Chapter 61 – Billionaire Florida Man Reveals Business Secret: "Free Child Labor is a Must-Have!"
The guests entered the store and admired the expanded space. As usual, they exclaimed in astonishment. Only Hua Jiashan remained expressionless.
Leo was generous this time. He brought out Rejuvenate Tea and gave one bottle to each guest, treating it as if they were modern beer. Then, he brought the sacred wood blocks from the warehouse and put them in the store, using them as temporary chairs.
"Please take a seat. Oh, the drink is on the house."
"…"
Wu Buyi and others gazed at the blocks of sacred wood with wry smiles. They had the urge to slap Leo's face for using these precious materials as chairs. Still, they were afraid of his strength, so they kept their mouth shut, swallowing their heart pain.
'Isn't this sacred wood?'
'Are we sitting on these?'
'For real?! He's using sacred wood as chairs?!'
'People are killing each other to get a piece of sacred wood, but he's treating it as… furniture?!'
Because of the emotional damage, their expressions were the same as Hide the Pain Harold. A few inwardly cried.
Leo proceeded to serve them tea. Hua Jiashan silently accepted the rejuvenate tea while Wu Buyi and Han Hao cheerfully received them. Han Meng, Tiger Swordsman, and the other elders, however, were surprised to receive such an expansive gift.
Wu Buyi and Han Hao chugged down the content in unison. They instantly emptied the bottle and burped out loud.
"WOO! That hits the spot! Can I have a second?" Wu Buyi giggled.
"Don't be rude. He's already generous enough to share this top beverage. Oh, by the way, sir. I see that you have so much rejuvenate tea. Could I buy some from you?"
Leo paused for a moment. He thought about scamming them to gain their lifespan, but he had a change of heart. After all, he only needed 10 minutes to make a liter of drink, and the ingredients came from his backyard.
"A million spirit stones per bottle," Leo casually named the price.
"Sweet!" Han Hao burst into laughter. "I need six more, please. I'll pay upfront."
Leo flinched for a moment as he remembered that he didn't know how to use spatial rings. He deeply sighed and pulled out the ring that Wu Buyi once gave him. He wore black rubber gloves and passed his ring to Han Hao.
"Store it here."
"Yes, senior!" Han Hao took the spatial ring and transferred his spirit stones from his ring to another. While he was at it, he snooped Leo's ring with his Qi sense, wondering what he had been collecting. Then, Han Hao was surprised.
There was a billion spirit stones in there!
Han Hao gulped. His hands trembled as he had never seen such wealth before. Even though he was a millionaire, his wealth couldn't be compared to Leo's.
Meanwhile, Leo was clueless about how much he possessed. He thought that the ring had enough space to magically store more spirit stones. As more spirit stones came his way, Leo believed that it should be the right time to start mass-producing Soul Stones.
Curious, Leo asked the guests if they had heard about Essence Stones or Soul Stones before. He picked one of the essence stones in a box on a shelf. Then, he showed it to everybody while they were still enjoying the drinks.
"I'm thinking about introducing new merchandise. What do you think?"
Looking at the black stone in Leo's hand, the elders looked perplexed as they had never seen anything like it before. However, Hua Jiashan calmly identified it.
"Essence Stone? Isn't this a contraband item?"
"Contraband item?" Leo's heart sank. He didn't expect it to be an illegal item.
"Yes," Hua Jiashan explained, "The emperor forbids every cultivator of the mainland to possess or use essence stones. He once claimed that it could potentially turn righteous cultivators into fiend cultivators because of their impurity."
"Hah?"
Leo raised his eyebrows as the item description from the alchemy workshop said otherwise.
.
[Essence Stone]
Can be found underground in any mystic realm. Unlike spirit stones, it contains a great amount of Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth Element Qi.
[Traits]
Increase Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth Element Essence by 10 years' worth of cultivation. (Consumption)
[Alchemy Recipe – Soul Stone]
1,000 Essence Stones
Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth Catalyst
Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth Essence
.
As Leo respected his loyal customers, he revealed what the system had told him.
"I think your emperor lied to you. One essence stone contains 10 years' worth of cultivation. It also has all five element essence in it."
"!!!"
The elders were flabbergasted while Hua Jiashan revealed a bitter smile. The latter confessed, "Yes, I'm aware. The emperor made that law so that the court could monopolize the essence stones.
"WHAT?!" Han Hao, Wu Buyi, and others had never heard of this. They were stunned, "So, the essence stones are safe?"
"Of course, it's safe. It's a precious cultivation resource. Fellow Daoist Florida Man is right. It contains every type of element essence in there, and every stone can bless you with 10 years' worth of cultivation. Think about it. One spirit stone has nothing but neutral Qi, and we can only get one year's worth of Qi per piece. But essence stones have a fixed standard since every stone is naturally formed and refined by nature. You can only mine it from a divine mystic realm!"
"…Wow."
Leo raised his eyebrows as he found this world's standard weird. Since these people had millions of spirit stones, he wondered why they didn't bother using them to cultivate.
"Is it better to use a million spirit stones or a few essence stones to cultivate?"
Hua Jiashan bitterly smiled as he thought that Leo tested him. He pointed out the flaws of spirit stones.
"Spirit stones are merely pebbles that got contaminated with natural Qi from a mystic realm. You can find them anywhere there. Although it's useful for beginners, it barely offers element Qi for cultivators. If we overly rely on spirit stones to grow or refine our dantians and bodies, our foundations will be very weak. It's better to cultivate element Qi or essence from pills, nature… or from essence stones. Obviously, essence stones are crucial for every cultivator above the golden core stage."
Leo nodded as he appreciated the info. As he planned to attract more customers and seduce greedy cultivators to attack him, he decided to provoke this so-called emperor and the court.
While looking at the crowd, Leo offered them a huge bargain.
"What if I say I have a million of these? I can sell them to you for cheap. Of course, I'll only take lifespan as a currency."
This time, Hua Jiashan widened his eyes in astonishment. He stood up, "Are you crazy, Daoist Florida Man!? You will ire the imperial court! They will send quasi-immortals and 10,000 soldiers to hunt you down if they find out!"
Hearing Hua Jiashan, Wu Buyi and Leo widely grinned. They snickered in unison.
"Let them come!" Leo calmly stroked his beard.
"A new era is upon us, sect master. Let them witness the new dawn of our golden era!" Wu Buyi mimicked Leo's motion and stroked his goatee beard.
"…"
Han Hao, Han Meng, Tiger Swordsman, and Hua Jiashan gave Wu Buyi a weird look. They wondered why this alchemist supported Leo so much.
While Wu Buyi sidetracked everybody, one of the elders asked for the price of the stones.
"Senior, how much for an essence stone? I would like to buy some."
"Oh, right. The price."
Leo recalled that he once sold essence stones to Zhong and the ship crew of Ouyang Long. Thinking about them, he wondered if they were fine since they had the contraband items with them.
As Leo had sold these stones for 50 years of lifespan each, he decided to maintain the standard.
"Normally, I sold these for 100 years of lifespan. But since you have been visiting me often, I'll only sell it at the cost price, which is… one year per piece!"
Leo no longer cared about maximizing profits by selling them at a reasonable price. After all, he could always convert spirit stones into essence stones by touching them. He still had millions of spirit stones and essence stones in the warehouse, and he could easily get more by selling tea.
In addition, pricing them cheaply could awaken a human's greed. Even though they might not need them, they would be tempted to hoard as many essence stones as possible, wasting their lifespan resource in the process.
"BUY!!"
As Leo had envisioned, Han Meng, Han Hao, Wu Buyi, and Tiger Swordsman stood up and shouted in unison. They didn't care if their lifespan would be depleted tomorrow as the item was too cheap!
Leo laughed and quickly operated his shop domain, extracting their lifespan. He also ran back to the warehouse and fetched them a large sack of essence stones.
The transaction was quick. Everybody got several hundred stones in their arms as these elders quickly spent almost everything, leaving them with 100 years to live and cultivate. However, their expressions were full of joy.
Wu Buyi tested the stone in front of everybody. He inserted his Qi into one of the essence stones and absorbed the essence that leaked out. Wu Buyi then manipulated his Qi to coil around the invisible essence droplets in the air and inhaled them.
"!!!"
As soon as Wu Buyi absorbed the wisp of essence that attached to his Qi, he gasped for air in shock. The thick essence was legit, and he could feel the other element essence that he didn't have.
"My word… With only one of these, I might even refine my dantian and be able to cultivate all five elements! No wonder the emperor makes it illegal!" Wu Buyi exclaimed.
Hearing Wu Buyi's remark, the elders were confident. They stored the essence stones in their spatial rings, keeping them a secret.
Meanwhile, Hua Jiashan hadn't moved. He observed how Leo and his subordinates interact. Upon seeing that Leo sincerely helped the sect, Hua Jiashan let out a long sigh of relief.
"I'm overthinking, I see."
Hua Jiashan thought that Leo had an ulterior motive. But since Leo sold the precious cultivation resource so cheaply, he no longer suspected him.
However, Hua Jiashan wasn't interested in the essence stones. He had his eyes on something else. He gazed at the showcase refrigerators, which still kept immortal grass, golden sand bananas, cabbages of extreme yin, and weird vegetables in there.
The sect master rubbed his long droopy eyebrows as he suddenly had an idea. He offered him a deal.
"Since you have been helping us a lot, how about we give you a hand. I have an idea."
"Yes?" Leo stopped counting the essence stones in the sack and looked at Hua Jiashan.
"I see that you're running the store by yourself. How about we send a few young disciples here to help you take care of your store and clean up the mess? Of course, we will be paying them, so you don't have to worry about their wages."
"Hmm?"
Leo found the offer interesting. As his store continued to expand, he started to get mentally exhausted whenever he juggled between the workshop and the store.
He needed someone to help him tidy the store while he was busy in alchemy and the farms. He also needed a nanny or a caretaker to keep Cat out of the granary. Although Leo had the warehouse automaton to help him, it was not enough. Also, this didn't include the night security issue as people could simply sneak into the shop domain premise when Leo was asleep.
As Leo couldn't find any demerit from the offer, he leaned toward accepting the deal. However, his habit died hard. He asked to make sure.
"Indeed, free child labor is a must-have for every business, but what's the catch?"
Hua Jiashan giggled. He nodded in approval that Leo instantly recognized his hidden agenda.
"If possible, I hope that you can teach our disciples a thing or two. Those children are too sheltered, and they need to experience the world more. I hope that you could provide them a place to learn about the outside world. Of course, we will keep switching disciples since they might end up purchasing your items and need some time to cultivate."
"…"
In short, Hua Jiashan indirectly asked Leo to be his sect's guest elder or a coach for the interns.
Leo shrugged as he didn't hate the idea. After all, those free workers would eventually spend their lifespan purchasing something from him.
Unfortunately, Hua Jiashan didn't live 500 years for nothing. He added another suggestion.
"Also, I see that you have plenty of alchemy resources. How about I send people from the alchemy department to help you concoct pills? Of course, we'll foot the workers' wages."
"…"
Wu Buyi coughed several times as he was in charge of the department. He smacked his chest, "Lord Florida Man. You can always count on me. I have almost a hundred years of experience, and my pill-making success rate is over 70%! I can assure you that I can make at least 20 high-grade pills per batch… if you give me enough time."
"…"
Looking at Wu Buyi, Leo pursed his lips. He pointed at the Yang Flame Pills on the shelves.
"Do you know those pills?"
Wu Buyi laughed for a moment before his smiling face was frozen. Then, it was distorted in shock and disbelief.
"Y-Yang Flame Pills?! T-These are medium-grade and high-grade Yang Flame Pills!"
"You're quite slow, aren't you?" Leo sighed as Wu Buyi was quite dumb sometimes. He wondered how the alchemist failed to notice the fire pills.
Leo tested Wu Buyi, "How long do you need to make these if I give you the recipe?"
