Gu An sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, blue spiritual light swirling around him. Morning light crept in through the window, illuminating his face.

"Huff-"

He let out a long breath and abruptly opened his starry eyes, a look of helplessness within them.

After cultivating for an entire night, he had only increased his spiritual power by a trace. The path of cultivation was truly difficult!

Fortunately, with Spirit Source Feedback as an aid, he could at least pursue the path of immortality.

Gu An slowly walked out of the room. By then, Bai Zhi and Qingliu had already prepared breakfast-just a bowl of porridge and a dish of pickled vegetables.

After eating, he was about to go check on the Black Spirit Fish when a piercing goose cry rang through the sky. Gu An abruptly stood up, his expression solemn.

The goose's cry was so loud, and the gale it stirred up as it flew swept toward him. The spiritual pressure it emitted made Gu An feel immense pressure. Most unsettling of all, the wild goose seemed to be flying straight toward him.

"Is it coming for me- Or did it sense the spiritual qi in the lake and come to hunt- Damn it all-why did a demon beast have to show up at just this moment-!"

Feeling the spiritual pressure drawing closer, Gu An estimated it was a demon beast at the late Qi Condensation stage, far beyond his ability to match. He gathered spiritual power at his feet, fully activated the Light Body Spell, and shot out like an arrow from a bow.

Spirit fish could be raised again; if he failed his task, he could at most be punished. But he only had one life-if he didn't run now, when would he-

But when the wild goose saw Gu An fleeing swiftly, it flapped its wings once and increased its speed by a full twenty percent.

Gu An felt the wind and spiritual pressure growing ever closer behind him and couldn't help but feel a trace of despair. Turning around, he saw the goose was covered in purple cloud patterns, its wings spanning a full three zhang when spread.

Gu An recognized the goose as a Purple Cloud Goose, one of the fastest-flying demon beasts at the late Qi Condensation stage.

"I can't keep running-I'll be even worse off if it catches me. Better to save my spiritual power and fight to the death." Facing danger, Gu An was not without the resolve to risk everything.

He spun around abruptly, summoning the Qingyuan Sword from his storage bag, concealing the Emerald Shadow Needle in his sleeve, and pinching a spirit stone in his right hand. Spiritual power surged as a water spear rapidly took shape in the air.

He hurled the water spear, but the Purple Cloud Goose blocked it by folding its wings together, only knocking off a few feathers.

"Honk~"

The Purple Cloud Goose cried out, and a letter flew out from the downy feathers on its belly, slapping onto Gu An's face with a smack.

Wait.. something seemed off.

Gu An froze for a moment, realizing he might have misunderstood the situation. He looked up at the Purple Cloud Goose again. The fury in its eyes seemed to blaze, and it slammed its wings down at his head, sending Gu An scrambling in panic.

"Honk~ Honk~" The Purple Cloud Goose angrily vented as it struck.

It was just a messenger! It had arrived to find the recipient running away at full speed. After chasing him down, it got drenched by a mass of water, which knocked off its beautiful feathers.

Gu An sensed that the Purple Cloud Goose wasn't using any spiritual power, and knowing he was in the wrong, he didn't fight back, letting it vent.

He muttered inwardly, wondering whose spirit beast this was. If even the spirit beast was at late Qi Condensation, how high must its master's cultivation be- Thinking this, he dared not dodge.

What if its owner was petty and held a grudge- That would be bad!

After venting for a while, Gu An's hair was twisted into a messy tangle. The Purple Cloud Goose seemed to lose interest and stopped, though it still glared angrily at Gu An.

Seeing that the Purple Cloud Goose's mood seemed to have improved, Gu An repeatedly apologized.

"Forgive me, forgive me. I sensed powerful spiritual pressure and panicked, causing this mistake. How about this-I'll treat you to some spirit fish. What do you think-"

Though his heart ached as if bleeding, Gu An offered Black Spirit Fish as compensation to calm the Purple Cloud Goose's anger.

Hearing there would be spirit fish as recompense, the Purple Cloud Goose finally stopped being so angry.

"Honk honk."

It had agreed. Gu An, unable to spare the heartache, thought to himself, "After eating my spirit fish, you can't go tattling on me, right-"

Gu An led the Purple Cloud Goose back to White Mirror Lake and told Bai Zhi and Qingliu that everything was fine, asking them to tidy up the courtyard the wind had scattered. He then went straight to the lake, used the Entangling Spell, and scooped up two Black Spirit Fish.

"Honk!"

The Purple Cloud Goose beside him let out a dissatisfied cry, and with a sweep of wind, scooped up two more.

Looks like he'd have to spend money to avoid disaster today. Gu An shook his head with a bitter smile and tossed the two Black Spirit Fish in his hands to the Purple Cloud Goose. With a flash of spiritual light, the two fish were wrapped in a gust of wind in midair.

Opening its large beak wide, the Purple Cloud Goose swallowed one Black Spirit Fish whole.

[One of your Black Spirit Fish has died of natural causes, returning a Spiritual Qi Cluster to you!]

The familiar voice sounded, and a mass of spiritual power fell into his Dantian. The increase in spiritual qi lifted Gu An's mood somewhat, finally rousing him from the pain of losing spirit stones.

Seeing the Purple Cloud Goose eating happily with no time for him, Gu An walked to a stone bench under a willow tree, sat down, and opened the letter to read.

To Junior Brother Gu An:

It has been a year since you took on the garrison duty in Blackrock Commandery. It is now the seventh month, and all garrison personnel in various locations should go to Cloud City to report for duty and collect their salaries. You should come as soon as possible.

You need to collect the sect's Spirit Tax on behalf of the sect, including the Golden Cloud Rice from the Lin Clan of Red Maple Mountain and thirty percent of the red maple sap. You must inspect carefully. If Black-Pattern Iron is produced in the commandery, collect that as well.

Please complete the above before the fifteenth of the seventh month.

Additionally, I intend to hold a small trading gathering in Yun Kingdom after the fifteenth. You may prepare in advance.

Wishing you favorable winds!

The signature was Yun Xiuyan. Gu An had heard Zhang Song mention this woman before. She came from the Yun Kingdom royal family, possessed Dual Spirit Roots of Metal and Water, and had studied swordsmanship under True Person Qingxiao. She was a Foundation Establishment seed of this generation of the Qingyuan Sect and the only Senior Sister among the Four Talents of Qingyuan.

He wondered why she had taken on the Yun Kingdom garrison task. On the surface, overseeing all garrison personnel in Yun Kingdom was a glorious position, but a Foundation Establishment seed like her-unlike himself-didn't lack spirit stones. Why would she leave the sect to take on such a time-consuming and labor-intensive task instead of immersing herself in cultivation and striving for Foundation Establishment- How strange!

Gu An couldn't figure it out no matter how he thought, so he decided not to dwell on it. Instead, he focused on the letter's contents. It was now the end of the sixth month. Going to Cloud City would only take a day and a half, and he still had half a month to get things done-plenty of time.

The Lin Clan of Red Maple Mountain had visited once before, bringing thirty jin of Golden Cloud Rice, but it had long since been eaten. This time, collecting the Spirit Tax might yield some gains.

As for Black-Pattern Iron, he'd have to ask City Lord Zhang to bring it tomorrow.

..

"Honk!"

A goose cry interrupted Gu An's thoughts. The Purple Cloud Goose had finished eating all four spirit fish. Gu An looked inward at his Dantian and saw four Spiritual Qi Clusters merging into his own spiritual power.

These Black Spirit Fish were really something-polite and grateful.

The Purple Cloud Goose cried out once, then flew in front of Gu An, patted his shoulder with its wing, and gave him a look that seemed old and wise, looking rather silly. A flash of spiritual light appeared at its feet, and a purple-patterned egg flew out.

Gu An then noticed that the Purple Cloud Goose also had a storage bag tied to its foot. Seeing the dense cloud patterns on it, he knew it was far better than his standard-issue storage bag.

Looking at the Purple Cloud Goose egg before him, Gu An murmured to himself, "Is this a return gift-"

A late Qi Condensation Purple Cloud Goose egg was worth about four or five spirit stones. Four Black Spirit Fish were worth four spirit stones-roughly equivalent in value.

Gu An accepted the return gift. Having his spirit stones returned eased his heart considerably.

"Honk~"

The Purple Cloud Goose nodded in satisfaction, cried out once, flapped its wings, and flew off into the distance.

"Return gift or not, you can't go tattling on me!" Gu An watched the Purple Cloud Goose recede into the distance and suddenly shouted out loud.

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