Harvest

In a dark mountain cave, a figure sitting cross-legged slowly opened his eyes.

It had taken a full month to finally recover from his injuries, and he couldn't help but marvel at the resilience of cultivators.

The severed bones had rejoined and healed, and his lungs, which had been nearly sliced in half, were now as good as new.

Only now did he have the time to sort through his spoils of war. He took out a storage bag and emptied its contents onto the ground.

First was the Golden Flying Sword that had nearly killed him. Unfortunately, it was a metal-element flying sword. While he could manage to use it, it didn't resonate with his spiritual roots, preventing him from unleashing its full power.

The items poured from the storage bag onto the ground were piled high, reaching a person's height. More than half of them were various Spirit Fruits.

After a careful count, there were over thirty varieties. Combined with the ones Wang Hong had already collected, he now had over forty varieties of Spirit Fruits.

Among them, a dozen or so jade-white, crystal-clear fruits particularly caught his eye.

These must be the White Crystal Fruits mentioned in the books. They were a second-tier Spirit Fruit, said to refine a cultivator's spiritual power and remove impurities when consumed directly.

This was truly a treasure. He had scoured every shop in Qingxu City, but he hadn't found any for sale.

Pure spiritual power could enhance spellcasting, prolong battles, and even increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment.

He then sifted through the remaining dozens of Spirit Fruits, categorizing them. They were all first-tier Spirit Fruits, with no particularly rare varieties among them.

He set the Spirit Fruits aside and continued sorting through the other items. There were over fifty thousand Spirit Stones! Wang Hong was deeply shocked by the wealth of Cultivator Ding. A typical Qi Refining rogue cultivator would consider themselves wealthy with a few hundred Spirit Stones. Did being a treasure hunter offer such promising prospects?

There were also several jade slips. He carefully examined each one, starting with a movement technique secret art called "Shifting Form and Changing Position."

This was likely the peculiar movement technique Cultivator Ding had used to evade attacks, moving two Zhangs in a single step.

Next was Cultivator Ding's main cultivation technique, "Sharp Metal Art." This was of no use to Wang Hong.

Another jade slip recorded the cultivation experiences of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, along with some biographical details.

It stated that this cultivator had lived in seclusion in Mistwind Gorge in his later years. He had a fondness for wine, so he planted a Spirit Fruit orchard and raised several Spirit Monkeys to brew Spirit Wine for him.

Upon reading this, Wang Hong realized that there was a Foundation Establishment cultivator's cave dwelling deep within the orchard. It was likely that the tens of thousands of Spirit Stones were the wealth of this Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Cultivator Ding was far too greedy. He had obtained such a large sum of Spirit Stones yet still coveted Wang Hong's possessions, ultimately losing his life for nothing.

Additionally, there was a water-element cultivation technique, "Gentle Water Art," a "Spirit Taming Art," and "Secret Brews of the Wine Master."

"Gentle Water Art" could be cultivated from the Qi Refining stage all the way to Foundation Establishment, likely being the Foundation Establishment cultivator's primary technique.

"Spirit Taming Art" was divided into two major parts: one for taming insects, including the cultivation and taming methods of various spirit insects; the other for taming beasts, covering the cultivation and taming of various birds and beasts.

"Secret Brews of the Wine Master" recorded the brewing methods for several high-grade first-tier Spirit Wines and two second-tier Spirit Wines.

Currently, high-grade Spirit Wines were extremely rare. One reason was the precious and hard-to-find ingredients, and another was that the brewing methods were the secrets of each Wine Master, rarely shared. Furthermore, the brewing process was lengthy, often taking decades or even centuries.

Consequently, high-grade Spirit Wines were almost extinct in the market, and their appearance would invariably cause a frenzy among cultivators.

Typically, by the Foundation Establishment stage, cultivators had to rely on Spirit Stones or elixirs to replenish their depleted magical power, and some could only meditate to recover. Spirit Stones and elixirs replenished magical power slowly, causing great inconvenience during battles, which was incomparable to Spirit Wine.

He put away the jade slips and scattered all the Spirit Stones onto the land in his Mysterious Space. He estimated that after absorbing these Spirit Stones, the area of the space should reach four Mu. He had been worried about where to plant the numerous Spirit Fruits he had collected.

Wang Hong then picked up a black sword, only palm-length, from the ground. It was actually a Spirit Artifact Flying Sword used by Foundation Establishment cultivators, worth at least tens of thousands of Spirit Stones.

He once again marveled that Cultivator Ding shouldn't have pursued him. Perhaps it was a habit of killing for treasure; he couldn't resist attacking when he saw a target. In the end, it benefited him.

There was also a pile of miscellaneous items on the ground. He rummaged through them for a while. They were all spirit herbs, spirit ores, and other items. He didn't find any particularly valuable items. He simply put them all into his storage bag.

It was a shame he didn't find a cultivation technique for hiding one's cultivation. Wang Hong really wanted such a technique; it would be very useful for tricking people.

However, the harvest this time was already substantial. It was important to be content.

His primordial spirit appeared above the Mysterious Space. The Spirit Stones had been completely absorbed by the space, and the land area had reached four Mu. Based on his previous estimations, the passage of time should have reached thirty-three times that of the outside world.

Wang Hong planted one of each of the collected Spirit Fruits, filling up the newly available Mu of land.

Of course, good things like White Crystal Fruits were better in abundance, so he planted more. All fifteen White Crystal Fruit seeds were planted.

Recently, he had noticed that the Spirit Grains and Spirit Wheat had begun to mutate again. However, this time, not all of them mutated; only about half did.

The plants had become taller, their stalks as thick as a bowl, and they were already nearly a Zhang tall. The grains had become larger, and the maturation period had also lengthened.

They had not yet fully mutated, so he didn't know what the final result would be, which made Wang Hong very expectant.

Seeing several Spirit Bees flying among the spirit herbs, he remembered the "Spirit Taming Art" he had just acquired and decided to test it on these Spirit Bees.

According to "Spirit Taming Art," bee colonies were like human kingdoms, with distinct hierarchies and clear divisions of labor.

The worker bees were further divided into various specialized roles, such as those responsible for collecting nectar, brewing honey, cleaning the hive, and feeding the next generation of eggs. All these worker roles belonged to the bees.

Male bees, although larger in size, did not participate in any labor.

They were responsible for only two things: combat, the daily defense of the queen bee and the safety of the hive; any fighting was undertaken by them.

And daily mating with the queen bee. One queen bee could lay thousands of eggs per day, so they must have been quite busy.

Normal Spirit Bee colonies had a queen bee, and all Spirit Bees obeyed the queen bee's commands.

If the queen bee of a colony died unexpectedly or was lost, some bees would gradually evolve into queen bees.

However, queen bees that evolved in this manner were inherently deficient and of poorer quality, and the offspring they produced would also have severely degenerated physiques.

The bee colony in the Mysterious Space was currently without a queen bee. What he needed to do now was to find the strongest among the unhatched eggs, have it recognize him as its master, and then cultivate it into a queen bee. In the future, he would control the bee colony through the queen bee.

However, that piece of honeycomb had been in the Mysterious Space for nearly three years, and the original eggs had already hatched. The current queen bees had evolved from worker bees, and their quality was not very good, so the eggs they produced were naturally not very satisfactory.

He suddenly remembered that there was also a beehive in Cultivator Ding's storage bag. It had only been a month, so it shouldn't have hatched yet.

He immediately took out the beehive from his storage bag and, as expected, found many unhatched eggs inside.

He found the strongest-looking egg, squeezed a drop of his vital blood from his fingertip, and slowly drew a tiny rune in the air. Then, with a surge of spiritual energy, the rune emitted a faint glow and drilled into the insect's body.

At this moment, Wang Hong felt an inexplicable connection between himself and the insect.

He then manually created a royal platform and placed the egg, which had now recognized him as its master, into it. The young egg on the royal platform would receive special care from the swarm and be fed royal jelly for a long time, eventually becoming the new queen bee.

After the new queen bee was born, the swarm would kill any unqualified queens, leaving only the most outstanding one.

After finishing with the bee swarm, Wang Hong remembered that he had also captured a few ant eggs earlier and wondered how they were doing.

He swept his Spiritual Sense across the Mysterious Space and found several ants happily gnawing on one of his Spirit Herbs. Wang Hong was furious; his Spirit Herbs were meant to be sold for Spirit Stones.

He then threw them all out of the Mysterious Space. Thinking about his previous experiment, he grabbed them again and brought them back into the Mysterious Space. As expected, creatures hatched within the Mysterious Space could be brought back into it.

After dealing with matters concerning the Mysterious Space, it was time to return to Qingxu City. Although he had gone through many dangers this time, his harvest was also abundant.

There was no more free space in the Mysterious Space, so even if he found Spirit Herbs now, he would have nowhere to plant them.

Furthermore, all his Magic Artifacts had been destroyed. If he encountered danger, his combat power would be greatly reduced.

So, he transformed himself into a middle-aged man with a full beard and beard and blended into a group of people returning to Qingxu City.

During Wang Hong's absence, the several shops operated normally, bringing him over thirty thousand more Spirit Stones.

Additionally, Zhao Ning reported a piece of news that caught his attention.

He said that recently, someone had been secretly inquiring about the supply channels of the Elixir Pavilion, trying to find information about his suppliers or alchemists.

However, the inquirer had asked the wrong person, questioning a soldier stationed at the shop and trying to bribe him with five Spirit Stones.

This person was too naive. Five Spirit Stones were already a considerable fortune in the eyes of other mortals or cultivators at the first level of Qi Refining.

In the eyes of his subordinate soldiers, it was merely a fraction of their monthly income. As his income increased, the treatment of his subordinate soldiers also improved accordingly.

Moreover, they were all comrades who had experienced countless life-and-death trials together.

This incident served as a reminder to Wang Hong. Since he was opening shops to sell elixirs and Spirit Herbs, he would eventually be targeted.

If the source of his goods could never be found, it would eventually arouse suspicion over time.

The situation with the Spirit Wine Pavilion was simpler. He had now hired dozens of mortals to help brew Spirit Wine. As for the Spirit Rice, since its maturity period was only three years, it could be purchased with Spirit Stones. The recipe for brewing Spirit Wine with Spirit Rice was not a secret either; it could be bought with a little Spirit Stones.

Anyone with the intention could find out with a little inquiry that the Spirit Wine was self-brewed by Skinny Monkey and the others. Currently, there was only one wine cellar, and it would be sufficient to build a few more cellars for storing aged wine to avoid suspicion.

As for the Elixir Pavilion, Wang Hong thought carefully. Instead of being secretive and mysterious, it would be better to expose it directly.

What is common is not doubted. By exposing it directly and making people accustomed to it, it would not arouse suspicion.

"Hmm, from now on, I'll hide the secret of the Mysterious Space in broad daylight and openly," Wang Hong mused.

However, when he had more abundant Spirit Stones in the future, he should still purchase some Spirit Fields.

With long-term management, Spirit Fields would also have a stable output, and he could hire some people to manage them, which would not require too much of his own effort.

At the same time, it could also conceal the source of some Spirit Herbs.