Chapter 47 Clues

Ji An and his companion quickly packed up their stall, bought three bottles of spirit wine and some side dishes from Baiweilou, and then rode the talisman bird to fly west of Biyue Lake.

That was a fishpond designated by the sect, and it was said that there was a spiritual spring at the bottom of the lake that constantly gushed out spiritual water.

As dusk fell, the cries of cranes and egrets echoed through the sky.

"Junior Brother Liang rented a fishpond on the outermost edge, fishpond number Bingchou."

"Look over there, there's a bamboo house with a flag bearing the character 'Liang' on it; that's where Junior Brother Liang lives."

When the two flew to the bamboo house, they saw Liang Qiu returning in a sampan, the boat piled high with green duckweed.

"Junior Brother Liang, let's have a drink."

Wei Songnian held up the spirit wine in his hand and greeted everyone warmly.

"You two are rare guests."

Liang Qiu laughed loudly, secretly performing a hand seal to break the magical restrictions on the bamboo building:

"Come inside and sit down. I'll throw these feeds into the fishpond."

Ji An and his companion landed in the bamboo house and waited for the other to finish his work.

Liang Qiu used his manipulation technique to quickly scatter all the duckweed into the fishpond, and then scooped up two half-foot-long silver-scaled fish and threw them into the fish basket.

He rowed the boat to the bamboo house, picked up the fish basket, and jumped onto the bamboo house.

Ji An immediately stepped forward, took the rope from the other person, and secured the boat.

"Thank you very much, junior brother."

Liang Qiu gave a wry smile and said again:

"After renting the fishpond, I bought a batch of silver-scaled fish and golden carp fry. I spent almost all of my spirit stones, and I can barely afford fish food anymore. I can only catch some duckweed to make do for a while."

It will take about six months for the crystals to gradually come in; this period will be somewhat tough.

"The best days are yet to come. Junior brother now owns his own business, so he'll be able to accumulate crystals and contribution points much faster in the future."

Wei Songnian's tone was tinged with envy. His business was busy every day, buying and selling goods, and it all depended on a group of old customers.

The profits seemed good, but aside from the cost of his own cultivation, all the crystals were tied up in inventory.

A few years ago, a member of the Wei family joined Falling Maple Valley. Because of his exceptional talent for cultivation, he was accepted as a disciple by someone in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

The family poured a lot of resources into this member, leaving other members with much less support.

It was many years before this clansman gave back to his family.

Wei Songnian's biggest dream is to save up some spirit stones and, with the help of his family, take over a shop in Qingyun Immortal City.

Of course, all of this is on the premise that he can establish his foundation. Without establishing his foundation, he cannot protect the shops in the immortal city, and the family will not let him serve as the manager.

With his aptitude, he would definitely need Foundation Establishment Pills to achieve Foundation Establishment, and these kinds of pills that allow him to break through to higher realms are the easiest to obtain in sects.

The sect and various families have an agreement that as long as a cultivator who has reached the Foundation Establishment stage can serve the sect for more than 30 years, non-core disciples at the Foundation Establishment stage are allowed to leave the sect and return to their family.

The condition is that in the event of war, the monks who have left must accept the call-up.

With this agreement in place, each family was willing to send their more outstanding disciples to the sect for training.

Of course, the most outstanding direct descendants must remain in the family for training; otherwise, they will not be of one mind with the family.

The sect also has its advantages in doing this. It can use the vacant spiritual vein nodes to win over cultivators who are not from the family, so that they will wholeheartedly contribute to the sect.

How can you win someone's unwavering loyalty? The simplest way is to bind them together by mutual benefit, and then gradually cultivate their sense of belonging to the sect.

"Haha, thanks for your kind words, senior brother. I'll go and stew these fish. You two chat first."

Liang Qiu opened the door, invited the two inside, and went to the kitchen to busy himself.

Ji An followed him to the kitchen and got a few plates to hold the packed side dishes.

After finishing his work, he took out the talisman paper and ink from the package and pushed them towards Wei Songnian, saying:

"Senior brother, do you still have any Ginseng Essence Pills?"

“I knew my junior brother would want them, so I specially saved five.”

Wei Songnian smiled and took out a white jade bottle, handing it out while he began to count the talismans.

Now, more and more of his long-term clients are at the late stage of Qi Refining, and his income is much better than in the first few years.

"Thank you so much, senior brother understands me."

Ji An took the jade bottle, poured out the pills, sniffed them, and nodded in satisfaction.

After Wei Songnian finished counting, he smiled and said:

"254 first-grade low-quality talisman papers, 118 mid-grade talisman papers, and 10 bottles of low-grade talisman ink can yield a total of 1548 spirit crystals."

Junior brother, the usual routine?

He considered it in his mind; the other party's talisman-making technique was currently at a bottleneck, and the success rate of producing high-quality items had hardly improved.

However, it also relieved him. It was one thing for his planting magic to be so good, but if his talisman-making skills were also so high, he would be so jealous that he couldn't sleep.

"This time, my senior brother provided me with materials for 20 bottles of talisman ink. After I go back today, I will cultivate another 5 acres of spirit fields."

Three months from now, I'm going to make a fortune of spirit stones.

Ji An had already considered that the cultivators he knew had all advanced to the late stage of Qi Refining, and everyone would be facing the problem of competing for Foundation Establishment Pills, so they probably couldn't lend him many crystals.

Although it's still a long way from Foundation Establishment, we still need to plan ahead, since we need to queue up to get Foundation Establishment Pills after accumulating enough contribution points.

Wei Songnian was slightly taken aback:

"Can we manage to take care of so many spirit fields?"

Old Huang only cultivated ten acres of spiritual fields.

"Pretty much, at worst some spirit fields will yield a smaller harvest."

"It's good that you know what's going on, junior brother."

Wei Songnian nodded, took out 20 sets of materials for talisman ink, and smiled:

"A large number of sect cultivators and independent cultivators have flocked to Moya Mountain, using it as a supply base. The talismans are selling well now."

"If my junior brother becomes a talisman maker, he'll have a very bright future."

He lowered his voice and said mysteriously:

"I heard that the sect has organized Foundation Establishment stage senior masters to go deep into the Hundred Thousand Mountains to seize territory. As the supply base goes deeper and deeper, more and more cultivators will participate in the demon hunting in the future."

"Hey, the sect has been lying low for so many years, it's time to expand its territory. I heard there aren't enough spiritual vein nodes left for Foundation Establishment cultivators."

Has it started? Ji An frowned slightly, a sense of urgency rising in his heart.

The sect began to act according to his plan, and he needed to learn some protective spells as soon as possible, and if possible, establish his foundation as soon as possible.

"Good news! I heard that a demon core at the Foundation Establishment level can be purified and used as the main ingredient for Foundation Establishment Pills."

There are many different formulas for Foundation Establishment Pills. Using demon cores to refine Foundation Establishment Pills was extremely popular during the era of fierce conflict between humans and demons.

Not only Foundation Establishment Pills, but also demon cores can be refined into various pills that enhance cultivation.

However, these kinds of pills have extremely potent effects, and it is said that excessive consumption can affect a person's mind, requiring more time to refine them.

"That's right!"

Wei Songnian clenched his fist tightly. Pills made from demon cores had more side effects, but they were cheap.

Taking a Foundation Establishment Pill doesn't guarantee he'll successfully establish his foundation. However, if he had two Foundation Establishment Pills and still couldn't establish his foundation, he might as well go home and become a stud, contributing to the continuation of his family line.

"Twenty sets of talisman ink materials cost a total of 420 spirit crystals. Junior Brother, you have 1128 spirit crystals left. Is there anything else you want to buy?"

Ji An counted 72 spirit crystals and then took out a spirit stone and pushed them out together:

"These are also for Senior Brother, to settle the crystals used to purchase the Ginseng Essence Pill and Spirit Peach Seeds last time. I still owe Senior Brother ten spirit stones."

(End of this chapter)