Cultivating Immortality: Starting from Ferrying Passengers

Chapter 29 Why bother?
Looking at the information on the attribute panel, Fang Jingxuan's face showed joy, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly. He wanted to suppress it a little, but in the end he failed.

Unexpectedly, the meal of monster flesh and blood last night actually increased his cultivation progress by four points.

Rounding it off, this saves half a month of hard work.

It was indeed first-grade, top-grade demon beast flesh and blood, its potency comparable to mid-grade cultivation elixirs. Although I seemed to have been eating non-stop last night and ate a little more.
But don’t worry about these details. This is the first time Fang Jingxuan has eaten the flesh and blood of such a high-level monster, so naturally he has to taste it carefully.

Not only did Fang Jingxuan eat a lot himself, but he also shamelessly brought back the remaining scraps, big bones and other odds and ends, preparing to cook them for Tuoyuan as a snack.

He eats the meat himself, but at least he lets Tuyuan drink the soup. This is what a good and responsible owner does.

Fang Jingxuan closed his eyes and savored the delicious taste of this time. The rhino horn beef was actually not very tasty. It was cooked too hard and difficult to eat for people with poor teeth.

But when it enters the stomach, there is a warm current, as if making up for the deficiency in the body.

Fang Jingxuan speculated that this situation was caused by his low level of cultivation and his weak body. Among the cultivators who attended the banquet last night, his level of cultivation was the lowest, only the third level of Qi Refining.

The only female cultivator, Wang Xinyu, seemed to be more agile than herself, which was really surprising. Could it be that as a spiritual pharmacist, she ate too many tonic herbs on a daily basis?
Thinking of Wang Xinyu's round and strong figure under her Taoist robe yesterday, Fang Jingxuan felt a little tempted. If he could get along well with her, maybe he could get some tonic elixir.

Spiritual pharmacist is a high-end profession, not much different from talisman makers, but slightly weaker than alchemists and formation masters.

However, ordinary cultivators will never see alchemists and formation masters. They are the treasures of various schools and sects, and rarely appear in the wild.

Fang Jingxuan was quite satisfied with his actions in the past few days. He not only expanded his network but also gained benefits. The gift he gave to Wei Tong was not worth the meal last night.

There is no way. When you are poor, you have to be frugal. You can be extravagant in front of others, but you must clearly calculate your financial situation behind the scenes, so that you won’t end up in debt one day.

After straightening his Taoist robe, Fang Jingxuan suddenly felt a little shabby. This Taoist robe was just a common item, and it was a bit embarrassing to wear it with Wei Tong and the others.

However, this thought quickly disappeared. The robe was just an external object, and Wei Tong would not look at him differently just because he was wearing a nice robe. What they valued most was him himself.

Thinking of this, Fang Jingxuan felt more confident. With the attribute panel, he could see his progress at all times. The confidence brought by this bit of progress was his most attractive feature.

"Eat it, don't waste it. This is the flesh and blood of a first-grade, top-grade monster. You can't get it normally. Only by following me can you have this blessing."

Fang Jingxuan squatted in front of Tuoyuan, watching Tuoyuan eat the broth in the bowl with big mouthfuls, muttering to himself.

The key is that Tuoyuan really likes his tricks. The boss eats the meat and I drink the soup. It's only natural. I'm so happy.

After Tuoyuan licked the bottom of the basin clean, Fang Jingxuan waited for a long time. After confirming that Tuoyuan's powerful stomach had completely digested the broth, he opened the attribute panel.

He wanted to see whether the flesh and blood of this monster could significantly improve the progress of Tuoyuan's bloodline. If it was effective, he would have to get more of this kind of high-end food in the future.

However, the results were not ideal. The column about Tuoyuan showed this:
[Bloodline Progress: 21/100]

This only increased by less than three points compared to before, and was completely less effective than that small amount of tortoise shell powder.

"There seems to be a big difference between cows and turtles. This won't have much effect on increasing Tuoyuan's bloodline potential. We still need to find various turtle-like monsters, at least water-type spirit beasts. These land-based ones won't work."

Fang Jingxuan scratched his head, these thoughts flashing through his mind, and this action seemed a little silly in Tuoyuan's eyes. Tuoyuan found that sometimes his master was not as smart as himself.

But the cautious Tuoyuan wouldn't let its master know about this; it was quite clever. Fang Jingxuan thought for a few moments and decided to verify it later. The most urgent task now was to find Lao He and plan some smuggling in the market.

So Fang Jingxuan jumped onto Tuoyuan's back, and Tuoyuan walked towards the He family compound automatically without any instructions.

When he arrived here, Lao He saw Fang Jingxuan coming and a hidden smile appeared on his face.

"How's it going? Do you think you can do it?"

Fang Jingxuan thought about Wei Tong's instructions, nodded cautiously, and then said:

"Mr. He, I can do this, but I have to say something upfront. I dare not touch those sensitive materials. I only deal with a few categories."

Fang Jingxuan said this after careful consideration. In fact, there are many tricks involved in smuggling goods.

It’s like in your previous life, if you had a boat full of pig’s trotters, you would just send people to chase them, because after all, they also had to eat pig’s trotter rice after get off work.

But if you want to pull a boat full of two lions to step on the earth, then they will not fight you to the death, and you will die soon!
Therefore, Fang Jingxuan would never dare to touch the goods that were banned by Hongyefang. At most, he would smuggle some spiritual rice, ingredients, spiritual vegetables, and other things that were in short supply and needed by everyone.

"Don't worry. Although I'm old, I haven't lived enough. Why would I encourage you to deal in those contraband? Besides, these goods are monopolized by those black market merchants. Their methods are much more ruthless than those in the market."

Black marketeer?

Fang Jingxuan had heard of it before, but had never seen it in person. The reason was that he was too poor and was not a target customer of the black market at all.

Rumor has it that everything is sold on the black market, including a female cultivator's cauldron, which is locked naked in a cage and openly auctioned. This is a "human pill" specially used to help people replenish yin and yang and break through bottlenecks.

There are also blood-stained magic weapons that people are eager to get rid of after killing monks; materials needed for practicing ghost and demonic ways that are strictly prohibited from being sold, etc.

If the market town is the positive side of the cultivation world, then the black market is the negative side. Although it has been repeatedly raided, it cannot be eliminated.

Any magic weapon on the black market is of good quality. Although it may be cheaper, the trouble it brings is also a headache. You may be found by the victim and your life may be in danger due to his anger. There have been precedents for this.

Therefore, Fang Jingxuan did not want to have anything to do with the black market. He was satisfied with making a little money from small-scale activities.

"I can see you don't have the guts. To be honest, I don't either. The older I get, the more afraid I am of death. If it weren't for my son being so unimpressive and needing an old skeleton like me to help him, why would I bother getting involved in this mess?"

Fang Jingxuan was a little surprised:
"Ah, your son works for Danding Sect, which is a golden elixir sect. If he leaks some of it, wouldn't you still be able to enjoy it endlessly? Why did it come to this?"

Lao He smiled bitterly, his face full of worry:

"It's precisely because we're a Jindan sect that the competition is so fierce. His mansion still has a lot of debts. He has to maintain his position, manage the people, and support a large family. It's harder than it is for me. I just need to feed myself, but he can't do that."

Well, Fang Jingxuan stopped asking. He was afraid that if he continued asking, Old He would burst into tears.

It seems that this old man has not had an easy life. He has to fight for his son at such an old age. Outsiders think he lives a glamorous life, but in fact, he knows his own suffering.

Why bother?
(End of this chapter)