"To Celestial Gate Mountain! One spot left, we leave as soon as it's full. You going, fellow Daoist?"
The one shouting was a man in his twenties named Fang Qingyuan. He had a calm and seasoned look about him and was currently trying to drum up business from the Cultivators passing by.
Fang Qingyuan had been shouting for a long time before he finally found a Cultivator who wanted to go to Celestial Gate Mountain. The price, however, seemed to be a point of contention.
"Other Camel Beast ferries only charge eight Spirit Crystals. Why are you charging one Spirit Stone?"
Hearing the skepticism in his voice, Fang Qingyuan put on his professional smile.
"Fellow Daoist, you get what you pay for. Other people's Camel Beasts are all hawks, owls, and other birds of prey. Not only is the space on their backs small, but they're also aggressive. Who knows, just when you're sitting comfortably, it might flip over and dive down to snatch a fish from the Black River."
"But what I have here is a Flying Manta Ray. Its back is spacious, and it has the gentlest temperament. I guarantee a completely smooth ride the entire way."
Fang Qingyuan's speech had the man nodding nonstop, but when it came time to pay, he still hesitated.
"The experience does sound good, but it's two Spirit Crystals more expensive. I still don't think it's worth it. How about..."
Seeing the man still trying to haggle, Fang Qingyuan secretly rolled his eyes. 'This Cultivator is stingy down to the bone. If this wasn't my last trip of the day, I wouldn't bother wasting my breath on you.'
Helpless, Fang Qingyuan put his smile back on and played his trump card.
"To tell you the truth, this is a business of the Beast Taming Sect. You don't have to worry about safety. It's a full eight hundred li from Black River Square to Celestial Gate Mountain. You wouldn't want to run into Tribulation Cultivators halfway, would you?"
"The Beast Taming Sect? Do you mean the branch of the legendary Beast Taming Grand Sect? And you're a disciple of the Beast Taming Sect?"
After hearing Fang Qingyuan's explanation, the Cultivator was utterly shocked. He never imagined a simple ferry operator would actually be a disciple of the Beast Taming Sect.
Fang Qingyuan sighed and said in a low voice,
"Times are tough. I'd appreciate it if you didn't spread this around, Fellow Daoist. My thanks."
As soon as Fang Qingyuan said this, the previously hesitant Cultivator immediately took out a low-grade Spirit Stone and handed it to him.
The man was ecstatic and whispered to Fang Qingyuan,
"I, Zhao Tingbiao, never thought I'd see the day I'd be served by a disciple of the Beast Taming Sect! What a thrill, what a thrill!"
Fang Qingyuan didn't respond to his words. Instead, he took the Spirit Stone, scanned it with his Dharma Eye to confirm it was real, then pocketed it and led Zhao Tingbiao back to a Beast Cage.
Three other Cultivators—two men and a woman—were waiting in front of the Beast Cage. When they saw Fang Qingyuan, their spirits lifted.
"Fellow Daoist Fang, let's hurry up and leave, or we'll miss our window."
"Didn't you say you'd be right back? What took you nearly half an hour?"
Faced with their complaints, Fang Qingyuan placated them gently, then opened the Beast Cage and called out to the Flying Manta Ray inside,
"Old pal, time to work. We should get going."
The Flying Manta Ray in the Beast Cage shook its head, nuzzled Fang Qingyuan's hand, and then obediently lay down on the ground.
This Flying Manta Ray was enormous and silvery-white. As it lay motionless on the ground, it took up an area half the size of a living room. Fang Qingyuan led the four Cultivators onto its back and told them to find a place to sit.
The four Cultivators spread out to four different spots, leaving a large gap between each of them.
The Manta Ray's back was very spacious and looked like it could fit another four people, but Fang Qingyuan didn't do this. He knew that taking four Cultivators at once was already the limit.
Every Cultivator has their own personal safety zone. If that line is crossed, the interaction of their auras would make everyone uncomfortable.
Unless they were well-acquainted, they had to maintain a certain distance from each other. If Fang Qingyuan tried to cram more people on, he wouldn't have any business next time.
Once the Cultivators were seated, Fang Qingyuan stood near the Flying Manta Ray's head, bent down, and gently patted it.
The Flying Manta Ray received the signal and slightly fluttered its bat-like wings. It stirred the air as if it were water and slowly ascended into the sky.
After reaching an altitude of five hundred meters, the Flying Manta Ray stopped climbing. It fixed on a direction, gradually accelerated, and began its journey.
Fang Qingyuan looked back at Black River Square behind them. As the distance grew, it slowly shrank into a black dot on the horizon. Ahead lay a vast, dark expanse of land with no visible end.
Even at a height of five hundred meters, Fang Qingyuan could still smell the foul stench wafting up from the ground below. He twitched his nose and signaled his old pal to climb a little higher.
As the Manta Ray ascended, feeling the increasingly bitter wind, Fang Qingyuan drifted into his memories.
The truth was, he wasn't native to this world. He was one of the countless masses of transmigrators.
In his previous life, just after he had bought a house and a car and was getting ready to find a wife, a dump truck had unceremoniously sent him to this world, reincarnated as a baby still in his mother's womb.
But the "mystery of the womb" was too powerful. As a child, Fang Qingyuan often felt a sense of melancholy loss, not knowing what it was he was missing.
He sometimes felt he didn't belong here, but he didn't know what he should do about it. As he grew older, he slowly buried these thoughts in his heart, stopped dwelling on them, and dedicated himself to the path of cultivation.
And so, Fang Qingyuan lived like this for over twenty years, until a few years ago when, after reaching the Third-Layer Perfection of Qi Refining, he found himself unable to break through to the fourth layer.
He was stuck at the very first major hurdle on the cultivation path, unable to advance an inch. Despite cultivating diligently every day, his cultivation level remained stagnant.
Over time, the hardship of the cultivation path, this heavy burden of being unable to break through, left him feeling suffocated.
About half a year ago, he could no longer bear the frustration of being unable to break through. This stagnant energy felt like massive stones piling up in his heart, blocking all his seven emotions and six desires.
Breaking through the realm became his obsession. If this obsession wasn't resolved, he felt he couldn't muster any enthusiasm for anything.
So, Fang Qingyuan prepared to force his way through this bottleneck. This time, he decided to burn his bridges—it was do or die.
Unfortunately, some things aren't guaranteed just because you try. As it turned out, Fang Qingyuan got his wish for death—in a manner of speaking. The forced breakthrough severely damaged his soul, and his cultivation level even regressed slightly.
But it was precisely this intense shock that allowed Fang Qingyuan to break through the mystery of the womb and awaken his past life's memories.
The Fang Qingyuan of today had absorbed the worldly wisdom, interpersonal skills, knowledge, and learning from his past life. He was no longer obstinate and had calmly accepted his current situation.
So, Fang Qingyuan first healed his injuries and wisely gave up on trying to break through again. Then, he rented this Flying Manta Ray from his sect and began his career as a ferryman, running between the two locations.
Survival for low-level Cultivators is not easy, and Fang Qingyuan was no exception. Although he was a disciple of the Beast Taming Sect, he was merely an Outer Disciple—and an Outer Disciple at the Celestial Gate Mountain residence of the Beast Taming Sect, a branch of the Beast Taming Grand Sect.
Compared to Loose Cultivators, he had backing, but what did that little bit of backing amount to?
The Flying Manta Ray ascended to a height of eight hundred meters and stopped climbing. The air up here was thinner, and only at this altitude did the stench from the Black River below finally begin to fade.
The journey from Celestial Gate Mountain to Black River Square required crossing the entire Black River. Though called the Black River, it would be more accurate to call it the Black Marsh.
The Black Marsh was two thousand li long and three hundred li wide, filled with poisonous miasma. A non-Cultivator could not possibly survive here.
If Cultivators wanted to cross the Black River, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator could fly on their artifacts, but Qi Cultivation Cultivators lacked that ability. Their only options were to take a Flying Shuttle Spiritual Boat or ride a Camel Beast.
If any iron-headed Qi Cultivation Cultivator tried to fly across on their own, they'd be lucky to escape with their life, let alone their skin.
This was how Fang Qingyuan made his living. He departed from Celestial Gate Mountain in the morning and returned in the afternoon, making one round trip a day. On a good day with a full ride, he could earn eight Spirit Stones.
Even if he wasn't at full capacity, he'd still make five or six at a minimum. At this rate, he could earn nearly two hundred Spirit Stones a month—definitely a good living that others couldn't help but envy.
It looked glamorous on the surface, but he alone knew the hardships. Leaving aside the docking fees at both Celestial Gate Mountain and Black River Square, just feeding this Flying Manta Ray cost him thirty to forty Spirit Stones a month.
This Flying Manta Ray was a Third-Layer Qi Cultivation Demon Beast. With its enormous size came an equally enormous appetite, and it was quite a picky eater.
It loved to eat the Pig Fish from the Black River. One had to understand, these Pig Fish were Spirit Fish. One Spirit Stone could only buy three of them, and that was just enough for a single meal for the Flying Manta Ray.
If it didn't eat well, the Manta Ray would throw a tantrum. You could only coax it. If you tried to force it to work, the sect wouldn't allow it.
Fang Qingyuan was only renting it; the Manta Ray wasn't his.
Besides these expenses, the rental fee was another major cost. Fifty Spirit Stones a month, and not one less.
'Adding up all the miscellaneous costs,' Fang Qingyuan calculated, 'not much ends up in my own pocket. I'm basically working for the sect for free.'
He sometimes wondered if the sect had agreed to rent him the Manta Ray so readily because they couldn't afford to keep the creature themselves.
He shook his head, scattering these random thoughts, and focused his attention, carefully observing his surroundings.
The skies above the Black River weren't entirely safe. Besides guarding against other Demon Beasts, he had to be wary of the greatest enemy of all: Tribulation Cultivators!
Tribulation Cultivators were the bandits of the Cultivation Realm, making a living by robbing others. They didn't dare enter the Marketplaces, so they ambushed lone Cultivators on the roads instead.
These Tribulation Cultivators were like cockroaches; they could never be completely wiped out. Just when one batch was eliminated, another would pop up from who knows where.
So, other than being vigilant, there wasn't much Fang Qingyuan could do. Fortunately, he had yet to encounter any Tribulation Cultivators since he started his ferry service.
Besides Fang Qingyuan's own caution, the Flying Manta Ray was also quite formidable. Early-stage Qi Cultivation Cultivators generally couldn't catch up to it, and while Mid-stage Qi Cultivation Cultivators could, they couldn't match its stamina.
As for Late-stage Qi Cultivation Tribulation Cultivators, they wouldn't even bother with such small fry.
The eight-hundred-li journey wasn't too far. At the Flying Manta Ray's speed, it would take an hour and a half. If Qi Cultivation Cultivators were to travel on their own, it would take at least a full day.
The rest of the journey was uneventful. By the time the sky began to darken, the Flying Manta Ray had arrived at Celestial Gate Mountain.
"Everyone, we've arrived at Celestial Gate Mountain. Let's part ways here. If you want to return to Black River Square, be here early tomorrow morning."
After safely dropping off the four passengers, Fang Qingyuan hurriedly led the Flying Manta Ray back to his home.