Special Storage Bag

The early sunlight of the Snake Hour spilled over the bamboo lodge, illuminating the lush greenery in the small courtyard.

A lean cultivator with a thin mustache stood before the wicker gate, a smile curling across his lips as he looked over the courtyard brimming with thriving vegetables and fruits.

He had just come from Old Huang's home, where Old Huang had told him that a Junior Brother here also wished to sell spirit grain.

Having purchased Yellow Bud Rice in the Azure Water Lake area for many years, he roughly knew which Spirit Farmers grew spirit rice of acceptable quality.

Spirit grain of poor quality brought thinner profits and was not worth purchasing.

When he learned that the other party was a new disciple, he had initially been reluctant to come. Only for Old Huang's sake had he reluctantly agreed to take a look.

Now that he saw the tender, glistening vegetables in this courtyard, he understood why Old Huang had worn such a meaningful smile when they parted.

Before becoming a clan steward, he too had been a highly skilled Spirit Farmer. At a glance, he could tell that the courtyard's owner possessed considerable skill with the Farming Spell, no less capable than Old Huang.

This made him curious. A Spirit Farmer with such talent had appeared among the new disciples—he could only marvel inwardly that a sect truly attracted talent more readily than a cultivation clan.

Unfortunately, the Golden Spirit Sect excelled in artifact refinement and beast taming, so the other party would not receive much special attention.

If he had entered Falling Maple Valley, renowned for formations and alchemy, he ought to have fared better.

"Is this Fellow Daoist Ji An's residence?"

Ji An was inside the bamboo lodge practicing the Sharp Metal Art. Today was the day Old Huang had arranged, so he had obediently stayed at home.

Divine sense was extremely important to cultivators, and cultivation arts for training divine sense were exceedingly rare.

He had no such cultivation art, but by practicing a spell like the Sharp Metal Art, which placed great demands on divine sense, he could still passively improve it a little.

Though the improvement was incredibly slow, he never tired of it.

Hearing someone call out, Ji An opened the window and looked outside. Seeing someone standing beyond the gate, he hurried out.

"I am Ji An. May I ask who you are, Fellow Daoist?"

Seeing that the visitor's Daoist robe bore no sect insignia and that he addressed him as Fellow Daoist, Ji An guessed that this was the person who had come to purchase spirit grain.

The cuffs of Golden Spirit Sect disciples' Daoist robes bore a golden thread.

"Li Changqing of the Baiyuan Mountain Li Clan. Fellow Daoist Huang mentioned that Fellow Daoist Ji also wishes to sell Yellow Bud Rice?"

"Indeed. Please follow me, Fellow Daoist."

Ji An stepped aside in invitation, then took the lead toward the bamboo lodge.

"I have some acquaintance with Senior Brother Li Changfeng of your clan. Since Fellow Daoist and Senior Brother Changfeng are clansmen, your relationship should be quite close, yes?"

Cultivation clans all had genealogies; from his name alone, one could tell that he and Li Changfeng belonged to the same generation.

"I am Changfeng's older cousin, but I am merely from a branch line of the Li Clan. My status cannot compare with Changfeng's."

Li Changqing answered with a smile. Many Spirit Farmers claimed to be familiar with Li Changfeng when dealing with him, all in hopes of getting a few more Spirit Crystals in the end. He had seen it all before.

His cousin Changfeng was a direct descendant of the main line. Only twenty-one this year, he was already at the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation. The reason he had not yet reached Foundation Establishment was that he wished to lay his foundation more firmly.

If one could open more tributary immortal veins and widen the immortal veins as much as possible, one could forge a superior-grade Dao Foundation, thereby using the leap in major realms to improve one's aptitude to a greater extent.

He had only learned these secrets after becoming a steward.

"Senior Brother Li once gave me a jade pendant, saying that I could receive a discount at the Li Clan's shops in Azure Cloud Immortal City.

Unfortunately, I have never left the sect, so I have never enjoyed that discount."

With a smile, Ji An took the jade pendant from his robes and handed it to Li Changqing.

You could not get a discount if you bought nothing, but when selling something, you could not press down the price!

It would be good to earn even one more Spirit Crystal. Save where one should save, and take the benefits one was entitled to.

Li Changqing was slightly taken aback. He accepted the jade pendant, shielding it with his hand as he brought it close to his eyes, as though examining it carefully.

Secretly, he formed the hand seals of his clan's exclusive art and fed spiritual energy into the jade pendant.

At the center of the flawless white jade, a green character the size of a fingernail appeared: "Li." Beside it were two characters the size of rice grains—Changfeng.

Heh, this man really was connected to Changfeng.

Li Changqing knew that Changfeng worked at the General Affairs Hall and was also tasked with seeking out outstanding Spirit Farmers for the clan.

Many older Spirit Farmers who could no longer remain in the sect would receive invitations from the Baiyuan Mountain Li Clan.

Once those Spirit Farmers arrived at Baiyuan Mountain, they could at least continue to give off their remaining warmth for another ten or twenty years.

Unable to resist giving Ji An another look, Li Changqing guessed why Changfeng had taken a liking to him.

At such a young age, he had reached Qi Condensation Layer 4. It was still far too early for him to leave the sect.

"It is indeed Changfeng's token. Please keep it safe, Fellow Daoist Ji.

Should you visit Azure Cloud Immortal City someday, none of the discounts due to you will be lacking."

Li Changqing's tone grew a shade more courteous.

Ji An accepted the jade pendant with a smile and solemnly tucked it into his robes. Pointing at the piled cloth sacks, he said, "Please inspect the goods, Fellow Daoist. I'm selling all of these."

He had kept his rations in the rice jar.

Li Changqing took out a scale and a copper tube from his Storage Bag, smiling as he said, "The necessary procedures still have to be followed. I'll inspect the quality."

Ji An nodded slightly. "Only proper."

Li Changqing untied the cloth bags, grabbed a handful of spirit rice to examine its color and smell its fragrance, then placed several grains in his mouth and chewed them carefully, secretly nodding.

He inserted the copper tube into a cloth bag and activated its mechanism. Spirit rice from the middle and bottom of the bag flowed into the tube.

After repeating the previous steps, he inspected every cloth bag before saying with a smile, "Fellow Daoist, your spirit grain is of excellent quality!

The purchase price for spirit rice is one Spirit Crystal per jin. I'll make the decision here—one hundred jin of Yellow Bud Rice for one hundred and five Spirit Crystals. What do you think?"

With spirit rice of this quality, they could earn ten Spirit Crystals for every hundred jin brought to Azure Cloud Immortal City, and there would be no worry over finding buyers.

"That works."

"Excellent."

Li Changqing swiftly weighed all the spirit rice and said, "Exactly one thousand one hundred jin of spirit rice. Fellow Daoist, does that number match yours?"

"It is not the slightest bit different from my own measurements."

Ji An smiled, thinking to himself that this was more worthwhile than selling it to the sect.

Aside from the field rent that had to be paid in spirit rice, he might as well sell all his future spirit rice, exchange it for Spirit Stones, and then trade those for Contribution Points.

They did not cheat him on the weight, and they even offered a bonus. There was no need to think long over which choice to make.

At that thought, he understood. Some people within the sect must surely have an exchange of interests with these clans that purchased spirit rice. Otherwise, they would never allow them into the sect to buy spirit rice.

Li Changfeng counted out the crystals and handed them over.

"A total of eleven Spirit Stones and fifty-five Spirit Crystals. Fellow Daoist, please check them."

Ji An accepted the Spirit Stones, counted them once more, then put them away.

"The amount is correct."

He sighed inwardly. He had never been this wealthy before, but these crystals would not remain in his hands for more than a few months.

Purchasing the Spirit Absorption Array and exchanging for Jade Slips for Spells would both require a great deal of Spirit Stones.

Li Changfeng took out another Storage Bag and packed the spirit rice into it.

Ji An stared intently at the Storage Bag the other party was using to store the spirit rice.

"The Baiyuan Mountain Li Clan is truly so extravagant. I wonder how many jin of spirit rice that Storage Bag can hold?"

The greater a Storage Bag's space, the more expensive it was. If they were not purchasing hundreds of thousands of jin of spirit rice, it would not be worth making such a long journey.

He did not know how many high-grade Storage Bags the other party would need to prepare, but that did not make sense either. Spirit rice was of low value, so it was not worth doing that.

"Perhaps Fellow Daoist does not know that the Storage Bag I use for spirit rice had a special Dharma Restriction applied during its refinement.

Although its capacity is large, it can only hold all kinds of spirit rice. If any other item is put in it, it cannot be stored.

All large-scale commodity transactions require this kind of specially made Storage Bag."

Li Changqing paused, then asked, "Shall I continue coming to purchase spirit rice at your door on this day in the future?"

"Yes."

Tomorrow's update will be posted as early as possible, and I'm also asking for everyone's continued reading tomorrow.

Hopefully, there will be enough continued reads to make it onto the recommendations.

Thank you, everyone.