After making a round and finding nothing particularly interesting, Song Liuhua returned home.
When Feng Ci entered, he saw her slender, pale fingers toying with a chubby little Spirit Sword.
A glimmer of amusement flickered in his captivating eyes as he placed the items in his hands on the table and asked with a smile, “What is this?”
Song Liuhua then recounted her experience with Artifact Crafting that day, sighing with regret. “If I had known this earlier, I wouldn’t have messed around with it. Selling it for money would have been worth quite a bit.”
Feng Ci chuckled softly and extended his slender hand. “May I take a look?”
“Go ahead.” Song Liuhua shoved the small Spirit Sword into his arms, her eyes fixed on him expectantly.
As the Spirit Sword landed in his hand, it felt cool and heavy. The thick hilt had a circular indentation the size of a fingernail, and the blade appeared unsharpened. It couldn’t even cut a wild grass easily, let alone hunt Exotic Beasts. Apart from the unique patterns on it, nothing unusual stood out.
The petite Spirit Sword looked even more miniature in Feng Ci’s broad hand.
Feng Ci channeled Spirit Power into it, and the miniature Spirit Sword glowed brightly. The palm-sized sword visibly expanded until it returned to the normal size of a Spirit Sword. The indentation on the hilt also grew to the size of an egg, just right for inserting a Profound Crystal Stone.
He took out a Profound Crystal Stone and embedded it into the hilt’s indentation. Instantly, the Spirit Sword hovered in the air.
“It’s a flying magical artifact!”
Feng Ci retrieved the Profound Crystal Stone, and the Spirit Sword shrank back to palm size.
Song Liuhua’s jaw dropped in disbelief.
“A flying sword?”
“If you want to call it that, sure.” Feng Ci chuckled lightly and placed the miniature sword in her hand.
“This is a third-grade flying Spirit Sword, but the blade is narrow. Be careful not to use it recklessly.”
Song Liuhua snapped out of her daze, hugged the small Spirit Sword tightly, and beamed with joy.
Flying high in the air on a sword might be unsafe, but she could fly at low altitudes.
In the future, stepping on this thing to go out would be incredibly cool.
Feng Ci took out a box of Profound Crystal Stones. The translucent, pearl-like stones resembled lumps of rock sugar. “These are all low-grade Profound Crystal Stones. One can sustain flight for a day. If the color turns reddish-white, replace it promptly.”
Song Liuhua treasured them and stored them in her space—these were her fuel.
Since obtaining this flying sword, Song Liuhua often drifted at low altitudes in the wilderness, eliciting bewildered expressions from onlookers and drawing a crowd of children who chased after her, shouting in amazement.
The envy and longing in the eyes of the women and young girls were unmistakable.
Many matrons from prominent families remarked upon seeing this, “That Song girl is so fortunate. Feng Ci truly dotes on her.”
“Absolutely. Such a fine thing, and it’s given to this little girl to play with.”
Many secretly wondered which Artifact Refiner had crafted it. Though Feng Ci’s current strength was not what it used to be, if they could recruit this Artifact Refiner for their family, it would be even better.
As the scenery behind her sped by and the wind whistled past her ears, Song Liuhua spread her arms wide, feeling a long-lost sense of exhilaration.
Feng Qing’s expression was serious: envy.
After circling around a flat area, Song Liuhua steered the flying sword back and came to an abrupt stop in front of Feng Qing and Feng Yi.
She pumped her fist energetically. “Forward march!”
With that, she zipped away with a “biu.”
Seeing this, Feng Qing immediately hurried to catch up.
Fortunately, Martial Spirit Masters had excellent physical stamina, or he might not have been able to keep up.
The flat ground was covered with wild vegetables, and women and children swarmed over them like locusts, gathering them swiftly.
What was digging for wild vegetables?
She would never dig for wild vegetables in this lifetime.
Ahead, a large patch of tender green wild vegetables appeared. Several women had clearly noticed them too, running while casting wary glances at her.
Their expressions suggested they thought she was going to compete with them for the vegetables.
Song Liuhua twitched her lips and silently changed direction on her flying sword.
She hadn’t forgotten that her main profession was a Spirit Arborist. She had heard this place was originally a marshland. If she could find wild Spirit Rice, that would be ideal.
The further she went, the deeper the grass grew. Gradually, knee-high wild grass blocked the path ahead. Song Liuhua had no choice but to put away her flying sword and continue on foot.
Since this area allowed women and children to enter, it meant there were no large Exotic Beasts. Song Liuhua wasn’t afraid, but the grass was truly annoying—every step met with resistance.
Feng Qing followed silently behind her.
Unlike the lively Feng Yi, he had been assigned to stay by the lady’s side since this marsh valley was safe.
Song Liuhua scanned the surroundings with her eyes, but unfortunately, along the way, she saw plenty of weeds and not a single wild Spirit Rice plant. Just as she was feeling discouraged, a dazzling light from the grass ahead caught her eye.
A corner of a nest made of fine, dry grass was visible, with half of an oval egg peeking out.
Song Liuhua exclaimed, “Eggs!”
Feng Qing followed her pointing finger and quickly cleared away the weeds, revealing a bird’s nest as large as a washbasin. Under the sunlight, the densely packed eggs in the nest gleamed brilliantly white.
“They’re Seven-Colored Wild Chicken Eggs!”
Song Liuhua delightedly took out a basket. “We’ve struck it rich, we’ve struck it rich!”
The Seven-Colored Wild Chicken was a second-tier Exotic Beast. She never expected them to nest in these weeds, and now she had stumbled upon their treasure.
Visions of fragrant scallion egg soup flashed in her mind. Song Liuhua swallowed her saliva, spread some dry grass at the bottom of the basket, and carefully collected over thirty Seven-Colored Wild Chicken eggs.
Feng Qing was surprised to find Seven-Colored Wild Chicken eggs here. These eggs contained gentle Spirit Power and were highly nourishing for women.
“Feng Qing, search around and see if there are more!”
Song Liuhua took another basket from her storage space and tossed it to Feng Qing, then bent over to rummage through the grass.
Feng Qing nodded.
The two of them searched carefully, one on the left and one on the right.
After walking just a few dozen steps, Song Liuhua found another nest. This one was slightly smaller than the previous one, and she counted about twenty eggs.
Not only that, but Song Liuhua also found water celery in a slightly damp area. The vibrant green water celery stood out prominently among the slightly withered yellow weeds. She pulled a small sickle from her storage bracelet and, swinging it like she was harvesting chives, quickly cut down clusters of water celery, filling five large baskets.
This water celery was a first-tier Spirit Plant. Its slightly bitter taste offered a unique flavor. It would be more than enough to add as a side dish for everyone.
Cutting the water celery didn’t take much time, so Song Liuhua continued forward.
A flapping sound came from the knee-high wild grass. With sharp eyes, Song Liuhua spotted a flash of colorful feathers in the distance, followed by a flurry of flapping as dozens of vibrant Seven-Colored Wild Chickens scattered wildly through the grass.
“Feng Qing—”
Song Liuhua’s voice nearly cracked with excitement as she pointed at the dozens of wild chickens. “Catch them, quick!”
Feng Qing was not far from her to begin with. Seeing the situation, he swiftly leaped into action, simultaneously throwing his Spirit Sword. With a squawk, a Seven-Colored Wild Chicken fell to the ground.
Although the Seven-Colored Wild Chicken was a second-tier Exotic Beast, its small size meant it posed little actual threat. However, it contained abundant Spirit Power within its body.
Song Liuhua quickly ran a few steps, intending to pounce like a hungry tiger.
But when she spotted several large bird nests, she froze momentarily. In that brief hesitation, several Seven-Colored Wild Chickens had already flown far away, while Feng Qing swiftly advanced with his Spirit Sword to intercept them.
Song Liuhua paid no further attention to them, first picking up the Seven-Colored Wild Chicken that Feng Qing had killed, then began collecting the Seven-Colored Wild Chicken Eggs.
There were five nests in total, each containing forty to fifty eggs.
Just as Song Liuhua finished gathering them, she pushed forward a bit and another nest appeared before her eyes.
No sooner had she collected those than yet another nest appeared. After gathering those, another one emerged. She continuously collected seven or eight nests in a row, each yielding forty to fifty eggs.
In one breath, Song Liuhua gathered five to six hundred Seven-Colored Wild Chicken Eggs, grinning so widely her mouth nearly stretched to her ears.