Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Four Long Years
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"Uh..."
Chen Jianghe was momentarily stunned, then a smile appeared on his face. The later Xiao Hei reached adulthood, the better, as it meant his potential was higher.
Reaching adulthood at the middle stage of the first tier was vastly different from reaching it at the late stage.
If it was the late stage of the first tier, his chances of breaking through to a second-tier spirit beast in the future would be very high.
Another point was that the life exchange hadn't caused Xiao Hei's vitality to decline prematurely. This was crucial, as it directly affected his potential.
"At what age do your Black Crystal Mystic Turtle clan mature?"
"I don't know."
"Huh? Then how do you know you're not an adult yet?"
Chen Jianghe rolled his eyes, completely bewildered by Xiao Hei.
"Look at my claws."
Xiao Hei swam in front of Chen Jianghe, extended his short, thick front claw, and waved it. His beady eyes blinked at Chen Jianghe.
"See how black they are? My intuition tells me that once they develop spots, I'll be an adult."
Chen Jianghe noticed the short legs and claws were entirely jet-black, without a single trace of any other color.
"Then when do you think they'll develop spots?"
Chen Jianghe asked, still a bit worried.
He was still concerned that Xiao Hei was being affected by his own lifespan.
After all, Xiao Hei's maximum lifespan was only one hundred and twenty years, which was half the lifespan of a typical spirit beast.
For a turtle-type spirit beast, Xiao Hei had only a third of the normal lifespan.
"I don't know. Anyway, I'm still young,"
Xiao Hei said nonchalantly, shaking his head.
"Can you sense the purity of your bloodline?"
"Yeah, it's much stronger than the Green Scaled Fish. Look, they're all scared of me now."
As he spoke, Xiao Hei bared his teeth at the small green fish swimming over, startling them so much that they froze on the spot and began to tremble.
With a gentle wave of Xiao Hei's claw, the Green Scaled Fish, as if receiving a command, immediately started swimming in an orderly pattern.
The bloodline purity of the small green fish was second-grade, lower-tier, and even that was a stretch. Comparing them, it was impossible to determine the specific purity of Xiao Hei's bloodline.
It was also difficult to get accurate bloodline information from Xiao Hei himself.
Because Xiao Hei's innate inherited memories were very vague; after all, he had started with only a first-grade bloodline.
He would have to wait until he encountered a third-grade bloodline spirit beast and judge based on the aura of bloodline pressure it emitted.
Chen Jianghe returned to the surface of the lake.
He sat cross-legged in meditation, calming his mind, breathing in and out spiritual energy, and circulating the Guiyuan True Water Art to convert the absorbed spiritual energy into magical power.
He was now at the fifth layer of Qi Refining and only needed to increase the magical power in his dantian.
Once he reached the late stage of Qi Refining, he would need to purify his magical power, gradually causing it to liquefy.
In cultivation, there is no sense of time; a hundred years can pass in a flash.
While it wasn't that exaggerated, between cultivating and drawing talismans, time slipped by quietly, and four years had passed without him noticing.
Chen Jianghe's cultivation had broken through to the sixth layer of Qi Refining two years ago.
In the same year, the Tiannan Sect's demon-slaying squad successfully ambushed Lan Tianxiang and his nephew in Bixia Town. Under the combined assault of three Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Tiannan Sect, the Yun Clan Ancestor, and Yun Bufan...
Lan Tianxiang's soul was struck by a magical artifact wielded by Deacon Lan of the Tiannan Sect. He was severely injured but managed to escape using a secret art at the cost of his four limbs and his Dao foundation.
His nephew, Lan Yunyi, however, was slain by Gao Peiyao and the other three disciples from the immortal sect.
But they did not manage to get Lan Yunyi's storage bag.
This filled the four immortal sect disciples, including Gao Peiyao, with immense resentment, and they had the Yun Clan conduct a thorough search of the entire Bixia Town.
Yet, they still couldn't find Lan Yunyi's storage bag.
The three Foundation Establishment cultivators were also quite angry, as they had failed to kill Lan Tianxiang, only managing to severely injure him.
After returning to the sect, they wouldn't receive the full contribution point reward for the mission.
Most importantly, they hadn't obtained the storage bags of either Lan Tianxiang or his nephew. According to rumors, Lan Tianxiang had stolen no less than seven thousand spirit stones from Qiyun Market City.
Even for Foundation Establishment cultivators, this was a huge sum.
The demon-slaying squad that had come to Mirror Moon Lake left filled with resentment, holding not a single good impression of the place.
When Gao Peiyao was about to leave, the four of them had a small gathering, and it was clear that Gao Peiyao looked somewhat disheartened.
It was highly likely she hadn't gained any benefits from the killing of Lan Yunyi.
However, Mirror Moon Market City began to recover two years ago. With the promotional activities launched by the Yun Clan, the number of visiting cultivators increased daily.
It was faintly reminiscent of the prosperity when the market first opened, showing that the Yun Clan was quite skilled in marketing.
As the Yun Clan's Mirror Moon Market City grew more prosperous, Yu Daniu and his wife also obtained better resources.
Yu Daniu's father-in-law broke through to the ninth layer of Qi Refining at the age of seventy. Although he had no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment, he had become a great cultivator at the ninth layer of Qi Refining.
He secured a great opportunity for Yu Daniu and his wife, purchasing a first-tier, high-grade spirit liquid from the immortal sect's market city that could replenish one's vitality.
"Three days ago, Daniu sent a letter saying he was going into seclusion to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining. I imagine he has successfully reached the seventh layer by now."
Chen Jianghe tidied up a bit, preparing to head to Mirror Moon Market City to sell the spirit talismans he had drawn this year.
Four years had passed, and his talisman-drawing skills had improved significantly.
His success rate for drawing Five Elements attack talismans had reached sixty percent.
His success rate for drawing Five Elements escape talismans had barely reached thirty percent.
As for protection talismans, he had only just started trying this year, and his success rate was also a pitiful thirty percent.
He had accumulated a good number of spirit stones over these years.
In the first year, his income from drawing talismans was seventy-one spirit stones. After deducting costs, he and Talisman Master Chu Lang each received thirty-two spirit stones.
In the second year, after deducting the cost of drawing talismans, the profit was sixty-eight spirit stones, and they each got thirty-four spirit stones.
In the third year, it was a bit more. His talisman skills had improved, and after deducting costs, the two of them split eighty spirit stones.
Of course, this year's earnings were a bit lower.
Because Chen Jianghe had tried drawing protection talismans, he had used one hundred and seventy sheets of talisman paper and successfully created forty-two protection talismans.
The market price for one protection talisman was two spirit stones.
The buy-back price at Mirror Moon Pavilion was eighty-five percent, which amounted to seventy-one spirit stones and forty spirit grains.
After deducting costs, he and Talisman Master Chu Lang could only split thirty-two spirit stones each.
The reason they could still get so many spirit stones was that Chen Jianghe had broken through to the sixth layer of Qi Refining, and his magical power had increased by nearly sixty percent.
After leaving Mirror Moon Pavilion, Chen Jianghe's accumulated spirit stones had reached one hundred and forty-three.
One hundred and thirty-eight spirit stones from four years of talisman making, eleven spirit stones from two harvests of fish farming, plus the six spirit stones he had saved before.
Minus the three Spirit-Nourishing Flowers that Xiao Hei had consumed well ahead of schedule.
That's right, Xiao Hei's cultivation resources had once again exceeded the budget.
Of the eight Spirit Accumulating Pills and eight Spirit-Nourishing Flowers he had bought at once, Chen Jianghe still had one Spirit Accumulating Pill left.
Xiao Hei had not only finished the eight Spirit-Nourishing Flowers but had also eaten the three additional ones Chen Jianghe bought later.
No wonder everyone knew the benefits of raising spirit beasts, yet so few cultivators actually did it.
It consumed too many spirit stones; it was practically a gold-devouring beast.
Chen Jianghe did a quick calculation. From the very beginning, the resources he had fed Xiao Hei amounted to nearly seventy spirit stones.
This made it clear why the selling price of a fully grown spirit beast was so high.