Longevity through Upgrading Buildings-Chapter 325 - 180: Hua Yaoyue’s Kindred Spirit

Chapter 325: Chapter 180: Hua Yaoyue’s Kindred Spirit
The Big Toad didn’t listen, so it had no choice but to come back and let Ji Yuan decide.
Ji Yuan didn’t want to make a hard decision, so he handed over two Spirit Pigs.
With that, the two of them finally quieted down.
Ji Yuan then turned to take his recent harvests from Tu Yue, and finally returned to his Cave Mansion for intensive cultivation.
With his breakthrough in cultivation, whether it was alchemy or talisman painting, he could make progress again. Plus, there was artifact refining which he hadn’t even started—Ji Yuan just felt stretched thin.
In the end, it was still a matter of not enough time.
And once you got into Tier Two high-grade elixirs or talismans, even the recipes or talismanic techniques got extremely hard to come by. Even the Hundred Treasures Tower didn’t sell them.
This kind of stuff could be auctioned off.
For things like Tier Two High Grade Talismans—if a Foundation Establishment cultivator mastered one, even just a single talismanic technique, they could really live in luxury.
At the very least, during Foundation Establishment Stage, you wouldn’t need to worry too much about Spirit Stones.
If you wanted to buy a Spiritual Artifact or something, just saving up Spirit Stones for a few years would get you there.
The next day, the Big Toad actually came running to Ji Yuan on its own, saying it had taken the Frost Serpent into the water... hmm, just like taking a kid out to play.
Ji Yuan was naturally surprised by this.
But very soon, he wasn’t surprised anymore.
Less than a day later, the Big Toad led the Frost Serpent back, and started "croaking" nonstop in front of Ji Yuan, complaining endlessly before staring at him with puppy eyes.
This time, Ji Yuan only gave the Big Toad half a Spirit Pig.
The Big Toad hesitated a bit, but still ate it.
Another day passed, and it refused to take the Frost Serpent out to play in the water, preferring instead to nap on the island.
Ji Yuan looked at the now late-stage Tier One Frost Serpent, fed it four or five drops of Ice Soul Cold Dew, then let it go swim on its own.
Fortunately, after two days, the Frost Serpent discovered there was a whole world beyond its little pond.
The tiny Fish Pond could be crossed in a heartbeat, but this vast Cloud Rain Marsh—no matter how hard it swam, it couldn’t reach the other side in a single day.
Ji Yuan reminded it to only play within the Mist Area—any farther out was off-limits.
If it went too far and ran into other high-tier demon beasts, or a Human Race cultivator—it’d be trouble.
So after cultivating on Mist Island for more than half a month, Ji Yuan raised his Divine Sense enough, and decided to return to Water Dragon Sect to seek help from Fellow Cultivator Bai Piao.
Before leaving, he didn’t forget to bring the Frost Serpent along.
After nearly a month mixing around in Cloud Rain Marsh, the Frost Serpent now had a real demon beast’s wildness about it.
Ji Yuan had watched it brawling with demon beasts of the same tier, utterly fearless—hitting as hard as it could.
On this point, Ji Yuan figured its character was influenced by that trace of dragon qi, which made it fiercely murderous.
Then there was how it handled encounters with Tier Two demon beasts.
If it met one it couldn’t beat, it’d curl itself up in a ball and bury itself in the mud—completely still, terrified of being found.
If it still got found... it’d beg for mercy.
Such abject humility.
Truly rare.
Ji Yuan guessed this was thanks to the koi’s influence—even that koi had been bullied a lot.
The koi’s effect went further too: once the Frost Serpent escaped from a Tier Two demon beast, it’d head back to Mist Island, call over the Big Toad, and go hunt that Tier Two demon beast down.
That ruthlessness made even Ji Yuan a little speechless.
’Not bad, definitely a tough character!’
Ji Yuan was already looking forward to seeing what it’d be like as a Tier Three demon beast.
The Big Toad stood guard; the Frost Serpent traveled with him.
Ji Yuan headed north, and passing by his own doorstep, he glanced down—Dong Qian’s Hu Yue Island was already shrouded in mist, impossible to see clearly.
Seeing her, Ji Yuan couldn’t help but think of Du Wanyi.
Strictly speaking, she should be close to a breakthrough too.
Once she succeeded in Foundation Establishment, Ji Yuan could finally put that worry to rest, and stop thinking about it every so often.
This time, back at sect, Ji Yuan first returned to Wan You Island. After paying his respects to his master, he headed out to All Things Island.
His cultivation had reached mid-stage Foundation Establishment. Even using the Concealing Breath Spell, he could only mask it as early-stage Foundation Establishment—meaning the days of Qi Cultivation Stage were long gone.
He piloted his Flying Boat down from the sky, arriving straight at Bai Piao’s shop.
The place was still utterly deserted.
Ji Yuan figured Bai Piao probably hadn’t gotten a single customer in days—how did this shop stay open?
When Ji Yuan entered, Bai Piao wasn’t lying down sleeping for once, but instead fussing with his flowers and plants.
Ji Yuan also noticed—the shop had noticeably more greenery than before, and none of those old yin-tinged items.
Not a single one was left.
To put it simply, this shop had switched gears.
Now he sold more spirit plants and spiritual soil, and didn’t touch anything related to yin spirits anymore.
"I don’t know which Fellow Daoist... Oh! Greetings, Junior Martial Uncle!"
Bai Piao grinned and turned around, and as soon as he saw that deep blue, he bowed deeply—the speed of his attitude switch made even Ji Yuan marvel.
"Ahem, no need for such formalities, little one."
Ji Yuan cracked a joke.
Bai Piao heard that familiar voice, immediately looked up in disbelief, and blurted, "It’s you, Brother Ji..."
"Hm?"
Ji Yuan frowned a bit, and Bai Piao instantly caught on.
"Greetings, Junior Martial Uncle Ji."
Ji Yuan saw how tactful Bai Piao was, and decided not to tease him more. He laughed and sat down to the side. "All right, Brother Piao—just call me Brother Ji. Calling me ’Uncle’ makes me sound ancient."
"Brother Ji is still in his prime! How could you be old, just kidding."
Bai Piao smiled, picked up the spirit tea he’d steeped, and poured Ji Yuan a cup.
"When did Brother Ji reach Foundation Establishment? Such great news, how come you didn’t let me know—I could’ve come to your island-opening ceremony, broadened my horizons a bit."
"It’s been a few years now."
Ji Yuan smiled and looked the shop over. "Brother Piao, what’s going on here—don’t tell me you’ve... gone legit?"
"Shh."
Bai Piao made a "quiet" gesture, hurried to the door, casually glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to the shop, then carefully shut the door.
"Brother Ji, you have no idea."
"I honestly had no choice, sigh."