After waiting a moment longer and seeing no new challengers, Chen Che finally stepped down from the arena. As he did, he was rather surprised.

In fact, from the moment he had accepted Xu Zhixi’s challenge, he had braced himself to be swarmed by her admirers.

"Bro, you’re number one in combat for the second-years. Who would dare look for a beating?"

Upon learning what Chen Che had been thinking, Lin Yi was thoroughly impressed.

What surprised Lin Yi even more was that after word of what happened in the Martial Arts Arena spread, Chen Che’s persona as a ’cool and aloof god’ didn’t collapse. Instead, it became even more firmly established.

When Huang Zhongfei learned of this outcome, it only made him feel more keenly how unfair life was.

At four o’clock, school ended, and Chen Che went home. Opening the provincial daily newspaper that Li Xiaoshuang had given him, he ate dinner while studying the insights of the top Cultivator Dominators. The students who could share their experiences in the provincial paper were all but guaranteed admission into Yiben Daoist School.

Most importantly, each shared experience came with commentary and analysis from the editor-in-chief.

This was not to be underestimated. In truth, aside from genuine geniuses, the gap between most students wasn’t as large as one might imagine. But it was habits, self-discipline, and steady, cumulative effort that gradually widened the distance between them.

Precisely because he had Yunzhou—with its extremely poor educational resources—as a point of comparison, Chen Che took this aspect very seriously.

Of course, his own combat video had also received commentary from the editor-in-chief.

’So, at that moment the Illusory Spear thrust at me, when it seemed I had nowhere to dodge, I could have used the Wolf Attack Form to duck under it, then used the Divine Fish Form to leap up and rapidly close in on my opponent.’

’Or, for another example, I could have used the Snake King Form to dissipate the force of the spearhead...’

’This is all first-year material!’

This commentary gave Chen Che a sudden sense of enlightenment. He realized that even in what had seemed like a situation of certain death, there had been so many ways to overcome it.

Moreover, these solutions weren’t just empty boasts. They were presented from the perspective of a second-year student, using material he had already learned. After reading the commentary, Chen Che ran a mental simulation and confirmed that they were indeed highly practical.

’To be the editor-in-chief of the provincial paper, you really have to know your stuff.’

After finishing the commentary, Chen Che noticed an extracurricular tidbit below the combat video analysis.

These kinds of tidbits were very common. Basically every study guide had them, and the provincial paper was no exception. Some were amusing jokes, some were trivia, some were inspirational quotes, and some were famous words from Divinity Transformation masters. He habitually glanced over it:

’Outer Realm Evil Cultivators descended upon the Earth Element Star, triggering the Calamity of Heaven’s Fall.’

’According to incomplete statistics, a total of three Divinity Transformation Cultivators, three thousand and seven Nascent Soul Cultivators, and ninety thousand Golden Core Cultivators died in the war. To this day, among the cenotaphs in the memorial hall, over seven hundred Nascent Soul Cultivators and nearly ninety percent of the Golden Core and Foundation Establishment Cultivators remain nameless.’

’The Calamity of Heaven’s Fall...’

Chen Che sighed to himself.

The origin of the Calamity of Heaven’s Fall was very simple.

It wasn’t some grand cycle of an era, nor was it a law of the Celestial Dao... It was simply an injured Evil Cultivator who happened to land here and wanted to perform a Sacrificial Refinement on the Cultivators of the Earth Element Star to heal his wounds. Yet, this simple reason brought a cataclysmic disaster upon them.

After checking the time, he put the Scroll away on his bookshelf and stepped into Yunzhou.

...

In the back courtyard of the shop.

Chen Che and Hu Yao were drinking tea when Ding Fei walked over quickly, holding an account book:

"Here is the recent ledger..."

When the shop opened, Chen Che had set a rule: the books were to be checked once every calendar month.

Although the shop had only been open for seven or eight days, it was already the end of the month.

"Alright."

Chen Che nodded and began casually flipping through the pages.

The ledger detailed the shop’s income, expenses, and other data for this period.

After deducting the initial costs for rent, renovations, and medicinal ingredients, the profit for these seven days totaled thirteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

"Set aside three Spirit Stones as the shop’s reserve funds. We’ll divide the rest according to our agreement. Ding Fei gets twenty percent, Fellow Daoist Hu gets ten percent!" Chen Che took out the Spirit Stones and began to distribute the profits from the past few days right then and there.

"Thank you, Senior!"

Ding Fei joyfully accepted the Spirit Stones.

Hu Yao, however, didn’t accept them. He was a naturally simple and honest man, and not yet having a full grasp of Chen Che’s personality, he demurred.

"To take a whole Spirit Stone for just seven days of work... it’s really too much..."

"These are the terms we agreed on beforehand. There’s no room for argument. This is the share you’ve earned!" Chen Che directly pressed the Spirit Stone into his hand.

’Although Hu Yao’s honest personality was the reason I brought him on as a partner, and he was genuinely grateful, relying on goodwill alone isn’t enough to maintain a long-term relationship. Profit, while simple and blunt, is the most effective means.’

’Furthermore, this method also turned Hu Yao’s support for the Elixir Shop into a tangible responsibility.’

"Since you put it that way, it would be rude of me to refuse."

Hu Yao was, of course, overjoyed.

His monthly stipend was only three Spirit Stones, so this was a significant amount of extra income.

"As things stand, our shop has found its footing. As our reputation grows, I estimate we can achieve a monthly revenue of nearly fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

Chen Che closed the ledger. First things first, he had to paint them a pretty picture.

Sure enough, both of their faces lit up with joy.

"But surely, you two aren’t satisfied with just this?"

?

Seeing their confused expressions, Chen Che immediately threw cold water on their excitement. "Fifty Spirit Stones is a lot, and over the years, it will become a considerable sum. But will those Spirit Stones be enough to get you all the way to Foundation Establishment?"

The four great essentials of Cultivation: Dharma, Companions, Wealth, and Land.

Each one is an unavoidable hurdle.

Relying on these resources to reach Foundation Establishment was a pipe dream!

As the reality of his words sank in, the smiles on their faces vanished.

"I’m sure the two of you aren’t aiming so low. Do you have any ideas on how to increase our revenue? Let’s all speak freely!"

Chen Che took a sip of tea.

He had spent so much effort establishing a shop in the Market; it wasn’t for a paltry thirty-something Spirit Stones a month.

"He’s right."

Ding Fei nodded and said earnestly, "For the last few days, we’ve been out of stock on Qi Gathering Pills. Otherwise, our revenue would have been even higher. If we could just keep up with the demand for Pills..."

"That’s a good point, but unfortunately, I also need time for my own Cultivation. I can’t spend all my time on Alchemy..."

Chen Che shook his head.

Of course, the apothecaries on the Earth Element Star also sold all sorts of Pills.

However, even though most Tier One Elixirs were mass-produced, the scarcity of Spirit Herbs, the lower Spiritual Qi in force-ripened herbs, and insufficient market supply meant that certain Pills on the Earth Element Star were actually more expensive than in this world.

Any item tied to resources was invariably more expensive on the Earth Element Star—that was the downside of having an entire population of Cultivators.

Furthermore, many cultivation products from the Earth Element Star couldn’t be sold openly here.

"That’s true!"

Hu Yao nodded. He had just been about to make the same suggestion. After all, Chen Che was still very young and had a great chance of reaching Foundation Establishment. He couldn’t possibly treat shopkeeping as his main profession. Then, Hu Yao thought of Ji Xianlong’s shop.

"We could follow his model and buy Pills from other sources to resell."

"That won’t work!"

The words had barely left his mouth when Ding Fei interjected, "Our shop just opened. We don’t have enough capital, and we don’t have a large base of regular customers like he does. If we copy his method, he could easily drive us out of business just by lowering his prices!"

The atmosphere immediately grew lively as the two of them eagerly began suggesting ideas.

However, many of the ideas were not very practical.

After all, their shop had only just opened and lacked a solid foundation.

"When you get right down to it, our shop’s biggest problem is that we’re short-staffed," Hu Yao sighed. "If we could recruit some ordinary Cultivators, or maybe take on a few apprentices to help with the prep work, we could improve our Alchemy efficiency."

"Oh?" Chen Che’s eyes lit up. "That’s a good idea!"

’Indeed,’ Chen Che thought. ’My biggest problem right now is my Alchemy efficiency.’

From cleaning and preparing the herbs to grinding them, he basically handled everything himself.

If he had a few assistants, his efficiency would increase significantly. He could even use this as a starting point to cultivate his own faction in this world.

Hearing this, Ding Fei quickly nodded in agreement. "Many Loose Cultivators only have a superficial understanding of things. We could take them on as apprentices, or just recruit them directly. There are plenty of Cultivators like that in the Market."

"We can implement that right away!"

Chen Che nodded.