Chapter 41: Raising Spiritual Birds? Purchasing Drunken Aphids!
Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Raising Spiritual Birds? Purchasing Drunken Aphids!
Seeing the other party acting so arrogantly, Chen Mo remained calm and said, "Fellow Daoist Xiao, my strength is lowly."
"You!" Xiao Changhua was utterly infuriated. He never expected a brat at the Qi Refining Second Layer to actually dare to deny him face!
"Good, good, good!" He repeated the word three times before leaving behind a harsh threat. "I’d like to see how you’ll sell your grain at the end of the year without my escort!"
With that said, Xiao Changhua flicked his sleeves and turned to walk away briskly.
He had his pride; he had his face to maintain. Since he was flatly rejected to his face by Chen Mo, Xiao Changhua couldn’t possibly shamelessly beg the other party to take action. Furthermore, constrained by the marketplace’s rules that forbade violence and killing among Spirit Plant Cultivators, he had no choice but to let the matter rest for now.
However, in his heart, his hatred for Chen Mo had reached an absolute extreme. At this moment, he made up his mind—even if the grain in his own fields was completely ruined by the insect plague, he would never let that brat have an easy time when the time came!
"Sell grain? Hmph! Just wait and die!" Xiao Changhua sneered endlessly in his heart. He hurried back to his Spirit Fields without stopping, relying on his Flaming Palm magic to wipe out the swarms of Drunken Aphids.
The insect plague of the first day was finally suppressed as the sky gradually grew dark.
The vast majority of the Spirit Fields in the entire Ancient Dust Marketplace had been ravaged beyond recognition by the sun-blotting swarms of insects. At this moment, Xiao Changhua’s fields were entirely scorched black. Out of his ten acres of Spirit Fields, at least three or four would not yield a single grain of Spirit Rice! The remaining acres had also likely been affected to varying degrees. As a result, even with harmonious wind and rain from now on, the Spirit Rice in his fields would probably barely be enough to pay his taxes!
Looking at the scorched, yellowed ground, Xiao Changhua ground his teeth in hatred.
People were just like that. When rejected by someone they looked down upon, the resulting hatred was often far more intense than if it came from a stranger. Right now, he didn’t hate He Zhiping for not showing up, nor did he hate the arrival of the insect plague. His hatred was entirely focused on Chen Mo for defying his orders!
Meanwhile, He Zhiping’s Spirit Field losses were much lower than Xiao Changhua’s.
Out of his five acres of Spirit Fields, only one acre suffered some damage. For the rest of the year, his harvest would be about eighty or ninety percent of previous years.
As for Lan Ling? Of her three acres of Spirit Fields, nearly one acre had already been gnawed clean. Of course, if He Zhiping hadn’t stepped in, she probably wouldn’t have been able to save a single Spirit Rice seedling!
"F-Fellow Daoist He, w-where did these insects come from?" Lan Ling was still in a state of shock, allowing him to grope her as he pleased.
He Zhiping had done her a massive favor, and his reason for doing so couldn’t be more obvious!
After experiencing the insect plague, Lan Ling no longer dared to use shyness as a weapon to string him along. She had to let him taste some sweetness; otherwise, if something like this happened again, she would inevitably be the one to suffer the most.
He Zhiping kneaded her with one hand, feeling incredibly exhilarated inwardly. The ten or twenty percent loss he had suffered was tossed to the back of his mind, completely overshadowed by his primal excitement.
"A minor disaster every three years, a major disaster every ten—everyone in the marketplace knows this saying. Any Spirit Plant Cultivator with some Spiritual Sand will learn the Geng Metal Finger to prepare for future troubles," he explained. Where did the insects come from? He didn’t know either, but he had cultivated this magic after hearing the advice of other Spirit Plant Cultivators. He never expected that it would actually come in handy!
"Ah! That hurts!" Lan Ling shrank back, feigning a bit of anger. "So the veteran Spirit Plant Cultivators all know about this?"
"Naturally."
"But why does he know it?" Lan Ling pointed in the direction of Chen Mo’s home. She clearly remembered that he had become a Spirit Plant Cultivator two months later than she did. Why did Chen Mo know about it, while she didn’t?!
"Him?" He Zhiping looked toward the distant small wooden cabin, a trace of a disdainful sneer appearing on his face. "He’s just selling his ass. He serviced that old hag comfortably, so it’s perfectly normal for her to reward him with a Geng Metal Finger manual."
Speaking up to this point, he pressed his face close to Lan Ling’s and looked into her eyes. His gaze conveyed a clear message: "As long as you service me well, I’ll also give you a Geng Metal Finger manual!"
Lan Ling naturally understood his implication. At this moment, she had to play along with his desires, but she was no longer an ignorant young maiden sheltered in her boudoir. Having stepped onto the path of cultivation all alone, she needed the courage to face things by herself!
"B-Brother He, ouch... be gentle," she scolded him playfully. "I’m definitely yours, but I want my first time to be a bit more formal."
"Oh? How formal?" He Zhiping’s mind was running wild, thoroughly aroused by her words.
"Let’s pick an auspicious date and formally become Dao companions, how about that?"
"Good, good!" Overjoyed, He Zhiping squeezed even harder.
As the sky darkened, Chen Mo spent some effort gathering the corpses of the Drunken Aphids together.
These insects were entirely green. If it weren’t for the perception granted by his Metal Spirit Root, they would be very difficult to spot with the naked eye while hidden among the Spirit Rice Seedlings. At this moment, even though his Geng Metal Finger had reached Great Success, he still had to deal with them carefully, afraid of causing any mishaps to the Spirit Rice in his Spirit Fields!
Currently, the Drunken Aphids had just reached adulthood, so spotting and eliminating them was still relatively simple. Once the Spirit Rice began to ear and the Drunken Aphids entered their Mature Stage, eliminating them would probably not be so easy!
Looking at the mountain-like pile of Drunken Aphid corpses, Chen Mo fell into deep thought.
This stuff was inedible to Cultivators. Although the bodies of these Spirit Insects contained a trace of Spiritual Qi, it was all Exotic Spiritual Qi. Once absorbed into a Cultivator’s body, it would inevitably cause chaos in their Dantian Spiritual Qi, leading to unimaginable consequences.
However, just leaving such a massive pile of Drunken Aphids sitting there was truly a pity.
Chen Mo thought it over and realized there seemed to be only one way to make the best use of them! That’s right! He could raise one or two Spiritual Birds! A Spirit Chicken or a Spirit Duck would do. To them, these Drunken Aphids were the best food.
Of course, if nothing unexpected happened, it wouldn’t be long before a Spirit Nurturer came knocking. They would be able to buy a huge pile of these insects for just a little Spiritual Sand. Based on the internal prices among Spirit Plant Cultivators, this pile of Drunken Aphid corpses of his probably wasn’t even worth a single tael of Spiritual Sand!
"A young Spirit Chicken in the marketplace costs around five taels of Spiritual Sand. Once mature after three years, its value can multiply by five to ten times. However, Spirit Chickens can only be fed with Spirit Grain husks and Spirit Insects, so the feeding costs over three years would also be around five taels..." Chen Mo calculated inwardly.
Raising Spiritual Birds seemed like a guaranteed profitable venture. However, there was an old saying: "Even if you have vast wealth, anything with feathers or fur doesn’t count." This saying applied perfectly to Spiritual Birds. Once they caught a disease or met with a disaster, the owner would likely lose their entire investment!
Those in the Ancient Dust Marketplace who could moonlight as Spirit Nurturers while being Spirit Plant Cultivators were all major grain farmers. Firstly, they already possessed the necessary strength and skills, and secondly, they had the financial backing to weather any risks.
As for average Spirit Plant Cultivators? Even those at the Qi Refining Third Layer wouldn’t dare lightly step into the domain of a Spirit Nurturer.
"If I raise a Spiritual Bird, will it unlock the Spirit Nurturer profession?" Chen Mo guessed inwardly. "If so, there should be a Talent to assist me!"
After thinking it over, Chen Mo made up his mind. When spring arrived next year, he would first buy two Spirit Chickens to raise and see how it went.
Ten taels of Spiritual Sand—with his current financial resources, he could still afford the loss!
In that case, these Drunken Aphids couldn’t be wasted. Sun-drying them to use as snacks for his Spiritual Birds would be a great choice!
However, this pile alone probably wouldn’t be enough to feed them.
Therefore, Chen Mo planned to take advantage of the insect plague and buy up a massive amount of them!