AGOLS 10

Chapter 10

The Problem with Great River Market Lies Right Here

Before the bluestone counter, the old man holding spicy jerky stared with eyes full of curiosity.

Standing in front of him was a tall, handsome yet plainly dressed young man. One hand rested behind his back while the other held a long strip of jerky. Na Jin began speaking confidently:

“You don’t understand, do you? Let me explain. What people call brand value is a kind of commodity itself. It’s additional value artificially attached on top of a product’s inherent worth. Still confused?”

Seeing the bewildered look on the old man’s face, Na Jin sighed and pointed toward the wandering cultivators’ market in the distance with the jerky in his hand.

“In this market alone, there are at least three shops that have sold low-grade talismans for many years.”

“That’s right. Lu Heng, Mao Crow, and me—we’ve all been selling talismans here for a long time.”

Elder Chen quickly interrupted, happy to finally find a place where he could contribute to the conversation.

“In your opinion then, Elder, how do they compare to you?”

Elder Chen snorted with amusement.

“Lu Heng lacks skill. He buys talisman hide from me, so there’s no need to discuss him.”

“And Master Mao?”

“He switched professions halfway through life. His skill is about equal to mine, but the man is already ninety-three years old. He’s practically a skeleton waiting in the grave.”

“And what about you, Elder Chen?”

Stroke by stroke, Elder Chen smoothed his graying beard and answered proudly:

“At twenty, I entered the Divine Talisman Pavilion as a servant and spent five years learning how to process talisman hide. After that, I studied talismans for another fifteen years. Since opening my own stall, I’ve been doing business here for twenty-five years without missing a day, rain or shine. I’m still young and strong, and my craftsmanship has already reached perfection. Whenever cultivators come to the market looking for talismans, they always stop by my stall first.”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Na Jin applauded with satisfaction.

“Exactly, Elder. That is brand value. Your experience working at the Divine Talisman Pavilion, your reputation from guarding this stall for twenty-five years without fail, and the proven quality of your talismans—together they form your brand.”

Hearing this, Elder Chen looked extremely pleased with himself. But after thinking about it for a moment, something felt wrong.

“Wait… are you saying that for all these years I’ve been selling my talismans below their true value?”

“Your prices are low, yes. But compared to the others, your talismans are still slightly more expensive, aren’t they?”

“That may be true, but we still can’t compare to the Divine Talisman Pavilion. Customers buying in bulk always go there instead.”

Na Jin raised an eyebrow.

“The Divine Talisman Pavilion is backed by the Extreme East Six Regions. One of the Six Great Sects—the Divine Talisman Sect itself—stands behind it. Their brand value is reinforced by Golden Core merchants and Nascent Soul experts. How could you possibly compare with them?”

“Well… that’s true.”

Only now did Elder Chen seem to understand somewhat.

“So even if I maximize my own brand value, there’s still a limit to what I can achieve?”

“Exactly. Which means we need another approach.”

“For example?”

“We attach brand value to each individual item.”

“Explain.”

“Tell customers a story.”

Elder Chen blinked blankly.

“The Mysterious Marvel Pill? Yunzhong Crane? The Crane Merchant of the Joyous Union Sect?”

Na Jin nodded approvingly.

“Elder, you really are teachable.”

Veins bulged on Elder Chen’s forehead as he clenched his fists, but he soon calmed himself into the mindset of an enlightened sage.

“So what you mean is… my talismans need stories like yours?”

“Correct.”

“That simple?”

“Yes. Very simple.”

“Then what was the point of that long speech you gave earlier?”

“Oh, well… if I explained it too quickly, wouldn’t I feel guilty borrowing fifty spirit stones from you?”

“Hoo… haa…”

Elder Chen took several deep breaths and swore not to get angry. At sixty-five years old, he needed to take care of his health.

“But what kind of story should I tell?”

Na Jin looked toward the talismans Elder Chen treasured like precious jewels.

There were six types in total:

• Cleanliness Talismans
• Wind-Riding Talismans
• Fireball Talismans
• Earth Spike Talismans
• Earth Wall Talismans
• Flame Protection Talismans

The Fireball and Earth Spike Talismans sold the most frequently, but their price was pitifully low—only half a spirit stone each.

The truly expensive ones were the Earth Wall Talismans and Flame Protection Talismans. Earth Wall Talismans sold for two spirit stones apiece, while Flame Protection Talismans started at three spirit stones and could reach five or even higher when demand exceeded supply.

Talismans had a stable market among low-level cultivators. Though weaker than actual spells, they activated much faster and consumed far less spiritual energy. Defensive talismans and life-saving talismans were especially popular.

After thinking for a while, Na Jin pointed toward the Flame Protection Talismans and began outlining a story inspired by a tale he had once read in Records of the Six Regions. He only provided the rough framework, however. The finer details would need to be filled in by Elder Chen himself, since the old man knew this world far better than Na Jin did.

Furthermore, Na Jin explained that this method only worked on new customers. Existing regulars should continue being treated normally. However, if Elder Chen slightly redesigned the appearance of the Flame Protection Talismans—such as adding twin golden borders without affecting functionality—then even regular customers might accept higher prices without requiring elaborate storytelling.

The moment he finished speaking, Na Jin could no longer wait.

Like a whirlwind carrying enormous wealth in its wake, he rushed straight toward the wandering cultivators’ market.

He bought.
And bought.
And bought even more.

By nightfall, beneath bright moonlight, a man carrying two massive snakeskin sacks over his shoulders walked swiftly down the road. The bags were made from genuine snakeskin, extremely durable and capable of holding large quantities of goods.

Selling the Mysterious Marvel Pills and discussing business with Elder Chen had delayed him greatly. By the time Na Jin finally began purchasing ingredients, evening had already arrived.

As he walked along the dry yellow dirt road, his breathing grew rough. Though his feet moved quickly, his eyes constantly scanned the dark shadows between the wooden houses ahead.

Fighting was prohibited within Great River Market.

But that rule only applied to the inner city district.

The wandering cultivators living in the outer district cared little for such regulations.

The spirit stones collected every month were mainly used by powerful inner-city cultivators to deal with demon beast invasions. As a result, robberies and murders occurred frequently in the outer district, where the strong preyed upon the weak.

During daytime things were manageable.

At night, however, such incidents became common.

This was the true problem of Great River Market.

At the moment, Na Jin carried no spirit stones whatsoever. All he possessed were the two snakeskin sacks on his back.

To be honest, the items inside were only worth around one hundred spirit stones total. Since he had purchased them from many different vendors, stealing and reselling them would be troublesome.

But while Na Jin considered that troublesome, others might not.

‘Damn it. Once I have enough spirit stones, I’m definitely moving into the inner district.’

Muttering inwardly, Na Jin continued down the dirt road with nervous vigilance.

Perhaps the moonlight tonight was simply too bright.

Or perhaps his ragged appearance while carrying those snakeskin sacks made him look too pathetic to rob.

Whatever the reason, Na Jin managed to return home safely.

Sometimes, even bandits ignored targets that looked too miserable to bother with. Na Jin therefore did not feel particularly offended.

After returning home and catching his breath, he unpacked all the ingredients from the sacks and placed them onto shelves.

Out of his one hundred spirit stones:

• ninety-five were spent on ingredients for nineteen batches of Mysterious Marvel Pills,
• three were spent on Bigu Pill ingredients,
• one spirit stone purchased ten jin of spirit rice,
• and the final spirit stone paid two months of rent to the City Lord.

Even though his house sat on the very edge of the outer district, the rent still cost half a spirit stone per month.

Based on his current success rate, he estimated he could produce at least thirty bottles of Bigu Pills. Selling five bottles for one spirit stone would earn six spirit stones total, producing three spirit stones in profit.

Pouring the spirit rice into the grain jar, Na Jin finally collapsed exhausted onto a wooden chair.

Yet as he inhaled the medicinal fragrance filling the entire house, he grinned so widely that all his teeth showed.

Though tired, he felt incredibly happy.

“Starting tomorrow… I can finally increase production!”

At the Hour of Mao—between five and seven in the morning—dew crystallized into frost while mist filled the air.

Outside remained dark, yet Na Jin was already hard at work inside the small house beside the creek.

In his previous life, he had always been someone capable of steadily pursuing his goals. The infamous “9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week” schedule had been exhausting, but even when forced to attend company meetings after work through internal messaging systems, he had never once been late.

Compared to those days, his current life actually felt lighter. Thanks to cultivating the Eternal Spring Art every morning, waking up early was no longer especially difficult.

However, the technique could not be practiced more than three times consecutively. Ignoring that limit would trigger unbearable headaches so severe that he would become incapable of performing even simple tasks like processing medicinal herbs.

Although today’s workload was heavy, the tasks themselves were simple.

All he needed to do was process raw materials for Bigu Pills and Mysterious Marvel Pills.

Bigu Pills had already become second nature to him. Especially with Master-level proficiency, both refining and ingredient preparation proceeded incredibly smoothly.

Even the preparation of Mysterious Marvel Pill ingredients had become far faster than before, leaving him spare moments to leisurely study his system.

Among all the functions displayed on his status panel, only two currently showed increasing proficiency.

Gradually, he began understanding not only Achievement Points—which allowed him to learn techniques within the same cultivation realm—but also how proficiency itself functioned.

He discovered that proficiency increased not only through success but also through repeated failure.

Furthermore, every time proficiency crossed into a new realm, it felt as though some additional understanding suddenly appeared in his mind.

Yet ordinary sayings like “practice makes perfect” failed to fully explain this phenomenon.

It was almost as though whenever he reached a certain proficiency level, the system directly granted him all corresponding insights necessary to complete that stage.

As a result, even among cultivators at the same level, Na Jin operated with far greater precision and thoroughness.

This was why his Master-level Bigu Pills maintained both stable production rates and superior quality.

If he completely filled the Master-level proficiency bar, then regardless of whether another level existed beyond it, the quality of his Bigu Pills would surely reach perfection.

Supreme-grade Bigu Pills…

But Bigu Pills were still merely Bigu Pills.

Products with strong sales always suffered from market saturation and heavy competition, while customer consumption remained relatively slow. Even supreme-grade quality would not change that fact.

The Mysterious Marvel Pill, however—

That product was on an entirely different level.