Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 141 Appearance?

The two chatted as they walked and soon arrived at a more bustling "market".

This area is very close to the houses of veteran players, and it's on the same street as the City Lord's Mansion, called "Chang'an Avenue".

The street is several dozen meters wide, with a few small vendors pushing carts and carrying loads on both sides. Most of them are familiar faces from Shenyou Village, mainly selling food, drinks and other goods, as well as some small odds and ends.

Among them, straw and bamboo woven utensils are the most popular, and players are always surrounding the stall. Even the old player who brought Bai Chenxue here introduced: "The soft baskets and crates sold by the NPC who sells bamboo baskets are particularly useful. When you are digging for spiritual herbs, plants and ores in the wild, you can put them directly into the baskets and put them into the system backpack. It can also save space in the Qiankun bag!"
"The key is that it's cheap! There was an old player selling it before, but he was charging three spirit stones per basket. After this NPC started selling it, that player became a middleman!"

Bai Chenxue asked curiously, "A middleman?"

"He gets the goods from the NPC every day and then sells them at the entrance of the teleportation array. He adds a lot of money to the price. He dares to sell a small basket that costs 10 coins for 50 coins, and a large basket that costs 20 coins for 1 coin! But some players still buy from him for convenience."

"It's quite expensive, but it's not even a penny!"

Indeed, the disciples of the Taiyin Sect receive a fixed "salary" each month based on their contribution to the sect. This monthly salary can be as high as a hundred spirit stones. However, as long as they do their daily tasks, even if it's less, they can still earn a few spirit stones a month, which translates to at least fifty or sixty taels of silver!

In Taiping Town, a family of five would only need fifty or sixty taels of silver a year to cover their expenses!

Not to mention, whether players are cultivators or affiliated with the Taiyin Sect, they have free dormitory beds to sleep in and meals from the communal kitchen that can be exchanged for contribution points, so their daily lives don't require any silver expenditure. In addition, materials obtained from dungeons, rewards from quests, and various rare and precious materials discovered during exploration can all be sold for silver and spirit stones. Even killing wild boars earns a considerable amount of silver—the latter directly causing pork prices in all towns near the Taiyin Sect to plummet several times over!
Therefore, for players, compared to the spirit stones that they have to be careful with, there is really no difference between a dozen or a few hundred coins.

This value system indirectly led to an explosive influx of people into Chang'an.

The Taiyin Sect did not collect agricultural taxes, nor did it impose poll taxes or labor service. These factors alone made it stand out among the urban forces that exploited the people by more than 50% of their land. Furthermore, the Taiyin Sect's generous spending and cheap hiring of its disciples attracted many bold people to migrate to Chang'an City.

As long as you apply for a temporary residence permit, you can apply for a plot of land in a random location within Chang'an City. Although you can't buy or sell it freely, and you only have some kind of "right to use" it, the house built on the land is your own. There are no harsh taxes or levies, and you can cultivate as much wasteland as you want. There is no more carefree life than this!
The villagers of Blessed Village, who have long interacted with the players, are even passing on their skills to the newcomers...

"For example, if you want to start a food business, you don't need to lift a finger to fetch water or chop wood. Just go find those strange-looking Taiyin Sect disciples, or simply shout in the street, and plenty of people will come to help! But remember, you don't need to give them money afterward, just give them some food. Giving them two or three coins is not as good as giving them two five-coin buns. It's a bit strange, but it saves us a lot of trouble!"

Many veteran players have finally realized what's going on after being ripped off by the native NPCs for over half a month, but a lot of new players have just arrived! With more players than available resources, this situation of selling cheap labor will probably continue for a while.

"Hey, although one coin isn't expensive, it adds up! These baskets are used up pretty quickly, and for a poor guy like me, I'll buy the cheapest ones if I can! Oh, by the way! A few days ago, a player discovered a hidden way to get the appearance!"

The veteran player, like a peacock displaying its plumage, frantically showed off all the inside scoops he knew: "There's an NPC named Huang in Divine Blessing Village who's an incredibly skilled tailor! You can get clothes made by her! A friend of mine found a design online, drew it himself, and then took all sorts of fabrics to Granny Huang, and she actually made it for her! And for practicality, she spent a lot of money to buy mermaid silk from NPCs in other sects, and guess what? Granny Huang actually made her a blue-quality outfit with two special effects! One effect is [Immune to Water and Fire], and the other is [Increased Mana Regeneration]. It's both a cosmetic item and an equipment item, it's awesome!"

Bai Chenxue asked enviously, "Wow! This game even has cosmetic items!? Isn't that much cheaper than exchanging for sect equipment?"

"Well, to put it simply, the clothes are just normal clothes. You can get them made at the tailor shop in Taiping Town, but they only make a few fixed styles, and they're expensive with no special effects! As for the sect equipment, although you have to exchange it with contribution points, prestige points, and spirit stones, it's still much better looking than the landlord's clothes made at the tailor shop in Taiping Town! As for this Granny Huang... you have to do things for her, and it depends on luck. My relative helped her farm for several days before getting this opportunity, but it really didn't cost any money! Later, I went there too, but she refused to make it for me, saying she didn't have time. My relative said it was because I was unlucky, sigh!" Bai Chenxue sighed in disappointment, "Ah, it's like a lucky encounter, it depends on luck!"

"Uh... it's not that exaggerated. My friend said she's discussing with Granny Huang about renting out the spiritual field and opening a tailor shop in the city. Maybe then we can directly buy custom special effects appearances, but we'll still have to prepare the materials ourselves."

"That's great! But where can we buy the silk gauze?"

"Night market stalls! There are lots of stalls near the city gate every day! Although most of them are players, there are also many NPCs from other places. You might be able to find some good stuff. Even if they're not on display, you can just grab a few NPCs and ask them. You might get some information. And it doesn't have to be mermaid silk. You can look for other fabrics too."

"That makes sense, I'll go check it out later!"

"Hehe, how about we add each other as friends and go together later? I also want to collect some materials. My friend promised to give me priority for custom orders when the tailor shop opens! How about we go together?"

Bai Chenxue exclaimed in delight, "That's wonderful! Thank you so much! I'll send you some Earth-grade spiritual herbs and plants later! You dug up so many of Jin Cai's whenever you had nothing to do, they're not even worth much to sell, and my Qiankun bag is already overflowing!"

"Wow! I'm so jealous! No wonder he's the top beast tamer in the entire server!"

"Oh, not at all! I was just lucky! By the way, what's your ID? I'll add you as a friend!"

"No need, no need! I'll add you!"

"Huh? [Yun Canghai]?"

"it's me!"

"What an ethereal ID! And it sounds great!"

"Hehehe, thank you!"

……

Listen to my excuse about why it's so late today. I ate mushrooms, porcini mushrooms. It was my first time cooking them. I didn't deep-fry them, but I stir-fried them for over twenty minutes and felt they should be cooked... Then I slept all day, and my head is a little buzzing.

Of course, it could also be just my imagination QAQ, whatever, this is my excuse anyway!

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(End of this chapter)