“The hidden opportunity at Black Dragon Pool has been triggered by a certain disciple!”

“Just a small Fish Demon, and it took over a hundred years for a disciple to succeed?”

“Having one is already good enough. Those fishermen have been guarding a treasure mountain without even realizing it!”

“Who exactly is responsible for corrupting the atmosphere within the immortal sect?”

“With such an opportunity, this person is bound to stand out!”

…

“Keep a low profile. I must maintain a low profile,” Jiang Chen muttered to himself with a serious expression.

Although he had obtained a fortune in Spirit Stones. Especially after developing a second Spirit Root. His conduct, particularly his style of doing things, must remain the same as before.

He couldn’t let anyone notice anything unusual and had to minimize his presence as much as possible.

After all, with great power comes great responsibility. He didn’t want to be assigned dangerous missions outside the sect just because he became too strong.

After losing the [Wood-Fire Spirit Crystal], the Yang energy contained in the lightning-struck wood had suddenly decreased by fifty percent. It could no longer boil the surrounding pool water.

Even so, its value hadn’t diminished. Naturally formed lightning-struck wood was extremely rare.

Jiang Chen immediately placed the three-meter-tall lightning-struck tree into a separate storage pouch.

But he didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he controlled the [Demon Wood Boat] to circle the area. He wanted to see if there was anything else he could take away.

As the saying goes, if something has no owner, then it’s unclaimed property.

As he searched, Jiang Chen arrived behind the skeletal wreckage. Clearly, there was still a passage leading deeper inside. Where it led, he couldn’t say.

Unfortunately, the passage was quite narrow and almost entirely blocked by the remains of the dragon demon.

To enter, he would have to put away the Demon Wood Boat. But once he did that, Jiang Chen felt that surviving the crushing depths to leave would be a problem in itself.

After thinking it over, he simply turned and left. It wouldn’t be too late to come back and investigate when he had greater strength.

When Jiang Chen emerged from the Black Dragon Pool, he found that the sky was already bright.

He immediately switched from the Demon Wood Boat to the [Giant Leaf]. Then, he hurriedly headed toward his Spirit Farm.

It must be said that after possessing two Spirit Roots and two types of spiritual power, the speed of the Giant Leaf had increased considerably.

Injecting Fire spiritual power into the artifact allowed him to race all the way back. The only drawback was that this energy depleted quickly and couldn’t be maintained for too long.

However, when Jiang Chen arrived home, he found someone waiting for him.

Jin Fugui!

“Were you waiting for me?” Jiang Chen quickly landed.

Jin Fugui was taken aback for a moment, then asked excitedly, “Old Jiang, where have you been these past seven days?”

Hearing this, Jiang Chen widened his eyes in disbelief. “Seven days?”

Jin Fugui nodded. “You’ve been gone for seven days. I’ve been taking care of Da Huang and the pearl chickens.”

The animals seemed to be in decent condition. Perhaps because they hadn’t seen their master for a week, the two little ones were quite excited.

Da Huang kept opening his mouth, making ying ying ying sounds. The pearl chickens also occasionally made gu gu calls.

Jiang Chen hadn’t expected that merely developing a second Spirit Root would take so long.

“Since you’re back now, I don’t need to stay any longer,” Jin Fugui said with relief.

Jiang Chen smiled apologetically. “Thank you.”

Jin Fugui waved his hand. “We’re buddies. Saying thanks feels a bit distant.”

Jiang Chen simply took out half a kilogram of Golden Wine from his storage pouch. As he handed it over, he asked, “I really was away these past few days. How’s our business doing?”

Jin Fugui slapped his forehead. “If you hadn’t mentioned it, I really would have forgotten. Here—this is your share of the Franchise Fees for these seven days.”

Jiang Chen took the pouch and scanned it with his spiritual sense.

There were actually one hundred and forty Mid-grade Spirit Stones. That was equivalent to two new members joining per day.

Jin Fugui took a big gulp of the sweet and sour Golden Wine, then laughed. “Ever since Wu Meng got rich, people have been joining continuously. But Old Mo said that since you were temporarily away, we should tone things down a bit.”

Jiang Chen nodded slightly. “I’m back now. You can speed up your recruitment efficiency. Moreover, from now on we won’t just provide recipes; we’ll also become suppliers.”

“You mean… providing spirit beast meat?” Jin Fugui seemed to half-understand.

A look of appreciation appeared in Jiang Chen’s eyes as he explained, “As more and more people learn the recipe, it will inevitably leak out sooner or later. The Spirit Stones we can collect later will become fewer and fewer.”

Therefore, transforming into suppliers was the correct choice.

Others didn’t have Top-quality Spirit Wine. They didn’t have top-quality fruits and vegetables.

But he did.

This was their advantage. It would also be their main source of long-term Spirit Stone income going forward.

Jin Fugui wasn’t stupid; he understood immediately. “Alright, I get it.”

Then he turned and left.

Jiang Chen watched him leave, then knelt before the two little ones with an apologetic look.

His left hand petted Da Huang. His right hand petted the pearl chickens.

“If it really doesn’t work out next time, should I just take you both along?”

After comforting them, Jiang Chen went inside to cook.

Although Jin Fugui had been taking care of the animals these past few days, what they ate were just the most common foods for spirit beasts: Spirit Clover mixed with some grains.

Although there was Spirit Rice, it wasn’t Top-quality Spirit Rice.

Standing before the stove, Jiang Chen subconsciously picked up the Flint. But as soon as he held it in his hand, he froze.

Then he chuckled wryly.

After all, he now had a Fire Spirit Root. There was no need to use such primitive ignition methods anymore.

Although he currently didn’t have any Fire-attribute cultivation techniques, it was no problem to slightly mobilize the fire spiritual power in his dantian.

Jiang Chen put down the Flint and rubbed his left thumb and index finger together.

Pfft.

A wisp of red flame appeared between his fingers.

This wasn’t ordinary fire. It was spirit fire enhanced by his Thunder-Fire Spirit Root. Even in its early stages, it possessed considerable temperature. Therefore, it could easily ignite firewood and dry grass.

The moment he succeeded, Jiang Chen was extremely happy.

Grinning widely, he watched the flames roaring inside the hearth, chuckling foolishly with glee.

Crack.

An unexpected sound came from the stove.

Cracks rapidly spread from the inside out.

BOOM!

The stove exploded outright.

“I…”

The smile on Jiang Chen’s face froze; even his gaze became vacant. It took him quite a while to snap back to reality.

Silently picking up his small storage pouch, he pulled out a Communication Talisman. His movements were deliberate, yet tinged with disbelief at what had just transpired.

His kitchen, made sturdy by generations of use, now lay shattered upon the floorboards. It was a humble beginning literally blown apart before his eyes.

This power, newly gained, came hand-in-hand not just with potential greatness but also with responsibility. It required control, lest everything around turn to ash under a careless touch born of excitement.

So, he stood amidst the ruins of his once-functional stove, wondering how to explain the situation to the person on the other end of the line.

“It’s Senior Brother Jiang. Do you need me to loosen soil?”

“Can you repair stoves?”

On the other end, holding a Communication Talisman, Tie Zhu was stunned by the inquiry. After several seconds, he tentatively asked, “Senior Brother… your stove exploded?”

Jiang Chen remained silent.

Tie Zhu explained, “We Earth Spirit Root cultivators have been helping Fire Spirit Root cultivators repair stoves for years; we’re long used to it.”

The only thing that surprised him was that Senior Brother Jiang, a Wood Spirit Root cultivator, could actually burn out a stove!