Good wine needs no bush, but Ian Song didn’t want to slowly build up his market. So, he went with the simplest, most direct marketing strategy from Earth—flyer distribution.
He printed a million flyers and hired a thousand Human Immortals to hand them out.
Greenvine City is in a remote area, with a total population of just over 1.7 million. So when a million flyers hit the streets, the sensation was predictable—almost everyone in Greenvine City quickly learned about the Song Pill Shop.
That same day.
Ian Song sold and exchanged 158,000 Top-grade Immortal Yuan Pills.
On the second day, sales and exchanges skyrocketed to 360,000.
On the third day, the total hit 800,000.
On the fourth day, sales reached 1.09 million.
On the fifth day, sales and exchanges dropped off—a total of just 1.03 million.
Mainly, Greenvine City’s market is only so big.
Over the next few days, sales and exchanges kept dropping, finally stabilizing around 900,000.
At the same time, some sharp Immortals started buying up Ian Song’s Top-grade Immortal Yuan Pills in bulk and hauling them off to other cities for resale.
But with the Divine Temple’s thousandfold time acceleration, Ian Song could refine millions of Top-grade Immortal Yuan Pills in just a few hours. So instead of banning this, he dropped the price: buy over 100,000 pills, and he’d only charge 100 immortal stones each.
This fired up the scalpers. A few resellers pooled together, bought 100,000 Top-grade Immortal Yuan Pills, and headed off to another city to cash in.
As the saying goes, walls have ears. Once huge quantities of Top-grade Immortal Yuan Pills flooded neighboring cities, people started tracing the source—and found their way to Ian Song.
They came directly to Ian Song, asking to buy Top-grade Immortal Yuan Pills.
Ian Song had a mountain of Top-grade Immortal Yuan Pills on hand, so he didn’t turn anyone away.
In a single day, he sold five million Top-grade Immortal Yuan Pills to big buyers from surrounding cities.
And he started pitching them Immortal Essence Pills too.
When word got out that he was selling Immortal Essence Pills too, those big buyers were hooked. Once Ian Song proactively dropped the price to 2,800 immortal stones each, they couldn’t resist the deal.
So Ian Song sold another 500,000 Immortal Essence Pills.
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed. In that month, Ian Song went on a gold rush, raking in over 6 billion immortal stones.
And his stockpile of Top-grade Immortal Yuan Pills and Immortal Essence Pills didn’t shrink—it actually grew.
Obscene profits make people jealous.
Sure enough, after just one month, the Tax Bureau officers from the City Lord’s Mansion barged into his shop, demanding he hand over thirty percent of his profits as tax.
The lead tax officer was an early-stage Earth Immortal, strutting around like he owned the place—he didn’t even take Ian Song, a late-stage Earth Immortal, seriously.
“Get lost!”
Ian Song’s reply was a slap that sent the tax officer flying right out of the shop.
Everyone was stunned—not just the tax officer’s men, but even the pill shop’s customers were left gaping.
“Bastard! You dare hit me? You’re dead!”
The furious tax officer got up and started roaring at Ian Song.
Smack!
Ian Song slapped him from a distance, sending the tax officer flying again.
“So bold!”
“He actually dared to hit a Tax Bureau officer from the City Lord’s Mansion!”
“The shopkeeper may be a late-stage Earth Immortal, but the City Lord is a Golden Immortal. Plus, he’s got more than ten late-stage Earth Immortal subordinates!”
Seeing all this, many customers started whispering and quietly leaving. Everyone knew it wouldn’t be long before the City Lord’s experts showed up to crush the shopkeeper.
Sure enough, less than fifteen minutes after the tax officer slunk away...
Two late-stage Earth Immortals arrived, leading a squad of City Lord’s Mansion Earth Immortal guards.
“Take him down!”
The two late-stage Earth Immortal guard captains didn’t make a move themselves—they ordered their men to do it.
A dozen Earth Immortal guards charged into the shop.
“Get lost!”
Ian Song raised his hand and slapped repeatedly.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
Every Earth Immortal guard near the shop entrance got sent flying.
“So strong!”
Everyone watching from the shadows sucked in a breath—some of those guards were mid-stage Earth Immortals, but they had zero chance against Ian Song.
The two late-stage Earth Immortals were shocked. Even they couldn’t send a dozen Earth Immortal guards flying in an instant.
“Go together!”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The two men summoned their Immortal Artifacts and became blurs as they charged at Ian Song.
“Get lost!”
Ian Song spat out a word and lifted his hand—both late-stage Earth Immortal captains were sent flying just like that.
“Isn’t the shopkeeper actually a Golden Immortal?”
Everyone was stunned by the scene.
Just then, Ian Song reached out into the void and grabbed—someone tumbled out, looking utterly disheveled.
When the City Lord’s Mansion guards saw who it was, they trembled and bowed: “Greetings, City Lord!”
“What? He’s the City Lord?”
“The shopkeeper just snatched the City Lord out of thin air!”
“How is that possible? The City Lord is a Golden Immortal—how could the shopkeeper just grab him out of thin air? Maybe the guards got it wrong?”
The City Lord, Beiming Ying, face shifting through several expressions, bent down toward Ian Song. "I didn’t know you summoned me, sir. What can I do for you?"
"Did you know your men tried to take thirty percent of my profits?"
Ian Song asked with a cheerful smile.
Beiming Ying instantly understood, but since Ian Song could snatch him out of the City Lord’s Mansion, it meant his strength was far superior. So he could only stammer, "I… I never personally handle taxes!"
"Then if you had to collect, how much would you take?"
Ian Song pressed further.
Beiming Ying was even more flustered, saying what he didn’t mean: "If you open a shop in my territory, it’s an honor. How could I tax you?"
"No tax? That won’t do. I’m not the type to break the rules. Here, take this immortal stone as my tax payment!"
As he spoke, Ian Song tossed Beiming Ying an immortal stone.
Beiming Ying’s face turned bright red. Getting handed a single immortal stone was even more humiliating than not getting paid at all—but with Ian Song’s strength, he had no choice but to swallow the insult.
"There, you’ve collected your tax! Now take your people and leave—don’t interrupt my business again!" Ian Song waved impatiently.
Beiming Ying bowed again. "Then I’ll take my leave, sir. If you need anything, just come to the City Lord’s Mansion!"
Ian Song didn’t reply—he just waved, urging Beiming Ying to get lost.
Not far away, a man and two women stood watching the whole scene.
Ji Qingqing said, "I can’t believe it—he’s advanced so much in just a few months!"
"Yeah! He’s a total monster!"
Nangong Mingyue nodded in agreement. "Let’s go over."