nyslfriends Chapter 6 Wealth is the courage to cultivate oneself
Chapter 6 Wealth is the courage to cultivate oneself
A soft "click" snapped Li Ya out of his shock.
Before you know it, an hour has passed.
Meanwhile, the mountain bag began to disintegrate, spilling out a large amount of debris.
Under the candlelight, the ground was piled with all sorts of objects, dazzling Li Ya and making him unable to contain his excitement.
He suppressed his elation and carefully sorted through the items on the ground, finding a total of more than two thousand copper coins, which amounted to a full twenty-five taels of moon toad coins.
With this money, not only can I pay off my debts and raise enough money for the welcome party, but I can also live a better life for a while and won't have to live so frugally anymore.
Li Ya wished he could let out a long howl to vent his emotions.
What remained were many yellowed ancient books, tattered scrolls, and some unknown minerals and spiritual herbs. Li Ya had no time to investigate these things at the moment and stuffed them all into the Spirit Pivot Cave Heaven.
Finally, there were dozens of jade bottles, engraved with ancient runes and emitting a rich medicinal fragrance.
Li Ya picked up a jade bottle, uncorked it, and a rich medicinal fragrance instantly filled the air, invigorating him and causing his internal energy to surge.
"This is a Qi Gathering Pill!"
Even if you've never eaten pork, have you never seen a pig run?
The jade bottle contained fifty Qi Gathering Pills, each one round and plump, brimming with spiritual energy, far superior in quality to the pills I had seen from the steward.
Li Ya grabbed the hand holding the jade bottle, because the hand was trembling so much that it could barely hold the medicine bottle.
It's not that there are no pills circulating in the market, but the quantity is small and the quality is low.
Even with a renowned teacher, cultivators who master the art of alchemy need a large amount of medicinal herbs to hone their skills from the very beginning. Ordinary rogue cultivators, even if they have some skills, will be recruited by sects and families.
In reality, the sects and families that monopolized various resources also indirectly monopolized elixirs, but none of them became rich overnight because they didn't even have enough for themselves.
"I've struck it rich, Daoist!"
Li Ya didn't recognize most of the other pills in the jade bottles, but that didn't stop him from knowing their value.
"From now on, we must be more careful and cautious in our actions, and we must not give ourselves away."
Li Ya understood the principle that possessing a treasure is a crime. If a lowly servant suddenly had a large sum of money and high-quality elixirs, it would be easy for someone with ulterior motives to notice.
Elixirs can be taken by oneself, but money is only money if it can be spent; otherwise, it's just a pile of waste.
Sifang Town is only so big, and the shopkeepers who make a living by doing odd jobs are all as shrewd as ghosts.
After storing everything inside the Ling Shu Cave Heaven, Li Ya let out a long sigh of relief, his eyes shining brightly.
"We still have eight or nine hours left in this quiet room; we can't waste them."
Li Ya lit the calming incense in the incense burner, and a wisp of pure white smoke emerged from the beast's mouth on the burner.
The smoke condensed and did not disperse, rising straight upwards.
A gentle sniff reveals a unique herbal and medicinal fragrance.
Just one whiff of it made me feel refreshed and calmed my chaotic thoughts.
"This money was well spent!"
Li Ya sat down cross-legged and swallowed a Qi Gathering Pill.
The elixir melted instantly upon entering the mouth, like sweet nectar. Its medicinal power spread, and waves of heat flowed through the limbs and bones, causing the true qi in the dantian to surge.
"The second stage of Qi cultivation opens up many acupoints, which is a slow and steady process. You can't rush it, lest you damage the acupoints."
The essence of herbs and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth contained in the Qi Gathering Pill are easier to refine.
As his true energy circulated throughout his body, it seemed as if a spirit snake was wriggling and throbbing beneath his gray Taoist robe.
There is turbid air between heaven and earth, which accumulates in the orifices. The passage through these orifices is like an old farmer clearing the land, removing weeds and stones, and creating space for crops to grow.
Li Ya used his divine sense as a vanguard to guide the true energy to break through the barrier, and the experience was anything but easy.
The acupoints are fragile, and each tapping not only consumes a lot of true energy, but also causes a series of sharp pains in the acupoints.
Thanks to the true energy refined by the Qi Gathering Pill, otherwise with my current cultivation level, I would have run out of energy after just a few attempts at breaking through the barriers.
Li Ya gritted his teeth and silently endured the suffering.
An hour later, the first acupoint had loosened considerably.
"We can't delay any longer. If we exhaust our true energy, we won't have such a good place to cultivate next time."
Li Ya did not continue to knock on the gate, but stopped to accumulate strength, waiting for his essence, energy and spirit to reach their peak, and then, like striking a bell, he would strike the acupoint.
"Boom!"
A thunderclap suddenly erupted from the acupoint, and the stagnant, icy air, which had accumulated like a glacier, was completely released.
As the remaining true energy continues to wash away the impurities, it leaves the acupoints and is slowly expelled from the body.
The originally gray acupoint instantly became clear, and a wisp of pure primordial energy emerged, merging into the true energy. Mixing with the true energy, it transformed into a pure spiritual light, hovering in the acupoint like the sun high in the sky.
"call!"
The candlelight had gone out, the incense for calming the mind had burned completely, and the remaining smoke dissipated, floating in front of Li Ya.
His eyes suddenly opened, bright and sparkling, like two small stars shining. The floating smoke was stirred up and completely dispersed.
"The path to immortality is difficult to ascend, but each step reveals a unique and breathtaking view."
Judging that the time was almost up, Li Ya covered his face.
Picking up the bronze lion-shaped jade pendant, the spiritual light that enveloped the quiet room scattered into patches of light.
Li Ya slightly concealed his face and hurried back to the bamboo house while there were still few people around.
"Brother Xiaoya, you're finally back! I'm exhausted these past two days."
As soon as Li Ya entered the courtyard, he ran into Wei Que, who had returned from Beitian.
"Thank you very much, Brother Wei. I will definitely treat you well once I finish what I'm doing."
Li Ya cupped his hands in greeting, saying that once the money in his hands was laundered, he would definitely take his second brother to find the fairy to taste tea and discuss the Dao.
"Brother Xiaoya, Xie Lingji from that herb field came looking for you again yesterday, and I reckon he'll come again today."
"I suspect he's looking for Brother Xiaoya because he wants your position as a menial laborer in Beitian."
Li Ya raised his eyebrows slightly: "Second brother, there is something I don't understand. The steward can decide whether we servants stay or leave with just a word, so why does Xie Lingji have to go to such lengths?"
Wei Que looked around before speaking:
"Come to my room. I prepared a jar of tiger bone wine a couple of days ago when I saw that Brother Xiaoya had broken through in cultivation. Let's go inside and talk."
"At the second level of Qi Refining, true Qi is consumed in large quantities. Simply absorbing spiritual energy is probably not enough. This wine will be of great use to you."
Wei Que's bamboo house was no different from his own, but Wei Que was a seasoned veteran who had lived there for more than ten years, and his belongings were much more abundant than his own.
"Brother Xiaoya, do you really think these managers have that much power? To put it nicely, they're managers; to put it bluntly, they're just foremen of menial tasks."
"We servants are the property of the Yunfu Sect, not the private property of these managers. If one of us dies, the manager will have to pay a fine."
"Besides, do you think Manager Liu is short of money for a small welcome dinner?"
"I don't think there will be a shortage."
Especially in this Beitian, he has no shortage of resources.
Wei Que sneered: "Of course he's not short of money. He set this rule to force laborers like you, Brother Xiaoya, who are short of money, to borrow money at exorbitant interest rates."
"Whenever we menial laborers borrow money at exorbitant interest rates, those loan sharks will all give bribes to these managers."
Li Ya suddenly realized the underhanded tricks involved.
Those servants with savings naturally paid the money to avoid further trouble, while those who couldn't pay didn't dare to complain.
The only option is to borrow money at exorbitant interest rates, which, with compound interest, become an unpayable debt.
These managers take money from both sides; they're truly ruthless beasts who suck the marrow from the bones.
"Second Brother, someone like me who works in Beitian and makes a lot of money but can't pay this fee, naturally a middleman like Xie Lingji would come knocking on my door to persuade me to quit, wouldn't you say?"
Wei nodded, indicating a lack of understanding.
"What if I don't want to!"
"If they're unwilling, they'll naturally find other shady methods!"
"I give half of my annual income to these managers to maintain this stability."
Talented people, truly talented people, they really squeeze every last drop of blood from your bones.
This menial task is absolutely unacceptable.
"What if you're willing to give it up in exchange for the herb field?"
A thought suddenly popped into Li Ya's mind.
If we can enter the medicinal field and take some spiritual soil every day, the Spirit Pivot Cave Heaven will soon be able to open up a spiritual field.
Carrying the tiger bone wine back to the bamboo house, he had already made up his mind.
All of this stems from one's own cultivation. If one has sufficient cultivation, how could one be bound by such petty and despicable acts?
"Please help me, Ling Shu, to identify the types of elixirs in the Ling Shu Grotto Heaven and to find a way to remove their poison."
[The Spiritual Pivot will assist you in deduce the types of elixirs and methods to dispel elixir poisoning, as requested by you.]
[Spiritual Energy Consumption: 210 strands of True Qi]
[Time required: One hour]
Li Ya put aside his thoughts and carefully studied "Essentials of Qi Refining" while quietly waiting for time to pass.
Until the golden light rippled on the spirit tablet, the thing he sought slowly emerged.
The matter requested by the fellow Daoist has been deduced.
[Qi-Gathering Pill: It is neutral in nature and slightly cold, pure and astringent, and has the effect of increasing true qi. One dose of Red Scale Grass decoction per month can remove erysipelas.]
[Cleansing Elixir: Clears stagnation and removes turbidity, softens the meridians and invigorates blood circulation. It can cleanse the meridians and dredge the acupoints. It has a remarkable effect on refining Qi and opening up the acupoints. Soaking in a wood-type spiritual spring while meditating can remove erysipelas.]
……
"The second level of Qi Refining involves opening up all 365 acupoints in the body, which usually takes about four years for an ordinary cultivator."
"With Qi-gathering pills, the time can be shortened by about a year."
This speed was already considered fast for those menial laborers who had saved up some money to retire down the mountain, but his ambitions went far beyond that.
As Brother Wei said, in this competition for immortality, the word "competition" is the most important. If one cannot accumulate sufficient foundation, how can one compete with those disciples who have a good background?
"Three years is still too long!"
"With a superior cultivation technique, the speed could probably be increased considerably!"
"Please help me, Spiritual Pivot, to deduce the cultivation method that suits me and that I can obtain."
[The Spiritual Pivot will assist you in deduce the cultivation method, as requested by you, fellow Daoist.]
[Spiritual Energy Consumption: 300 strands of True Qi]
[Time required: Two hours]
[Insufficient internal energy; could the deduction be performed in stages?]
"Can!"
The "Yunfu Breathing Techniques in Brief" that Li Ya practiced was the lowest level of cultivation method in the Yunfu Sect, not even worthy of being ranked.
A day of arduous meditation and qi absorption yields only three or four tenths of the effects of a ninth-grade cultivation method.
"There's no time to lose. Once we've finished preparing the spirit shells, we'll go find Xie Lingji tonight and discuss this matter."
"I'll take this opportunity to launder some of my money."
"No matter how anxious you are, you still have to be steady."