CHAPTER 75: CHAPTER 75: CHANGES IN THE FISH POND AND CHICKEN CAGE

Ten days later.

On a desolate island near Zengtou City, at the edge of Cloud Rain Marsh, there was a light "pa—" sound as over ten water mirrors around Ji Yuan instantly shattered, scattering into countless droplets on the ground.

Seeing this, Ji Yuan couldn’t help but rub his brow.

He raised his hand and recalled the Ancient Bronze Mirror of top-grade magical artifact level that Xu Fugui had gifted him.

The mirror’s name: Mist Mirror.

Its effect was exactly as Elder Xu described—once activated, it could project a whole array of mirror images.

Ji Yuan, using this as reference, had successfully comprehended the second layer of the "Canglang Sword Technique"—Mirror Stacking.

It was just that the final move of this Mirror Stacking—transforming all the mirrors into Water Arrow Technique—was still just a bit out of reach.

But he was close now. The trickiest step was behind him; what remained was to try more, polish the technique, and it would be done.

He looked up at the sky—the time was about right.

He lifted his right hand. In the nearby reeds, a patch of reed suddenly morphed into a deep blue flying sword, darting into his sleeve in a flash.

He stepped forward, and the boots under his feet glowed with a blue light.

The next instant, his figure appeared right on the water’s surface.

Before he could drop, the Thunder Falcon Boat appeared, carrying him straight toward the lakeside cottage.

For such a short distance, Ji Yuan didn’t bother flying—no need, really. Just taking the boat home was fine, like always.

Saved him from being seen and having to deal with people calling him "Elder" again.

Just as he arrived home, Ji Yuan heard splashes coming from the backyard fish pond. He went in to check and saw a grass blade fish of first-stage initial phase whip its tail—stirring up a bunch of nearby spirit fish in a frantic dash.

Looking at the ten first-stage, initial-phase spirit fish in the pond, Ji Yuan broke into a satisfied smile.

Ten days ago, after leaving Zengtou City, he went first to the nearby Taian Square.

Disguised and with a different face, he first sold eleven Jin of Cold Iron Sand at the Hundred Treasures Tower, pocketing 220 spirit stones.

Then at that same tower, he sold the White Water Flying Sword and bought instead a top-grade flying sword—the Cyan Cicada Sword, good for disguise and assassinations; and with wicked speed.

As he was leaving, he asked one last thing: were there any other top-grade artifacts for sneak attacks, like flying needles and such?

Who’d have thought—they actually had one!

So he sold his old Life-Taking Needle, and threw in the set of mid-grade flying sabers he’d gotten from the Qin Family.

The Life-Taking Needle, honestly, was just too low-level now—couldn’t keep up with Ji Yuan’s late Qi Cultivation magical combat. As for the flying sabers, with a top-grade flying needle, he didn’t need them anymore.

Life and death fights—one good sneak attack is already amazing.

If it fails, no one’s going to give you a second chance.

The top-grade flying needle is called "Spirit Water Needle," which can hide, dissolve into water, then suddenly burst out for a deadly strike.

This suits Ji Yuan perfectly as a water cultivator, so he dropped eighty-five spirit stones and took it.

As for the talisman brush, Ji Yuan didn’t forget.

He sold his low-grade talisman brush and bought a mid-grade one—the Red-striped Flowing Sand Brush.

It boosted his success rate a bit, and finally allowed him to attempt drawing top-grade first-stage talismans.

Because of all this, Ji Yuan’s magical artifacts were massively upgraded.

Just the top-grade ones: the Cyan Cicada Flying Sword, Thunder Falcon Boat, Water-Split Dragon Spear, Spirit Water Needle, Hundred Fish Shield, and Mist Mirror.

Other Qi Cultivation seventh-layer cultivators, just breaking through that barrier alone would exhaust all their savings.

So the vast majority of Qi Cultivation seventh-layer cultivators are still working with mid-grade magical artifacts.

If you want to save up spirit stones, you need them for training too.

Go out fishing, or do other jobs—even like those at Booth No. 18, using late-stage Qi Cultivation to run trade between the markets... even so, there’s always losses.

Only those who’ve lingered at seventh layer for years, or those who’ve hit the eighth layer, can swap out their mid-grade for top-grade artifacts.

Even then, one or two top-grade artifacts is considered very good.

But look at Ji Yuan—

Just hit seventh layer, and already sitting on six top-grade magical artifacts!

On top of that, three more mid-grade ones.

And an array flag like Yin Ghost Banner.

After upgrading his artifacts at Taian Square, Ji Yuan returned to the lakeside cottage for a night, then headed out to Zengtou City the next day.

This time—the goal was to buy spirit fish.

For a late-stage Qi Cultivator like Ji Yuan, half-spirit fish weren’t even worth his attention. If buying, it had to be spirit fish.

But even with the spirit fish, he could only get first-stage initial-phase ones, and needed grass-eating types—their temperament was gentler, they don’t eat meat, and aren’t very aggressive.

If you buy meat-eating spirit fish—

Raise them?

You’d be raising gu, more like.

That little backyard fish pond is basically a natural gu pit.

First-stage mid-phase, one or two—fine. But more than that, even Ji Yuan, late-stage Qi Cultivation, couldn’t suppress them.

So the initial-stage, grass-eating spirit fish were the best fit. These cost about ten spirit stones apiece, but once upgraded to first-stage mid-phase, the starter price goes above thirty spirit stones each.

Ji Yuan bought ten of these spirit fish at once, and also picked up ten half-spirit fish.

With the fish pond right there, might as well buy as much as he could.

Next up: the chicken cage. Last time, Ji Yuan had slaughtered all the green-yellow chickens, so this time when he found the chicken cultivator, half-spirit chickens just weren’t enough.

Had to buy red-crowned chickens, real demon beasts—or better yet, spirit chickens!

Only, the chicken cultivator wasn’t so reliable; or maybe, this area around Cloud Rain Marsh just didn’t have much of that type.

Mainly, most here are water-type demon beasts.

The chicken cultivator canvassed all the local markets and only found three red-crowned chickens for Ji Yuan.

Good thing, all three were hens.

Can lay eggs, and that’s all that matters.

Spirit chicken eggs are worlds above those green-yellow, half-rate ones.

The spiritual qi in every spirit egg is greater than a whole spirit stone.

Downside: these chicken demons have to eat demon beast meat every day, so another expense for Ji Yuan.

But compared to what he gets out of it, the expense hardly matters.

He also restocked his pigsty with another spirit pig.

Cultivation may be up, but body refinement can’t be neglected either.

Ji Yuan made a round of his backyard, grabbing the red-crowned rooster and taking out a small vial of Cock’s Crown Blood.

Looking at the now totally limp rooster, then at the three plucky hens, Ji Yuan couldn’t help but sigh. "Brother Chicken, the spirit’s willing, but, come on, pace yourself."

As for that welcome gathering Du Wanyi mentioned for new Water Dragon Sect Mutual Aid Association members—Ji Yuan remembered, but didn’t push it.

He didn’t know who to contact, so just waited for Du Wanyi to reach out again.

But, who could’ve guessed—instead of Du Wanyi, someone else turned up...

By midday the next day, someone knocked at his door—a chubby middle-aged man at Qi Cultivation sixth layer.

"Greetings, Elder Ji."

The fat man offered a polite bow, by the book.

Ji Yuan chuckled and asked, "Shopkeeper Wu, what brings you here?"

This Shopkeeper Wu ran a store in Zengtou City with some partners, doing pretty decent business; Ji Yuan often went there to sell Blood Essence or Water Dew.

Sometimes he bought talisman paper there too.

After enough transactions, they’d gotten pretty familiar.

Only, the former "Daoist Ji" was now "Elder Ji."

This had Shopkeeper Wu a bit wistful. "Well, I was wondering if Elder Ji had any new Blood Essence cultivated recently?"

"Blood Essence?"

Since returning from Clearwave Pool, Ji Yuan hadn’t sold any, so he had half a Jin stashed.

"Yes, seems something’s happening over at Water Dragon Sect—the demand for Blood Essence shot up, and prices too. So I came specially to see if Elder Ji has any on hand?"

Shopkeeper Wu spread his hands. "Our shop’s been in short supply lately."

Ji Yuan usually sold only a few ounces at a time.

One ounce of Blood Essence was twenty spirit stones. Even half a Jin is only about a hundred.

Profit like that... obviously not worth Shopkeeper Wu coming over himself. So really, the Blood Essence was an excuse—the real goal was paying a visit.

"Oh? How much for an ounce of Blood Essence now?"