took out flints and lit the spirit smoke for Black Horn.

Blackhorn took a drag, then exhaled a long puff of white smoke with satisfaction, looking completely blissful.

"I've heard from others that this wonderful thing called Spirit Smoke was refined by you, Fellow Daoist Gou?" Black Horn suddenly asked curiously.

Gou An's ears twitched slightly, knowing that the part he was interested in was about to begin.

"Exactly!" Gou An nodded.

Black Horn took another puff, his expression growing increasingly satisfied: "This stuff is good, but it's a bit too expensive. Ten thousand demon gold coins a pack, and I'm smoking a dozen or so packs a day now, which adds up to over ten thousand demon gold coins a day!"

Upon hearing this, Gou An's lips twitched.

This guy smokes way too much, a dozen packs a day, that's over a hundred cigarettes.

"The raw material cost of this product is simply too high, so setting this price is a last resort!" Gou An explained with a smile.

"I understand, I understand!" Black Horn nodded and continued, "Anyway, you come once every ten days, and I'm too lazy to find someone to buy from outside. It's more convenient to trade directly with you."

"Of course, no problem!" Gou An nodded, earning spirit stones was his ultimate goal.

"I need a lot. We're all fellow Daoists, so you should give me a discount, right?" Black Horn laughed, being more polite than when he delivered pills to Wan Dan Tang before.

"How much do you want to buy?" Gou An asked.

"Let's say I take twenty packets a day!" Black Horn frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "Ten days is two hundred packets! At the city's prices, that's two million demon gold!"

At this point, Blackhorn was clearly in pain.

Even if it's a lucrative job, it can't withstand such abuse.

Two million in ten days, and he would spend six million demon gold in a month just on spirit smoke.

Thinking of this, Gou An was afraid that he would cause inflation in the City of Ten Thousand Demons.

"Give me a discount, brother!" Black Horn thought for a moment and said, "Two hundred packs, how about one million demon gold coins? Consider it a 50% discount!"

Upon hearing this, Gou An naturally did not agree immediately, otherwise it would seem that the item was not so valuable.

"Fellow Daoist, you jest. If I sold it like that, I wouldn't even break even!" Gou An sighed. "You probably don't know, but the raw materials for this spirit smoke are all extremely precious spiritual herbs!"

"How about 1.5 million?" Black Horn's expression was slightly displeased. He added, "You have to let me get some benefit, right?"

"How about this!" Gou An thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "I'll provide you with spiritual smoke, and you'll give me..."

Gou An lowered his voice at the end.

"What?" Blackhorn didn't hear clearly, so he could only lean forward and close the distance.

"How about I give you spirit smoke, and you give me spirit stones in return?" Gou An said with a smile, "Let's barter and make a secret deal."

Having clearly heard Gou An's words, Black Horn sat up straight again and slowly said, "What you say isn't impossible. But I wonder what kind of exchange you'd like?"

"I won't charge you a high price, fellow Daoist. I'll give you 100 packs of spirit smoke for every 1,000 spirit stones!" Gou An replied with a smile. "That's only 10 spirit stones per pack."

Although spirit stones cannot be used for daily transactions in the City of Ten Thousand Demons, there are still secret underground channels for exchanging demon gold for spirit stones.

According to the information Gou An gathered, a low-grade spirit stone is priced at approximately 500 demon gold coins.

Ten spirit stones are worth no more than five thousand demon gold.

In a way, it's like giving Blackhorn a fold.

Black Horn shook his head after hearing this: "It sounds good, but as you know, spirit stones cannot be used for trading. A few spirit stones are fine, but these are often thousands of spirit stones. If it's discovered, I'll have a hard time dealing with it."

Before Gou An could reply, Hei Jiao added, "If you could give me two hundred packets of high-grade spirit smoke for a thousand spirit stones, I would do the deal."

Upon hearing Blackhorn's offer, Gou An silently calculated in his mind that it didn't seem like a bad deal.

After all, he could only get 30% of the profit from selling the spirit cigarettes outside. By trading directly with Black Horn, he could avoid the commissions from Old Fox and Master Wenxu.

All things considered, even a fold-out of a fold-out isn't a bad deal.

Moreover, what they are trading is not crude demon gold, but real spirit stones.

Thinking of this, Gou An was overjoyed, but his face showed some difficulty: "Then let's do as you say, fellow Daoist."

Seeing that Gou An agreed, Black Horn laughed as if he had gained some tremendous advantage: "Fellow Daoist, you're so straightforward! Then it's settled, and neither of us is allowed to go back on our word!"

"It's a deal!" Gou An nodded emphatically.

Sell ​​it to him once every ten days, at a rate of one thousand spirit stones each time, and that's three thousand spirit stones a month.

It may not seem like much, but over time it adds up to a considerable sum.

Most importantly, once the path of exchanging spirit smoke for spirit stones is opened, things will only get smoother and smoother from there.

After all, there were no roads in the world originally; it was only when many people walked on them that they became roads.