Telltale Signs

Ji An and Wei Songnian quickly packed up their stall, bought three bottles of spirit wine and several small dishes from Hundred Flavors Tower, then rode a Talisman Bird toward the western side of Azure Water Lake.

That was where the sect had designated its fish ponds. It was said that a spiritual spring on the lakebed continuously gushed spiritual water outward.

The sky gradually darkened. Cranes cried and egrets called, their voices carrying into the heavens.

"Junior Brother Liang's rented fish pond is on the outermost edge, Plot C-Chou Fish Pond.

Look over there. That bamboo building with the flag bearing the character 'Liang' is Junior Brother Liang's residence."

When the two arrived before the bamboo building, they happened to see Liang Qiu rowing back in a small skiff, its deck piled high with green duckweed.

"Junior Brother Liang, let's have a drink."

Wei Songnian raised the spirit wine in his hand and greeted him warmly.

"You two are rare guests indeed."

Liang Qiu laughed heartily and secretly formed a hand seal, opening the Dharma Restriction around the bamboo building.

"Come in and sit first. I'll toss this feed into the fish pond."

Ji An and Wei Songnian landed outside the bamboo building and waited for him to finish.

They saw Liang Qiu form the hand seal for the Object Control Art and swiftly scatter all the duckweed into the fish pond. He then scooped up two Silver Scale Fish, each half a foot long, and tossed them into a fish basket.

He rowed the boat alongside the bamboo building, then leaped up onto it with the fish basket in hand.

Ji An immediately stepped forward, took the mooring rope from him, and tied up the boat.

"Thanks, Junior Brother."

Liang Qiu gave a bitter smile and added,

"After renting the fish pond and buying a batch of Silver Scale Fish and Golden Carp fry, I spent nearly all the Spirit Stones I had. I can barely afford fish feed now, so I can only scoop up some duckweed to make do for a while.

It will take half a year before Spirit Crystals slowly start coming in. These days will be a little hard."

"The good days are still ahead. Junior Brother, you have an enterprise of your own now. In the future, you'll accumulate Spirit Crystals and Contribution Points much faster."

There was envy in Wei Songnian's voice. His business kept him busy every day, buying goods and selling goods, supported entirely by a group of old customers.

It looked as though his earnings were quite good, but after deducting his own cultivation expenses, all his Spirit Crystals were tied up in merchandise.

A few years ago, a member of the Wei Family had entered Falling Maple Valley. Because of his exceptional cultivation talent, he had been accepted as a disciple by a Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator.

The family had poured vast resources into that clan member, leaving the other clan members with far less support.

By the time that clan member gave back to the family, who knew how many years would have passed.

Wei Songnian's greatest dream was to save up some Spirit Stones and, with the family's support, acquire a shop in Azure Cloud Immortal City.

Of course, the prerequisite for all this was that he could achieve Foundation Establishment. Without Foundation Establishment, he would not be able to hold on to a shop in the Immortal City, and the family would not allow him to serve as its shopkeeper.

With his aptitude, achieving Foundation Establishment would inevitably require a Foundation Establishment Pill. Such pills for breaking through a major realm were easiest to obtain in the sect.

The sect and the major families all had an agreement: as long as a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator who was not a core disciple served the sect for more than thirty years after achieving Foundation Establishment, they were permitted to leave the sect and return to their family.

The condition was that if war broke out, cultivators who had left had to answer the summons.

With this agreement in place, the various families were also willing to send their more outstanding disciples into the sect for training.

Naturally, the most outstanding direct-line disciples had to remain in the family for training. Otherwise, they would not be of one heart with the family.

The sect also benefited from this arrangement. It could use the vacant Spirit Vein Nodes to win over cultivators not born into families, making them wholeheartedly devote their strength to the sect.

How could one make them wholeheartedly devoted? The simplest way was to bind their interests together, then slowly cultivate their sense of identification with the sect.

"Haha, I'll borrow Senior Brother's auspicious words. I'll go stew these fish. You two chat first."

Liang Qiu pushed open the door and invited the two inside, then went to busy himself in the kitchen.

Ji An followed him into the kitchen and took several plates to hold the packaged side dishes.

After finishing, he took the Talisman Paper and talisman ink from his bundle and pushed them toward Wei Songnian.

"Senior Brother, do you still have Shengyuan Pills?"

"I knew Junior Brother would want them, so I deliberately saved five."

Wei Songnian smilingly took out a white jade bottle and handed it over, then began counting the Talisman Paper himself.

More and more of his old customers were Late Qi Condensation disciples now, and his earnings had improved considerably compared to the first few years.

"Thanks, Senior Brother. You know me well."

Ji An accepted the jade bottle, poured out the pills, brought them beneath his nose for a sniff, and nodded in satisfaction.

After finishing the count, Wei Songnian said with a smile,

"Two hundred fifty-four sheets of Tier 1 Low-grade Talisman Paper, one hundred eighteen sheets of mid-grade Talisman Paper, and ten bottles of low-grade talisman ink. That comes to 1,548 Spirit Crystals in total.

Junior Brother, the usual arrangement?"

He calculated silently. The other man's talisman-making had now run into a bottleneck, and the rate of fine-quality products had barely improved.

Still, it put his mind at ease. It was one thing for Ji An to be so skilled at Farming Spells, but if his Talisman Paper-making skills were also exceptionally high, Wei Songnian would be too jealous to sleep.

"This time, Senior Brother, prepare enough materials for twenty bottles of talisman ink for me. After I return today, I'll reclaim another five mu of Spirit Fields.

In three months, I'm going to make a ruthless haul of Spirit Stones."

Ji An had long calculated it out. The cultivators he knew had all advanced to Late Qi Condensation. Everyone would have to face the fight for Foundation Establishment Pills, and they likely would not be able to lend him many Spirit Crystals.

Although Foundation Establishment was still far off, he needed to prepare for a rainy day. After all, even after saving enough Contribution Points, one still had to wait in line to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Wei Songnian was slightly taken aback.

"Can you take care of that many Spirit Fields?"

Even Old Huang only cultivated ten mu of Spirit Fields.

"More or less. At worst, some of the Spirit Fields will yield a little less."

"As long as Junior Brother knows what he's doing."

Wei Songnian nodded, took out materials for twenty batches of talisman ink, and said with a smile,

"A large number of sect cultivators and independent cultivators have poured into Cliff Mountain, treating it as a supply base. Talisman sales are quite good now.

If Junior Brother becomes a Talismans Crafter, your future will be boundless."

He lowered his voice and said mysteriously,

"I heard the sect has once again organized Foundation Establishment Realm Martial Uncles to seize territory deep within the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains. As the supply bases push deeper and deeper, more and more cultivators will participate in demon hunting in the future.

Heh, the sect has lain low for so many years. It is time to open new frontiers and expand its territory. I heard there are no longer enough Spirit Vein Nodes to go around among Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators."

Has it begun? Ji An frowned slightly, a sense of urgency rising in his heart.

The sect had begun acting according to the pace he had anticipated. He needed to learn some path-protecting spells as soon as possible and, if possible, achieve Foundation Establishment quickly.

"That's good news. I heard that after purification, Demon Cores at the Foundation Establishment level can be used as a main ingredient for Foundation Establishment Pills."

There were many pill formulas for Foundation Establishment Pills. Refining Foundation Establishment Pills with Demon Cores had once been extremely popular during the era of fierce conflict between the human race and the Demon Race.

It was not just Foundation Establishment Pills. Demon Cores could also be refined into many kinds of pills that increased cultivation.

It was only that such pills had violent medicinal effects. It was said that taking too many could even affect one's mind, and they required more time to refine.

"Exactly!"

Wei Songnian clenched his fist hard. Pills refined from Demon Cores had greater side effects, but they were cheap.

Taking one Foundation Establishment Pill did not necessarily mean he would successfully achieve Foundation Establishment. But if he had two Foundation Establishment Pills and still failed, he might as well go home and become a stud, doing his part to help the family branch out and flourish.

"Twenty batches of talisman ink materials come to 420 Spirit Crystals. Junior Brother, you have 1,128 Spirit Crystals left. Would you like to buy anything else?"

Ji An counted out seventy-two Spirit Crystals, then pulled out a Spirit Stone and pushed them over together.

"Give these to Senior Brother as well. This settles the Spirit Crystals from my previous purchase of Shengyuan Pills and Spiritual Peach Seeds. I still owe Senior Brother ten Spirit Stones."