Fairy, don't be afraid, I'm about to begin my strategy.

Spirit stones are both currency and consumables for cultivation.

The spiritual energy between heaven and earth is mixed and complex. Only pure spiritual energy can be absorbed and refined by cultivators. Pure spiritual energy in the earth's veins attaches itself to the rocks and forms spirit stones.

Lingyun Sect has thirteen mines of varying sizes, and at least several thousand cultivators gather here every day to carry out excavation work.

Since disciples at the Qi Refining Realm cannot fly using Qi, and the mine is far from the main peak, most disciples working at the mine do not travel to and from the main peak every day to save time, but instead choose to rest nearby.

Gradually, the apprentices working in the thirteen mines gathered here, forming a small town.

At this moment, the sun was setting and about to disappear behind the mountains, and many miners gradually emerged from the mine.

Most of them were disheveled and covered in dust; some were happy, some were sad.

After the cultivators lined up to settle their payments, they heard someone shouting in the village square: "Swiftwind Spirit Horse rental, only 1 low-grade spirit stone for a return trip to the main peak."

The loud shouts attracted most people's attention, and a female cultivator was seen leading four handsome and dashing spirit horses, soliciting business.

Everyone was immediately intrigued and gathered around.

"Is it really only one spirit stone per time?"

"Ride your spirit horse back to the main peak, but how will the spirit horse be returned?"

"Does your horse rental service include a return trip?"

Everyone asked questions at once, not because they didn't trust Shen Mo, but because they were more concerned about after-sales service.

"Senior brothers, renting my spirit horse back to the main peak only costs one low-grade spirit stone. My companions are at the main peak, and you can return the spirit horse's taming token to them when you arrive. If you need to return, as long as you book in advance, I guarantee that there will be a spirit horse available for you to rent at the main peak tomorrow morning, and it will also only cost one spirit stone."

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent for a moment, seemingly pondering the credibility of Shen Mo's words.

"Are you sure there's a Swift Spirit Horse available for rent at the main summit tomorrow morning, guaranteeing I can return on time?"

"I absolutely guarantee that if I go back on my word, you can kick me out."

"Alright, I'll rent two."

The dark-skinned, burly man who had just asked the question stuffed two spirit stones into Shen Mo's hand.

Shen Mo handed over the taming tokens for the two spirit horses to the other party, and agreed on the return location and code word. The dark-skinned, burly man then hurriedly left.

"Brothers, there are only two left. Anyone want them?"

"I, I, I..."

This time, the cultivators were noticeably more enthusiastic and eager, and the two spirit horses were completely sold out.

Seeing the disappointment in the eyes of others, Shen Mo quickly typed "GG" and promised to come here every day to rent a spirit horse.

Seeing that everyone had dispersed, Shen Mo also planned to return to the main peak.

He took out a Wind-Controlling Talisman, activated it with spiritual energy, and the talisman automatically adhered to his body. Shen Mo instantly felt as light as a swallow, and with a little effort, he could fly away.

He used two Wind Control Talismans and finally returned to the main peak of Lingyun after an hour.

"Junior Sister Chen, are you alright?"

Seeing Shen Mo panting heavily and covered in sweat, Bai Xiaofeng quickly stepped forward to greet him with concern.

Seeing that Bai Xiaofeng's four swift spirit horses were safe and sound, Shen Mo felt relieved, knowing that his plan was going smoothly.

"Junior sister, is your money-making plan really reliable? No matter how I calculate it, I'm losing money!"

Bai Xiaofeng frowned, his mind still racing.

In fact, Shen Mo's way of making money is not very clever. He just borrows the idea of ​​shared bicycles in reality and plans to start a "shared Lingma" project.

This "shared Lingma" project isn't something others haven't thought of; it's just that it doesn't make money at all.

Through his previous investigation, Shen Mo discovered that the mine had the largest number of Qi Refining Realm disciples among the outer sect members.

Although mining is tough and tiring, it has a low barrier to entry and a high potential, making it the best option for disciples without a prestigious background in the early stages.

However, the problem with the mine is that it is too far from the main peak. It takes four hours for a disciple in the Qi Refining Realm to make a round trip. In addition, the spiritual energy consumed during the journey is considerable, let alone mining.

Of course, there are solutions.

Four Wind-Riding Talismans are needed for a round trip, costing 2 spirit stones each, and the journey takes two hours, requiring additional consumption of one's own spiritual energy.

Renting a Swift Spirit Horse for one month costs 30 spirit stones, plus 10 spirit stones for fodder. The journey takes one hour and does not require any additional consumption of one's own spiritual energy.

Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, but neither is worthwhile for a Qi Refining Realm disciple who is penniless and has nothing to begin with.

Mining in the mines relies on both experience and luck. If you're lucky, you can get 5 or 6 spirit stones a day. If you're unlucky, you can only get two or three, and many inexperienced newbies can only earn the basic wage at the end of the day.

Assuming an average of 4 spirit stones per day, that's 120 spirit stones per month, plus 30 spirit stones from sect benefits, totaling 150 spirit stones.

This includes expenses for spiritual food, rental fees for meditation rooms, as well as general knowledge of magic and various miscellaneous fees.

If one wishes to further improve oneself and study techniques such as alchemy, talismans, arrays, and weapon crafting, then spirit stones will be spent like water. Most disciples at the Qi Refining Realm often find themselves spending more than they earn each month, rarely having any surplus.

They would rather spend those spirit stones on cultivation than rent the Swiftwind Spirit Horse, which would cost 40 spirit stones a month.

The reason everyone is so determined to travel to and from the main peak every day is for convenience.

Aside from the main peak, there are no meditation rooms available for rent elsewhere. Although cultivation can be conducted at any time, the effects vary drastically depending on the chosen location.

Therefore, most disciples would choose to spend half a month mining in the mines and half a month returning to the main peak to cultivate. Although the cultivation progress was a bit slow, it was relatively long-lasting.

The first thing to do on the path to immortality is not to study cultivation, but to study how to earn spirit stones. This is a predicament that all cultivators without a family background cannot escape.

Even so, Shen Mo's "Shared Spirit Horse" has no shortage of customers, but it doesn't make money.

With only 120 spirit stones, renting 4 spirit horses would cost nearly 6 spirit stones per day. Adding Bai Xiaofeng's labor costs, the daily cost would be 11 spirit stones.

This doesn't even take into account that Shen Mo himself will be dragged along here, with no time to cultivate. No matter how you look at it, it's a loss.

As expected, although business was booming in the following days, there were only four spirit horses available, and they only dared to book four returning cultivators each day.

Aside from earning spirit stones from one-way customers, disciples who want to travel daily would never consider Shen Mo's shared spirit horse.

A round trip costs two spirit stones, which is more expensive than renting a spirit horse for a whole month.

But Shen Mo wasn't in a hurry. Although he hadn't made much money in the past few days after deducting costs and Bai Xiaofeng's wages, the GG effect was very good, and his reputation had been established.

"Junior Sister Chen, they only agreed to lend us 300 spirit stones; they won't lend us any more!"

"Didn't you embellish your story about me and Wang Rui?"

"Even if I told them, it would only be 300 spirit stones at most, they wouldn't budge!"

"so……"

Shen Mo rubbed his chin, deep in thought. It seemed that these people valued him at only 300 spirit stones.

His greatest value now lies in being manipulated by the loan agreement and then sold to Wang Rui. After all, Wang Rui is the senior disciple of the outer sect, and there's something for everyone involved, whether they want to curry favor, ingratiate themselves, or cooperate.

Shen Mo hadn't expected it to be so low; he had thought he could lend out 500 spirit stones.

Shen Mo waved his hand dismissively, indicating there was no need to hesitate; at worst, he could revert to a previous save.

"300 it is, how is the interest calculated?"

"You must repay 50 spirit stones per month, to be paid off in twelve installments."

Borrowing 300 and having to repay 600—to be honest, this lending practice is truly outrageous. If Shen Mo hadn't known this, he would have thought the Lingyun Sect was some kind of demonic sect!

Upon receiving the 300 spirit stones, Shen Mo used them all to rent 10 spirit horses.

However, Shen Mo changed the rental terms, requiring a deposit of 10 spirit stones for each rental. Due to his previously established good reputation, everyone readily accepted and was not overly resistant.

Shen Mo certainly didn't intend to embezzle the 10 spirit stones deposit; he was merely testing everyone's limits of tolerance, since people's bottom line tends to decrease gradually.

Because there were more Lingma bikes available, and the service was meticulous, Shen Mo actually made a small profit from sharing Lingma bikes.

During this time, Shen Mo also took the opportunity to verify that Chen Qingqing could indeed synchronize with his senses, and agreed to his conditions.

Shen Mo also tried to cultivate every night. Entering a cultivation state was like idling, and he could still think about other things.

However, the results of his cultivation were not satisfactory. If Shen Mo hadn't had a character panel where he could see the progress bar of his cultivation level increase by a tiny bit after each cultivation session, he would have thought that cultivation was completely useless.

The good news is that the "shared horses" business is expanding, increasing from the initial 14 horses to 30.

He was one step closer to Shen Mo's plan, and he knew it was time to move on to the next step.