Chapter 79: Expanding the Breeding Scale
Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Expanding the Breeding Scale
As the twelfth lunar month arrived, the winter wind grew piercingly cold.
During this time, He Zhiping often wandered over, whether intentionally or not. Occasionally, he wanted to greet Chen Mo, but he would always be frightened by the cold look on Chen Mo’s face, not daring to utter a single word.
After all, the two of them had a history of bad blood. However, even if He Zhiping were given extra courage now, he still wouldn’t dare cause trouble.
As for Lan Ling, she also visited frequently. Sometimes, she would even boss around the craftsmen working on the construction, telling them how to do this and that, acting as if the house was hers.
Chen Mo felt that this Female Cultivator was practically possessed. Frankly speaking, he had absolutely nothing to do with her, yet she remained relentless! However, aside from ignoring her, he could only let her be. It wasn’t like he could just kill her, right?
Before the first lunar month arrived, Chen Mo finally moved into his newly built house.
It was a house at least three times larger than his old one!
In his original wooden cabin, the living room, study, Training Room, and bedroom had all been crammed together. In other words, the place had been barely the size of a palm. Even Kang didn’t have enough room to run around!
Now, stepping through the front door led into a spacious living room. Behind a folding screen lay two bedrooms, while a study, a kitchen, and a Training Room were all fully equipped! The team of craftsmen Wei Wuwei had hired even arranged all the furniture inside perfectly.
Chen Mo added some firewood to the nearby fireplace, and the temperature inside the room gradually rose. He sat down at the Eight Immortals Table, poured himself a cup of hot tea, and took a slow sip.
Thinking about it now, the thirty taels of Spiritual Sand had been well spent! Without those craftsmen, just buying this furniture would have taken a lot of effort, let alone setting up the Defense Array that now enveloped both the house and the chicken coop!
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
A knock came from the door.
"Who is it?"
"It’s me!"
Hearing the voice, Chen Mo immediately frowned.
Her again?
He had no idea what Lan Ling was trying to do. Even desperate pandering shouldn’t go to this extreme!
"Nobody is home!"
"Fellow Daoist Chen, since you are moving in today, I specially cooked some Spirit Rice for you. Would you like to..."
Without waiting for her to finish, Chen Mo set down his teacup and went straight into the Training Room to meditate and cultivate. He didn’t want to listen to her nagging. If she were stunningly beautiful, that would be one thing, but looking so completely average, how did she even have the nerve?
Outside the door, Lan Ling was still muttering.
The winter wind was biting cold, and even as a Cultivator, she found it somewhat unbearable to stand out there. She rambled on for a long time, but seeing that Chen Mo still hadn’t responded, her eyes eventually filled with deep disappointment. The bowl of Spirit Rice she held had gone completely cold, yet even so, she couldn’t bear to take a single bite herself.
"Sincerity can split metal and stone. Lan Ling, oh Lan Ling, you must believe that you can definitely do it!" Giving herself a pep talk, she turned and headed back.
One month later.
As spring approached, there was less than half a month left before the sowing season. After cultivating in seclusion, Chen Mo had finally made it through the harsh winter and stepped out of his house.
Now that he lived in a luxury mansion, his quality of life had clearly risen to another level. He could drink tea, eat comfortably, and occasionally read a few books to learn more about the local customs and culture. Even if he just stayed cooped up at home, all he needed to do was grind away at his skills.
Originally, Chen Mo had planned to stay indoors for another ten days or so before thinking about plowing the fields, but he couldn’t withstand Kang endlessly pecking at his window with his beak every single day!
If he didn’t let him in, he would just keep pecking and pecking. If he did let him in, he would constantly cluck right next to his ear.
Finally, annoyed beyond belief, Chen Mo decided to head to the Marketplace to buy some little hens for Kang!
"Cluck... cluck cluck... cluck... cluck cluck cluck."
Right before he set off, Kang was still chattering by his ear. It seemed he wanted Chen Mo to take him along so he could pick them out himself.
"Do you think we’re visiting a brothel? If I really brought you along, you’d better watch out or you’ll get yourself butchered!"
Given how majestic and extraordinary Kang looked now, he would likely be targeted by others the moment he entered the breeding station. When the time came, if the Cultivators of Purple Cloud Peak wanted to eat him, would Chen Mo hand him over or not?
Ultimately, under Chen Mo’s soothing promise—ten little hens—Kang reluctantly agreed to stay at home and not go anywhere!
It took Chen Mo less than an hour to arrive at the Marketplace. He made a special trip to the Yi Er San Grain Station, only to find a notice still posted on the front door:
[Temporarily Closed Due to Urgent Matters.]
It seemed Song Yunxi wouldn’t be returning anytime soon.
When he reached the Spirit Bird Breeding Station, the place still reeked of chicken manure. He walked inside for a bit and eventually stopped in front of the same stall where he had bought Kang.
"Shopkeeper, do you sell hens here?"
"Yes, six taels each."
"Isn’t it five taels?"
"That’s for the roosters!"
After a brief conversation, Chen Mo finally understood. When Spirit Nurturers typically came to buy Spiritual Birds, the default assumption was that they wanted roosters, so the price was naturally the lowest possible. This applied unless the buyer specifically asked otherwise. Regardless of the location or the species, females were always more expensive than males because they could reproduce.
"Then give me ten hens and ten roosters."
The stall owner grabbed a large cage, placed it on the ground, and began catching chicks from his own pens. Every time he caught one, he would expertly spread its rear end for a quick look before stuffing it inside. In no time at all, all twenty chicks were packed up.
"Do you still have chaff?"
"Two taels per hundred catties." The owner remained expressionless throughout; doing business seemed completely joyless to him.
"Give me five hundred catties of that as well!"
Chen Mo originally wanted to ask if there were any worms for sale, but when he thought about the potential price, he decided against it.
He paid a total of one hundred and twenty taels of Spiritual Sand. With this, the three hundred taels of Spiritual Sand he had harvested at the end of the year were mostly gone, and he still needed to buy Fasting Pills and other supplies with the remainder!
"Money flows away like water!" he thought.
These twenty chicks could double their value in two years’ time, and if they laid eggs, there would be additional income. All things considered, that would equate to roughly several dozen taels of Spiritual Sand a year. Converted into Spirit Rice, that was a good several hundred catties! Assuming a yield of seventy catties per acre, it would take at least ten acres of farmland to compare.
However, breeding was entirely different from farming; the profits were higher, but so were the risks. If these chicks died prematurely, he would lose his entire investment!
This was exactly why their ancestors had a saying: "Even with immense wealth, anything with feathers or fur doesn’t count!"
Of course, from what Chen Mo understood, just like the Breeders among the Spirit Plant Cultivators, there was also a special profession among the Spirit Nurturers—the Veterinarian!
They were specifically responsible for treating illnesses in Spiritual Birds and Spirit Beasts. Their status was even much higher than that of Breeders!
An excellent Veterinarian would be highly sought after not just in the Marketplace, but even across Purple Cloud Peak. In this day and age, what Cultivator with even a bit of status didn’t raise a Spirit Pet? Whenever a pet fell ill or suffered a mishap, the only person they could rely on was a Veterinarian!
Chen Mo also wanted to branch out into that field, but for now, he had no idea where to start. Just like becoming a Spirit Array Master, becoming a Veterinarian required apprenticing under a master to learn the trade.
He wrapped the cage tightly in a cotton quilt. The early spring wind was still biting cold, and although the chicks in the cage were Spiritual Birds, they were still too young to withstand such chilling drafts. Utilizing his Spirit Snake Body Technique, he pushed his cart along the road and finally made it back home before noon.
The moment Chen Mo opened the cage, an afterimage darted over in a flash.
But the next moment, Kang was completely dumbfounded!
"Cluck! Cluck! Cluck cluck cluck!"
"Why are they all chicks?! Hens! Where are the hens?!" Kang thought in utter dismay.