In the early morning, milky white mist steamed on the mirror-like lake surface, as if draped in a layer of light gauze. A few white lotuses swayed in the water, and from time to time, newly condensed dew slipped down from them.
It had been three days since Gu An arrived at the shores of White Mirror Lake. Under the Blackrock City Lord’s unstinting investment of manpower, a small green stone courtyard had been built on the lake’s central island, and today he could move in.
Walking out of the thatched hut by the lakeside, Gu An learned that the small courtyard had been completed. He dismissed all the mortals, leaving only two maidservants, and warned the Blackrock City Lord not to disturb him unless there was an important matter.
Watching the Blackrock City Lord leave with a group of people, Gu An was quite satisfied with his tactfulness and couldn’t help nodding slightly.
Once everyone had gone, Gu An looked away. “One man wants something, and ten thousand rush to provide it. So this is the life of a cultivator. It could go to a man’s head.”
“However, a bird in a deep forest needs only one branch; a mole drinking from a river needs only a full belly.”
“Empty the mind completely; hold fast to stillness. Let all things flourish together, while I pursue immortality.”
“Still, it is the gradual increase of spiritual power, drop by drop, that is more captivating.”
After encouraging himself, Gu An lightly tapped his toes and began to run across the lake surface. If one looked closely, they could see that each time his toes touched the water, a faint blue condensation of spiritual power formed, providing him with leverage.
Gu An lightly clapped his hands, and a patch of black cloud swam out from the lake bottom. It turned out to be Black Spirit Fish. They had dark brown patterns on their bodies, long dorsal fins, and spindle-shaped heads. They raised their heads above the water, opening their mouths to beg for food.
“Ah, another one died.” Gu An counted the spirit fish, feeling troubled. These days, the Spirit Source Feedback had been ringing incessantly, so he chose to mute the notification sound.
“Splash.”
A spray of water splashed onto Gu An’s face. Several spirit fish, seeing that Gu An was slow to bring out the good food, anxiously slapped the water with their tails, splashing water everywhere.
Dozens of flat, unblinking eyes stared up at him. The fish looked ready to leap, so Gu An hurriedly scattered handfuls of grain from his storage bag. “What are you staring at? In a year, I’ll sell you, and who knows who’ll eat you then. You’ll finally appreciate how good your Daoist master was to you.”
“Whoever performs well, I’ll keep as breeding stock, allow them to spawn fry, and then I’ll eat them myself.”
“You’ll leave descendants behind and be spared a life of wandering. What more could you want?”
“You’ll repay your Daoist master’s kindness!”
..
His grand promises earned no response. The Black Spirit Fish merely stared back with the same blank eyes. Bored with his own sales pitch, Gu An turned toward his courtyard on the island.
At this time, the morning mist had not yet dispersed. The small courtyard lay on the lake like a damp jade pendant. The newly built courtyard walls were a bluish-gray, not very high, allowing one to see the lake view outside from within.
The lattice windows stood partly open behind their rolled-up coverings, and rosewood doors sheltered the rooms. Drops of condensed mist slid from the overlapping green-tiled eaves. The courtyard faced east. A transplanted weeping willow stood to the south, its branches drooping before a window. Two small rooms stood to the north: one for grain, the other for the two maids. Find the original chapter at NovelPing.
Due west was the main house. From outside to inside, the outer room was the largest, used for receiving guests-though Gu An didn’t have much use for it. Next was the bedroom, with only a bed and a table. The innermost room was the cultivation chamber, furnished with a meditation cushion and a small table.
The entire small courtyard exuded an air of poverty. The Blackrock City Lord had wanted to send some fancy ornaments, but Gu An refused. They were just mortal objects; there was no need to deliberately pursue them.
“Bai Zhi, Qingliu, you two will live in the first room outside from now on. Every day, sweep the courtyard and tidy up the outer room.”
“Do not enter the inner rooms. Also, remember: do not feed the fish without permission!”
Gu An studied the two maids. Their green and white clothes made them easy to tell apart. The girl on the left had a delicately tapered face and bright, almond-shaped eyes. A green jade pin held her hair, and a pale green skirt outlined her slender waist. The girl on the right had an oval face, neatly arranged black hair, and a spotless white jacket and skirt.
“We understand, Master. We will not make mistakes.” The two quickly knelt to reply.
Gu An nodded and motioned for them to rise. “You needn’t kneel to speak to me. What families are you from?”
Although he didn’t believe the Blackrock City Lord had the audacity to pull any tricks, one could never be too cautious. This was his first time leaving the sect for garrison duty, so it was better to be careful in all matters.
“I am from the Zhang family of Blackrock City. My father is the City Lord of Blackrock City.” Bai Zhi spoke softly, answering first.
“I am from the Zhen family of Blackrock City. My family deals in grain business.” Qingliu quickly added.
“Mm, I don’t care what your backgrounds are. Since you’re here, do your work well.” Gu An couldn’t detect anything wrong, but he still issued a warning.
“Alright, you may leave.”
..
Gu An stepped into the inner quiet room and sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion.
He began to take stock of this trip down the mountain.
“Two spirit stones left. I can’t afford to use them for cultivation. I should save them to replenish my magic power quickly if I get into a fight.”
“The Emerald Shadow Needle: a lower-tier artifact made for surprise attacks. Used properly, it could make all the difference.”
“A half-spirit beast, Little Black, for travel. I’ll keep it on the lakeside pasture.”
..
After tallying his assets, Gu An felt a mix of sorrow and joy. The sorrow was that he only had two spirit stones left. It seemed that only after a year, when he went to Cloud City to collect his salary and sell the Black Spirit Fish, would he have any income. The joy was that he had obtained a new magical artifact, the Emerald Shadow Needle. Although it was only a First-Grade Lower-Tier artifact, it was still his first magical artifact and suited his preferences quite well.
Gu An shook his head and smiled. Thinking of the Black Spirit Fish in the lake outside the door, he felt a surge of hope. Get faster updates on novelping.com.
Three Spirit Roots, no resources. Ordinary aptitude, unremarkable background.
In this cold world, only spirit beasts knew gratitude and gave him warmth.
Pushing aside stray thoughts, Gu An began to cultivate.
Indeed, although he had the Spirit Source Feedback, Gu An did not slack off. Not to mention the habits formed over many years, the Black Spirit Fish would take a full year to mature.
Before that, they were in their growth period, easily absorbing spiritual power. Naturally, he couldn’t do something as foolish as killing the goose that laid the golden egg. He couldn’t waste this idle time either. Better to cultivate, striving to reach Qi Condensation Perfection as soon as possible and seek Foundation Establishment.
As spiritual power entered his body, Gu An immediately felt the difference. White Mirror Lake was a first-grade middle-tier spirit vein. In terms of concentration, it was far inferior to Little Thousand Peak. Although no one competed for the spiritual energy here, the concentration was what it was. The amount of spiritual energy he could absorb each moment was limited, greatly reducing his cultivation efficiency.
So that was why assignments away from the sect offered so many perks yet were less popular than work on its nine peaks. If only he could raise spirit beasts near the sect.
Unfortunately, he owed this task to Steward Zhang’s favor. The tasks with both good perks and excellent cultivation environments simply weren’t available to him.
Suppressing stray thoughts and calming his mind, Gu An focused on absorbing the water spiritual power floating in the air. Tiny blue particles drifted into Gu An’s skin and disappeared.
In the days that followed, Gu An began cultivating each morning at dawn, drawing on the purple qi of the hour of Mao.
Afterward, he practiced spells for four hours.
After the noon meal, he would feed the spirit fish, occasionally riding Little Black to run wild.
In the afternoon, he spent two hours practicing with his artifact.
Magical artifacts and techniques were not the key to longevity, but they were means of protecting the Dao and could not be taken lightly.
After the evening meal, he would patrol White Mirror Lake, observing and recording the condition of the spirit fish.
At night, he cultivated for eight hours beneath the moonlight. Moonlight and the purple qi of dawn were essences of heaven and earth that briefly increased the concentration of spiritual qi.
A True Person of the Qingyuan Sect had once taught that spirit veins could rise in grade over time by absorbing spiritual qi and bathing in dawn’s purple qi and moonlight. When that energy spilled out, the sect’s disciples should seize the opportunity to cultivate.
Gu An deeply agreed.
Day followed night, and Gu An settled into a life that was full without being hurried.