Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 82

Wang Baiguang could also be considered an old hand on Array Peak. Besides the Array Peak master, who was currently in seclusion, he was the one who had entered Array Peak the earliest. Only, the cultivation world had never judged ability by who entered first or later…
Han Qingyao and Wang Baiguang were both at late Core Formation, but the former was more than two hundred years younger than the latter. There was no need to say more about the gap in ability. When the Array Peak master entered seclusion, he had not handed the matters in his hands to Wang Baiguang, who had followed him the longest. Instead, he had entrusted them to Han Qingyao. From this, one could see a thing or two.
Back then, although Wang Baiguang had not said much about the peak master’s decision, Han Qingyao knew very clearly that although this person had deep roots on Array Peak, he could not be counted on to help. Afterward, Han Qingyao led her disciples and worked hard, while Wang Baiguang led his disciples and cultivated behind closed doors. The two were clear in their hearts and each had their own plans. Since they did not interfere with each other, Array Peak appeared harmonious on the surface. The two were fellow Daoists, and when they met, they could often exchange a few polite words. They simply did not involve serious business.
Even if Yuan Zhaoyang had not asked today, Han Qingyao would still use Wang Chuanying to straighten out Array Peak. She would not allow this kind of thing, tempting fellow disciples and framing fellow disciples, to happen again. However, the surface balance she had kept with Wang Baiguang for many years would likely have to be broken. The external troubles were already annoying enough, yet she still had to handle internal worries. This was truly too much for one mouse…
Thinking back, she had not come to the Five Elements Sect just to live a life of handling sect matters every day.
Late at night, Han Qingyao flew back to Array Peak on her sword. She glanced at the bright moon in the sky and suddenly thought of that person from that year, and that smile full of fondness.
One smile ruined a lifetime.
Han Qingyao, whose mood was complicated, returned to Array Peak. She had prepared herself to argue with Wang Baiguang, but she had not expected that the iron fist she had prepared would strike cotton.
Unlike Yuan Zhaoyang, who could only summon Wang Fang and Wang Chuanying out to speak at the foot of Array Peak, Han Qingyao returned to Array Peak with great ease. Meeting Wang Baiguang was also completely unblocked.
There was nothing strange about the matter up to this point.
Only, Han Qingyao had just begun bringing up the Iron-Inlaid Embroidered Stone Array matter with Wang Baiguang when the other party hurriedly interrupted her and summoned Wang Fang and Wang Chuanying. At first, Han Qingyao thought he had summoned the two so they could defend themselves. But when she continued speaking, not only did Wang Baiguang not interrupt her again, he also suppressed Wang Chuanying several times when she wanted to speak.
Once the matter was finished, naturally the handling method had to be discussed. Wang Chuanying would be confined to Array Peak and not allowed to leave until she reached Foundation Establishment. During that time, if she committed evil again, she would immediately be expelled from the sect. For Wang Chuanying, who had a Core Formation granduncle on Array Peak, this punishment did not count as heavy. In fact, considering her actions of misleading and harming fellow disciples, the punishment was still light.
But Wang Chuanying naturally wanted to defend herself. Since this matter had reached her granduncle, if she truly accepted this punishment, then it would be the same as admitting the crime of deliberately framing fellow disciples. How would Granduncle look at her then? She had only given a child an array. How Wang Minger used it, could Wang Chuanying really control that?
Han Qingyao had just finished stating the punishment conditions when Wang Chuanying ignored her granduncle’s warning gaze and began defending herself.
At first, Wang Fang beside her lightly tugged her. But seeing that Wang Baiguang, as their master, did not further stop her, Wang Fang lowered his eyes and let go.
The words Wang Chuanying twisted back and forth did not contain even a shred of real proof of innocence. Yuan Zhaoyang, who had not known the ins and outs of Array Peak when she came earlier, would not have believed them, let alone Han Qingyao, who knew Array Peak like the back of her hand.
Han Qingyao had no patience to listen to Wang Chuanying’s nonsense. She had not come to judge a case in the first place. This matter was neither too large nor too small. But whether large or small, black and white could be seen through at a glance. What she cared about was not whether Wang Chuanying accepted the punishment, but Wang Baiguang’s attitude.
Toward Wang Chuanying’s words that pulled east and west, Han Qingyao did not want to hear more. She only said one line. “There are so many eyes up and down Array Peak. If you want proof, I can certainly give it to you. But I dare to give it. Do you dare to ask for it?”
Wang Chuanying still wanted to speak, but Wang Baiguang, who had been silent for a long time, finally opened his mouth. “Chuanying, accept the punishment. If True Person Han truly spreads the search for witnesses across Array Peak, this matter will not end inside this room.”
Han Qingyao truly had not expected Wang Baiguang to accept so easily. Only, the meaning inside those words felt a little strange.
Once Wang Baiguang made the final judgment, Wang Chuanying’s face changed several times. In the end, she still lost her breath. Was it not just Foundation Establishment? Granduncle’s territory was Array Peak. As if anyone cared about going out.
Her goal achieved, Han Qingyao naturally would not stay long. Only, this matter felt especially smooth. So smooth it made one’s heart uneasy. Even if it was a child’s mistake, how could Wang Baiguang not bargain at all over the punishment? He should not be such a selfless person…
Still, this matter was done.
What Han Qingyao did not know was that after she left, Wang Baiguang sighed repeatedly. Again and again, he said that although this matter was Wang Chuanying’s fault, he would still try his best to patch it over and prevent it from spreading through Array Peak. His defeated attitude, sincerity, and kindness were like those of a true elder. Even Wang Fang, who had already made plans in his heart, could not help sighing inwardly at his master’s deep skill. He really had to learn properly.
A good granduncle and a good senior brother had never been so easy to obtain.
Only Wang Chuanying, whose spirit was raised again by Wang Baiguang’s low posture, still did not know this.
As for Hengshui Peak, Yuan Zhaoyang was reading Lord Huanxue’s new work while discussing a thing or two with A-Bai. At the turn between one day and the next, she finally received Han Qingyao’s voice transmission paper sparrow.
Just as she had thought, once True Person Han acted, there was no reason it could not be handled.
Thinking was thinking, but only once the matter was truly handled did Yuan Zhaoyang’s heart settle more firmly.
In the great sects, even in the most united sects, there would still be some friction inside. As long as a place was not rotten from the root, there would be people who could maintain its forward path. The Five Elements Sect could be considered a place with a fairly harmonious atmosphere inside the sect. At least, for now, it was still so.
With Han Qingyao as a restraint, Yuan Zhaoyang thought that at least during the short time she was in seclusion condensing her golden core, the people on Wang Baiguang’s side would not lower themselves to seek trouble with Lin Mianmian, a small disciple. Besides, there was still A-Bai.
Yuan Zhaoyang looked at the white rabbit lying on the table, pretending to have already become dehydrated from diarrhea, and her heart was finally more at ease. As for where this feeling of already taking someone under her wings had come from, Yuan Zhaoyang no longer wanted to examine it too much.
During the break between classes the next day, the little girl who tightly clutched the fur at Xiong Lanlan’s heel held a pile of things and apologized one by one to Feng Liang, Meng Tianhe, Gui Changshou, and Lin Mianmian. With this, the Iron-Inlaid Embroidered Stone Array matter could be considered over.
Only, the effect on people did not stop within a morning and evening. That was another matter.
Because Lin Mianmian had only just drawn qi into her body, the classes Yuan Zhaoyang opened were all basics among basics. Most were early cultivation lessons and introductions to basic knowledge of the cultivation world. Later, because the Iron-Inlaid Embroidered Stone Array incident had happened, Yuan Zhaoyang added another day of classes to introduce how to use limited resources to face sudden danger. Like this, in less than ten days, all the classes were finished.
The master leads one through the door. Cultivation depends on each person. Immortal cultivation was not studying for examinations after all. Knowledge was only knowledge. The cultivation gained through hard work was the true foundation for a cultivator to stand in the cultivation world.
Yuan Zhaoyang understood this very clearly. Yet after all the classes ended, she still could not help pulling Lin Mianmian aside and spending more than half a day sorting through and discussing all the course and personal note jade slips she had given Lin Mianmian before.
Even without a comparison for now, Lin Mianmian knew that in the Five Elements Sect, no, perhaps in all of Nanhe or even the four lands, there would not be another person who could be like Yuan Zhaoyang, wishing she could teach Lin Mianmian everything she knew by hand.
What virtue or ability did she have…
Here, one taught and one learned, the feeling deep and warm. Over there, A-Bai was rather anxious.
What about the promised seclusion? What about the promised golden core? Did this cat still remember why she had transformed into a calico cat to approach Lin Mianmian in the first place?
If not for worrying that Yuan Zhaoyang still remembered the matter of Lord Huanxue, A-Bai would long since have been unable to stop herself from hanging behind Yuan Zhaoyang every day and muttering.
The little rabbit gnawed on a chicken leg bone, enduring and enduring. Seeing that the large stretch of Yuan Zhaoyang’s classes on the course list had all ended, yet that cat still showed no sign of going into seclusion, and had once again swayed out early in the morning, A-Bai was truly a rabbit worried to death while the cat was not anxious at all.
When Yuan Zhaoyang returned at night, A-Bai finally could not hold back. Even if Yuan Zhaoyang teased her with the matter of Lord Huanxue again, she had to open her mouth.
Fortunately, after Yuan Zhaoyang finished sorting jade slips with Lin Mianmian, she finally had some sense and consciously put seclusion for core condensation on the schedule. She did not let the poor rabbit keep worrying herself to pieces.
The day of seclusion to form the golden core was set for three days later.
Yuan Zhaoyang was not a Five Elements Sect disciple. But at this time, to form her golden core, she could only rely on the Five Elements Sect’s land. Hengshui Peak was the temporary residence the Five Elements Sect gave to loose cultivators invited to teach. On ordinary days, people coming and going were naturally no problem. But if she formed her core and passed tribulation here, it would inevitably bring some inconvenience to those loose cultivators.
Fortunately, the Five Elements Sect had many mountain ranges and peaks. If Hengshui Peak would not work, there were naturally many places that would.
The sect gave Yuan Zhaoyang many choices. In the end, Yuan Zhaoyang chose Wanyi Peak. Its spiritual energy was not as rich as Hengshui Peak’s, but it could be considered middle level. Most importantly, it was quiet.
Below the mountainside of Wanyi Peak, fog was thick all year round, making it unsuitable to live there. Although cave residences could be opened above the mountainside, the Five Elements Sect had broad lands and abundant resources, and did not lack that half mountain. Those with low cultivation could not bear the fog and found coming and going inconvenient. Those with high cultivation looked down on a middle-level place. Thus, although Wanyi Peak’s spiritual energy was middle level, like many of the Five Elements Sect’s ordinary spiritual-energy peaks, few cultivators lived there.
Originally, there had been two Core Formation True Persons living there with a few disciples. But more than ten years ago, the two Core Formation cultivators had been blocked during the Eastern Sea trip, and their disciples had gradually gone to other places in the sect. Wanyi Peak had become empty.
A-Bai disliked Wanyi Peak a little for its ordinary spiritual energy. But under someone else’s roof, how could there be so many good and convenient places? Yuan Zhaoyang also had secrets that could not see the light. Having few people could be counted as Wanyi Peak’s advantage. Thinking like this, the little rabbit could only sigh deeply. In the Five Elements Sect, it was at least safe. It was better than wandering outside and searching among mountains and rivers for a place to enter seclusion.
The time and place for seclusion had both been chosen. For the few days left, Yuan Zhaoyang did not run to Lin Mianmian’s side anymore. She obediently began preparing the things she needed for seclusion.
Breaking through a realm did emphasize the natural arrival of water reaching the channel, but there was never anything wrong with being more prepared. Besides, entering the Golden Core realm also required crossing a lightning tribulation.
Pills, magic treasures, talismans, arrays…
Many of the things prepared for condensing the golden core were old items from many years ago. Taking them out and sorting them now made Yuan Zhaoyang think back to when she had been at Cangming Mountain in the Northern Territory. Back then, her cultivation path had been very smooth, and she had advanced again and again. When she had just entered late Foundation Establishment, she had confidently begun preparing these objects. She had not expected these things to remain in her storage bag for eighty years.
Truly, fate played with cats.
Yuan Zhaoyang felt a little emotional. These items seeing the light of day now was more or less thanks to Lin Mianmian. Cause and effect, cause and effect. Once she entered the Golden Core realm, she would probably be able to protect Lin Mianmian a little more in the Five Elements Sect.
Thinking this, Yuan Zhaoyang’s slightly furrowed brows slowly eased again…
As for Lin Mianmian, she had followed Yuan Zhaoyang from morning to night for nearly ten days of classes. Although she had already drawn qi into her body, and her body was different from that of ordinary mortals, under such intense learning, she was truly very tired.
There was a saying: outsiders watch the excitement, insiders see the path.
Back in Immortal Welcome City, when Ying Fu had used a hand of slight wind to sweep the stove, Lin Mianmian had been amazed and clicked her tongue. But now, after following Yuan Zhaoyang and listening to so many classes, she understood more about the cultivation world. She could not help sighing that the difference between starting from zero and feeling things out alone, and having a systematic inheritance, was truly as far apart as heaven and earth.
During the apocalypse, people who had abilities could already be considered favored by heaven. But that favor, that ability that had suddenly descended into the body together with the end of the world, could only be used at first through each person’s own exploration. Only after the large bases had taken shape did some shared summaries begin to be announced to the public. Whether it was the cultivation and expansion of abilities, or the different types of zombies, mutant animals, and mutant plants, every study and discovery had been padded with piles of bones. And the knowledge gained through those constant sacrifices had still not been fully told to the people.
People were already like eggs under a fallen nest, yet hierarchy was still deeply rooted.
Lin Mianmian knew that when she had been sent from her base to Central City, there must have been some hidden reason. In the prison of Central City, she had vaguely heard that her arrival was connected to a study, and that several high-level ability users like her had been sent to Central City by the large bases.
The word “study” was absolutely not a good word in a world that had started from zero and was feeling out the road to survival. Thinking this way, being sent here by an explosion could be counted as a fortunate thing.
There had been the little calico cat waiting for her in Immortal Welcome City. There was a sect that seemed fairly peaceful. There were several friendly little friends. There was A-Bai, who was not very reliable but often came to deliver warmth. And there was Great Lecture Hall, a place where systematic learning could be done.
Only someone who had experienced feeling things out alone would know how precious the passing down of knowledge was.
Following this thought, Senior Sister Yuan, who gave all her personal notes without holding back…
Lin Mianmian stroked the personal note jade slip in her hand and silently prayed that Yuan Zhaoyang could successfully condense her golden core this time.
The road of cultivation was long. She would work hard and not fail this teacher-student fate.
Yuan Zhaoyang had just finished sorting all the things she needed and was preparing to go out when she felt her ears heat for some unknown reason, while her back grew a little cold. She felt as if something was not quite right somewhere and could not help counting the sorted items twice more.
Lin Mianmian was alerted by the restrictions in the courtyard. When she found that the person knocking outside was Senior Sister Yuan, she was very surprised. A-Bai had come before and said Yuan Zhaoyang would begin seclusion after three days of rest and preparation. Counting it, tomorrow was the day she entered seclusion. Lin Mianmian had been thinking of sending a voice transmission paper sparrow tonight to offer good wishes. She had not expected the person herself to knock in the evening.
“What is wrong? After not seeing me for a few days, you no longer recognize me?” Yuan Zhaoyang secretly pinched her palm. She truly could not look at Lin Mianmian’s silly, slightly dazed appearance. It looked far too cute.
“Senior Sister Yuan…” Lin Mianmian cupped her hands in salute.
“Reading?” Yuan Zhaoyang swept a glance over the jade slip in Lin Mianmian’s hand and entered the courtyard with practiced ease.
“I was reading Senior Sister’s notes.” Lin Mianmian closed the courtyard gate, restored the array, and turned around to see that Yuan Zhaoyang was already waiting beside the house door, looking as if she wanted to go inside.
Lin Mianmian quickly walked a few steps faster, opened the house door, and invited her in.
The two sat in the room, but neither spoke first. For a moment, the room was somewhat quiet.
Quiet, but not awkward.
Perhaps it was because these past few days, they had eaten breakfast together in the morning, spent the whole day in class, then eaten a late-night snack together at night and discussed the day’s lessons. Being together from morning to evening had built a bit of understanding between them.
Although there was nothing bad about the mood, as the owner of the room, Lin Mianmian still poured Yuan Zhaoyang a cup of water and opened her mouth first. “Senior Sister will enter seclusion tomorrow. I have nothing I can do, so I can only wish Senior Sister success and everything smooth from here. I will wait here for Senior Sister to return, then brew tea to drink with Senior Sister.”
If blessings were useful, what would anyone need cultivation for?
But these words came from Lin Mianmian’s mouth, and Yuan Zhaoyang found them extremely pleasant.
“Then I will borrow your lucky words. When I return, I will wrap wontons for you to eat.” Yuan Zhaoyang’s lips curved slightly. The smile was shallow, but her eyes were dyed with it.
Tsk, tsk. The taste of wontons was much better than the tea she brewed.
Senior Sister truly treated her too well.
Many ideas circled in Lin Mianmian’s heart. But the road ahead was not yet certain, and speaking of them now would be like handing out empty tickets. What she could truly be certain of and actually do was probably only one cup of hot tea.
She hoped that when Senior Sister Yuan returned, what she could offer would not be only a cup of tea.
Yuan Zhaoyang did not know Lin Mianmian’s many thoughts. But she had indeed come with a purpose, and for the moment, she did not notice that Lin Mianmian was a little more silent than usual.
“I came because there is something I want to entrust to you.” Yuan Zhaoyang smoothed her hair, and a storage bag suddenly appeared in her hand. It had a bamboo-green base embroidered with tender yellow blessing characters. “This storage bag can be stored inside that strand of your hair. You also know that although A-Bai can be counted as a guest elder of the Five Elements Sect, she rarely goes to Great Lecture Hall to teach, and the resources she gets from the Five Elements Sect are limited. On ordinary days, she loves eating and playing. I am worried that during the days I am in seclusion, she will spend recklessly and become a dried rabbit before I come out. I have some things here to support her. If I give them to her now, I fear she will spend them even faster. It is better to leave them with you first. If I have not come out after more than a year of seclusion, give these to A-Bai and let her keep eating and playing while waiting a while longer.” After speaking, Yuan Zhaoyang placed the storage bag in her hand on the table.
In the past, when Yuan Zhaoyang came here, she only sat in the courtyard. This time, she had stopped by the door as soon as she came, waiting to enter the house. Lin Mianmian had more or less guessed that she had some matter. But she had not expected it to be for that unreliable little rabbit.
Lin Mianmian knew that Yuan Zhaoyang asking her to hold the storage bag was a great trust. But when she reached out to take it, she hesitated a little. “Does condensing the golden core require seclusion for a long time? In class, did you not say that at most, it usually takes only a few months?”
“You remember what I taught in class quite firmly.” Yuan Zhaoyang pulled out a smile. It was hard to tell whether it was comfort or something else. “Generally, condensing the golden core takes as little as a few days or as much as a few months, but that is only generally. As for special cases, there are faster ones and slower ones. Spending one year… or two years is possible too. This is only preparation in case. Perhaps I will return very quickly to take it back, and A-Bai will not get the cheap benefit.”
Lin Mianmian looked seriously at Yuan Zhaoyang, as if wanting to see whether the words were true or false.
Yuan Zhaoyang calmly looked back.
So beautiful… Lin Mianmian withdrew her gaze first, accepted the storage bag on the table, then met Yuan Zhaoyang’s eyes again. “Come back early to take it.”
It always felt as if she had seen through something.
Was she not a child of only a dozen years…
Yuan Zhaoyang had nowhere to avoid. Under Lin Mianmian’s persistent gaze, she nodded with an appearance of careless ease, as if coaxing a child.
Each had their own thoughts. There were clearly so many words to say at parting, but when Yuan Zhaoyang left, neither of them had said many.
Hopefully, when they met again, they could be more honest. Separated by one courtyard wall, both people had the same thought.
Those who should be parted from had already been parted from.
Early the next morning, Yuan Zhaoyang quietly went around the foolish rabbit who had dragged a soft nest over the night before and insisted on sleeping by the courtyard gate, wanting to send Yuan Zhaoyang to Wanyi Peak in the morning. Yuan Zhaoyang picked up the small blanket drooping on the ground and covered A-Bai properly again, then left silently.
Not long after the cat left, the little rabbit who had still been sleeping in the soft nest with all four limbs spread out suddenly kicked the blanket. Most of the blanket was kicked out of the soft nest. A little rabbit sat up angrily and slapped the soft nest with one paw. “You are about to condense your golden core, but your head is still full of water. Have you ever seen a Core Formation rabbit sleep so dead she does not even know when you go out? Water, water, water! Foolish, foolish, foolish!”
After throwing a random tantrum, the little rabbit fiercely wiped her face with her furry paw. It was wet…
Mm, it was her sweat. Just sweat! Sweat, sweat!
A-Bai had originally thought that after Yuan Zhaoyang transformed into a cat and stayed with Lin Mianmian for half a year, rubbing against that fragrance until her realm loosened, condensing the golden core would be something that naturally followed. Just like A-Bai herself. Although she had not transformed back then, forming her golden core had taken only two months, neat and convenient.
But these past two days, after Yuan Zhaoyang ended her Great Lecture Hall classes and began sorting the things she needed for seclusion, A-Bai felt something was not quite right. To be honest, there was no clear thing she could point to and call wrong. But with A-Bai and Yuan Zhaoyang’s hundred years of familiarity, this entire cat’s mood was not right. A-Bai had tested the waters and asked Yuan Zhaoyang whether there was any blockage in condensing her golden core, yet Yuan Zhaoyang had comforted her with a bright, sunny face.
Comforted her, oh. Not snapped back, oh!
Thinking carefully, perhaps a loosened realm… did not mean water would naturally reach the channel after all…
It had already been eighty years. Was it still not over? After finally meeting Lin Mianmian, was it still not enough?
The closer seclusion came, the more A-Bai could feel Yuan Zhaoyang’s uncertainty under her normal appearance.
She, too, was not certain whether forming the golden core this time would succeed.
A-Bai wanted to send Yuan Zhaoyang off. She also wanted to tell Yuan Zhaoyang that it was fine. Even if condensing the golden core failed this time, they could try again next time. Turning into a cat would work. Revealing a little truth to Lin Mianmian would work. They could go rub against the fragrance again and condense the core again. They still had time…
But she could not say it.
She knew she could not say it.
So when Yuan Zhaoyang went around her today, A-Bai had clearly woken up, but she acted as a sleeping rabbit.
The most outstanding young talent of Cangming Mountain had become a waste who could not condense a golden core. Eighty years had passed… She did not dare and could not advise Yuan Zhaoyang to wait again. She could not even bear to break Yuan Zhaoyang’s false calm, and could not say those comforting words.
No, there was no rush yet.
Perhaps it was only an illusion caused by her worrying too much. A-Bai wiped her face, and it became even wetter.
The little rabbit slowly stretched out a hind leg, hooked the blanket over, held it in her arms, rubbed her face against it, and could not help blowing her nose on it.
Today was truly hot…
Lin Mianmian had not slept well all night. She clearly knew that the storage bag Yuan Zhaoyang had entrusted her with should be hidden properly, but she could not help taking it out and touching it.
Of course, she did not covet the things inside. It was just that Lin Mianmian felt Yuan Zhaoyang, who had come to entrust the item to her, had not been quite right.
How to say it? It was like seeing roughness in the road ahead, so…
No. It absolutely was not entrusting final matters…
Lin Mianmian’s heart was a mess. She took out the storage bag and put it back, took it out and put it back again. She did not sleep steadily all night.
Early in the morning, just as the sky began to brighten, Lin Mianmian teleported to Clear Heart Hall.
When A-Bai had come two days earlier, Lin Mianmian had asked about it. Yuan Zhaoyang was going to Wanyi Peak for seclusion. Although Wanyi Peak was far from the outer valley, it was closer to Clear Heart Hall. At least, standing on the cliff not far to the right of Clear Heart Hall, one could faintly see Wanyi Peak’s summit. When the weather was better, one could even glimpse part of the mountainside.
At this time, the sky had just brightened, and the first sun had risen. In the direction of Wanyi Peak, fog could be faintly seen winding around it, while the peak was all green.
It was still too far.
Lin Mianmian rubbed her eyes. She could not tell where Yuan Zhaoyang’s seclusion place was.
Still, it was there. That was all.
Cultivation and seclusion were common matters for cultivators. Yuan Zhaoyang was a guest elder of the Five Elements Sect, and she was only entering seclusion to condense her golden core. This seclusion did not cause much of a ripple in the Five Elements Sect. Only on Great Lecture Hall Mountain could disciples occasionally be heard sighing that Senior Sister Yuan had gone into seclusion again, and who knew when they could listen to Senior Sister Yuan’s classes again. Whenever a disciple sighed like this, several nearby disciples would agree.
Lin Mianmian never said such words on Great Lecture Hall Mountain. She always felt that if she did not say it, Yuan Zhaoyang would be as if she had not left.
Logic even she found strange and unnecessary.
High summer was not a good season to begin sowing and planting. Lin Mianmian wanted to endure for a while and wait until this hottest period passed before starting to grow some heat-resistant plants. But collecting some ingredients and testing the use of the Food Classic in the cultivation world could start now.
Only, thinking was easy, doing was hard.
After Yuan Zhaoyang entered seclusion, besides cultivating and going to Great Lecture Hall Mountain to listen to other classes, Lin Mianmian spent much of her time lingering around Clear Heart Hall and All Affairs Hall.
At Clear Heart Hall, she tried food. At All Affairs Hall, she searched for materials.
The first time she had gone to Clear Heart Hall, Lin Mianmian had heard that Clear Heart Hall offered tasks to cook ingredients. But when she truly began asking around, she discovered those tasks were not something a cultivator who had just drawn qi into her body could accept.
Cooking spiritual plants and spirit beasts could use a cultivator’s fire spiritual root, the spiritual fire of a spirit beast, fake earth fire borrowed through tools, the earth fire used to refine magic tools and magic treasures, a cauldron’s furnace fire, or even heavenly fire… No matter which kind, none were things Lin Mianmian could control now.
For now, Lin Mianmian had no hope of getting the ingredients from Clear Heart Hall’s cooking tasks.
However, Clear Heart Hall did also sell some raw food. Perhaps some people in the sect could not endure Clear Heart Hall’s rough cooking methods after all. Unfortunately, most of the raw food sold came from the Five Elements Sect and its surroundings. Lin Mianmian compared them with the recipes in the Food Classic and always felt that this was missing and that was lacking.
After a few days, Lin Mianmian found several of the missing parts at All Affairs Hall. Unfortunately, once the materials were no longer lacking, what was lacking was spirit stones…
Why was it so hard to gather one dish!
After wandering around All Affairs Hall for a long time, Lin Mianmian still could not bear to spend the spirit stones Yuan Zhaoyang had given her on the day they sorted the personal notes and lessons together on buying ingredients.
Lin Mianmian still remembered that day. After the two of them finished sorting those jade slips, Senior Sister Yuan had taken out a pile of talismans and spirit stones for her. She refused for a long time before Senior Sister Yuan took back part of the spirit stones. Even then, what Lin Mianmian accepted was nearly fifty middle-grade spirit stones and a whole stack of talismans. It was said that a Core Formation elder of the Five Elements Sect only received three hundred middle-grade spirit stones in official resources each year…
With fifty middle-grade spirit stones in hand, Lin Mianmian could naturally afford the ingredients from Clear Heart Hall and the materials from All Affairs Hall. But when she thought of where these spirit stones had come from, and thought of Yuan Zhaoyang, whose situation on Wanyi Peak was unknown right now, she could not bear to spend even one spirit stone…
Sure enough, no matter what world one was in, making money was very important.
After hesitating for several days, Lin Mianmian still spent five middle-grade spirit stones and bought eighteen Moon-Watching Epiphyllum seeds, preparing to try opening a source of income.
There was a small patch of land in the courtyard. Yuan Zhaoyang had set a high-grade protective array over that patch. Unless one was at Core Formation or above, one could not see what was inside. She said that if Lin Mianmian had any slightly valuable plants, she could plant them in the courtyard. The courtyard and the land had two layers of arrays. Compared with planting outside in the fields, it was safer and did not draw eyes.
Spiritual plants in the cultivation world were roughly divided into nine grades. This Moon-Watching Epiphyllum did not count as some valuable plant. It was only a second-grade spiritual plant, a somewhat valuable supporting ingredient for pill refinement.
Lin Mianmian had checked. All Affairs Hall collected mature Moon-Watching Epiphyllum plants year-round at fifty low-grade spirit stones per plant. That meant that with these dozen-plus Moon-Watching Epiphyllum seeds, if ten matured, she would earn back the five middle-grade spirit stones spent on the seeds. The remaining eight seeds would make money.
Moon-Watching Epiphyllum matured once a year. If many were planted, it was a decent income. However, although All Affairs Hall collected Moon-Watching Epiphyllum year-round, it only accepted fifty plants from each disciple each year. Calculating it, if all fifty Moon-Watching Epiphyllum plants survived, one could earn more than ten middle-grade spirit stones in about a year.
All Affairs Hall collected many other materials. If one wanted to earn spirit stones through planting, one could continue searching for other plants among them. But Lin Mianmian had calculated that the maturity times and sale prices of other plants were far less cost-effective than Moon-Watching Epiphyllum. It seemed this Moon-Watching Epiphyllum could be considered one of the “benefits” the Five Elements Sect gave disciples.
For her first planting, Lin Mianmian did not dare try too much. Besides, this time, it was true that she wanted to earn some spirit stones through Moon-Watching Epiphyllum, but more importantly, she wanted to try whether the ability inside her core could still be used, and whether her growth-urging ability had also followed her to this other world.
The cultivation world also had growth-urging arts. Some borrowed the blessings of blessed lands, cave heavens, and secret realms with beautiful mountains and waters. Some borrowed mustard-seed spaces where the flow of time was different. Some used spiritual liquids guided by spiritual plants to nourish growth. Some used growth-urging arrays to constantly support it. One could also use one’s own spiritual energy to urge plants to grow.
Lin Mianmian felt that her growth-urging method in the apocalypse should be similar to using spiritual energy to urge plants here.
Great Lecture Hall had taught that cultivators with wood spiritual roots had the most effective spiritual energy for urging plants to grow. Other spiritual roots were only so-so. The speed of this growth-urging also depended on one’s own cultivation and the plant’s grade. The loose cultivator teaching the class had given an example. Without borrowing any outside force, a mid Qi Refining cultivator with fifty percent talent and a single wood spiritual root would need ten days of nonstop growth-urging to urge a first-grade spiritual plant that matured in one year to maturity.
The meaning of “nonstop” here was doing nothing else. As long as there was spiritual energy, one urged growth. While absorbing spiritual energy, one urged growth, without stopping.
Lin Mianmian silently calculated. With herself having only just drawn qi into her body, thirty-three percent talent, and a single wood spiritual root, to urge a one-year second-grade spiritual plant to maturity… probably… needed a month? Perhaps more…
But what Lin Mianmian wanted to test was not what level her spiritual energy could reach.
After buying the seeds, she closed the courtyard gate.
Lin Mianmian walked to the small patch of farmland in the courtyard, released another layer of restrictions, and walked in.
She only took two seeds. Three steps apart, she pressed them into the ground separately.
Urge growth.
Lin Mianmian crouched at the edge of the field, her fingertip lightly resting on the soil where one seed had been buried. She adjusted her inner breathing, moved the thin spiritual energy in her dantian, and poured it into her fingertip.
The spiritual energy was as gentle and lingering as a spring silkworm spinning thread. It was slowly sent out. Through the thin layer of soil, it found the wood seed with a similar aura.
The moment the spiritual energy pierced into the seed, Lin Mianmian felt familiarity and comfort.
Although what she used was spiritual energy and not her ability, the feeling of forming a connection with a plant was just as it had been before.
The spiritual energy was thin but flexible. Little by little, it moved along the seed’s veins, first opening the channels, then urging growth.
As the spiritual energy completed one circuit through the seed, a thin layer of sweat began to appear on Lin Mianmian’s forehead.
The strength remained, but the energy was not enough…
A short while later, Lin Mianmian withdrew her fingertip and sighed softly.
Sure enough, her spiritual energy was too little. She had almost emptied it, but the seed had not even sprouted. She had only had time to smooth the seed’s veins once, and the spiritual energy… was gone.
Lin Mianmian wiped the sweat from her forehead and glanced at the small hollow where the other seed was buried. She hoped the ability later would not be even worse than this spiritual energy.