Ordinary low-grade Spirit Fish usually go for 8 to 15 low-grade Spirit Stones each.
The reason the Cold-Blooded Perch is so valuable is because its blood carries a special chill, making it top-tier material for making Talismans.
Ji Yuan hadn't expected that this upgrade would actually evolve the only half-spirit fish in his fish pond into a Spirit Fish.
Most likely this was a bonus from the fish pond upgrade—a critical hit, so to speak.
But whatever the case, with this Cold-Blooded Perch here, the current predicament was basically solved.
Ji Yuan might not want to take out high-interest loans, but he wants to die even less... He transmigrated once and ended up in the Cultivation World every guy dreams about—who'd want to kick the bucket here?
So, now the main issue is to get this Cold-Blooded Perch to the Fish Cage and sell it for Spirit Stones.
Ji Yuan sat by the fish pond, looking at this Spirit Fish stuck in the shallows... Selling it straight up is definitely not gonna work. If the wrong guy sees it, they're bound to get suspicious.
Having come to this unpredictable Cultivation World, you gotta be extra careful until you've got enough power under your belt.
So, the best solution is to make a trip to Cloud Rain Marsh and pretend I just caught it there.
Time for action.
If this was out in the vast Cloud Rain Marsh, with just a single tail flick, Ji Yuan would never have been able to catch up with the Cold-Blooded Perch. But, too bad for it, now it's trapped in his little fish pond.
So, Ji Yuan used the Water Arrow Technique—which he still wasn't too skilled with, just like the original owner was—and finished the Cold-Blooded Perch off with a single easy shot.
After the Spirit Fish died, he quickly dragged the body ashore, even sprinkled it with some hemostatic powder to keep it from bleeding out too much.
Then he checked out the entrance; seeing nobody else around, he finally carried the Spirit Fish onto his old covered boat and hid it in the water compartment.
He used to have a basic magical Fishing Boat at home, but that ended up lost in Cloud Rain Marsh too.
Thinking for a bit, Ji Yuan knocked on Old Man Huang's courtyard door next door.
"What, finally thought it through? Going to see Liu the Wretch?" Old Man Huang grinned with his toothless mouth and asked.
"Thought it through. I'm heading out for another trip to Cloud Rain Marsh instead. Sorry to trouble you, Elder Huang, but please watch the house. If anyone comes, just tell them I'm out fishing."
"Alright then. Try to stay alive."
Once he heard Ji Yuan wasn't about to see Liu the Wretch, Old Man Huang lost interest.
"Mm."
Ji Yuan turned and got on the fishing boat. Gripping both oars, the black canopy boat slipped right into the misty Cloud Rain Marsh.
Old Man Huang leaned on the doorframe, watching his back, and let out a long sigh.
"Another Drowned Ghost going to join the cloud and rain..."
"..."
After a while, Ji Yuan glanced back. Only when the shore was completely out of sight did he look for a tiny island nearby. He spent some hours there cultivating, then set sail directly to the Fish Cage at Zengtou City.
If you ask what part of Zengtou City is the busiest, first is the male cultivators' brothel,
And second is the Fish Cage.
Especially this riverside Fish Cage—every fisherman coming back from the wild stops by here.
No matter that Ji Yuan came back rather early, probably around 3 or 4 in the afternoon—still, the place was packed wall to wall.
"Brother Ye, nice haul! Caught a Yellow Swordfish? That's another ten Spirit Stones in the bag. How about you take us out to party tonight?"
"A mid-stage first rank Spirit Fish showed up at Huishui Bay—injured a bunch of folks."
"Heard Han Feiyu broke through to Qi Cultivation level eight? Then he's definitely getting into Water Dragon Sect now. Another talent leaving our Zengtou City."
"..."
With so many mouths flapping, Ji Yuan didn't dare linger. He marched straight up to the Water Dragon Sect disciple in charge of collecting fish and dropped his Cold-Blooded Perch in the fish basket.
Soon as the Cold-Blooded Perch appeared, the surrounding chatter died down a lot.
"Cold-Blooded Perch? Haven't seen one of those in ages, have we?"
"Damn, and it was caught by someone just at Qi Cultivation level two? Must have been stepping in dog shit ALL the way here!"
"..."
Seeing it was a Cold-Blooded Perch, the Water Dragon Sect disciple perked up a bit. "Good quality, blood's well preserved too. I'll give you 18 low-grade Spirit Stones for it."
What?!
18?
This price had Ji Yuan a little shocked. He'd thought 15 low-grade Spirit Stones would be plenty, never expected 3 more on top of that.
Only when the Water Dragon Sect disciple handed over a small handful of Spirit Stones did he snap back to reality. He quickly asked,
"I need to pay my Immortal Residence fee—can I pay it here?"
The Fish Cage and the Immortal Residence fees are both "official" business run by Water Dragon Sect. Normally, when fishermen plan to head out deeper into Cloud Rain Marsh, they pay up the next month's Residence fee here first.
"You can."
The Water Dragon Sect disciple replied with a blank look.
"Room B-16."
Ji Yuan gave his address. The Water Dragon Sect disciple took out a Jade Scroll and scanned it. "You're two months overdue—total of six Spirit Stones."
"Here."
The Spirit Stones he'd just gotten, not even warm yet, and he handed over a third of them. Ji Yuan didn't feel bad about it at all; if anything, being debt-free felt great.
At least now he didn't have to worry about getting kicked out of Cloud Rain Marsh at any moment and ending up homeless.
After paying the rent, Ji Yuan cupped his hands and smiled at the fishermen watching the show nearby.
"Just lucky, just lucky."
With that, he squeezed into the crowd, dodged left and right a couple times, and was gone in a flash.
Only after he'd made it a good distance away from the Fish Cage did he look back. Once he confirmed no one was shadowing him, Ji Yuan let out a long sigh of relief.
Good, the market area's still pretty safe—especially during the day.
Feeling the Spirit Stones in his pocket, Ji Yuan glanced at his panel. If he only wanted to upgrade buildings, his current assets could easily buy a few upgrades.
But just upgrading buildings wasn't enough—you need resources too.
Like with the Fish Pond—you need enough half-spirit fish to make it worthwhile.
As for the leftover [Pigsty], it could put on a hundred catties of muscle in seven days, and even boost body tempering... but you'd need a Spirit Pig for that. Another big expense.
Best idea for now is to go buy some half-spirit fish and make the most of this [Fish Pond] first.
Even if the fish can't evolve into Spirit Fish, with that 20% boost in growth speed, I'm not losing out at all.
As for buildings, Ji Yuan planned to upgrade the [Chicken Cage] next.
Get a few Green-Yellow Chickens—their Spirit Eggs can keep me going for daily cultivation and also let me fast from food.
That way, I can save a good chunk of money too.
Action time again! Normally, all these Spirit Stones would've gone to buying Talismans or Elixirs for underwater missions—just to risk my ass out in Cloud Rain Marsh.
But now... Ji Yuan's opinion?
You guys can go risk your necks if you want; I'll stay home raising fish and feeding chickens, thank you very much.
Before long, Ji Yuan sailed his little covered boat home, bringing back five half-spirit fish and three Green-Yellow Chickens with a bit of Demon Beast blood in them.
Old Man Huang, who was smoking a dry pipe at the door, stared at Ji Yuan coming back loaded down and stood up, stunned:
"Kid, you sell your ass or something?"
Sell YOUR ass. Your whole family sells ass... Ji Yuan twitched his mouth, "Just lucky, caught a seriously injured early stage Spirit Fish."
"Boy, you really did step in dog shit."
Old Man Huang's voice sounded a little jealous.
What Ji Yuan said—well, it's happened in Zengtou City before, just not often.
Seeing Ji Yuan carry in fish and chickens, Old Man Huang chuckled to himself... Youngsters, they're just too green. Got some money, first thing on their mind is spending it. Never thinks to save up for next month's Immortal Residence fee.
Really think you can be this lucky every day? Find a wounded Spirit Fish every month?
But turning to look at the mist-shrouded Cloud Rain Marsh, Old Man Huang started getting some bold ideas himself.
Maybe I should try Cloud Rain Marsh too?
——
(First book by an 18-year-old newbie, folks! Please support—add to your collection, give it a recommendation and vote for it!)
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