There were also two medium-sized options. One had two shopfronts and a five-mu courtyard, while the other had three shopfronts and a six-mu courtyard.

The price for the former was three thousand Spirit Stones annually, and the latter six thousand. While the larger one had a better location, Wang Hao preferred the former. He handed the jade slip to Li Derong, signaling her to take a look.

After reviewing it, Li Derong agreed that the five-mu shop was the best fit.

Once they had decided, Wang Hao addressed the manager. “Fellow Daoist, we intend to rent this one. I wonder if the price can be discounted somewhat?”

The man raised an eyebrow. “Wanxiang City is the most prosperous city in the Myriad Manifestations Islands. It has a permanent population of five hundred thousand cultivators, with tens of thousands more coming and going every day. With such high foot traffic and considering this property’s considerable size, this rent is already very cheap.”

He scoffed. “Hmph, not to mention anything else, just consider the location itself—the spiritual energy intensity here reaches the lower third tier, suitable even for Golden Core cultivators. Do you really think the price can be discounted? Take it or leave it; don’t waste my time!”

Hearing this, Li Derong hesitated, but Wang Hao felt the price was acceptable.

“Alright then. Please help us register it.”

“The shop must be leased for at least three years. Including management fees, the total comes to ten thousand Spirit Stones!” The middle-aged manager impatiently knocked his knuckles on the table.

Wang Hao felt another pang of heartache. He had thought having his farm would make life comfortable, but what was this? Renting a shop cost him ten thousand right away.

He took out his Storage Bag, counted out the stones, and handed them over.

The manager opened the bag, swept it with his Divine Consciousness to confirm the amount, and nodded in satisfaction.

“Name, place of origin, and what business you plan to run!” The middle-aged man put away the Storage Bag, looking up sternly. “I must warn you, Fellow Daoist: the information must be truthful. If you dare to deceive us and anything happens because of it, our City Lord’s Manor will hunt you down without fail!”

Wang Hao saw no need to use a false name here. “Wang Hao, from Qingyuan Mountain. I plan to run a business selling pills and talismans.”

The manager tapped a few times on a map hanging behind him, recording the data. Afterward, he took out a square iron token and shot a golden light into it. The token lit up briefly like a remote control key.

Countless silver runes flew out from the map, swirling around once before coalescing into five large characters—”Qingyuan Mountain Wang Hao”—which then sank into the metal surface.

The manager tossed the token toward Wang Hao. “This is the key to control the shop’s formation. The location has already been marked. By the way, the token itself contains a map of Wanxiang City; you should be able to find your way.”

Wang Hao nodded, bid farewell to Li Derong, and left the City Lord’s Manor.

The two headed straight for the southern part of the city. The location was quite good; if Wanxiang City were divided into five rings, this shop would be roughly in the third ring. Both the environment and foot traffic were much better than at the edges of the fifth ring.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Wang Hao arrived.

Even before entering his shop, he noticed an elegant woman standing at the entrance of the neighboring store, watching him.

“Oh my! Are you two our new neighbors? What business are you planning to run?”

She smiled as she spoke, her voice like honey. “Look at me asking questions without introducing myself first. My name is Liu Yue. Fellow Daoist looks quite young; you can call me Sister Liu. I run a clothing store! If you two ever need ritual robes, feel free to come by my shop!”

Why did she have to sway her waist while talking? Watching her made Wang Hao’s mouth go dry.

“Hmph.” Li Derong snorted lightly and looked coldly at Wang Hao.

“Huh? What are you snorting about?” Wang Hao whispered. “They’re neighbors. She’s being so friendly; what’s wrong with getting acquainted?”

“You get acquainted slowly by yourself. I’m going inside first!”

With that, she snatched the token from Wang Hao’s hand, shot a beam of light into it, and opened the shop’s protective formation.

“Wait… I…”

“Oh dear! Fellow Daoist, what’s wrong with your wife?” Liu Yue clearly enjoyed stirring up trouble. She hooked her fingers coquettishly and smiled seductively. “Let me tell you something: it’s true that women need to be coaxed, but you shouldn’t spoil them like this. If things go on like this, she’ll have you under her thumb for life!”

Enough! Enough! Better not provoke her; time to make a quick exit.

“This Sister Liu… I shall pay you a visit another day. For now, I must take my leave!”

Having said that, he hurriedly stepped forward to catch up with Li Derong.

“Damn it! I’m here to do business! What kind of mess is this?”

Wang Hao shifted his gaze and focused on the building before him. The front was similar to others in Wanxiang City: a two-story pavilion with red walls and green tiles. A faint golden light curtain covered its entrance.

While Wang Hao was speaking, Li Derong had already opened the light curtain and walked inside. Wang Hao quickly followed.

The pavilion interior was covered in dust, and long shelves were draped with cobwebs. It seemed it had been vacant for some time. However, all buildings here were constructed from spiritual materials and wouldn’t easily deteriorate; a bit of cleaning would suffice.

Of course, these tasks would wait until Wang Wenyan and the others arrived to help.

Wang Hao went upstairs for a look. Nothing special there—just some private rooms for discussions that could also serve as guest rooms for resting.

Moving into the backyard, the space opened up considerably. Besides a row of living quarters, there was a small fishpond and two mu of spirit fields. The environment was quite acceptable; Wang Hao felt satisfied.

He walked over to Li Derong. “Immortal Li, we should return quickly and bring our clansmen over. With more hands, we can tidy up properly.”

Li Derong nodded. “Alright. This row here will belong to my Li Family. Those houses over there are for your Wang Family. Each family gets one front shop space, and one mu each of spirit fields. Here are five thousand Spirit Stones—my Li Family’s share.”

Wang Hao had no objections to this division. He accepted the Spirit Stones with a slight nod.

Returning to the Immortal Abode Pavilion, Wang Hao explained the situation to his clansmen.

“Fifth Brother! That’s wonderful! We can open another shop together again!” Wang Wenmei exclaimed excitedly.

Back then, it was by following Wang Hao’s lead in business that she had earned enough Spirit Stones for cultivation; otherwise, she wouldn’t have reached Qi Refining Level 9 by now.

“We still need to clean up there first,” Wang Hao cautioned. “Also, we need to check out pill prices at nearby shops. We can only open for business once we’re prepared—at least three days from now!”

He shook his head as he spoke.

He currently had a batch of goods on hand—pills accumulated over time. Now that he could barely refine second-tier mid-grade pills, his success rate was somewhat low; thus, his main products would still be first-tier pills.

Among second-tier pills were Qi Gathering Pills and Qi Replenishing Pills; his flagship products were Vein Protection Pills and Obstacle Breaking Pills. Second-tier mid-grade Clearing Rhyme Pills could be sold, but it would be best not to reveal Blood Burning Pills yet.

If he had too many rare pills for sale, it wouldn’t align with his usual low-key approach.

He currently possessed over a hundred bottles of second-tier pills and had accumulated several thousand bottles of first-tier pills—enough for sale over some period. Moreover, both he and Wang Yanfeng could continue refining them continuously; Wang Yanlang and Wang Wenjin were also first-tier high-grade alchemists who could share the workload.

However, even if there were enough alchemists available, the spiritual herb supply would fall short.

Pills used during Foundation Establishment required ingredients aged over one hundred years; main ingredients even needed to be two or three hundred years old!

Even though Wang Hao grew them on black soil plots with a fortyfold time acceleration rate, it still took five years per batch for the main ingredients alone.

There were only six black soil plots in total, with one occupied by an Essence Condensing Fruit tree and another by the Righteousness Lotus, leaving just four plots free. One batch yielded enough spiritual herbs for about one hundred bottles of Qi Gathering Pills.

He himself consumed twenty or thirty bottles; only around seventy bottles could be sold!

This was his first time feeling that his farm wasn’t sufficient; he needed more upgraded black soil plots. Additionally, the new shop needed channels for purchasing spiritual herbs externally. Wang Hao couldn’t keep subsidizing the business from his private farm forever; the shop needed the capability to generate its own blood.

Besides pills, he also possessed many first-tier spirit talismans. But selling spirit talismans might seem like competing directly with the Li Family’s business—perhaps not very appropriate.

Better keep them for personal use!