Longevity with a Turtle

Chapter 18: Chapter 17: Yun Family Flying Ship

The alliance gathering ended.

Zhou Miaoyun took Yu Daniu to the Workshop Association to purchase the Talisman-Making Materials. Gao Peiyao had likely calculated that Yu Daniu had no extra Spiritual Sand on him, which was why she took the initiative to lend him two Spirit Stones. As for the Spirit Stones Gao Peiyao offered to lend him as well, Chen Jianghe didn’t refuse and gladly accepted them.

They were no longer ordinary friends. Having sworn an oath together, they were now allies with shared interests. Furthermore, the Spirit Stones Gao Peiyao gave them were a loan; they needed to be repaid. Even if he didn’t accept her loan now, he would still have to lend her Spirit Stones in the future when she reached Sixth-Layer Qi Refining and needed to raise funds to buy a Misfortune-Breaking Pill.

Upon arriving at the port, Chen Jianghe and Gao Peiyao parted ways and boarded their respective fishing boats.

Chen Jianghe thought, ”Four Spirit Stones. What tremendous audacity.”

Returning to his cabin, Chen Jianghe gained a new understanding of Gao Peiyao based on today’s alliance. Four Spirit Stones was not a small sum. It was the equivalent of seven or eight years’ income for an ordinary Fisherman and Farmer. It was enough to purchase two Qi Nourishing Pills. For Gao Peiyao to so boldly invest it in him and Yu Daniu... was she not afraid of the investment failing?

He was fine; backed by his ’Breeding Talent,’ he could ensure Gao Peiyao made a steady profit. Yu Daniu, however, was full of variables. If his apprenticeship in Talisman Making under Zhou Miaoyun failed, a Fisherman and Farmer without breeding talent would find it extremely difficult to repay those two Spirit Stones over the next twenty years, let alone fund Gao Peiyao’s purchase of a Misfortune-Breaking Pill.

He thought, ”If Daniu truly lacks talent in Talisman Making, he will inevitably be isolated and eventually withdraw from the alliance. By lending him two Spirit Stones, Gao Peiyao has done her utmost. Daniu won’t blame her.

”Moreover, with Daniu’s honest and simple nature, he will eventually scrape together the Spirit Stones to repay her in the future.”

He had thought Gao Peiyao merely possessed good Spirit Root Talent, ambition, and strategic thinking, but he hadn’t expected her emotional intelligence to be this exceptional as well.

He wondered, ”Is she really the girl Old Gao brought out of a mountain village?”

If it was true as Old Gao had said, then before coming to Jingyue Lake, the scope of what Gao Peiyao had been exposed to was strictly limited to a single village. How could she possess such ambition and strategy, and cultivate such high emotional intelligence? Chen Jianghe sensed that Gao Peiyao was hiding secrets, but he couldn’t ask her directly. After all, everyone had secrets of their own.

He himself had even more.

Pushing aside these distracting thoughts, he took out all of his Spiritual Sand. His compensation from breeding Large Cyan Fish over the past two years totaled 194 grains of Spiritual Sand. Adding the 69 grains he had saved previously and deducting his expenses over these two years, he currently had a total of 243 grains of Spiritual Sand. Coupled with the two Spirit Stones Gao Peiyao had lent him, he now had more than four Spirit Stones’ worth of wealth.

He already had a plan for how to spend these Spirit Stones. He would use it all to buy Qi Nourishing Pills. That meant two Qi Nourishing Pills—one for himself and one for Little Black.

Although he could buy a Spirit-Encompassing Pill to help Little Black directly open its Qi Sea, the current situation with the Yun Family was unstable. He also needed to elevate his Cultivation as quickly as possible. Reaching Third-Layer Qi Refining sooner and mastering the Water Escape Technique would give him an extra means of self-preservation.

If he wasn’t worried about dampening Little Black’s enthusiasm for work, Chen Jianghe would have used both Qi Nourishing Pills for himself. In that case, he would definitely be able to break through to Third-Layer Qi Refining in two years. The cultivation progress of his Five-Element Mixed Spirit Root was slow. Had it not been for consuming a Qi Nourishing Pill, it would have taken him seven years just to reach Second-Layer Qi Refining. Breaking through to Third-Layer Qi Refining would require eight years.

One Qi Nourishing Pill was equivalent to nearly two years of bitter cultivation, while the Pill Poison it contained would take a year to expel from the body. Calculating the time, taking two Qi Nourishing Pills over two years would perfectly allow him to cultivate to Third-Layer Qi Refining.

He decided, ”I’ll use it all to buy Qi Nourishing Pills for now. Once I have enough strength to protect myself in the future, I’ll dedicate my efforts to nurturing Little Black.”

With his mind settled, he began his Cultivation on the fishing boat. There was no rush to buy the Qi Nourishing Pills in the next couple of days. The Fishermen and Farmers convention had not yet convened, and he still needed to stay at the port for another seven or eight days.

The day before the Fishermen and Farmers convention.

Chen Jianghe went ashore and entered the Workshop Association, only to see sorrowful expressions on everyone’s faces. The approaching end of the Yun Family’s Foundation Establishment Ancestor’s lifespan was equivalent to the sky collapsing for them.

Without the protection of the Yun Family, Basic-Level Fishermen and Farmers like them were nothing more than bottom-tier Loose Cultivators, ripe for slaughter. Mid-Stage Qi Refining Cultivators fared slightly better. They had the ability to protect themselves, and in the future, they could seek out a Qi Refining Family to serve as Foreign Clan Elders. Those in Early-Stage Qi Refining, however, would only be reduced to victims of robbery.

”Have you heard? The eldest master of the Yun Family was killed at the Linyun Mine. Word is the Bai Family of Qiyun Mountain did it.”

”How is that possible? The eldest master of the Yun Family is at Eighth-Layer Qi Refining and holds a High-Grade Spiritual Artifact. Who could possibly kill him!”

”Exactly. You can’t just spread wild rumors. If a Steward hears this, three years of your work will go down the drain.”

”You guys still don’t know? It’s not just the eldest master of the Yun Family who was murdered by the Bai Family. Rumor has it that even the Yun Family Ancestor was intercepted by them and robbed of the Foundation Establishment Pill.”

”Is this true?!”

As he walked through the crowd, these whispered discussions reached his ears. Chen Jianghe’s expression changed slightly. He knew of the Bai Family of Qiyun Mountain. They were also a Foundation Establishment Immortal Race and had established a sizable Independent Practitioner Marketplace on Qiyun Mountain. However, its foot traffic wasn’t very high. The security around the Qiyun Marketplace was poor, with many Tribulation Cultivators occupying the area. It was far less safe than the Qinghe Marketplace.

And this Bai Family was the Yun Family’s sworn enemy; their grudge had lasted for a century. This was entirely due to the Linyun Mine. It was a Tier One High-Grade Spirit Ore mine, and the total amount of Spirit Stones that could be extracted from it exceeded ten thousand.

However, because this Linyun Mine was located at the border between Jingyue Lake and Qiyun Mountain, it sparked a conflict between the two Foundation Establishment Immortal Races. Legend had it that the conflict a century ago ended with the death of the Bai Family’s Patriarch. Had they continued fighting, both Foundation Establishment Immortal Races would have surely destroyed each other, only to the benefit of outsiders.

As for the mining rights, they were split evenly. The section within the Jingyue Lake territory was known as the Linyun Mine. The section within the Qiyun Mountain territory was called the Qiyun Mine. But a blood feud between the two Foundation Establishment Immortal Races was forged as a result.

The Miners at the Linyun Mine were paid very well; the commission for digging up a single Spirit Stone was five grains of Spiritual Sand. The only problem was that it was far too dangerous. Not only did they have to guard against those around them, but they also had to watch out for the Tribulation Cultivators prowling the borders of the two factions. Even when Fishermen and Farmers took on odd jobs during the Fish Sleep Stage, none of them would choose to go to the Linyun Mine, because nine out of ten who went never returned.

WOOOOOOO!

A resonant wail echoed through the sky.

A Hundred Feet Flying Ship tore through the clouds, streaking from Huxing Island over the Workshop Association. The flagstaff, bearing the painted character for ’Yun,’ gleamed with a cyan light tempered over a century. The Array Patterns on the ship’s hull rippled with light under the sun. At the moment it crushed its way across the firmament, the surrounding clouds churned and scattered like boiling water.

It was heading toward the Linyun Mine.

”It’s actually true! The Yun Family’s Flying Ship has been deployed. The eldest master of the Yun Family really died at the Linyun Mine!”

”Was it really the doing of the Bai Family?”

”I’m afraid the two Foundation Establishment Immortal Races are going to war again.”

”The Yun Family Ancestor is heavily injured and his lifespan is nearing its end. Can they even match the Bai Family of Qiyun Mountain?”

”We Fishermen and Farmers need to prepare early.”