Zhouyang nearly fled the "Drunken Immortal Tower" in embarrassment.
His illustrious image was completely shattered in front of his sisters when they learned he had come up with the scheme to use their allure for the tavern's profit.
Actually, he knew well that if Yuan Zhen and the others were unwilling, those schemes of his would be useless.
After all, the clan could assign them tasks to work at the tavern, but couldn't force them to sacrifice their allure for the clan's profit. Such actions would not only make other clans laugh but also hurt the hearts of all clan members.
The reason Yuan Zhen and others were willing to follow his schemes was not only because of the commission income but also due to their high sense of duty, understanding the difficulty in acquiring cultivation resources, and their unwillingness to be useless to the clan.
Male cultivators in the clan worked tirelessly to earn spirit stones for the clan, following caravans through the desert for months and risking their lives in battling sand bandits and demon beasts.
Now, they only need to sacrifice a bit of allure to help the clan earn profit. Why would they refuse?
As clan cultivators, one shouldn't just enjoy the clan's benefits but also shoulder the clan's responsibilities.
Without the clan's protection, low-talented female cultivators wouldn't survive in the cultivation realm with just a slight sacrifice of allure!
Although it is said so, the matter of female cultivators sacrificing their allure for profit isn't prestigious. As a man, Zhouyang felt somewhat ashamed and awkward facing these sisters.
Compared to these siblings who quietly contributed to the clan, he seemed like a parasite.
From a practical perspective, just his discovery of "Haoyang Cave" and the Red Flame Iron Ore Vein has contributed more to the clan than all the accomplishments of the entire "Yuan" generation.
"I didn't have a choice before, but now that I've arrived at the marketplace, let my artifact refining skill repay the clan!"
Walking on the marketplace streets, Zhouyang eyed the thronging cultivators with a determination in mind.
The next day, three employees from "Jade Spring Tower" were dispatched to the most crowded spots in the marketplace, loudly calling out words taught by Zhouyang.
"Come, come, everyone look here! [Jade Spring Tower] celebrates 230 years of business. From today, any expenditure over 300 spirit stones at Jade Spring Tower earns a free opportunity for a Tier Two High-grade Refiner to craft a Tier Two Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact. Spend over 500 spirit stones for a complementary Tier Two Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact crafting opportunity. Spend 1,000 spirit stones to receive a free chance to craft a Tier Two Top Grade Spiritual Artifact. All crafting failures are compensated at seventy percent of the original price."
"[Jade Spring Tower] celebrates 230 years of business, all custom artifact services reduced by thirty percent, all orders below Tier Three artifacts accepted, failure covered at seventy percent materials fee, don't miss this opportunity."
Zhouyang's artifact refining skill had reached Tier Two Top Grade, with around a thirty percent success rate for crafting Tier Two Top Grade Spiritual Artifacts, whereas the success rate for Tier Two Middle Grade Spiritual Artifacts exceeded sixty percent.
Refining artifacts differs from alchemy; failures in artifact refining, if timely saved, don't lead to total material destruction but only downgrade its grade. This bolstered his confidence to take orders extensively.
Furthermore, the most straightforward way for a refiner to enhance their skill level and success rate is to craft more artifacts. The more they refine, the higher the success rate.
For instance, Zhouyang's father, Xuan Hao, is likewise a Tier Two High-grade Alchemist, but his success rate for crafting Tier Two Top-Grade Spirit Pills reaches fifty percent, surpassing most Tier Two Alchemists in this "Jinsha Marketplace."
The reason being he has been a Tier Two High-grade Alchemist for years, having opened his furnace to craft Tier Two Spirit Pills hundreds of times.
"Jade Spring Tower" previously accepted artifact customization but merely for Tier Three Lower Grade artifacts, always inviting the old clan leader Zhou Minghan personally for the task.
However, since the old clan leader Zhou Minghan couldn't easily leave the clan, and because Tier Three artifact materials are not readily obtainable, even a decade might go by without a single customization order.
However, things are different now. With Zhouyang, a Tier Two High-grade Refiner stationed at "Jade Spring Tower," those previous customization orders neglected by or unsuitable for the old clan leader can now be undertaken by him.
His pricing is quite fair: he charges only thirty percent of an artifact's value upon successfully crafting one, a great attraction to those loose cultivators.
For example, a purchased Tier Two Top-grade Spiritual Artifact is priced at a minimum of five hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones, whereas the raw materials' worth hardly reaches one hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones.
Many loose cultivators, upon acquiring raw materials, due to their lack of refining skills, can only sell cheap to shops and then purchase the crafted artifact made from raw materials at five or ten times the price.
But now it's different. Now they just need to take the materials to Zhouyang for refinement. Even if it fails, it's just a loss of less than thirty low-grade spirit stones, and once successful, it's equivalent to earning at least two or three hundred low-grade spirit stones!
A one-time investment, tenfold return!
Where else can you find such a good deal?
In no time, the previously unremarkable "Jade Spring Tower" in the marketplace suddenly became the most bustling place. Many loose cultivators who heard the news came to inquire about its authenticity.
And once these people entered the shop and saw the elixirs, magical artifacts, and spirit talismans everywhere, of course, some couldn't resist purchasing some items they needed, directly boosting the sales of "Jade Spring Tower" significantly.
Zhouyang played a little trick here; when the customization of magical artifacts was registered, he deliberately placed the refinement order of Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifacts at the back, so he could first refine Tier Two Lower Grade and Tier Two Middle Grade Spiritual Artifacts to increase the refining success rate and minimize losses from failure.
With the influx of customers at "Jade Spring Tower," it naturally drew the envy and dissatisfaction of shopkeepers from other stores in the marketplace, and many other clans' refiners were waiting to see Zhouyang make a fool of himself.
This service of custom magical artifacts has actually been available from stores specializing in spiritual artifacts for some time, but there's a common consensus: they should never accept orders equivalent to their own level of refining skill, and at most, half of the material costs are refunded upon failure; if successful, they charge fifty percent of the purchase cost of an equivalent magical artifact.
Only by doing so can profit be ensured. Otherwise, it's just working for the loose cultivators for free.
Anyway, they hold the artifact refining skill, so after loose cultivators obtain materials, whether they like it or not, they have to sell them at a low price.
Thus, Zhouyang's current approach, in the eyes of these refiners, will surely end with him losing everything—who does he think he is, a Tier Three Refiner?
In fact, it wasn't just those refiners who thought this way. Even Zhou Xuanlin, who was still in the marketplace buying spiritual objects for the Zhou Clan's Foundation Establishment celebration, thought the same upon hearing Zhouyang's plan. He even advised him earnestly to give up.
However, after Zhouyang did the math for him, he said nothing more and peacefully went about his own business.
Zhouyang wasn't concerned about how outsiders saw it. After settling internal matters, he went and rented a refining chamber in the Earth Fire Cave opened by the Chen family at Golden Dawn Mountain, preparing to stay there long-term.
Anyway, he had made all arrangements at "Jade Spring Tower." Besides Zhou Ping, who would return to the clan with Zhou Xuanlin, Zhou Yu and Zhou Xiong were left there. As long as they followed his instructions, they could maintain the normal operation of "Jade Spring Tower." If anything required his attention, they could notify him with a Sound Transmission Talisman.
As for "Drunken Immortal Tower," since the clan needed to entertain some notable guests for the Foundation Establishment celebration, the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan had already ordered Zhou Yuanchun and others to return to the clan to help, so "Drunken Immortal Tower" would temporarily close for a while.
Earth Fire is a high-temperature flame originating from underground magma. Its heat exceeds the true flame of Foundation Establishment cultivators by a significant margin, and it does not require the cultivator's magical power to use, eliminating concerns of exhaustion.
Because of these advantages, ever since cultivators discovered the marvel of Earth Fire, alchemists and artifact refiners below the Nascent Soul Stage have abandoned true flame in favor of Earth Fire during alchemy and artifact refinement.
After all, alchemy and artifact refining are both consuming processes. If one also has to expend magical power to maintain true flame during the process, it might lead to failure due to inadequate magical power supply.
Especially for some high-tier elixirs and artifacts, the refinement time is extremely lengthy, often taking several days or even tens of days, heavily consuming the primordial qi even of Golden Core cultivators.
However, while Earth Fire is beneficial, it's not something that just anyone can utilize.
First, one needs a cultivator at or above the Purple Mansion Stage to draw out the Earth Fire from underground, and then a Tier Three and above Array Master is needed to set up a Suppression Array to confine the fierce Earth Fire. Additionally, a Tier Three and above Refiner is required to craft special Purification Spiritual Artifacts to cleanse the Earth Fire's poisonous fire evil qi.
Not a single step can be skipped to make Earth Fire practical.
Thus, even though everyone knows the benefits of Earth Fire, only major sects and large clans with cultivators at or above the Purple Mansion Stage can actually establish Earth Fire Chambers to use it.
For cultivators like Zhouyang from smaller clans, to use Earth Fire for refining or alchemy, they have to obediently visit cultivator marketplaces like "Jinsha Marketplace" to rent Earth Fire Chambers developed by others, like the Chen family.
Chen family has established thirteen Earth Fire Chambers in the Earth Fire Cave at "Jinsha Marketplace," charging spirit stones based on Level A, B, and C. The only Level A Earth Fire Chamber requires ten low-grade spirit stones per day, the four Level B rooms are three low-grade spirit stones per day, and the remaining Level C rooms cost only one low-grade spirit stone per day.
Zhouyang only refines Tier Two Spiritual Artifacts, so renting a Level C Earth Fire Chamber suffices.