Strongest Abandoned Son Chapter 3: The Psychotic Who Sells Charms

After showing his gratitude to Wang Ying, Ye Mo made his way back to the school, having no other place to head to at that moment. Unfamiliar though he was with the area, he could still absorb some knowledge there. Besides, spirit Chi was extremely thin in the surroundings, yet it appeared somewhat denser within the school grounds.

Once the final class wrapped up, he skipped meeting his English teacher. To him, passing or failing held no significance, and he had no desire to endure a woman's endless chatter. Even without beginning cultivation, his memory stood out remarkably, so whenever he wished to study something, the library was his direct destination.

Over the next few days, Ye Mo frequented the library whenever he wasn't cultivating. He sporadically attended classes that caught his interest. Attendance issues leading to failure? He couldn't have cared less.

The dorm originally accommodated four guys, but one spent all his time at the internet café, another had moved out to cohabit with his girlfriend, and the third dwelled in the city's heart. Ye Mo preferred cultivating in the small woods just beyond the university gates. His sessions often stretched through entire nights, leaving the dorm mostly deserted, with Ye Mo as the sole occupant much of the time. Every three days, he'd return for a solid night's rest, devoting the rest to cultivation.

He realized no real progress could come from cultivating in such a spot, yet years of ingrained habits left him with little else to occupy himself. Luckily, his phenomenal memory let him memorize anything appealing at a glance, freeing up tons of time.

Having stayed low-key in his previous life, Ye Mo adopted an even more unassuming stance in this unfamiliar world. Still, the prior love letter incident earned him the moniker 'lover outside of the bedroom.' Ye Mo dismissed it entirely, carrying on as usual.

At first, folks figured he had nerves of steel for strolling into the cafeteria and library without a care. But soon enough, he faded into the background completely, like a mere ripple lost in the vast sea.

Two months later, Ye Mo had just scraped into the first layer of Chi Gathering. This came from his relentless day-and-night practice, plus blowing the 20,000 dollars from Wang Ying on Chinese herbs and nourishing soups.

Deep down, he understood that absent any external aids, this first layer of Chi Gathering might mark the peak of his cultivation forever.

Though cultivation gains were meager, the library had yielded him a wealth of knowledge. In merely two months, he'd mastered everything from elementary to high school level, and even browsed countless volumes on medicine and various metaphysical topics.

While metaphysical insights here struck him as rather superficial, he didn't dwell excessively on them. After all, he lingered only at the first layer of Chi Gathering.

With summer break hitting, the school library shut down for renovations, leaving Ye Mo without a study spot. Worse, his funds were dwindling fast, down to roughly 2000 dollars. Without landing a summer gig to earn cash, even basic meals would turn problematic. Cultivation had become his unbreakable routine, offering the sole purpose in his existence. Yet money shortages made it untenable. Regular jobs paid peanuts, useless for his needs, forcing a tough choice between practice time and work.

Pill concoction was within his skills, but stuck at the first layer of Chi Gathering, he lacked the power for it—not to mention spiritual herbs or a cauldron. Thus, pill-making was off the table. The silver lining? He could craft charms [1]. At this level, high-grade ones were impossible, but low-tier spirit cleansing charms, ghost repelling charms, protection charms, or basic fireball charms were feasible.

He procured charm paper, weasel's hair, cinnabar (a unique red pigment), and similar supplies. Top-tier charms demanded spiritual beast blood and hides, nonexistent on Earth. Still, mixing cinnabar with chicken blood via certain steps would suffice for sub-level 1 charms, even if advanced ones remained out of reach for now.

Fortunately, having top-quality Huang Biao [2] along with several herbs, he managed to craft some charms. Once finished, Ye Mo's leftover 2000 dollars had nearly run out.

Cinnabar, rooster blood, and various inexpensive herbs were transformed into charms emitting a faint fragrance. Indeed, a few thousand dollars proved insufficient, allowing him to produce only around 30 charms from everything, excluding the materials lost to failed attempts.

Fortunately, even though Ye Mo remained at the first level of Chi Gathering, he had once been an expert capable of crafting level 5 charms. Regrettably, his current creations lacked any level whatsoever. From supplies meant for about 30 charms, he succeeded in making just 8. These included two each of the spirit cleansing charm, ghost repelling charm, protection charm, and fireball charm. Despite producing only 8 charms, one mind clearing charm nearly reached the quality of a level 1 charm thanks to a lucky break. This turned out to be a tremendous windfall.

Crafting those eight charms consumed half a month for him. On average, that meant one charm per day. His next task was selling them, and although he realized that peddling charms was viewed as superstitious nonsense locally, authorities imposed no bans on it. Ning Hai boasted a vast “Sea Treasures and ancient relics trading market,” dubbed by many as the “Sea Treasure Garden.” Here, vendors offered all kinds of antique and intriguing artifacts, including folks like Ye Mo hawking charms.

Ye Mo noticed the charms others sold at this spot. Crafted from ordinary Huang Biao devoid of spiritual Chi, they held zero effectiveness. Yet, they went for rock-bottom prices: from ten to several dozen dollars per sheet, with few exceeding 100 dollars.

Naturally, Ye Mo refused to price his charms that low; otherwise, he might as well take up regular employment.

To avoid recognition that could shatter his quiet existence—or worse, lead to capture and experimentation like a lab rat—Ye Mo donned oversized sunglasses and a low-brimmed hat. He arrived at Sea Treasure Garden, picked a quiet corner like the fortune tellers, spread a black cloth with several charms atop it, and launched his stall.

Despite Ning Hai's abundance of city guards, none patrolled Sea Treasure Garden, sparing Ye Mo any interference and much hassle. While others might depend on quantity for sales, Ye Mo understood his charms would attract only discerning buyers. Without someone able to discern their true potency, no purchase would occur.

“Hm, a ghost repelling charm, huh? What's this? Hey, boss, what's the price on your ghost repelling charm?” A man and woman approached Ye Mo, the fellow inquiring. Ye Mo hadn't expected a price query right after setup. He sprang up in delighted surprise: “All the charms are 10,000 a piece—”

“You are psychotic!” Before Ye Mo could finish, those three words hit him, trailed by the pair vanishing into the crowd.

1: These charms usually refer to the ones made of paper. The paper bombs in Naruto are a good indication of what they look like, and most of them are consumables, so they could only be used once.

2: Huang Biao: Yellow paper used to inscribe runes.