Mortal: Starting with the Golden Jade Book

West side of Tianxingzongfang Market.

As a burst of firecrackers went off, Lin Zui ripped off the red cloth covering the plaque, revealing the three large, gilded characters "Wanfu Residence".

Pedestrians immediately gathered around, congratulating Lin Zui while looking around at the newly opened shop.

Suddenly, someone with sharp eyes noticed the sign standing next to the shop door.

"Custom-made rare talismans; if the creation fails, ten times the amount of spirit stones will be refunded."

"Fellow Daoist, does your shop really offer custom-made spirit talismans? And if the talisman creation fails, you'll get a tenfold refund of the spirit stones?"

Someone in the crowd immediately asked, clearly having considered it.

Lin Zui quickly cupped his hands in greeting.

"Fellow Daoist, we do accept custom-made talismans. However, this is only applicable to rare or special talismans that are not commonly found on the market. Furthermore, you need to provide a finished talisman of this type so that we can study it and confirm that it can be made before we will accept your custom order."

Lin Zui smiled.

"After all, the purpose of opening this shop is to make money. If we weren't confident, there would be no reason to give away spirit stones for nothing."

Upon hearing Lin Zui's words, several disappointed sighs rang out from the crowd, but they quickly came to terms with it. They thought it made sense; if there were no restrictions, what if someone brought in a high-level talisman and the other party accepted it? They would probably go bankrupt in just a few days.

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting a little somber, Lin Zui quickly called out again.

"Fellow Daoists, besides custom-made spirit talismans, our shop also has a full range of other talismans. Feel free to come in and browse! Grand opening today, we're offering special discounts: all talismans are 20% off! And if you buy ten or more talismans at once, you'll receive a free talisman of the same rank!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd became excited again. Rare talismans are ultimately irrelevant to most people, but these ordinary talismans are useful to everyone. With such a great discount, wouldn't it be a huge loss not to buy a batch?

With that thought in mind, everyone became impatient and rushed into the shop without waiting for Lin Zui's hospitality.

……

In the evening, Lin Zui closed the door of "Wanfu Residence" and sat in front of the counter. Just as he was about to take stock of today's gains, a voice rang out behind him.

"Young master, are you really going to stay here and open a shop?"

Yan Ruyan came out from the inner room and came to Lin Zui. Because he was worried that she would be recognized, Lin Zui did not let her help in the store. So she did not appear from behind until all the customers had left.

"What else can we do? Setting up a large array will take at least six months. We can't just sit idle until it's finished, can we?"

Lin Zui glanced at her and teased her.

"Or have you become addicted to stealing spirit stones? And now you've set your sights on some unlucky soul?"

"Oh, young master~"

Yan Ruyan blushed, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

It's no wonder Lin Zui said that. In fact, if it weren't for her encouragement, Lin Zui might not have taken that risk during the sensational spirit stone robbery that rocked Yuanwu Kingdom.

Before that, Lin Zui had already silently visited more than a dozen small cultivation families, each paying between 10,000 and 20,000 spirit stones, and sometimes as much as 30,000 or 40,000. In total, he had acquired more than 500,000 spirit stones, which was more than enough for him.

However, just as they were about to stop, a Luo family disciple who had been controlled by Lin Zui sent them a message.

It is said that the head of the Luo family has suddenly started collecting spirit stones produced from several family spirit mines and idle funds from various places in the past few days.

It is said that the Luo family patriarch, who was traveling abroad, discovered a treasure that was extremely useful to him, but he needed a large amount of spirit stones to process it.

Upon hearing this news, Lin Zui was still unmoved, but Yan Ruyan was already smitten.

In her view, since there was an insider providing information, as long as they could set up an ambush halfway, with Lin Zui's formation and the several powerful weapons in her hands, even if the opponent was a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, they would still have a chance.

Lin Zui had some reservations at first, but after much pleading and consideration, he finally agreed.

However, just to be on the safe side, he went back to Xin Ruyin's residence and asked her to take the array flags for the Reversed Five Elements Array.

As it turned out, Lin Zui's preparations really played a crucial role.

The head of the Luo family probably considered the importance of the matter and chose to take action personally, bringing with him the Luo family's heirloom, the Golden Sun Sword. Combined with his late Foundation Establishment cultivation, the attack power he unleashed was even comparable to that of a Core Formation cultivator.

Fortunately, this Reversed Five Elements Formation was no ordinary item, and because of Lin Zui in this life, Xin Ruyin had incorporated rune array techniques into it, further enhancing the power of the array flags to almost half of the original version. Only then did they manage to withstand the combined attack of the opponent without any major danger.

However, in the end, it was only thanks to Yan Ruyan using the Qiankun Tower, which consumed a lot of its power, that they were finally able to kill this group of people.

Of course, after taking such a great risk, the rewards were also extremely considerable, amounting to more than 400,000 spirit stones. The storage bags of the Foundation Establishment cultivators were also filled with a dazzling array of magical artifacts, talismans, and pills.

Especially the Golden Sun Sword, its attack power is extremely amazing, but it requires at least Foundation Establishment cultivation to activate, so Lin Zui can't use it and can only give it to Yan Ruyan.

After this incident, both of them knew that the major families would be on high alert and would not give them another chance, so they did not try again.

Fortunately, these gains had already far exceeded expectations. When Lin Zui presented nearly a million spirit stones to Xin Ruyin and Qi Yunxiao, the two were almost shocked into going berserk.

It wasn't until several days later, when news of the Spirit Stone Robbery reached them, that Xin Ruyin and the other woman learned what Lin Zui and his group had done.

"Young master, Miss Xin didn't take all the spirit stones. There are still over 100,000 left. Whether for cultivation or buying things, that should be enough for a long time. Why do you still need to open a shop yourself to make money?"

Yan Ruyan helped Lin Zui sort out the accounts, and in one day, they earned more than two thousand spirit stones.

It sounds like a lot, but after seeing the world, this small amount of money no longer catches Yan Ruyan's eye.

"It seems I can't let you manage the money anymore; you have no planning skills whatsoever."

Lin Zui rolled her eyes at her.

"Fellow Daoist Xin said that those spirit stones can probably construct a spirit-gathering array with a radius of about four or five hundred miles, which should be enough to supply the cultivation needs of Foundation Establishment cultivators, but what about after that?"

"Once our cultivation level increases, our demand for spiritual energy will rise further. We'll also need to expand outwards. Will we have to resort to robbing spirit stones then?"

Seeing that Yan Ruyan didn't speak, Lin Zui didn't mind. He took out a light blue talisman from his storage bag and waved it at her.

"Besides, I didn't open the shop just to make money; this is my main purpose."

"Huh? What's this?"

"A Thousand-Mile Sensing Talisman!"

"Huh, are there such talismans? I've never heard of them before."

Yan Ruyan took the talisman and examined it over and over again, but she had absolutely no clue what it meant.

"I've never heard of them either, which is why I put up that sign, hoping that guys with these strange talismans will come to me on their own."

Lin Zui chuckled, his expression utterly cunning.

He possesses the "Divine Guidance Technique," and as long as he condenses these talismans into a seal, he can produce them continuously, thus gaining many more trump cards.

Yan Ruyan was naturally aware of Lin Zui's purpose in setting up the sign, but she didn't expect that Lin Zui would actually gain something on the first day.

"What is this talisman used for?"

"The sensing talisman can record a person's spiritual energy fluctuations, and within a thousand miles, one can sense the other person's location using this talisman."

Yan Ruyan thought for a moment.

"Isn't that the same as placing a spiritual mark on someone?"

"Similar, but different!"

"What's different?"

"The difference is that the other person doesn't have any marks on them!"