I will never come to this Luo Town again; the place is poor, the people are poor, it is truly not worth it.
He hoisted his basket onto his back and was just about to leave when his hem was suddenly tugged by something.
The peddler looked down and saw a little girl whose height only reached his waist, with large, round eyes, looking up at him.
"Why are you pulling on me, little girl?"
"Uncle, I want to buy seed material."
The peddler was happy at first, but then realized there were no adults around her. Thinking she was just there to cause trouble, he immediately became irritable.
"Go away, go away, what are you buying? Do you even have money?"
"I don't, but I have this."
Song Yi'an brought out a pottery jar from behind her.
The peddler frowned. What good thing could a broken pottery jar hold? He couldn't be bothered to deal with her and lifted his leg to leave.
Song Yi'an opened the pottery jar without haste.
A sweet fragrance of peach suddenly drifted into his nostrils.
The peddler's footsteps faltered, and he was completely unsettled.
Having traveled far and wide, he was knowledgeable; this was clearly the candied fruit that only young ladies from official families could afford.
How could common people bear to buy this?
A small jar was worth at least one guan of money, and high-quality ones were worth three; furthermore, this item was priceless and rarely available, mostly supplied only to imperial relatives and nobles.
The peddler could not help but take a closer look at the little girl in front of him.
Although her skin was a bit dark, her little face was pretty, and her features were much more delicate than those of ordinary children.
Perhaps she was the young daughter of some landlord who had snuck out to play.
Besides, this candied fruit smelled truly tempting.
It had been hot lately, and his mother at home had lost her appetite and grown thin; if he brought this back, she would certainly be happy.
"What do you want to buy?" His tone softened, and he spread out the stones again.
Song Yi'an knew the deal was made.
She squatted on the ground and picked and chose; it looked like she was grabbing things at random, but in reality, she was selecting seed material that contained energy fluctuations.
She picked ten stones, among which was the black jasper raw stone she had previously set her eyes on.
The peddler watched from the side, feeling a bit of heartache; this little girl really knew how to pick.
He had originally thought that since she didn't understand the price of the candied fruit, he could give her fewer pieces of seed material.
But a child is a child, picking only those oddly shaped and uniquely colored pieces of seed material.
That pitch-black thing had finally been sold; it had been weighing on his hands for a whole year, and no one wanted it.
"Are you done picking?" he asked.
Song Yi'an held a pile of stones in her arms, her eyes curving into crescents, full of smiles.
She had not expected that a small jar of peach candied fruit could be exchanged for ten raw stones.
Not to mention the other raw stones, the black jasper raw stone alone was worth thousands of times more.
"I'm done, Uncle. Will you come back next time?"
The peddler glanced at her sideways.
"I won't come back. Luo Town is too poor; not many people are willing to spend money on these things that you can't eat or wear."
Song Yi'an nodded, thinking that made sense.
Seeing her look of agreement, the peddler was amused; could a little girl really understand such things?
"If you really want to buy seed material," he said while packing up his stall, "have the adults in your family take you to Fu County. The market there is large, and there are masters who specialize in helping to cut them."
After saying this, the peddler hoisted his basket and left.
Song Yi'an looked down at the heavy "treasures" in her arms; she could not just carry them back so blatantly.
Not to mention the origin of the stones, if her mother found out, she would surely be scolded.
Song Yi'an turned into the depths of an alley, walked to a deserted corner, and looked around vigilantly.
After confirming that there was truly no one around, the stones in her arms instantly disappeared, all stored away into her space.
With these raw stones, her supernatural ability would surely jump several levels.
Although it would take some effort to refine them, the corners of her mouth could not help but curl up at the thought of the spirit spring.
Upon returning home, Song Yi'an heard the faint, intermittent sobbing of Madam Gu coming from the woodshed.
Hearing movement outside the door, Madam Gu assumed it was Er Ya returning and hurriedly wiped the tear stains from her face with her sleeve.
"Mother, why are you crying?"
"Mother isn't crying." Madam Gu did not want to worry her young daughter and pretended to be calm. "A flying insect just got into my eye."
Song Yi'an watched as Madam Gu's eyes were red and swollen, and she had a bad premonition in her heart.
Madam Gu avoided her daughter's gaze, reached out to gently touch her hair, and spoke in a tone she tried to make sound relaxed.
"Mother is going to heat up some food for you; go to the inner room and keep your brother company."
As soon as she walked into the inner room, a very faint but distinct smell of blood rushed toward her.
Song Yi'an's gaze swept over the sweat towel draped on the edge of the bed, which was stained with spots of blood.
On the bed, Song Yili's face was as pale as paper, and even his breathing seemed weak.
Her heart sank; had his condition worsened again?
The day before yesterday, the doctor in town was helpless against Song Yili's gradually worsening condition and suggested that Madam Gu take the child to a medical clinic in the county town.
Aside from barely maintaining the expenses for Song Yili's daily medicinal decoctions, the family was already stretched thin, and Madam Gu truly could not scrape together any extra money to take him to the county town for medical treatment.
She could not wait any longer; she had to improve her supernatural ability faster.
In the dead of night, after Madam Gu's breathing became steady and long, Song Yi'an bypassed her, climbed off the bed, and walked out on tiptoe.
She went to the woodshed, specifically cleared an empty space, took out all the raw stones, and arranged them in a circle around her.
Except for the black jasper raw stone, the energy fluctuations of the other raw stones were not significant.
Originally, she had intended to keep the black jasper raw stone and later ask a master to cut and process it into a set of jewelry to sell for a good price.
That way, she would have capital, and she could buy more raw stones to make money grow.
However, Song Yili could not wait that long.
The spirit spring would only appear when her space ability reached level five, and only by absorbing the black jasper raw stone could she jump five levels at once.
Song Yi'an placed her hand on the black jasper raw stone.
In an instant, a pure and massive amount of energy surged violently from inside the cold jade stone, rushing madly into her body along her palm.
This power was far more powerful and surging than she had imagined, almost tearing her meridians apart.
She gritted her teeth and slowly guided this wild energy toward her dantian.
The energy circulated, absorbed, and expanded at an unprecedented speed, gradually gathering into a colorless energy mass in her dantian.
At the same time, she could clearly "watch" the deep color inside the black jasper raw stone becoming gray and dim at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The internal structure of the raw stone was rapidly disintegrating.
Three hours later, the energy core in her dantian condensed into shape.
Song Yi'an opened her eyes; the ten stones beside her had all turned to ash, and her supernatural ability level had successfully broken through to level six.
It was one level higher than she had expected.
Song Yi'an probed her consciousness into the space; the space, which was originally less than one mu, had expanded to five mu in size.
The spirit spring was located in the center of the space, and the spring water seeped out very slowly; in six hours, it had only accumulated the amount of one teacup.
She did not know if it was because all the jade stones she used for this breakthrough were the most yin and pure in the world.
The spirit spring of this life was actually even more concentrated than in her previous life, with a texture as thick as honey syrup; it could no longer be called "water," and calling it "spirit syrup" was more appropriate.
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