The Lord Demon King is Unfathomable!

A miraculous scene unfolded.

Once the toner was removed, the purple ink instantly turned into a cosmic, profound black, much like scorched paint.

Seeing this, Luo Yan's lips curved into a slight arc, revealing a smug smile he couldn't contain.

Excellent!

It's already approaching perfection!

The organic fusion of magic and chemistry had provided him with brand-new solutions to tackle the problem.

Earlier, he had been trying to design anti-counterfeit ink using his knowledge of Magic Potion studies or relying on mundane methods from reality. However, it wasn't until Miranda inspired him recently that he suddenly realized he could combine the best of both worlds.

He believed that, given this world's understanding of chemistry, it would be nearly impossible to decipher and reproduce the formula for this ink.

Not even the esteemed Headmaster Avin Krueger could manage it!

Just as Luo Yan was smugly waiting for the ink to thoroughly mix, Youyou, floating next to him, couldn't resist asking again.

"What's anti-counterfeit ink used for?"

"Are you the proverbial book of ten thousand questions?" Luo Yan finally couldn't help but retort, then turned to look at Youyou, who was clearly trying to grab his attention, and continued, "Joss paper! The players on the forums have been clamoring non-stop about wanting tangible and visible joss paper. Aren't I fulfilling their wish?"

The Great Graveyard Territory was no longer what it used to be. Not only did it have Mist Town as a safe zone where adventurers coexisted with demons, but it also featured Desperate City on the tenth level of the Maze, primarily inhabited by demons and demon-people. Now, there was even Beifeng City—a settlement dominated by humans.

To expedite the flow of goods, the previous "ledger-based transactions" were no longer practical. Issuing paper currency had become an imperative!

Combat profession players aside, at the very least, life professional players needed to be able to earn salaries!

Upon hearing Luo Yan's response, Youyou looked at him in astonishment and said, "Unbelievable... Lord Demon King, you actually paid attention to player posts. I thought you were waiting for them to figure it out themselves."

Luo Yan responded speechlessly.

"...Have you gone mad, or have I gone mad?"

Though the earliest paper currency was indeed privately issued, he wasn't about to simply reenact Earth's history here.

Furthermore, in this world, paper currency was by no means a novelty. Linte Isaac had already invented it a thousand years ago, and it thrived in Hell to this day. There was no need for him to excessively rely on Earth's experiences; he could just directly use the practices from Demon City.

For example, having the Temple organize and endorse the issuance of joss paper.

While profiting economically, he could also harvest the Power of Faith from individuals using the joss paper.

To ensure the credibility of the joss paper, Luo Yan spared no effort in the craftsmanship and materials involved!

In addition to personally formulating the anti-counterfeit ink, he specifically sought out Gray Wind from the Mist Forest—an offshoot of the Tree of Life—and instructed it to grow wood vines with specific fiber content tailored to his needs in order to create custom pulp.

With the pulp and anti-counterfeit ink sorted, Luo Yan then commissioned Helen and Sherry to help design the templates for different denominations as well as create the Heaven and Earth Bank logo and localized artistic fonts.

After completing all this, he entrusted the Mole People from Iron Teeth City to manufacture the printing rollers for the paper currency.

When the two rollers were aligned together, they formed a simple printing press.

As paper passed through the rollers, the ink would naturally be transferred onto both sides of the paper, producing sheets of uncut banknotes.

At last, Luo Yan had completed all the prerequisites for printing money.

Once the ink and toner in the metal tray had thoroughly mixed, he promptly poured it into the ink box of his rudimentary printing press, then activated the Netherworld Language to begin the experiment.

Everything went as planned. Fresh white paper transformed into sheets covered in banknotes as it passed through the rollers.

Gazing at the artwork-like masterpiece before him, Luo Yan's face finally lit up with an approving smile, as he nodded in satisfaction.

"Mission accomplished!"

After issuing more than a billion joss paper promissory notes, he had finally printed the very first sheet of joss paper.

Watching Luo Yan use a table-mounted paper cutter to slice up the banknotes clumsily, Youyou asked in a skeptical tone.

"Will this even work?"

Luo Yan responded without hesitation.

"Why wouldn't it? I'm not taking it to Demon City; it's only for use in my own territory."

Although the minting rights of Hell were in the hands of the Demon Gods and their mortal-world representatives, the latter didn't prohibit various duchies and tribes from issuing their own tokens tied to Kela within their own territories as needed.

The Demon King Territory was no exception.

After finishing the first batch of joss paper printings, Luo Yan churned out several more batches consecutively before growing bored and setting them aside.

Cutting these by himself was simply too tedious.

As Lord Demon King, how could he waste time on such mindless tasks?

After pondering for a moment, he quickly came up with a new idea. His eyes lit up as he turned to the floating Youyou and continued, "Youyou, have the dungeon guards come here later to transport this stuff down to the dungeon. Set up a dedicated warehouse to store the materials and equipment."

"As for those prisoners who can no longer generate extra Power of Faith, we're not keeping them for free."

"It's time to give them something meaningful to do."

...

The next day, the howling snowstorm briefly subsided, allowing faint sunlight to pierce through the thick clouds. The Silver Pine Forest welcomed a rare clear day.