Chapter 40 - 39: 5 Years

Chapter 40: Chapter 39: 5 Years

Using the time limit for a Senior Fisherman and Farmer’s stay on Huxing Island as an excuse, Chen Jianghe politely declined Yu Daniu’s warm hospitality. In truth, there were too many people in the courtyard, and he didn’t want to interact with that many people.

Upon returning to the Inner Waters, he took inventory of his wealth.

After his trip to Huxing Island, he only had seventy grains of Spiritual Sand left. He had spent forty grains buying a gift for Yu Daniu’s son. Though not of high value, it represented his good intentions.

After anchoring his fishing boat securely, Chen Jianghe couldn’t wait to jump into the lake. Diving to the bottom, he saw Little Black walking a school of Little Cyan Fish.

Looking at the size of these Little Cyan Fish, he reckoned they had lost another three or four taels of weight, while the Spiritual Qi on their bodies had become even more abundant.

"Little Black." Chen Jianghe called Little Black over, looked at him seriously, and asked, "After reaching the Entry Tier and becoming a Spirit Beast, did you awaken any Divine Techniques?"

"I did."

Little Black’s millstone-sized body swam over. Stretching out his bowl-sized turtle head, he grinned broadly and spat out a bubble. Immediately after, his physical body transformed. His originally pitch-black turtle shell turned deep cyan, resembling a turtle statue carved from thousand-year-old cyan jade.

"What kind of Divine Technique is this?"

"Petrification. It enhances my physical body’s defense. Hmm... I feel like you wouldn’t be able to hurt me," Little Black said, giving Chen Jianghe a serious once-over.

"..."

"What other changes happened after you reached the Entry Tier?"

"My lifespan!" When it came to his lifespan, Little Black grew noticeably excited. "Did you know? My lifespan increased by forty years. A whole forty years! That’s half of my original lifespan. Cultivation is truly wonderful."

"Uh..."

Chen Jianghe was almost too embarrassed to bring up his own lifespan. When Little Black reached the Entry Tier and became a Spirit Beast, Chen Jianghe’s lifespan had increased by a whopping one hundred and twenty years.

"Well, is there anything else?"

"Let me think... Oh right, the Two-Legged Beast mark on my Spirit Platform has become clearer. I can see that it’s your exact appearance, and I can finally communicate with you.

"It’s really strange. I could communicate with Cyan-Scaled Fish and other aquatic creatures before, so why couldn’t I communicate with Two-Legged Beasts?"

Little Black tried to scratch his head with his front claw, but it was too short to reach.

"Bastard," Chen Jianghe cursed inwardly, but on the surface, he smiled and asked, "What is bloodline purity?"

"Do you really think I know everything?

"I’m just a little turtle who recently reached the Entry Tier. How could I know so much?"

Little Black sprawled his four limbs, bobbed his head, and darted his beady eyes around, putting on the act of a completely clueless turtle new to the Immortal Dao.

Chen Jianghe’s lips twitched. He could finally understand what the fat shopkeeper meant by "a useless turtle with high intelligence and a long lifespan."

He didn’t respect his master in the slightest.

Surfacing to the lake, he returned to his cabin. By now, he was absolutely certain that Little Black was different from other Black Crystal Profound Turtles. Empowered by the Spirit Platform Mark, Little Black possessed the potential to become a Tier Two Spirit Beast. It was just that he still didn’t know the grade of Little Black’s bloodline purity.

He would inquire about the grading for Spirit Beast bloodline purity when a suitable opportunity arose in the future.

Gathering his heart and mind, he sat cross-legged and began meditating. He absorbed the dense Spiritual Qi of the Inner Waters, circulated the Returning Origin True Water Technique, and guided the Spiritual Qi through a full Circulation to convert it into Magical Power.

A day in the mountains felt like a thousand years in the mortal world. Time flew by like a fleeting white foal, and five years quietly slipped away.

One day.

PHEW.

Chen Jianghe concluded his cultivation, slowly opened his eyes, and exhaled a breath of stale air. His Dantian had expanded to the size of a goose egg, completely filled with Magical Power. He had finished the Dantian expansion for Early-Stage Qi Refining.

"Cultivating in the Inner Waters is indeed much faster. I can buy a Qi Storage Pill and break through to the Fourth-Layer Qi Refining," Chen Jianghe thought.

Six years had passed, during which he hadn’t taken a single Qi Nourishing Pill. This was nearly four years earlier than he had anticipated to reach Third-Layer Qi Refining Perfection. If he had taken Qi Nourishing Pills, it would have been even faster.

The Inner Waters and the Outer Waters were entirely different worlds; the disparity in Spiritual Qi concentration was massive.

Perhaps because it was their first time raising Little Cyan Fish, both he and Little Black lacked experience. They hadn’t managed to breed any Spirit Beast Little Cyan Fish. They had only managed to reduce the average weight from four catties and five taels down to one catty and six taels, earning a commission of two hundred and ninety grains of Spiritual Sand.

Therefore, it was only enough to buy one Qi Nourishing Pill for Little Black. After all, it was what he had promised him beforehand, and he couldn’t go back on his word.

"This batch yielded three Spirit Beast Little Cyan Fish. Coupled with the average weight commission, it should be enough to buy a Qi Storage Pill," he mused.

Little Black seemed to have mastered the technique of raising Little Cyan Fish, unexpectedly rearing three Spirit Beast Little Cyan Fish in this current batch. For every Spirit Beast Little Cyan Fish raised, the Yun Family would reward one Spirit Stone. This was a genuine Spirit Stone, not a substitute payment in Spiritual Sand.

Three Little Cyan Fish meant three Spirit Stones.

SQUAWK! SQUAWK!

At the cry of a White Egret, Chen Jianghe stepped out of the cabin and untied the letter secured to its leg. Returning inside, he opened the letter tube.

"A joint letter from Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun," he muttered.

Frowning, Chen Jianghe quickly scanned its contents, wondering what kind of matter would prompt the two of them to send a joint letter.

"Are they leaving Jingyue Lake?" he thought in surprise.

The letter didn’t offer much explanation, simply stating they would discuss the details at the year-end gathering. At the same time, they had also sent a letter to Yu Daniu. Clearly, they hoped he would attend this year’s gathering.

Over the past five years, Chen Jianghe had attended every single year-end gathering, but Yu Daniu was frequently absent. In fact, he had only shown up once during those five years.

During these five years, their little alliance had undergone massive changes that left people dumbfounded.

First was Zhou Miaoyun. Two years ago, her Cultivation broke through to the Fifth-Layer Qi Refining, and she had made significant progress in the Talisman Dao. She once boldly declared at a gathering that she would definitely become a Middle-Grade Talisman Master within ten years.

Then there was Gao Peiyao. She had broken through to the Fourth-Layer Qi Refining three years ago and was likely nearing the Fifth-Layer by now.

However, the one who had changed the most was Yu Daniu. Today, Yu Daniu had become a prominent figure in Jingyue Lake. In his six years as a live-in son-in-law for the Yun Family, he had fathered four children. All four were boys—an outrageous feat that made the other live-in sons-in-law grind their back teeth in sheer envy. What they found most exasperating was that his wife’s belly hadn’t been idle either; she became pregnant again three months ago. It was safe to say that in their six years of marriage, his wife’s womb had been put to maximum use.

Because of this, the Yun Family highly valued Yu Daniu and rewarded him with numerous Cultivation Resources. Half a year ago, he actually reached the Fifth-Layer Qi Refining.

If things continued developing at this rate, Yu Daniu was very likely to be the first person in their alliance to break through to the Late-Stage Qi Refining.

Compared to Yu Daniu’s comfortable and prosperous life in the Yun Family, the other six Basic-Level Fisherman and Farmers who had married into the family at the same time were having a rough time. Four of them had children—three sons and one daughter among them. Those with sons fared slightly better and could barely scrape by. The three live-in sons-in-law who had a daughter or no children at all were utterly miserable. Not only did they suffer cold glares from outsiders, but they were even brutally beaten by their wives at home.

One of the wives had even considered borrowing seed from Yu Daniu. The most absurd part was that the Yun Family’s higher-ups tacitly approved of the idea. It was only because Yu Daniu deeply cherished his own wife that he didn’t let his wife’s female cousin succeed.

"Why would they come up with the idea to leave Jingyue Lake?" he pondered. "Forget it. I’ll know once I hand over the Little Cyan Fish to the Yun Family tomorrow and head to the Yuelai Inn."

Chen Jianghe felt perplexed. The outside world was far from peaceful right now, and Lann Tianxiang was showing his face more and more frequently. In fact, Lann Tianxiang had launched assassination attacks in three different places simultaneously.

It was incredibly bizarre.