The Fish Were Out of Stock

After arriving in the demon realm, Tang Yuan first went to the seafood market in Loulan City and sold two hundred red spirit eels, earning 340 Spirit Stones.

Then he found Huang You'er and Hu Mei'er and devoted himself to cultivation in the residence they had rented with their own money.

Cultivation was hard power. To raise his cultivation, Tang Yuan, as a snake demon, did not need to learn any Cultivation Method for now; he only needed to swallow large quantities of pills.

The pills produced by the Luo Household were indeed good. By swallowing and refining them in the demon realm, Tang Yuan reached the Qi Refining First Layer in less than fifteen days.

On his fifteenth day in the demon realm, Tang Yuan gave Huang You'er and Hu Mei'er a few instructions, then returned to the human realm with a thought.

Since he had "picked up" Spirit Stones, he naturally had the money to buy Spiritual Qi.

Since he had become a trainee Alchemist of the Xi Household, he naturally no longer needed to go fishing at sea. All he needed to do each day was cultivate and refine pills, though he still had to pay the Xi Household one Spirit Stone in tribute each month.

As for the two hundred red spirit eels, he would naturally continue having Kang Cang and Liu Hanchuan buy them: they were all good brothers, so they could make money together...

During the first half of each month, Tang Yuan cultivated in seclusion and refined pills at his residence in the human realm. On the sixteenth, he went to the demon realm to sell red spirit eels, then spent the second half of the month popping pills to raise his cultivation in the Loulan City residence.

In the blink of an eye, more than three months passed, and Tang Yuan's cultivation improved greatly.

The human realm, where immortals cultivated through Qi Ingestion, the fourth day of the eighth month, year 4024 of the New Immortal Calendar, Ten Thousand Snakes Island.

Tang Yuan awoke from meditation and smiled knowingly. Over the past three months and more, he had swallowed and refined three strands of lower-grade fifth-tier metal-attribute Spiritual Qi, Gold in Gravel, and had now reached the Essence Sustaining Realm at the Meridian Opening Eighth Layer.

Meanwhile, in the demon realm, where immortals cultivated through Qi Refinement, he was a nine-faced snake demon. By swallowing large quantities of pills and absorbing and refining Moon Jade Radiance, he had solidly reached the Qi Refinement Third Layer and could try venturing into the jianghu.

After selling red spirit eels in the demon realm four times, adding what he had left from before, and deducting the cost of medicinal ingredients for pill-refining experiments and his expenses in both realms over the past three months and more, Tang Yuan now had a total of 1,300 Spirit Stones on him.

Becoming an Alchemist really did burn through money. In three months, Tang Yuan had spent more than 300 Spirit Stones on medicinal ingredients that went to waste alone, and even now he could not successfully refine the most basic Azure Spirit Pill.

Sometimes Tang Yuan wondered whether he truly lacked talent for pill refinement, and whether he had made the wrong choice in using his identity as an Alchemist to cover up his current trade in red spirit eels between the two realms, and his future trade in Spiritual Qi between them.

He was at the Meridian Opening Eighth Layer in the human realm, and the next realm meant breaking through to the Qi Refining First Layer. Now that he had reached the Meridian Opening Eighth Layer, he could also begin cultivating a Qi Refinement Cultivation Method.

The Cultivation Methods practiced by cultivators in the demon realm could not be cultivated in the human realm.

Over the past three months and more, Tang Yuan had visited the Mystic Dipper Market many times and had even gone to a larger cultivators' market in the human realm, but he had not found any high-tier Cultivation Methods.

The highest-tier Cultivation Method Tang Yuan had seen was a lower-grade sixth-tier one, priced at around 1,500 Spirit Stones. One more trip to the demon realm to sell red spirit eels would give him enough money.

But once he cultivated that lower-grade sixth-tier method, his cultivation would stop at the Qi Refinement Sixth Layer for the rest of his life. With the advantage of trading resources between the two realms, Tang Yuan truly could not reconcile himself to stopping at the middle stage of Qi Refinement.

Tang Yuan sighed softly and noticed a brocade box on the table. It contained mooncakes Liu Hanchuan had brought over yesterday, saying they were for his sister-in-law-Tang Yuan's wife-to try.

Tang Yuan gave a wry smile and thought, Ever since I married my wife at eighteen, I haven't watched the Mid-Autumn moon with her for six years.

My four children barely know me. When I went back at the end of last year, even my four-year-old eldest son, Tang Tiansong, wouldn't call me Dad.

I'll think about the Cultivation Method book later. Today, I'll celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival early with my wife and four children back home. That won't hold up my trip to the demon realm to sell red spirit eels, either.

Mm, I'll ask Xi Youde for leave first.

Tang Yuan washed up briefly, hung the Xi Household Alchemist's waist token at his belt, left the courtyard, and stepped onto his bamboo-leaf boat, flying southeast.

As a contracted spirit worker of the Xi Household, he was entitled to one vacation of about twenty days each year. Of course, he could not be exempted from that month's tribute to the Xi Household.

Tang Yuan had fished for the Xi Household for ten years. In previous years, he had generally taken leave at the end of the year to return to his mortal home on the Mystic Spirit Continent, so all four of his children's birthdays fell in the tenth month.

Xi Youde was not from the Xi Household's direct line, but by seniority, he was the paternal cousin-uncle of its head, Xi Xinfeng. He was not yet seventy, had reached the Qi Refinement Fifth Layer, and oversaw the Xi Household's two hundred fishing spirit workers. He lived on Emerald Creek Island.

Although Tang Yuan was now an Alchemist of the Xi Household, he was still in his probationary period. Not only did he have to pay the Xi Household one Spirit Stone in tribute each month, but Xi Youde also remained his immediate superior.

The King of Hell was easy to fool, but little devils were hard to deal with.

Tang Yuan exhausted every flattering word he could think of, wrapped up a Spirit Stone in a red envelope, and even invoked Xi Yunshu's name before Xi Youde reluctantly agreed to give him twenty days' leave.

Feeling somewhat depressed, Tang Yuan returned from Emerald Creek Island to his residence on Ten Thousand Snakes Island. He had not even finished packing his clothes when a knock sounded at the courtyard gate.

Tang Yuan opened the gate and saw Kang Cang and Liu Hanchuan standing outside, their heads drooping.

He invited them into the main hall, but before he could speak, Liu Hanchuan cupped his hands in greeting and said apologetically, "I've failed you, Brother Tang. I can't help you collect those hundred red spirit eels this month."

"Oh, it's all right.

The wind and waves are strong every seventh and eighth month, so red spirit eels really are harder to catch.

How many can you collect?" Tang Yuan waved a hand, motioning for Liu Hanchuan to sit down and talk.

"I can't collect a single one." Liu Hanchuan looked ready to cry. If he couldn't collect any red spirit eels, he could forget about earning those ten Spirit Stones for his trouble.

"How did that happen?

Old Kang, how many can you help me collect this month?

My buyer wants two hundred red spirit eels a month. A few fewer won't matter, but if there are too few, it'll be hard to keep doing business in the future." Tang Yuan frowned slightly.

Kang Cang sighed softly. "Hanchuan and I naturally wanted to help you collect two hundred red spirit eels. That way, each of us could earn ten Spirit Stones.

Those ten Spirit Stones were so easy to earn, but heaven doesn't always grant our wishes.

This month, I can't collect a single one either."

Tang Yuan frowned. "Is it because the fishermen caught fewer red spirit eels this month and want to jack up the price?

Hanchuan and I have only been fishing for ten years, so we don't have much face. Won't they even give you face, Old Kang? Is money all they see?

Forget it. For the sake of my reputation with my customer, I'm willing to raise the price by another grain of spirit sand per eel."

"It's not about money at all, and it's not that there aren't any fish..." Liu Hanchuan clenched his teeth hard.

"Then why? Buying red spirit eels hasn't harmed the Xi Household's interests. On the contrary, it lets the fishermen earn more money, and they catch more ordinary spirit fish too. That's good for the Xi Household as well." Tang Yuan was somewhat puzzled.

The Xi Household had roughly two hundred fishing spirit workers in total. Each fisherman had to offer up a hundred jin of various spirit fish every month, after which they could sell any additional catch to the Xi Household.

Each month, a fisherman could catch about three hundred jin of spirit fish. After deducting the amount offered up, he could earn two Spirit Stones a month to pay his rent and buy pills and Spiritual Qi.

Over the course of a year, after expenses, the fishermen could scarcely save any Spirit Stones.

However, besides catching various kinds of spirit fish with nets, the fishermen could also angle for red spirit eels. They could catch two or three a month and save the money from selling them, allowing them to put aside two or three Spirit Stones over a year.

The Xi Household's two hundred fishermen could catch about five hundred red spirit eels a month. Even in the seventh and eighth months, when the wind and waves were strong, they could still catch about four hundred in total.

The Xi Household did not sell the red spirit eels it collected. Instead, it distributed them free to its members as a benefit.

Tang Yuan only collected two hundred a month. By rights, not only did this not affect the Xi Lineage's business, it even saved the Lineage money: the Xi Lineage paid twenty fewer Spirit Stones for fish each month.

"Could it be that some Xi Household members couldn't get free red spirit eels and started interfering?" Tang Yuan asked with a frown.

"Brother Tang, you really are clever. It is because someone from the Xi Household is interfering that Old Kang and I can't collect any red spirit eels." Liu Hanchuan sighed. "This person doesn't hold a high position or great power and isn't from the Xi Household's direct line, but...

"We really can't afford to offend them."

Damn it, since they're not from the Xi Household's direct line, who cares who they are? Cut off my path to riches, and I'll kill them! Tang Yuan thought, a glint of cold light flashing in his eyes...