Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Five Years
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Chen Jianghe cited the time limit for high-level Fishery Farmers on the central island as his reason for politely declining Yu Daniu's enthusiastic invitation.
In truth, there were too many people in the courtyard, and he didn't want to get involved with them.
Returning to the inner waters, he took stock of his assets.
After the trip to the central island, he was left with only seventy grains of spirit sand.
Buying a gift for Yu Daniu's son had cost him forty grains of spirit sand.
It wasn't very valuable, but it was a token of his goodwill.
After securing the fishing boat, Chen Jianghe eagerly jumped into the lake and dived to the bottom, where he saw Xiao Hei herding a school of small green fish.
Judging by the size of these small green fish, they had probably lost another three or four ounces, and the spirit qi on their bodies was even more abundant.
"Xiao Hei."
Chen Jianghe called Xiao Hei over, looked at him seriously, and asked, "After you advanced to become a spirit beast, did you awaken any special abilities?"
"I did."
Xiao Hei's millstone-sized body swam over. He stretched out his bowl-sized turtle head, grinned, and blew a bubble.
Immediately after, his body began to change. His originally ink-black shell turned a deep cyan, like a turtle statue carved from thousand-year-old cyan jade.
"What kind of ability is this?"
"Petrification. It strengthens my physical defense. Hmm~ I don't think you can hurt me now." Xiao Hei gave Chen Jianghe a serious look.
"..."
"What other changes happened after you advanced?"
"My lifespan!"
Xiao Hei grew visibly excited when he mentioned his lifespan.
"Did you know? My lifespan increased by forty years, a whole forty years! That's half of my original lifespan. Cultivation is amazing."
"Uh~"
Chen Jianghe felt too embarrassed to mention his own lifespan. When Xiao Hei advanced to a spirit beast, he had gained a hundred and twenty years.
"Um, anything else?"
"Let me think... Right, the imprint of the two-legged beast on my spiritual platform became clearer. I can see that it looks just like you. And I can communicate with you now."
"It's so strange. I could communicate with the green-scaled fish and other aquatic creatures before, so why couldn't I talk to two-legged creatures?"
Xiao Hei tried to scratch his head with his front claw, but it was too short to reach.
"That rascal."
Chen Jianghe cursed inwardly, but on the surface, he smiled and said, "What about bloodline purity?"
"You really think I know everything!"
"I'm just a little turtle who just advanced. How could I know so much?"
Xiao Hei spread his four limbs, swung his head, and rolled his beady eyes, looking for all the world like a newcomer to the path of immortal cultivation.
The corner of Chen Jianghe's mouth twitched. He could now fully understand what the fat shopkeeper meant by a high-intelligence, long-lived, useless turtle.
It had no respect for him, its master.
He surfaced and returned to his cabin.
He was now completely certain that Xiao Hei was different from other Black Crystal Mystic Turtles. Blessed with the spiritual platform imprint, Xiao Hei had the potential to become a second-tier spirit beast.
The only thing was, he still didn't know the grade of Xiao Hei's bloodline purity.
He would inquire about the grades of spirit beast bloodline purity when the time was right.
Composing his mind, he sat cross-legged in meditation.
He absorbed the dense spirit qi of the inner waters, circulated the Guiyuan True Water Art, guided the qi through his meridians, and refined it into spiritual power.
A day in the mountains is a thousand years in the world.
Time flew by like a fleeting shadow, and five years passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day.
*Huuu~*
Chen Jianghe concluded his cultivation, slowly opened his eyes, and exhaled a breath of turbid air.
His dantian had expanded to the size of a goose egg, and it was filled to the brim with spiritual power. He had completed the dantian expansion of the early Qi Refining stage.
"Cultivating in the inner waters is indeed much faster. I can buy a Spirit Accumulating Pill now and break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining."
Six years, and he hadn't taken any Spirit Nurturing Pills during that time.
This was nearly four years ahead of his projected timeline for reaching the peak of the third level of Qi Refining. If he had taken Spirit Nurturing Pills, it would have been even faster.
The inner and outer waters were completely different worlds; the difference in spirit qi density was immense.
Perhaps because it was their first time raising the small green fish, neither he nor Xiao Hei had much experience.
They hadn't managed to cultivate any into spirit beasts.
They had only managed to reduce the average weight from four catties and five taels to one catty and six taels, earning a commission of two hundred and ninety grains of spirit sand.
As a result, he only had enough to buy one Spirit Nurturing Pill for Xiao Hei. After all, he had promised it to him and couldn't go back on his word.
"This time, we've raised three small green fish into spirit beasts. With that and the commission from the weight reduction, I should have enough to buy a Spirit Accumulating Pill."
Xiao Hei seemed to have mastered the technique of raising small green fish, as this batch had surprisingly produced three spirit beast green fish.
For each small green fish raised into a spirit beast, the Yun Clan would award one spirit stone—a genuine spirit stone, not an equivalent value in spirit sand.
Three small green fish meant three spirit stones.
"Caw~ Caw~"
Hearing the cry of an egret, Chen Jianghe walked out of the cabin and took the letter tied to its leg.
Back in the cabin, he opened the message tube.
"A joint letter from Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun."
Chen Jianghe's brows furrowed as he quickly scanned the letter's contents, wondering what could have prompted them to send a joint message.
"They want to leave Mirror Moon Lake?"
The letter didn't offer much explanation, only saying they would elaborate at the year-end gathering.
They had also sent a letter to Yu Daniu, clearly hoping he would attend this year's gathering.
Over the past five years, Chen Jianghe had attended every year-end gathering, but Yu Daniu was often absent.
He had only shown up once in those five years.
In those five years, their small alliance had undergone some astonishing changes.
First was Zhou Miaoyun. She had broken through to the fifth level of Qi Refining two years ago and had made great strides in the art of talismans.
She had once boasted at a gathering that she would definitely become a mid-rank Talisman Master within ten years.
Then there was Gao Peiyao. She had broken through to the fourth level of Qi Refining three years ago and was likely close to reaching the fifth level now.
But the one who had changed the most was Yu Daniu.
Today, Yu Daniu was a prominent figure in Mirror Moon Lake. In the six years since marrying into the Yun Clan, he had fathered four sons.
All of them were boys, an outrageous feat that made the other live-in sons-in-law grind their teeth in envy.
What was most infuriating was that Yu Daniu's wife's belly wasn't idle either; she had become pregnant again three months ago.
One could say that in the six years of their marriage, Yu Daniu's wife's womb had been put to maximum use.
Because of this, Yu Daniu was held in high regard by the Yun Clan. They had rewarded him with many cultivation resources, and he had even reached the fifth level of Qi Refining six months ago.
If things continued this way...
Yu Daniu would likely be the first in their alliance to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining.
Compared to Yu Daniu's comfortable life in the Yun Clan, the other six junior Fishery Farmers who had married into the clan at the same time were not doing so well.
Four of them had children: three sons and one daughter.
Those with sons were doing okay, just barely getting by.
But the three sons-in-law—the one with a daughter and the two with no children—had it rough. Not only did they suffer scorn outside, but they were also beaten by their wives at home.
One of the wives had even wanted to "borrow a seed" from Yu Daniu.
The most outrageous part was that the Yun Clan's upper echelons had tacitly approved of it. It was only because Yu Daniu doted on his own wife that he didn't let his wife's cousin have her way.
"Why would they suddenly think of leaving Mirror Moon Lake?"
"Oh well. I'll find out tomorrow at the Yuelai Inn after I hand over the small green fish to the Yun Clan."
Chen Jianghe was puzzled. The outside world was not peaceful right now; Lan Tianxiang had been appearing more and more frequently.
Lan Tianxiang had been sighted carrying out attacks in three different places at the same time.
It was utterly bizarre.