"Twelve grains of spirit sand."
Yu Daniu felt downhearted. The two spirit stones he had received from Gao Peiyao, along with the fifty-odd grains of spirit sand he had saved, had almost all been used up in just over three months.
Trying his hand at the Talisman Dao sounded easy.
Actually doing it, however, proved to be a craft that consumed a tremendous number of spirit stones. It was fine if he managed to cross the threshold, but if he did not, everything he had spent before that would be money thrown into the water.
"Take this spirit stone."
Chen Jianghe took out a spirit stone and held it out to Yu Daniu.
Zhou Miaoyun had just given it to him as financial support.
"Brother Jianghe, this... I can't take it. I have enough spirit sand to buy daily necessities."
Yu Daniu repeatedly waved his hands in refusal.
He needed spirit stones, but he knew Chen Jianghe did too. They were scarce cultivation resources. He could not accept it.
Chen Jianghe had already helped him more than enough.
"With trouble brewing in the Yun Household, even the harbor isn't safe. Prices have probably multiplied several times by now. Take it. You'll still have to pay me back someday."
Without waiting for Yu Daniu to say anything more, Chen Jianghe tossed it over.
He had thought carefully before lending Yu Daniu a spirit stone.
Zhou Miaoyun had given him two spirit stones. Together with his remaining thirty grains of spirit sand, that was enough to buy one Qi-Nourishing Pill.
The thirty grains of spirit sand would also more or less see him through to the end of the year.
But he had taken a Qi-Nourishing Pill just four months ago, and its pill toxins had not yet been completely expelled from his body. It was not advisable to take another so soon for cultivation.
Once the year ended and the pill toxins had been completely expelled, he could buy another Qi-Nourishing Pill to take.
Thus, he only needed to keep one spirit stone. Once the Yun Household collected the fish and he received his income for the year, he could find a way to buy another Qi-Nourishing Pill.
"I..."
Yu Daniu was moved. During their conversation earlier, he had sensed Gao Peiyao distancing herself from him, yet Chen Jianghe had not disdained him for being of no value and had kept speaking up for him.
"We shouldn't linger at the harbor. We need to hurry to the market to buy what we need, then return to the Aquaculture Waters."
Chen Jianghe patted Yu Daniu on the shoulder. Now was not the time to get emotional and say sentimental things.
They arrived at the market.
From a distance, however, they saw Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun standing outside the Yun Household's shop.
It was a shop run by a member of a collateral branch of the Yun Household. It primarily sold spirit marrow rice and was the only shop in the mortal market that sold goods related to cultivators.
Buying spirit marrow rice?
Chen Jianghe did not approach to greet them. Instead, he turned and led Yu Daniu into another, ordinary rice shop.
Spirit marrow rice contained spiritual energy and cost eight grains of spirit sand per jin.
Not only could its spiritual energy be absorbed and refined, but it also kept hunger at bay. One jin of spirit marrow rice could keep someone from going hungry for ten days.
Most importantly, spirit marrow rice contained little non-nutritive matter, which meant longer intervals between emptying one's bowels.
Chen Jianghe had no such hang-ups.
After buying all their daily necessities, they had a shop assistant make six trips with a cart before everything was loaded onto the boats.
While loading the boats, Chen Jianghe noticed that they were not the only ones buying large quantities of daily necessities to stockpile.
Mirror Moon Lake spanned eight hundred li. Even if unrest broke out, it would begin outside first. The lake's waters were the Yun Household's lifeblood, and it would be difficult for disorder to take hold there.
Many junior fisher-farmers had also thought of this.
"Daniu, don't risk your life gathering information anymore. You have to be alive to offer any value."
"Mm, I understand, Brother Jianghe."
Their fishing boats glided through the water as they each returned to their own waters.
Chen Jianghe looked at the mountain of goods piled inside his cabin. They had cost him a full twenty-six grains of spirit sand.
Prices had risen to more than three times their usual level.
Still, Chen Jianghe could understand.
Those mortals had risked their lives and gone to great trouble to transport supplies to the harbor. Their goods were worth that price.
He just wondered whether the spirit marrow rice at the Yun Household's shop had also gone up in price. Zhou Miaoyun, meanwhile, was filling her pots and bowls to the brim amid this turmoil. Spirit talismans were war supplies, and consumables at that.
Judging by what Zhou Miaoyun had said at the Welcoming Inn, it was not difficult to guess that spirit talisman prices must have soared.
Compared with their usual prices, they might have risen by twenty or thirty percent.
Once I become a senior fisher-farmer, I must learn a craft. I'll start with spirit talismans. I was an outstanding student in the painting department before, so I should have some talent for the Talisman Dao.
If that doesn't work, I'll try the Dao of Alchemy.
He had a long lifespan. It really would be a waste not to master a craft.
Besides, the most important things on the path of immortality were wealth, companions, methods, and land.
Wealth meant spirit stones and all manner of cultivation resources.
The higher his cultivation realm rose, the more spirit stones he would consume and the greater his need for cultivation resources would become.
Without a craft, how would he buy cultivation resources?
Time passed, and another three months went by.
The dog days of summer arrived.
The weather was scorching. The Golden Crow spewed flames madly, baking the entire sky until not a cloud remained.
Chen Jianghe walked to the bow, flicked out a silver thread of magical power, and hauled out a Big Blue Fish weighing about two jin.
He removed the letter from the White Egret's left leg.
"Daniu went to the harbor again."
Chen Jianghe frowned, but after a moment's thought, his brow relaxed.
He understood Yu Daniu's actions. Within an alliance, one had to offer value, whether future value or immediate value.
Relying solely on others' help could not last.
Yu Daniu had risked going to the harbor to gather information because he did not want to put Chen Jianghe in a difficult position. He was showing the alliance his worth.
As he read the letter, Chen Jianghe's expression shifted slightly.
"Another hundred-plus junior fisher-farmers and more than a dozen senior fisher-farmers have actually left Mirror Moon Lake's waters!"
If Mirror Moon Lake fell into turmoil, the outside would surely descend into chaos first. Were these cultivators not afraid of the bandit cultivators outside?
Chen Jianghe read on.
Yu Daniu had spent five days at the harbor this time and learned that most of the departing fisher-farmers were members of lineages.
They belonged either to Qi Refining Aristocratic Clans within Mirror Moon Lake's territory or to Qi Refining Aristocratic Clans in the surrounding territories.
At this, Chen Jianghe understood.
Qi Refining Aristocratic Clans had limited resources and could not possibly distribute them equally among every member of their lineages.
The better members would surely receive more, and the poorer ones less.
This had led many lineage members to become fisher-farmers for the Yun Household, supporting themselves and saving up cultivation resources.
Zhou Miaoyun was one such example.
After finishing Yu Daniu's letter, he wrote a reply.
He no longer tried to stop Yu Daniu from gathering information. Everyone had their own choices to make, and besides, this was the only way Yu Daniu could offer value.
He merely urged Yu Daniu to be careful in his letter.
Another five months passed, bringing them close to the year's end.
Yu Daniu sent another letter.
"Hmm? So many senior fisher-farmers have left!"
Over those five months, hardly any more junior fisher-farmers had left. Instead, more than twenty senior fisher-farmers had departed.
With that, only half the senior fisher-farmers in the Inner Waters remained.
"Senior fisher-farmers at the late Qi Refining stage would be top-tier fighters even in Qi Refining Aristocratic Clans. Their departure was inevitable."
Having cultivated all the way to the late Qi Refining stage, they certainly would not choose to remain at Mirror Moon Lake and go down with the Yun Household's ship.
The Yun Household was not the only Foundation Establishment Immortal Clan built on aquaculture.
"Daniu said in his letter that at this Fisher-Farmer Conference, the Yun Household will make major changes to the Outer Waters. It might be an opportunity that benefits junior fisher-farmers."
(End of chapter)
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