Raising Ducks for Daily Rewards-Chapter 8: The charm of a small village

"Give me your name, background, cultivation stage, profession and intention of staying here." A clerk asked while painting on a piece of jade with a white brush.

"I’m Fengyu, a rogue cultivator at the third stage of Qi Refining. My profession is Spiritual Herding, to be specific, herding ducks. I hope to enter the village and rent a field to raise ducks and gain resources for my cultivation."

Fengyu answered the clerk honestly.

"Hmm." The clerk hummed slightly while putting in the information.

"Can you present proof of your profession?" the clerk asked.

Hearing this, Fengyu was slightly surprised. How come they didn’t care about whether his name was right? They only wanted to know whether he was able to perform his profession?

"I can perform a spell or two... well, I have this mandarin duck who could testify. I also have some duck eggs..." he simply told them what he had.

"Just present the duck eggs. In this region, except for a special request, getting these eggs would be difficult." The clerk said simply.

Fengyu complied and took out the ten eggs he had gathered before selling his ducks.

"They’re indeed duck eggs," the clerk nodded, looking at Fengyu with a slight smile.

A slight frown appeared on his face, ’Even simple verification requires this?’

Gritting his teeth slightly, he put five of the eggs on the counter, waiting for the reaction of the clerk.

Just as he suspected, the clerk took the eggs and put them away before drawing a few things on the jade tablet.

A moment later, he took out a wooden token and handed it to Fengyu, "This is a permit token, which allows you to rent a field of one acre for up to a year. Go to the other counter to rent the field.

If you can stably produce duck-related spiritual materials for a year, we will take it as proof of profession and formally give you a residence permit."

"Thank you!" Fengyu kept his thanks short and went to the other counter.

Presenting his token, the clerk there looked at him with a smile, the same smile as the one before.

He directly presented the eggs.

"You’re sensible!" the clerk didn’t hide his greed like the other, "Just this week, a field of ten acres was opened up.

Although you can’t rent the ten acres, I can give you one acre, which locks the renting of the other nine.

In the future, when you get the proper permit, you’ll be able to directly expand."

"Thank you a lot for your help!" Fengyu thanked properly this time – he couldn’t accept bribery just so the clerk could do his intended job. But this clerk clearly treated him better for the bribe.

Although it was still not his style, he could accept such a method to earn more money, so he didn’t resent this clerk like he resented the other.

The clerk gave him a map and to Fengyu’s surprise, it was actually the field next to the one on the left of the road he passed to enter the village.

That is to say, he’s the new neighbour of that pair of twins!

"By the way..." Fengyu looked at the clerk, "I don’t have any eggs that can hatch. Is there a way for me to get them?"

"You can always make a purchase request to the city. Some cultivators specially work as carriers to transport things from the city to the villages.

Just go out and then walk to the right, it’s the building next to us.

The other building on the left is a Green Plum Store, the shop buying and selling things directly for the Green Plum Peak.

By the way, this is something many cultivators miss when they first enter the village –

While the stalls do allow you to sell whatever you have, it’s recommended to sell directly to the shop, at least a part of what you produce.

When you reach the late stage of Qi Refining and want to enter the city, you will need a recommendation from the village.

It’s best you appear in the records of the shop."

"Thank you again," Fengyu thanked him repeatedly, truly feeling like giving away the eggs wasn’t a loss.

Though he still felt it was a pity the first batch of eggs he gained were directly given away.

Then again, they’re just eggs.

If he clung too closely to everything he produced, wouldn’t he end up bankrupt? 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

’In the past, when I fed the chickens with grandfather in the fields, he always told me that I shouldn’t play with the chickens too much.

When he killed one of them and presented it as my meal, I felt incredibly sad.

Some animals are pets, others... can’t be.’ He looked at the mandarin duck, petting it.

"Quack! Why are you ignoring me all this time? You’re mean!" the duck sounded slightly defeated.

"I’m not ignoring you, I just can’t talk to you too openly, else they’ll know my talent right away.

Don’t you know this already? Why are you so energetic today?"

"This is a peaceful place! A very good place! I feel at ease being here! Cultivating here will be a lot better than if I cultivated in that dumpster." Zimu seemed especially satisfied with the village.

"Is it really so peaceful? Although it looks good, the town didn’t look worse..."

"Quack, what do you know? Here, I don’t sense anyone being stronger than those guards, and the spiritual power is very pure. This is a good village, a very good village."

"Hmm... is it like a starter village? Indeed, it looks a bit like that. No wonder you like it so much!" Fengyu finally understood what Zimu meant, feeling that it was indeed good to be in a starter village rather than in a town where there were cultivators stronger than you.

Although he would eventually experience that, it was nice to have a place where he could build his foundation before being bothered with many things.