Fantasy: Starting with a bowl, you can exchange it for endless cultivation.

The next day.

"Brother Gu." Cheng Mengling led a group of Cheng family members to his residence to find him.

He brought over his alchemy furnace.

"Has the Cheng family established their base here?" Gu Chen asked.

"It's all set up." Cheng Mengling nodded and had people bring in all the medicinal herbs and firewood for alchemy.

Gu Chen usually refines pills in his own residence.

"Okay." Gu Chen nodded.

Then, Gu Chen thought for a moment and said, "After you finish refining the Bone Forging Pills that your Cheng family previously acquired for the third stage of the Innate Realm, I will stop refining Bone Forging Pills and focus on refining Tendon Changing Pills for the fourth stage of the Innate Realm and Dirty Sacrifice Pills for the fifth stage of the Innate Realm."

This was the fastest way he could think of to increase his income.

The Cheng family's overall strength has improved, and its industries and businesses are shifting to major cities at the prefectural level.

There are already channels that can sell a certain amount of high-level pills.

His official rank was also promoted to the position of Director of the Night Watch of a prefecture, and his own strength was already comparable to that of the early stage of the Core Formation Realm.

They can protect the Cheng family, and selling high-level pills won't be a problem.

From now on, he will focus on refining the two high-level pills he currently possesses. He will only start refining pills for the True Essence Realm when he obtains the pill formula for the True Essence Realm.

However, this is difficult.

True Essence Realm pill formulas and corresponding alchemists are rare outside the world; most are held by top-tier forces.

They would never give him the formula.

We can only slowly find opportunities to get our hands on it.

He is now primarily engaged in refining two types of elixirs: the Yi Jin Dan and the Ji Zang Dan.

One dose of Yi Jin Dan costs 480 taels of silver.

The reward for each sacrificial offering is six hundred taels of silver.

If he refines two portions of the Divine Elixir and three portions of the Tendon-Changing Elixir every day, he can earn 2,640 taels of silver a day.

That's over 79,000 taels a month, plus the 25,000 taels of filial piety from the Cheng family every month.

Then he could earn more than 104,000 taels a month.

He is now the head of the Night Watch of a prefecture, with a monthly salary of two thousand taels of silver, plus three Breakthrough Pills.

That's equivalent to five thousand taels.

That's about 110,000 taels.

With this, plus the money he earns from selling his possessions, he can raise enough silver to break through to the early stage of the Core Formation Realm in two months.

"Okay, Brother Gu." Cheng Mengling nodded and said, "Right now, we only have ten portions of the ingredients for the Bone Forging Pill. Brother Gu can refine it in two days. After that, I will have them go and buy up the materials for the Tendon Changing Pill and the Dirty Cleansing Pill."

"Mm." Gu Chen nodded.

Although the Yi Jin Dan and Ji Zang Dan are of high quality, they are not easy to collect.

However, given the Cheng family's current strength and the channels they've established, it should be feasible for them to acquire the amount of pills he needs to refine daily.

Once the channels for acquiring medicinal herbs are stabilized and the market is fully opened, he can increase the refining ratio of the Divine Elixir and decrease the refining ratio of the Tendon-Changing Elixir.

He can earn more silver every day.

In the past two days, we have finished refining the medicinal materials for the ten portions of Bone Forging Pills in the hands of the Cheng family.

While the Cheng family was collecting the ingredients for the Yi Jin Dan and Ji Zang Dan, they took advantage of the time.

He decided to go to the capital of Huangzhou first.

The new commander of the Wilderness Watch should be arriving in a few days to take up his post.

It's a good time to attend his inauguration banquet.

That day, after refining five batches of Bone Forging Pills, he earned 1,800 taels from the Cheng family.

Gu Chen told Wei Zhong to go back to the Cheng family's stronghold first.

He took a bath and prepared to go to the Night Watch Division of Li Huo Mansion.

Just like he did at the Night Watch in Nine Bays City, he would go on an inspection tour and have his subordinates report any issues.

He would come back if there was nothing else to do. His plans for the evening were to study the Soul-Piercing Cone, a secret technique for attacking the soul, and to nurture the Blood-Transforming Blade, a treasure weapon of the Earth Rank.

Just as Gu Chen was about to leave the mansion.

Qian Fu came to the door.

Gu Chen was somewhat puzzled; before he could even get there, the man had already arrived.

Is there something urgent?

I already told him and Mu Lei yesterday.

When he took office, the rules weren't so rigid.

For minor issues, the two of them can handle them on their own.

If he encounters something he can't handle, tell him when he goes to the Night Watch.

He would patrol the Night Watch every evening.

He's here now.

"You came to see me in such a hurry, there must be something you need," Gu Chen said, looking at him.

"Yes, sir," Qian Fu said with a smile, "but it's a good thing."

"Good thing." Gu Chen was taken aback, unsure of what Qian Fu was up to.

"Come in," Gu Chen said to him.

Qian Fu entered his mansion.

Close the door carefully.

Seeing his mysterious demeanor, Gu Chen became even more curious.

After closing the gate.

Qian Fu smiled and pulled out a large stack of silver notes from his person.

He handed it to Gu Chen.

Gu Chen was even more confused when he saw him take out so much silver and hand it directly to him.

But no matter how much he didn't understand, it was clear that this guy was giving it to himself.

Gu Chen accepted the silver note first, and then listened to what he had to say.

This thick stack of silver notes must be worth at least 60,000 to 70,000 taels.

"This silver is a special gift from some prominent families and salt merchants in Li Huo Prefecture to you, sir," Qian Fu explained.

"It was a gift from the salt merchants and the powerful families in the mansion." Gu Chen was even more confused.

Why should they give me money for no reason?

One should not accept rewards without merit.

If he were to do something that crosses the line of the Divine Dynasty, like He Teng did, it wouldn't be easy to collect the money.

This makes it easy for people from Chen Lei's faction to find fault with him and target him.

"Why are they offering me money?" Gu Chen asked. "Have they done something wrong that they need my protection, or are they cooperating with me on something?"

"We cannot touch anything that crosses the bottom line of the Divine Dynasty." Gu Chen looked sharply at Qian Fu.

"Sir, they haven't done anything illegal or illegal, nor do they want you to cooperate with them," Qian Fu explained. "Don't worry, sir. The consequences of He Teng's mistakes are clear to everyone. We would never touch anything like that."

"It's good that you know." Gu Chen nodded: "Then tell me, what does it mean that they gave me the silver?"

"Well, it's not a big deal. They didn't know anything about it, so they're innocent of any wrongdoing. They're just afraid that you'll make things difficult for them, so they're trying to curry favor with you first," Qian Fu said.

"Didn't the adults find out before that He Teng gave the green light, allowing the Yamamoto family from the island nation to successfully smuggle a batch of rare materials over?" Qian Fu explained, "Most of these materials were purchased from various parts of the Divine Dynasty by these salt merchants and aristocratic families. They were engaged in buying and selling."

"However, the buyer was not from the Yamamoto family of Japan, but He Teng."

"He Teng, in his capacity as the head of the Night Watch, purchased large quantities of these supplies from them. They made a profit from the price difference and did not inquire further about He Teng's intended use for the supplies. Of course, they dared not ask."

"They are unaware of the situation. If they knew that the Yamamoto family had asked He Teng to purchase these supplies for them, they probably wouldn't dare to resell them to He Teng."

"They only found out after He Teng was arrested that all the supplies they had smuggled were intended for the Yamamoto family. They had been very worried that after you took office, you would trace the source back to them. That's why they did what they did today. They scraped together some silver to offer as a tribute to you, hoping that you would consider that they were unaware of the situation and not punish them for it."

After hearing Qian Fu's explanation and seeing the thick stack of silver notes in his hand, Gu Chen understood.

These salt merchants and their families.

They were suppliers that He Teng used to purchase supplies for the Yamamoto family.

However, they did not know that He Teng was a spy, which is why they went to the mainland to purchase goods for He Teng and earn a profit from the price difference.

Now that He Teng is under investigation, they are worried that this matter will implicate them, so they came to me in advance to offer money and beg for leniency.

I hope I won't target them because of this.

"These salt merchants told the aristocratic families that they had been reselling goods to He Teng, and all the money they earned was here. They hadn't dared to spend a single penny, and had even put some of it into their own pockets. They only hoped that Your Excellency could forgive their ignorance," Qian Fu continued to explain.

Gu Chen glanced at him.

This guy went to such lengths to speak well of these salt merchants and powerful families.

I guess they gave this guy a benefit too.

Tell him to send money over to plead for mercy.

"Alright, I will investigate. If they are truly unaware, then this matter will be over, and I will not pursue it further." Gu Chen put away the silver and replied, "If they knew that the supplies were intended for the Yamamoto family, and they still dared to collect them, then I will definitely charge them with aiding and abetting the Japanese pirates in acquiring supplies."

"Yes." Qian Fu nodded.

Gu Chen accepted the money, and the matter was considered settled.

These salt merchants and powerful families were indeed kept in the dark; they had no idea that He Teng was actually a spy for the Yamamoto family of the island nation.

In the beginning, I helped purchase supplies to resell to He Teng, but I was only trying to curry favor with him and didn't make much money in the end.

It also caused a lot of trouble.

If they knew He Teng's background, they would never have done this.