Cultivating Immortality: Starting from Ferrying Passengers

Chapter 153 News about Foundation Establishment Pills

Hearing Cui Ye's words, Fang Jingxuan's mind raced. He knew that his actions might be able to fool other Qi Refining cultivators, but they couldn't be considered a secret to the powerful Cui family.

In the South China Sea Islands, the Cui family is one of the three most powerful families. Although Xiangyun Island is far away, the Cui family must have received intelligence about the conflict between the Li family and the Wang family, and the battle between hundreds of Qi Refining cultivators.

At that time, as the most prominent figure, he was certainly within the sights of these three Foundation Establishment families.

However, there was one thing that Cui Ye failed to discover: his transaction with Shen Yuwan of the Datong Trading Company.

Clearly, the Cui family's influence doesn't extend to the Datongxing Trading Company. After all, the Datongxing Trading Company's roots are in Qiyun, and it has spread throughout most of the cultivation world, while the Cui family is just a local overlord. Compared to the Datongxing Trading Company, it's nothing.

Since Cui Ye is unaware of the affairs of the Datong Trading Company, it also means that he is unsure of his own background, since the cultivation method he is currently practicing is indeed a secret transmission of the Golden Core technique.

The way Lenovo's Cui Ye invited him was with luxury cars, beautiful attendants, and utmost courtesy.

Thinking of this, Fang Jingxuan felt very confident. He told himself from the bottom of his heart that he was now a top disciple of the Qingxuan Sect.

“What Young Master Cui said is true. I came to this sea to travel and originally intended to do some things to eliminate demons and protect the righteous, but after a few battles, I realized that my skills were not good enough. Therefore, I spent three years cultivating in seclusion on Xiangyun Island.”

Fang Jingxuan remained calm and composed, and on the surface, he also relaxed. Although his tone showed some respect for Cui Ye, it was not the kind of apprehension that a normal Qi Refining cultivator should have.

As expected, seeing Fang Jingxuan's attitude, Cui Ye actually smiled:
"Fellow Daoist Chen, please don't be offended. Our Cui family keeps a record of all the powerful cultivators who come to the South China Sea. There's no other way; there are just too many powerful people. You also know the nature of cultivators in the South China Sea."

You never know where you might offend someone, so it's best to plan ahead. That way, when you need to apologize later, you'll have a place to pay your respects.

Cui Ye put down his work, then casually summoned a water balloon to clean his hands before inviting Fang Jingxuan to sit down in the nearby pavilion.

"Come and try the spirit wine brewed by our Cui family. I grew up in the South China Sea and rarely even went out to Guixu Island. So I invited Fellow Daoist Chen here this time because I wanted to make friends with you and chat about my experiences in Baishan."

Cui Ye poured Fang Jingxuan a cup of spiritual wine and gestured for him to drink it.

Fang Jingxuan felt that Cui Ye, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, would probably not tamper with the wine.

So Fang Jingxuan readily took it and slowly savored it.

The moment the spirit wine entered his mouth, a cool, refreshing sensation flowed down his throat, followed by a hot, scalding warmth that penetrated his internal organs, making his body feel extremely comfortable.

"This is a second-tier spirit wine?"

Fang Jingxuan exclaimed in surprise. After drinking this cup of wine, he felt an extremely rich spiritual energy erupting within his body. Clearly, this wine was of very high quality, almost comparable to a top-grade first-rank cultivation pill.

"Second-tier, mid-grade, Qinghu Dragon Bone Wine, made primarily from the essence blood of a second-tier sea snake, is highly beneficial to the body after consumption."

If Fellow Daoist Chen likes it, please take a pot back with you later.

Fang Jingxuan put down his wine cup and said directly:
“This won’t do. I cannot accept a reward without merit. I, Chen Ping’an, would feel ashamed to receive such an offer.”

Fang Jingxuan started to put on a show, trying to maintain his persona. He had already begun to see through Cui Ye's intentions.

This young master of the Cui family must be trying to build good relationships for the future.

These Foundation Establishment families, local powerful clans, have reached a bottleneck in their own development because there are no third-tier spiritual lands in the South China Sea. At most, they can only reach the late Foundation Establishment stage. Currently, the Cui family does not have any powerful enemies outside. At most, there are some frictions and struggles between the three families and their respective surnames. However, if faced with an invasion from outside enemies, the three families will definitely unite to fight against them.

For hundreds of years, the three families have intermarried, their relationships intertwined, and major wars rarely broke out.

Since there wasn't much internal pressure, the Cui family had the leisure to recruit and curry favor with other outside cultivators.

Take Fang Jingxuan, for example. His cultivation techniques and supernatural abilities are powerful, and his background seems extraordinary. Although he is a Qi Refining cultivator, he is still worth the Cui family's advance favor.

It's not just about recruiting Foundation Establishment cultivators that makes Cui Ye's efforts worthwhile; someone with potential like Fang Jingxuan is someone he can't let slip away.

This is the survival wisdom that the Cui family, as a Foundation Establishment family, has accumulated over hundreds of years.

If the Cui family encounters difficulties in the future, perhaps some cultivator will come to their aid and help them overcome the crisis. As long as enough people are recruited, this is bound to happen.

"A mere pot of spirit wine, Fellow Daoist Chen, do you not think it's good enough? Then you're disrespecting me."

Cui Ye pretended to be angry, which gave Fang Jingxuan a reason to accept the gift.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, what business do you have on Guixu Island? I, Cui Ye, have many friends. If there is anything I can do to help you, please feel free to ask."

Faced with Cui Ye's overtures, Fang Jingxuan thought for a moment and felt that directly refusing would be too disrespectful to Cui Ye. The best way to deal with Cui Ye would be to ask him to do some favors, thus creating the impression that Fang Jingxuan owed Cui Ye something.

So Fang Jingxuan said:
“Our sect has a secret technique that is skilled in preparing spiritual soil. Young Master Cui, please take a look. This is the soil that I, Chen, have prepared.”

Fang Jingxuan showed Cui Ye the secret recipe for the Demon-Summoning Soil, not worried that Cui Ye would discover anything from it.

Moonlight Jade Dew is his own innate supernatural power. Even if Cui Ye guessed that he had added something to the Demon Summoning Soil, he would never have guessed that it was this kind of spiritual substance.

"This secret recipe of Demon-Summoning Soil is very beneficial to Yin-attribute spiritual plants, but I am too busy to deal with it all by myself. If Young Master Cui would be willing to help me find someone to sell it, I would be extremely grateful."

After looking at the Demon-Summoning Soil, Cui Ye said:
“This is easy to handle. My Cui family has eighteen shops in the market, distributed along all the main streets. I can arrange for your secret-recipe Demon-Summoning Soil to be put into them for consignment. What do you think?”

Fang Jingxuan's face lit up with joy. "That's wonderful! It saves me the trouble of traveling back and forth. Let's do as Young Master Cui wishes. But what about the consignment fee?"

"It's nothing, let's not talk about money. I'm just helping you out."

"No, no, no, Young Master Cui is very generous. I can't let you have a hard time explaining to your subordinates. The amount should be the same, and everything should be done according to the rules."

After some initial refusals, the two finally decided to split the spirit stones sold 20/80, with Fang Jingxuan taking 80% and the merchant guild taking 20%.

After discussing this trivial matter, the two chatted for a while, and then Cui Ye casually asked:

"Fellow Daoist Chen, your cultivation has now reached the peak of Qi Refining. I wonder if you have prepared the Foundation Establishment Pill?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Jingxuan's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that Cui Ye was willing to go to such lengths to win him over?

(End of this chapter)