Daily Intelligence: From Miner to Dao Ancestor of Alchemy and Talismans

"This is something my mother left me, and it means a lot to me. Since Fellow Daoist Xu has gone to the trouble of returning it, I will certainly repay her properly."

"To be honest..."

At this critical juncture, Xu Yuan didn't mince words and openly stated that he didn't want to go mining. Given the vast difference in their social statuses, it would have seemed strange if he had no other desires.

"This is a small matter. I'll just have someone inform them. Fellow Daoist, there's no need to worry."

Seeing Xu Yuan's decisive actions, Zhao Qiuyue couldn't help but smile. However, she felt something was missing, so she added, "Is there anything else you want, fellow Daoist? Just say the word."

"No need. The items have been returned to their rightful owner. It's enough that you've helped me resolve this predicament."

"I'll take my leave now."

Xu Yuan bowed and left. This jade pendant wasn't particularly valuable to begin with, and making further demands would seem greedy.

After a while, a maid came forward, bowed and said, "Miss, we have checked. This person is indeed a rogue cultivator from the market, and he did go to the Xiling Riverbank today."

"So, you're not someone with ulterior motives?"

"Not bad, just an ordinary rogue cultivator, nothing unusual."

Zhao Qiuyue smiled, glanced in the direction Xu Yuan had left, and said, "Give the order that this man will not have to work for the Zhao family for the next ten years. This way, we can repay his favor and prevent outsiders from saying that our Zhao family is mean-spirited."

"Yes, Miss!"

Xu Yuan returned to the courtyard, his mind unable to calm down for a long time.

According to the daily intelligence report, with this item's assistance, his future cultivation path will be less turbulent. It seems that Foundation Establishment is indeed within reach.

"Let's figure out a way to raise our cultivation level to the mid-stage of Qi Refining first."

Knock, knock, knock—the knocking sounded again.

"Is young friend Xu here?"

It turned out that Li Qinghe had come knocking on their door again.

"What brings you here, Master Li?"

"Brother Xu, why are you being so formal?"

Completely different from before, Li Qinghe was incredibly friendly at this moment, grabbing Xu Yuan's hand and saying, "Miss asked me to pass on a message: from now on, Brother Xu, you don't need to do any chores anymore; just focus on your cultivation."

"Brother, I never knew you knew that young lady! You really kept it a secret from me!"

Xu Yuan was taken aback; no wonder Li Qinghe's attitude changed so quickly.

"You flatter me, sir."

"Brother Xu, I couldn't sleep after I got back from what happened before. I felt bad for you, and after thinking it over, I decided I should apologize to you in person to avoid any rift between us brothers."

Li Qinghe's smile grew even more solicitous as he stuffed a bulging bag of spirit stones into Xu Yuan's hand.

Inside the spirit stone bag were fifty spirit stones, more than Xu Yuan had given him before!

Xu Yuan knew that if he didn't accept the spirit stones, Li Qinghe would truly be unable to sleep soundly. It was better to go with the flow and let him settle this matter.

"You flatter me, sir. You're just following the rules. I would be impolite to refuse such a generous gift."

Seeing Xu Yuan accept the spirit stones, Li Qinghe breathed a sigh of relief. Fifty spirit stones were not a small amount for him, but who would have thought that this kid actually knew the young lady?

"If you encounter any difficulties in the market in the future, feel free to come to me."

"Definitely, definitely."

After seeing Li Qinghe off, Xu Yuan played with the spirit stone bag, looking at the full bag of spirit stones, and felt indescribably happy.

Working for the Zhao family, you only earn five spirit stones a year.

Fifty spirit stones.

It's equivalent to ten years' worth of income.

Unlike disciples of sects, independent cultivators don't earn every spirit stone easily, a fact Xu Yuan deeply understood. In the past, he always tried to save every penny during his cultivation, afraid of wasting any.

Now that he has fifty more spirit stones, it's enough for him to splurge on for a while and use them for cultivation.

As night fell, Xu Yuan sat cross-legged, holding a spirit stone in his hand. The spiritual energy, far purer than the chaotic spiritual energy of heaven and earth, was continuously absorbed into his body. With the spirit stone assisting his cultivation, his progress was much faster than normal.

Just as Xu Yuan was concentrating on his cultivation, shortly after midnight, two lines of text appeared before his eyes again.

Today's intelligence has been updated.

[Intelligence Alert: Rumors circulate about tiger cubs in the Dongling Stone Forest, but the source of this information is suspicious; proceed with caution.]

Another white intelligence operation?

Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow. It seemed that the white one was the lowest-value intelligence.

As for the strange source of the information, Xu Yuan, who was initially somewhat interested, immediately gave up the idea after seeing the system's warning to act cautiously.

There are countless ways to die on the path of spiritual cultivation, and nine out of ten of them are due to greed.

Xu Yuan didn't consider himself a particularly fortunate person, and he would absolutely not take such a risk as to something so unpredictable. Playing it safe was the only sensible way.

He never expected that someone would come knocking on his door about this matter the very next day at noon.

"Brother Xu, how have you been lately?"

The visitor was a kind-hearted young man named Qian Shi, who, like Xu Yuan, was at the third level of Qi Refining. This man was the first friend Xu Yuan made after arriving at Qingya Fang, and they had known each other for ten years.

"Brother Qian, what brings you here today?"

Xu Yuan brewed him a pot of tea and asked with a smile.

In the past two years, Qian Shi has come less often, and I heard that he has made friends with a group of bounty hunters. It is common for rogue cultivators to band together for mutual support, but Xu Yuan does not like the way those people act, so he intentionally distances himself from them, and his contact with Qian Shi has become less and less frequent.

"Brother Xu, I have a big business deal coming up, are you interested?"

"A few days ago, someone spotted a tiger cub in the Dongling Stone Forest. The market price has already reached three hundred spirit stones, and people are looking to buy this spirit beast."

After Qian Shi finished speaking, he looked at Xu Yuan with anticipation.

Three hundred spirit stones were a fortune for a low-level cultivator. Qian Shi didn't believe Xu Yuan wouldn't be tempted.

but……

"Sorry, Mr. Qian, I'm not interested."

Upon hearing Xu Yuan's words, Qian Shi was stunned.

"Brother Xu, you..."

Qian Shi couldn't quite understand it.

He had witnessed how Xu Yuan had endured all these years, and no one understood better than him what spirit stones meant to low-level rogue cultivators like them.

Now, the opportunity to earn a lot of spirit stones is right in front of us.

The information, the clues, the buyer—everything is here!

It's fair to say that these spirit stones are practically free, so why not take them? That's why he thought of Xu Yuan, wanting him to get a share as well.

But Xu Yuan actually refused?

"Brother Xu, don't worry. The place we're going to this time isn't dangerous. We've already scouted it out, and we've prepared the Water Spirit Fruit to lure the Azure Tiger. All we need is someone to help us set up the trapping formation."

Qian Shi thought Xu Yuan was afraid that there would be risks on this trip.

"That Azure Tiger will indeed be a Foundation Establishment stage demon beast when it grows up, but it's not fully grown yet, only at the mid-Qi Refining stage. There are six of us this time, and Brother Sun is even at the mid-Qi Refining stage, so what's there to be afraid of?"

But Xu Yuan remained unmoved after hearing this.

"I'm always a cautious person, as Brother Qian knows. In my opinion, Brother Qian shouldn't go this time." After ten years of friendship, Xu Yuan couldn't help but offer a word of advice.

No sooner had news of Canghu come out than the buyer followed suit.

With so many coincidences happening at once, coupled with the system's reminders, it's hard not to overthink things.

"Alright!"

Since things had come to this point, Qian Shi didn't intend to force the issue. He had originally wanted to help Xu Yuan earn this wave of spirit stones, but it seemed that their time hadn't come yet!