Mu Zi walked through the streets of Yancheng, and her heart was filled with joy.
Her trip to the Hall of Treasures brought unexpected luck. Not only did she acquire Qiankun bags, but she also discovered a new path to wealth.
A semi-finished Qiankun bag costs only two Yang Yuan stones, but after being processed by a rune master, its price skyrockets to forty-eight.
"So this is how rune masters make their fortune!" Mu Zi murmured, clicking her tongue slightly.
No wonder all rune masters live in luxury—their craft brings in exorbitant profits.
Now that this path to wealth was open, her previous plans had to be revised.
Originally, Mu Zi intended to sell a martial arts technique at an auction in Yancheng to earn Yang Yuan stones.
She had simplified the Wave Steps, removing their mysterious gait and leaving only the speed characteristic of third-rank martial arts.
But even the simplified version had an undeniable advantage: low energy consumption, like first-rank techniques. This made it incredibly sought after.
After all, movement techniques are rare, and the simplified Wave Steps, whether for escape or long journeys, had an astonishing effect.
According to Mu Zi's estimate, this technique was worth no less than some fourth-rank martial arts.
But now that an easier and more reliable way to earn money had appeared, she decided to abandon that plan.
Wave Steps were one of her trump cards. It was better not to reveal even the simplified version.
Mu Zi walked a few circles around the nearby streets, carefully concealing her aura with her spiritual power to throw off any pursuers. Once she was sure no one was following her, she went to meet Mu Yun and the others.
In one of the local inns, Mu Yun looked at the two sisters before him, and his heart filled with warmth and pride.
The years had flown by in an instant. The two little girls he once knew had now both reached the Earth Yuan level.
Three Earth Yuan masters in one clan—for the Mu estate, this was no small achievement.
But when Mu Yun learned that they had been attacked by bandits on the way to Yancheng, he was filled with rage.
"The Yellow Dragon Lair! Those scoundrels dared to touch people from the Mu estate? I'll make them pay!" he exclaimed, clenching his fists.
Mu Lingsha rushed to calm him down: "Father, don't be so hot-headed. We got off with a light scare."
The Yellow Dragon Lair was not ordinary bandits. Their leader, Li Yan, was a true Heavenly Yuan master.
If they got into a fight with them and something happened to Mu Yun, she would never forgive herself.
Mu Yun shook his head: "Lingsha, you're still young and don't understand certain truths."
"If you're not decisive, you won't stay on your feet!"
"If the Mu estate swallows this insult, it will attract a pack of wolves ready to devour us. That's why we must retaliate."
But then he changed his tone: "However, now is not the time for that. We're going to stay in Yancheng for a while."
"Stay in Yancheng?" Mu Zi was surprised to hear his words.
Mu Yun nodded confidently and explained: "The caravan we escorted will not be leaving yet. We've decided to stay with them for two months."
"Two months?" Mu Zi asked thoughtfully.
For her, this was great news. It meant that she could carry out her transactions with the Hall of Treasures more than once.
And with a large sum of money, Mu Zi could acquire several fourth-rank martial arts and even create her own technique of the same level.
"I'll have enough time!" she decided.
Returning to her room, Mu Zi took out the semi-finished Qiankun bags and got to work.
With slight fluctuations of her spiritual power, she traced rune after rune, and the Qiankun bags, one after another, took on a completed appearance.
"The spiritual power consumption is very low," she noted.
According to her estimate, with her current spiritual strength, she could create up to ten Qiankun bags at once. The runes were not difficult for her, which meant there was no risk of failure and no spiritual power was wasted.
When her spiritual power was exhausted, Mu Zi felt a slight dizziness. She immediately calmed her mind, immersing herself in meditation to quietly restore her strength.
In this process, she was surprised to discover that her spiritual power had grown a little.
Although the increase was almost imperceptible, over time, it could become significant.
Thus, while earning money and improving her cultivation, Mu Zi delved deeper into the world of spiritual power.
A month passed.
During this time, Mu Zi had accumulated considerable wealth.
Eight thousand Yang Yuan stones!
This amount was not small—comparable to the harvest the Lin clan collected over two years from the Yang Yuan stone mine.
Just like that, without much fanfare and tediously, rune masters earned their fortunes.
But not all rune masters could boast of such incomes.
Many of them did not aspire to the art of creating artifacts, preferring combat skills. In this world where the weak are devoured by the strong, strength remained the main measure.
A person's energy is not limitless. With the exception of those who were stuck at the threshold of a breakthrough for years, most rune masters had to choose between creating treasures and improving their combat skills.
After all, they were not such unique geniuses as Mu Zi.
It should be noted that these eight thousand Yang Yuan stones did not come entirely from the sale of Qiankun bags.
In Yancheng, the demand for Qiankun bags was not that great. After the second transaction, the manager of the Hall of Treasures reported that he was no longer buying them.
But Mu Zi was not deterred. She immediately mastered new techniques on the spot, studying the runes that are applied to weapons, and began to create rune weapons.
The cost of their production was ridiculously low.
The materials for Qiankun bags, such as Qiankun wood, still had some value.
But for rune weapons, the raw material could be bought in bulk at a blacksmith for just a few Yang Yuan stones.
However, the price of a rune weapon was unstable and depended on the creator's skill.
The first samples of weapons created by Mu Zi sold for only a dozen Yang Yuan stones. But as she delved deeper into the study of runes and the Rebirth Seal slightly helped her, her creations became more and more valuable.
The crude runes, refined by Mu Zi, became elegant and complex, and their combinations began to acquire harmony and order.
The best weapon she could create so far was a short sword worth two hundred and forty Yang Yuan stones.
The sword was entirely forged from tempered iron, and Mu Zi had applied eight runes to it, which made its power truly terrifying.
In the hands of a Heavenly Yuan master, it could easily defeat an equally strong opponent.
However, this was close to the limit of her capabilities.
After all, her spiritual power had not yet reached the required strength to apply more or more complex runes. In addition, relying only on her own research, she inevitably encountered some flaws.
"It seems I'll have to buy books related to the art of rune masters at the first opportunity," Mu Zi decided.
But such valuable items for rune masters seemed to be a rarity.
For a whole month, she visited the Wanjin auction almost daily but was able to acquire only one ordinary spiritual technique that turned out to be almost useless.
In such matters, she could only rely on luck.
Although finding something related to rune masters was difficult, in other areas, Mu Zi had made significant progress.
During this time, she finally fulfilled her dream, buying three fourth-rank martial arts at an auction, spending half of her Yang Yuan stones on them.
After studying them, she made a breakthrough in her martial arts mastery.
What do you think Mu Zi will do with her new fourth-rank martial arts?