Chapter 3 - 2: Invitation

Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Invitation

Time turned, and a month flashed by in the blink of an eye.

Apart from Cultivation, Chen Jianghe poured a bag of Rice Bran into the lake every day, having Little Black supervise the Large Cyan Fish as they fed.

The Rice Bran used for feeding was ground from rice husks, but these were no ordinary husks. They were ground from the outer shells of Spirit Marrow Rice consumed by Cultivators. Although they contained no Spiritual Qi, they had grown immersed in Spiritual Qi for a long time, making them the best food for Large Cyan Fish.

Spirit Marrow Rice was grown in a Spirit Field. It contained trace amounts of Spiritual Qi and was quite expensive. One pound could be exchanged for one Fasting Pill, making it worth eight grains of Spiritual Sand per pound.

Chen Jianghe could not afford it at present.

The price of Rice Bran was not low either. Fortunately, the Yun Family provided it for free; otherwise, the income of a Fisherman and Farmer would be even more meager.

His daily necessities were nearly exhausted, and the night soil bucket was full. Chen Jianghe rowed his boat to the port, emptied the night soil, and entered the market to purchase his daily needs. Once finished, he did not linger and headed straight back to his fishing boat.

However, just as he was about to board, someone called out to him.

"Fellow Daoist, wait a moment."

The middle-aged man, like Chen Jianghe, wore the short, coarse clothes of a Fisherman and Farmer. A white cloud pattern was embroidered on his chest, indicating his profession. He was burly with a dark complexion, and his facial features gave off an impression of honesty and sincerity.

"Yes?" Chen Jianghe turned to look at the middle-aged man, asking indifferently.

Fighting was prohibited at the Yun Family port, though cursing was not, so Chen Jianghe was not afraid of this burly middle-aged man whose Cultivation he could not see through.

"The two-month Fish Sleep Stage has arrived. Does Fellow Daoist want to earn some Spiritual Sand during this time?" the middle-aged man asked. His voice was earnest and plain.

Chen Jianghe shook his head.

"It’s not mining work; it’s helping the Lann Family plant Spirit Marrow Rice. You can earn three grains of Spiritual Sand in two months. Although it’s a bit low, it’s safe." The middle-aged man thought Chen Jianghe had mistaken him for a broker recruiting miners, so he quickly explained the nature of the job.

The Lann Family was a Qi Refining Family. They had rented a Fang Yuan of fifty miles of territory from the Yun Family and owned ten acres of Spirit Field, primarily for cultivating Spirit Marrow Rice. Furthermore, the Lann Family’s territory was located in Bixia Town, thirty miles south of Jingyue Lake, which was much closer than the mining area.

Three grains of Spiritual Sand for two months was indeed a good job.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist, but I don’t want to go out this year," Chen Jianghe declined politely with a smile.

"Fellow Daoist, can you count me in?" A skinny young man passing by heard the middle-aged man’s introduction and immediately became interested.

"Well..." The middle-aged man looked at the young man’s enthusiastic expression and said with some embarrassment, "I approached this Fellow Daoist first."

Chen Jianghe chuckled and said politely, "It’s fine. Just let this Fellow Daoist have it."

After saying that, Chen Jianghe didn’t wait for the middle-aged man to say anything else. He turned around, boarded his fishing boat, gently rowed with his bamboo pole, and swiftly left the port.

"Bro, that kid is way too cowardly." The skinny young man looked at Chen Jianghe’s departing boat, spat on the ground, and muttered a curse.

"No, this is caution. Only by being cautious can one live a little longer." The middle-aged man’s expression subtly changed. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, revealing a trace of approval. As he watched the passing Fishermen and Farmers, his eyes returned to their clear state, and his face once again displayed a harmless smile as he continued to search for targets.

More than two months passed quietly.

During the Fish Sleep Stage, Chen Jianghe did nothing but focus on his Cultivation. He even skipped the chore of feeding the fish. His only other activity was visiting the port market once every half month to buy necessities.

Aside from that one time he was invited to do short-term work at the port, no one approached him during his subsequent visits. Since short-term jobs usually lasted for two months—perfectly coinciding with the Fish Sleep Stage—there was no further recruitment later on. Even if there were, no one would take the jobs.

SQUAWK SQUAWK SQUAWK!

It was the cry of a White Egret delivering a letter.

Chen Jianghe looked puzzled. There were only three days left until the day they sold their fish and collected their wages. When that time came, all the Fishermen and Farmers would gather together, free to chat as much as they wanted. They could also spend a little money, share drinks at the market with the Fishermen and Farmers they were close to, and find some entertainment together.

He walked out of the cabin and retrieved the letter. Chen Jianghe searched his waters for a long time before he finally, albeit reluctantly, gave the White Egret a three-pound Large Cyan Fish, his heart aching at the cost.

"It’s from Daniu?!" Chen Jianghe opened the letter and began to read. His expression gradually turned solemn, and a hint of lingering fear appeared in his eyes.

"Over a hundred Fishermen and Farmers died? How could there be so many!" The contents of the letter made Chen Jianghe gasp.

Yu Daniu wrote in his letter that over thirty Fishermen and Farmers went mining, and thirty returned, resulting in a casualty rate of less than ten percent. Compared to the thirty percent casualty rate in previous years, this was truly a lucky year for the Fishermen and Farmers. The mines had only taken in thirty-two Fishermen and Farmers, which was less than a fifth of the usual number.

"Huh? There were actually over two hundred Fishermen and Farmers who went to do short-term work for the Lann Family!" Seeing this, Chen Jianghe clearly realized something was wrong.

The Lann Family was considered a relatively large Qi Refining Family in Jingyue Lake, but they only had ten acres of Spirit Field. They absolutely did not need over two hundred short-term Spirit Farmers. Furthermore, the Lann Family would never ask Fishermen and Farmers with Cultivation to plant ordinary rice.

Sure enough, as he read further, Chen Jianghe understood why so many Fishermen and Farmers had died. The Lann Family had recruited a large number of short-term Fishermen and Farmers just to murder them and steal the wealth they had accumulated over the years.

Logically speaking, the Lann Family shouldn’t have dared to do such a thing. The Yun Family could sit back and watch Fishermen and Farmers suffer casualties during the Fish Sleep Stage, as they could simply confiscate the breeding yields of the deceased. But the Yun Family would absolutely not sit back and watch a large number of Fishermen and Farmers be murdered. If they couldn’t recruit enough Fishermen and Farmers at the beginning of the year, it would greatly affect the harvest of Large Cyan Fish.

The reason the Lann Family dared to commit such an unconscionable massacre of over a hundred Fishermen and Farmers was that they were planning to flee and no longer intended to stay in the Yun Family’s territory.

Yu Daniu knew this so clearly because he had also been one of the short-term Fishermen and Farmers in that batch. It was only because Yu Daniu’s home was in Bixia Town that he managed to escape the slaughter by pure luck when he went home midway to visit his relatives.

Chen Jianghe crushed the letter into pieces and threw it into the night soil bucket.

Because he had been thinking about selling his fish and collecting his wages soon, he hadn’t gone to the port recently. He figured that by now, rumors about the Lann Family scamming and murdering the Fishermen and Farmers were flying all over the port. After all, out of the more than two hundred Fishermen and Farmers who went to the Lann Family for short-term work, over a hundred had died, meaning about a hundred had made it back.

"At the year-end Fisherman and Farmer assembly, the Yun Family will probably give all of us an explanation. Otherwise, with our safety so poorly guaranteed, who would ever want to be a Fisherman and Farmer again?" Chen Jianghe muttered as he sat back on his bed and exhaled a breath of stale air. Casting aside his distracting thoughts, he composed himself and began circulating the Returning Origin True Water Technique for Cultivation.

His Cultivation over the past few months had brought about noticeable changes to his Dantian Qi Sea; it was now the size of a peanut. Once it reached the size of a goose egg, his Dantian Qi Sea would be considered completely formed. At that point, his Cultivation would reach Third-Layer Qi Refining, and he would only need Magic Power Perfection to break through to Fourth-Layer Qi Refining.

Absorbing Spiritual Energy during Cultivation was also the best way to stave off hunger.

In three days, the Yun Family would come to collect the fish. There wasn’t much food left on his boat, but there was no need to make a trip to the port market in the meantime.