Ji An lowered his gaze, glanced at the number of spirit stones, and slid four across the table.
"Old Xiang, take these."
The other man had helped with many trivial matters, even inviting him to Tianyin Pavilion some days ago.
Tianyin Pavilion was where cultivators skilled in music performed on sonic artifacts. The melodies could cleanse the heart and temper the mind.
Ji An still remembered his very first time hearing celestial music back when Elder Qin Yan lectured to new disciples. That experience alone had slightly improved his cultivation efficiency for the next three days.
Although Old Xiang kept insisting that all the Wood Essence Beads they'd accumulated were Ji An's work, Ji An refused to keep all the profits for himself. Reciprocity and shared benefit were basic principles he lived by.
Xiang Yong quickly waved his hands. "Senior Brother, I can't take these spirit stones."
He hadn't done much, and accepting them would feel shameful.
"Take them. We'll be working together for a long time yet."
Ji An picked up the stones and personally handed them over. Then he added:
"From now on, leave the task of condensing Wood Essence Beads to me. I just so happen to want more practice with the Withering-Bloom Formula."
He had already condensed Dao Seeds of Gui Water and Ji Earth. His next goal was to cultivate Metal and Wood Dao Seeds.
Now that the Thick Earth Art carried a trace of Dao Intent, he could produce even more Wood Essence Beads. This side income would only grow richer over time.
"I'll do as you say, Senior Brother."
Xiang Yong tucked the stones into his pouch, secretly marveling. Ji An seemed to have no weakness at all in the path of farming.
Most gifted spirit farmers only specialized in one farming spell; the more capable elders might master two.
The rest of their repertoire would take decades of repetition just to reach minor achievement, while the truly talented might raise one or two spells to great completion.
But Ji An shattered all of those preconceptions. At such a young age, he already grasped all five farming spells to a profound degree and had even comprehended the Dao Intent of the Minor Rain Spell.
Later that day, Ji An and Li Lingyu made their way up to the mountaintop cave estate. Their master had sent word yesterday that she'd finished an alchemy task, and today she would instruct them in cultivation.
When Ge Ying saw her two disciples arriving together, a smile spread across her face.
"Not bad. Ji An, your aura has grown stronger, and Lingyu, your qi has become more harmonious. Both of you have clearly been cultivating diligently, not slacking."
"How could I slack off when all our senior brothers and sisters are advancing to Foundation Establishment? I have to push forward as well."
Li Lingyu laughed, then explained the difficulties she was facing in tempering her divine sense.
"Ji An," Ge Ying said, "the method I'll explain next will also be useful to you when you eventually need to refine your divine sense. Listen carefully."
"Yes, Master."
Ji An bowed. Normally, a cultivator's divine sense remained retracted within the Niwan Palace, and unless it was projected outward, even higher-level cultivators couldn't discern its true strength.
Ge Ying patiently explained, offering several possible solutions.
"Thank you for resolving my doubts, Master." Li Lingyu clasped her hands in salute.
"Master," Ji An spoke up, "when I follow the Meridian-Opening Secret Art to nourish my immortal meridians, I find a branch near the heart that never opens. When I try to push through repeatedly, I feel a faint burning sensation. Am I doing something wrong?"
"The heart meridian belongs to fire. Repeated impacts will inevitably stir its fiery nature. When that happens, you must stop, or you risk damaging the immortal veins.
Nourishing meridians and refining divine sense are best done after your mana has become harmonious and you've touched a bottleneck. At your stage, it's not a priority. Focus more on raising your cultivation.
Opening immortal meridians must follow the natural course. It cannot be forced."
"Thank you for your guidance, Master."
Though he mouthed his obedience, Ji An still resolved to set aside time each day to nourish his immortal meridians.
Expanding and strengthening the meridians could slightly improve his spiritual aptitude, and to him, even the smallest improvement was invaluable.
The stone tortoise devoured half of the mana he refined each time. Any increase in aptitude would make his refining that much more efficient.
Bit by bit, the accumulation would lessen the obstacles he would face during Foundation Establishment.
This was a difficulty he could tell no one about, nor did he intend to.
After bidding farewell to their master, the two left the cave estate.
Ji An smiled.
"Senior Sister, I still need to head to Bihai Lake to tend my fields and harvest talisman grass. I'll take my leave first."
"Go on then, Junior Brother."
Ji An waved, and the Gray-Feathered Sand Goose that had been resting nearby soared over, carrying him into the skies.
"Gaa!"
Watching the pair quickly shrink into black dots against the horizon, Li Lingyu summoned her own talisman bird with a surge of spiritual power.
"The first thing I'll do after reaching Foundation is buy a proper flying beast. These talisman birds are far too slow."
...
Two months later.
His small courtyard brimmed with spiritual vitality. Two spirit-fruit trees now grew thick with foliage, their trunks as thick as a child's arm.
Under the sunlight, the Firecloud Ginseng burned like clusters of blazing braziers, its leaves like tongues of flame.
After careful inspection, Ji An estimated their medicinal age had reached nearly five years.
Now that his Thick Earth Art carried Dao Intent, this patch of spirit herbs would mature far earlier than expected, meaning another tidy profit in spirit stones.
The Jadegrain Rice harvest was already stored away. After weighing it all, Ji An's face lit with delight.
Three mu of Jadegrain Rice had yielded over six hundred catties per mu, compared to only four hundred fifty in past harvests.
A perfected Thick Earth Art boosted grain yields far more than the Minor Rain Spell. The kernels were larger, with a gentle jade-like luster, truly living up to the name "Jadegrain Rice."
"Senior Brother, I'm here!"
Hearing the call, Ji An activated a seal to open the restriction at his gate.
Huang Feihu entered, his forehead beaded with sweat.
"Senior Brother, all the talisman grass has been harvested. Do you want it stacked at the gate, or should I bring it inside?"
"No rush. Sit down first."
Ji An waved his sleeve, drawing a chair over with a thread of spiritual power.
"Feihu, you've been studying talisman-making for half a year now. What's your success rate at producing mid-grade talisman paper?"
Talisman crafting was a true artisan's trade, but producing talisman paper was much simpler, mostly just labor for modest profit.
Ji An's own profits had once been decent because he grew all the grass himself: better quality, no middlemen skimming.
"The key to mid-grade paper isn't skill, but the quality of the talisman grass.
My Minor Rain and Thick Earth spells are both at the greater mastery level, so my chances are about twenty percent now."
Ji An nodded. That was about the same as his own rate back in the day, enough to call someone a competent craftsman.
"And the quality of this batch of grass I grew?"
Huang Feihu let out a sigh of envy.
"Senior Brother's planting skill… no one else can compare."
"I'll propose something, see if it works for you.
You take all this talisman grass and make the paper. In return, one-tenth of the finished product will be your payment. Interested?"
Ji An had already done the math. That cut meant Feihu could earn around ten stones within a few days, an average of one and a half a day.
Making talisman paper wasn't technically difficult, but it was tedious and time-consuming. Ji An's time was better spent raising his cultivation and honing his arts.
Losing a few stones was nothing. He now had the capital to outsource low-value labor.
-support me in Patreon for more chapter, 125+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LordoftheReader