Chapter 89 Outsourcing

Ji An glanced down at the number of spirit stones, then pulled out four and pushed them over:

"Old Xiang, take these spirit stones."

The other party usually helps me with many trivial matters, and a few days ago they even invited me to listen to music at Tianyin Pavilion.

Tianyin Pavilion is a place where cultivators who practice music use sonic artifacts to play music, which can purify the mind and refine the spirit.

When Ji An first began studying the Dharma, it was the first time he heard celestial music when he listened to his senior brother Qin Yan's lectures.

To be honest, after listening to the song, he felt that his cultivation efficiency had improved slightly over the next three days.

Although Lao Xiang kept saying that all the Wood Element Beads he had accumulated were thanks to him, he couldn't keep all the spirit stones for himself. The basic principle of reciprocity and sharing benefits should still be followed.

Xiang Yong hurriedly waved his hand: "Senior brother, I can't take these spirit stones."

He didn't put in much effort, so he felt guilty taking the money.

"Take it, we have a long time to get to know each other."

Ji An picked up the spirit stone and personally handed it to the other party, then said:

"From now on, I'll take care of condensing the Wood Element Pearls. I happen to want to practice the Withering and Flourishing Technique more."

The Dao seeds of Gui Water and Ji Earth have been condensed; the next step is to condense the Dao seeds of Metal and Wood.

The Thick Earth Technique contains the essence of Dharma, and more Wood Element Pearls will be accumulated in the future, making this extra income even more substantial.

"I'll listen to my senior brother."

Xiang Yong put the spirit stones into his storage bag, marveling at how the other party seemed to have no weaknesses in the art of planting.

Some of the talented spirit farmers he encountered were only proficient in one type of magic, while the older ones were proficient in two.

The other spells only reach a minor level of mastery after years of use, while those with outstanding comprehension may master one or two more spells to a high level.

However, Ji An shattered his stereotypes. The other party, despite his young age, had a profound understanding of the five planting spells and had even grasped the essence of the Lesser Cloud Rain Technique.

Ji An and Li Lingyu arrived at the cave on the mountaintop. Yesterday, their master had sent a message saying that the alchemy task had been completed and that he would be instructing them on their cultivation today.

Ge Ying smiled when she saw her two disciples arrive together:

"Indeed, Ji An's magical power has improved considerably, and Ling Yu's energy is more harmonious. Both have been diligently cultivating and have not been lazy."

"Seeing that my fellow senior brothers and sisters have all advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage, of course I have to catch up. How could I slack off?"

Li Lingyu smiled and then recounted the difficulties she encountered while refining her divine sense.

“Ji An, the method I’m about to tell you will be useful when you need to hone your spiritual sense in the future, so listen carefully.”

"yes."

Ji An obeyed the order. A cultivator's divine sense is usually confined to the Niwan Palace. If it is not released, even high-level cultivators cannot detect the strength of the divine sense.

Ge Ying began to answer patiently and offered several solutions.

"Thank you for clearing up my doubts, Master," Li Lingyu said, bowing.

"Master, when I was nourishing my immortal meridians using the secret method of opening the meridians, I found that the branch meridians near my heart meridian could not be opened up. If I repeatedly strike the heart area, I feel a faint burning sensation. Is there something wrong with my method?"

Ji An voiced his doubts. He had not encountered any difficulties in improving his cultivation, nor was he worried that his spiritual sense was not strong enough.

"The heart meridian belongs to fire. Repeated impacts will inevitably stimulate the fire element. You must stop at that time, otherwise it will easily damage the immortal meridian."

Nourishing one's immortal veins and tempering one's divine sense are best left until one's magical power has reached a bottleneck. They are not the focus at this stage. Instead, spend more time improving one's cultivation.

The development of immortal veins should be done naturally, without forcing it.

"Thank you for your teachings, Master."

He agreed verbally, and Ji An still decided to dedicate enough time each day to nourishing his immortal veins.

Expanding and strengthening his immortal veins could slightly improve his aptitude, which was of even greater significance to him.

Each time, the stone tortoise would devour half of the mana he had refined. Even a slight increase in aptitude would improve his mana refining efficiency by a fraction.

By accumulating small gains, he will encounter fewer difficulties when building his foundation.

He couldn't explain this difficulty to anyone else, and he wouldn't tell anyone.

After bidding farewell to their master, the two left the cave.

Ji An smiled and said:

"Senior sister, I still need to go to Biyue Lake to tend the spirit fields and harvest talisman grass, so I'll take my leave first."

"Junior brother, please go ahead."

Ji An waved, and a gray sand goose that was resting not far away flew over, carrying its master away.

"Gah!"

Li Lingyu watched as the man and beast quickly turned into black dots, then took out the talisman bird and channeled spiritual energy into it.

"The first thing I'll do after I reach Foundation Establishment is to buy a flying beast; the talisman bird is too slow."

Two months later.

The courtyard was full of life, with two spirit fruit trees growing lush and leafy, their main trunks now as thick as a child's arm.

Under the sunlight, the ginseng looks like a burning brazier, its leaves like rising flames.

After careful examination, Ji An concluded that the elixir was nearly five years old.

Now that his Thick Earth Technique contains the essence of law, these dozens of spiritual herbs will be harvested much earlier than expected, and at that time another sum of spirit stones will be in his hands.

The corn had been harvested and bagged. After weighing each ear of corn, he immediately beamed with joy.

In the past, each mu of three mu of green corn only yielded about 450 jin, but this season the yield is over 600 jin per mu.

The Great Perfection Thick Earth Technique is more effective than the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique in increasing the yield of spirit rice. The grains of spirit rice are larger and have a warm, jade-like luster, truly living up to the name "Jade".

"Senior brother, I've arrived."

Upon hearing someone call out, Ji An activated his magic seal to break the magical barrier.

Huang Feihu walked into the courtyard, his forehead covered in sweat.

"Senior brother, the talisman herbs have all been harvested. Should I move them to the courtyard gate or bring them inside?"

"No rush, sit down and talk."

Ji An used his telekinesis to grab a chair.

"Feihu, you've been learning talisman making for half a year now. What are the chances of you creating a mid-grade talisman paper?"

Making talismans is a skilled craft, but making talisman paper is much simpler, and you only earn a meager living.

The reason he used to make a decent profit selling talisman paper was because he grew the talisman grass himself, had good planting techniques, and didn't have middlemen making a profit.

"The most important factor in making a medium-grade talisman paper is that the quality of the talisman grass must be good; the skill requirement is not so high."

My Lesser Cloud Rain Technique and Thick Earth Technique have both reached the Great Perfection level, and now I have about a 20% chance of creating mid-grade talisman paper.

After listening to what the other party said, Ji An nodded slightly. The odds were about the same as his back then, so he could be considered a skilled talisman maker.

"How is the quality of this batch of talisman grass I planted?"

Huang Feihu sighed enviously:

"My senior brother's planting skills are unmatched by anyone else."

"I'll tell you about a cooperation idea, and you can see if it's feasible."

These talismanic herbs are all yours to make talisman paper; one-tenth of that will be your payment. Want to cooperate?

Ji An roughly calculated that by giving up half a percent of the profit, the other party could get about ten spirit stones within a few days, which would average out to one and a half spirit stones a day.

Making talismans doesn't require much skill, and it's not worth it for him to spend so much time and effort making them himself. Wouldn't it be better to use that time to improve his cultivation and practice spells?

He'd only earn a few less spirit stones, and now he had the resources to outsource low-value crafts.

(End of this chapter)