Aksai’s transaction with Jiren took place smoothly.
One of the main reasons Aksai bought the scrolls from Jiren instead of focusing on textbook knowledge was because he liked the way the Foundation Building Expert had cultivated his Spirit garden.
For example, he would use the fish scales from Spirit fish, which were considered as waste, as manure for some of his Spirit fruits. He would then use the waste from Spirit fruits to feed the Spirit fish again.
Jiren had established numerous synergistic cycles within his Spirit garden, where the byproducts or waste from one cultivation field served as a valuable resource in another.
Jiren had succeeded in creating an ecosystem within the Spirit garden that required minimal time and effort investment for maximum benefits.
Aksai was sure that Jiren’s annual earnings were no less than some of the wealthiest Spirit cultivation families currently active in Purple River Gate.
Aksai aimed to replicate Jiren’s concept of ecosystem formation within his Everwood farm. Despite Jiren’s ideas being implemented only at a fundamental level, they proved highly effective in their foundation.
Aksai recognized these ideas as an excellent starting point for him to further develop and customize them according to his own vision in the future.
Apart from his plans to establish a foundation in the field of alchemy, Aksai also needed to think about his path of body cultivation. This distinct field of cultivation required Aksai to use the Everwood farm in multifaceted ways.
Aksai was sure that his efforts and investments at the early stage were going to pay dividends in the long run.
Plus, he had the help of the neural link fabric and unique resources from Martial World Sharang.
All of these were Aksai’s trump cards. He could make use of his trump cards in the most efficient manner by stacking their advantages together.
All he needed was some time to grow. Some time for his Everwood farm to grow.
‘One step at a time,’ Aksai thought to himself as he secured the scrolls. He thanked Jiren before asking him some more questions regarding his experiences in cultivating the Spirit garden.
There were not many Spirit cultivators like Aksai who were interested in Spirit gardening and Spirit horticulture to such a deep level. Most only saw these fields as ways to make profits but did not want to invest their minds and efforts into them. And who could blame them? After all, not every cultivator was a Spirit farmer like Aksai.
Jiren found that Aksai was a lot like himself in that they both avoided the chaos happening outside their domain, preferring to focus on cultivating their own ways. As such, Jiren also opened up quite a lot while talking with Aksai, explaining to him various facets of Spirit horticulture and fields related to it in the most practical manner.
Jiren also allowed Aksai to store some Spirit fish from his pond. The latter bought a simple beast storage bag before storing a school of Spirit fish in them. He had planned to keep them in the Everwood farm after he dug up a simple pond for them there.
One had to say that Jiren was a kind man for a Spirit cultivator. He also asked if Aksai needed to have the spirit stones he had given them as payment for his services.
After all, although the meet between the late-stage Spirit Refiners was so that they could exchange resources with each other through the barter system, the difference in value was always compensated with spirit stones. Jiren thought that Aksai must have flushed out all his income in buying various resources from him.
However, Aksai had no plans to initiate further dealings with Jiren. As such, he said that he was okay with the full payment he had already done and didn’t want the money back.
Aksai had an ample amount of spirit stones in his storage at this point. After all, he had sold many peculiar resources found in Sharang to the local vendors in Purple River Gate, earning a sizable income. Although he couldn’t be called rich, Aksai was pretty stable economically for a Spirit cultivator of his generation.
A few hours passed while Jiren and Aksai were busy discussing various things related to their fields of interest. Jiren took his leave at an appropriate time, leaving Aksai all alone.
Soon, the hall with the pyramid-shaped roof saw some activity as various late-stage Spirit Refiners started gathering. A roundtable chair setup was arranged by mortals before the Spirit cultivators were offered their seats.
Aksai engaged in idle chats with Spirit cultivators of his age, quickly making acquaintances and exchanging pleasantries. His pleasant and non-threatening demeanor made him easy to talk to, and many found him approachable.
Although the solitary nature of a Spirit farmer typically led Aksai to prefer solitude, he proved to be a skilled communicator. He seemed to be a unique blend of introvert and extrovert tendencies.
Some might label him an ambivert, but Aksai preferred to think of himself simply as a “vert,” defying categorization. After all, an ambivert would feel some mental unease when they retained a certain role for an extended period, but a “vert”, according to Aksai, did not have the limitations of an ambivert.
The one who held this exchange meet was a young woman named Nuya. She had long, flowing hair that cascaded down her back in waves of ebony. Her blue eyes, sharp and discerning, seemed to miss nothing as they scanned the premises.
She wore a robe of deep indigo, adorned with intricate patterns that shimmered in the light. A delicate silver chain adorned her neck, glinting softly as she moved.
“Welcome, fellow Spirit cultivators,” Nuya stood up from her seat as she greeted the participants of the exchange meet. “My name’s Nuya, and I thank all of you for coming to this private exchange meet,” Nuya spoke confidently, her smile exuding gracefulness and politeness.
“Miss Nuya, in fact, it’s us who should be thanking you for organizing this meet,” chimed in a young man who looked at Nuya with obvious adoration in his eyes.
“Miss Nuya, you are too polite,” said a casual drifting cultivator with a smile on her face. Some others joined in, and the roundtable became very lively for a while.
Everyone introduced themselves. This was an open meet organized under the protection of a Foundation Building Expert. As such, there was no reason for anyone to hide their identities or appearances.
Aksai, too, introduced himself formally to the people gathered at the place. He spoke just enough and let others take the lead in the conversation.
In the art of communication, speaking was not always required to be labeled as a good communicator. Sometimes, it was enough to just listen. This was the skill that Aksai had acquired well.
After the round of introductions was over, Nuya cleared her throat, prompting others to observe silence. She looked at the cultivators intently before speaking in a serious voice.
“As you all might have experienced, we late Spirit Refiners have suffered a lot due to the unrest between the two counties as well as the fall of the Lakir and Wilben families.
It has kept us from claiming various cultivation resources that we could have easily gotten from Lakir City or Wilben City. Those two cities don’t exist anymore. And the businesses that have been relocated would need some time for their supplies to get back to normal.
As such, this private exchange meet is meant to serve as a way for us to get over these hurdles by exchanging resources with each other directly without any middle person involved. I will now explain the rules of this exchange meet.”
Nuya spoke sternly, taking a deep breath before she started listing out some simple rules one needed to observe before putting their possessions up for barter. There were also some rules related to claiming the resources of others.
Aksai, like everyone present in the open hall, listened to these rules silently and found them to be logical. He had to say that Nuya was a wise Spirit cultivator who could see some potential risks related to the meet and ensured she avoided them by placing forth the rules before the exchange of resources began for real.
What Aksai didn’t know was that there was a certain Spirit cultivator among this group who had kept a keen eye on him.