A few days later.
Qin Ming paid a visit to Alchemist Su’s place to collect the token for leasing the spirit fields.
Afterward, he headed straight to the fields to till the soil and prepare for sowing.
Frankly speaking, when it came to cultivating Yin-Congealing Flowers, he was a total beginner with zero experience to speak of.
He had spent the past few days cramming knowledge from spirit plant books.
Fortunately, the Yin-Congealing Flower did not demand an overly strict growing environment; otherwise, with the spiritual energy of a mere Tier-One spirit vein, it would have been quite a struggle.
What he never anticipated, however…
Was that the single most difficult part of growing Yin-Congealing Flowers occurred during their blooming phase—they required hand pollination.
Unlike other spirit plants, the pollination of Yin-Congealing Flowers had to be completed at least seven times within their brief seven-day flowering window.
It required spells capable of commanding swarms of bees.
If the Yin-Congealing Flowers were insufficiently pollinated, the flowering window would end prematurely, leaving the herbs lacking in medicinal potency and rendered useless for alchemy.
This stumped Qin Ming completely.
“Even if I can use my ripening ability, I can’t very well go and pollinate the flowers myself, can I?” “Sigh, I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I get to it.” Shouldering his spirit hoe, Qin Ming arrived at the field and began turning the soil.
Ever since his body-refining technique, the Hundred-Treasures Glazed Scripture, reached the Third Level, his physical strength had surged dramatically.
Tilling the fields on ordinary days felt much more exhilarating now—no backaches, no leg pain.
He felt like he could hoe ten miles of land in one go without stopping.
Fortunately, Yin-Congealing Flowers matured in just one year, so he wouldn’t have to wait too long.
Qin Ming had heard Alchemist Su mention that several of the core ingredients for the ‘Marrow-Washing Pill’ required a minimum age of fifty years before they could be used in alchemy.
Their prices easily started at over a hundred spirit stones per herb.
On top of that, alchemy carried a high rate of failure, requiring multiple sets of materials to be prepared for a single batch.
This gave Qin Ming a profound appreciation for the concept of ‘burning spirit stones’.
After finishing the tilling, Qin Ming planted all the spirit seeds Alchemist Su had given him, spanning a total of three mu.
Upon casting the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art over the field, Qin Ming nodded with satisfaction.
‘Whether they can grow on their own is up to heaven.’ ‘If all else fails, I’ll just have to resort to my ultimate ripening trick.’ Currently, after half a year of consumption, the traits stored within Qin Ming’s sea of consciousness were: Faint Magic Power x6 Faint Vital Blood x2 Advanced Spirit Rain Art x5 Ripening x1 All other traits had been exhausted while practicing the Hundred-Treasures Glazed Scripture.
Qin Ming had been reluctant to use the Advanced Spirit Rain Art.
Firstly, the commotion created by casting it was too grand and would draw unwanted attention; secondly, he intended to find an appropriate opportunity to use it on higher-grade spirit plants.
After all, it could yield double the harvest of spirit plants.
Gazing at his one-mu plot of Beast-Tooth Rice, Qin Ming estimated it would take another full year to reach complete maturity.
Having sown the spirit herbs, Qin Ming returned to his house to cultivate.
He gently popped open a delicate jade bottle, inside of which lay two teal pills emitting an intoxicating pill aroma.
Qi-Gathering Pills!
These were what he had painstakingly traded from Alchemist Su using a full hundred catties of spirit rice.
Sitting on the woven grass cushion on his bed, Qin Ming produced a pill and began his cultivation.
As Qin Ming swallowed the spirit pill, its medicinal potency melted and circulated through his body, continuously expanding his meridians.
The efficiency of his magic power circulation improved noticeably.
Qin Ming began operating the Spring Preservation Art to digest this massive surge of spiritual energy.
After a long while: Qin Ming opened his eyes, a look of delight surfacing on his face.
“This Qi-Gathering Pill truly lives up to its reputation as a miraculous medicine for boosting Qi Condensation realm cultivation.” “The magic power gained from just this single pill is significantly higher than a [Faint Magic Power] trait by a whole margin.” “One pill is worth a full year of my bitter cultivation.” “If I could eat pills like this every day, I wonder how quickly I could break through to the Fourth Layer of Qi Condensation.” Qin Ming pondered to himself.
…
Ending his cultivation, Qin Ming was in high spirits.
He planned to head over to Shopkeeper Liao to sell a portion of his spirit rice and check if he could purchase a spell for controlling bee swarms while he was at it.
Now that he could eat Fine-Grade Beast-Tooth Rice regularly, there was no need to hoard so much ordinary Gold Spirit Rice.
He might as well sell it while prices were high.
And exchange it for some talismans and defensive artifacts.
Qin Ming navigated through the alleyways of the shantytown, taking several turns before arriving at the main thoroughfare.
Qingyang Marketplace.
“Oh!
Daoist Qin is here!
Come, come, serve the tea!” Inside Juxuan Pavilion, Shopkeeper Liao flashed his signature smile and greeted Qin Ming with great enthusiasm.
Qin Ming smiled back.
Without wasting words, he retrieved three large bags of spirit rice from his storage bag and set them down in front of him.
The sight made Shopkeeper Liao beam from ear to ear with joy!
“This must be over three hundred catties, right?” “Hehehe, it seems Daoist Qin has enjoyed another bumper harvest!” After speaking, Shopkeeper Liao personally fetched a large measuring-bucket artifact to begin weighing.
“Three hundred and eighty catties [190 kg] of Gold Spirit Rice!” “Daoist Qin, usual rules: priced at one hundred and twenty spirit stones.
How does that sound?” Shopkeeper Liao asked with a smile.
Qin Ming thought for a moment and inquired, “Shopkeeper Liao, is the price of spirit rice still the same as before?
Has it stopped rising?” “Correct, Daoist Qin.
For the time being and the near future, spirit rice prices will not rise further,” Shopkeeper Liao said, looking left and right before continuing in a lower voice, “However, talismans, defensive artifacts, and life-saving pills will still see slight increases.” “If Daoist Qin has needs in those areas, it would be wise to purchase early.
In a few days, it might be a different price altogether.” A trace of doubt flickered in Qin Ming’s mind as he probed, “Has something happened again?” “Nothing too drastic.
It’s just that the Spirit Feather Sect and the Golden Cloud Valley have reached a stalemate.” “However, the Spirit Feather Sect’s pioneer camp on the front lines is struggling to hold on, suffering large-scale casualties several times in a row.” “I heard the Spirit Feather Sect is issuing another draft to recruit a batch of cultivators to reinforce them.” “Sigh…” Shopkeeper Liao sighed with emotion.
Qin Ming’s brows knitted slightly.
He knew this meant the Spirit Feather Sect was going to entice rogue cultivators into clearing the way at the barbarian cultivator gathering spot again.
Only then did he accept the spirit stones from Shopkeeper Liao and ask, “Do you have any spells for controlling bee swarms for sale?” Hearing that another business opportunity had arrived, Shopkeeper Liao instantly perked up: “Naturally!
There are very few things this shop doesn’t carry.” He immediately instructed someone to fetch three jade slips from upstairs.
“Daoist Qin, please take a look.
These are the Beast Taming Art, the Insect Control Art, and the Spirit Control Scripture.” “These three manuals are priced the same, and I can give Daoist Qin a ten percent discount.” “Any single one will be a bargain at three hundred spirit stones.” Having said that, Shopkeeper Liao looked at Qin Ming with expectant eyes.
If this trade went through, it would be another major deal.
He would be able to claim a handsome commission.
Qin Ming twitched his lips and said flatly, “Forget it then.” ‘This old fox—every time I come here, he can’t wait to make me go all-in with all my spirit stones.
He sure knows how to do business.’ One had to realize that even counting the 120 spirit stones he had just made from selling the spirit rice: Qin Ming only had a little over three hundred spirit stones in total in his pocket.
He had felt that with his spirit rice yield increasing significantly and earning so many spirit stones, he could at least be considered somewhat comfortably off.
Yet any random manual here could empty his wallet in a matter of minutes.
‘Sigh, cultivation really burns through money!’ Wasn’t this asking for his life?
“Then how much is a Mid-Grade attack talisman?” Qin Ming followed up by asking.
Hearing Qin Ming decisively give up on purchasing the manual, Shopkeeper Liao was just about to show disappointment when the next question perked his spirits right back up.
“Mid-Grade Fire Cloud Talisman, eighty spirit stones each.” “Mid-Grade Lightning Arrow Talisman, one hundred spirit stones each.” “Mid-Grade Golden Spear Talisman, eighty spirit stones each.” …
“Daoist Qin, which one would you like?” Qin Ming gritted his teeth.
“Give me one Mid-Grade Lightning Arrow Talisman.” Joy flashed across Shopkeeper Liao’s face, and he immediately produced a blue talisman and handed it to Qin Ming.
Qin Ming accepted the talisman.
The transaction was complete.
Shopkeeper Liao escorted him out of the shop with extreme warmth and enthusiasm.