Chapter 13 Surprise!
East King Temple backyard.
Su Ping didn't wait for Zhou Xuan to return, and after instructing White and Grey to lead the rats to settle temporarily in the deep mountains outside.
Su Ping hadn't forgotten his most significant reliance; he put on his hat, took out his fishing gear, and, after slapping on an invisibility talisman, quietly left the Taoist temple in search of a nighttime fishing point.
Su Ping visited five fishing points overnight, initially believing he would catch nothing.
He even worried that a world without spiritual energy might not have system-recognized fishing points.
But unexpectedly, at the last spot.
At a reservoir upstream of the river in the east, he triggered a new fishing point!
[New Fishing Point Activated!]
[Current Fishing Level: Level 2 (120/500)]
[Current Fishing Point Rating: First Tier Low Grade]
[Current Accumulated Number of Available Fishing Attempts: (100/100)]
[Available Fish Species: Little Green Fish, Big Bluefish, Green Spirit Fish, Flowing Patterned Fake Dragon Fish]
"It seems that for First Tier Low Grade fishing points, the first three types of fish are the same, the difference lies in the fourth specialty fish?"
"Flowing Patterned Fake Dragon Fish? A fake dragon counts as part of the dragon species too, I wonder if I can contract it for my use once caught."
"If I could train it into a Jiao Dragon Fish to use as a mount, that would be majestic."
Su Ping, delighted at having discovered the fishing point, whispered joyfully and then sat down to start fishing.
During this time, Su Ping noticed that other nighttime fishers also frequented the reservoir, each respecting the other's space and enjoying their own fishing experiences in their respective spots.
[Current Fishing Level: Level 2 (220/500)]
[Fishing Attempts at this point have been used up... Please continue next time!]
"The luck wasn't bad, I caught 70 Little Green Fish and 30 Big Bluefish, I won't be short of Fishing Coins for a while!"
"And discovering that real-world fishing points exist is indeed a great thing!"
"Finding and fishing at fishing points in the real world is much safer than in the Immortal Cultivation World!"
As dawn was breaking far away and his number of fishing tries had run out, Su Ping decided it was time to leave.
He gently jiggled his fishing rod and pulled out a plump carp from the reservoir to put into his fish pouch.
Then, Su Ping, carrying his fish pouch and fishing gear, headed back to the East King Temple against the morning light.
Su Ping returned to the temple.
He noticed that Zhou Xuan had already returned and had sorted the items he needed into different categories in an empty room.
Considering Zhou Xuan's limitations as an ordinary Taoist,
Su Ping didn't pose any challenging questions to test his capabilities.
The items he asked to be purchased were mainly daily goods.
The slightly troublesome items were various laboratory supplies and teaching tools.
Among them, white sugar occupied the largest share.
In the Immortal Cultivation World, perhaps because cultivators are considered to be intellectual laborers?
The vast majority of cultivators have a sweet tooth.
As a luxury ingredient, white sugar is highly popular among cultivators.
As for salt, as the commoners in the Immortal Cultivation World cannot cultivate immortality but can enhance their physical strength through martial arts, they are able to quickly increase the production of well salt and mine salt.
Moreover, since cities mostly unify nominally under the face of the Immortal Sects, they cannot monopolize salt and iron sales.
Thus, it appears that the commoners in this seemingly ancient feudal Immortal Cultivation World do not lack salt, and this line of business cannot yield excessive profits.
On the other hand, in agriculture, no matter how strong the commoners are, they cannot unscientifically increase production.
Cultivators do have methods, but with the time and mana they have, wouldn't they rather cultivate Spirit Plants? It's more profitable.
Why bother to care for mortal plants and end up making less Spirit Stone than possible?
Additionally, white sugar is recognized as a strategic material.
Su Ping knew well that combined with everyday merchandise and a good understanding of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and the use of magic, he could entirely rely on this knowledge to refine a batch of Thunder Fire Pearls enhanced by technological knowledge just in case.
He could imagine that this batch of Thunder Fire Pearls, with no fluctuation of Spiritual Power but a power several times, even dozens of times greater than that of black gunpowder, would provide a huge surprise to his enemies when they least expected it!
"Well done."
"Come here."
Su Ping nodded slightly, set down the fishnet, and then drew out a Jade Scroll.
He then pasted it onto the forehead of Zhou Xuan, who had come respectfully.
He circulated his Mana through the Jade Scroll.
Instantly, the general principles of the Five Elements Art's Qi Cultivation section, already commonplace in the Immortal Cultivation World, were imprinted deep into Zhou Xuan's mind.
This made him so excited that he bowed again to Su Ping.
"Read more, practice less, you must understand the principle that haste does not bring success!"
Su Ping reminded him, not because he was worried that the other party would quickly make a name for himself through cultivation, but rather because he was afraid this fellow, anxious in his pursuit of the Tao, might ruin his health.
The cultivation technique he provided was real.
But there was no Spiritual Energy on Blue Star!
Su Ping offered the cultivation technique via the Jade Scroll partly to provide a taste of sweetness and emphatically assert his transcendent status without falsehood.
On the other hand, it was also to acquaint the other party with the methods of cultivation so that it would be easier when the real cultivation began later.
As for when the large pie drawn would come to fruition,
that depended on when the Pot Cave Heaven could be exchanged and when Su Ping was confident that inviting people to work there wouldn't backfire.
Of course, all of this rested on whether Zhou Xuan truly possessed a Spirit Root!
Within the Immortal Cultivation World, those possessing Spirit Roots were one in ten thousand.
On Blue Star... Su Ping found it hard to guess.
After all, he was a pure Blue Star native and just happened to possess Spirit Roots, even if they were just Low-Grade Spirit Roots; still, he stood above tens of thousands.
Considering his utterly ordinary prior life on Blue Star,
Su Ping was more inclined to believe that, on Blue Star, especially in this ancient Eastern Country, within the descendants of Yan and Huang,
not only were there bearers of Spirit Roots, but there were many of them!
Su Ping entered the side room, took out a storage bag, and began stuffing it with bags of white sugar.
Afterward, he set the default teleportation point of the Town Return Talisman to East King Temple.
He gave several instructions to Zhou Xuan, then activated the Town Return Talisman, which had cooled down, and disappeared into thin air in front of Zhou Xuan.
Zhou Xuan was shaken, but having been through the previous day's shock, he quickly came to his senses, silently elevating Su Ping's abilities and status several notches in his mind!
Late Zhou Xuan curiously walked into the side room only to discover that the white sugar had vanished.
Thinking of how he had hauled the white sugar over in several trips using a cart, he firmly embedded the Divine Skill of Sleeve Universe, possessed by this enlightened being, in his mind.
Immortal Cultivation World, Frost Moon Villa.
The servants of the villa welcomed back their master, the Inspector of Golden Sparrow City, Lord Su Ping!
Su Ping returned to the villa, rested for a bit then ordered the steward to summon the Broker House Manager of Golden Sparrow City.
As a Broker House Manager, he was extremely knowledgeable about Golden Sparrow City and the surrounding villages, which involved neither Cultivators nor any other sect.
Learning that the Inspector had a request, the manager felt extremely fortunate.
Then with this manager's help,
Su Ping soon learned information about the talented individuals he wanted to find.
In the territory of Golden Sparrow City, there were more than a dozen individuals skillful in Beast Taming.
Among them was a man who called himself Rat Taoist, who, with his trained group of rats, had a reputation in the Mortal World that could rival famous Martial Artists.