Chapter 9: Chapter 9: A New Task and the Mysteries of the Cultivation Technique
Li Ye stayed home for a few days.
As the deadline for the task approached, and the snow showed signs of gradually stopping, he looked at those Silver Moon Grass and sighed softly.
According to the task description, Silver Moon Grass is a typical seasonal spiritual plant. After the start of spring, as everything revives, they will gradually stop producing Moon Liquid Pearls until the next winter arrives.
He wasn’t sure what changes might occur and whether it would disrupt the stability of the Flint Fire Crystal Insect.
The vitality-filled spiritual power these little creatures provided him daily was truly comforting, each time leaving him feeling as refreshed as if he’d just stepped out of a sauna.
Change was not something he hoped to see.
However, time flows and seasons change, and indeed there’s nothing he can do about it.
"The only solution is the stash of pearls I’ve accumulated; let’s see if completing this task can get me an array to transplant the Silver Moon Grass into."
"Oh well, I should first find Senior Teng for some advice."
"Meanwhile, I also need to resolve the issue with spiritual plants. It seems that the Glazed Snow Lotus might not survive. Once the snow melts, finding birds with ice attributes will be troublesome..."
Mumbling to himself, he stood up, pocketed a box containing fifty Moon Liquid Pearls and two other boxes each holding ten pearls, and headed out again to the market.
Senior Spirit Vine already knew about his Silver Moon Grass’s ability to produce extra Moon Liquid Pearls. It would not be good to hold off the task submission too long, especially since he didn’t know if too many submissions would impact the task evaluation.
If it might affect the evaluation, he’d bring out the remaining two boxes as well.
If it wouldn’t, he needed to save some Moon Liquid Pearls.
Spirit Stones can still be earned later, but the seasonal output of such spiritual plants is difficult to obtain after the season ends, so it’s necessary to stockpile some.
...
Soon he arrived at the Four Seasons Sect store.
But this time, Senior Spirit Vine seemed not in a good mood, the display panel showing [Angry], turning to [Annoyed] only upon seeing Li Ye.
Hmm, it seems my face still has some charm here.
At least it didn’t shift to extraordinarily angry upon seeing me.
"You’re here."
"How many Moon Liquid Pearls have you gathered?"
"Let me tell you, most completions of the Moon Liquid Pearl task this time were not great, with poor quality.
The sect’s Alchemists just came to discuss with me, if you have extra, bring all of them out, I assure you won’t be shortchanged!"
Li Ye blinked, then took out the three boxes, placing them neatly on the counter, the neatly arranged Moon Liquid Pearls inside shimmering with a silvery glow under the light.
Truly like small moons.
"I’ve given it my all and managed to collect this many."
"Take a look, Senior, see if they’re satisfactory."
His words were slightly guilty; it had been ten days since his last visit, and including the days spent accumulating Vital Essence, he’d stockpiled nearly a hundred pearls in total.
Spring was still three days away, and he could probably collect a dozen or more.
But Senior Spirit Vine was unaware of this; seeing the seventy Moon Liquid Pearls, it was momentarily stunned, its mood visibly improving, white little flowers on its vine blossoming to full bloom.
"Excellent, excellent, excellent!"
It praised repeatedly: "Truly impressive, including the two you gave last time, counting as seventy-two Moon Liquid Pearls, taking second place in this task assessment."
"Let’s calculate thirty Spirit Stones per pearl for you."
"Here, this makes two thousand and one hundred Spirit Stones, count them."
Upon saying this, a heap of Spirit Stones suddenly appeared on the counter, exuding colorful Spiritual Light in all directions, making Li Ye swallow slightly.
Obviously, Spirit Vine wanted to make a shocking statement.
The pile of Spirit Stones could completely bury it; if the counter wasn’t large enough, they wouldn’t fit.
Over two thousand Spirit Stones! Just for completing a single task? No wonder the original owner had fiercely competed against others for it, and no wonder seeing the Silver Moon Grass wither would cause a mental breakdown.
"I’ll take them then," Li Ye quickly put all the Spirit Stones into his Storage Pouch, unable to hide the smile on his face.
Senior Spirit Vine understood that a Storage Pouch, when collecting Spirit Stones, would ensure the owner knew precisely how many, but Li Ye’s straightforwardness made it quite happy—perhaps it found Li Ye pleasing to the eye, everything seemed so agreeable.
It said slowly, "Since you’ve completed the first part of the task, let me inform you of the second part."
Li Ye nodded, "Please go ahead, Senior, I’m all ears."
"The second part, like the first, involves our Four Seasons Sect’s unique seasonal spiritual plants, lasting from the start of spring to the end of Guyu."
"As the saying goes, the people take food as heaven. The second part requires a kind of Spiritual Grain, specifically used to sustain our sect’s ordinary people and low-tier cultivators."
"Don’t think it insignificant, many of our sect’s seniors and sisters cultivated on Spiritual Grain themselves.
If grown well, joining the sect even without much success could at least secure a position as a Spirit Grain Master, ensuring one’s cultivation path is smooth."
"This task isn’t bound by the number of Spiritual Grains, but the more, the better. Here, these are the Spiritual Grain seeds."
A box full of Spiritual Grain seeds was placed before Li Ye.
Inside, each seed was lush and vibrant, exuding abundant spiritual energy; one might think they were tiny pieces of jade.
With a glance, the panel activated—
[Name]: Four Seasons Spiritual Grain · Spring Wheat
[Mood]: Eager to sprout
[State]: Excellent
’Huh, there’s no binding this time?’
He was slightly taken aback, then reconsidered that these seeds cultivated by the Four Seasons Sect likely had no defects, suggesting cultivation couldn’t rely too much on shortcuts.
Reaching out to collect the box, a thought occurred to him, and he feigned curiosity:
"Senior, I saw someone selling Wheat Pills in the market days ago: what’s that about?"
"Oh?" Senior Spirit Vine replied offhandedly, "Our elders believe that Pills result from human effort using various materials and tools, yet the many spiritual plants conceive seeds, aren’t those also a form of pill.
The natural power-conceived pill would undoubtedly be more special."
"The so-called Wheat Pill is essentially a Spiritual Grain, under special conditions, where the wheat embryo comes into contact with a special spiritual power or coincidence, forming something akin to a pill."
"Most Spiritual Grains serve as substitutes for Grain Avoidance Pills, and those imbued by wheat’s vital spiritual energy benefit the body too, though it depends on the type of Spiritual Grain."
"Take Spring Wheat, for instance, it burgeons with spring’s vitality, complemented by continuous spring rain, veritably on par with a wood and water dual-attribute Spirit Pill.
Their price is exceedingly high, beyond what you can imagine."
At this, it paused: "If you manage to cultivate a Spirit Pill from Spring Wheat, I’ll ensure our sect’s healer examines your injury."
Li Ye laughed with "wild joy": "Thank you for your generosity, Senior."
Then, somewhat bashingly, he scratched his head: "But I still have one more question, if I may..."
"Speak up."
Having completed the task, Spirit Vine was in a particularly good mood and didn’t mind offering some extra guidance; its owner encouraged cultivating good karma, reasoning that should this boy succeed one day, it’d be a blessing all the same.
Encouraged, Li Ye asked, "The Five Elements Spirit Ascension Technique I cultivate from the Four Seasons Upper Sect only goes to Qi Refining, could I obtain the subsequent passages?"
Senior Spirit Vine "gazed" steadily at Li Ye for a moment.
Perplexed, Li Ye seemed to wonder why it looked at him like that, but inwardly, he was a touch nervous.
Though Spirit Vine’s specific cultivation was unclear, its mere Divine Sense alone gave him a sense of being thoroughly observed.
He stood motionless.
Suddenly, Spirit Vine remarked meaningfully, "The Five Elements Spirit Ascension Technique is indeed an intriguing method.
I recall there’s an introductory assessment requiring cultivation to the Tenth-Layer of Qi Refining, trusting in five different spirit plants or Spirit Beasts representing the Five Elements sincerely."
"For advancing the Five Elements Spirit Ascension Technique to higher layers, this is indispensable."
Hearing this, Li Ye immediately brightened with an "excited beyond measure" smile: "Thank you for your generous guidance, Senior."
Inside, he let a slight grin escape as he thought, ’As I suspected, this must be a unique point of this cultivation technique. I had believed it was the panel, but now it seems... it’s safe to show off a little.’