Chapter 79 - 78: Four Long Years

Chapter 79: Chapter 78: Four Long Years

"Uh..."

Chen Jianghe was slightly taken aback, but then a smile appeared on his face. The later Little Black reached adulthood, the better. It meant his potential was even higher. There was a massive difference between reaching adulthood at Mid-Stage Tier One versus Late-Stage Tier One. If he reached it at Late-Stage Tier One, he would have a great chance of breaking through to become a Tier Two Spirit Beast in the future.

There was another point: the life exchange hadn’t caused Little Black’s vitality to decline prematurely. This was absolutely crucial, as it directly affected his potential.

"At what age do you Black Crystal Profound Turtles reach adulthood?" he asked.

"I don’t know."

"Huh? Then how do you know you aren’t an adult yet?" Chen Jianghe rolled his eyes, utterly baffled by Little Black.

"Look at my claws." Little Black swam over to him, stretched out his short, thick front claws, and waved them. His Doudou eyes twitched playfully as he looked at Chen Jianghe. "Aren’t they super black? My intuition tells me that once they crack and turn into spots, I’ll be an adult."

Chen Jianghe noticed the completely pitch-black short legs and claws; there wasn’t a single trace of any other color.

"Then when do you feel they will crack and form spots?" Chen Jianghe asked, still a bit uneasy. He was worried that Little Black had been affected by his own lifespan. After all, Little Black’s maximum lifespan was now only a hundred and twenty years. For a Spirit Beast, that was half a lifetime lost. For a turtle-type Spirit Beast, it was merely a third of a normal lifespan.

"I don’t know. Anyway, I’m still young right now," Little Black shook his head and said with a completely nonchalant expression.

"Then can you sense the purity of your bloodline?"

"I can! It’s much stronger than the Cyan-Scaled Fish. Look, they’re all terrified of me right now." As Little Black spoke, he bared his teeth at the Little Cyan Fish swimming over. The fright caused them to instantly freeze in place and tremble.

With a gentle wave of Little Black’s claws, the Cyan-Scaled Fish immediately began swimming in a rhythmic formation, as if they had just received an order.

The bloodline purity of the Little Cyan Fish was barely at Second-Grade Lower Class. By comparison, it was completely impossible to determine the exact purity of Little Black’s bloodline. It was also very difficult to get accurate bloodline information out of Little Black’s mouth because his Innate inherited memories were extremely vague. After all, he had originally started out with only a First-Grade Bloodline. Chen Jianghe could only wait until he encountered a Third-Grade Bloodline Spirit Beast to judge based on the aura of bloodline pressure it emitted.

Chen Jianghe returned to the surface of the lake. Sitting cross-legged, he centered his Heart and Mind, focused on Breathing Spiritual Energy, and circulated the Returning Origin True Water Technique to convert the absorbed Spiritual Qi into Magical Power. He was currently at Fifth-Layer Qi Refining, so he only needed to increase his Dantian Magical Power. Only when his Cultivation reached Late-Stage Qi Refining would he need to purify his Magical Power, allowing it to gradually progress toward Liquefaction.

Cultivation knows no time; a century passes in the blink of an eye.

While it wasn’t quite that exaggerated, time quietly slipped away between Cultivation and Talisman Painting. Before he knew it, four years had passed. Two years ago, Chen Jianghe’s Cultivation had already broken through to Sixth-Layer Qi Refining.

In that same year, the Celestial South Sect’s Demon Extermination Squad successfully ambushed Lann Tianxiang and his nephew in Bixia Town. They were besieged by three Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Celestial South Sect, along with the Yun Family Ancestor and Yun Bufan. Lann Tianxiang’s Soul was struck by Steward Lan’s Magical Artifact, leaving him severely injured. However, he managed to escape by using a Secret Technique, sacrificing his limbs and Dao Foundation in the process.

His nephew, Lann Yunyi, on the other hand, was slain by Gao Peiyao and three other Immortal Sect Disciples. However, they did not manage to obtain Lann Yunyi’s Storage Pouch. This left the four Immortal Sect Disciples, including Gao Peiyao, consumed by towering resentment. They ordered the Yun Family to conduct a carpet search of the entire Bixia Town, yet Lann Yunyi’s Storage Pouch was still nowhere to be found.

The three Foundation Establishment Cultivators were also somewhat enraged. After all, they hadn’t killed Lann Tianxiang; they had merely wounded him severely. Upon returning to the Sect, they wouldn’t receive the full Contribution Points rewarded for the mission. Most importantly, they hadn’t retrieved either Storage Pouch belonging to Lann Tianxiang and his nephew. Rumor had it that Lann Tianxiang had looted no fewer than seven thousand Spirit Stones from the Qiyun Marketplace! Even for Foundation Establishment Cultivators, this was a massive fortune.

The Demon Extermination Squad left full of resentment, devoid of even a shred of a good impression toward Jingyue Lake. Right before Gao Peiyao departed, the four of them had a small gathering, during which it was obvious that she looked somewhat dejected. It was highly likely because she hadn’t reaped any benefits from the killing of Lann Yunyi.

On the other hand, the Jingyue Marketplace had begun to take a turn for the better two years ago. Thanks to the promotional discounts introduced by the Yun Family, the number of visiting Cultivators grew day by day. It faintly rivaled the grand spectacle from when the Marketplace first opened, proving that the Yun Family was quite adept at marketing.

As the Yun Family’s Jingyue Marketplace prospered, Yu Daniu and his wife also gained access to better Cultivation Resources. Yu Daniu’s father-in-law had broken through to Ninth-Layer Qi Refining at the age of seventy. Although he had no hope of Foundation Establishment, he had still become a Ninth-Layer Qi Refining Great Cultivator. He had managed to secure a great opportunity for Yu Daniu and his wife, purchasing a Tier One High-Grade Spirit Liquid from the Immortal Sect Marketplace to replenish their vitality.

Chen Jianghe thought, "Three days ago, Daniu sent a letter saying he was going into seclusion to break through to Late-Stage Qi Refining. By now, he must have successfully reached Seventh-Layer Qi Refining."

Chen Jianghe packed up briefly, preparing to head to the Jingyue Marketplace to sell the Spirit Talismans he had drawn this year. Four years had passed, and his Talisman Dao Skills had improved significantly. His Talisman Success Rate for drawing Five Elements Attack Spirit Talismans had reached sixty percent, while his Talisman Success Rate for drawing Five Elements Escape Talismans had barely scraped thirty percent. As for Amulets, he had only just started attempting them this year, so his Talisman Success Rate for those was a pitiful thirty percent as well.

Over the past few years, he had accumulated quite a few Spirit Stones. In the first year, his revenue from drawing Spirit Talismans was seventy-one Spirit Stones. After deducting costs, he and Talisman Master Chu Lang each received thirty-two Spirit Stones. In the second year, after deducting the costs of Talisman Painting, the profit was sixty-eight Spirit Stones, split equally into thirty-four Spirit Stones each. The third year brought in a bit more. Because his Talisman Dao Skills had improved, after deducting costs, the two of them evenly split eighty Spirit Stones.

Of course, this year’s earnings were somewhat lower. Because Chen Jianghe had attempted to draw Amulets, he had consumed one hundred and seventy sheets of talisman paper and successfully produced forty-two Amulets. The market price for a single Amulet was two Spirit Stones, and the Jingyue Treasure Pavilion’s buyback price was at a fifteen percent discount, which amounted to seventy-one Spirit Stones and forty grains of Spiritual Sand. After deducting costs, he and Talisman Master Chu Lang could only split thirty-two Spirit Stones each. The only reason he could even earn this much was because he had broken through to Sixth-Layer Qi Refining, which boosted his Magical Power by nearly sixty percent.

After walking out of the Jingyue Treasure Pavilion, the total amount of Spirit Stones Chen Jianghe had accumulated reached one hundred and forty-three. This consisted of one hundred and thirty-eight Spirit Stones earned from four years of Talisman Making, eleven Spirit Stones from two cycles of fish farming, and the six Spirit Stones he had saved up prior—minus the cost of three Spirit-Encompassing Flowers due to Little Black’s severe overspending.

Yes, Little Black’s Cultivation Resources had exceeded the budget once again. Of the eight Qi Storage Pills and eight Spirit-Encompassing Flowers purchased all at once back then, Chen Jianghe still had one Qi Storage Pill left unconsumed. Little Black, on the other hand, had not only devoured all eight Spirit-Encompassing Flowers but had also completely eaten the additional three Spirit-Encompassing Flowers Chen Jianghe bought later.

It was no wonder that despite everyone knowing the benefits of raising Spirit Beasts, very few Cultivators actually chose to nurture them. It drained way too many Spirit Stones. They were practically Gold-Devouring Beasts.

Chen Jianghe did the math; from the very first resources he had fed to Little Black up to now, it had cost him close to seventy Spirit Stones. From this, it was easy to see why the selling price of fully grown Spirit Beasts was so extraordinarily high.