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Chapter 297 Folk Tales
"Why has the price of spirit stones suddenly dropped so drastically recently?"

"Yes, the price has started to drop by half, which is really unexpected. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have stockpiled it."

After the New Year, the hustle and bustle suddenly subsided, the lantern street was completely demolished, and the East and West markets resumed business.

During these quiet days, the ice and snow in Shengjing began to melt, and in recent days the city has been covered in mud.

Upstairs at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, where the subterranean fire still burns, idle young men from the capital gather and chat with their invited guests.

Last year, due to the unusually heavy snowfall, the supply of Snowfield Demon Stones was suspended. Furthermore, due to the limited inventory in Yunzhou and Zhongzhou, coupled with the inability to mine during the winter, the supply of spirit stones in Qingyun Tianxia almost ran out.

To everyone's surprise, not long after the new year ended, the spirit stone shops reopened, and a large number of spirit stones began to flow into the market.

The price of spirit stones, which had been soaring before the New Yuan, has plummeted by more than half, and the trend continues unabated, with prices changing daily.

Zhao Yunyue took a sip of tea and couldn't help but speak up upon hearing this: "After the ice and snow thawed, the Yunzhou Spirit Stone Merchants Association immediately resumed operations and mined a large number of spirit stones in a short period of time, hoping to take on the high prices of the Snow Region Demon Stones."

"With a large influx of Zhongzhou stones into the market, how can we sustain such high prices?"

“The Spirit Stone Merchants Association of Yunzhou is not that stupid. They have been controlling the speed at which spirit stones flow into the market, and even stopped selling for a few days to curb the price drop.”

"Why would the price of spirit stones be so drastically reduced?"

"Not long after Yunzhou Spirit Stones appeared on the market, Snowfield Demon Stones began to flood in, driving the price down again. Since the quality of Yunzhou Stones was inferior to that of Snowfield Demon Stones, their prices naturally plummeted."

Princess Chang Le turned her teacup and said calmly, "The Yunzhou Spirit Stone Merchants Association was short-sighted and immediately dumped its inventory, which is why the price of spirit stones is constantly falling."

Upon hearing this, a scion of a prominent family pursed his lips and said, "Aren't the Lu sisters closely related to Ji You? Why..."

“Ji You has always acted without any scruples, so it’s not surprising.”

"Why are there so many Snowfield Demon Stones?"

"Isn't that easy to understand? It means that the Snowfield Demon Stones were transported in long ago, but they have been hoarded by people with ulterior motives."

A young nobleman who was watching the dancers sway their hips turned his head upon hearing the voice: "What did I tell you? Those Snowfield Demon Stones that appeared on the market from time to time before the New Yuan Dynasty were definitely problematic. Now it seems that Ji You was the one making money. I also heard that he bought spirit seedlings from Liangzhou and brought them back to Fengzhou to plant."

The young man from the capital who had spoken earlier raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Is that so?"

"Absolutely no lies."

"He's going to cultivate spirit seedlings in Fengzhou?"

"That's the way it is."

"This season, You has already established himself in the Immortal Sect, but his behavior is no different from that of a villager. He comes and goes, covered in mud, but he has never put any effort into cultivation."

"Perhaps his bloodline is truly different from ours. After all, the descendants of mortals are still mortals. Their Daoist heart may not be so firm, and they are easily disturbed by worldly affairs."

The speaker was a young man, dressed in a royal blue robe, and looked quite young.

He was a newly enrolled disciple of the Heavenly Academy and one of the most promising young talents in the Elders' Pavilion. After arriving in Shengjing last autumn, he was immediately drawn into their circle by these young men from the capital, where they drank and made merry.

This treatment is similar to that given to Chu He, Fang Jincheng, Peng Yu, and others back then.

They hadn't been in the hospital for long, but they had heard a lot about Ji You. Although they had never met, they weren't exactly strangers.

For these children of immortals who have been given high hopes by their families since childhood, seeking immortality and asking questions is a must. But Ji You only cares about accumulating wealth and farming, which easily makes people think about his true identity.

In order to prohibit commoners from cultivating immortality, the Great Xia Dynasty began to consciously promote the theory of bloodline hundreds of years ago.

To put it simply, it's about constantly solidifying the idea that only the descendants of immortals are immortals, while the descendants of mortals can only be mortals, thus preventing the emergence of unauthorized cultivation through this understanding.

This method is actually not very clever. Not to mention smart people, even people with a brain can see what the purpose is.

However, time is also a terrifying force. This rudimentary idea, after being passed down for hundreds of years, has not only become unbreakable but also traceable.

Therefore, not only mortals believed that cultivating immortality was something that descendants of immortals could do, but even cultivators themselves thought so.

However, what they were discussing was not untrue.

After the new era began, the Spirit Stone Merchants Association of Zhongzhou ordered the resumption of work, and all the major spirit mines began to urge miners to speed up mining.

However, when they resumed work, the snow was deep and the ice had not yet melted, posing a great risk. But the miners had no choice but to obey the high-pressure coercion.

Before long, the Snowfield Demon Stones began to enter the Nine Provinces on a large scale, disrupting the Spirit Stone Merchant Guild's rhythm.

This was the result of discussions between Ji You and the Director of the Imperial Observatory.

With winter gone, controlling the sales of spirit stones was no longer meaningful and could indirectly put pressure on miners in Yunzhou and Zhongzhou. Therefore, he handed over all transportation rights to the Sixianjian.

Spirit stones are very important to cultivators; otherwise, the Spirit Stone Merchant Guild would not have been able to turn them into its own century-old business. However, Ji You has no interest in them.

He was simply trying to make some money by taking advantage of the favorable timing, location, and people, and incidentally transfer some of the suffering caused by the snow disaster to those high and mighty cultivators.

As for Lu Qingqiu, the Yunzhou Chamber of Commerce did indeed ask her to intervene because of the price of spirit stones, hoping she could "speak to them from behind their pillows."

However, the eldest daughter of the Lu family did not discuss with Ji You about controlling the quantity and raising the price as they had entrusted her to do; she only asked how low the price would fall.

Because she knew in her heart that Ji Youzhi was not here.

Whether it was establishing a powerful family, sending envoys to the snowy region, or cutting off the supply of spirit stones, he was doing it all according to his own wishes. He was not planning to establish a private family or to create a powerful family that would dominate a region.

When Lu Qingqiu asked Ji You, Ji You replied that the original price was fine.

Spirit stones are extremely important to cultivators in the Azure Cloud Realm; if they are too expensive or too cheap, disputes will arise.

Ji Hanfei desires stability; this is a subconscious behavior because stability has always been important to orphans who have been living a life of constant displacement.

As for the cultivation of spiritual seedlings, Fengzhou is indeed making preparations.

Replacing crops with higher prices and greater demand can also be considered a form of industrial upgrading.

Most importantly, the spirit seedling can earn back the taxes from the immortals...

In the days that followed, the snow in Shengjing melted quickly, and the price of spirit stones gradually stabilized.

Gradually, no one cared about this anymore.

Meanwhile, spring plowing in Fengzhou began to take place gradually during this period.

Last autumn, a batch of magical artifacts that Ji You had commissioned from Qionghua Pavilion were delivered on time and transported back to Fengzhou by Wuyou Trading Company's carriage.

Those were all plows and harrows powered by spirit stones, which could assist farmers in their work. As a result, many scenes of spiritual energy filled the farmland of Fengzhou, leaving the passing cultivators speechless.

However, in this vast Qingyun realm, there are many things worth noting that are happening to Ji You.

Following the announcement by the Mountain and Sea Pavilion that Huo Xingzhong, the direct disciple of the Holy Son, would take over the Holy Artifact, the Dao Asking Sect also announced that Shang Xiyao would take over the Holy Artifact, sparking much discussion.

Including the young appraiser of Lingjian Mountain and Yuan Chen, the direct disciple of Danzong, there are now four immortal sects in this world that are about to usher in a change of dynasty.

There was another thing they heard from the disciples of the Immortal Sect.

It is said that many elders who had been living in seclusion for many years suddenly emerged from their seclusion around the same time. During their casual conversations, they heard many names that had only been recorded in books...

Spring thunder rumbled, and a light drizzle fell.

Spring was beginning to arrive in Qingyun, and the biting cold was gradually receding.

Ji You was sitting in a teahouse in Zhongzhou, holding two letters in his hands and reading them carefully.

After visiting several immortal villages in Fengzhou last year, everyone became much more harmonious, and this year's spring plowing effortlessly attracted many cultivators to participate.

Ji You only went to check on the situation of the Spirit Seedling Field before leaving, without paying much attention to or interfering with anything else.

The development of Fengzhou is a matter for the people of Fengzhou. He hopes that life can get better and that there will be fewer things that he can't stand, but he doesn't really want to be the ruler of Fengzhou who controls all directions.

Because given his personality, he wouldn't do anything exploitative. If he were to become the so-called ruler of Fengzhou, he might even be worked to death.

At this moment, Ji You unfolded a letter containing Yuan Caiwei's elegant handwriting and Yan Shuyi's paintings with sharp, knife-like strokes.

It has been a month since the two of them left Shengjing together.

A few days ago, the two sent him a letter, which was delivered to Shengjing and then forwarded from Shengjing by the Wulu Trading Company.

The letter from the daughter of the Dan Sect recounted how Yuan Chen took control of the sacred artifact after returning to the mountain, and also mentioned that her father had become even more stern for some reason.

But Ji You could tell from between the lines that he wasn't pregnant.

As for Yan Shuyi, he also painted a female figure holding a long sword stabbing a male figure to death, as a way of showing his authority.

However, this painting is different from the previous ones. The difference is that the little man who was pierced through the heart by a sword is kneeling on the ground.

It seems the young appraiser of Lingjian Mountain still harbors some resentment over his chaotic words that night...

Just then, a servant came out of the teahouse, carrying a teapot, and came to his table.

"Would you like more water, sir?" "No, thank you."

Ji You put the letter into his sleeve, handed a few copper coins to the waiter, and then got up and walked into the light drizzle outside the teahouse.

As he walked, the air currents surrounding him lifted the falling raindrops and flung them away, so that his clothes did not get wet.

Before long, he left the town and came to a muddy mountain path in the wilderness.

Although he used his spiritual energy to keep the mud off the ground, some mud still splashed onto his boots.

However, Ji You didn't care. Instead, a golden light rose in her eyes. After observing her surroundings for a long time, she walked south.

After the new era began, Qingyun was very peaceful, and the disaster that Xin Yuan had feared on the night of the new era did not occur.

Therefore, he devoted all his energy to cultivation.

One reason is that he still can't beat Yan Shuyi, and another reason is that the killing of Bu Qirong and the cutting off of the supply of spirit stones have made him too many enemies, and they are all old guys with high cultivation levels.

To survive in this world and not be hindered, strength is always the most important thing.

Because if he hadn't possessed the ability to injure Elder Fang, the matter of cutting off the supply of spirit stones for disaster relief probably wouldn't have gone so smoothly.

However, after several body-refining sessions, he found that he would encounter insufficient spiritual energy each time, causing the body-refining process to come to an abrupt end.

This wasn't because there was a problem with his cultivation, but because the outside world and the sacred land of the sages were ultimately different.

He maintained the burning spiritual fire within his body in the sacred land of the sages, which enabled him to quickly break through two major barriers.

However, he did not realize at the time that the amount of spiritual energy he needed to expend each time he refined his body was constantly increasing.

Since the spiritual energy in the holy land far exceeded his needs, he had no reservations.

In other words, if he hadn't been able to win the top spot and enter the ranks, he might still be struggling to even reach the threshold of the Body Reaching Heaven.

Now, the amount of spiritual energy he needs for body tempering is terrifying, so much so that even though he has made it to the first level, there is not enough spiritual energy to allow him to pass through the level in one go.

So he had been searching for a place with abundant spiritual energy to improve his body-refining efficiency, and eventually he arrived here.

Zhongzhou is the place where the human race revived, and it is influenced by the existence of the sacred sites of the ancient sages, so there are indeed several places with abundant spiritual energy.

Ji You has been searching back and forth in the mountains for the past few days and has found several places.

After the light rain, the dense mountain forest was filled with a damp atmosphere.

The leaves are covered with glistening dewdrops, and your clothes will get slightly damp if you brush them against them.

Following the guidance of his divine sense, Ji You arrived at a wild valley in a dense forest, found the previously locked location, and then began to breathe in spiritual energy.

Once the spiritual energy accumulated in his body, he ignited it with his thoughts, and the raging spiritual fire instantly began to burn his physical body from the inside out.

This process is like forging iron; the burning is to break the shackles of the physical body, while the impact is like tempering.

As the spiritual fire continued to burn, he also continued to breathe in and out through his energy channels to further fuel the fire.

This process continues from noon to dusk, alternating constantly.

The mountain forest, which had just been damp after a light rain, was now slowly drying out, centered around him.

The billowing white smoke, like mountain mist, drifted everywhere on the breeze, constantly filling the forest.

Until the morning of the next day, a cluster of eerie blue flames flashed across his body, and the spiritual energy he had slowly inhaled began to dissipate, fluctuating in intensity.

"It's much better than before."

"But that's the limit..."

"Unfortunately, this is not my limit, but the limit of heaven and earth."

Ji You opened her eyes, feeling the energy around her, and couldn't help but mutter a prayer.

But it's okay, little by little, we'll make a difference.

He got up and left the woods, his divine sense constantly probing the surroundings.

The flow of spiritual energy is slow, and once a place has been used, it cannot be used again for a short period of time, requiring a new place to be found.

Ji You traversed the mountains and forests, continuing his search for the next location, and then continued his breathing exercises, igniting the fire, and calcining.

Three days later, in the early morning, amidst a light drizzle, he left the mountains and arrived at a county town called Guangming County in Zhongzhou, where he checked into an inn.

Then, his divine sense soared into the sky, steadfastly following the path of adding water when there's too much flour and adding flour when there's too much water, to ensure that his divine sense was not restricted by his physical body.

When I opened my eyes again, it was already dusk.

Ji You got up and left the inn, heading to the largest teahouse in Guangming County.

A shadow puppet show was being performed in the front hall of the teahouse. The puppeteer, sitting behind a screen, used a string rod to make the shadow puppets constantly dart and turn, which looked quite interesting.

This play tells an ancient legend of Qingyun, a story of a virtuous sage slaying a wicked demon.

The story goes that there was a lake in Qingyun where a wicked demon lived, causing havoc in all directions. In the end, it was killed by Dade and sealed in the lake.

The story is essentially a celebration of cultivators, especially the old master who has a horizontal bar with many shadow puppets of different shapes and sizes, including old people and children, representing all the people in the world. He often makes them prostrate themselves in worship, thanking the immortals for protecting the peace of the four directions.

Ji You wasn't initially interested in this kind of drama, but she gradually began to pay more and more attention to it.

He discovered that some of the stories in the performances were true events that were not even recorded in Qingyun historical records. They had been lost for many years, but were passed down orally through the adaptations of these folk artists, and could be regarded as another form of unofficial history.

While some parts are indeed quite wild, some scenes are still quite intriguing.

For example, in a storytelling performance, he heard a legend about a mountain-guarding immortal.

In the story, a stranger arrives in an old, remote town. He wears a straw hat, has white hair and beard, but is strong and healthy with a ruddy complexion.

He didn't live in town, but in a mountain.

The hidden identity of this old man from out of town in the story is actually that of a mountain-guarding immortal who protects the four directions and has slain many demons and evil spirits.

Ji You also heard a sanxian (a three-stringed plucked instrument) performance, in which there was a legend about demons and ghosts appearing in the pitch-black night.

These stories all sounded like they had been embellished and evolved countless times, but Ji You felt that some parts of them were very much like the legends of the Night Watch.

Ever since reading the book "The Night Watchman" at the Heavenly Academy, Ji You has been paying attention to this kind of thing.

Because he truly didn't know what the final result of body cultivation would be, nor did he know whether his current cultivation method was correct.

He wanted to ask someone knowledgeable, but unfortunately, he checked local gazetteers and even asked Kuang Cheng to get information from the Sixianjian (Immortal Affairs Bureau), but all his efforts came to nothing.

Unexpectedly, he overheard some clues in a local teahouse.

He didn't know where these stories came from, but he knew that the ancestors of these folk artists might have truly known about the Night Watch.

That's why he would come to the teahouse to listen to storytelling whenever he had free time, hoping to hear something.

As for the shadow puppet show, it sounded a bit vague, but the term "evil ghost" was one he had never heard before. He figured it must be either made up or had some basis in reality, so he couldn't help but tap the table and listen to it from beginning to end.

When the shadow puppet show ended, the waiter came to refill the tea. Ji You took out a piece of silver and handed it to him: "I would like to meet the gentleman who performed the shadow puppet show."

"You mean Old Man Zhao?"

"It's the one who sang the shadow puppet show just now."

The servant took the silver coins and immediately bowed, saying, "Please wait a moment, sir, I will go and fetch them for you right away."

Ji You shook her head: "Just take me to see him."

"Well... this way, sir."

"Thank you."

Ji You followed the servant downstairs and eventually arrived at the back of the stage.

The old shadow puppeteer was leaning against a doorpost backstage, supporting himself with one leg, and eating his rice.

Upon hearing that someone had come looking for him, Old Man Zhao immediately put down the rough porcelain bowl he was holding and listened carefully to Ji You's question.

"Night Watchman...? I've never heard of that title before."

"Our scripts were passed down from the older generation. Why are you interested in them, young master?"

"The lineage of shadow puppetry is long lost. The piece I'm performing today is originally a selection from string storytelling. There aren't many folk artists who can create their own stories, so most of the pieces are borrowed from each other."

(End of this chapter)