As for the silver coins, Li Lu had brought back a vast quantity of Medicinal Materials this time, enough to produce not only more Inner Replenishing Pills but also a considerable amount of Body Refining Medicine Bath Powder. The remaining forty thousand taels of silver could simply be used to cover the costs.

Finally, he said:

"How about this: I’m still thinking Body Refining Medicine Bath Powder and Body Tempering Powder, just like before. Even if you don’t use them yourself, you can use them to reward your men. I’ll write a letter to my master and try to get a bottle of Qi Essence Pills for you. There are five pills in a bottle, and each one is worth one thousand taels."

"Qi Essence Pills?" Li Lu asked, confused.

Cheng Zongyang smiled. "This is an Elixir suitable for the Cultivation of Middle Third Grades Martial Artists. It can enhance one’s qi and blood and replenish Primordial Qi. For a Lower Three Grades Martial Artist, it’s a powerful tonic. If you cultivate to the Peak of Eighth Grade, my friend, taking this bottle of Qi Essence Pills should make breaking through to Seventh Grade no problem at all."

’He’d exaggerated the efficacy and price a bit... but he had the final say, so who would know?’

Sure enough, upon hearing this, Li Lu asked excitedly, "Really?"

To him, as long as his Cultivation could advance, material possessions meant nothing.

Cheng Zongyang reassured him with a lie. "This is exactly how I broke through."

"Excellent!" Li Lu was ecstatic.

Cheng Zongyang’s Cultivation was plain to see, so of course he believed him!

"Then we’ll trade for thirty portions of Body Tempering Powder, have all the Body Refining Medicine Bath Powder made, and get one bottle of Qi Essence Pills. Oh, and I’ll have them send over some more White Medicine—didn’t you say you found it useful? It’s a bit expensive, but this money can be exchanged for a fair amount."

"Excellent, I’ll do as you say, brother," Li Lu said, delighted.

He didn’t know the prices of these cultivation resources.

But he knew that in these chaotic times, money couldn’t always buy the kind of medicinal resources that could rapidly advance one’s Cultivation, help one reach Entry Grade, or heal injuries!

To trade the materials he had collected for a boost in his own Cultivation, and to secure the loyalty and advancement of his many subordinates—this was a massive gain!

Once the deal was settled, Cheng Zongyang didn’t linger.

Li Lu had his men deliver the supplies to the warehouse for Cheng Zongyang to process and sent the silver coins and books to Cheng Zongyang’s residence.

Cheng Zongyang simply instructed the Doctor from last time to continue processing the Medicinal Materials in the same way as before.

The quantity of Medicinal Materials this time was several times greater than the last, but there were only a dozen or so experienced Doctors. They had to have each veteran supervise several newcomers. At the same time, the workspace was expanded to two or three other locations to avoid everyone being crammed together, which would be inconvenient.

After arranging these matters, Cheng Zongyang left the affairs of the County Town for Li Lu to handle.

「The next day.」

Cheng Zongyang left the County Town alone, leading two flatbed horse carts laden with chests of books and silver taels.

Most of these chests were empty, just for show.

When he reached a deserted spot, Cheng Zongyang stored everything in the Wilderness World and entered the world himself.

He had obtained seventy thousand silver taels this time. He planned to keep ten thousand taels in reserve. The remaining sixty thousand taels would all be used to expand his territory by sixty kilometers.

With this, their range of activity expanded to seventy kilometers.

Right now, he was short on manpower. If the map could display names, he could go look for specific places. But without names, it was useless no matter how large the area was.

Ma Yue still hadn’t returned since he left. Fulfilling the requirement for sixty Soul Crystal Stones wouldn’t be that quick.

As for the newly acquired Soul Crystal Stones he had put a request in for, he had placed them in three locations: the Chaotic Burial Mound, the Soul-Soothing Slope, and the prison. He would just let them be until the collection was complete.

Cheng Zongyang set aside the chests containing the books. He planned to have Zhang Jinquan pick out some useful prescription formulas, pharmacopoeias, and the like.

Leaving the small cabin and stepping outside, he saw a flattened area to his right, where a pile of Red Ore was accumulating.

Two people were responsible for bringing this ore back, while the Mole Beast was responsible for digging the tunnels and excavating it.

Cheng Zongyang had appraised this ore. It was just an ordinary mineral called Red Cloud Ore. It was non-metallic, similar to vermillion.

Aware of the platform’s profiteering practices, he set the consignment price ten points higher than the price previously given by quests, selling it at a rate of thirty Points per one hundred kilograms.

This was mainly because this price was the easiest to sell at; any higher and it wouldn’t sell. He had tested this, which indicated the ore wasn’t very valuable.

But because of this, Red Cloud Ore became a future source of Points.

The reserves of Red Cloud Ore over there were quite substantial, and the Mole Beast was still digging. However, the process of digging and transporting it back had only just begun in the last few days.

"My Lord, we should have over five thousand jin of Red Cloud Ore by now. Relying on just two people, the speed is indeed slow," Luo Dingran said, approaching Cheng Zongyang’s side.

Cheng Zongyang weighed a piece of ore in his hand. He looked toward the mining site and asked, "Can we use animals to haul it back? Luo Zheng is raising some livestock, and we have four horses. They should be able to help. Didn’t two Wilderness Horned Oxen spawn a while ago? We can try using them too."

Luo Dingran said, "It’s a temporary fix, not a permanent solution, but it’s the only way for now. However, regarding this Red Cloud Ore, I was planning to accumulate a larger stockpile before selling. Right now, Zhang Jinquan has used the Red Blood Mushroom with the Inner Replenishing Pill’s formula to create an elixir called the Red Blood Pill. It can enhance qi and blood while also replenishing the body’s stamina."

Hearing this, Cheng Zongyang’s eyes lit up. "He really developed it? Tell me about the specific effects."

As he spoke, Cheng Zongyang started walking toward Zhang Jinquan’s house.

Luo Dingran smiled. "I’ll let him give you the details in a moment. Let me tell you about the sales of this Red Blood Pill. The day before yesterday, I listed one bottle—five pills—for 700 Points. It sold out in less than three minutes."

"Too cheap?" This was Cheng Zongyang’s first thought.

Luo Dingran smiled. "I thought so too. Furthermore, I suspect the Red Blood Pill might have other functions. Otherwise, our Qi Essence Pills wouldn’t have failed to sell even after multiple price drops. So I mentioned it to Zhang Jinquan."

Cheng Zongyang nodded in agreement. "You have a good point. Did Zhang Jinquan have anything to say about it?"

"Not yet."

Soon, the two of them arrived at Zhang Jinquan’s small courtyard.

"Greetings, My Lord." Seeing Cheng Zongyang, Zhang Jinquan couldn’t help but stand and cup his hands in respect.

Cheng Zongyang waved his hand dismissively. His eyes were drawn to something on the table beside him. It was a woven bamboo dustpan, on which lay many soybean-sized pills.

"What medicine are you making?" Cheng Zongyang asked.

Zhang Jinquan glanced at the pills on the table and smiled. "Red Blood Pills. Steward Luo asked me to do more research, so I made some extra."

Without waiting for Cheng Zongyang to ask, he continued, "My Lord, as Steward Luo suggested, I experimented on animals. After all, we have no ordinary people here, and the bodies of Soul Slaves are not like those of normal humans, so they can’t be used for testing. Therefore, I could only choose animals.

"There were quite a few results, some good, some bad. But overall, I’ve managed to figure some things out."

"Tell me," Cheng Zongyang prompted.

Zhang Jinquan cupped his hands. "This Red Blood Pill uses the original Inner Replenishing Pill formula, not the Five Grains Inner Replenishing Pill. I dried and ground the cultivated Red Blood Mushrooms into powder, then tried adding it to the Inner Replenishing Pill formula. After many attempts, I was able to create the Red Blood Pill, but this version only slightly increased qi and blood; the overall effect wasn’t very significant.

"Later, I added a bit of Red Jade Ganoderma, which produced this significant enhancement of qi and blood. Its effect of replenishing physical stamina is also quite good. My Lord, if we sustain three hours of high-intensity Cultivation, a single Red Blood Pill can restore that energy quickly."

Hearing about this effect, Cheng Zongyang was quite pleased. "In that case, it’s like having a portion of the cabin’s bench effect."

Zhang Jinquan nodded. "But that’s not the reason the Red Blood Pill sold so well. Rather, it has a special effect on animals."

"What?" Cheng Zongyang asked.

Luo Dingran also looked at him curiously.

’This was what he cared about. The medicinal effects didn’t matter to him. He just needed to ensure the pill could earn Points, and earn a lot of them!’

’Points were tied to the development of the territory, so naturally, he had to earn more.’

’This was his mission!’