Two days later, Ji Yuan only heard about the Foundation Establishment Immortal Mansion that appeared on Maple Island when he went out to deal with those four and a half Spirit Fish.
After hearing it... he was pretty indifferent.
He wasn't like those other Fishermen who were all excited about it.
Immortal Mansion?
Can it even be upgraded?
If I could level up my Cave Mansion to 100, who knows, maybe I'd straight up turn into a Divine Hall!
Ruling over the whole universe!
Lost in wild fantasies for a while, the four and a half Spirit Fish he'd spent four Spirit Stones on, raised for half a month, he flipped for six Spirit Stones.
Ji Yuan then spent another four Spirit Stones to buy four more half-Spirit Fish.
He saved the two Spirit Stones profit he'd earned.
Thinking about the Immortal Mansion, he figured it was time to upgrade his own [Cave Mansion] too.
When that's done, he'd get a +20% Spiritual Qi boost at night, which would help his cultivation.
Or maybe upgrade the [Pigsty], that'd work too.
Spirit Pigs could gain a hundred jin of muscle in seven days, their flesh helps with Body Tempering, and apparently aids in recovery from injuries too.
Nobody else's Spirit Pigs come with all these perks—at most they just taste great and have a tiny trace of Spiritual Qi, that's it.
Ji Yuan liked the Body Tempering effect most.
From the original owner's memories, he knew that in the Cultivation Realm, Body Refinement was pretty much a side branch.
Even if you became a Martial Saint in a mortal's eyes, you still couldn't beat a mid-stage Qi Cultivation cultivator.
I mean, no matter how good you are at martial arts, if the other guy just uses Artifact Manipulation Technique to call in a Flying Sword from a few hundred meters away, you'd get shredded in an instant.
That's why most cultivators only focus on cultivation, and don't bother working out their bodies.
But Ji Yuan had other ideas. Physical strength is power too... Honestly, after your physique improves, even Dual Cultivation works better, you can plow more fields, if you catch my drift.
Plus, if you can get stronger just by eating and drinking, why wouldn't you?
Later, when Ji Yuan came back to his little home by the shore of Cloud Rain Marsh with four half-Spirit Fish, he saw Old Man Huang and Lin Youwei squatting at his door, whispering about something.
Seeing Ji Yuan return, Lin Youwei first glanced at the half-Spirit Fish in his hand, then waved him over, "Ji Yuan, come have a chat."
What else could they want to talk about? Nine times out of ten it's the Foundation Establishment Immortal Mansion drama sweeping all of Zengtou City... Ji Yuan nodded, "Okay, I'll go put the fish away first, then I'll come out."
Soon enough, Ji Yuan squatted down next to Lin Youwei.
"You went to Zengtou City, I bet you heard about that Maple Island situation, right?" Lin Youwei asked.
"Yeah, I heard."
Old Man Huang grinned, showing his missing teeth, "So, kid, you interested? How about our three families team up and try our luck at Maple Island too?"
Dude, even late-stage Qi Cultivators are fighting over that Foundation Establishment Immortal Mansion, and you two at fourth-level Qi think you're going to succeed... Ji Yuan just smiled.
"I'm only in early-stage Qi Cultivation, better count me out."
"Don't say that." Lin Youwei quickly argued, "Opportunities like this are pure luck, no one can say for sure. Besides, we're not going ON the island, we're just hanging around the outside, hoping to catch some luck."
Old Man Huang pulled out his old pipe and stuffed in some tobacco.
"Let's be real, we're not thinking about getting the Immortal Mansion at all, we're just looking to profit off the dead."
"It's not just us from Zengtou City, people from next door Taian Square, and Jingde Square are coming too—there'll be God knows how many Qi Cultivators there, with lots of casualties. That's the 'luck' we're after."
"You'd need to be at least eighth or ninth level Qi Cultivation before daring to actually fight over that Immortal Mansion."
Now that makes sense... Ji Yuan listened, his face looking a bit tempted, but after hesitating a bit, he shook his head.
"I'm a coward, plus I just reached level three, don't know any real spells, not much for fighting—let's not, I don't want to slow you guys down."
This time, Ji Yuan didn't even wait, he just stood up, cupped his hands to the both of them, then turned and went back inside.
He didn't even give them a chance to try to change his mind.
What they said was true—these brawls really are a good chance to profit off the dead, but hey, who knows if you'll be the living or the dead?
Ji Yuan can just upgrade his own buildings, no need to risk his life for that.
Outside the door.
Lin Youwei and Old Man Huang glanced at each other, "So what do we do?"
"Let's just take the whole family! The more of us, the more people will think twice about messing with us."
Lin Youwei gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind.
"Yeah, more folks means more people to watch each other's backs."
The fact that the whole Lin Family was heading out to Maple Island for their chance at fortune naturally didn't escape Ji Yuan, living just over the wall.
Lin Youwei and Old Man Huang even knocked on Ji Yuan's door, asking him to look after their homes while they were gone.
This sort of small favor, of course Ji Yuan wouldn't refuse.
So he just leaned against his own doorframe, watching Old Man Huang summon his Mantis Boat, while Lin Youwei called out his Black Wood Boat.
In the end, Lin Youwei took Zhou Ling and Wu Qin with him, while Lin Hu got on Old Man Huang's Fishing Boat.
The five of them set off in style, disappearing into the misty Cloud Rain Marsh.
Ji Yuan watched the mist drift over the lake for a long while, then quietly shut his door and went to the backyard, took out a Spirit Egg, and resumed his daily cultivation routine.
Since learning about what happened over at Maple Island, Ji Yuan hardly went out at all.
He spent all his days hiding in the backyard cultivating. With the neighbors gone, he even practiced his spells at home. And after days of grinding like this—
It actually paid off.
For example, he'd totally solidified level three Qi Cultivation, and could probably break through to level four—mid-stage Qi Cultivation—any time now.
The only reason Ji Yuan hadn't tried yet was he knew he didn't have enough Spirit Stones.
Relying just on Spirit Eggs probably wouldn't cut it.
Breaking through needs momentum. So he planned to sell another Spirit Fish and use the earnings to push himself to mid-stage.
Other than that, he'd totally mastered all the spells the original owner knew.
Even the Water Arrow Technique—he could practically cast it instantly now.
It basically hits wherever he aims.
Five days later, the four half-Spirit Fish from Ji Yuan's second batch still hadn't advanced to the next stage, but their size maxed out, so he just took them to the Fish Cage and sold them.
He earned four Spirit Stones.
With three Spirit Stones he bought three more half-Spirit Fish, making a small profit of one Spirit Stone.
This trip out, even though Ji Yuan wasn't specifically looking for gossip, he still heard quite a bit about Maple Island.
For example, lots of Fishermen from Zengtou City, Taian Square, and Jingde Square all went. People haven't even landed on the island, and there've been several fights already.
There have been casualties on all sides.
Most of those killed were mid-stage Qi Cultivators.
Oh, and some cultivator from Taian Square at level nine Qi tried to storm onto the island with his superior cultivation, but was killed instantly by a mysterious sword Qi on the island.
This made the other Fishermen hoping for a chance at fortune calm down a little.
Also, because of this war, attacking items like Elixir and Talismans have gone up in price at Zengtou City.
Not that any of this mattered to Ji Yuan. Right now, he felt just like a spectator, watching the Cloud Rain Marsh from afar.
The tides rise and fall.
But what he didn't expect was, just as he got home with some half-Spirit Fish, and was about to toss them into the [Fish Pond], he suddenly realized there was a new shadow inside—a black one, about the length of his arm.
One of the half-Spirit Fish... evolved!