Chapter 113: Purchasing Spiritual Beasts
Chapter 113: Chapter 113: Purchasing Spiritual Beasts
"Is he Chen Mo?"
The Purple Cloud Peak Grain Collection Officer who had just landed was a young man dressed in a cyan Daoist robe, with a fair face resembling a scholar.
Song Yunxi smiled and nodded from the side, confirming it.
The person before them was named Tian Nong. In his early years, he had also started as a Spirit Plant Cultivator, though at the foot of the main peak. Later, by a stroke of luck, he was unprecedentedly accepted as a disciple of Purple Cloud Peak, making for a fine tale. If Xiao Changhua hadn’t died, he might have been like the cultivator standing before them now.
Tian Nong was gentle and refined, completely lacking Si Yu’s aloofness or Mo Junqing’s disdain. Now, standing beside Song Yunxi, he displayed much more humility and respect. Perhaps a cultivator like Li Shangxian could afford not to give face to any Pavilion Master, but Tian Nong could not.
"This is Fellow Daoist Tian, my au—Master’s third disciple. He used to farm the land just like you. I say, Brother Chen, if you want..."
"Greetings, Fellow Daoist Tian!"
Chen Mo interrupted Song Yunxi’s rambling. If he let him keep talking, the man would never stop. It would just be the same repetitive spiel about turning over a new leaf.
"You’ve had a good harvest this year, Fellow Daoist," Tian Nong remarked with a sigh, his gaze landing on the pile of Spirit Yellow Rice behind them.
Thinking back to the past, he too would fight for a mere eight or ten catties of Spirit Rice, rejoicing in a good harvest and despairing over disasters. Fortunately, all of that was behind him now.
"It’s not bad. I also bought some Successor Rice on the side. I’m planning to raise some Spiritual Birds and Spiritual Beasts next year."
Tian Nong’s gaze followed Chen Mo’s gesture to another pile of grain sacks, and he nodded slightly. He took a step forward, collected two thousand catties of Spirit Rice, and cupped his hands in a salute.
"Fellow Daoist Song, Fellow Daoist Chen, I am pressed for time, so I won’t impose any longer. Let’s gather again once I finish collecting the grain."
"Go about your business. Brother Chen, I’ll be leaving first!" With that, Song Yunxi accompanied Tian Nong as they departed on flying swords.
"With your care, perhaps it isn’t a bad thing for this brother of yours to remain a Spirit Plant Cultivator for the rest of his life," Tian Nong commented mid-flight.
"He is already at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer. Does he have no hope for Foundation Establishment?" Song Yunxi asked.
"Do you?" Tian Nong retorted.
Song Yunxi was left speechless.
Seeing that the other party remained silent, Tian Nong muttered to himself, "Do I?"
Having seen off the Grain Collection Officer, Chen Mo could finally tidy up and head to the Marketplace to sell his grain.
He pushed out his deluxe handcart from the backyard. First, he loaded the 3,000 catties from his Storage Ring, along with 4,000 catties from the storehouse. He sold all 7,000 catties at once to Song’s Shop.
Guan Xingxiang, the man in charge of collecting grain, didn’t even ask why there was so much or where it came from. As long as it was brought by Chen Mo, whatever amount he stated was accepted in full without question.
Chen Mo, who had originally thought about trying to conceal some of his haul, finally figured it out. This small matter wasn’t enough to alert Song Yunxi, and even the Steward of Song’s Shop wouldn’t bother reporting it. Through this process, an information gap was created. No matter how much grain he sold, it wouldn’t arouse the Marketplace’s suspicion.
After all, the entire White Snake Marketplace had over 2,300 acres of Spirit Fields. Even after paying the grain tax, the autumn harvest volume was in the hundreds of thousands of catties. His ten or twenty thousand catties wouldn’t even make a ripple.
With this realization, Chen Mo stopped overthinking. He returned home again and carted over the remaining 4,000 catties.
In less than half a day, 11,000 catties of Spirit Yellow Rice had been exchanged for eleven Low Grade Spirit Stones. Coupled with the remaining six stones earned from breeding last year, he was now carrying a massive sum of seventeen stones!
Of course, that wasn’t all!
After selling the grain, Chen Mo corralled the ten Spirit Chickens in the coop—which had already grown chest-high—into large cages. He carted them to the Spirit Bird Station in two trips, exchanging them at a price of thirty taels of Spiritual Sand per chicken, which netted him another three Low Grade Spirit Stones.
Generally speaking, a mature Spirit Chicken could be sold for about twenty taels, but the ones Chen Mo raised were exceptionally massive! Even if they were sent to Purple Cloud Peak, they would still fetch a good price.
In just the time it took to make those two trips back and forth, the manager of the Spirit Bird Station became well-acquainted with Chen Mo.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, how do you raise these chickens?"
"How else? They just eat more and sleep more."
"I reckon they’ve been raised for three or four years?"
"Just about," Chen Mo answered casually. Naturally, he couldn’t tell the man that these ten chickens had only been raised for a year.
Meng Ke thought for a moment and said, "Fellow Daoist Chen, as an older brother of sorts, I feel I must offer a piece of advice."
"Please do."
"The optimal time to slaughter a Spirit Chicken is at two and a half years. After that, although they continue to grow in size, their appetite increases proportionally. When you factor everything in, not only do you waste time, but you don’t actually earn much more."
"I appreciate the guidance!" Chen Mo cupped his hands together in a sincere manner.
However, how could he not know such basic information? Back in the Ancient Dust Marketplace, a shopkeeper at the Spirit Bird Station had already told him! It was common sense not to raise chickens past two and a half years!
Meng Ke nodded in satisfaction; he was quite pleased with the other’s humble attitude.
"Brother Meng, would it be convenient? I’d like to get two Spirit Piglets and raise a few Spirit Sheep. What do you think?"
"Of course it’s convenient! But now isn’t the right time."
Chen Mo paused slightly and asked, "Why?"
"Spiritual Beasts are different from Spiritual Birds. There aren’t many in the entire White Snake Marketplace, and piglets and lambs aren’t always available. Therefore, you have to wait until a Spirit Nurturer’s pigs or sheep give birth before you can buy any. But don’t worry! I’ll keep an eye out for you. As soon as a litter is born, I’ll get you a few! Leave it to me." Meng Ke patted his chest, making a solid guarantee.
Pigs were prolific breeders; birthing seven or eight in a litter was no problem. However, Spirit Pigs had massive appetites. An average Spirit Nurturer could only raise three to five. Any more, and providing enough feed would become an issue. Even if they used the inexpensive Successor Rice, they wouldn’t be able to afford the feed. After all, Successor Rice still needed land to be grown on, didn’t it?
Spirit Sheep were a bit easier; they could be fed various weeds and stalks, so more people raised them.
"Thank you, Brother Meng."
"What about a Spiritual Ox? Do you want one?"
Chen Mo pondered for a moment and said, "If there are any, I’ll take one of those as well."
"Alright! I’m not sure about the others, but there’s a family whose ox is about to give birth. In two months at most, after it’s weaned, I’ll send it over to you."
"What about the price?" They had talked for a long time, but he still didn’t know the purchasing cost.
"A Spirit Piglet costs forty taels of Spiritual Sand, and after it’s fully grown, it can be sold for two Low Grade Spirit Stones. A Spiritual Ox is more expensive—sixty taels each—but after raising it for four or five years, it’ll be worth four stones! Spirit Sheep are cheaper; buy them for thirty taels and sell them for one hundred and fifty."
It wasn’t cheap! From this, it seemed Spirit Nurturers were generally much wealthier than Spirit Plant Cultivators.
Of course, those who could become Spirit Nurturers usually had some connections. Otherwise, such a large amount of wealth would have been plundered long ago.
Chen Mo silently memorized the prices. Then, he remembered the Pentagonal Heavy Lizard currently living in his ox shed.
So he asked, "Are there any other Spiritual Birds or Beasts that don’t require a Spirit Pool? For instance, a Pentagonal Heavy Lizard?"