Chapter 92 - 59: Hard-to-Farm Rewards

Chapter 92: Chapter 59: Hard-to-Farm Rewards

Mu Xiaoyu nodded, half-understanding.

So Senior Brother really did treat her exceptionally well.

"All these years, I’ve cultivated bitterly day and night just for the chance to become a disciple under a Steward. It doesn’t matter which Steward. With a master’s guidance, Cultivation will progress much faster."

Lu Kuan looked at Mu Xiaoyu with a hint of envy. "Someone like you practically already has half a master. Compared to other disciples, you have a massive advantage."

"That’s right," Wu Mingke echoed, also somewhat envious. "I don’t dare slack off for a single day, terrified that my Cultivation will fall behind and I’ll lose the chance to be apprenticed to a Steward."

"So everyone works this hard at Cultivation..." Mu Xiaoyu felt a bit more balanced inside. She asked casually, "Then how long do you cultivate every day?"

"I spend three hours every day cultivating, and one hour practicing Techniques. Among the disciples of my generation in the temple, you can count the ones who work harder than me on one hand," Wu Mingke said earnestly.

"Hmph. I only spend two and a half hours cultivating, but I spend a full two hours practicing Techniques. Added together, that’s half an hour more than you!" Lu Kuan’s tone carried a smug hint of "I win."

Wu Mingke rolled his eyes at him again. "No one is competing with you on that. Childish!"

"If you really didn’t care, why did you say that?" Lu Kuan retorted with a chuckle.

"You!" Wu Mingke raised his eyebrows and pointed. "What’s the use of practicing Techniques more? I’ve spent more time on my foundations, so my Cultivation is higher than yours!"

"That tiny bit of extra Cultivation you have is completely wiped out by the gap in our Techniques!" Lu Kuan refused to be outdone.

Their bickering grew increasingly heated. After a few more exchanges, it looked as though their verbal spar was about to escalate into a full-blown Magical Combat spar. They failed to notice that Mu Xiaoyu, standing off to the side, had suddenly fallen silent with a conflicted expression.

She thought, "So you two actually only cultivate for such a short time every day?"

"Alright, junior brothers and sisters, stop arguing," the leading young man from the Huang Bamboo Temple said, turning his head. "We’ve finished this patrol route. Let’s rest here for a bit."

Wu Mingke and Lu Kuan both let out cold harrumphs. They separated, each finding a tree to sit cross-legged and meditate in the shade.

"It’s a pity our luck isn’t that great. Half the day has passed, and we haven’t encountered a single monster." The young man from the Huang Bamboo Temple looked at the Compass in his hand and frowned slightly.

Hearing this, Mu Xiaoyu couldn’t help but say, "Not encountering monsters is a good thing. Fighting them is so dangerous."

She recalled when her senior brother had taken her to fight a Black-Scaled Python. Although she hadn’t been seriously injured in that battle, her Magical Power had been completely exhausted by the end. In truth, it had been incredibly dangerous.

"There are four of us. If we encounter a normal monster and swarm it together, how dangerous could it be?" The young man from the Huang Bamboo Temple shook his head and laughed. "Besides, wealth is found in danger. A monster will always have more or less valuable parts on its body. If we hunt one down, its materials belong to us. Even split four ways, everyone will still get quite a few talismanic coins."

"Talismanic coins?" Mu Xiaoyu asked curiously. "How many talismanic coins can you normally earn?"

"There’s no set number for that. The monster’s species and Cultivation greatly affect the value of its materials," the young man replied, shaking his head. "However, even a low-end one is generally worth one or two hundred talismanic coins. We’d each get forty or fifty.

"If we run into a valuable one, it might exchange for several hundred talismanic coins, and we’d each get two or three hundred.

"I’ve even heard of people hunting monsters with low Cultivation that were worth over a thousand talismanic coins... It really makes you jealous."

"Oh," Mu Xiaoyu nodded, utterly unimpressed.

She thought, "So it’s only that meager amount?"

Seeing that Mu Xiaoyu had no reaction to these numbers whatsoever, the young man’s expression shifted slightly. He was naturally aware that she had been dropped off directly by a senior expert with profound Cultivation. Since her status was special, it was only normal for her to be wealthier than an ordinary Cultivator.

With this in mind, he spoke up, "Could it be... Junior Sister Mu comes from a wealthy family?"

A hint of wariness quietly rose in Mu Xiaoyu’s heart, and she immediately shook her head. Her parents had told her that when away from home, one must never flaunt their wealth.

"Haha, Junior Sister Mu, there’s no need to overthink it," the young man laughed. "I just wanted to mention that every year during the Cultivation Fruit harvest, the temple will sell a limited daily amount of Cultivation Fruits to the Fellow Daoists who come to patrol or slay monsters. If Junior Sister Mu has money to spare, you could buy one or two to try something new after today’s patrol is over."

"Sell them?" Mu Xiaoyu was slightly confused. "Why?"

"Because some of the Fellow Daoists who come to patrol or slay monsters are naturally curious about the taste or effects of the Cultivation Fruits. If we didn’t sell a single one, those who are overly curious might take the risk of stealing them," the young man explained. "Conversely, by selling a limited amount daily, those curious Fellow Daoists only need to spend eighty to a hundred talismanic coins to buy one and try it. Naturally, there’d be no need for them to take desperate risks.

"It’s the principle of ’guiding the flow rather than damming the river.’"

He paused before adding, "However, even before the Cultivation Fruits are harvested, the orders are already divided up by the major Dharma Veins. Therefore, not many Cultivation Fruits are sold daily, and they are snapped up as soon as they are released.

"If Junior Sister Mu is interested, you have to buy them early. If you’re late, they’ll be gone."

"Then... are the Cultivation Fruits tasty?" Mu Xiaoyu asked.

"Sweet and refreshing, leaving a lingering fragrance in your mouth. They surpass all mortal fruits!" the young man said without hesitation.

Mu Xiaoyu’s eyes lit up, but soon after, she fell into a dilemma.

They sounded so delicious that she really wanted to try one. But one hundred talismanic coins for a single fruit was a bit too expensive. That much money could buy enough snacks to fill two Qiankun Bags! Her senior brother had told her that she had to ask him first before buying anything other than snacks.

But her senior brother lived at the top of the mountain... If she wanted to ask him, wouldn’t she have to climb all the way up there first?