I Built A Family Of Immortal Cultivators

Chapter 18: Hostility

As for why all the shop owners chose to pay the spiritual stones, one reason is that they can't afford to offend the people behind Qingmuji. Another reason, as the cultivators from Qingmuji said, is that once they pay the spiritual stones, their shops will be left alone. Even after expansion, they will still have priority in leasing the shop. If they want to continue doing business here, they have to pay the spiritual stones. And the third point is that in the past year or so, everyone has made quite a bit of money, and they can afford to pay five spiritual stones. If this had happened before, if someone dared to charge five spiritual stones, many cultivators would have terminated their leases on the spot.

After collecting from various shops, when they arrived at Lin Qing's place, although Lin Qing didn't want to say much, he still engaged in some small talk like the other shop owners. Then he handed over ten spiritual stones to the cultivator who came to collect them.

According to the rules, after receiving the spiritual stones, the cultivator should go and collect from the next shop. However, after receiving the spiritual stones from Lin Qing, this cultivator shouted loudly:

"After collecting from this round, it's still Lin Shop Owner who is the most generous. Everyone knows that within our Qingmuji, Lin Shop Owner is a top-notch existence. Lin Shop Owner's business in recent years is unmatched by anyone. These few spiritual stones are probably just a drop in the bucket for Lin Shop Owner. Lin Shop Owner, please continue to support our Qingmuji in the future."

This cultivator kept talking loudly, and the more he spoke, the more Lin Qing's heart sank. He could clearly see that this cultivator was intentionally saying these things.

Looking at the envy in the eyes of the people around him and the passing cultivators, Lin Qing recalled that he seemed to have never offended this cultivator before. This cultivator was not the only one who had asked him for benefits when they connected the backyard wall last time. But then Lin Qing sighed in his heart. Offending someone is not always done openly. Sometimes, if you are doing better than others, it is a form of offense. He understood this principle.

He used to be a Qi Refining Stage cultivator at the third level, making a living by selling the Concealment Formation. His life was not only miserable but also extremely poor. And now, in the eyes of everyone, he was not only a first-grade intermediate Formation Master who had no trouble selling formations, but his cultivation had also reached the fifth level of Qi Refining. Not to mention that he had married concubines, had children, and compared to before, it was like heaven and earth.

When ordinary people see someone who used to be worse off than themselves but is now doing better, they feel jealous. Cultivators feel the same way, even if they don't say it out loud, they still feel uncomfortable in their hearts. Over time, they develop many thoughts.

The hostility this cultivator showed towards him today was probably just a glimpse of it.

Looking at the people around him, Lin Qing felt a chill in his heart.

But after thinking about it, Lin Qing suddenly regained his calmness in his heart. He patiently listened to the cultivator's words without refuting a single word. Then he watched him go to the next shop, which was Fellow Daoist Li's shop.

Facing Fellow Daoist Li, this cultivator collected the spiritual stones quietly and even comforted Fellow Daoist Li with a few words. It was because Fellow Daoist Li's wife and concubine had died in a monster attack ten days ago, and everyone in the market had seen Fellow Daoist Li's grieving expression.

After a while, when the cultivator had walked far away and no one was paying attention, Lin Qing stepped into Fellow Daoist Li's shop.

Fellow Daoist Li was busy calculating in the shop.

For a material shop, there were not only many different items but also varying values. The larger ones were priced in spiritual stones, while the smaller ones were priced in silver. Therefore, daily calculations were crucial. It was the key to ensuring profitability. Fellow Daoist Li had been running this shop for so many years, and the daily calculations had never stopped. Since there were more people selling materials now, he became even busier, often seen calculating non-stop.

Looking up and seeing that it was Lin Qing who came in, Fellow Daoist Li showed a familiar smile.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, please have a seat. I just have a little bit left to calculate. Please wait a moment."

Lin Qing nodded and sat in Fellow Daoist Li's shop. Looking at the various materials in Fellow Daoist Li's shop, Lin Qing sometimes admired him. Fellow Daoist Li had a wide variety of items in his shop, probably over a thousand. But Fellow Daoist Li had organized everything meticulously, and he knew the price of every material by heart. He didn't need to think too much. This was not something an ordinary person could achieve.

After looking at the surrounding materials for a while, I turned to Li Fellow Daoist. He seemed to have encountered some difficulties at the moment, frowning and not saying a word while looking at the account book, with a difficult expression on his face.

Seeing this, Lin Qing said, "Li Fellow Daoist, if you're still busy today, I'll come back another day. It's not a big deal, I just want to buy some materials."

"Not busy, not busy. It's just that I miscalculated two taels of gold. It's not a big deal." Upon hearing Lin Qing's words, Li Fellow Daoist quickly closed the account book. Compared to two taels of gold, Lin Qing's matter was more important.

After buying the materials, Lin Qing chatted with Li Fellow Daoist for a while. According to Li Fellow Daoist, once the spiritual stones were collected for the expansion of the market, construction would begin. From the outer wall to the new houses inside, it was estimated that it would take at least half a year. This time, it made the mortals outside envious. Working for immortals, the price goes without saying, and there will be no delay in payment.

"Does our shop need to be moved?" Lin Qing asked.

Li Fellow Daoist smiled and whispered, "Don't worry, there's no need to move. We are the elders of Qingmu Market and have paid the spiritual stones. This expansion will revolve around us. Our shops will be the center, not only will they not be moved, but they will also appreciate in value."

Lin Qing nodded. This was good news. He asked again, "Have there been more people selling materials recently?"

Shaking his head, Li Fellow Daoist sighed, "It's not as good as before."

"Oh?" Lin Qing was a little surprised.

"It's because of the monster beasts. The previous few times, those monster beasts were too powerful, and even low-level cultivators were a bit afraid to come. Naturally, there are fewer materials. But I estimate that once the expansion of Qingmu Market is completed, everything should be able to recover to the previous level."

"So, it will still take some time?"

"Just wait slowly. What else can we do?" Li Fellow Daoist shook his head.

At this point, Lin Qing bid farewell to Li Fellow Daoist, who bowed and saw him off. Just as Li Fellow Daoist was about to close the door after seeing Lin Qing off, he slapped his forehead as if he remembered something.

"I wondered why two taels of gold were missing. I gave it to those two families yesterday. How could I forget? I'll make a note of it."

Li Fellow Daoist quickly recorded the whereabouts of the two taels of gold in the account book. It turned out that his wives were all married to mortals outside, and the two wives who died from the monster beasts a few days ago each had a newborn child. The children were still young and needed someone to take care of them. The other wives were unwilling to take care of them. Yesterday, Li Fellow Daoist sent the children back to their mothers' families and gave each of them two taels of gold as future support. Unexpectedly, he forgot about it when he was recording the accounts and only remembered it now.

After recording this transaction, the accounts were clear and accurate. Li Fellow Daoist showed a satisfied smile. To him, a neat account book was a pleasing sight.

Two days later, after collecting all the spiritual stones from the shops in Qingmu Market, the expansion work officially began.

(End of this chapter)