185: Chapter 185 Animal Husbandry Techniques

Lin Tian found Elder Wang in a stone house at the far eastern end of the Yunhai Fishery.

The stone house was right next to the hatching pond, and the wooden shelves on the walls were densely packed with clay pots and porcelain bottles; the air was filled with a complex scent of herbs, fishiness, and damp mud.

Elder Wang was crouching by the edge of the hatching pond, holding a newly hatched Treasure Fish fry in his hand, scrutinizing the patterns on its gills against the sunlight.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up, revealing a face tanned dark by the lake winds, and grinned: "Elder Lin! You've come just in time. Come over and take a look at this fry—three gill lines, good quality, it will grow to at least five years of age."

Elder Wang was the most senior cultivation Elder in the Yunhai Fishery, having stayed at the fishery for nearly thirty years, rising from a common guard to an Elder; he had watched over almost every batch of Treasure Fish in the fishery as they grew.

His attitude toward Lin Tian was even more enthusiastic than Lin Tian had anticipated—firstly, because Lin Tian was the youngest Elder in the history of the fishery, and secondly, because someone had finally come to help him share the arduous task of cultivating Treasure Fish.

He pulled Lin Tian to crouch by the hatching pond, talking endlessly from the gill lines of the fry to the acidity and alkalinity of the water, and from the ratio of feed to the temperature control during the breeding season.

"Elder Lin, don't underestimate the work of raising fish." Elder Wang gently placed the fry back into the water and wiped his hands on his apron.

"Outsiders look at our fishery and think it's just about throwing fish into the water and catching them when the time comes. How could it be that simple!"

"Treasure Fish are extremely delicate; if the water is too cold, they won't grow, and if it's too hot, they'll flip their bellies. If the feed isn't to their liking, they can go on a hunger strike for three days, and if the water temperature during the breeding season is off by even half a degree, you won't get a single fry. The effort required to raise a Treasure Fish from a fry to three years of age is more than that of planting three acres of Spirit Medicine."

Lin Tian listened, enthralled.

He had dealt with Treasure Fish in the lake for over a year, yet he had never thought deeply about the ins and outs that Elder Wang was describing.

He only knew that Treasure Fish were delicious, full of spiritual energy, and highly beneficial for his Cultivate, but he hadn't realized there was so much nuance behind it. The "depths" of the cultivation profession were far deeper than he had imagined.

Over the next few days, he spent almost every day in Elder Wang's stone house, following him from pond to pond, filling a notebook with dense notes.

When Elder Wang spoke about water quality, he asked about the fluctuation range of water temperature; when Elder Wang spoke about breeding, he asked about the optimal ratio of male to female Treasure Fish; when Elder Wang spoke about diseases, he asked how to detect if the School of fish was acting abnormally in advance.

After a few days, he finally had a systematic understanding of raising Treasure Fish.

At the same time, a new entry appeared on his proficiency panel—Husbandry Technique, Beginner.

Among all this knowledge, one thing caught Lin Tian's attention the most: fish feed.

Elder Wang had taken him to see the fishery's feed room—it was a semi-underground warehouse built with bluestone. Pushing open the heavy wooden door, he saw hundreds of burlap sacks neatly stacked inside, each marked with a formula number and date in cinnabar.

Elder Wang opened a sack and grabbed a handful of feed, spreading it on his palm.

The feed was dark green, with fine and even granules, emitting a special scent mixed with fish meal, algae powder, and herbs.

"This is feed for five-year-old Treasure Fish; this one alone requires seventeen types of Materials, and even a slight difference in the ratio won't do.

If Treasure Fish eat the right feed, their scales are bright, their meat is firm, and their reproductive ability is strong; if they eat the wrong feed, let alone spawning, you'd be lucky if they didn't lose weight."

Lin Tian looked at the burlap sacks stacked up to the ceiling, a question he hadn't thought of before arising in his heart.

His private fish pond had the water origin tree providing spiritual water, the Black Crocodile guarding the gate, and the Beast Taming Technique to precisely control the behavior of the Treasure Fish—but what would the Treasure Fish eat?

Those two male and female Treasure Fish had been at the bottom of the lake for nearly a month. The small aquatic organisms and algae around the water origin tree could barely fill their stomachs, but if he really wanted them to grow quickly and breed abundantly, relying solely on the natural feed in the lake was not enough.

He needed a large, sustainable supply of fish feed.

He went to ask Elder Wang, keeping his tone as casual as if it were just a passing mention: "Elder Wang, where does this fish feed come from? Does our fishery mix it ourselves?"

Elder Wang tossed the feed back into the sack and patted the powder off his hands: "Of course it's mixed here. Our fishery has an Elder specifically responsible for mixing feed, Old Qian—Elder Qian.

He is an expert at mixing feed and has worked at the fishery for nearly twenty years; all the formulas are stored in his head.

Every morning, he brings a few Disciples to work in the feed room, and the rations for the hundreds of Treasure Fish in our fishery all come from his hands."

Lin Tian's heart sank.

A full-time feed-mixing Elder, with twenty years of experience, knowing dozens of formulas by heart—not only could he not hire such a person, but even if he did, he would have nowhere to put them.

He asked another question: "What about other Family and School? Those small forces that raise Treasure Fish, do they also have special Elders responsible for mixing feed?"

Elder Wang shook his head: "That's not necessarily true. Mixing feed is a craft, and not everyone can do it.

Small Family and small School that raise Treasure Fish either figure out the mix themselves, and whether the effect is good or not depends entirely on luck; or they go directly to the city to buy ready-made ones.

There are a few old-established Spirit Beast shops in Yunzhou Prefecture that specialize in the Treasure Fish feed business.

Although their formulas cannot compare to the craftsmanship of Old Qian in our fishery, they are sufficient for daily feeding.

It's just that the price isn't cheap."

The stone that had just sunk in Lin Tian's heart floated back up.

He didn't need to hire a full-time Elder, and he didn't need to figure out the formulas from scratch; he just needed to spend money to buy it.

He had the silver—the silver notes he had saved over the years, plus his salary as an Elder, meant he was quite well-off.

He secretly noted the matter of the Spirit Beast shops in Yunzhou Prefecture in his heart, planning to find an opportunity to go there after he became familiar with the daily affairs of an Elder in a few days.

A few days later, he was basically familiar with the work of a cultivation Elder.

It was simple to say—as an Elder, he didn't have to personally feed the fish; that was the job of ordinary Disciples and guards.

What he had to do was to regularly inspect the fry density in the hatching ponds, spot-check the growth status of Treasure Fish in the adult stage, and check the feed ratio records and usage statistics.

Every three days, he would spend an hour walking through the six fish ponds under his charge to see if the on-duty Disciples were slacking off and if the feed dosage was excessive or insufficient.

The work was not heavy, but it could not be sloppy; once a mistake occurred, not only would the Treasure Fish be lost, but he would also have to bear responsibility.

His time suddenly became abundant.

When he was a captain, at least two hours a day were taken up by inspections and miscellaneous duties, but now he only spent one hour on official business every three days, and the rest of the time was all his own.

He could spend most of the morning practicing sword, go into the water in the afternoon to practice movement techniques and breathing methods, and meditate at night to circulate the Purple Qi Diagram until late at night.

The proficiency of various martial arts steadily advanced with day-after-day accumulation, and the transformed energy in his Dantian became more and more profound under the nourishment of one Treasure Fish after another and one Medicinal Pill after another.

This morning, after inspecting the several fish ponds under his charge and signing the inspection log, he returned to his courtyard house and changed into casual clothes.

He took a stack of silver notes from under his bed and tucked them into his bosom, strapped the cold moon bow on his back, hung the autumn water sword at his waist, and the thirty-two moyuan flying daggers on the inside of his sleeves were arranged neatly against the skin of his forearms.

He didn't say hello to anyone; he walked out of the fishery alone along the gravel road by the lake, heading in the direction of Yunzhou Prefecture.