Strongest Businessman of the Cultivation World

As the door opened, the mouths of Feng Yan and others also opened wide. Piles and piles of coins were spread across the large vault.

Wherever they turned, they saw mounds of coins. Some were shining silver coins while most of the others were gold.

"There must be at least two hundred thousand Gold coins here! If we include the silver coins, the amount should be much more than that!"

Ikasa estimated, seeing the dazzling riches before him.

Si!

Feng Yan, Gu Dan, and Chu Kuang gasped upon hearing Ikasa's estimation. Even the Zhen siblings were taken aback a bit, but they quickly recovered their composure.

The first Elder neither denied nor confirmed his guess. Ikasa took his silence as confirming his doubts. When he turned his eyes back to the mounds of riches, he was reminded of Chu Qing, the money-grubbing ghost.

'If Chu Qing was here he would probably faint from happiness at this view.'

Ikasa thought, smiling as he imagined his stunned face. He quickly moved his eyes away from the mounds of gold and silver and scanned the vault for other good things.

"What is that?"

Ikasa asked, pointing to a misty platform in the back of the room. First elder and City Lord looked at him weirdly, thinking he was joking.

When he approached the platform with curiosity, they understood that he indeed was ignorant of it. Elder Yi matched Ikasa's steps and stopped him from touching the misty platform.

"Master Ikasa! This is an active Energy Gathering formation. If you enter it with your Sense Realm cultivation, you might explode from absorbing excess energy! Let me deactivate it for you."

Ikasa looked at the small platform with wonder. This was the first spiritual object he had seen in this cultivation world. He naturally disregarded the Printer.

Elder Yi fiddled with a disc placed on a shelf nearby and the mist slowly receded, revealing a small basin. The basin was surrounded by a red glow with many white coins inside it.

"Spirit Coins!" Gu Dan exclaimed and rushed to Ikasa's side. Others also gathered around the basin wondering what the fuss was about.

Neither Sense Trainer from Ikasa's faction was familiar with the Spirit Coins except for Gu Dan. So they were intrigued by the currency that stood even higher than the gold coin.

Ikasa picked up the penny-sized coin and weighed it. It was a bit lighter than an ordinary gold coin. When he turned the coin, he found the source of the glow.

On the back side, five stars were imprinted in a circular arrangement. Of these five, only one star was glowing while the other four were dim. Seeing Ikasa intently study the stars, Elder Yi explained.

"These stars indicate the energy contained in that Spirit Coin. Currently, only one star is bright red; that means this coin is worth 500 gold."

Ikasa turned to Gu Dan and asked,

"Didn't you say one spirit coin is worth 100 gold?"

The Blacksmith was also confused. He looked at Elder Yi for an explanation.

"That is the case when the energy in the Spirit Coin is used up and all stars are dimmed."

"What! This small piece of metal alone is worth 100 gold!"

Gu Dan exclaimed, looking closely at the small circular coin. But Ikasa didn't jump to conclusions. He looked contemplatively at the basin and the coins placed inside.

"Elder Yi, earlier you said, 'Currently only one star is bright red.' Does that mean the energy of the coin can be replenished?"

"Hahaha! For someone who didn't know anything about Spirit Coins, you caught on quickly, Ikasa!"

Without waiting for Elder Yi to speak, City Lord answered, slapping Ikasa on his back.

"These coins are precious because people in Chakra Sensing Realm and above can absorb energy contained within them. If you place them in an Energy Gathering Formation, they can replenish their energy over time."

He explained helpfully. Feng Yan picked up a coin and suspiciously asked, "Are you saying that if this coin has five bright stars, it is worth 2500 Gold?"

Path Finder Zhen Ya snorted with disdain at Feng Yan's assumption. Her 'lecturing the stupid' mode was on.

"You are so idiotic! Do you know that energy in just a single star of the coin is enough to fill an entire Chakra of a Chakra Opening Realm Expert? Do you know how much time it takes for a coin to replenish five stars' worth of energy? Ten years!"

The City Lord calmed his sister who suddenly went on a tirade. Elder Yi took over and explained the values of different stars.

"A one-star coin is worth 500 Gold. Two-star is worth 1500 gold and Three-star is worth 3000 gold. Four-stars goes for 5000 and Five-star for 10,000 Gold."

Feng Yan became tongue-tied at this introduction. He looked at the coins in the basin with greed. There were around a hundred coins in there.

"Doesn't this mean that the coins in this basin will be worth a Million gold in just ten years? What a profit!"

Feng Yan looked like he wanted to steal this basin and roost on them; like a mother hen, waiting for them to be worth 1 million gold!

"Of course not. Even if they stay in this Energy Gathering Formation for a hundred years, they will not accumulate more than two stars worth of energy."

Turning to Ikasa, Elder Yi elaborated.

"To brighten higher stars, these coins need a higher concentration of energy. They need a corresponding tier of Energy Gathering formation. This one here is just a Two-star formation. It can only brighten Two-stars."

Ikasa's eyes shone with wonder as he looked at the tiny coin in his hands.

'What an ingenious idea! The people in this world have made  sustainable and rechargeable batteries into their international currency!'

Because that's what Ikasa perceived them to be. They were literally rechargeable batteries for Cultivators!

'I wonder who made them.'

He turned it around to find any mark or imprint indicating the place of its origin. He found none. Even on the Gold Coins of the Holy Wood Empire, a tree is imprinted, but these coins had no identification mark.

"Elder Yi, who issues these coins?"

"Officially, these coins are issued jointly by the Three Empires and Three Sects, but everyone knows that they are made by the Royal Family of the Furnace Fire Empire."

From what he knew from Gu Dan, the Furnace Fire Empire was the heaven of Blacksmiths. Due to the abundance of ores, smithing skills here were miles ahead of any other Empires.

It was not incomprehensible that they might have come up with this ingenious idea.

Now that his curiosity was satisfied, he looked at the City Lord who was calming his sister. When their eyes met, they read the excitement in others' eyes.

It was time to divide the spoils of the war!