"Stored? Where? Space tools aren't safe, right?"
"The Dao Palace has established breath soil banks that can store breath soil for us. They're set up in every city, and if there's an emergency, you can temporarily retrieve it. The Dao Palace has a unique way of recording things, so they never get it wrong." He Yunfang said.
"So there are banks here too, huh?"
"It's just what we call them where I'm from, don't worry about it."
Xiang Beifei waved his hand.
Apparently, the Edge Corner Airspace isn't as ancient as he imagined, their system is quite well-rounded.
"Don't worry, Young Master Xiang, you saved me, so if we obtain this Dao Stone, we'll definitely invite you to join us in understanding it." He Yunfang said.
Xiang Beifei touched his forehead: "Well... then I thank you in advance?"
"No need to thank me, it's only right. We'll see if we can get it with two hundred lengths of soil. Not just me, but even the elders of the family, if we all comprehend this Dao Stone, it will surely benefit their cultivation levels! Maybe more elders of the crane race will reach new heights."
"We must buy this Dao Stone!"
He Yunfang was determined to get this Dao Stone, hurriedly bidding them farewell to start gathering soil.
"Now you should understand how important soil is to us; we can't be wasteful with it. I told you this before." He Qing said to Xiang Beifei.
Xiang Beifei chuckled helplessly.
But he wasn't planning to say anything just yet; even if he did, He Yunfang and his daughter probably wouldn't believe him.
However, he was now contemplating something.
How should he handle the Dao Stone issue?
Because of the Dao Stone issue, there wasn't much to browse in the commercial tower, so they returned to the Dao Palace. With He Qing's Earth Ranking status, she could stay at the Dao Palace for free; others coming to Divine Feather City would need to pay for accommodation.
He Qing quickly went to train, while Xiang Beifei found a secluded corner to discuss the matter with Xiaohei and the others.
Erha impatiently said: The Dao Stone could definitely sell for ten thousand lengths of soil, let's start by making a hundred, and earn massive profits!
Xiang Beifei said: "No, the Dao Stone may seem free to us, but it's very precious to them. If we mass-produce it, it will lose its value. You can't sell too much of anything."
It's like how merchants in Jiuzhou used to sell phones, limiting supply to create scarcity, with time-limited sales causing some people to act as scalpers and inflate prices.
Yet if you wait, once the supply increases, phones become readily available and less valuable, causing the price to drop.
The same principle applies to Dao Stones.
Once too many are produced, they will lose value!
Youmong thought they should first see how much this Dao Stone sells for before deciding how many Dao words to create.
With a head full of crafty ideas, Xiaohei's eyes darted cunningly, then he grinned mischievously, coming up with an idea.
Precious items have sets, and can be sold separately.
Meaning, you can write a statement and round it up to a set of Dao Stones.
For instance: The way of Yin and Yang begins from emptiness, all beings are wonderfully transformed.
A total of fourteen characters can be written on fourteen Dao Stones, and then sold one by one.
People will find one Dao Stone insufficient, needing more to understand further, and then realizing there are fourteen Dao Stones, to gain Dao, they'll purchase the set of fourteen.
This would cause the prices of yet unsold Dao Stones to rise even higher.
"Do you feel like we've become unscrupulous merchants?" Xiang Beifei couldn't help but laugh.
Xiaohei proudly raised his head: We're not close to them, earning money is nothing shameful!
"Honestly, I need to plan this carefully, ideally aiming to sell to the Dao Palace and make a tidy profit!"
Xiang Beifei wasn't very concerned about taking advantage of those he had no vendetta against; he just didn't have good feelings toward the Dao Palace.
Because it was the Dao Palace that issued the pursuit order against the Human Race in the Edge Corner Airspace; even what happened in Common Valley with "Wufeng" was based on the Dao Palace's one-sided account, causing the Human Race to be inexplicably declared evil, with people condemned to be killed on sight.
He hadn't yet met anyone from the Dao Palace; Qian Fu, who was in charge of Divine Feather City affairs, only understood bureaucratic procedures, not the core of the Dao Palace.
Xiang Beifei planned to try stirring things up a bit, scrapping with these Dao Palace folks, hoping to attract key figures from the Dao Palace to surface, and learn more about the situation.
However, Xiaohei's line "The way of Yin and Yang begins from emptiness, all beings are wonderfully transformed" couldn't be randomly written because it was a piece of information he received when obtaining the Spirit Gathering Book, and revealing that was unnecessary.
"I'll need to revise it."
Xiang Beifei pondered, and Xiaohei was also offering ideas, and after discussing for a long time, they came up with the perfect phrase.
The Heavenly Dao is unkind, the Human Race should rise!
"This phrase should really annoy the Dao Palace." Xiang Beifei couldn't help but grin.
Of course, it's crucial to sensibly allocate the order of the Dao Stones appearing, only one "Dao" character has emerged so far, the rest like "Heavenly", "unkind", etc., will come gradually, and as for the "human" character, it'll appear grandly when all Dao Stones are released.
Leave the surprise for last!
Xiaohei laughed loudly with mouth open wide, loving the naughty idea!
Xiang Beifei condensed seven stones from his breath soil and then wrote the remaining seven characters on them, merging his Dao embryos into them, then waited for the "Dao" character to be sold the next day.
The next day, people suddenly flocked to Divine Feather City.
More and more Immortal Realm experts were pouring into the city, seemingly having gotten word, and many came specifically for the Dao Stone.
He Yunfang returned too, appearing extremely cautious, and quickly disguised himself en route to meet Xiang Beifei and He Qing.
"Dad, how did it go?" He Qing asked.
He Yunfang shed his disguise and said: "Lucky me, I discussed with the eldest elder and we've gathered a total of two hundred and thirty-six lengths of soil."
This amount of breath soil exceeded his expectation, and was the largest chip he could currently offer. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ NovᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt
"Hopefully, this price can snag the Dao Stone." He Qing said.
"Let's head to Divine Feather Commercial Tower!"
He Yunfang clenched his fist, eyeing the Dao Stone as far more precious than two hundred and thirty-six lengths of soil!
Xiang Beifei also went with them to Divine Feather Commercial Tower, spotting more Immortal Realm experts than usual along the way, and upon reaching the tower, followed the crowd straight to the seventh floor, which was the auction hall, elegantly decorated with all kinds of private rooms.
He Yunfang spent three inches of land to rent a private room, avoiding being recognized; it's smartest to hide your wealth, and if they actually win the auction, trade discreetly and quickly leave, to avoid being targeted.
Many chose similar strategies, settling into their places, awaiting the auction's start.
After about half an hour, Dongfang Xuan finally emerged, his appearance silencing the entire auction hall, drawing every gaze to him, with a wooden box floating in front of him.
"Good afternoon everyone, welcome to Divine Feather Commercial Tower. I am Dongfang Xuan, the person in charge here." Dongfang Xuan waved, introducing himself generously to everyone.
"Senior Dongfang, no need for formalities, we're all here for the auction today, with clear intentions, so hurry and bring out the goods!" someone urged impatiently.
Smiling slightly, Dongfang Xuan said: "Haha, well said friend, we're all here for the Dao Stone, so I shan't beat around the bush, you should all be aware of the circumstances. We've been entrusted by the Divine Feather Commercial Tower to auction this Dao Stone, let's see the item."
He waved his hand, and the wooden box opened with a sound, revealing the Dao Stone imbued with profound Dao embryos floating in mid-air!
Many eyes turned toward the Dao Stone, their gazes quickly becoming fervent upon spotting the "Dao" character!"