Chapter 1113: Chapter 684: Tri-Colored Carp_3 Chapter 1113 -684: Tri-Colored Carp_3 “Still as poor as ever.” “Moreover, the families who run the Food Building will come to press down the prices, offering incredibly low rates. If you agree, fine, but if you don’t, you can’t avoid a beating.” “Those with bad luck get beaten to death on the spot, and the other side won’t even acknowledge it.” “At least that’s when selling fish. Sometimes, driven mad by poverty, there are those who sell their sons and daughters…” Mo Hua furrowed his brows, “Doesn’t the Taoist Court intervene?” Old Yu shook his head with a bitter smile on his face: “Young brother, you don’t understand. For us cultivators who don’t live in the Immortal City and are scattered outside, we don’t have a ‘Cultivator Registration’.” “For unregistered cultivators, the supervision by the Taoist Court is very lax. A few disappearances or deaths, nobody knows.” “Even…” Old Yu’s gaze turned indifferent, “Sometimes an entire village can die out, and it could be several months before the Taoist Court even becomes aware…” Mo Hua felt a chill in his heart and hurriedly asked: “Has something like that happened before?” 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢 Old Yu was taken aback, “What thing?” Mo Hua whispered, “An entire fishing village dying out…” Old Yu forced a smile, “I was just saying, kid, don’t take it too seriously…” “Oh.” Mo Hua breathed a sigh of relief. But then Mo Hua became puzzled again, “Spiritual Fish… they should be quite expensive, right? Why are fish cultivators still so poor?” Mo Hua remembered that previously in Qingzhou City, Master Gu treated him to a meal at Crane Pavilion, where a plate of Spiritual Fish was worth quite a few Spirit Stones. Old Yu waved his hand and said, “Those are sold by the nearby families. One Spiritual Fish sent to the Food Building can earn a dozen or even hundreds of Spirit Stones.” “But here, one First Grade Spiritual Fish only earns a fraction of a Spirit Stone, and one Second Grade Spiritual Fish earning one Spirit Stone is not bad…” Old Yu sighed. “Can’t you sell them yourselves?” Old Yu shook his head, “It’s not that simple. One or two maybe, but hundreds or thousands? If you don’t sell them quickly, they’ll spoil in your hands…” “Plus, the few big and small families around here, they’ve all colluded, deciding on the yearly yield and the pricing.” “We can’t decide anything.” “If one tries other methods to earn more Spirit Stones, you’d be covertly retaliated against…” After saying all this, Old Yu looked at Mo Hua, his voice earnest: “So, young brother, you must cultivate well within the Sect. Only when your cultivation is high will no one dare to bully you.” Mo Hua looked at Old Yu, his feelings complex. When a cultivator’s cultivation is high, indeed, no one dares to bully them, but naturally, the opposite becomes the reality—they start bullying others. Who they bully are people like you… Afterward, the two chatted for a while. When noon passed, the fish cultivators had to go back to work. Yu Dahe went down the river, and although Old Yu seemed to have some business in the afternoon, he stayed behind. Since Mo was waiting for the Crossing River Dragon in the fishing village anyway, he didn’t leave but sat in the courtyard, chatting idly with Old Yu. Old Yu had lived a lifetime and had seen his share of trials and tribulations. “The life now, though somewhat hard, is also not bad. At least the family is together, and there is food to eat…” “If it were in the past, when Mistwater River frequently flooded, with storms and downpours every day, that truly wasn’t a life for humans…” “Oh.” Mo Hua listened attentively. As they chatted, suddenly a group of cultivators walked over from afar. The one at the front was of middle age, dressed decently, probably at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage level of cultivation, walking with his head held high, seemingly a family cultivator. He was followed by six people, one at Foundation Establishment Early Stage and five at the Qi Refining Ninth Level, all of considerable size. This cultivator walked straight into Old Yu’s house. Upon seeing this, Old Yu immediately put on a mask of obsequious laughter and greeted them, bending over even lower, “Manager Wang, what brings you here?” The family cultivator who was called Manager Wang, with his hands behind his back and his head held high, seemed to disdain interacting with Old Yu. A person beside said, “Where’s the fish?” Old Yu nodded, “Here, here.” He went back inside the house, bending to lift a coarse fish-basket woven from hemp. From it, he retrieved a carp as long as a forearm, golden in color, glimmering with light, its scales like lotus flowers. Manager Wang took a glance and nodded in satisfaction. Someone beside then chuckled, “Old Yu, not bad. Even at your age, you managed to catch this ‘Golden Lotus Tricolor Carp’…” Old Yu’s face creased into a big smile, “Pure luck. Putting my life on the line against the wind and waves, I only managed to catch this one.” Manager Wang also nodded, “Not bad. With this fish, the young master can host a banquet tonight for members of other families without losing face.” A servant of the Wang family took the fish-basket from Old Yu and carried it out. Old Yu watched the precious Tricolor Carp, which he had risked his life to catch, with some reluctance. Manager Wang turned to leave, and the others followed. Old Yu’s expression shifted, but he still put on a smile and begged humbly, “Manager Wang, about the Spirit Stones…” Manager Wang frowned. A disciple from the Wang family behind him said, “Come to the Wang family to collect them in three days.” “But…” “But what? Is my Wang family, an illustrious Third Grade family, unable to pay your Spirit Stones?” Old Yu clenched his teeth, “Eight thousand Spirit Stones, it’s not a small amount, I…” Manager Wang ignored him and walked straight out. Old Yu, with a hardened heart, blocked Manager Wang’s path, but without daring to get angry, he continued to smile obsequiously, “Manager, please have mercy…” “I really need those Spirit Stones urgently.” “I want to send my two grandsons to the Sect, to have them cultivate earnestly so that in the future they won’t have to endure the hardships I’ve gone through.” “I staked my life for this chance…” “I really can’t delay these eight thousand Spirit Stones…” Manager Wang’s expression darkened and he disdainfully said, “A mere eight thousand Spirit Stones, do you think my Wang family can’t afford that?”