Beast Taming: I Have an Immortal Mansion-Chapter 60: End of the Three-Month Term

Outside the Turtle Breeding Pool, Fang Qingyuan rode Silver Bao, flying over and peeking around. If no one else had been there, someone would have surely mistaken him for a turtle thief.

Arriving before the array, Fang Qingyuan first observed it for a moment. After finding nothing out of the ordinary, he quickly used his token to open the array and flew inside.

The moment he entered the array, the Golden Claw Silver Grey Flying Eagle that had been left on guard screeched at him. If it could talk, it probably would have cursed Fang Qingyuan out.

He’d said he would be right back, but he only returned five days later. The eagle had been kept waiting for quite a while.

Fang Qingyuan approached with an apologetic smile, quickly took out the snacks he had bought earlier from his storage bag, and offered them to the Golden Claw Silver Grey Flying Eagle, trying to placate it.

After a good while, the Golden Claw Silver Grey Flying Eagle finally calmed down. Once it finished the snacks, it flapped its wings and flew off.

After the eagle left, Fang Qingyuan finally had time to check on the turtles. Not feeding them for five days was a small matter. The real loss would be if the turtles had fought and a few of them had died.

Some time later, after carefully counting the turtles several times and confirming the numbers matched, he finally relaxed.

These Medicinal Turtles were not cheap. If too many of them died, Fang Qingyuan would have to pay for them out of his own pocket.

After dealing with the Medicinal Turtles, Fang Qingyuan let Silver Bao go off and play on its own. He then went to an open area within the Turtle Breeding Pool and began to practice the Vertical Golden Light Divine Movement Technique.

The ground beneath Fang Qingyuan’s feet was a muddy bog unique to the Black River. The black mud was mixed with a foul-smelling miasma, and the turbid water contained numerous toxins.

By all appearances, it was not a suitable place for practice, but Fang Qingyuan didn’t mind. ’It’s just a bit dirty and messy. Compared to those places leveled by magic, this is the most suitable spot for a beginner like me.’

Recalling the circulation path of the Vertical Golden Light Divine Movement Technique, Fang Qingyuan gathered his Spiritual Qi, recited the incantation, and finally, a dense wave of Spiritual Power formed a special fluctuation. He drove it into the ground before him, and the already murky black earth instantly grew even darker.

Fang Qingyuan was overjoyed at the sight, knowing the magic had succeeded. He took a gleeful leap and jumped into the black earth.

The embarrassing result was that the magic had only softened the earth to a depth of a little over ten feet. Deeper down, the black earth was still hard. Fang Qingyuan had only just jumped in when he hit the bottom.

A quarter of an hour later, Fang Qingyuan couldn’t hold his breath any longer. He leaped up, emerging into the air and taking huge gulps of fresh air.

During that quarter of an hour underground, Fang Qingyuan discovered something: this Earth Escape Technique continuously consumed Spiritual Power. If his Spiritual Power ran low, he had to get out in time. Otherwise, if he miscalculated the timing, he’d be crushed into paste.

Also, there was no air underground, so a Cultivator couldn’t stay down there for too long. After an extended period, even a Qi Refining Cultivator wouldn’t be able to stand it.

’Do I have to learn another technique, something like Turtle’s Breath?’

At this thought, an idea suddenly struck Fang Qingyuan. ’Isn’t there plenty of air in the Immortal Mansion Space?’

Storage bags couldn’t hold air, but the Immortal Mansion was a normal environment where even living creatures could survive. Releasing a bit of air from it shouldn’t be a problem.

’Thinking about it this way, I can stay underground much longer than other Earth Escape Cultivators. And if I get a few mid-grade Earth Attribute Spirit Stones, I could absorb Spiritual Power from them while circulating my cultivation technique. As long as I have Spirit Stones, wouldn’t that mean I’d never have to come up?’

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. After regulating his breathing for a moment, Fang Qingyuan once again dove headfirst into the black earth.

Two hours later, Fang Qingyuan slowly floated back up, clutching a low-grade Earth Spirit Stone with a joyful expression on his face.

’This Vertical Golden Light Divine Movement Technique is truly amazing! With this technique, I’ll never have to fear being chased and killed again. I’ll just hide underground and let my enemies search the whole sky for me.’

When this technique was cast, the affected ground would return to its original appearance; only the specific area under the magic’s influence would become insubstantial.

’But right now, I can only dive ten feet deep. I’m just at the introductory stage of this cultivation technique. At this depth, I couldn’t even hide from a Qi Refining Cultivator, let alone a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.’

’I need to practice more. When I master it, I’ll have more confidence to go out and trade.’

After practicing the Vertical Earth Technique a few more times, Fang Qingyuan returned to his room and settled down to meditate peacefully.

...

For the next two and a half months, Fang Qingyuan methodically took good care of the turtles. Every day, besides spending four hours meditating and cultivating, he also diligently practiced the Vertical Earth Technique.

When he first started using the Vertical Earth Technique, Fang Qingyuan could only burrow ten feet into the ground. After two and a half months of practice, he finally broke through to a depth of fifty feet.

Meanwhile, his Earth Spirit Root had been improving. During this time, the Immortal Mansion Space had finally finished absorbing all the Yellow Sealing Soil he had purchased earlier. Now, his Earth Spirit Root aptitude had reached nineteen points, just one step away from the twenty-point threshold for mid-grade.

Currently, Fang Qingyuan’s Five Elements Spirit Root stats were as follows: Wood, mid-grade at twenty-six; Earth, low-grade at nineteen; Water, low-grade at sixteen; Fire, low-grade at thirteen; and Metal, ungraded at eight.

Looking at his somewhat jarringly low Metal Spirit Root, Fang Qingyuan decided that the next time he bought Earth Attribute spiritual materials, he would also buy some metal ores. At the very least, he wanted all of his Spirit Root aptitudes to be graded.

After feeding the turtles one last time, Fang Qingyuan cheerfully caught seven of the larger-than-average ones. He slapped Talismans on them to suppress and seal them, then packed them into a wooden crate and placed it on Silver Bao’s back.

These seven Medicinal Turtles were his reward for three months of hard work, and he took them with a clear conscience.

The turtles in the Turtle Breeding Pool had all been neutered and couldn’t reproduce naturally, so not a single new turtle had been born in the past three months.

Once this batch of turtles was raised to a certain size, they would all be harvested. Then, new turtle hatchlings would be introduced, and the cycle would repeat.

All the hatchlings came from Zongshan. If the Southern Border Beast Taming Sect wanted to receive more, they had to apply in advance.

In the afternoon, Fang Qingyuan waited eagerly within the array below. After a long time, he saw a figure flying over from the distance, and a look of joy spread across his face.

’My replacement is here! I can finally leave this stinking place.’ Over these past days, Fang Qingyuan felt like he had been steeped in the smell.

When the figure arrived, Fang Qingyuan took a closer look and realized it was none other than Zhang Yuan.

’It’s an acquaintance. That makes the handover even easier.’ While counting the turtles with Zhang Yuan, Fang Qingyuan asked casually:

"Is it still chaotic outside?"

Zhang Yuan made a pained face and replied listlessly:

"Chaotic? Of course it’s chaotic. The White Mountain area is a complete mess."

Fang Qingyuan was very surprised to hear this. ’Didn’t something happen at Black River Square? Why is there fighting at White Mountain now?’

Taking advantage of the breaks while they worked, Zhang Yuan slowly filled Fang Qingyuan in on the news from the outside world. Having not gone out for the past two and a half months and focusing solely on raising turtles, Fang Qingyuan had missed a lot of drama.

It turned out that the chaos at Black River Square that day was indeed caused by an insider colluding with a group of Tribulation Cultivators. They took advantage of the absence of the Marketplace’s experts to quickly plunder it.

The incident resulted in numerous casualties among the merchants in Black River Square, and the Marketplace was still sealed off and had not reopened.

But that group of Tribulation Cultivators didn’t get off easy either. They had just finished their plunder when they were cornered, and a fierce battle broke out.

However, Tribulation Cultivators were the type to live on the edge, and none of them were pushovers. Desperate techniques like the Blood-Burning Demon Dao and Celestial Demon Dissolution were all part of their standard repertoire.

Yin Thunder Pearls, the Ten Thousand Ghosts Banner, and Mother-Child Demons were also standard magical artifact equipment. Working together, they actually caught the Marketplace’s experts off guard and killed them.

Moreover, the leader of the Tribulation Cultivators was a Golden Core Blood Demon Cultivator. Wielding a Blood-Drinking Demon Saber, he grew stronger the more he killed. If three more Golden Core Cultivators from a nearby sect hadn’t rushed over, the people in the Marketplace wouldn’t have been enough for him to slaughter alone.

Later, this group of Tribulation Cultivators was pursued and cornered relentlessly, with nearby sects all sending people to help. In the end, with no other way out, the Tribulation Cultivators surprisingly took a long detour through White Mountain and entered the Endless Forest.

The Endless Forest was incredibly dangerous. After pursuing them for a few days and losing some of their own people, the joint forces of the Marketplace retreated in disarray.

And then, the Nascent Soul Great Cultivator backing the Vast Collection Pavilion stepped forward. The first thing he did was seize over a dozen White Mountain Golden Core Cultivators and begin holding them accountable.