Chapter 24 Tian Qingbai
After disembarking at the Yulan dock, Ji An bid farewell to Liangqiu and went to the street market square to find Wei Songnian.
The willows swayed gently on the riverbank, and he couldn't help but shiver.
He fell into the lake at dusk and had no dry clothes to change into.
The wind was strong on the lake, and even someone at the third level of Qi Refining couldn't withstand the cool breeze after being exposed to it for so long.
He stopped and channeled his spiritual energy throughout his body, dispelling the chill and warming himself up.
His Taoist robe was half-dry by then. He tidied his hair, tied it up again, and inserted a wooden hairpin.
When he found Wei Songnian, the man was busy packing up his stall, his long shadow blocking the light. Wei Songnian instinctively looked up and said in surprise:
Why is Junior Brother in such a sorry state?
"It's a little embarrassing, I don't want to talk about it anymore," Ji An waved his hand and took out a jade bottle that was still damp:
"Senior brother, give me an estimate."
He originally wanted to exchange the Wood Element Pearl for contribution points in the sect, but since he could 'pay in installments' to exchange for the fourth level of the technique, he decided to exchange the Wood Element Pearl for spirit stones.
"What good stuff did you get your hands on, junior brother?"
Wei Songnian chuckled as he took the jade bottle. He found a dry cloth, wiped it, and poured out more than twenty pale green beads, each about the size of a longan.
He examined each bead carefully for a few moments, then said calmly:
"Inferior Wood Element Beads, three for one Spirit Crystal."
"So cheap?"
"Junior Brother's Wood Element Pearl should be condensed from ordinary plants. Spirit farmers can condense it themselves, but it doesn't fetch a good price. It's mainly used to increase the production of spirit grain."
Only wood element beads condensed from higher-level spiritual objects are highly sought-after, and can be used to extend the lifespan of spiritual herbs.
"Medicinal age" refers to the potency of the medicine. When practitioners talk about "medicinal age of one hundred years," "medicinal age of five hundred years," or "medicinal age of one thousand years," they are referring to the same thing.
Otherwise, where would there be so many truly ancient medicinal herbs that have grown for hundreds or thousands of years for cultivators to use?
Advanced planting spells, combined with specialized medicinal field arrays, can accelerate the 'growth' of spiritual herbs, thereby shortening their lifespan.
In the various cultivation arts, it's too difficult for a spirit farmer to earn crystals in the early stages, but if you can really persevere to the later stages, you'll be in high demand.
At that time, alchemists also had to lower themselves to win over spirit farmers.
Apart from those spiritual herbs and medicines that cannot be artificially cultivated, a large portion of medicinal materials are cultivated. Relying on finding them in the wild is too unpredictable.
The reason why sects and large families have relatively stable inheritance is because they all have herb gardens that have been managed for generations, which naturally enable them to continuously refine various pills for their disciples to improve their cultivation.
Taking the Golden Spirit Sect as an example, although the sect is not known for its alchemy, it can still refine several batches of pills that help people break through major realms, such as Foundation Establishment Pills and Qi Cultivation Pills, every few years.
"Junior brother, are you selling?"
Wei Songnian pressed for more information, and his evaluation of his junior brother improved even further.
In three months, the other party improved both spells to the minor mastery level, which shows that they are indeed very talented in planting spells.
He decided that after the next harvest of the spirit grain, he would find the other person to have a few drinks and rekindle their relationship.
Of course, the most important thing is to make additional investments.
He wanted to see if the other party would still have made progress in three months, which would determine how much of a stake he should raise.
"Sell."
Ji An nodded, explaining that they would need to wait until the spirit grains began to sprout in a few dozen days.
Ordinary jade bottles cannot prevent the evaporation of spiritual energy; keeping them would likely turn them into waste.
"Alright, that's 23 in total, eight spirit crystals for junior brother."
Wei Songnian skillfully poured out the Wood Spirit Pearl and placed it into a specially made jade bottle.
Inferior quality wood beads contain little wood elemental energy, and because they are so scarce, they don't fetch a good price.
If a large number of acquisitions can be made, and a suitable opportunity arises, a decent profit can still be earned.
The sect's herb garden is required to deliver spiritual herbs on a regular and quantitative basis. However, there are always unexpected situations where it is necessary to use Wood Element Pearls to improve the quality of the herbs.
Even a large quantity of low-quality wood beads can be a lifesaver in an emergency.
"Junior brother, is there anything you need to buy recently? Feel free to tell me."
"I'll be away for ten to fifteen days in a few days, taking the sect's flying boat to Qingyun Immortal City to sell some odds and ends."
Ji An shook his head; there were no crystals left to buy now.
He cupped his hands in a respectful gesture and said sincerely:
"I never imagined my senior brother had such a wide range of business connections. I'm truly impressed!"
He had always thought the other party was just a middleman from the sect, but he never expected that the scope of his business would extend beyond the sect.
You either have the means, or you have the connections, or both.
"You flatter me," Wei Songnian waved his hand with a smile, as his main source of income from trading in the Immortal City was from selling goods there.
Tian Qingbai picked up the purple clay teapot, took a sip of the spiritual tea, and shook his head contentedly.
He is 130 years old this year and recently broke through to the fourth level of Foundation Establishment.
After spending nearly ten years advancing from the first to the second level of Foundation Establishment, he realized that no matter how hard he tried in this life, he would never be able to advance to the Origin Stage unless he encountered an extraordinary opportunity.
There are seven or eight hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Golden Spirit Sect. With so many people wanting to improve, the competition is too fierce.
The sect produces a lot, but there are too many wolves and not enough meat, so it's never enough to go around.
He is only of medium aptitude. Without sufficient external aids such as crystals and pills, improving his cultivation is just wishful thinking.
Staying in a sect is perfectly safe, but getting a great opportunity is just a pipe dream.
If you want to make progress faster, you have to go out and explore, and find opportunities on your own.
Only by finding rare spiritual objects and medicines, or exploring the caves of masters, can one obtain sufficient rewards to aid in cultivation.
It sounds simple, but if you go out and venture out without a plan or clues, it's no different from suicide.
Among the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the sect, too many encounter bottlenecks and go out to seek opportunities, but very few return.
Many people only see the rapid progress of those lucky ones after returning to their sects, but have they ever looked at the countless bones on the path of cultivation?
His ambition has been worn down by time, and besides, he has worked hard for half his life, so it's time for him to enjoy himself.
So he simply took more concubines to have more children, to cultivate more offspring for the Tian family, and to earn more resources for future generations.
If you can't do it yourself, but your children and grandchildren can, that's a kind of success too.
The General Affairs Hall is filled with numerous affairs, and Foundation Establishment cultivators who aspire to cultivation avoid its duties like the plague.
Tian Qingbai was an alchemist, but his skills were mediocre, so he took on this job.
Only after truly taking control of the General Affairs Hall did I realize that there was actually quite a lot of money to be made there!
"Uncle-Master, Li Changfeng requests an audience."
"Changfeng, come in," Tian Qingbai said, adopting a dignified expression.
“Uncle-Master, you were not here yesterday. A disciple of the Spirit Farming Sect came to exchange for the fourth level of planting techniques. I have already registered his information. Please review and approve it.”
Li Changfeng presented a booklet to the other party.
"Indeed, another promising young cultivator has emerged, and the prosperity of the sect is just around the corner."
Tian Qingbai glanced at the booklet and chuckled inwardly. There was still quite a bit of profit to be made here!
When a disciple masters a planting technique, the sect usually rewards them with 50 contribution points as encouragement. However, the disciples are unaware of this rule!
You don't have to do anything, and you get 100 contribution points.
(End of this chapter)
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