A week.
Yang Hao sat staring blankly at the bustling street outside. Thousands of people walked back and forth along the road, a stark contrast to the cold, empty silence of his own little shop—it was like the difference between fire and ice.
These seven days had probably been the loneliest and most desolate of Yang Hao’s life.
Ever since he had made the agreement with the principal—that he must earn 50 million credits before he could return to school—Yang Hao had begun his grand plan to make money. In truth, he had already thought this through long ago. Together with Hunyuanzi, he had decided to open a shop selling aphrodisiacs—Spring Tonics, as they were commonly known.
Honestly speaking, Yang Hao would rather die than willingly open such a shop. He was a young, promising man—surely working for someone else would be more respectable than running a store selling aphrodisiacs. But the old man Hunyuanzi was so persuasive, insisting that producing Spring Tonics was exactly what cultivators like him excelled at. He even claimed his aphrodisiacs were unparalleled in the world, promising that once they were on the market, people would rush to buy them, and they’d easily earn 50 million credits in no time.
Eager to return to school as soon as possible, Yang Hao, caught up in a moment of passion, agreed to come to the capital of the Laymon Star to open this shop. When he left school, Elsie and Amanda were tearful and reluctant to part. Elsie, in particular, nearly insisted on coming along to be the madam of the Spring Tonics shop herself. In the end, Elsie handed Yang Hao a storefront she owned in the capital as startup capital, while Amanda gave him X13 as a parting gift.
And so Yang Hao began his new life as a seller of aphrodisiacs, accompanied only by a robot and an old ghost living inside his body.
Elsie’s shop had been a birthday present from the royal family of Laymon Star. Its location was second to none—right on the city’s most prosperous commercial street, where hundreds of thousands of people passed by every day. In such a place, any shop should have thrived.
Except, apparently, Yang Hao’s.
Seven days after opening, not a single customer had dared to step through the door. Yang Hao felt a deep sense of frustration.
“What rush of customers? What unparalleled quality? Not even a single person has come to look!” Yang Hao grumbled as he carelessly tossed ingredients into the steel fire furnace, cursing Hunyuanzi.
“This is impossible!” Hunyuanzi was equally puzzled. “Our aphrodisiacs are top-notch! Could the people on this planet really be unable to recognize quality goods?”
“Millions of people pass by our shop every day—could it be that none of them can recognize good products? No, the real problem is your pills!” Yang Hao continued to press.
“Nonsense!” Hunyuanzi snapped, clearly offended. “It’s not that our pills are bad. It must be that the people here simply don’t need aphrodisiacs. There’s no market for them at all.”
“Excuse me…” X13 buzzed around like a fly, annoyingly interrupting, “But just fifty meters from our shop, there’s another Spring Tonics store doing extremely well. I’ve already done some research…”
Yang Hao waved his hand dismissively, not wanting to hear more. “I know. It’s run by a traveling merchant. I overheard him talking to the ambassador at Elsie’s house once. The aphrodisiacs they brought in are all synthetically produced through technology.”
“That store is called ‘Million Thrills,'” X13 continued. “Based on my estimates, they ship out dozens of trucks of products daily, with sales reaching at least several hundred thousand imperial credits.”
“Just fifty meters away, and they’re thriving while we’re dead in the water. Isn’t that proof enough that the problem is the pills?” Yang Hao seized the opportunity to attack Hunyuanzi again. “Looks like technology wins again. Your old-fashioned cultivation methods are clearly outdated.”
Hunyuanzi, clearly hurt by their criticism, muttered, “No one even wants to try our pills!”
“Because they stink so bad!” Both Yang Hao and X13 shouted in unison. “We only made a few hundred Dragon-Tiger Replenishing Pills and placed them in the cabinet, and the whole shop reeked like a toilet. Who would dare come in?”
“What can I do?” Hunyuanzi actually sounded wronged. “Dragon-Tiger Replenishing Pills are just naturally smelly. Sure, they’re foul, but they work! One pill and you’ll be overcome with passion.”
“Hey, old man, can’t you teach me to make some pills that smell better?” Yang Hao asked helplessly. “All day long it’s Dragon-Tiger Replenishing Pills or Strength-Enhancing Pills—both stinky and disgusting. People buy aphrodisiacs to enjoy themselves, not to suffer.”
“Can you blame me for that? To make stronger pills, we need better ingredients and a better pill furnace…”
“Hey, isn’t this furnace good enough?” Yang Hao pointed at the steel fire furnace.
“Exactly because of this furnace, we can only make basic pills,” Hunyuanzi found an excuse. “To make better and more effective aphrodisiacs, we need a pill furnace far superior to this one.”
“Excuses!” Both Yang Hao and X13 shouted together.
Just as they were arguing, the steel fire furnace beside Yang Hao suddenly exploded with a loud bang. Yang Hao, unable to dodge in time, was left covered in soot, nearly having his hair singed off.
“Damn it! Old bastard, what the hell did you have me make today?!” Yang Hao roared furiously. Today, for some unknown reason, after refining several hundred Dragon-Tiger Replenishing Pills, Hunyuanzi had eagerly insisted on teaching Yang Hao to make a new type of pill. Yang Hao followed the steps without question, but just as success seemed near, the whole thing exploded.
“Did it explode?” Hunyuanzi actually sounded excited.
“Almost blew my nose off!” Yang Hao growled in anger.
“Good apprentice, quickly check! Is there any red powder inside the pill furnace?”
Yang Hao took a few deep, angry breaths, then cautiously leaned over to peer into the furnace. Sure enough, at the bottom of the gleaming metal pot, there was a small amount of red powder.
“There is a bit, but…”
“That’s perfect!” Hunyuanzi exclaimed joyfully. “Good apprentice, you’re truly a genius at pill-making! Every pill you make succeeds on the first try. That red powder is the female variant of the Dragon-Tiger Replenishing Pill.”
“What do you mean, female variant?” X13 flew over, snapping photos of the red powder.
“The Dragon-Tiger Replenishing Pill is the foundation of all auxiliary pills. Variants based on it are divided into male and female types—those suitable for men are called male variants, and those for women are called female variants,” Hunyuanzi explained enthusiastically.
“So this one is for women, then?” X13 kept recording Hunyuanzi’s words. For a robot, it was surprisingly curious and eager to learn.
“Of course!” Hunyuanzi, forgetting the earlier humiliation, once again looked proud. “This aphrodisiac is called ‘Lady Red.’ It’s specially made for women. Any woman who takes even a little will be overcome with passion.”
“But…” Yang Hao leaned closer to the aphrodisiac, hesitating as if he wanted to say something more.
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