Longevity with a Turtle

Chapter 82: Chapter 81: 4 Pieces of News

”Aunt Yao is far away in the Celestial South Sect, and Fellow Daoist Zhou cannot proactively communicate with her. I presume that Fellow Daoist Zhou will soon write to borrow Spirit Stones from you and my father.” After speaking, Yun Xiaoniu respectfully sat back down.

”Brother Jianghe, I think the eldest boy makes a valid point,” Yu Daniu said, looking at Chen Jianghe.

Chen Jianghe nodded. Yun Xiaoniu’s reasoning was sound; the Zhou family’s situation was exactly as he described. The reason they had withdrawn from the Qinghe Marketplace was simply that they could no longer survive there. In a word, they were struggling to make ends meet. Under these circumstances, if the Zhou family wanted to move to Lotus Town and rent ten acres of Spirit Fields, they certainly wouldn’t have enough to cover the rent either.

”Let’s discuss it again when Fellow Daoist Zhou writes her next letter,” Chen Jianghe said.

With that, their small gathering concluded. Yu Daniu and Yun Xiaoniu escorted Chen Jianghe out of the Jingyue Immortal Tower and watched him depart.

”Eldest,” Yu Daniu began. ”In a rural farming family, the eldest brother is like a father. You must show your authority as the big brother in front of your younger siblings. As for Fifth Brother’s behavior, there’s no need for words—you just have to beat some sense into him.”

”He’s still young, I...” Yun Xiaoniu met Yu Daniu’s stern gaze and immediately nodded. ”I understand, Father.”

”When I was at my lowest, Jianghe never looked down on me. He even reached out to pull me up. Now, he’s granted me another great favor, ensuring I’ll become a Steward without a doubt. You must always remember his kindness.”

”Yes, Father.”

Later, Chen Jianghe arrived at the Jingyue Treasure Pavilion. He first bought a Lower-Grade Peach Wood Talisman Pen, followed by four boxes of Spiritual Ink and fifty sheets of High-Quality Yellow Paper.

The total came to fifteen Spirit Stones. Setting aside the seven Spirit Stones meant for Talisman painting costs, he advanced the remaining eight out of his own pocket to cover the new pen. He would deduct this from his future Talisman profits. Next, he purchased six Qi Storage Pills. Combined with the one he already had, these seven pills would be enough for him to reach Sixth-Layer Qi Refining Perfection before the age of forty-five. He also bought ten Spirit-Encompassing Flowers for Little Black.

The idea of synchronizing his Cultivation Resources with Little Black’s was now entirely out of the question. Even before he had become a Middle-Grade Talisman Master, Little Black’s resource consumption had already doubled his own. However, since he had managed to save up some Spirit Stones, he wasn’t stingy about nurturing his pet.

Still, he couldn’t spend everything on Little Black. He needed his savings for something else—when the time came to leave the Jingyue Marketplace, he had to be fully prepared, which would require an enormous amount of Spirit Stones.

Six Qi Storage Pills cost thirty Spirit Stones, and ten Spirit-Encompassing Flowers cost forty. By the time he walked out of the Jingyue Treasure Pavilion, his stash had dropped from one hundred and forty-three Spirit Stones to sixty-five. At least he still had a decent surplus on hand.

Returning to the breeding waters, Chen Jianghe first pulled out a Spirit-Encompassing Flower to keep Little Black quiet before resuming his Talisman painting. As a low-level Cultivator and a Talisman Master, his life was dull and monotonous, but it was an excellent way to temper his state of mind, making him ever more composed.

In the second month of the new year.

Chen Jianghe consumed a Qi Storage Pill to boost his Cultivation. Naturally, Little Black popped out right on cue, demanding resource synchronization. According to Little Black’s logic, normal times were normal times, but a synchronization period was a synchronization period. While it sounded unreasonable at first, upon closer reflection, it truly made absolutely no sense at all.

Unable to win the argument, Chen Jianghe could only hand over another Spirit-Encompassing Flower. In just two short months, Little Black had consumed two of them. That was eight Spirit Stones—equivalent to the annual salary of a Direct Descendant of the Yun family. Many Cultivators bought Spirit Beasts, but very few actually managed to nurture them properly. The reason was simple: Spirit Beasts burned through far more Spirit Stones than Cultivators did.

SQUAWK!

A familiar, piercing cry echoed through the air. Knowing a letter had arrived, Chen Jianghe stepped out of the cabin, retrieved it, and opened it. It was from Zhou Miaoyun. Just as Yun Xiaoniu had predicted, she was indeed reaching out to him and Yu Daniu for help.

”Fifty Spirit Stones?”

Chen Jianghe crushed the letter into dust and shook his head. From the moment Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun left Jingyue Lake, the Mutual Aid Alliance existed in name only. Back when they knew very little about the Immortal Path, they believed Jingyue Lake was the entirety of the Cultivation Realm, so all their oaths were based on remaining there. Giving Spirit Stones to help Gao Peiyao had been done out of friendship, as well as an investment in her talent and background.

”Twenty Spirit Stones it is,” Chen Jianghe murmured after a moment of thought, deciding on the amount he would lend.

Twenty years ago, Zhou Miaoyun had lent him two Spirit Stones and a Water Escape Talisman—resources worth a total of five Spirit Stones. At the time, that wasn’t a significant sum for her, as she was already a Lower-Grade Talisman Master and could easily spare it. Repaying that favor with twenty Spirit Stones was more than generous, especially considering he had already paid back the original two Spirit Stones he owed.

His mind made up, Chen Jianghe headed to the Jingyue Marketplace to consult Yu Daniu. Before he could even ask, Yu Daniu brought up Zhou Miaoyun’s request first.

”A hundred Spirit Stones... Does she really think I’m the Yun Family Master?” Yu Daniu chuckled, somewhat speechless. ”Ten Spirit Stones is the absolute limit of what I can scrape together right now.”

Chen Jianghe nodded without further comment. Asking for a hundred Spirit Stones was indeed a bit ridiculous. For Yu Daniu to offer ten was already a nod to their old camaraderie when he had tried his hand at the Talisman Dao. Of course, Yu Daniu’s claim that ten was his limit was pure nonsense. Chen Jianghe handed over his twenty Spirit Stones and asked Yu Daniu to have someone deliver the funds to Zhou Miaoyun.

Yu Daniu was now at Seventh-Layer Qi Refining and was on the verge of becoming a Steward, meaning he had half a foot in the Yun family’s inner decision-making circle. Technically, a Yun family Steward needed to be at Eighth-Layer Qi Refining, but Yu Daniu’s father-in-law had recently become an Elder. Since his father-in-law’s branch was short a Steward, Yu Daniu got the opportunity. Thanks to Chen Jianghe’s strategic advice, Yu Daniu’s promotion was essentially set in stone. They were just waiting for the official announcement at the Yun family’s Mid-Autumn council meeting.

Two months later, another letter arrived from Zhou Miaoyun. She expressed her profound gratitude to Chen Jianghe, stating that the Zhou family had successfully rented ten acres of Spirit Fields in Lotus Town and finally secured a foothold. She added that if he ever visited the Qinghe Marketplace in the future, he was welcome to be a guest at the Zhou family’s home in Lotus Town.

Chen Jianghe sent back a brief letter of congratulations.

In September, during the Double Ninth Festival.

Yun Xiaoniu arrived at the Zone C No.12 Water Area, bringing four pieces of news.

The first was naturally the good news that Yu Daniu had officially been appointed as a Yun family Steward. From then on, he was officially one of the higher-ups. A live-in son-in-law rising to the upper echelons of a Foundation Establishment Immortal Race made Yu Daniu something of a legend across Jingyue Lake.

The second piece of news was that the Yun family had paid a massive price to trade for a Tier Two Spirit Beast’s Spirit Core from the Beast Taming Immortal Race Zhou Family. They fed it to the Yun Family Ancestor’s Spirit Pet, the Long-Armed Ape, successfully helping the Combat Spirit Pet advance into a Tier Two Spirit Beast.

With this, the Yun family now boasted two Foundation Establishment Ancestor Cultivators and one Tier Two Spirit Beast with strength rivaling a Foundation Establishment Ancestor. They had officially elevated themselves into the ranks of the upper-class Foundation Establishment Immortal Races within the Eastern Domain of Celestial South.