Three days later, Long San brought people to the general store again. Without waiting for Huang Deyou to announce him, he hurried to the entrance of the back courtyard and waited.
"Boss..."
Huang Deyou strode quickly before Jiang Ding, about to say something, only to see Jiang Ding wave a hand. He rose with one hand on his sword and called out loudly.
"Shopkeeper Long, please."
"I would not dare trouble Young Master Jiang to come out and receive me."
Long San entered, more respectful and courteous than ever before. "I have come this time for two reasons. First, to deliver a batch of collected Blueglow Butterflies. Second, I have already sent the detailed circumstances to the Yue Capital headquarters by Red-tailed Falcon. A reply is expected within two days, and at least a manager at the peak of inner qi will come to take charge of the overall situation. Young Master's great undertaking will certainly not be delayed."
He was extremely confident in this, certain that the headquarters would not waste even a moment.
"That is good... I have yet to congratulate Shopkeeper Long on breaking through to major inner qi achievement. Innate is now within reach." Jiang Ding smiled and spoke politely.
"I would not dare harbor such extravagant hopes."
Long San cupped his hands. After obtaining Jiang Ding's permission, he waved a hand, and several attendants behind him carried in a finely woven bamboo cage as tall and wide as a person. Swarms of Blueglow Butterflies danced within it, their specks of fluorescence clearly visible even beneath the daylight.
"These are three thousand four hundred and twelve pairs of Blueglow Butterflies. According to the chamber's rule that bulk live-creature deliveries allow for a ten-percent loss, that comes to three thousand one hundred and five pairs. Young Master only needs to leave a receipt."
Jiang Ding frowned slightly.
At an average of one thousand pairs a day, it would take more than a year, nearly two, to gather five hundred and fifty thousand.
By then, the daylilies would have gone cold.
"Rest assured, Young Master!"
Seeing Jiang Ding's unmistakable displeasure, Long San was startled. "This is only the output of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce's directly affiliated herb gatherers. Large numbers of mountain folk, freelance herb gatherers, and gatherers from other forces are still being organized. Once the headquarters receives the news, it will certainly bring a group of capable hands from Yue Capital as well."
"Furthermore, the branches of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce around Eastspirit Prefecture, along with personnel from organizations friendly with those branches, will all come over. With silver being scattered by the handful, there is no reason for them to refuse."
"Moreover, the herb gatherers before this were all from small households, with uneven experience and a shortage of butterfly-catching tools. Once the chamber supplies equipment and training, their efficiency will definitely rise another level."
"So long as Eastspirit Mountain has enough Blueglow Butterflies, we will surely be able to catch the amount Young Master requires!"
Long San spoke with absolute certainty.
"Of course I trust Manager Long."
Jiang Ding smiled faintly. "How about this? For every one hundred and fifty thousand pairs of Blueglow Butterflies accumulated, one Lesser Void-Breaking Pill may be delivered. Once five hundred and fifty thousand pairs have been accumulated, one Void-Breaking Pill may be delivered."
"This..."
Long San's mouth went dry. Counting the advance payment and the pill he had already consumed, the stakes had been raised again.
What earth-shattering use could these Blueglow Butterflies possibly have, for such a fortune to be spent on them?
"That is only proper."
Long San could not voice any objection. Goods exchanged for payment—this was exceedingly fair to both sides.
He took his leave.
Jiang Ding closed his eyes to rest, inner force circulating through his meridians.
Over the past two days, he had finished nourishing and tempering the ten major meridians of the seventh regular meridian, the Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian, and the eighth regular meridian, the Foot Shaoyang Gallbladder Meridian. He was currently opening up the ninth regular meridian, the Foot Taiyang Bladder Meridian.
In at most four more days, he would finish nourishing and tempering the ten major meridians of the twelve regular meridians, completing the Minor Celestial Circuit.
At that time, the twelve regular meridians would form an initial cycle, inner qi would be born, and the speed of nourishment would undergo a minor qualitative transformation.
Spurred by enormous profits, all of Eastspirit Prefecture and the surrounding commanderies stirred into action.
Within several days, the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce met separately with the leaders of forces large and small, excluding only its competitor, the Brocade Dragon Chamber of Commerce. Vast amounts of silver were poured out, forming an enormous force.
Countless herb gatherers, martial guards, farmhands seeking odd jobs, hunters, and others—numbering in the thousands, even tens of thousands—carried supplies and entered Eastspirit Mountain in ant-like lines.
They were not limited to catching butterflies. Herb gathering, hunting beasts, felling precious timber, and everything else were included. The gains would be divided among all parties according to their strength, while the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce would cover the losses if there were no gains.
Riding along on this tide, the number of specimens purchased by the general store rose sharply.
Many herb gatherers and farmers were more than happy, while working, to casually collect a plant specimen now priced at ten copper coins apiece, or catch an insect or small bird. It cost them little effort anyway.
Outside the small courtyard.
Jiang Ding silently watched as attendants from the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce delivered another cartload of Blueglow Butterflies, contained in finely woven bamboo cages.
Another three days had passed since the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce had organized large numbers of people to enter the mountains. More and more Blueglow Butterflies were being caught each day. During daylight hours, carts bearing bamboo cages wrapped in wet thick cloth arrived every two or three hours.
More than ten thousand pairs of Blueglow Butterflies were collected daily, and according to Long San, that number would continue to increase in the future until it reached a limit.
Now, Jiang Ding no longer dared carry the bamboo cages and specimen boxes directly into his home. Instead, he purchased a pile of foldable specimen boxes that could be assembled, along with a pile of silk mesh.
Every day, he had to spend more than half an hour transferring the specimens into the foldable specimen boxes, leaving behind piles of collected wooden boxes for reuse.
His public explanation was that his cultivation method was unusual and required him to absorb the essence of all things, drawing inferences from one thing to another.
[Library Points: 4327]
Glancing at the now-offline library app, Jiang Ding felt a flicker of joy.
If everything went smoothly, he would gather ten thousand points in at most two months. Then, he could have the Central Array-Spirit Computer use his existing cultivation methods as a basis to derive a tailor-made method capable of cultivating to the Foundation Establishment realm.
As for which method, he had originally leaned toward the Young Eagle Takes Flight Sword Art. However, he had already comprehended it to 92% of minor mastery and was not far from major mastery. It would be far too wasteful.
Moreover, for a fundamental cultivation method, Jiang Ding vaguely felt that it was better to comprehend it bit by bit himself, even if that meant taking many winding paths.
After weighing the matter, he decided to use those ten thousand library points to derive the Great Sun Seed-Sword Tempering Art.
This was a profound art derived from the highest-grade scripture-level cultivation method, the Great Sun Sword Scripture. Even among the Nine Great Immortal Sects, only sect Dao Children and Saint Son-level figures were qualified to cultivate it. It could forge an unparalleled foundation and bring immense benefits to future cultivation.
If the Seven Profound Sect's supposedly stolen supreme treasure, the "Heavenly Sound Stone," was merely an ordinary stone that sang under the moon rather than the legendary Grand Pure Divine Iron, he still had another move prepared.
That was the Blue Gold 2431 Agent!
After these days of gathering information, reading documents, and the Immortal Gate Library research department's studies of new species, its value had continued to rise.
Among all pills that improved aptitude, Blue Gold Potion ranked among the very best. Using it to break through to Fledgling Innate could grant a martial artist the special Dao body Fledgling, perhaps with aptitude comparable to three spiritual roots!
This held great appeal for the descendants of many Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators who lacked spiritual roots or possessed poor ones.
What was more, even if many children of great lineages had excellent spiritual roots, they would not begin cultivating immortal qi-refining methods from the start. Instead, they cultivated the Young Eagle Takes Flight Formula as mortals. When they neared Innate, they used treasures of this kind to guide them into condensing the embryonic form of a special Dao body!
It was exceedingly difficult. Even for children of great lineages, Fledgling Innate was hard to attain and could not be achieved without outstanding talent and comprehension.
But once successful,
excellent spiritual roots combined with the embryonic form of a special Dao body meant that one's starting line was Innate, already stronger than others by an unknown extent.
Jiang Ding had checked. In exchange for a Blue Gold 2431 Agent, he should be able to trade for the two heavenly treasures, "Millennium Soul-Nourishing Wood" and "No. 21 Synthetic Geng Metal," on Banyan Tree Network, the Immortal Sect cultivator online shopping platform.
These were inferior substitutes for Law-Breaking Immortal Gold and Grand Pure Divine Iron.
They were no simple things either. In the Great Sun Sword Pavilion of old, only the direct descendants of inner-sect Golden Core elders were qualified to cultivate with them, and they could forge an excellent foundation.
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