Chapter 4 Is the world of cultivation also so complicated?
The center of the market town is roughly divided into two parts: the free trade zone for independent cultivators and the commercial area.

Jiang He first strolled around the shopping area for a while. Most of the shops here bought various things from independent cultivators.

For example, the Talisman Pavilion. Most of the low-level talisman papers made by Granny Sun are sold to the Talisman Pavilion, and then sold to individual cultivators by the Talisman Pavilion.

Part of it is sent to Qingmu City to meet the daily practice needs of the sect disciples, and the successfully drawn talismans are returned to the shop and sold to individual practitioners to recover funds.

Although the price of selling directly to shops is relatively low, it is convenient and fast.

After all, these days, there are independent cultivators everywhere, and the free trade zone is packed with people setting up stalls, so the competition is too fierce.

Jiang He found the Lingmi Shop, with a Wuyamen sign hanging next to it, indicating that the shop was protected by the Wuyamen.

In fact, spiritual rice and fasting pills, as necessities for low-level cultivators, can be considered strategic resources to some extent, and are monopolized by the Wuya Sect, the overlord of Qingmu City.

"Shopkeeper, give me a bag of spiritual rice."

The shop assistant lazily raised his eyes. He was wearing the robes of a Wuya sect outer disciple. When he saw that it was Jiang He, he said in a surprised tone:
"A rare guest, aren't you on duty at the Zhao family in Dongfang City? This is the first time I see you coming here to buy spiritual rice. Two spiritual stones for a bag, thank you for your patronage."

This predecessor was indeed quite famous. As a middle-aged cultivator at the sixth level of Qi training, he was idle all day long, cheating and deceiving people. Whenever he went out, there were people who knew him everywhere.

A bag of spiritual rice weighs about 20 kilograms, enough for one person to eat for a month, and the price doesn't sound very expensive.

Jiang He took out a purse from the lining of his arms. It was heavy and contained more than twenty spirit stones.

The spirit stones looked like crystal clear beads, the size of a little finger. In addition, there was a stack of gold leaves, about thirty taels, which was all the property of the original body.

After Jiang He paid the spirit stones, he counted them and found that there were 19 spirit stones left. After carrying the spirit rice, he went to the free trade zone to take a look.

Following the flow of people, Jiang He paid special attention to the stalls selling talismans, and at a glance he could see the densely packed talismans placed on the ground.

There was a vague premonition in his heart.

"How much is this secret fragrance talisman?" Jiang He randomly picked a stall and picked up a common low-level talisman to ask the price.
"Three for one spirit stone, don't go. If you can't make it, you can buy it with gold." When the casual cultivator saw someone asking the price, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Fellow Daoist, look at me. I can buy four with one spirit stone." The casual cultivator next door saw Jiang He was about to leave and quickly grabbed him.

"You're looking for trouble, aren't you?"

While the two were arguing, Jiang He left in the chaos, secretly clicking his tongue.

This is too much. The cost of the Dark Fragrance Talisman is one spirit stone, and you can only draw five of them. You can only make 0.05 spirit stones for each one. If you sell 10 pieces a day, you can only make 15 spirit stones a month. It seems that the income is higher than being a security guard, but in fact, sometimes you may not be able to open a business for a day.

He went to other stalls to look at them unwillingly, but was greatly disappointed. Who among the casual cultivators nowadays doesn't know a few low-level talismans?
The market competition is fierce, and everyone is trying to undercut each other on price, but in the end all you can earn is a little money.

Before leaving, he picked some vegetables and fruits and spent some gold leaves on them. It must be said that the prices here are really high and even these things cost gold.

On the way back, Jiang He was heavy-hearted. When he thought about the three mouths to feed at home and the huge amount of spirit stones he would need to provide his three disciples with for their cultivation, he sighed silently.

It is said that raising a child is difficult, and raising three children is even more difficult, especially when these three children are underage demon lords!
After coming back, no one knew where the other two disciples had gone.

Jin'er was sitting on the big bunk bed on the floor in the house. Even when Jiang He came back carrying a lot of bags, she didn't react at all. Her eyes seemed to be staring at the air without any focus.

This girl had been in this position before he left. Did she always live like this? She should be active at this age, but she stayed motionless in a small, dark place all day. The whole room was about eight meters long and four meters wide. The bed was in the upper left corner of the room, and there was an earthen stove next to it.

There were wine bottles and debris scattered on the ground, and even an abandoned alchemy furnace took up half of the space. There were no windows, and there were three doors in total, leading to his bedroom, the road, and the backyard.

The door to the backyard was open, and the two disciples probably went to the backyard.

Jiang He put the food he had just bought on the ground, took out an apple and walked towards Jin Er. He bent down and smiled as gently as possible:

"Jin'er, are you hungry? Eat an apple first. Master will cook for you later."

Jin'er remained expressionless, ignored his words, and refused to even look at him.

He had already prepared himself mentally to be ignored by Jin'er. After all, not long ago, his predecessor had beaten her to death. Even then, she bit her lips and said nothing.

He washed the apple and cut it into small pieces. He fed it to Jin'er's lips: "Ah~"

When the apple was raised to her lips, her throat rolled slightly. Although she quickly regained her composure, it was still noticed by Jiang He who had been paying attention to her.

No matter how autistic she is, she is still a little girl who is always hungry.

Since she actually wanted to eat it, Jiang He tentatively used a little force and pushed the fruit flesh to her lips. Jin'er pursed her lips slightly, but still couldn't resist him and ate the fruit flesh.

After the first time, it was much easier next time. As he kept feeding her, the whole apple went into Jin'er's stomach.

After feeding, Jin'er unconsciously stuck out her tongue and licked her lips, just like a kitten that had eaten the most delicious cat food in the world.

Jiang He couldn't help laughing when he saw this, and felt a vague sense of accomplishment in his heart.

Is this the joy of raising a daughter?

It's time to cook. Jiang He felt a headache looking at the stove. It has not been used for who knows how long, and their predecessor did not allow them to use it.

I don’t know how these three little girls survive. It’s impossible for them to eat every meal at Grandma Sun’s house.

Just as Jiang He was cleaning busily, all the wine bottles and useless debris were cleared away, leaving only the alchemy furnace which was difficult to deal with.

The other two little girls also heard the noise and came back from the backyard.

"What are you busy with? There are fruits there. If you are hungry, you can eat some to fill your stomach. Don't eat too much. I will cook later."

Jiang He noticed the two little girls and greeted them.

If you want to change their views, you need to gradually narrow the distance between you and them and try to communicate more.

"Nothing, nothing. We didn't do anything."

The eldest disciple, however, began to tremble, with his fingers twisted together awkwardly, as if he had done something wrong.

Jiang He couldn't help but look towards the backyard, where there were lush vegetation and nothing could be seen.

(End of this chapter)