Chapter 28: Chicken Coop LV2
Ji Yuan’s door was beyond repair, so he thoughtfully took down Deng Yunliang’s door and installed it onto his own house.
He even threw the broken wooden planks back into Deng Yunliang’s yard, making it look like someone had broken in.
As for the investigation... the Water Dragon Sect would only investigate if there were surviving family members or if the household wasn’t completely wiped out.
For solitary individuals like Ji Yuan or Deng Yunliang, the sect would most likely just sigh and say, "Let the dead rest in peace."
The three gamblers together had only yielded five spirit stones, and as for the leftover pills and talismans, they weren’t even worth mentioning.
They were truly dirt poor.
Ji Yuan could easily imagine that if those gamblers had even a little bit of savings, they would have thrown it all into gambling long ago.
So, the only valuable thing among their belongings was that bronze nail magic tool.
However, for Ji Yuan, that thing was more of a hindrance.
With his current cultivation and spiritual power, controlling the Black Gold Dagger and the Life-Reaping Needle was already sufficient.
So, after arriving at Zengtou Market, the first thing he did was exchange the magic tool for spirit stones.
It wasn’t much, only sold for a mere twenty spirit stones.
Afterward, Ji Yuan bought some talisman paper and semi-spiritual fish. When he finally finished his errands and returned home, he unexpectedly found that Lin Hu and his wife had come back early as well.
Both of them had a hint of undisguised joy in their eyes.
"Brother Ji, you went to Zengtou Market, didn’t you?"
Lin Hu came up and pointed toward Deng Yunliang’s house, lowering his voice, "Looks like his house was robbed."
"Oh?"
Ji Yuan turned to look, his face filled with surprise, "It really does look like it."
"I knew it. Those gamblers are all the same. Once they can’t pay their debts, they start eyeing other people’s belongings to settle them."
Lin Hu sneered, as if he had completely forgotten that just a few days ago, he had been in the same boat as Deng Yunliang, a gambling addict himself.
"Will you gamble again in the future?"
Wu Qin, standing behind, seemed to be in a good mood as well. She glanced at Lin Hu and snorted coldly.
"Never again, I swear."
Lin Hu laughed sheepishly, then quickly turned to Ji Yuan and said, "Brother Ji, wait here. I’ll be able to return the spirit stones to you in a bit."
"Spirit stones? No rush."
Ji Yuan had already forgotten about the matter until Lin Hu brought it up.
It was just two spirit stones.
He could easily earn them back by drawing a single Water-Repelling Talisman.
Ignoring Ji Yuan’s casual attitude, Lin Hu smiled at Wu Qin and immediately ran off toward Zengtou Market.
Judging by his excitement, Ji Yuan guessed that Lin Hu had likely come into some kind of windfall.
Sure enough, just as Ji Yuan finished tidying up his belongings after returning home, Lin Hu came back panting and knocked on Ji Yuan’s courtyard gate, holding out two spirit stones with both hands.
"Brother Ji, thank you so much."
Seeing Ji Yuan accept the spirit stones, Lin Hu bowed deeply with a serious expression.
"It’s nothing."
Seeing that Lin Hu’s family had pulled through, Ji Yuan couldn’t help but feel a bit happy for them.
Just as he was about to turn around and head back inside, he noticed that Lin Hu looked like he had something more to say.
"What is it? Just speak your mind."
"Well…" Lin Hu scratched his head, "Didn’t your family used to have a good relationship with the Lu family?"
"The Lu family? Which Lu family?"
As soon as Ji Yuan asked, he remembered, "Lu Wan?"
"Yes, yes, that’s the one."
"What about them?"
The last time Ji Yuan had seen Lu Wan was at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion when she had come together with Wu Yan.
She could be considered a friend of his, so Ji Yuan couldn’t help but feel a bit concerned upon hearing Lin Hu bring her up.
"I overheard someone in Zengtou Market saying that she seemed to have fallen out with the Wu family. Someone even heard Master Wu Wenbin cursing her for being ungrateful."
"And why is that?"
Lu Wan had always been Wu Wenbin’s prized disciple, and he had even considered letting her join the Water Dragon Sect.
How did things turn out like this?
"I’m not entirely sure."
"I heard that Master Wu wanted Lu Wan to become Dao companions with his son, but Lu Wan flatly refused, which caused the current fallout."
Lin Hu shook his head after speaking, looking puzzled, "Becoming Master Wu’s daughter-in-law, what’s there to refuse?"
Ji Yuan thought back to his previous interactions with them.
It did seem to match.
Wu Yan had always looked at Lu Wan with deep affection, while Lu Wan had always maintained a polite but distant demeanor.
Still… Ji Yuan hadn’t expected Lu Wan to refuse so bluntly.
The Lu family only had Lu Song, who was at the fifth layer of Qi Refinement, not even in the late stage.
In front of the Wu family, even reaching the late stage of Qi Refinement wouldn’t change much.
Wu Wenbin could already draw top-grade first-tier talismans, not to mention he himself was in the late stage of Qi Refinement.
Given such a disparity, Lu Wan still dared to refuse to his face…
She truly had a strong character.
However, in the face of such matters, Ji Yuan couldn’t offer any help.
He could only hope that the Wu family wouldn’t push things too far.
Lin Hu, seemingly having gained some treasure, cheerfully returned home.
Ji Yuan took one last glance at Deng Yunliang’s yard.
Now that everything was settled, he closed his courtyard gate and resumed his cultivation life.
On the second day after Deng Yunliang’s death, Lin Hu came to deliver more good news.
He had successfully advanced to the third layer of Qi Refinement.
On the same day, Wu Qin also reached the third layer of Qi Refinement.
At that point, Lin Hu finally told Ji Yuan the truth.
It turned out that while fishing in Yunyu Marshlands, he had stumbled upon a precious Earth treasure called "Jade Lotus Root".
He had sold it at Zengtou Market for a full thirty spirit stones.
These spirit stones not only solved their immediate crisis but also allowed both of them to successfully advance to the third layer of Qi Refinement.
With both husband and wife at the third layer, they would be able to catch more semi-spiritual fish on their next outing, ensuring a steady income.
Ji Yuan naturally congratulated them but politely declined their invitation for dinner.
Though the days of bitter cultivation were tough, Ji Yuan’s life was incredibly fulfilling.
He spent his days cultivating, eating spiritual eggs, resting during the day, and drawing talismans in his spare time while also studying other basic techniques.
Five days after Deng Yunliang’s death,
The yard next door finally welcomed a new family.
Unlike the previous solitary residents, Old Huang and Deng Yunliang, this time it was a family of three—a young couple with an adorable daughter.
Ji Yuan had no intention of getting close to them. After a brief introduction, he returned to his seclusion.
Since Deng Yunliang’s death, Ji Yuan’s life had settled into a peaceful routine.
After all, he wasn’t the type to seek trouble. He kept to himself and hadn’t even gone to Yunyu Marshlands recently. It was hard to cause trouble if one didn’t leave home.
Besides, the only major incident he had ever gotten involved in had been taken on by Qiu Qianhai alone.
Ji Yuan remained like an observer, hidden within the small market town of Zengtou Market, quietly cultivating alone.
The days passed, the sun rose and set.
Three months flew by in the blink of an eye.
Even Yunyu Marshlands was now filled with withered lotus leaves struck by frost.
Most of the fishermen in Zengtou Market had entered their winter hibernation.
If not for the shortage of spirit stones to pay the Immortal Residence Fee, none of them would have gone out to fish.
After finishing off three spiritual pigs, Ji Yuan had long forgotten what cold felt like, but to keep up appearances, he still put on a thick cotton coat.
On this particular day, under the morning sun, he arrived at a shop in Zengtou Market called "Treasure Vault Pavilion".
Though the outside world was dangerous, there were still powerful cultivators who formed caravans to trade between different market towns.
The Treasure Vault Pavilion was a shop with such a backing.
Inside, Ji Yuan was greeted by a female cultivator with graying hair. Yet, he still greeted her warmly, "Sister Wang."
"Sister Wang, has the century-old parasol wood arrived?" Ji Yuan asked with a smile.
"It’s here, it’s here. Our caravan specially made a trip to Jing’an Market yesterday to bring back this batch of century-old parasol wood, all for your sake, Fellow Daoist Ji."
Damn, sounds better than it actually is... Ji Yuan watched as she took out a piece of wood from her storage pouch, radiating a strong wood attribute spiritual energy. He measured it briefly.
Though it was a bit small, it was enough to cut into planks to build a chicken coop.
Over the past three months, besides cultivating, Ji Yuan had asked many people in Zengtou Market to help him gather information on "century-old parasol wood", "Bone-Rot Flower", and "Cold Iron Sand".
He had already collected a full jin of Cold Iron Sand.
There was still no news of the Bone-Rot Flower.
As for the century-old parasol wood, he had finally found it today.
"Thank you, Sister Wang. About the price…"
"Just the same as we agreed last time," Sister Wang said with a bright smile.
Ji Yuan felt relieved and paid twenty spirit stones before taking the piece of century-old parasol wood.
When he returned, his first level-2 building was finally about to be born.