Lin Yunxiao and the others stared wide-eyed at the spiritual chickens behind the iron fence, carefully making their selections.
While they were choosing, Lin Yunwen finally arrived.
He wore a white robe with auspicious clouds embroidered in gold thread at the cuffs, a green jade belt around his waist, and a white jade ornament hanging from it. His manner was elegant and composed.
Lin Yunwen was handsome and fairly accomplished in cultivation, making him the dream lover of countless girls on Clear Creek Mountain.
When he appeared, the few fearless girls on the chicken-farming team who normally caught spiritual earthworms with their bare hands suddenly became rather reserved.
Lin Yunxiao sized him up and said with some distaste, “Third Brother, Eldest Brother's getting more and more flashy!”
Arms folded across his chest, Lin Yunyi said, “Every time he shows up, the team's enthusiasm for catching earthworms takes a serious hit. Once we have our own chicken slaughterer, we're kicking him out.”
Lin Yunwen had reached the third level of Qi Refining, and his senses were sharp.
Naturally, he heard every word of their exchange.
With a broad smile, Lin Yunwen said, “Third Brother, your flock's grown again!”
Lin Yunyi answered proudly, “It's coming along. I plan to expand it to two hundred birds by the end of the year.”
Lin Yunwen said, “The way you eat them? Will two hundred really be enough?”
Lin Yunyi raised his chin arrogantly. “Chickens come from raising more chickens, not from refusing to eat them. If we eat more, we'll just hatch more chicks to raise.”
Lin Yunwen paused, then smiled. “Third Brother truly has remarkable insight. Your eldest brother can't compare.”
Looking at Lin Yunyi, Lin Yunwen sighed inwardly. With a whole mountainside full of chickens at his disposal, his third brother lived much more freely than he did as a spiritual-plant cultivator.
Third Brother had established the fifteenth of every month as Chicken-Slaughter Day, when chickens had to be slaughtered to reward the farming team.
That wasn't all. Every month, Third Brother gave each team member twenty chicken eggs, with an extra ten for outstanding workers.
Lin Yunwen was currently helping their mother tend the spiritual fields, and the clan awarded him an additional 150 kilograms of spiritual grain a year on top of his regular allowance. That could be exchanged for roughly three hundred spirit stones.
A spiritual chicken was worth about twelve spirit stones. With more than a hundred of them, Third Brother owned livestock worth over a thousand spirit stones.
For a six-year-old child, that was unquestionably a fortune.
Those hundred-odd chickens produced around two thousand spiritual eggs every month, worth more than two hundred spirit stones. Over a year, they could reliably generate more than two thousand spirit stones in income.
As Third Brother expanded the flock, the amount of chicken manure increased as well.
Although he needed manure to raise spiritual earthworms, he couldn't possibly use it all. The excess could be spread over the fields, since spiritual chicken manure was excellent for improving soil fertility.
Lin Yunwen looked at Lin Yunyi, feeling rather emotional.
His third brother had displayed extraordinary abilities from infancy. For example, he'd stopped wetting the bed at six months old, while Fourth Brother still occasionally left embarrassing puddles behind at the age of three.
By ten months, Third Brother was already learning to read with the clan school's teachers and studying all kinds of classics and historical texts. He seemed to possess a photographic memory, remembering books after reading them only once.
At ten months, Fourth Brother knew little more than how to chew on his own toes.
Before his spiritual roots were tested at three, Third Brother had already read his way through every book in the clan library and developed beautiful handwriting.
At three, Fourth Brother ran around wildly and knew fewer than ten characters.
Back then, everyone in the clan had high hopes for Third Brother. Who could have known his test would reveal only five spiritual roots?
In comparison, his rather foolish fourth brother actually had better aptitude, with three roots.
The results disappointed many clan members. Some lamented that a child who showed early promise might not amount to much as an adult. With Third Brother's aptitude, even extraordinary intelligence might be useless.
Third Brother, however, accepted the results with remarkable calm.
Many clan members had worried he would be crushed by the blow, but they had clearly worried for nothing.
Third Brother went on raising chickens and cultivating, and three years passed in the blink of an eye.
He was clever and took to chicken farming immediately. Even if he never achieved much in cultivation, those skills should still allow him to live quite comfortably.
Lin Yunwen glanced at the eager chicken-farming team, all waiting like hungry chicks, and asked, “Third Brother, how many are we slaughtering today?”
Lin Yunxiao answered first. “Two!”
Lin Yunwen asked, “Have you chosen them?”
Lin Yunxiao replied, “Yes. Green Three-Feathers and Red Five-Feathers.”
Lin Yunwen praised him. “Fourth Brother has a good eye. Those two look especially fat.”
Lin Yunxiao grinned smugly. “Of course they're fat. I picked them.”
Lin Yunwen circulated the Yang-Metal Art, sending two streaks of golden force shooting out. Both spiritual chickens died instantly.
The remaining birds seemed frightened and began fleeing frantically.
Lin Yunwen summoned a golden whip and coiled it around the two dead chickens, pulling them out of the enclosure.
His display drew cries of amazement from the chicken-farming team.
Lin Yunyi clapped. “Eldest Brother is amazing.”
Lin Yunwen practiced the Yang-Metal Sword Art, and the move he'd just used was the Golden Light Slash. The Yang-Metal Sword Art was a Lin family technique passed down through the generations, and most cultivators in the clan practiced it.
Suppressing his pride, Lin Yunwen said modestly, “It's nothing.”
Lin Yunyi clasped his hands behind his back. “Even brothers should keep their accounts straight.”
Lin Yunxiao obsequiously produced a basket containing twenty chicken eggs. This was Lin Yunwen's fee for slaughtering the chickens.
Lin Yunwen accepted the basket without ceremony. Spiritual chicken eggs were quite nourishing and made a fine treat.
He couldn't help thinking that his third brother might be little, but he certainly spent generously. Even their father wasn't as lavish.
The chicken-farming team watched Lin Yunwen enviously, though none of them begrudged him the payment.
In this world, strength commanded respect. Every member of the team had spiritual roots, but their aptitudes were mediocre. Not one of them had reached the second level of Qi Refining. Faced with an expert at the third level like Lin Yunwen, they felt only awe.
Lin Yunwen looked at Lin Yunyi expectantly. “Third Brother, how are you planning to cook these chickens?”
As Lin Yunyi's personal chicken slaughterer, he not only received a basket of eggs but could also stay for a free spiritual-chicken banquet.
Remembering the crispy chicken and stewed free-range chicken Lin Yunyi had made last time, Lin Yunwen was eagerly anticipating today's feast.
After a moment's thought, Lin Yunyi said, “We'll make a clear broth with one and beggar's chicken with the other.”
“Excellent!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the team burst into enthusiastic applause.
None of them actually knew what beggar's chicken was, but that didn't stop them from clapping as hard as they could!
Lin Yunyi set to work, and before long, two deliciously fragrant chickens were ready.
He added mushrooms gathered from the mountain to the chicken soup, making it exceptionally savory.
Growing boys could eat their fathers out of house and home.
The moment the two chickens were served, the team launched into a fierce scramble for food.
The formidable girls forgot all about maintaining their composure and fought for their portions every bit as fiercely as the boys.
Lin Yunyi glanced at Lin Yunwen and thought that mere masculine beauty was nothing compared to a good meal. Nothing in heaven or earth was more important than eating. Eldest Brother's charms were only worth so much after all.
Lin Yunwen looked at him. “What are you thinking about, Third Brother?”
Lin Yunyi said, “Nothing.”
Soon, most of both chickens had disappeared, and everyone had eaten their fill.
Spiritual chicken meat was rich in spiritual energy, so it was especially filling for cultivators like them.
Once they were full, they stopped behaving like starving ghosts and began chatting idly.
“Brother Yi, have you heard your fiancée's spiritual-root test results?”
Lin Yunyi's expression instantly turned dark. “No.”
“Brother Yi, your fiancée has dual fire and wood roots.”
Lin Yunyi replied evenly, “Does she?”
Lin Yunwen glanced at him. “Don't be discouraged, Third Brother. Having dual roots isn't such a big deal.”
Lin Yunyi raised his chin with supreme arrogance. “Discouraged? Why should I be? A cultivator who owns over a hundred spiritual chickens at my age is far rarer than someone with dual roots.”
Lin Yunwen smiled ingratiatingly. “Of course, of course. Third Brother is naturally the most impressive.”
Lin Yunxiao said, “Third Brother already owns over a hundred chickens at six. Eldest Brother is twelve and has dual roots, but he doesn't own a single spiritual chicken.”
Lin Yunwen was speechless.
The chicken-farming team broke into a chorus of excited chatter.
“That girl is so lucky to be Brother Yi's wife.”
“All the village girls want to marry Brother Yi.”
“Brother Yi is so good at raising chickens. If she marries him, won't she get to eat chicken every day?”
“What luck! She was betrothed to Brother Yi before she was even born.”
“…”
Lin Yunwen listened to the team's discussion with mixed feelings.
As far as he knew, Jiang Tan'er had reacted very negatively to the engagement after her roots were tested, and the Jiang family seemed inclined to go back on their word.
To think he'd actually worried that Third Brother would feel inferior because of his fiancée's spiritual roots! He had clearly been overthinking it. Third Brother had been precocious from birth and approached everything with absolute confidence. He always regarded the rest of the clan with the lofty air of someone looking down on foolish mortals. Even Lin Yunwen, his own eldest brother, was not spared.
Lin Yunwen studied him and noticed that Third Brother's expression looked rather unpleasant. Third Brother was usually so exuberant and self-assured that even on the day he was found to have five roots, his eyes had shone like stars. Yet now he seemed positively gloomy. That was a rare sight.
Lin Yunwen couldn't understand it. Could having a fiancée with dual roots really affect him so much? Lin Yunwen himself had dual roots, and he'd never noticed Third Brother treating him with any special regard.
