Chapter 59 - 58: Fifth-Layer Qi Refining

Chapter 59: Chapter 58: Fifth-Layer Qi Refining

"The new fry are here. Isn’t it time to settle the Clear Spirit Grass for the previous batch of Cyan-Scaled Fish?" Little Black narrowed his tiny beady eyes and grinned widely, using Spirit Platform Transmission.

"What about the Little Cyan Fish you raised? How many of them became Spirit Beasts?" Chen Jianghe rolled his eyes at him. To think he was still fixated on the Clear Spirit Grass reward promised two years ago. All the Little Cyan Fish were completely dead. Without Spirit Stones, there would be no reward.

"They’re floating right up there... That despicable Demon Cultivator owes me two stalks of Clear Spirit Grass. No, at least three stalks!" Little Black said indignantly, tallying a grudge against Lann Tianxiang.

"Stop complaining. With so many dead fish containing Spiritual Qi as food, we’ll reap a harvest of Little Cyan Fish by the end of next year. I’ll reward you with three stalks of Clear Spirit Grass then." Chen Jianghe generously made an enticing yet attainable promise, making the overjoyed Little Black perform a somersault on the spot. Afterward, the turtle cheerfully went off to supervise the regular feeding of the Little Cyan Fish; otherwise, a portion of them would surely eat themselves to death.

Meanwhile, Chen Jianghe steered his boat toward Port No.1 to purchase daily necessities. Now that the crisis was resolved, there was no need to continue taking Fasting Pills. The remaining half bottle of Fasting Pills could easily be saved for when he truly needed them. When one wasn’t wealthy, they had to know how to live frugally. Thrift was key.

Having bought the necessities, he resumed his dull yet meaningful routine. Every day, he dedicated a fixed three hours to meditation and Cultivation, spending the rest of his time drawing Spirit Talismans.

In the first half of the year, he used up thirty-two pieces of talisman paper and successfully produced thirteen Water Arrow Talismans. His Talisman Success Rate had improved slightly, but not significantly. According to his plan, he would only attempt to draw other Water Element Spiritual Talismans once his Talisman Success Rate for the Water Arrow Talisman reached sixty percent—a goal that was still quite a distance away. However, Chen Jianghe was in no rush. With plenty of time on his hands, he would eventually grind his success rate for the Water Arrow Talisman past the sixty percent mark.

A month passed.

Yu Daniu sent a letter to share some good news: Yun Youniu had been tested and found to possess a Spirit Root, specifically a Four-Element Pseudo Spirit Root. As a result, the Yun Family immediately rewarded Yu Daniu with twenty Spirit Stones and raised his annual stipend to six Spirit Stones. This amount already exceeded the yearly allowance of the collateral descendants of the Yun Family, showing that Yu Daniu’s status had elevated significantly. In response, Chen Jianghe wrote back to express his congratulations.

A few days later, Zhou Miaoyun sent a letter inquiring about the detailed situation at Jingyue Lake. Had she heard some rumors? Chen Jianghe didn’t hide anything, informing her of everything he knew about the recent developments in the Yun Family.

Time flew by like an arrow. Three years passed in the blink of an eye.

Under the veil of night, Jingyue Lake was exceptionally peaceful. The dotted stars reflected upon the water’s surface, mirroring a vast Xinghai. A full moon shone on the lake, but as a fish flicked its tail, the reflection shattered into layers of rippling fragments that spread outward.

Sitting at the bow of the boat, Chen Jianghe swallowed a Qi Storage Pill. A faint cyan glow radiated around him—the Gang Shield used to contain the pill’s medicinal efficacy. He rapidly circulated the Returning Origin True Water Technique, absorbing and refining the Qi Storage Pill’s power. As a burst of spiritual light flared in his Dantian, a massive amount of Spiritual Qi flooded into his body. Merging with the pill’s medicinal power, it transformed into Magical Power and poured into his Qi Sea. His Cultivation had achieved another breakthrough.

"Thirty-four years old. Taking nearly five years to break through to the Fifth-Layer Qi Refining doesn’t seem too slow," he thought, ceasing his Cultivation with a smile curving his lips.

Over the past three years, he had bought another three Qi Storage Pills. Combined with the two he had purchased previously, he had consumed a total of five. On average, each Qi Storage Pill advanced his Cultivation by a little over a year. Combined with his five years of active Cultivation, it amounted to eleven years of bitter practice. This was much faster than the normal Cultivation speed of those with Five-Element Mixed Spirit Roots. Thanks to his ample Cultivation Resources and the abundant Spiritual Qi in the Inner Waters, he had managed to condense eleven years of progress into less than five.

Moreover, Chen Jianghe hadn’t merely improved his Cultivation; his Talisman Dao Skills had also ascended to the ranks of a Lower-Grade Talisman Master a year ago. When he was thirty-two, his Talisman Success Rate for the Water Arrow Talisman surpassed sixty percent, prompting him to try drawing other Water Element Spiritual Talismans. Ultimately, it took him a year, and at the age of thirty-three, he successfully drew five types of Lower-Grade Water Element Spiritual Talismans, officially becoming a Lower-Grade Talisman Master.

The Water Arrow Talisman, Cloud Rain Talisman, Water Escape Talisman, Water-Repelling Talisman, and Water Binding Talisman.

The Cloud Rain Talisman couldn’t truly be considered a Lower-Grade Spiritual Talisman. Since it was of little use to Cultivators, it was primarily sold to the mortal world. However, because its price fetched one Spirit Stone, it was reluctantly categorized as a Lower-Grade Spiritual Talisman. Once a Cloud Rain Talisman was activated, dark clouds would gather within a Fang Yuan of five miles, raining for an hour. This was equivalent to the power of a Third-Layer Qi Refining Cultivator casting the Small Cloud Rain Skill three times—an act that was enough to completely drain their Magical Power.

Of course, even in the mortal world, few people bought the Cloud Rain Talisman, making its position among Lower-Grade Spiritual Talismans extremely unstable. Because they were hard to sell, Chen Jianghe only drew two before stopping altogether. After all, even the Yun Family’s Spirit Talisman Shop only offered a buyback price of thirty grains of Spiritual Sand. That was essentially purchasing it at a seventy percent discount off the market price. Even so, that was considered highly fair. The buyback prices at the stalls in Port No.1 were as low as twenty grains of Spiritual Sand. They practically didn’t treat the Cloud Rain Talisman as a Lower-Grade Spiritual Talisman at all.

The function of the Water-Repelling Talisman was obvious. Even if one’s Magical Power was depleted, using it allowed a person to hide underwater for ten days. It was worth one Spirit Stone.

The Water Binding Talisman, as the name implied, was a binding technique among Water Element Magic. It could condense three chains of water to trap enemies and was also worth one Spirit Stone.

To cater to the market, Chen Jianghe primarily stuck to drawing Water Arrow Talismans and Water Escape Talismans. The Water Escape Talisman, in particular, was the truly best-selling Lower-Grade Spiritual Talisman. Moreover, its price was extremely high. The market price for a single Water Escape Talisman was three Spirit Stones, and the buyback rate was eighty-five percent of that. However, the difficulty of drawing a Water Escape Talisman was much higher than that of a Water Arrow Talisman. Chen Jianghe’s Talisman Success Rate for the Water Escape Talisman was only twenty percent.

In the first year, Chen Jianghe used up fifty-seven pieces of talisman paper and successfully drew twenty-three Water Arrow Talismans. Combined with his previous thirteen, he sold a total of thirty-six Water Arrow Talismans. This earned him thirty Spirit Stones and sixty grains of Spiritual Sand. After deducting the costs, his net profit was around twenty-five Spirit Stones.

In the second year, he consumed seventy-two pieces of talisman paper, successfully drawing six Water Arrow Talismans, two Water-Repelling Talismans, three Water Binding Talismans, two Cloud Rain Talismans, and five Water Escape Talismans. This netted him twenty-two Spirit Stones and seventy grains of Spiritual Sand. After deducting costs, he earned about nineteen Spirit Stones.

In the third year, he used sixty-eight pieces of talisman paper to successfully produce twenty Water Arrow Talismans and seven Water Escape Talismans.

He planned to head to Huxing Island on New Year’s Eve to sell them. By now, his resources were quite abundant. He had twenty Water Arrow Talismans and the seven Water Escape Talismans he drew himself; along with the one given to him by Zhou Miaoyun, he had a total of eight Water Escape Talismans.

He had also accumulated a considerable amount of Spirit Stones. After subtracting the Spirit Stones spent on purchasing three Qi Storage Pills, seven stalks of Clear Spirit Grass, Talisman-Making Materials, and a Talisman Pen, he still had twenty-three Spirit Stones and fifty-seven grains of Spiritual Sand. He had thirty-two pieces of talisman paper remaining, as well as a full box of Spiritual Ink. He had spent seven Spirit Stones to buy a genuine, high-quality second-hand Talisman Pen, which could still be used over four hundred times. Furthermore, he possessed half a bottle of Fasting Pills.

Most importantly, Little Black had successfully broken through to Mid-Stage Tier One half a year ago. Surprisingly, the depth of his Magical Power even surpassed that of Chen Jianghe, a Fifth-Layer Qi Refining Cultivator. Even without activating his Petrification Divine Techniques, Little Black’s Turtle Shell could withstand Chen Jianghe’s full-force attacks. If he did use his Petrification Divine Techniques, Chen Jianghe felt that anyone below Late-Stage Qi Refining wouldn’t be able to break through Little Black’s defenses at all.

However, Little Black’s offensive methods were lacking. A Water Arrow spat out by a Mid-Stage Tier One Spirit Beast actually possessed power only comparable to Chen Jianghe when he was at the Fourth-Layer Qi Refining. It was truly quite poor.