Chapter 997: Chapter 304: Meatballs in the Yin Shuang Pavilion! The Ruthless Men!

Yuchi believed himself to be the chosen one of destiny, but that seemed absurd; the true chosen one of destiny should be akin to someone like Huo Yuluo. Now that’s an exaggerated life worth not explaining.

What could be the reason?

The responses from Qi Baiyu and Qi Hongyu were quite straightforward, as they both interjected, "Spiritual Painting Avatars are too expensive; we can’t afford to raise them."

Huh?

Too expensive?

Yuchi looked at the painting token in his hand, growing increasingly suspicious.

Expensive? How costly can this little doll be—between ten thousand to a hundred thousand silver? For ordinary cultivators, that’s already quite pricy, but for descendants of families like yours, it shouldn’t be a prohibitive amount. Or perhaps I have fallen into the trap of "Why not eat minced meat?"

Qi Hongyu then chuckled and said, "The Spiritual Painting Avatars come from the Fifth State, and to bring them to our Third State, they need to be reported."

"You should know these things are highly special and require paperwork to be brought in. They’re purely imported originals, with considerable taxes to be paid."

"Brother Yuchi, don’t be fooled by her being a little doll; her external asking price is a whopping nine hundred eighty thousand."

"..."

His throat instantly felt hoarse, even hinting at a broken voice. Yuchi, usually as stable as an old dog, couldn’t maintain his composure. After Qi Hongyu finished speaking, he immediately shot back with a question.

Yuchi: "Hongyu, how much did you say she costs?!"

Qi Hongyu confirmed with a smile, "Master Yuchi, it’s nine hundred eighty thousand! And this is just for the Qi Cultivation Realm Spiritual Painting Avatar. If it’s for the Foundation Establishment Realm or higher-level Spiritual Painting Avatar, buying one that’s already cultivated by someone else would result in an even more unaffordable amount for us."

Yuchi instantly fell silent.

Originally, he held the painting token single-handedly, but hearing its price now, he immediately clutched it tightly with both hands. Is this a treasure? It turns out it’s worth so much in gold and silver!

If only his Immortal Stone didn’t reject living things; otherwise, had he known from the start, he really wouldn’t have accepted it outright.

He had only given out a few elixirs initially, hardly worth much altogether. Yet the Qi Family directly shelled out a million silver in one go; what’s this, was Yuchi simply here to leverage the Qi Family? Suddenly acquiring a million silver placed him in bind with the Qi Family.

From now on, if the Qi Family really needed him for something, how could he possibly refuse? This was truly a matter of feeling indebted.

Also, this newfound realization of not being able to afford to raise this little doll...

Even Yuchi wasn’t flush with extra cash.

This was supposed to be about nurturing disciples, marking the costs of knowing too little or traveling too few places. More travels in the future would at least prevent such mishaps.

Reflecting on his trip to the State Capital, not even a full day had passed, yet he had two such blunders; once by being intimidated by the metro and another by being awestruck by this Spiritual Painting Avatar.

"Shock, a sect leader’s first trip to the State Capital, but ended up..." Yuchi already conceived a headline for the bulletin.

He certainly now understood why others didn’t nurture such Spiritual Painting Avatars; simply due to their expense. If one had a silver or two, it would be wiser to spend it fully on oneself; otherwise, with five hundred coins given here and there, neither oneself nor the Spiritual Painting Avatar would grow well, equating to running multiple big accounts in a game simultaneously.

As for why someone provided him the painting token, the reason was easily deduced—it’s because he himself was a Nascent Soul Cultivator. Nascent Soul Cultivators inherently face challenges in increasing their cultivation. Therefore, at this time, nurturing a Spiritual Painting Avatar might also prove to be a very good choice.

The key issue, however, is that I’m not a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, not even at the Spirit Storage Stage—just a village-reared Little Golden Pill, akin to a youthful ignoramus suddenly encountering a courtesan daughter; how could one even manage that? Others might say they can handle it, but I personally know it’s beyond me.

Courtesan daughters, are they good? Yes! Are they expensive? Yes!

Spiritual Painting Avatars, are they good? Yes! Are they expensive? Yes!

It’s the same reasoning. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Nonetheless, a courtesan daughter wastes essential qi and silver, whereas a Spiritual Painting Avatar is purely a money magnet.

Now, there’s no choice; the painting token truly cannot be returned. Once accepted, it must be kept, lest others view me poorly, even as I painfully acknowledge: "And this isn’t a one-time purchase. If buying an elixir to enhance the Spirit Root were incidental, it’d be no problem—those are instant results. But after acquiring a Spiritual Painting Avatar, surely it’s still going to take much time, silver, and effort to nurture, right?"

"That’s truly why you don’t nurture Spiritual Painting Avatars, or it’s the reason you don’t educate them."

The two women laughed and nodded.

Firstly, initial investment is one million silver.

Secondly, subsequent investment will require much, much more.

Thirdly, substantial effort is needed for education during this period.

Time, silver, energy, etc., all like seizing all the important resources of a person at once. To truly nurture a Spiritual Painting Avatar, it’s not a clever idea for normal cultivators. Spiritual Painting Avatars should be a flourish, not an indispensable presence.