Unless you find someone to custom make it, a starboat like this one is usually a standard model bought on All Phenomena Island, meaning it's not unique and there are many identical ones.

The one Lu Ye bought isn't the cheapest, but compared to other starboats with prices easily going up to hundreds of thousands, it's not expensive either.

In size and performance, it's not as good as the Silver Fish from before.

It was only after reaching the All Phenomena Ocean that Lu Ye realized how valuable the gift Su Yuqing gave him actually was. If the Silver Fish were to be sold, it would definitely be worth more than hundreds of thousands of spirit jade. It's a pity he was short-sighted at the time and failed to notice.

Zhaolai Island, as the name suggests, is meant for recruitment and employment. It's a place where various powers and even individual groups in the All Phenomena Ocean recruit manpower.

For most Constellation Mid-Stage cultivators, it's an important way to make a living here.

The All Phenomena Ocean offers many opportunities, from paths to becoming rich overnight to gradually accumulating wealth. As long as a cultivator can endure hardships, they don't need to worry about not earning spirit jade here. Of course, how much they earn depends on their skills.

The fishing off-season has arrived, and it's unclear how long it will last. Although the Talent Tree's fuel reserves are still ample, they are not enough to support Lu Ye's long-term cultivation deep into the All Phenomena Ocean. Therefore, he must find a way to earn spirit jade. At the very least, he must meet the consumption required for his monthly cultivation.

Zhaolai Island, he heard Piao Ke mention many times, but he had been too busy fishing before to visit.

With his starboat, following the guidance of the star map, he journeyed on. In less than half a day, he reached Zhaolai Island.

From afar, he saw the bustling island, with a crowd of cultivators moving in and out of this Spirit Island like a school of fish.

Zhaolai Island is a barren island with no power occupying it. Anyone can enter and exit freely.

Upon reaching the vicinity of the Spirit Island, Lu Ye stowed his starboat and, after observing from mid-air for a while, made his way in.

Even though it's a place unmanaged and unplanned, the large number of cultivators coming and going is surprisingly orderly rather than chaotic.

The entire island has crisscrossed rows of jade tablets, which are likely materials used by spirit rune masters for practice. They're not expensive and can be found casually; one spirit jade can buy a large piece.

On each jade tablet, there are inscriptions. Passing cultivators only need a glance to know which power is recruiting and what the conditions and requirements are, all clearly written. If they meet the requirements themselves, they can negotiate with the owner of the jade tablet.

Beside some tablets, cultivators wait, either sitting or standing, probably the individuals posting recruitment information.

Beside other tablets, where there is no one, there are audio talismans left behind, allowing interested parties to contact the employer for detailed discussions.

Zhaolai Island has been around for an untold number of years, so despite being unmanaged, it has its own set of rules that visiting cultivators tend to follow.

Lu Ye moved with the flow of people to a jade tablet, looked up, and saw a line of large words on it:

Circumambulation Island is recruiting a large number of guards for the long term, with favorable treatment. Interested parties, please discuss in person!

Standing nearby was a clean-shaven man who was likely the employer posting this recruitment information. Someone was currently engaged in Mental Consciousness exchange with him. After a moment, the person shook his head and left.

After that person left, Lu Ye also stepped forward to talk to the employer for a bit but left disappointed.

The reason? The monthly salary offered was a bit low, only slightly more than a hundred spirit jade. Such a salary might meet the needs of most Constellation Mid-Stage cultivators, but it was far from enough for Lu Ye.

He continued to move on, observing one by one.

Soon, Lu Ye realized that most of these recruitment posts did not specify the salary on the tablet and required negotiation with the employer. He spoke with several people and none met his expectations.

A moment later, as he passed another jade tablet, Lu Ye's eyes lit up. This one also recruited guards, but the salary was clearly marked at a whopping eight hundred!

In comparison with the offers from other powers, this was undoubtedly a high price, yet hardly anyone seemed interested, and no one was discussing with the employer.

Lu Ye knew that anything unusual must have its underlying reasons, but he still went up to chat with the employer to uncover the mystery.

It turned out that the high salary was because the employer's Spirit Island might soon engage in a conflict with another power. They were short on manpower and urgently needed reinforcements; otherwise, they wouldn't have offered such a high price.

Upon learning about the seriousness of the situation, Lu Ye immediately lost interest.

Even though the employer said that the battle was only a possibility, not a certainty, Lu Ye had no intention of risking his life for others. As a foreign Constellation Mid-Stage, he had no interest in getting involved in the entanglements between two major powers. Engagements like this, if won, would be fine, but if lost, it could cost his life.

Furthermore, even if they won, once this employer's power no longer needed so many guards, the monthly salary would undoubtedly be reduced accordingly.

So these eight hundred spirit jades in monthly salary may seem enticing, but it's not a sustainable path.

In the following days, Lu Ye roamed around Zhaolai Island, but no matter how much he looked, he couldn't find anything suitable for himself, which left him a bit helpless.

Previously, fishing a single White Spirit could fetch several thousand spirit jades, but here, the livelihoods he faced were mostly with a monthly salary of one or two hundred. If it were someone else, after getting used to delicacies, they might not be able to go back to eating coarse food.

However, Lu Ye came from a small place after all, so the gap in his heart wasn't that large. His requirements weren't high; he just needed to sustain his daily cultivation at best with some surplus. Yet, his cultivation consumption was a lot more than a normal Constellation, making it quite challenging to meet his demands.

Just as Lu Ye was secretly having a headache, the audio talisman suddenly had a reaction.

He took it out to check, a look of joy appearing on his face, and he immediately soared into the sky, activating his starboat mid-air, heading straight towards All Phenomena Island.

Half a day later, he arrived at the All Phenomena Merchants Guild, entering directly into the private room he always visited.

Cao Xiang was waiting. Seeing Lu Ye arrive, he stood up and greeted, "Fellow Daoist Li!"

Lu Ye responded hastily with a bow and asked, "Is the information accurate?"

Cao Xiang smiled slightly, "The source of the information is reliable. Our All Phenomena Merchants Guild has specialized personnel handling intelligence, but whether it's accurate or not, no one can guarantee that since these are gathered intel. So whether it's true or false, you'll have to verify it yourself, Fellow Daoist Li."

Lu Ye nodded, agreeing that it was reasonable. In situations like this, demanding a guarantee of accuracy from others would be unreasonable.

Cao Xiang handed over a jade slip to Lu Ye, "All the detailed intelligence is here. You can check it yourself. I apologize for the delay in this matter."

With the All Phenomena Merchants Guild's capabilities, usually gathering some information doesn't take too long, but the Jade Conch Galaxy was too remote and had no connection with the All Phenomena Galaxy, which caused the delay until today.

The jade slip contained intelligence about the Jade Conch Galaxy. Lu Ye carefully examined it, discovering that according to the jade slip, to return to the Jade Conch Galaxy, he needed to first enter a Star System named Tianyan, then cross through the entire Tianyan Star System to enter one called Yunshang, and then cross the Yunshang Star System to reach Jade Conch.

In other words, to return to Jade Conch, one must cross two complete star systems.

The information source was a cultivator from the Tianyan Star System. He had never been to Jade Conch, only heard about it from someone in the Yunshang Star System during a casual conversation. As for how the people from Yunshang knew about Jade Conch... If the two star systems were adjacent, having some interaction would be normal.

Judging from the intelligence in the jade slip, the source seems somewhat circuitous, with high credibility, but as Cao Xiang said, its accuracy cannot be guaranteed, and Lu Ye would need to verify it himself.

"Originally, you needed to pay an additional seven hundred spirit jades, but since this took quite a while, how about you pay five hundred instead?" Cao Xiang proactively lowered the price.

It was previously agreed that gathering the information required a thousand spirit jades. Lu Ye had paid three hundred as a deposit, leaving seven hundred unpaid.

Lu Ye didn't stand on ceremony and straightforwardly handed over five hundred spirit jades.

As a result, he only had five hundred spirit jades left on hand, making him seem even poorer.

After leaving the All Phenomena Merchants Guild, Lu Ye held his audio talisman, sent out a message, and then immediately flew away.

A day later, on a reef island in the All Phenomena Ocean, a disguised Lu Ye sat cross-legged, waiting.

A little while later, a figure flew in from the distance. Upon seeing Lu Ye from afar, a suspicious look appeared on his face. Lu Ye's Mental Consciousness surged, sending a transmission, and only then did the man fly over. Arriving near, he scrutinized Lu Ye and exclaimed in surprise, "Young friend, what secret technique is this? Even an old man like myself couldn't detect the slightest flaw and almost thought I was in the wrong place."

Lu Ye casually replied, "When you're out and not strong enough, you need some disguising methods. Old Tang, take a look at this."

Speaking, he handed over the jade slip obtained from Cao Xiang.

The arrival, of course, was Tang Jun. Since they both came to the All Phenomena Ocean, they hadn't contacted each other, and this was their first meeting since their last parting.

Tang Jun took the jade slip to examine and shortly raised his brows, "Where did this intelligence come from?"

"I sought it from the All Phenomena Merchants Guild," Lu Ye replied.

Tang Jun nodded, "I thought as much. I had considered this method before, but being Moon Jade, I'm too conspicuous. Thinking you'd use this method, I didn't proceed."

The old guy was undoubtedly cautious. Being outside, it's best to hide one's origins as much as possible to avoid attracting undesired trouble and causing disaster to one's homeland.

"Have you heard of the Tianyan and Yunshang Star Systems?" Lu Ye asked.

The old fellow had lived three thousand years, with cultivation at the Moon Jade Mid-Stage. Lu Ye didn't believe he hadn't wandered around in his youth, perhaps knowing something about these two star systems, which would lend reliability to the information.