Cultivation begins with forming a bond with a spirit bee.

"What do you mean?"

"I personally examined that Earth Fire Mystic Fiend and found no tampering."

Gongsun Jin's interest was piqued.

"Senior, that old fox Hou is cunning and shrewd. If he were to tamper with the effects of the spiritual objects, it might alert the enemy."

Sun Shaofeng explained:

"According to our informant in the Hou family, Hou Zhilan is practicing the Hou family's second-tier technique, the Ancient Wood Spirit Refining Technique."

"This technique allows cultivators to store some extra mana in their dantian, condensing it into a tree seed to provide some assistance during the foundation building process."

He paused.

"This type of wood itself has no problem combining with the earth fire and the Xuan Sha. However, my ancestor added a trace of fire poison to the Xuan Sha. As long as Hou Zhilan uses the Ancient Wood Spirit Gathering Technique to absorb the Xuan Sha with the wood, the fire poison will be ignited by the wood. At that time, the fire poison will burn the wood, severing the meridians."

"Moreover, the ancestor even specially took out a top-grade magic weapon he had obtained in his early years, just to make Yang Fengrui of the Yang family spend most of his spirit stones."

"I'm not worried that Hou Zhilan won't take the bait."

It turned out to be the case.

Gongsun Jin nodded and asked one last question.

"Won't Old Ghost Hou detect the fire poison?"

Sun Shaofeng looked confident and assured.

"Don't worry, senior. The fire poison is only a very fine wisp, hidden very deep. As long as it is not stored for a long time, it will not trigger any abnormalities."

"But the Hou family's current situation cannot sustain the long-term preservation of this spiritual object."

After listening, Gongsun Jin pondered for a moment: "Old man Sun's move was quite cunning."

Sun Shaofeng cupped his hands in greeting: "Senior, you flatter me. Once this matter is accomplished, the Hou family will be severely weakened, and the tripartite balance of power in the market will inevitably be broken. At that time, I hope that Senior will not forget the agreement between the Sun family and Tianxiang Pavilion."

"However, please continue as before, senior. Once everything is ready, we will remain silent until we make a stunning move."

Gongsun Jin waved his hand, turned around and walked back to the portrait. With his back to Sun Shaofeng, he said indifferently, "I understand. You may leave."

Sun Shaofeng bowed and left the room.

The door closed, and the barrier lights up again, isolating the inside from the outside.

Gongsun Jin stood facing the portrait for a long time.

After a long while, he muttered to himself.

"Brother, wait a little longer. That old ghost Hou will be down to keep you company soon..."

.........

Four days have passed since the auction ended.

For the past four days, Qu Ye has stayed indoors to cultivate and has not gone out.

At first, he could occasionally hear discussions about auctions, earth fire and mystic evil, and Foundation Establishment cultivators coming from the street.

Just two days later, the novelty wore off, and it was rarely mentioned anymore.

He pushed open the courtyard gate, and the pedestrians on the street were as usual, without any sense of being locked down.

Sunlight shone brightly on the bluestone pavement. A few wandering cultivators walked by the alley entrance, chatting as they went, talking about which shop had raised the price of spirit rice.

"That's about it."

Qu Ye closed the door and walked out along the alley.

He didn't leave the market directly, but instead circled around to make sure no one was following him before turning into another alley and walking to Ziyunfang.

At Ziyunfang, he spent ten spirit stones to buy two Zengyuan Pills.

After leaving Ziyunfang, he found a spirit fish shop in the middle of the street.

The storefront is small, with several fish ponds made of jade at the entrance, where various kinds of spirit fish are kept, some of which are completely silver-white, and others have a pale golden luster.

A few leaves of the spiritual herb floated on the water's surface, and fish swam around, occasionally leaping out of the water and splashing up a string of water droplets.

Qu Ye looked at the spirit fish shop in front of him, and a thought flashed through his mind.

There is a pond in the yard of my horse farm, and I had previously thought of buying a spirit fish to raise in order to speed up my journey to finding a soulmate.

Now that I've bought the Qingyang Pill and the Zengyuan Pill, I still have ten spirit stones left. I'll go see if there are any suitable spirit fish for me to enter the next level.

After thinking it over, he slowly stepped forward.

The shop owner was a chubby middle-aged monk, wearing a gray short shirt and an apron tied around his waist, who was squatting in front of the fish pond feeding the fish.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and greeted them with a smile: "Fellow Daoist, buying fish? The spirit fish here are all raised in my own spirit pond. They are fresh, plump, and delicious. You can stew them in soup or steam them."

Qu Ye walked to the fishpond, looked down at it, and asked, "How much?"

The boss stood up, wiped his hands on his apron, and pointed to the spirit pool:

"These green-scaled fish cost three for one spirit stone; their flesh is tender and perfect for steaming. These red-tailed fish cost half a spirit stone each; they're best for making soup. Over there are also spirit carp, one spirit stone each; they're large and have the most meat."

Qu Ye followed his finger and saw that none of the spirit fish had reached the next level, so he shook his head.

"Are there any spirit fish that have reached the next level?"

The shopkeeper was taken aback, seemingly not expecting this ordinary-looking cultivator to inquire about the entry-level spirit fish.

However, he quickly nodded, "There are some fellow Daoists, but very few. Please follow me."

He beckoned Qu Ye into the shop at the back. The shop was dimly lit, and there was a faint smell of water in the air.

Several transparent fish tanks were placed against the wall, and through the tank walls, two small fish could be clearly seen swimming slowly inside.

One of them was the length of an adult's forearm, with a pale blue body and silvery-white shimmering edges on its scales, and an elegant posture.

"A first-grade low-level spirit fish, the Azure-scaled Jade Carp," the shopkeeper explained. "Although this fish is of low grade, it has a long lifespan; if raised properly, it can live for decades."

"It has a gentle temperament, is not picky about food, and its meat is delicious with a natural fragrance. Yu Shan Lou often comes to me to buy it."

How many decades can they live?

That's not appropriate.

Qu Ye looked at the other one.

The other fish was smaller, with a reddish-gold body, fine scales, and a long tail fin.

The shopkeeper followed his gaze and smiled, "This is a Crimson Flame Carp, also a low-grade first-tier carp, rarer than the Azure Jade Carp. It's lively and active, and looks quite nice kept in the pond."

Qu Ye nodded and asked, "Is this Crimson Flame Carp named this way because it possesses a talent for fire?"

"No."

The shopkeeper explained, "This spirit fish has a special talent: it can conjure fiery red light and shadows around its body, resembling flames, hence the name Crimson Flame. It's mostly kept for ornamental purposes."

This…

Qu Ye couldn't understand what use it would be to have betrothed a spirit fish with an eye for beauty.

Add some attack effects when encountering enemies?

"Anything else?"

The shopkeeper shook his head. "Fellow Daoist, there is only one river around our Jade Gate Market. Rank-up spirit fish are rare; we only have these two at the moment."

Fine.

Just as Qu Ye was caught in a dilemma.

The shopkeeper slapped his forehead. "Fellow Daoist, we really don't have any spirit fish left. How about a spirit crab?"

"A spirit crab?"

Qu Ye was somewhat puzzled.

"Yes, fellow Daoist, please wait a moment."

As he spoke, the shopkeeper turned around and pulled a large earthenware pot out from under the counter.

The water in the basin was murky, and you could vaguely see a crab about the size of a dog's head. Its shell was bluish-black, and its claws were thick. It was crawling among the sand and stones at the bottom of the basin, making a rustling sound.

"Tier 1, low-grade, Iron Claw Crab." The shopkeeper squatted down and poked the crab with a stick. The crab immediately raised its pincers, and with a snap, the stick was broken in half.

"This iron-clawed crab was caught by chance while searching for the spirit fish. All its skills are in its pair of claws. With a little force, it can break gold and split rocks."

"Unfortunately, it has very low intelligence, its flesh is fishy and smelly, and it doesn't look good either. The only valuable thing is its pair of crab claws, which have been sitting with me for several months."

Qu Ye's eyes lit up.

This monster looks like it can provide itself with a decent attack talent.

How long can this iron-clawed crab live?

The boss thought about it.

"Normally, a crab can live for more than ten years, but this iron-clawed crab is already an adult and has many injuries. It probably won't live for more than a year."

Qu Ye squatted down and carefully examined the iron-clawed crab in the earthenware pot.

There were several cracks on the crab shell, as if it had been bitten by something, and a small piece was missing from the tip of one of its pincers.

"How much?" he asked.

The shopkeeper held up four fingers: "Four spirit stones. I won't lie to you, this crab claw is worth three spirit stones, I'll only make one spirit stone profit from you."

"If it's less than four pieces, I might as well just kill it and sell it for materials."

That makes sense.

"become."

Qu Ye counted out four spirit stones from his storage bag and handed them to the shopkeeper.