Chapter 65: Two Uses for Spirit Stones

Lin Yuan checked the Territory Core again the next morning.

The third gathering had not completely ended.

A few merchants were still packing away their stalls, and several wagons remained parked beyond the Travelers’ Market.

More importantly, the new development was still there.

Caravan Rest Yard

Purpose: Organized Wagon and Spirit Beast Rest Area

Suitable for extended caravan stops, wagon parking, and beast tethering

Development Requirements Available

Lin Yuan focused on the final line.

The panel changed.

Development Requirements

Cleared Territory Area

Defined Wagon Access

Tethering Posts

Water Access

Core Integration Cost: 60 Low-Grade Spirit Stones

Lin Yuan stared at the last line.

"Of course."

Sixty spirit stones.

The Core had excellent timing.

He dismissed the panel and looked across Central Blackstone.

Beyond the market, several merchants were already awake.

One was tightening a wagon wheel.

Another was feeding an Ironhoof Beast.

Two wagons had been parked close enough together that their owners had to take turns moving around them.

The yard was necessary.

That wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that Lin Yuan also needed three hundred twenty low-grade spirit stones for the Returning Current Foundation Art.

He had already spent twenty-five on the watch platform.

Now the Core wanted another sixty.

Lin Yuan rubbed his forehead.

Blackstone kept finding uses for his money faster than he could stop it.

A voice came from behind him.

"You look like someone charged you for breathing."

Qiao stood outside his shop holding a wooden box.

"Not yet."

"Give it time."

Lin Yuan pointed toward the open ground beyond the market.

"If I make a caravan yard, where would you put it?"

Qiao looked surprised.

"You finally admitted I’m right?"

"Don’t ruin this."

Qiao considered the area.

"South of the market."

Lin Yuan had been thinking the same thing.

The land there was mostly flat, far enough from the tavern and inn that wagons wouldn’t crowd the buildings, but close enough to the road and water trough to remain convenient.

Qiao nodded toward it.

"Leave space between the yard and the market."

"For what?"

"Expansion."

Lin Yuan looked at him.

Qiao shrugged.

"You didn’t think you’d need a market either."

Annoyingly reasonable.

Lin Yuan turned toward the southern ground again.

"How much space?"

"More than you think."

"Very helpful."

"That’s free advice."

"I can tell."

Qiao carried his box back inside.

Lin Yuan spent the morning walking the southern edge of Central Blackstone.

He didn’t need the Core to tell him what the land looked like.

The ground was firm enough in most places.

A few shallow dips would collect rainwater.

Several loose stones needed clearing.

The main issue was access.

Wagons needed enough room to enter, turn, stop, and leave without forcing everyone else to move first.

Gao Rui found him measuring the ground with his steps.

"You’re actually doing it."

Lin Yuan kept walking.

"Apparently."

"The caravan yard?"

"Yes."

Gao Rui looked toward the market.

"Good."

Lin Yuan stopped.

"You’re agreeing too quickly."

"I’ve already spent days watching merchants argue over parking."

"Fair."

Gao Rui pointed farther south.

"Don’t make the entrance too narrow."

"I wasn’t planning to."

"And give the larger wagons room to turn."

Lin Yuan stared at him.

"You and Qiao should start a consulting business."

"We’d kill each other."

"Also fair."

Gao Rui returned toward his storage shed.

Lin Yuan finished walking the boundary.

The Core didn’t require anything complicated.

Clear land.

An entrance.

Tethering posts.

Water.

All of that could be built normally.

The sixty spirit stones only came afterward.

That part mattered.

He didn’t have to pay it today.

By late morning, Lin Yuan found one of the builders who had worked on the watch platform.

The man followed him south of the market and studied the marked ground.

"You want all of this cleared?"

"Not all at once."

Lin Yuan indicated the first section.

"Start here."

The builder walked the boundary, then looked toward the parked wagons.

"Wagon yard?"

"Yes."

He nodded.

"We can level the ground, widen the entrance, put in tethering posts, and add another trough."

The materials were ordinary—timber, stone, rope, and labor.

Nothing unusual.

"Start with the ground and the entrance," Lin Yuan said. "The rest can follow."

The builder nodded.

Lin Yuan looked across the marked area.

No Core.

No sixty-spirit-stone payment.

Just people building something because Blackstone needed it.

That felt much better.

The tavern became busy again around noon.

Lin Yuan returned to the kitchen.

Su Mei was already serving a group of merchants near the window.

Xiao Lan placed an order slip beside him.

"Three noodle soups, two meat dishes, one tea."

Lin Yuan reached for a pot.

"Anything else?"

"One customer wants to know when the caravan yard will open."

Lin Yuan stopped.

He looked at her.

"How does he know about that?"

Xiao Lan pointed toward the window.

Qiao was standing outside speaking to two merchants.

Lin Yuan closed his eyes briefly.

"Tell them it’s not open."

"When will it be?"

"When there’s a yard."

Xiao Lan smiled.

"Very clear."

"Thank you."

She carried the answer outside.

Lin Yuan started cooking.

A few minutes later, she returned.

"They asked whether they can reserve spaces."

"No."

"I already told them that."

Lin Yuan looked at her.

"Good."

"I’ve learned."

That was slightly concerning.

The first stage of work began that afternoon.

Workers removed loose stones and filled the shallowest depressions.

The future entrance was widened enough for two wagons to pass without scraping wheels.

Nothing about it looked impressive.

That was the point.

Lin Yuan checked the work once before returning to the tavern.

The Territory Core gave no reaction.

Good.

There was nothing for it to recognize yet.

The land was still just land.

Near sunset, Shen Lihua came to find him.

Most of the temporary stalls had already packed away.

The third gathering was finally ending.

"The next gathering remains on schedule," she said.

Lin Yuan nodded.

"Even if the road is still damaged?"

"Yes. The next gathering starts fifteen days after this one began, as usual."

"And if western wagons still can’t pass?"

"Then the gathering adapts again."

She looked toward the workers south of the market.

"Caravan yard?"

"Eventually."

"Useful."

Lin Yuan gave her a suspicious look.

"Everyone keeps saying that about things that cost me money."

Shen Lihua laughed.

"The Association isn’t paying for it."

"Exactly."

She handed him a folded notice.

It confirmed the next gathering schedule and repeated the current western route warning.

No new information from Red Cliff.

Lin Yuan was fine with that.

For once, nothing new happening in the west sounded pleasant.

Shen Lihua left before dark.

That night, Lin Yuan sat upstairs with the final Qi Nourishing Pill in his hand.

He had almost forgotten about it during the past few days.

Almost.

The small pill rested in his palm.

Four of the original five were gone.

The first three had strengthened his cultivation within the ninth layer.

The fourth had finally helped him reach Peak Qi Refining.

One remained.

Lin Yuan closed his fingers around it.

His cultivation had settled since then.

When he circulated Qi, it moved smoothly through his meridians.

There was no obvious instability left.

But the wall remained.

Qi Refining ended here.

No matter how much Qi he accumulated, the inherited technique had nothing beyond the ninth layer.

The pill couldn’t change that.

Lin Yuan returned it to the bottle.

One pill remaining.

Three hundred twenty spirit stones for the technique he wanted.

And now sixty more waiting for the Caravan Rest Yard.

He leaned back against the wall.

Blackstone needed money to grow.

He needed money to grow too.

For most of the past months, those two goals had moved in the same direction.

A better tavern brought more customers.

More customers brought more business.

More business brought more opportunities.

Now they were beginning to compete.

Lin Yuan looked through the window.

Workers had left the future caravan yard marked by stakes beneath the moonlight.

Tomorrow they would continue clearing it.

The Core could wait.

He had no intention of abandoning Blackstone’s growth.

But he also wasn’t going to spend every spirit stone the moment the Territory Core offered him something new.

The Returning Current Foundation Art was still the technique he intended to buy in Green River City.

This time, Lin Yuan intended to make sure his own cultivation didn’t get left behind.