Chapter 61: then the title translation. Then ===GLOSSARY=== then list

The Spirit Beast House was no great philanthropist; besides providing the venue and supporting facilities, all operations were handed over to Wei Yuning. If there was profit, their share was naturally indispensable, but if there was a loss, only Wei Yuning himself could make up the shortfall.

Such a large place, the labor cost alone is not insignificant. Moreover, raising spirit beasts requires disciples of the Spirit Beast House, which can also solve employment issues for a batch of disciples, thus alleviating some burden for the Spirit Beast House. Besides, they had a little ulterior motive: the disciples could learn a bit of experience in raising Moon Badgers from Qing Mo, the purpose of which goes without saying.

The Spirit Beast House had schemed well, but Wei Yuning was no clueless native of the spirit beast world—how could he possibly suffer such a loss?

Just as a group of idle odd-job disciples of the Spirit Beast House were waiting to be hired, a piece of news struck them like a bolt from the blue, leaving them all stunned. The recruitment for the New Beast Garden had already ended, and over seventy newly joined female cultivators of the Qingluan Sect from the Yunyin Sect had basically all been hired by Qing Mo, with a monthly wage of only one low-grade spirit stone.

An unestablished odd-job disciple in the Yunyin Sect earns at least three low-grade spirit stones, usually five, yet these Qingluan Sect female cultivators are all Foundation Establishment cultivators.

"This is clearly unfair competition, ruining the market!" Though the odd-job disciples of the Spirit Beast House didn't know those terms, that's exactly what they thought.

Although they muttered complaints, they inwardly understood the situation clearly. As outer-sect disciples, the Qingluan Sect female cultivators only gained the right to free food and lodging on the clouds above Guest Arrival Peak after securing work—these two benefits could not be bought with spirit stones.

Even if some disciples complained, it was useless; Qing Mo's background was not something they could provoke. Moreover, employing sect disciples' partners was not exactly pouring water into another's field—even if they kicked up a fuss at the Spirit Beast House's nominal overseer, it would be of no use.

Naturally, the Spirit Beast House couldn't let Qing Mo monopolize authority; they sent a disciple to oversee the Moon Badger Garden's operations. This disciple was an old acquaintance of Wei Yuning—Senior Brother Qing Ye—and also the partner of Qingluan Sect female cultivator Hai Yan.

Wei Yuning named the New Beast Garden the Hundred Flowers Garden, which also fits its character: on the surface it looks like a large garden for cultivating spirit grass, since Moon Badgers favor the juice inside flower petals, the planted species are mainly spirit grasses with long blooming periods; gazing out, one sees a profusion of purple and red, as if a sea of flowers.

Having solved the employment issue for the newly arrived Qingluan Sect female cultivators, Wei Yuning's reputation among them reached a new peak, and even their Yunyin Sect partners felt extra gratitude toward him.

By early December, the temperature on the specially environed Nine Clouds Peak had also dropped below zero, and the areas beyond Nine Clouds Peak had long since entered the cold winter.

Ordinary plants began to wither, but spirit grass was basically unaffected by this slight chill. The breeding of Moon Badger worms showed no noticeable progress—perhaps because winter is not a suitable breeding season; the number of Moon Badger worms Wei Yuning sensed by smell remained basically unchanged, and during this period he caught over a hundred worms from the herb garden of the Medicinal Pill Hall and added them to the Hundred Flowers Garden.

Although there was no good progress, the worst situation did not occur either; these Moon Badger worms remained lively and alive, which at least shows that the environment of the Hundred Flowers Garden is also suitable for Moon Badger worm growth.

That morning, a moderate snowfall unexpectedly fell on the clouds above Nine Clouds Peak.

After breakfast, Wei Yuning routinely went from Medicinal Pill Peak to Spirit Beast Peak.

Being partnered with Qiu Gu was like marrying a lace—visible but intangible. Qiu Gu did not work in Wei Yuning's Hundred Flowers Garden; as a light-system spiritual root cultivator skilled in healing, she easily found a job at the Guest Arrival Peak medical hall, while Miss Ye Ying served as her assistant.

Initially Wei Yuning often visited the residence at Wind Lotus Pavilion to chat with Qiu Gu, but he went less and less over time. One reason was that his butterfly contemplation began to show results; as a cultivator, practice is the foremost duty, and besides, the affairs of the Hundred Flowers Garden kept him too busy.

More importantly, the reason was Qiu Gu herself. Qiu Gu and Wei Yuning were not joking; if he could not become an Earth Immortal within fifty years, the Spirit Immortal Qiu Gu could not have substantive emotional progress with him. In that case, he might as well spend more time on cultivation.

Of course, there was another reason: Qiu Gu herself was also very busy; aside from idling away at the medical hall, she spent the rest of her time setting up a formation in her residence, supposedly related to her mission.

Today accompanying Wei Yuning was Hong Le, the overseer of the herb garden; as Wei Yuning's nominal superior, hearing that his subordinate had made no progress in raising Moon Badger worms, he decided to come take a look.

Hong Le had been in the herb garden since his days as an odd-job disciple; his experience in cultivating spirit grass could be called master-level, and he was extremely familiar with Moon Badgers as 'pests.' Although he disliked them ten thousand times in his heart, the sect needed to breed these worms, a reality he could not avoid.

Fortunately, the sect allocated a plot of land from the Spirit Beast House as a base for raising Moon Badgers; this was a great boon for the herb garden and even the Medicinal Pill Hall, and Hong Le welcomed it.

However, the reason Moon Badgers are a specialty of the Yunyin Sect is that raising them requires a special environment. Hong Le happened to know this; although he could not guarantee that having the right conditions would ensure successful breeding, lacking them would certainly prevent population expansion.

Hong Le came to the Hundred Flowers Garden simply to verify whether its breeding conditions were reasonable.

However, upon entering the Hundred Flowers Garden, Hong Le was immediately captivated by the spirit grass there. Every stalk of spirit grass grew unusually plump and robust, seeming unlike the ones in the herb garden. He eagerly stepped forward, carefully examining the various spirit grasses before him.

"This is Know Autumn Seed, seventh grade; this is… mouse-tail grass, also seventh grade; this is blood lotus seed, sixth grade—good heavens, how is this possible?" Hong Le's eyes could hardly keep up.

"Qing Mo, just how did you cultivate this? Why is the spirit grass of such high quality?" Hong Le gazed at Wei Yuning with fervent eyes.

"Uncle Le, there's nothing special about it; I guess I used spirit beast dung as fertilizer!"

The spirit grass in the Medicinal Herb Garden had never before been fertilized with dung. As for this, Wei Yuning hadn't looked into it deeply. But when he saw piles of dung from herb-eating spirit beasts being burned in the Spirit Beast House, he immediately obtained it through Hong Feng's connections; he wouldn't take dung from omnivorous animals, but the dung of herb-eating spirit beasts truly is top-notch fertilizer, and it doesn't even smell bad.

Even so, no female cultivator was willing to handle these things, and the fertilizing work was still done by Wei Yuning with his old friends like the Barbarian Ox and others.