In the early morning, Ji Yuan woke up from his sleep, rubbed his still sleepy face, got up, dressed neatly, and then sat down at the wooden table.
He first poured himself a cup of cold tea. After the icy tea water went down his throat, he finally felt about eighty percent awake.
These past few days, he had been on the go, first performing rituals in a distant town, then encountering the incident at Luohun Slope. He had just returned to Qianyu City and hadn't had time to rest before being invited to the Zhao family mansion.
Because of this, despite resting for a whole night, Ji Yuan still felt a bit out of sorts, with an indescribable fatigue.
"However, although it was a bit tiring, the gains were quite good."
He put down the teacup and looked at the few items on the table, couldn't help but show a slight smile.
Among the gains of these past few days, besides the small white jade sword in his brow's purple mansion, he also obtained a very good quality spiritual artifact and over two hundred taels of gold.
Let alone for ordinary families, even for cultivators, this was a considerable fortune.
While he was calculating the gains and losses, his gaze fell on the wooden basin on the table. The three San Cai Bao Qian coins and the bronze oil lamp artifact inside had completely recovered their spiritual energy after soaking in the Hui Ling Water overnight, and even had some surplus.
The four items were now emitting faint spiritual light, drawing from the Hui Ling Water, which had little spiritual energy left, to accumulate more pure spiritual energy.
After a period of observation, Ji Yuan shifted his gaze to the side. Upon opening the old small medicine chest, he revealed the haphazardly arranged gold ingots and gold Yuan Bao inside.
Together, they weighed a total of two hundred and seventy-six taels, a wealth that ordinary families could hardly accumulate in a lifetime. Even for cultivators, without unexpected windfalls, it would still take more than a decade to accumulate.
The repair of the San Cai Bao Qian and the replenishment of spiritual energy for the bronze oil lamp had only cost about ten to twenty taels of gold.
In the Great Yu Dynasty, two or three copper coins were enough to buy a large meat bun with a thin skin and plenty of filling. An ordinary family's monthly income was only two to three qian.
One tael of officially manufactured snowflake silver was enough for an ordinary family's expenses for a year. If they were frugal, they might even have some money left over.
Even when Ji Yuan refined pills, after deducting costs, a batch of ordinary pills would only earn a few taels of snowflake silver. Only those rare and scarce precious pills, which were difficult to refine, could earn thirty to forty taels per batch.
One tael of pure gold could be exchanged for about one hundred taels of snowflake silver. A young Taoist priest would have to refine hundreds of batches of pills without failure to earn over two hundred taels of gold.
Thinking of this, Ji Yuan couldn't help but sigh, this was the advantage of having a large and prosperous family, easily earning wealth that ordinary people wouldn't even dare to dream of.
He wondered when the Xuan Tian Temple would also have such a vast enterprise, where money would pour in without even leaving the temple.
As he thought, the young Taoist couldn't help but chuckle, as if he could already see the Xuan Tian Temple in the future, like some renowned sects, possessing several large mountain ranges, holding countless money-making industries, with money flowing in every day, every month, and every year.
"Junior Brother! Little Junior Brother!"
A deep voice called from outside the room, interrupting the young Taoist's daydream.
Ji Yuan wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, waved his sleeve gently, and a white jade flying sword flew out from his brow. It circled over the table and, after collecting most of the gold, returned to his purple mansion.
After closing the medicine chest containing the remaining thirty taels of gold, he then opened the door and saw a young Taoist standing outside with a憨笑 (hān xiào - foolish/simple smile).
"Fifth Senior Brother, why are you calling me so early in the morning?"
Seeing the young Taoist outside, Ji Yuan's face also instantly lit up with a smile.
He was the ninth among the disciples of the Xuan Tian Temple, with eight Senior Brothers before him. The eldest Senior Brother was thirty-four this year, and the youngest, besides him, was twenty-two.
Among the eight Senior Brothers, the Fifth Senior Brother was the one he was closest to, and he had practically grown up under the Fifth Senior Brother's care.
During that time, the older Senior Brothers had to go out with their master to perform rituals to earn money to support the temple. The younger Senior Brothers were still children themselves.
So, the Fifth Senior Brother, who was seventeen at the time and still a youth, took on the responsibility of taking care of his younger Junior Brothers.
"I heard from Master last night that Junior Brother, you had returned to the temple."
Fifth Senior Brother Guo Tao smiled憨憨 (hān hān - foolishly/simply), bent his tall frame, and scratched the back of his head. "But it was already very late last night, so I didn't want to disturb Little Junior Brother's rest."
He didn't hide the concern in his eyes. He had been worried for days about Little Junior Brother going on a trip alone to perform rituals in a town a hundred miles away, fearing something might happen.
Fortunately, Little Junior Brother was now standing in front of him, safe and sound. The worry that had been hanging over his heart for days could finally be put to rest.
"Senior Brother, I'm not as delicate as you think!"
Ji Yuan complained with a pout. After glancing at the sky, he turned and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
Ever since he embarked on the path of cultivation, Ji Yuan had been responsible for all three meals in the Xuan Tian Temple.
Fifth Senior Brother Guo Tao followed him, chatting intermittently about trivial matters in the temple and things in the county town.
He didn't find it annoying to listen and would occasionally respond, but he absolutely forbade Fifth Senior Brother from helping.
It was strange. Guo Tao, who had taken care of many of his younger Junior Brothers as they grew up, had made no progress in his culinary skills. Everything he made was just edible.
As for the taste, one could roughly guess from the fact that from the Sixth Senior Brother down to him, the youngest Junior Brother, they had all mastered skills comparable to street chefs.
"Little Junior Brother, do you think it's too late for me to learn martial arts now?"
Guo Tao's expression suddenly darkened, and he asked hesitantly.
Hearing this, Ji Yuan stopped what he was doing and looked up at Fifth Senior Brother in confusion, not quite understanding why he suddenly wanted to practice martial arts.
"If Senior Brother just wants to learn a few moves, it's never too late. But if you want to become a martial artist in the Jianghu, then it is indeed too late."
He took a moment to formulate his words, trying not to discourage his Senior Brother too much.
To become a martial artist and embark on the path of martial arts, one usually needs to temper their muscles and bones from childhood. If one hasn't achieved the skin and muscle realm before the age of sixteen, their achievements in this life will generally not be very high.
Not to mention someone who has never cultivated before, suddenly wanting to practice martial arts in their twenties, it is almost impossible to achieve anything significant.
Often, it requires several times, or even more than ten times, the effort, and even with unlimited financial investment, it may still not yield any results.
However, Ji Yuan had already decided that if Fifth Senior Brother truly wanted to practice martial arts, he would even spend tens of taels of gold to force him to achieve the skin and muscle realm.
"Fifth Senior Brother, why do you suddenly want to practice martial arts?"
However, before that, he still needed to ask for clarification. Otherwise, if he misunderstood, he might do more harm than good with good intentions.
Guo Tao was tall. Just by squatting, he was almost as tall as Ji Yuan. He scratched the back of his head, chuckled foolishly twice, and then recounted the conversation his master had with them last night in detail.
The general content was that their master had asked them if they were willing to try to embark on the path of cultivation and become cultivators who sought longevity.
However, unlike some of his other Senior Brothers, Guo Tao did not readily agree with joy. Instead, he put on a sad face and asked his master if he could not pursue cultivation but instead study martial arts.
"Isn't it good to be a cultivator? In the future, you can seek longevity and wander freely through the world after achieving success in cultivation."
Ji Yuan tilted his head, not understanding his Senior Brother's thoughts.
He completely overlooked that not everyone could become a cultivator. If one couldn't achieve enlightenment, everything would be in vain.
Guo Tao sighed, his face filled with worry. "Seeking longevity, wandering freely through the world—those are all too far away. Senior Brother doesn't have grand ambitions. I just want to have some martial arts skills so that when Little Junior Brother goes on a trip in the future, I can stay by your side and protect you from the bad people in the Jianghu."
As he spoke, he chuckled. Just thinking of that scene made him feel very satisfied.
Ji Yuan was stunned. He had thought of various reasons his Fifth Senior Brother might give, but he had never expected that his Senior Brother's thoughts would be about this matter.
"Little Junior Brother, you've actually become a cultivator already, haven't you?"
Guo Tao turned his head and said with a smile, "I heard storytellers say that powerful cultivators in legends, like immortals, always have formidable martial artists by their side, guarding them while they cast spells."
This tall, somewhat simple-minded Fifth Senior Brother's thoughts had always been very straightforward: to protect the Junior Brothers he watched grow up.
Ji Yuan said nothing more and turned back to prepare today's breakfast. However, his movements were much lighter than before, and he hummed a tune he had heard since childhood.
In his memory, this was a tune Fifth Senior Brother often hummed when comforting them, the younger Junior Brothers.
"I am Zhao Yuansong, greetings to both Daoists."
A moment later, Ji Yuan's expression shifted. He subconsciously turned his head and saw a young man leading two men and two women walking from the direction of the main hall.
The man named Zhao Yuansong smiled apologetically at the two people in the kitchen. "I saw the temple gate was open and took the liberty of entering. Please forgive me."