"In my humble opinion, a slight modification of the drink recipes at Brother Hao's shop might just revive your business and make it the talk of the town. You'll make a fortune, marry a rich and beautiful woman, and reach the pinnacle of life!" Master Gu summarized briefly.

"Modify the drink recipes? How do we do that? The milk tea we sell now is essentially the same old stuff with minor tweaks," Hao Yun pondered seriously.

"Yes, I noticed that too during our visit today. Despite the lack of customers, your shop does have a decent number of regulars, which means your base recipes are good and have an audience. However, your drinks lack a standout feature that grabs attention. If we can create one or two unique, signature drinks and turn them into hits, your shop's reputation will soar, and business will naturally improve," Master Gu explained.

"Moreover, given the recent outbreak of infectious disease, many people are going out less, but their latent consumer demand is still there. If we can tap into their desire for revenge spending and offer unique and high-value drinks, I believe many people will flock to buy from us," Master Gu added.

"Master Gu's analysis is spot on," Hao Yun praised, giving Master Gu a thumbs-up. "I never realized you had such a keen business sense!"

"Ha ha ha! It's just a bit of shallow insight. We only had limited time today, so we did a quick survey and then went to the food street to buy barbecue and goddess merchandise—cough, cough! I mean, we went to check out other milk tea shops on the food street to understand the market better. Cough, cough!" Master Gu feigned a cough to cover his slip. That was close—he almost revealed the truth.

Hao Yun forced a smile, noting that he had anticipated Master Gu’s almost-reveal. After all, Master Gu had forgotten he was still wearing headbands with the faces of Gulinar and Dilireba. Those headbands were only sold at the idol merchandise shop on the food street in Rongjin City.

How did Hao Yun know this? Because the joint merchandise release by Gulinar and Dilireba had been advertised everywhere, including the billboard at the entrance to Hao Yun's neighborhood!

As for why Master Gu had a pink backpack with dolls of Gulinar and Dilireba on it, Hao Yun chose not to dwell on it. The more he thought about it, the more his wallet hurt.

After this exchange, Hao Yun noticed someone was missing. He asked, "Hey, where did Dao Lao go? How did he disappear without us noticing?"

"Dao Lao went back to Spirit City to get something from the warehouse. Our stored peaches will finally come in handy!" Master Gu replied.

"Peaches?" Hao Yun suddenly recalled something and asked, "I remember the first time Dao Lao took me to the Netherworld, we ate some spiritual peaches in Judge Yan's carriage. Master Gu, are these the same peaches?"

Master Gu waved his hand dismissively, "No, the peaches you had before were newly purchased. Dao Lao went to get another batch."

"Oh, finally, I'm back!" Dao Lao cursed as he reappeared in the base.

"You're back? Was the trip smooth?" Master Gu asked, noticing Dao Lao’s disgruntled look.

"Smooth as a thornbush! That dog Judge Yan hasn’t fixed my teleport location! I waited forever for his carriage, which was slow as hell. And I had to detour to buy cake from a new shop called Huangquan Road Delicious Cake. This round trip nearly killed me!" Dao Lao grumbled, tossing a vintage wooden box with stickers of Gulinar and Dilireba to Master Gu.

Huangquan Road Delicious Cake? What kind of name is that? Does the cake send you straight to Huangquan Road? Hao Yun wondered, eyeing the small wooden box Master Gu held.

"This is the warehouse you mentioned? Isn't it a bit small?" Hao Yun asked, pointing to the box, which was barely bigger than a 500-gram honey cake.

"Technically, it’s a remote storage device linked to Spirit City's warehouse. With it, I can access supplies from the warehouse anytime, anywhere," Master Gu explained, caressing the stickers on the box.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Can we get the peaches you mentioned from here?" Hao Yun asked, pointing to the small lid on the box.

Master Gu didn’t answer. Instead, he opened the lid, turned the box upside down, and a deep blue light beam shot out. Master Gu caught a few peaches that floated out in his hand.

Dao Lao grabbed a peach and took a bite, then grimaced, "Yep, these are the lousy peaches you bought. They taste nothing like the fresh ones. Not juicy at all."

Hao Yun tried a peach. Indeed, it was far inferior to the spiritual peaches he had eaten in Judge Yan's carriage. However, it still tasted a thousand times better than any peach on Earth.

Hearing Hao Yun's exclamation, Dao Lao smiled mysteriously, "I'll let you in on a secret. There were originally no peaches in the lower realm. All peach varieties in the lower realm actually come from the upper realm, specifically from the place that produced these lousy peaches. What's that place called again? Some Flower Star? Anyway, the peaches were cultivated by farmers on that Flower Star, which is the origin of all peaches in both realms."

What?! Peaches weren’t originally from Earth? That's incredible! Hao Yun couldn't help but scrutinize the half-eaten peach in disbelief after hearing Dao Lao's words.

"But why? Doesn't this interfere with the natural development of the lower realm's beings? Aren't you afraid it will destabilize the lower realm's time-space continuum?" Hao Yun asked, taking another bite of the peach.

"This behavior is acceptable because, strictly speaking, its purpose is to ensure that the lower realm has enough food to maintain the vitality of its inhabitants, thus allowing them to better develop their civilization. Such food deliveries rarely cause negative impacts and thus are unlikely to destabilize the lower realm's time-space continuum," Master Gu explained.

"Of course, divine officials only enter the lower realm and spread knowledge about new foods in very necessary situations and with special approval from the Spirit Realm. This minimizes any potential impact on the lower realm’s time-space continuum," Master Gu added.

Taking another bite of his peach, Hao Yun sighed, "I never would have guessed that a simple peach could hold so much information."

"So, what kind of place is this Flower Star Dao Lao mentioned? Is it full of peaches?" Hao Yun asked curiously.

After throwing the peach pit into the base’s garbage shredder, Master Gu replied, "It's not Flower Star; it's Fruit Star. It produces many kinds of fruits and grains, not just peaches. However, so far, only peaches have been spread to your world."

"On Fruit Star, there's a place called Water Curtain Town, which is a major producer of spiritual peaches. As the origin of peaches in the Spirit Realm, their peaches are highly popular and well-known. They even outshine other fruits on Fruit Star and are widely sought after throughout the Spirit Realm."

"Once, to advertise their spiritual peaches at the anniversary celebration of the Royal Orchard, Water Curtain Town gifted a sapling to the orchard. Unexpectedly, due to the unique conditions in the Royal Orchard, the sapling grew into a towering tree nourished by abundant and pure divine power. The peaches from this tree tasted exceptionally delicious, even surpassing those from Water Curtain Town. Consequently, the Royal Orchard became the preferred source for divine officials' peach purchases, causing Water Curtain Town's sales to plummet."

"I never thought there would be internal competition even in the Spirit Realm!" Hao Yun exclaimed in amazement.

Master Gu nodded, "Yes! Water Curtain Town initially sent the sapling to build connections with high-ranking officials. Instead, they created a powerful competitor. The higher-ups profited greatly and, instead of compensating Water Curtain Town, they replicated the peach tree and established a larger orchard, officially entering the peach market. They called it healthy market competition, claiming it would foster a robust and thriving peach market in the Spirit Realm."

"When I visited Fruit Star for an inspection, officials from Water Curtain Town complained to me, shedding tears. It was truly a miserable sight," Master Gu said, shaking his head in resignation.

"Well, it's not all bad," Dao Lao interjected. "Due to public pressure, the higher-ups later issued a decree requiring internal departments to ensure a certain volume of peach purchases from Water Curtain Town. They also agreed to provide free advertising for two hundred years as compensation."

"Since Water Curtain Town is the origin of peaches, as long as they maintain quality and improve the flavor a bit, they should still have a market," Hao Yun said, trying to comfort Master Gu.

"Water Curtain Town's peaches, though not as juicy and delicious as those from the Royal Orchard, are still of high quality. They're definitely better than these peaches," Dao Lao remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Better than these? Aren’t these peaches from Water Curtain Town? Do they produce other varieties?" Hao Yun asked, puzzled.

"Of course. Water Curtain Town produces many varieties of spiritual peaches. They constantly develop new types to stay competitive. So, while their peaches may not match those from the Royal Orchard, they're certainly better than what we're eating now," Dao Lao explained, casting a playful glance at Master Gu.

"Then why did Master Gu buy this variety of peaches? Was it mandated by the higher-ups?" Hao Yun inquired, noticing Master Gu's uneasy expression.

Dao Lao stepped in, "You've got it wrong. Master Gu wouldn't buy such lousy peaches. He's just in charge of handling them. By the way, old man, how many years does that guy have left in prison? Poor fellow, trying to do a good deed but ended up in trouble."

"Who got imprisoned? What happened?" Hao Yun asked eagerly.