A New Day Begins with Market Day
The two conversed intently, unaware that the sky had already taken on an orange hue.
The kitchen was clean and tidy. Yan Qingyan took out a bag of spirit rice and some spirit vegetables and fruits from her bundle, but then stared blankly at the unfamiliar kitchen utensils before her.
How do you start a fire? How do you cook dishes? How do you cook rice?
Yan Qingyan, who only knew how to cook using an electric rice cooker and a small electric pot, was dumbfounded.
As for Ling Mochen, he had just taken a Fasting Pill before departure and hadn’t even thought about needing to eat.
One Fasting Pill could sustain a person for seven days. Most cultivators practiced fasting, and the raw materials for this pill were readily available, with its preparation being simple. Most Alchemists began their studies by learning to make Fasting Pills, making it the most common item in the Cultivation World.
Before Yan Qingyan regained her memories in this life, she had also grown up eating Fasting Pills. But after her memories returned, she wished she would never see this dreadful thing again.
Delicious food! Spirit rice and spirit vegetables! How much precious time for experiencing culinary delights had this bland, tasteless pill wasted!
This was no longer the foul-smelling apocalyptic world; it was the fragrant Cultivation World brimming with Spiritual Energy!
Seeing Yan Qingyan standing motionless at the kitchen doorway, Ling Mochen understood. He chuckled lightly and asked, "I still have some Fasting Pills. Would you like one?"
Yan Qingyan: .
Looking at the porcelain bottle Ling Mochen handed over, Yan Qingyan silently replied, "If one has no desire for food and drink, what joy is there in cultivation?"
Ling Mochen: .
Ultimately, Yan Qingyan only ate dozens of Spirit Fruits to satisfy her hunger.
Night had fallen, and the pile of luggage brought along hadn’t been unpacked yet. Yan Qingyan entered the other bedroom and began arranging her new little nest.
The bright moon hung high in the sky, its pure silver radiance spreading across the ground, passing through the window ledge to illuminate a busy yet cheerful figure.
Early the next morning, Yan Qingyan found the village chief, paid to hire someone to plow her seven acres of Spiritual Field, and even had the small vegetable garden in the courtyard plowed as well.
Yujiang Village had sparse Spiritual Energy, only suitable for growing some low-level Spiritual Plants. The nearby villagers commonly cultivated Blue Fragrance Grass, Orchid Fruit, Water Crabapple Flowers, etc. At harvest time, they would sell these to the commercial enterprises of the families, which were the industries under her Yan family.
But the family head had already allocated Yujiang Village to the Ling family, so future dealings might likely be with the Ling family's commercial enterprises.
Yan Qingyan didn’t plan to follow the same path as the villagers. She intended to use three acres of the Spiritual Field to grow Weiling Flowers, two acres to grow Bone-Penetrating Grass, and the remaining two acres for various other miscellaneous Spiritual Plants. Ling Mochen said these two were the main ingredients for refining the superior wound medicine—Weiling Paste, and the profits could be much higher than directly selling Spiritual Plants.
But these were only the surface/visible sources of income. Precious Spiritual Plants naturally depended on her Spiritual Spring Space.
Thinking of the Space, Yan Qingyan looked up at the sky, feeling tearful but unable to cry.
She had originally planned to first buy a Primordial Purple Spirit Grass with low age/year and concentrate resources to cultivate the first Millennium Primordial Purple Spirit Grass. Who would have thought that this Space not only devoured Crystal Cores, it also devoured spirit stones!
She had painstakingly accumulated for over ten years to save just those few spirit stones, and now they were gone!
Although the Spiritual Energy within the Space had thickened slightly, its scope had expanded by the width of a fingernail, and the growth speed of the Spiritual Plants had increased by a few days, it did not alleviate at all the frustration in Yan Qingyan's heart.
The Dantian was the most urgent problem that couldn’t wait any longer!
Regret was useless. Yan Qingyan’s drive was thoroughly ignited. She wanted to earn enough spirit stones in the shortest time possible to buy the Primordial Purple Spirit Grass!
After deducting the payment for plowing the fields, Yan Qingyan took the remaining silver with her and boarded the village oxcart heading to the market town to go shopping.
Buy seeds, buy seedlings! She intended to purchase every type of seed available in the town!
……
After Yan Qingyan left, the village instantly became lively.
"Come on, come on, there's work to be done! All seven acres need to be plowed!"
"I'll do it! I'm free right now!"
"Me too!"
"The new managers this time are actually a young couple. They both seem quite amiable, probably not the kind to throw their weight around."
"Yeah, their demeanor is really good, and they're good-looking too—just pleasant to look at!"
"These seven acres are finally being cultivated again. They've been lying fallow for four or five years—such a waste, I always thought!"
"Who knows what they plan to plant? I heard our village isn’t under the Yan family’s management anymore. Will they still buy my Blue Fragrance Grass?"
"They will. In this area, we only grow a few things, and the buyers are pretty much the same. Just keep planting as usual."
"That’s good, that’s good."
"Hey, what do you all think—is that young master sick? His face is so pale!"
"It’s pretty obvious. Maybe he was sent here because he’s ill. Poor thing."
"These days, medicinal herbs aren’t cheap."
"Hey~ they’re young masters and misses from a great family. How could they not afford medicine?"
"That’s true~"
"Not necessarily. I’ve heard great families can be ruthless, with no humanity at all."
"……"
Inside the house.
Ling Mochen was awakened by the commotion outside and stumbled unsteadily out of his room.
His injuries were already severe and had worsened further from Ling Yaozu’s beating, causing him to fall into bouts of unconsciousness from time to time.
Ling Mochen first went to the kitchen, scooped a cup of water, and drank it. As soon as the water entered his stomach, a clear, warm current instantly spread through his limbs and bones, even easing the pain in his Dantian somewhat.
Huh?
Ling Mochen froze. This water… could it have been mixed with medicine?
He wanted to find Yan Qingyan to ask about it, but when he looked up, he noticed a note placed on the round table in the living room.
On it was scrawled a single sentence:
‘I’ve gone to the market town. Today marks the start of our plan to earn spirit stones!’
Ling Mochen picked up the note with a soft laugh, feeling a warm current flow through his chest.
When he first arrived in Yujiang Village, it had been utterly wretched. He felt only darkness ahead on his path of life, destined to return to dust alone in this unfamiliar, neglected place.
Yet, in just two short days, it was as if he had passed through the darkness before dawn. He even began to think that spending a peaceful life in this unremarkable little village wouldn’t be so bad.
The shift in his state of mind was nothing short of profound.
Outside, the villagers were still working enthusiastically. A group of children ran back and forth, playing and laughing. Under the eaves, several swallows chirped incessantly. Flowers bloomed at the corner of the wall, vibrant and colorful in every hue. A golden ray of sunlight shone through the half-open window, falling upon him. Suddenly, Ling Mochen realized he had never truly experienced the warmth of mortal life before.
In the past, he had devoted himself entirely to Cultivation, focusing all his efforts on how to obtain resources and become stronger.
The competition within the Ling family was fierce, and this was the prevailing ethos of the entire clan—indeed, of the entire Qingyang City and even the entire Cultivation World. The law of the jungle forced people into constant competition and relentless Cultivation. When had he ever stopped to truly appreciate the beauty of this world?
At the entrance of Yujiang Village, an oxcart returned, carrying a crowd of people.
From afar, Ling Mochen spotted a familiar figure, silhouetted against the brilliant sunlight, laughing and chatting joyfully with the villagers beside her.
She wore a blue dress, her hair casually tied up with a cyan-blue ribbon, looking relaxed and natural.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment, as beautiful as an ancient painting.
Buzz
Suddenly, Ling Mochen felt as if a barrier shattered in his ears, stirring the residual spiritual power within his meridians, only to fade into silence upon touching the wound in his Dantian.
In the Cultivation World, there was often talk of Sudden Enlightenment, which pertains to the cultivation of the Dao heart. Each instance of Sudden Enlightenment was comparable to consuming an Elixir Pill for breakthrough.
"Sudden Enlightenment really isn't timely~" Ling Mochen chuckled softly and shook his head.
Ling Mochen pushed open the door and stepped out, his gaze meeting that of the blue-dressed woman who turned to look back.
"I'm back!"
Yan Qingyan pointed happily at the large pile of packages behind her, all the fruits of her outing today.
She was very happy today—this was her first shopping trip since her rebirth, and also the first day since the apocalypse descended that she truly savored the warmth of human life.
In a world without zombies, every moment was a delight.
Extremes reverse, adversity turns to fortune; after the storm, the present is the finest time.