8: Chapter 8 Raising Spirit Dogs

"No need to trouble yourself, Sixteenth Brother. I visited Granduncle and Second Granduncle last time I was here, so I won't disturb them this time. I have some Talismans I've made; could you exchange them for some Talisman Making Materials, and purchase some Medicinal Pills and other supplies for me?" Li Changqing said as he handed over the Talismans and a list to Li Changsheng.

"Understood, Ninth Brother. Please rest for a moment, I will prepare these for you right away."

The Granduncle they spoke of, Li Huawen, was the public-facing manager of Wanbao Pavilion. He was the eldest of the 'Hua' generation of the Li Family, possessed a three-inch Spiritual Root, and had a cultivation base at the Qi Refining 9th Layer. Having suffered an injury in the past, his cultivation had stalled, and for the last decade, he had been helping the Family manage Wanbao Pavilion.

Li Changqing's Second Granduncle was the anchor of the Li Family in Wangshan Town, the Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator, Li Xuance, and was currently the person with the highest cultivation in the entire Li Family.

Within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Li Changsheng handed over the various Materials and Medicinal Pills Li Changqing needed. After confirming everything was correct, Li Changqing paid fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

For an order of this size, if it were an outsider, Li Changsheng would not have the authority to process it himself. However, among their own clansmen, there was a strict system and standard for purchasing and exchanging Cultivation supplies, and the person in charge just needed to strictly follow it.

After chatting a bit with Li Changsheng, Li Changqing rose and left Wanbao Pavilion, preparing to return to Xuanling Lake.

This time, Li Changqing purchased ten Peiyuan Pills and five Divine Body Pills from the Family. Peiyuan Pills were Medicinal Pills for increasing the cultivation of Qi Refining Late Stage Cultivators and could be taken once every half month; Divine Body Pills were Medicinal Pills for improving the Physique of Qi Refining Cultivators.

Li Changqing had not taken these two types of Medicinal Pills before. Each Medicinal Pill had a limit; after taking too much of the same type, drug resistance would develop, and in serious cases, medicinal toxins could even remain in the body.

The setting sun was like blood, dyeing the western horizon into molten gold and coating the tall, grey-green stone walls of Wangshan Town with a warm halo.

After completing the predetermined goals of his trip, Li Changqing did not linger in Wangshan Town, walking straight out of the city gate and flying towards Xuanling Lake.

More than an hour later, Li Changqing returned to Xuanling Island. He tapped his Storage Pouch with his finger, summoned the token to control the Formation, entered Xuanling Island without obstruction, and returned to his residence.

The next morning, Li Changqing placed the ten Psychic Dog descendants and twenty hybrid Yellow Spirit Chicken chicks he had purchased into the newly built Spirit Beast Farm on Xuanling Island. This Spirit Beast Farm was sixty meters long and thirty meters wide, sufficient for current use.

Following the plan he had carefully considered, Li Changqing took out the remaining drop of creation immortal liquid and dripped it into a basin of Spirit Spring Water he had prepared, stirring it evenly.

He then divided the basin of Spirit Spring Water mixed with the creation immortal liquid into thirty portions and fed them to the Psychic Dogs and Yellow Spirit Chickens. Upon drinking the liquid, the Psychic Dogs' eyes filled with joy, and they howled excitedly at Li Changqing, as if expressing how satisfied they were.

Spirit Beast descendants like Psychic Dogs and Yellow Spirit Chickens usually had relatively gentle temperaments, especially when raised by a Cultivator from a young age. There was no need to sign a contract with them to keep them in large numbers within one's capability, which was why they were deeply loved by Cultivators.

One must know that a Cultivator's Divine Soul is limited and cannot form contracts with Spirit Beasts indefinitely. An average Qi Refining Cultivator could only sign contracts with two to three Spirit Beasts at the same time.

From then on, Li Changqing began his day-to-day work, hoping every day that some true Spirit Beasts would appear among the Psychic Dogs and Yellow Spirit Chickens.

Cultivation knows no time; in the blink of an eye, two and a half years passed.

At this moment, Li Changqing in the secret room on Xuanling Island stopped his Cultivation, because tomorrow was the Li Family's decennial Family Meeting. This was one of the most important activities for the Li Family; the Li Family Meeting was a grand gathering held once every ten years, and also an important day for internal discussion within the Family.

Every Family Meeting would decide the Family's development direction, development goals, Family systems that needed reform, welfare for clansmen, and so on for the next few years.

Regardless of age or seniority, only clansmen whose cultivation had reached the Qi Refining 7th Layer were allowed to participate in the Family Meeting discussions. This was also the first time Li Changqing was qualified to attend the Family Meeting, so he took it very seriously.

During these two and a half years, besides completing the Family-mandated duties, as well as Talisman Making and feeding the Spirit Beasts, Li Changqing rarely stopped his Cultivation for other reasons.

Although occasionally delayed by trivial matters, through his diligent Cultivation and with the assistance of several Medicinal Pills, his cultivation successfully broke through from the Qi Refining 7th Layer to the Qi Refining 8th Layer, becoming the youngest Qi Refining 8th Layer Cultivator in the Li Family at the age of thirty-four.

Over these two-plus years, he had traveled back and forth to Wangshan Town several times to purchase and sell Cultivation supplies. Family Cultivators had already come to catch and sell the Spirit Fish in Xuanling Lake, the new fish fry had slowly grown up, and the Profound Yang Rice had matured three times; the Family had already handed over his share of the profits.

At this time, Li Changqing had saved one hundred and eighty-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones, one 2nd-grade Low Grade Talisman, dozens of 1st-grade High Grade Talismans, several 1st-grade High Grade Medicinal Pills, one High Grade Magical Artifact, two Medium Grade Magical Artifacts, and various other Cultivation supplies in his Storage Pouch. His level of wealth already exceeded ninety percent of Qi Refining Cultivators.

Pushing open the door and walking out of the secret room, Li Changqing channeled his Qi to his legs, tapped his toes lightly, and with a flash of his figure, he arrived at the Spirit Beast Farm.

He tapped his right hand rhythmically on the wall, and a swarm of yellow-pressing Yellow Spirit Chickens and ten Five-Black Dogs came rushing over.

Among the ten Five-Black Dogs in front, three were obviously several sizes larger than their companions, even larger than ordinary Green Wolves. They had clearly broken through their Bloodline shackles, their cultivation had reached the 1st-grade Early Stage, and they had become Psychic Dogs.

Although the remaining seven Five-Black Dogs had not broken through, they had consumed the special Spirit Spring Water and were no longer ordinary mortal beasts; Li Changqing called them Semi-Spirit Dogs.

The Semi-Spirit Dogs had an extraordinary Aura, and any one of them could fight back and forth with their poop-scooper, Li Fanchen, even though Li Fanchen's Martial Dao had already broken through to the Body Tempering Peak.

At this time, the Yellow Spirit Chicken flock had reached one hundred and twenty-five. The little Yellow Spirit Chickens were all born from the adult Yellow Spirit Chickens, and among the first batch of little Yellow Spirit Chickens, four had broken through their Bloodline shackles to become 1st-grade Spirit Beasts—Yellow Spirit Chickens.

Among these four Yellow Spirit Chickens were two hens. Starting last month, these two hens could lay one egg every day. Calculated at five gold coins per Spirit Egg, the Spirit Eggs alone could bring Li Changqing a profit of nearly three Low-Grade Spirit Stones every month.

After throwing down dozens of catties of beast meat and sprinkling over a dozen catties of miscellaneous grain, Li Changqing casually grabbed a large Yellow Spirit Chicken and turned to leave. The Yellow Spirit Chicken flock did not react much to their companion being taken away and were still scrambling to grab the food.

Walking out of the Spirit Beast Farm, he called over Li Fanchen and handed the large Yellow Spirit Chicken to him, instructing, "Braise this chicken in soy sauce at noon today."

Although this large Yellow Spirit Chicken, which had consumed the special Spirit Spring Water, belonged to the Semi-Spirit Chicken category and could sell for forty to fifty gold coins, Li Changqing still decided to eat it to taste it. Having raised it for so long, he had not eaten one himself yet.

Li Fanchen took the Yellow Spirit Chicken and replied, "Understood, Immortal Master. Should I add more chili like the other dishes?"

After getting along for a few years, Li Fanchen already knew Li Changqing's taste: he preferred spicy and disliked sweet.

"Yes, just like before, add more chili."

Hearing the affirmative answer, Li Fanchen turned to find the chef of Xuanling Island to kill the chicken and prepare the dish.