Change

Ji Yuan's gaze fell on the Fish Pond. The Spirit Fish that had advanced this time were the "Doghead Catfish" and the "Blood Spirit Crucian Carp."

The Blood Spirit Crucian Carp should fetch one more Spirit Stone.

"Two Spirit Fish should sell for at least 35 Spirit Stones. The other five Half-Spirit Fish should bring in another 8 Spirit Stones altogether."

"That's another 43 Spirit Stones coming in. Even after subtracting the cost of buying more Half-Spirit Fish, there'll still be 30 left."

Ji Yuan could not help looking at the panel.

Level 2 [Fish Pond] upgrade requirements: Low-Grade Spirit Stone ×30, Cold Iron Sand ×5 jin, inscribe a Condensing Ice Talisman.

Perhaps Heaven favored him, or perhaps it was because he had been a fisherman by trade. This Level 2 [Fish Pond], unlike things such as the [Pigsty] and [Cave Abode], did not require 50 Spirit Stones to upgrade.

It only needed 30 Spirit Stones.

Most importantly, once the Fish Pond was upgraded, it could produce one drop of Waterflower Dew every day, worth 8 Spirit Stones... This was steady income, far more reliable than advancing Half-Spirit Fish or raising Spirit Pigs.

Eight a day, eighty in a week, eight thousand in a month...

The moment the "calculation method" came out, Ji Yuan had already begun fantasizing blissfully.

Upgrade!

It had to be upgraded!

As for techniques, he did not lack any at the moment. Besides, no matter how much he learned, with his Fourth Layer of Qi Refining cultivation, he would not be able to use them.

Put simply, his mana bar was limited.

One Object Manipulation Technique to control magical artifacts, plus Water Drop Finger for normal attacks, was about enough.

The same went for magical artifacts.

Therefore, for now, the best use for these Spirit Stones was upgrading the [Fish Pond] and gaining a stable source of Spirit Stone income.

That way, whatever he wanted to do afterward would become much easier.

It was just that he did not know the price of Cold Iron Sand. And as for inscribing a Condensing Ice Talisman... would sticking one on it work?

Or did he have to inscribe it himself?

If he had to do it himself, would he not also need to learn the art of talisman drawing?

Never mind. Tomorrow, he would first go to Zengtou City and ask about the Cold Iron Sand.

After all, the sky was already nearing dusk. Once night came, the spiritual energy in the room would grow denser. With such excellent cultivation conditions, Ji Yuan did not dare waste them.

Early the next morning, Ji Yuan, who had cultivated bitterly all night, rose at dawn.

He casually killed the two Spirit Fish with two fingers, then came to the doorway. With a thought, he released his White Boat Spirit Vessel onto the shore.

At last, he no longer needed to pole a black-awning boat to sell fish. Ji Yuan could not help feeling a little moved.

He had, more or less, traded a birdshot gun for a cannon.

Yet he had not expected that before he could board the vessel and load the fish, a middle-aged man came walking down the nearby path, yawning. His eyes were bloodshot, his sockets dark, and he staggered slightly as he walked. Yet there was no smell of alcohol; he seemed to have simply stayed up too many nights in a row.

He first spotted the Spirit Vessel by the lake, and his eyes lit up. Then he saw Ji Yuan holding two Spirit Fish, and stopped.

"Ji... Fellow Daoist Ji, are you going to sell fish?"

Deng Yunliang's eyes immediately became much clearer.

If such a fine Spirit Vessel had merely made him covet it, then the two Spirit Fish in Ji Yuan's hands had fully sobered him up.

In Zengtou City, anyone capable of killing Spirit Fish was undoubtedly in the Middle Qi Refining Stage.

And they had to be among the best of the Middle Qi Refining Stage at that. Not to mention someone like Ji Yuan, who could kill two Spirit Fish in one go... A ruthless man, a genuine ruthless man!

Deng Yunliang had previously fawned over quite a few Middle Qi Refining Stage cultivators in Zengtou City, but he had never expected one to be hiding right beside him.

And he was so young!

"Mm. Fellow Daoist Deng, have you just returned from Zengtou City?"

Ji Yuan recalled Wu Qin's question last time and wondered what Deng Yunliang had been doing.

"Yes, yes."

Deng Yunliang hurriedly nodded with a smile.

Ji Yuan merely acknowledged it and did not ask further. He was not curious about other people, so long as they did not affect him. Then he went back inside to fetch the remaining Half-Spirit Fish. Today, he planned to sell out the entire Fish Pond.

After entering the house, Deng Yunliang seemed to remember something. He clenched his fist and turned around several times, but in the end, he gave up.

"Never mind. I'll try again tonight!"

"I'll definitely turn things around!"

As he pondered, another name suddenly surfaced in his mind... Lin Hu.

"..."

Ji Yuan went to the Fish Pen and sold all his catch. He earned even more than he had expected—44 Spirit Stones in total.

Quite a few fishermen nearby turned to look.

But this time, he did not hide his cultivation. The aura of the Middle Qi Refining Stage spread outward. Even though he was only at the Fourth Layer, it was enough to make those fishermen calm down.

Everyone was merely seeking wealth. No one wanted to gamble with their life.

Ji Yuan did not hurry to buy fish afterward. Instead, he first went to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

"Cold Iron Sand?"

The Water Dragon Sect cultivator on duty looked at Ji Yuan with a smile that was not quite a smile.

"Yes."

"Do you have Cold Iron Sand?" the Water Dragon Sect cultivator asked instead.

"This..." Ji Yuan frowned. This bastard had quite the temper. He was nothing like the old man he had met when buying techniques last time; that old man had been genuinely kind.

"Enough. If you don't have any, stop making trouble here. Get out."

The square-faced cultivator impatiently waved his hand. Ji Yuan could only cup his hands and take his leave.

However, a middle-aged woman in green robes from the Talismans section beside them explained, "Cold Iron Sand is in short supply within the Water Dragon Sect now. There is not even enough to supply the sect itself, so how could any possibly flow outside?"

"Our Hundred Treasures Pavilion has only been buying, not selling, lately. If you find any, you can bring it here. We'll purchase it at a high price—15 Spirit Stones per jin."

"So expensive?!"

Ji Yuan could not help staring wide-eyed.

Fifteen Spirit Stones per jin. Even if he could buy it, five jin would cost 75 Spirit Stones. Adding the 30 Spirit Stones originally needed to upgrade the [Fish Pond], that would make 105 Spirit Stones... enough to exchange for one Middle-Grade Spirit Stone!

A Middle-Grade Spirit Stone.

That damn thing was probably something only Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators could possess.

"What else did you expect?"

The square-faced cultivator, who had been speaking in that strange, mocking tone earlier, finally relaxed. "There's a cold-water region northwest of Zengtou City called Clear Ripple Pool. There may be Cold Iron Sand nearby. If you can gather some, no matter how much, our Water Dragon Sect will buy it."

"Yes."

Ji Yuan cupped his hands toward both of them before leaving the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

Before departing, he asked around nearby and learned that the Hundred Treasures Pavilion had stopped selling Cold Iron Sand half a year ago. At the time, it had only cost 5 Spirit Stones per jin. Unlike now, when the price had tripled and demand still far outstripped supply.

"Who knows what the Water Dragon Sect is fucking up to, needing so much Cold Iron Sand."

This sudden change disrupted Ji Yuan's plans. He could only buy eight Half-Spirit Fish first and return home.

For the time being, the path of upgrading the Fish Pond was blocked.

Unless he went searching around Clear Ripple Pool himself, but Ji Yuan had no intention of venturing into danger for now.

If he wanted stable income, upgrading the Pigsty would work too. The Blood Essence it produced each day was even more valuable.

It was just that the upgrade required 50 Spirit Stones, three Rotbone Flowers, and the inscription of Filth-Expelling Runes.

Ji Yuan also asked around about Rotbone Flowers while he was at it.

The answer he received was that Zengtou City did not have such things at all. He would have to look in other market towns, and even if he found them, they certainly would not be cheap.

Both the [Fish Pond] and the [Pigsty] were temporarily impossible.

So... did that mean he could only put the idea aside for now?

Ji Yuan looked at his panel. It seemed that was not necessarily the case.

The panel was called the Building Upgrade Panel. The buildings currently appearing on it were merely ones the original owner had more or less possessed already, but that did not mean the panel could only upgrade these buildings.

What about something like an [Alchemy Room] or an [Artifact Refining Room]?