"Unfortunately, this Lesser Yang Maturing Technique can only be cultivated in the day when the Yang Element was at its peak," Chen Xuan said to himself. He unconsciously nodded in agreement to his own words before moving his gaze to the second part of the content.
Borrowing the Yang Yuan Sand's brilliance, Chen Xuan tried his best to memorize the scroll's content. If the light was out later, he could still attempt to decipher the content before falling asleep.
And to his surprise, information regarding this Lesser Yang Maturing Technique was unquestionably straightforward. Perhaps because this was just a standard-tier Maturing Technique, the creator had removed a few steps here and there to improve its effectiveness.
But even if it was a simplified version, Chen Xuan couldn't help himself but praised the creator of this technique.
"I had no idea that such a thing is achievable. Perhaps this is something that can only be done in this Lingyu Realm. Suppose the same technique were to exist back where I come from. Won't I be a millionaire now from growing expensive medicine like Ginseng, Lingzi, and Licorice?" Chen Xuan chuckled while rolling the scroll back together.
In Chen Xuan's opinion, the scroll for Lesser Yang Maturing Technique is like a step-by-step cooking recipe from his world. The instruction was precise, without too many mysterious points that he would find them challenging to understand.
But he had no idea that this was a part of the benefit for possessing a hint of High God Shen-Ming's divinity.
It was completely dark outside by the time he was finally willing to let go of the scroll. And although he was inside a considerably safe room, some yelling and screaming could still be heard throughout the night.
He finds them intolerable at first. But as someone without a cultivation base at all, what right did he have to complain?
On what basis that can he comment about the others for disturbing the sleep that cost him two Yang Yuan Pearl for a single night? And when the tiredness finally kicks in, Chen Xuan quickly dozed off before he could continue to think about anything else.
It was already morning when he opened his eyes again. Since there's no clock or anything to tell the time, Chen Xuan can only slowly get adapted to the time here.
And to his surprise, while the time was the same as where he came from, the night in Lingyu Realm is significantly longer. During summer, the daytime was between 8-9 hours a day. But for other seasons, there are only about seven to eight hours of sunlight in a day.
'No wonder Yanran Liuli keeps mentioning that it would be too late to make our way back to Fenghuang Town...' Chen Xuan secretly nodded while listening to how the people in the canteen keep track of their time.
That was not all. While a week does have seven days here in Lingyu Realm, there are only four weeks on a month or twenty-eight days in total. But in exchange, one year in this Lingyu Realm equals eighteen months or around 504 days.
The full moon was up once every two weeks and consistently on the first and fifteenth on their calendar. And instead of differentiating the months from January to December, the people in Lingyu Realm use the four-season to keep track of the date.
Each season had four months, which added up to sixteen months in total. They usually start in the form of the Lesser Yang-Greater Yin-Greater Yang-Lesser Yin arrangement. The year always begins with Greater Yang Winter and ends with Greater Yin Winter.
"Where would the two remaining months be, brother?" Chen Xuan asked and quickly filled a cup of tea for this kind-hearted, middle-aged man to moisten his throat. He was actually the chef of this eatery and inn but was on his break right now.
"Haha, there's always a transition time known as Yin Eclipse and Yang Eclipse. The transition usually happened during the Lesser Yin and Lesser Yang period between Spring to summer for Yang Eclipse and Autumn to Winter for Yin Eclipse."
"It was the busiest whenever the eclipse is here. Cultivators would band together to create search parties to attack Jiangshi's nest during that time of the month and vice versa."
"For some cultivators that were in the middle of breaking through, they would choose the time when Yang Eclipse to increases their chances of success." the middle-aged man continued. But this was all Chen Xuan could get from him before the man's ear got pulled by his wife and forcefully dragged into the kitchen.
"Hehehe... Honored guest, would you like to extend your stay for another day?" the cashier asked.
The question made Chen Xuan give it another thought. If he spent them frugally, the Yang Yuan Pearls he had in hand would be enough for five days of accommodation. And this if he's not using them for anything else.
"Is there any way the inn can charge cheaper for the room?" Chen Xuan asked.
"Honored guest, two Yang Yuan Pearls a night is the standard price all around Fenghuang Town. You can't get anything cheaper than this." the cashier apologetically answered Chen Xuan.
"But if you insist on looking, perhaps the slums would be an excellent place to start. The chances are slim, but you might manage to get a place to stay for just ten Yang Yuan Pearls a week." before Chen Xuan lost hope, the cashier sheepishly whispered beside his ear.
"I'm sure there's something you haven't tell me... Spit it out!" Chen Xuan immediately replied. As a conman with at least a decade of experience, how can he be oblivious of the cashier's reason to whisper beside him?
The cashier put his thumb and index finger's tip together to give Chen Xuan a hint in response to his words. Even in another realm, this was a universal hand sign for "tips."
Smiling while he stares at the cashier, Chen Xuan takes a Yang Yuan Pearl out from his pouch and secretly places the pearl at the cashier's hand.
His generosity made the cashier smiled. After putting the Yang Yuan Pearl into the pocket, he continued.
"There's a catch, but it's nothing to be worried about. First of all, the slums are where most Jiangshi Hunter stays. As long as the hunter dies out there, the room they're using will be vacant and open for rent."
"But if they ended up coming back, you'll have to return the room to the Jiangshi Hunter since it's not advisable to get into a fight with them. Of course, the house owner will pay back what's left in the account." the cashier said.
His words seem to be straightforward, but Chen Xuan immediately caught another thing he was not told. Although getting back some money from there was a good thing, not everyone would like to cough out the money they've taken.
If the Jiangshi Hunter and Landlord were in cahoot, they could simply arrange something while they were gone and came back before the last two days of the week. Based on the rates of two Yang Yuan Pearls per night, ten would be equivalent to five nights.
They would have nothing much to be debate about here, even if the Landlord decided to not refind anything for the sixth and seventh day.
"Alright, I'll pay for another night. Additionally, do you know where to go if I wanted to make some Yang Yuan Pearl?" Chen Xuan said as he took two other pearls out.
"Thank you for your patron, honored guest. I'll make sure to clean the room for you tonight." the cashier immediately collected the Yang Yuan Pearls before he continued.
"As for the place you say, might as well give it a try at the westside of Fenghuang Town? Following that will bring you to King Wen's River, where most people gathered to cultivate Yang Yuan Sand. As for what you can do there, I'm sure the people there can answer you much better." the cashier finished talking and moved to another client.
"Hmm... King Wen's River, Yang Yuan Sand. Let's go there and try my luck then." Chen Xuan nodded at the cashier before leaving to show him a hint of appreciation.
As there's a daytime limit, Chen Xuan has no time to slowly walk. He immediately sprinted out from the Fenghuang Town. He followed the crowd until he arrived at where the people were gathering along the river.
He immediately took the book out and checked if the information was correct.
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Minor Brilliance Oyster
=> Cultivable for Yang Yuan Sand. Production rate depends on the cultivator's Maturing Technique. This Oyster breed's age degrades quickly, causing the effort to cultivate the sand to be more challenging.
=> Estimation production rate: 10 to 11 grains of Yang Yuan Sand every hour. Production time may extend if Maturing Technique is misapplied.
=> Can be eaten raw to recover some of the cultivator's Yang energy.
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"Hmm... Those shellfish are just like the book says. It seems that I can only try and see how it goes." Chen Xuan looked around and followed the others to grab a wooden bucket to catch a few shellfish and cultivate.
The procedure sounds simple, but there's a high demand for precision. This is especially true because cultivating these shellfish to regurgitate some shining Yang Yuan Sand was the first step to produce his own Yang Yuan Pearl.
Copying what everyone was doing, Chen Xuan soon sat by the side of the river with a bucket filled with some sand and two Minor Brilliance Oysters. The reason they were named as such was due to the shellfish's trait. Whenever it gathered enough warmth from the Yang Energy provided by the sunlight, it would flash once.
The process would continue throughout the day until the sun began to set.
And they could only get their results at the end of the day, about half an hour before the sun is setting down. What would happen is the Minor Brilliance Oyster would start to regurgitate all the sand it had eaten throughout the entire day.
And amongst the sand were some of the so-called grains of the Yang Yuan Sand. They can be easily recognized from their dim appearance, just like the one was used on the table lantern.
'Let's see... From what I'm told by the scroll, the method to practice this Lesser Yang Maturing Technique starts from the base movement of creating a lesser circle with both hands. At the same time, I shall picture the image of the Yang Energy gathering around my navel part, where my Core is located.'
'Then, from my Core, direct the energy back until they gathered in my palm. Keep up with the constant breathing, and imagine the whole process repeating limitlessly.'
'The bucket of water would turn lukewarm if it was a successful attempt.' Chen Xuan repeated the practicing content and started to do as he was told.
It was embarrassing for him when he was doing it for the first time, but soon, Chen Xuan quickly got used to it as he felt the water in the bucket was getting warmer.
'Looks like I'm doing this correctly...' Chen Xuan grinned on his own as he kept himself focused on what he was doing. But he had no idea everyone else was chuckling while looking at him.
When the sky started to turn darker to welcome the evening, all the Minor Brilliance Oysters began to get into hibernation. They began to regurgitate the sand back into the bucket.
Using the darkness to identify the grains, Chen Xuan was shocked to only see three shining grains out of the entire bucket of sand and water. To make sure he did not miscount them, Chen Xuan shook the wooden bucket slightly.
It still remained as three grains of Yang Yuan Sand in the bucket of water.
"What the Fuck?" Chen Xuan cussed.
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Please Drop me a review and your powerstones after reading. Thanks!
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