Chapter 36 Deposit

Old Huang stood beside his own sacred field, looking at the glistening, jade-like rice, feeling extremely gratified.

He poured a lot of effort into cultivating this first-tier spirit field, which also brought him rich rewards.

It's a pity that I'll be leaving the sect in a little over a year, and I won't be able to pass on the spiritual field to my grandson.

Thinking of this, Lao Huang sighed softly, his good mood diminished considerably.

"Senior brother's green corn is another bumper harvest."

Ji An walked over and stood next to Lao Huang.

He immediately sensed the difference of the first-tier spirit field; the vigorous spiritual energy mixed with the fragrance of green corn gave him a refreshing feeling.

"Haha, cultivating this top-grade spirit field is the only thing I can be proud of all these years."

"Senior brother, you've planted so many spirit fields. Besides paying the land rent and taxes to the sect, who did you sell the remaining spirit grains to?"

Ji An asked, "Old Huang has planted ten acres of spiritual fields. With his current skills, he should be able to harvest at least 2,000 catties each season."

The carrying capacity of the talisman bird is limited; it can only bear a maximum weight of 500 jin (250 kg). Including its own weight, it can only transport less than 400 jin (200 kg) of spirit rice each time.

He currently has 1,600 jin of yellow sprout rice, and he needs to sell at least 1,000 jin. It would be too troublesome and a waste of time to make several trips back and forth to the General Affairs Hall.

He knew that some people in the sect were in the business of buying and selling spirit grains, and many old spirit farmers would sell their harvests to these people.

He used to have fewer hauls and didn't need to deal with these kinds of people.

As the profits increase, it will be necessary to build relationships with these people to facilitate sales.

"Well, many families send people to do business with spirit rice."

The profit margin on spirit rice is thin, but the daily transaction volume is large enough that those who can get involved in this business are not small families. The person I contacted was from the Li family of White Ape Mountain.

Selling to these people is less troublesome, and the price is about the same as selling to the sect, except that you can't exchange them for contribution points.

But contribution points are useless to me now.

Whether it was due to old age or a feeling that his time in the sect was running out, Old Huang rambled on and on without getting to the point.

Ji An was too embarrassed to urge him, so he listened quietly, occasionally chiming in with a word of agreement.

"Look at me, I've talked a lot of nonsense."

Old Huang came to his senses and laughed:

"I made an appointment with the Li family. They will come to buy things once every three months on the third day of the Lunar New Year."

Brother Xiao An wants to sell his spirit grain; I'll tell them, and they can stay home that day.

"Thank you very much, senior brother."

Ji An realized that Li Changfeng was a member of the Li family of White Ape Mountain, and wondered if he could sell more crystals with the token given to him.

After chatting for a while, Ji An took his leave.

Old Huang stared at his departing figure, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

Every morning, after extracting the essence of water from the Azure Lake, he would pass by his junior brother's spiritual field.

The fact that the other party's spiritual field had already been harvested could not be hidden from his eyes.

He had heard those higher-ranking spirit farmers talk about how there were two main reasons why the ripening time of yellow sprout rice could be reduced.

First, this effect will occur when the spirit field reaches a certain grade.

Second, the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique at its perfect state.

He checked and found that the other party's spiritual field was not of high quality, so there was only one possibility.

"Does Junior Brother Ji have some kind of special physique?"

Old Huang thought to himself, then let out a soft sigh:

"If Flying Tigers were even half as good as Little An, I'd be laughing in my sleep."

Bishui Market.

Wei Songnian suddenly slapped his thigh, then looked to his left and right, and lowered his voice:

"Junior brother's skill in making talismans has improved so quickly!"

He had just counted the talisman paper that the other party had sent. The total amount of talisman paper that could be made from one acre of talisman grass would not change much, but the fact that the other party sent 81 medium-grade talisman papers this time made him look at them with new eyes.

Thinking of the many farmers who bought pills one or two at a time, Wei Songnian sighed.

Why is there such a big difference between the two spirit farmers? Why is it so easy for the other to earn crystals!

He felt a pang of jealousy; these mid-grade talismans alone were worth six spirit stones.

Among the Qi Refining stage disciples in the entire sect who cultivate on spiritual veins, there are probably fewer than two people who can earn such an income.

"Your skills have improved a bit."

Ji An revealed a simple and honest smile. His talisman-making skills hadn't improved, but Ling Nong's craftsmanship had improved considerably.

With good materials, the yield of high-quality products will naturally increase.

"With such skills, how can you not achieve Foundation Establishment in the future!"

Wei Songnian sighed, quickly counting the other talismans, and said:

"The talisman paper and ink together cost 970 spirit crystals."

Ji An nodded slightly and smiled:

"I still have some Jade Pills left from the last purchase. This time, I'll buy 15 more, plus 10 bottles of materials for talisman ink."

"Okay."

Wei Songnian beamed with joy. This junior brother of his was able to earn crystals and was never stingy when it came to spending them. He was destined for greatness!

After quickly preparing the materials and pills, he said:

"The pill costs 450 spirit crystals, the raw materials for the talisman ink cost 230 spirit crystals, and there are 290 spirit crystals left. Junior brother, would you like anything else?"

Ji An shook his head:

"Not for now."

Next season, I plan to plant two acres of talisman grass. My senior brother, could you help me keep an eye out for a spirit-capturing array?

When the spirit grain ripens again, I will come to collect it. The remaining spirit crystals will serve as a deposit. What do you think, Senior Brother?

My junior brother is still the same junior brother, unchanged at all, he never keeps any crystals for himself!

Where can you find such high-quality customers?

Wei Songnian's smile overflowed with enthusiasm, and he laughed heartily:

"Okay, no problem."

He coughed and slowly began to speak:

"Spirit-capturing arrays are divided into three types based on their quality: ordinary, high-quality, and premium. The array plates made in Falling Maple Valley are the best."

Ordinary array plates may seem cheap, but activating the array requires a lot of resources, and the efficiency of converting crystals into spiritual energy is somewhat low.

Based on my experience, if my junior colleague is going to use it long-term, I suggest buying the premium version directly.

This may seem like it costs more spirit stones initially, but you can save that money later.

"Senior brother, tell me about the prices and differences of these qualities, so I can use it as a reference."

Ji An didn't care about spending money on crystals, as long as he had them and they were useful to him.

"Fallen Maple Valley is famous for its array formations, and the array plates they make are generally of better quality."

A standard-quality spirit-absorbing array requires 22 spirit stones and can extract about 30% of the spiritual energy from them. Filling it with three spirit stones at a time can support about ten hours of cultivation.

A high-quality spirit stone contains 45 spirit stones, which can extract about 35% of the spiritual energy. Filling five spirit stones can support sixteen or seventeen hours of cultivation.

The finest quality is beyond our reach; it's said to require hundreds of spirit stones and is only used for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

After hearing about the merits and demerits of the magic array, Ji An slowly spoke:

"Senior brother, of course I want a high-quality array plate, but I don't have enough crystals. I wonder if you would be willing to lend me some?"

"no problem!"

Wei Songnian patted his chest and agreed. He secretly made a list of all the high-quality clients and their skills for earning crystals, and the other party was on the list.

I just assessed the other party's income and found that it would take them less than a year to accumulate enough spirit stones for a high-quality magic array, assuming they don't neglect their cultivation.

“Junior brother still has 290 spirit crystals, which can be considered as a deposit of 3 spirit stones.”

(End of this chapter)