If any other cultivator with an unsteady Dao heart were to face the agonizing process of channeling Gui Water spiritual Qi to trace their ridians, they would likely give up in no ti. Yet Yulou happened to be a reckless soul who did not fear death.
It wasn't that he was stubborn, but rather that a series of coincidences had allowed him to view pain with complete equanimity. For one, regarding the cultivation of disciples with fire and water spirit roots during the Qi Induction stage, the Wang Clan always assigned the most common, mass-produced Qi Induction Technique.
The Qi Induction Technique possessed no special characteristics whatsoever. Its only advantage was that, as the introductory thod designated by the Immortal Alliance for the Qi Induction stage, it was highly versatile.
Throughout his decade-long cultivation of the Qi Induction Technique, Yulou had never felt even a shred of engagent with the process. In a sense, the Source Vein Gui Water Qi thod was the very first formal thod Yulou had encountered since stepping into the cultivation world so many years ago.
Consequently, he had an incredibly high tolerance for the pain involved in cultivation—he simply had no idea how effortless other thods could be. On the other hand, before his transmigration, Yulou had originated from the East Asian cultural sphere of a certain planet.
That particular cultural sphere was rather unique. It was unique because, under its cultural influence, people tended to internalize the nonsensical belief that 'only by enduring the bitterest of hardships can one rise above the rest.'
Even though the clever ones eventually realized that enduring endless hardships only led to a lifeti of endless hardships, Wang Yulou's awakening in this regard wasn't entirely thorough.
Thus, upon discovering how excruciating it was to trace his ridians with Gui Water spiritual Qi, a sense of security settled deep within his mind—one that could only be described as sorrowful and absurd.
'Only by enduring the bitterest of hardships can one rise above the rest.'
'The fragrance of plum blossoms cos from the bitter cold.'
'When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a man, it always first suffers his mind and will.'
'Diligent study is the path through the mountain of books; bitter endurance is the boat across the boundless sea of Dao.'
Painful? It was supposed to be painful!
It all aligned! Everything aligned perfectly!
Thinking of the beautiful tis that would await him once his cultivation succeeded, Yulou encouraged himself in his heart. He pushed his body up, crawled off the ground, and sat cross-legged upon the futon once more.
Again! It hurt, it hurt so much!
'It's fine... The fragrance of plum blossoms cos from the bitter cold. I can take it!'
It hurt, it hurt so much!
'It's fine... Bitter endurance is the boat across the boundless sea of Dao. I can take it!'
Wang Yulou, the unfortunate transmigrator from the East Asian cultural sphere, continuously manipulated his own mind while enduring the bone-corroding pain to control the Gui Water spiritual Qi as it traced his ridians. Cold sweat poured down his face like streams of water.
Those who knew what was happening would understand that Wang Yulou was cultivating; those who didn't might think he was washing his face. In this manner, by the ti he urged the Gui Water spiritual Qi for the third ti, Yulou finally succeeded in controlling the spiritual energy to advance a tiny fraction within his ridians.
Scanning his internal state with his divine sense, he watched the imperceptible expansion of his ridians. After confirming it repeatedly, he found that they had indeed widened slightly, allowing his racing heart to finally settle.
As long as it worked! Painful?
But wasn't the plum blossom starting to sll sweet now? Effort brought rewards; it was a fair trade!
Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, Yulou was just about to continue his cultivation when he recalled the agonizing pain of the Gui Water ridian tracing from a mont ago. Today is only the first day of cultivating the Source Vein Gui Water Qi.
The transformation of spiritual energy is already complete, and the Gui Water ridian tracing has advanced a fraction. No matter how one looks at it, this should count as working quite hard.
Perhaps... I should call it a day?
Amidst his biological aversion to pain, Yulou began to deceive himself. This wasn't his fault, but rather the limitation of a living organism—it was simply too painful. But soon, Yulou suddenly pressed his lips together tightly. If he slackened just because of pain, then too many things could beco excuses to stand still. 'When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a man, it always first suffers his mind and will.' The path to success was never smooth, but those who failed always shared a common trait: they could not control their own desires. "Laziness is a desire, and fantasizing about safety is also a desire! I, Wang Yulou, have not even been defeated by pain! Am I to be controlled by my own desires?" With that, he closed his eyes once more, mobilizing the Gui Water spiritual Qi within his Sea of Qi.
This ti, even the Dripping Water Immortal Venerable behind the incense burner was rendered speechless. What an East Asian super-worker.
He had actually managed to bring a slight shock to an Immortal Venerable. Wang Yulou was like this, and so were the millions of ordinary people in the nation where he lived in his past life.
It was precisely because they possessed such a spiritual core that they could create extraordinary achievents in a short amount of ti.
---
The mont Wang Yulou secured the position of the person-in-charge of Riverbend Fishing Village, he issued five directives through Qin Churan.
He demanded spirit fish every day, a new location for his residence, the construction of a minor wonder exclusive to him, a water gate as a prestige project, and finally, the seizure of personnel managent under the guise of training. Qin Churan was still young and might not understand the underlying motives behind Wang Yulou's demands.
However, the recipients of her ssages were Zhang Xuewu and Cui Dingyi. One was in his fifties and the other was over a century old.
Both were old foxes among old foxes, so they naturally saw through Yulou's intentions clearly.
"...Senior brothers, if you have no objections, I shall go ahead and compile the information on the Qi Induction realm cultivators."
Having delivered Yulou's words, Qin Churan saw that the two old Qi Refining cultivators remained silent. Taking it as their tacit consent, she stood up and left without any psychological burden.
Since she had already latched onto Wang Yulou's thigh, she had no reason to fear these two Town Guardian Cultivators. Wang Yulou had secured the position of person-in-charge of Riverbend Fishing Village by relying on his strength and background.
Qin Churan was certain that, given Wang Yulou's current status as an Inner Sect Heavenly Talent entering Azurewater Palace directly, his future prospects were absolutely boundless.
The Immortal Alliance-Ten Sects system relied on cultivation families and minor sects to manage the grassroots level, but the Dripping Water Cave system within Droplet Cave Heaven exerted absolute vertical control right down to the lowest tier.
Now, as the de facto ruler of Riverbend Fishing Village under Dripping Water Cave, Yulou's commands left Zhang Xuewu and Cui Dingyi with very little room to refuse.
"Old Cui, what do you think of Fellow Daoist Yulou's ideas?" Zhang Xuewu, who had taken the lead in the brown-nosing competition, asked his old rival with a beaming smile.
"Naturally, I support them fully. Fully support them. I am a child who grew up in Riverbend Fishing Village. Every single one of Fellow Daoist Yulou's brilliant plans stems from the grand perspective of the village. How could I possibly have any objections?"
Paying absolutely no mind to Zhang Xuewu's smug attitude, Cui Dingyi understood his position perfectly. As a local tyrant, bullying Zhang Xuewu was his limit. How could he possibly dare to pluck the whiskers of Wang Yulou's tiger? In fact, this adversarial strategy itself was born from the high-and-low pairing configuration of the Town Guardian Cultivators in Riverbend Fishing Village.
For the two Splendid Pool Palace disciples who were in a competitive relationship, they needed to gather around the Azurewater Palace disciple and fulfill their duties as Town Guardian Cultivators. Cui Dingyi already found it difficult to make further progress in his cultivation base. If he didn't gather a few subordinates to support him in putting up a stage to contest the other Splendid Pool Palace disciple, what basis would he have to display his value before Wang Yulou? Confrontation wasn't the goal; demonstrating his value to be won over was the real objective!
Cui Dingyi knew exactly what he wanted, so he naturally wouldn't develop a grievance with Wang Yulou over a re female Qi Induction cultivator—a useless fool with such narrow vision could never have risen from a mortal martial artist to the Qi Refining stage! However, after seeing Zhang Xuewu off, the old man's expression turned grim.
Wang Yulou appeared young, but his thods were highly sophisticated. By displaying his might through slaying the demon, he had transford the prestige of the two high-level Foundation Establishnt cultivators who sent him to his post into actual leadership authority in the shortest ti possible. The very first thing he did upon seizing leadership authority was to hand out tasks through the mouth of Qin Churan, a Qi Induction cultivator of Riverbend Fishing Village. If any problems arose during the process, Qin Churan could still be used to take the bla.
Worse yet, the tasks Yulou assigned all seed perfectly reasonable and not over the top. Cui Dingyi couldn't easily refuse a single one—it simply wasn't worth it. Yet through these subtle, silent actions, Yulou achieved his purpose of enforcing his authority without making any exchange of interests with the two n.
Zhang Xuewu wouldn't object, at least not for the ti being. After all, he was currently in the lead in the competition to serve the person-in-charge. An illusory carrot filled with possibilities dangled right in front of him. Old Zhang currently only wanted to be more loyal so he could eventually get that carrot into his mouth.
Cui Dingyi had objections but didn't dare voice them. Because Yulou had asured his boundaries too perfectly. The only slightly excessive demand was wanting one spirit fish every day. But... was it truly excessive? Cui Dingyi himself had embezzled plenty of spirit fish that should have been offered to the sect, so he couldn't very well voice an opinion on this single fish. It was disgusting, yet he had no choice but to accept it. Cui Dingyi even felt a trace of vigilance rise within him toward Wang Yulou. This young man seed to be soone who could really stir up trouble.
---
Yulou slept very soundly during his first night inside Droplet Cave Heaven. The process of the Gui Water ridian tracing had severely drained his condition and exhausted his spirit, to the point where Yulou still felt sore all over when he woke up the next morning. Putting on his clothes, he summoned the very first mid-grade artifact he had ever refined—the Yin Water Purple Copper Dharma Mirror with thirteen restrictions.
Yulou saw that his reflection in the mirror actually possessed lifeless eyes and a gaunt face. He realized he had to think of a solution. Pain was sothing he could endure. The only impact was that he had to rest for a while after tracing a tiny bit of his ridians. By taking it slow, he could still complete the tracing. But... if the Gui Water ridian tracing affected the recovery of his condition, which in turn affected his speed of cultivation, that would be troubleso.
Cultivation required fighting for every hour and every day, and ridian tracing was the defining characteristic of the Source Vein Gui Water Qi. Yulou wanted to grasp both ends with equal firmness. Now he was certain that ordinary spiritual incense was far too weak. To provide better assistance to his cultivation, he had to use spiritual pills. Except...
Yulou first pulled out the artificing notes left behind by An Ning from her lifeti of accumulation and began reading silently. An Ning hailed from Hidden Dragon Abbey. As one of the Ten Sects, Hidden Dragon Abbey possessed a very high level of proficiency in artifact refining. And An Ning's attainnts made her a grand master among grand masters of the artificing path. The dharma robe she refined by extracting the true spirit of a Mountain-Flipping Flood Dragon's demon egg was sothing even Danri couldn't see through when standing face-to-face with her.
As a grand master of the artificing path, An Ning's artifact refining level was extrely high. Correspondingly, her talisman-making and pill-refining levels weren't low either. Talisman-making itself was the foundation of artifact refining, while pill refining was sothing she had learned along the way.
However, after finishing the various pill recipes in An Ning's notes, Yulou discovered to his helplessness that the things passed down by this senior seed a bit too profound. Many of the spiritual pills listed inside had excellent effects, perhaps even better than the Spirit Marrow ridian Cleansing Pill. But not only were the required materials precious, the required pill-refining proficiency was also sothing Yulou would find difficult to attain even within a century.
Since An Ning's pill recipes couldn't serve as a source of help anyti soon, Yulou could only flip through the rit point exchange list for Azurewater Palace disciples. The prices of the spiritual pills on this list were quite friendly, and their dical effects matched Yulou's current cultivation base perfectly.
{Spirit Rice Essence Cultivation Pill}—fifteen rit points per bottle. (Unless specified otherwise, a bottle defaulted to ten pills) This pill was crafted from spirit rice, packing a massive amount of spirit rice essence inside a tiny pill. Once consud, it could restore depleted essence and slightly recover the user's overall condition. In truth, it wasn't hard to understand. This thing simply pushed dietary supplentation to the absolute limit, using the form of a pill to help the consur refine spirit rice and thereby achieve the goal of recovering their condition.
{Black Lotus Beneficial Qi Pill}—twelve rit points per bottle. This pill used the seeds of the black lotus as its primary material. It didn't do much for restoring essence, but it could supplent Qi. The supplent of Qi here didn't an replenishing spiritual energy like a Spirit-Opening Pill, but rather replenishing primordial Qi, which also served to recover one's overall condition, though its effects were likely slightly inferior to the Spirit Rice Essence Cultivation Pill.
{Demon at Tonic Powder}—eight rit points per kilogram. This wasn't a pill, but rather a spiritual powder with much lower dicinal potency and purity, though it still counted as a tonic. As the na implied, this thing was a cultivator's version of spiritual beast essence-blood pellets. It was labeled as a grand tonic, but its cheap price determined that its grand tonic effects weren't all that grand.
Yulou looked back and forth before deciding to buy a bottle of Spirit Rice Essence Cultivation Pills to test it out. Even if the effects were poor, this kind of spiritual pill would still find a use in the future. He put down the jade slip, looked outside the door, and called out. "He Laosan!" Hearing its master's call, He Laosan, who had just been put in his place yesterday, ca running into the main hall with eager compliance.
Yulou pulled out a piece of silver silk. Using a talisman brush as his pen, he lifted it and began writing away. However, once he finished writing, he realized that he had already left his family. In the future, sending ssages via spiritual birds within Droplet Cave Heaven would require sothing to authenticate his identity.
Thus, he pulled out a piece of crushed, variegated agate from his storage bag. This agate was only about the size of a chicken egg. Yulou drew a bit of the Red Lantern Fire from within the Red Lantern to refine it slightly. He didn't even use spiritual water, directly starting to carve restrictions onto it.
Three layers of basic restrictions were naturally a breeze, and adding another layer of the Spirit-Absorbing Restriction that could carry Gui Water spiritual Qi completed the job perfectly! A tiny agate seal was thus refined; such was Yulou's current attainnt in the artificing path. He might still struggle slightly with superior artifacts, but mid-grade artifacts were truly sothing he could refine at a whim, executing them with ease. Taking the small agate seal, Yulou pressed it gently onto the corner of the silver silk before lifting it.
On the silk, right beneath the few lines of Yulou's ssage, a tiny imprint appeared, bearing the words: Wang Clan Jade Palace. The edges of the imprint still rippled with a black watery light, which was the effect of the Gui Water spiritual Qi.
The Wang Clan referred to the Wang Clan of Anbei Kingdom, which was Yulou's origin and one of his reliances to stand firm in the Wunan cultivation world. Jade Palace was Yulou's choice for his seal na, as using Yulou directly would appear too dull, and cultivation families didn't practice the feudal custom of taking courtesy nas.
The agate seal possessed four layers of restrictions, and the Spirit-Absorbing Restriction within could leave Yulou's Gui Water spiritual Qi upon the letter, thereby making it far more authentic. With the seal stamped, the letter was considered complete. Yulou handed the letter along with a small pouch of spirit stones to He Laosan, saying, "Go to the Azurewater Palace rit Hall and find the deacon in charge. If the deacon accepts the spirit stones, he will give you a bottle of spiritual pills. If the deacon does not accept the spirit stones, you co right back. Understood?"
"Gah!"
"There is no extra food! Get lost!"
He Laosan hung his head in dejection and left with the letter and spirit stones in his beak. Yulou simply shook his head.
Once his hands were a bit more flush with funds, he ought to contact the Yang family to secure a more obedient and useful spiritual bird or spiritual beast. Aside from being handso, He Laosan could be said to be full of flaws. In this lifeti, he was only good for delivering letters. Of course, exceptionally wealthy cultivators would often raise several different kinds of spiritual birds and beasts separately—those for travel were dedicated to travel, while those for combat and utility had their own specialized purposes.
But all of that was still too far away from Yulou. For now, he could only make do with He Laosan.
"Senior Brother Wang?" Early in the morning, Qin Churan called out from outside Yulou's residence, interrupting his thoughts.
He smiled. Who wouldn't like a young female cultivator who wished to make upward progress? Even if Yulou harbored no thoughts of carnal desire, Qin Churan was still a beauty after all. Simply keeping her around to run errands was quite pleasing to the eye.
"Co in!"
Xiao Qin wore an introductory-level dharma robe made of spiritual gauze today. Perhaps the price of spiritual gauze was too expensive for her to afford a thicker layer, or perhaps Riverbend Fishing Village was too sultry today and she didn't want to wear sothing so heavy. In short, Qin Churan's dharma robe was incredibly skimpy, causing Yulou to click his tongue in secret. As expected, a female cultivator who wanted to advance was truly different; her subjective initiative was simply too abundant.
Fortunately, Yu'an had gone to Hidden Dragon Abbey. Being unfamiliar with the people and place there, he needed to keep a low profile and focus on his cultivation with a steady mind. If he had co to Droplet Cave Heaven... a decade or so later, Yulou would probably have a whole crowd of nephews and nieces. This actually wasn't a bad thing either. If the highly restrained Yu'an were to encounter the female cultivators of Droplet Cave Heaven who practiced water thods and possessed bodies like water, it would be quite good for him to sire a few more children for the prosperity of the Wang Clan.
Seeing that Wang Yulou didn't even spare her a glance and rely sat silently cultivating before the Immortal Venerable's statue, Qin Churan felt a slight twinge of disappointnt in her heart. She spoke respectfully.
"Senior Brother Wang, the materials from the human-faced snake demon yesterday have already been processed. This is your share. Where would you like to place it?"
Human-faced snake demon materials? My share?
Instantly, Yulou detected sothing amiss! If Droplet Cave Heaven gave rit points as rewards to the Town Guardian Cultivators who slew demons, while simultaneously allowing the demon-slaying cultivators to handle the demon materials as they pleased, wouldn't that count as rewarding them twice? Where did Droplet Cave Heaven's profit co from? The sect couldn't possibly be running a charity, could it? Did Riverbend Fishing Village truly yield that many spirit fish every year?
For a single snake demon, the total amount of rit points issued by Droplet Cave Heaven amounted to roughly eighty Azurewater Palace rit points when converted—the equivalent value of spirit stones implied by Clear Spring Palace, Splendid Pool Palace, and Azurewater Palace rit points increased according to their tier. Exchanging rit points for spirit stones followed a one-to-five ratio. Eighty Azurewater Palace rit points equaled four hundred spirit stones.
Within a year, all the demon beast harvests in Riverbend Village could be converted to three mid-stage Small Demon Realm beasts, aning Droplet Cave Heaven's expenditure on rewarding rit points reached one thousand two hundred spirit stones. anwhile, the cultivators belonging to the Droplet Cave Heaven system within Riverbend Fishing Village also received a position reward every year; Yulou could obtain thirty rit points annually. Aside from position and mission rewards, the Qi Induction disciples and Qi Refining disciples also had to draw a small stipend of spirit stones.
Though the amount wasn't large, it was still an item. When all of these were factored together, Droplet Cave Heaven's total expenditure in Riverbend Village easily broke past two thousand spirit stones—and this didn't even include pensions! When sect disciples sacrificed themselves or passed away due to the sect's missions and arrangents, regardless of their cultivation base or status, the sect always had to compensate them with a sum, right? If they didn't compensate, no one would believe in the sect's teachings anymore, which ford another massive expenditure.
Assuming two Qi Induction cultivators died each year, with each person compensated two hundred spirit stones, that added another four hundred. Droplet Cave Heaven's annual expenditure to maintain its rule in Riverbend Fishing Village reached two thousand five hundred spirit stones. Yet this was rely the basic operational cost of Droplet Cave Heaven's dispatched personnel and institutions in Riverbend Fishing Village.
Factoring in the maintenance costs of the non-frontline support departnts within the Droplet Cave Heaven system, and considering that everyone's high cultivation base led to high work efficiency in the cultivation world, he would simply double that two thousand five hundred—not overcalculating, the cost ca to five thousand spirit stones. Considering that he must have miscalculated so factors, Yulou decided to apply a forty percent discount to this expenditure, setting the cost of governance at three thousand.
Thus, Riverbend Fishing Village had to generate nearly nine spirit stones of inco every single day just to maintain a positive return for Droplet Cave Heaven's rule here... The majority of the fishern in Riverbend Fishing Village were martial artists, but they were still mortals in essence. Their capture of spirit fish could only yield rank-nine spirit fish, and the price of a single rank-nine spirit fish ranged between one to two spirit stones. Taking the dian value of one point five, nine spirit stones required at least six spirit fish just to barely break even.
Could the spirit fish produced by Riverbend Fishing Village reach the point of delivering at least six fish to Droplet Cave Heaven every single day?
"What is the daily spirit fish yield of Riverbend Fishing Village?" Yulou asked solemnly.
Cost control was the critical elent for the existence of any organization. Only by calculating the accounts clearly could an organization possess the basic conditions to sustain itself. From the accounts of Riverbend Fishing Village, Yulou spotted Droplet Cave Heaven's problem—and a major problem at that! The accountant immortal Wang Yulou had discovered the problem, but Qin Churan clearly hadn't caught up to Yulou's rhythm.
"Ah, Senior Brother Wang, the spirit fish you requested are already available. Senior Brother Zhang Xuewu sent you one, and Senior Brother Cui Dingyi also sent you one. In addition, there are three fellow Daoists from the Qi Induction stage who sent you three fish through . They are all prepared. I have my subordinates waiting outside. Once I finish reporting to you, I will arrange for them to deliver the fish to you!"
Yulou was flabbergasted. One plus one plus three made five spirit fish, and they were all gifted to him without charging any spirit stones. A re minor test could harvest so much loyalty. Was the life of a Town Guardian Cultivator truly like this?
"I am asking about the daily spirit fish yield of Riverbend Fishing Village." Sitting upon the futon, Yulou didn't voice his stance, instead asking solemnly once more. His question carried too many implications, to the point where even the peaceful face of the Immortal Venerable's statue twitched its lips slightly. Damn it, you brat are pulling this right in front of my face?
However, within the Immortal Venerable's grotto-heaven, the Immortal Venerable's mighty power was infinite in a sense. Even if Danri were standing before the statue, she wouldn't be able to see the changes in the Immortal Venerable's expression right now. Wang Yulou's question seed a bit too rogue, but Qin Churan bit her lip and said, "Around ten fish every day. When it's abundant, it can reach eleven or twelve, and when it's scarce, it drops to seven or eight. Half of them must be handed over to the sect. As for the remaining half, you and the two senior brothers each take one, while we Qi Induction stage cultivators take turns taking the rest. But in reality, so people don't hand over the spirit fish they catch. Instead, they exchange them for cultivation resources at the shop opened by Senior Brother Cui's son. In truth, the daily catch of spirit fish should be around fifteen. So people eat their hidden harvest themselves, while others exchange it for resources. If you wish to raise the spirit fish yield of Riverbend Fishing Village, you only need to take down Senior Brother Cui's shop."
Boss, if you want to generate revenue, don't stare at the overt yield; the risk is too high since we already take half of it. Go find Cui Dingyi to generate revenue. That old thing has been mingling in Riverbend Village for so long, he has embezzled a great deal! Wang Yulou gave no answer, instead rising silently to offer three stalks of incense to the Dripping Water Immortal Venerable. "Immortal Venerable, I, Wang Yulou, shall definitely rectify the chaos of Riverbend Fishing Village!" He didn't say it for the Immortal Venerable to hear, but for Qin Churan to hear.
As a native of Droplet Cave Heaven, Qin Churan possessed a very deep reverence for the Immortal Venerable. This was inevitable. They were guided and educated from childhood, and upon growing up, they were continuously reinforced with lessons of gratitude. After joining Dripping Water Cave, paying respects to the Immortal Venerable beca a daily necessity. Qin Churan was a normal person, and simultaneously, she was soone who believed in the Immortal Venerable—the kind who revered him boundlessly.
"Churan, certain individuals are simply chipping away at Droplet Cave Heaven's foundation, chipping away at the Immortal Venerable's foundation! As Town Guardian Cultivators who risk our lives for the safety of Riverbend Fishing Village, taking one or two fish is naturally not considered excessive. But for him to secretly open a shop and bypass the sect's system to conduct private transactions is simply audacious! Audacious! Can you arrange for soone to covertly observe Cui Dingyi's shop for a few days to see exactly how many spirit fish he has collected?"
Yulou decided to turn up the pressure on the old man. He was the person-in-charge. Old Cui secretly collecting spirit fish to earn extra cash was chipping away at Yulou's foundation! If he could transform the secretly leaked spirit fish into normal catches handed over to the sect by restricting private spirit fish transactions, it would count as a prestige project for Yulou. As a Town Guardian Cultivator, he had to produce so results after all, right? The effects of things like water gates were hard to say; they might just end up as a flashy but useless display in the end. But raising the spirit fish yield by squeezing Old Cui was a thoroughly righteous path.
Furthermore, the fishern handing over spirit fish to Dripping Water Cave also received rit point rewards, which were converted to Clear Spring Palace rit points, so they wouldn't lose out. Their secret sale of fish was essentially transforming individual contributions to the sect into family accumulation. In this link, Yulou could assu Cui Dingyi's role. When the ti ca, those who wanted to accumulate heritage for their families could just look for Yulou directly, saving the middleman from earning a profit margin. Yulou would use spirit fish to exchange for achievents during his tenure as Town Guardian Cultivator with his left hand, and use spirit stones to exchange for spirit fish with the fishern with his right hand. He clearly made no expenditure, yet he earned twice out of nowhere. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
"Cui Dingyi cultivated all the way to this day under the Immortal Venerable's protection, yet he slights the Immortal Venerable's majesty so heavily. He truly deserves punishnt! Arranging soone is naturally no problem. Among the Qi Induction stage cultivators in Riverbend Fishing Village, thirteen of them are not locals and have no ties to him. I will contact them. When the ti cos, I'll have them et you first so things can be handled easier later. Senior Brother Wang, what do you think?"
Yulou nodded in satisfaction. Qin Churan was still quite resourceful, and she respected the Immortal Venerable tightly. The reverence she displayed just now when ntioning the Immortal Venerable wasn't faked in the slightest. Perhaps for people like them who were born inside Droplet Cave Heaven, loyalty itself was the reward.
"Very well. What is the introductory thod you practice?"
Hearing Yulou's question, Qin Churan blanked out for a mont. Why did he suddenly ask what introductory thod I practice?
"Senior brother, Churan practices the 'Gold-Extracting Water-Transmutation Art,' which can mobilize both tal and water spirit roots for cultivation."
This ti, it was Yulou's turn to be surprised.
"Gold-Extracting Water-Transmutation Art?" Yulou recalled that this woman possessed wood, water, and tal triple spirit roots. Yet she chose to practice a tal-water thod, extracting gold to transmute water, extracting gold to transmute water... There was another interesting point: Qin Churan was the very first person to align herself with him after he entered Dripping Water Cave.
"What kind of magical artifacts do you prefer to use?" Yulou suddenly inquired.
"This..." Qin Churan could hear her own heart pounding wildly, though this certainly wasn't due to infatuation. Wang Yulou's majesty was too imposing. Even though their ages didn't differ by much, her heart grew incredibly tense every ti she t Yulou. But now, she was no longer tense; only anticipation and dread remained. Anticipation for certain things, and dread that the anticipation would fall through.
"Alright, go attend to the matters. Find soone who is a bit sharper!" Seeing that Qin Churan didn't speak, Yulou waved his hand and sat back down upon the futon—preparing to open his ridian tracing! His posture left Qin Churan in an uncomfortable spot.
She rely felt her heart suspended in mid-air, caught between advancing and retreating, her face flushing red with anxiety. After weighing her options, Qin Churan carefully placed down the share of the human-faced snake demon materials belonging to Yulou. Then, the female cultivator dropped to both knees, pressed her hands to her forehead, turned her back to Yulou, and perford a grand prostration ritual.
"Churan is willing to be driven by Senior Brother Wang!"
"Go on. I won't take the spirit fish from those three Qi Induction cultivators. Give these two spirit stones to my two good fellow Daoists on my behalf!"
Qin Churan left filled with anticipation, but Yulou's heart couldn't settle down. Power, power, power. Power was born alongside strength. Wang Yulou had rely gained a tiny bit of strength, yet he already possessed such power. Riverbend Fishing Village wasn't large, consisting of only twenty-odd Qi Induction cultivators and three Qi Refining cultivators. But Riverbend Fishing Village was also very large. This place contained the entire lifetis of over ten thousand mortals, and served as the resting place for countless cultivators and demon beasts. Now, he had already beco the leader of this place.
Yulou finally understood the clan head's words—cultivation base was everything. The Wang Clan of Anbei Kingdom could send Yulou into Dripping Water Cave, allowing him to beco a 'Qi Condensation Ancestor' and 'Inner Sect Heavenly Talent' in the eyes of the people of Riverbend Fishing Village. But in the eyes of Danri and Xuanzhuan, how did the Wang Clan differ from Qin Churan? Perhaps in the eyes of Mangxiang, the Wang Clan was rely a considerate servant, right?
Thinking of this, Yulou silently mobilized his Gui Water spiritual Qi and began tracing his ridians. However, the essence depleted and condition lost yesterday indeed exerted a massive impact. He tried a few tis, but the effects of the ridian tracing were terribly poor. Ultimately, Yulou stood up and began studying the materials left behind by the human-faced snake demon.
These materials had been partitioned by the minor Qi Induction cultivators. Yulou took half, while the rest was divided among the others. Among the half he obtained, there was the snake demon's back sinew, so twenty-odd demon scales, a massive snake fang, and forty kilograms of snake demon at. Among them, the most valuable was undoubtedly the snake demon's back sinew, which possessed the potential to be refined into a high-grade artifact.
Of course, Yulou wouldn't refine it that way. He currently lacked the ability to easily handle the refining of high-grade artifacts, so it was better to play it safe and refine a mid-grade one. High-grade artifacts looked good and sold for a high price, but they weren't necessarily easy to use, and the ntal energy consud when manipulating them was also terribly massive. If one used a mid-grade artifact well, its effects could actually be very potent.
The defensive power of the few dozen demon scales was decent, but they only carried the potential to be refined into a low-grade defensive artifact. After all, they couldn't even block the Cold Steel Flying Sword, so they could only be considered ordinary. On the other hand, this snake fang ought to possess the ability to stimulate the snake demon's innate spell, though it was uncertain what kind of spell would be triggered. The snake demon's demonic power belonged to the water attribute.
Yulou infused his own Gui Water spiritual Qi into the snake fang, and before long, the innate spell contained within could be stimulated. Yulou naturally wouldn't unleash a major spell within his own residence. Realizing that his understanding of Riverbend Fishing Village wasn't deep enough yet, he decided to stroll around his territory before the spiritual pills arrived. Yes, a bit of an incognito inspection.
Changing into ordinary clothes, Yulou stepped out of his residence. Seeing Yulou suddenly erge, the two martial artists guarding his door found themselves at a loss for a mont.
"Perfect. You two accompany for a stroll. Follow ." Yulou just happened to lack soone to explain things to him, so he took the two attendants along and began his first patrol as the person-in-charge.
"How old are you both?"
"Ancestor, this little one is thirty-two this year."
"Ancestor, this junior is twenty-seven."
Wang Yulou was speechless. He could now understand Zhou Yingxi's predicant, but he didn't dwell on the forms of address, instead asking, "What can post-natal martial artists like you exchange for with rit points in Clear Spring Palace?"
"Breakthrough pills, Qi Induction cultivation thods, various dharma weapons, and oh, spirit rice."
Yulou hadn't expected that the martial artists within Droplet Cave Heaven could actually afford to eat spirit rice; back then, he only consud a quarter-kilogram of spirit rice a day. "What are dharma weapons, and are you saying you can afford to eat spirit rice?"
"Ancestor, dharma weapons are weapons crafted from magical artifact materials. We cannot use spiritual energy, so we can only use dharma weapons to slay demons. However, after achieving Qi Induction, we can sell the dharma weapons back to Clear Spring Palace. As for spirit rice, it can help us cleanse turbid Qi and allow us to grasp the innate essence faster to achieve Qi Induction. Eating it in large quantities is naturally sothing we cannot afford, but eating a bit occasionally allows our strength to grow quickly."
Grasping the innate essence, reversing the post-natal to return to the innate, and recreating the innate five Qis... Yulou knew clearly that this set of thods from Dripping Water Cave was rely a mirage, but every ti he thought about it, he still felt a trace of admiration. Mortals without spirit roots could not cultivate—in truth, this sentence was wrong. The five Qis of mortals were mottled, which was why their spirit roots didn't manifest. The martial artists within Droplet Cave Heaven recreated the innate five Qis through the cultivation thod of reversing the post-natal to return to the innate. Once successful, they beca five-elent spirit root cultivators.
If the rules of heaven and earth didn't restrict the cultivation speed of Qi Induction cultivators, theoretically speaking, everyone could achieve Qi Refining, Foundation Establishnt, and even the Purple Palace... So, did the Immortal Alliance's restriction on the Qi Induction stage truly carry a definition of being righteous or evil, good or bad? It was hard to say, hard to say.
Within Droplet Cave Heaven, the martial artists possessed a goal and hope, so the majority of them ran forward with great effort, wanting to grasp that single thread of hope. Thereby, acting as foundational consumables, they propped up the prosperity of Droplet Cave Heaven, though the price was running continuously upon a road that could never succeed until they ran themselves to death. Giving them hope, yet using this ethereal and hard-to-find hope to strip away their everything. Could such a Dripping Water Cave be considered good or bad?
"Do you know how to fish?"
"Yes, my family has two younger brothers who are both post-natal low-tier fishern. Once they reach the mid-tier, they can join the patrol team."
"I don't have younger brothers, but I once caught over twenty spirit fish in a single year!"
"Mhm. Tell , how many spirit fish can Riverbend Fishing Village catch every day?"
Hearing Yulou's question, the two martial artists didn't dare answer, because they weren't certain of Yulou's stance. The newly arrived person-in-charge wasn't soone they could afford to offend... "Ancestor, this depends on luck. I recall that once, Riverbend Fishing Village caught over thirty spirit fish in a single day. But most of the ti it's just ten to twenty fish. It's uncertain."
Ten to twenty fish, uncertain... He was a bold fellow, trying to fool Yulou like an idiot. Stopping his steps, Yulou looked at the other person and asked with a smile, "Are you going to tell it's uncertain too?"
The face of the first martial artist who answered turned white with fear, and his body began to tremble involuntarily, appearing as though he could barely keep his footing. "I dare not, dare not. This junior has looked into it; Riverbend Fishing Village can yield at least ten spirit fish every day. As for how many it can yield when it's abundant, I do not know, but... they might not all be handed over."
Yulou refrained from questioning further, instead stepping silently onto the stone bridge. Amidst the thin morning mist, the docks of the fishing port were already completely empty; the fishern had set out before the sky even turned bright. Spirit fish were good things, but Wang Yulou still couldn't determine the exact daily harvest of Riverbend Fishing Village up to this point. It could be said to be both absurd and realistic.
Knowing that the daily quantity handed over to the sect by Riverbend Fishing Village was four to six fish, it could be confird that Droplet Cave Heaven's rule here operated at a loss. But clearly, no one cared about operating at a loss. Was it because Droplet Cave Heaven possessed a massive enterprise and didn't mind this tiny bit? It definitely wasn't. The Red Lantern Illumination Sect's model of scraping every last coin in Clear Stream Market was the true normalcy of a sect's rule. Dripping Water Cave didn't care about the overt losses, which indicated that it could earn it back from elsewhere in the dark.
So, where exactly did it earn it back from? Yulou's gaze lingered upon the spot where the snake demon lost its life yesterday. The new statue of the Immortal Venerable from yesterday's ceremony had already been invited to that location. Yulou saw a circle of mortals gathered before the Immortal Venerable's statue, continuously paying respects and singing praises.
For the next month, it would remain at the spot of the snake demon's death, accepting the offerings and worship of the villagers of Riverbend Fishing Village. The Immortal Venerable's grace was being manufactured in massive quantities by Droplet Cave Heaven's governance system, never halting for a mont. Standing upon the bridge, Yulou silently gazed at that massive statue of the Immortal Venerable, thinking of many, many things.
---
At Azurewater Palace's rit Hall, the deacon on duty, Wu Faxian, also thought of many, many things.
"Your master is Wang Yuque?" He flicked the letter in his hand and looked at He Laosan.
"Gah!" He Laosan raised his head proudly, giving a cry as a form of confirmation.
"I don't know any Wang Yuque, and it's even more impossible for to exchange Spirit Rice Essence Cultivation Pills for him at the price of eighty spirit stones. Go back and tell him that if he doesn't have rit points, he should use spirit stones to exchange for rit points, instead of pulling all these random tricks!"
Early in the morning, Wu Faxian was sleeping soundly on duty when he was awakened by He Laosan. The condition offered by Wang Yulou was buying Spirit Rice Essence Cultivation Pills at the price of eighty spirit stones, from which Wu Faxian could earn a price difference of five spirit stones. Using Azurewater Palace rit points to exchange for spirit stones followed a ratio of one rit point to five spirit stones. Using spirit stones to exchange for Azurewater Palace rit points followed a ratio of six spirit stones to one rit point.
Considering that during the transaction, the seller of rit points also wanted to earn a bit more, the price offered by Wang Yulou could only allow Wu Faxian to earn a single spirit stone—the Wang family's bargaining proficiency could cut right to the edge of a major artery without even asking! Consequently, he naturally wouldn't grant Wang Yulou's spiritual bird even a single spiritual pill.
"Wang Yuque? Old Wu, wait a mont!" The deacon entering to shift changes with Wu Faxian heard Old Wu's words and quickly interjected to stop him.
"What's so special about this person?" Wu Faxian asked in confusion.
Taking the letter from his hand, the shift-changing deacon scanned it and said, "This is the child of the Wang family personally delivered by Senior Brother Wang Xianmao of the Wang Clan of Anbei Kingdom. I say, we should just agree to his request."
The rit Hall was the most lucrative post within Azurewater Palace, with no exceptions, and everyone shared the proceeds together.
"The Wang Clan of Anbei Kingdom? Never heard of them..." Wu Faxian muttered.
"Patriarch Mangxiang is about to achieve Golden Core, and the Wang Clan is a subordinate family under the Mangxiang Lineage!" The shift-changing deacon explained in a mysterious, low whisper.
Wu Faxian blanked out for a mont, then went into the storehouse to fetch a bottle of Spirit Rice Essence Cultivation Pills. "I shall deliver it personally. I have long heard of Fellow Daoist Yuque's great na!"
---
Withdrawing his gaze from the distance, Yulou turned around to find Cui Dingyi, who had arrived at so unknown point behind him. He smiled and said, "Old Cui, you aren't being honest."
Cui Dingyi trembled all over in fright, responding in a panic, "Honest? I am the most honest person. Fellow Daoist Yulou must be joking again, hahaha."
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