Fireworks suddenly blossomed across the sky.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The dazzling riot of purple and red was like a garden of fireworks blooming in the heavens. Strange flowers of every kind opened one after another, illuminating the night sky at midnight, scattering the heavy clouds and mist, and letting the bright moonlight spill across the earth.
Li Ye saw it clearly.
Through the panel, he could distinguish the true forms of those "flowers."
They were actually the petals of a spirit plant called the Seasonal Firework Tree. It seemed that when its petals were activated by spiritual energy in the sky, they created this peculiar sight.
Naturally, the grander gesture was the "gift" that fell with the fireworks.
Those streaks of light falling from the firmament like meteors were clearly pills—pills wreathed in spiritual energy!
As luck would have it, one such pill fell straight toward this place. Li Ye hurriedly picked up the formation disk controlling the array and opened a gap in it.
The pill immediately passed through the gap in the formation and quietly fell to the ground.
The Beavers still diligently working through the night sensed the spiritual energy. They immediately dropped what they were carrying in their mouths and gathered around.
Li Ye also stepped forward and picked up the pill.
Merely holding it, its rich medicinal fragrance rushed straight into his nose.
Just smelling it made his whole body feel at ease. The comfort was beyond words, even giving him the sensation of floating like an immortal.
A tiny jade slip had fallen alongside the pill.
"Rank 2 Spirit Cleansing Pill."
"Its effect is to continuously purify impurities from spiritual power."
"It can be used to refine spiritual power when breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm..."
For a moment, even his breathing grew heavy. A Rank 2 spirit pill, and one effective for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm—was the Four Seasons Sect simply giving it away for free?
"Deep pockets. Truly, deep pockets."
He muttered to himself, swiftly placed the spirit pill into an empty pill bottle, tightly stoppered it, and only calmed down after taking several deep breaths.
Having gained this, he immediately decided not to go outside.
No matter how good the other spirit pills were, so many cultivators outside would surely be fighting over them. Though the Four Seasons Sect forbade fighting within the market, grudges would still be formed.
Who knew whether this matter might sow the seeds of disaster in the future?
Do not be greedy for too much; do not covet more than enough.
This was enough.
The fireworks in the heavens continued to bloom, but Li Ye had already begun busying himself. He carefully moved the Silver Moon Grass and Flint Crystal Worms into a small patch of farmland inside the house, covered by the formation.
During the process, he could already sense the Silver Moon Grass weakening. It had still been full of vigor yesterday, yet in the span of a single day, it had begun to wilt, its silver blades drooping.
The Flint Crystal Worms also began to grow restless.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine here."
He soothed the Silver Moon Grass and Flint Crystal Worms, carefully transplanting the former into soil dug from beside the spirit spring, then filling all the surrounding space with the ice spheres he had made.
But just as he settled the Silver Moon Grass and Flint Crystal Worms, they suddenly began releasing their own pure spiritual energy. The amount was so great that it seemed as though they were squeezing themselves dry.
"What are you doing..."
Li Ye saw the status notification on the panel change to preparing for hibernation. After releasing that spiritual energy for him, the Flint Crystal Worms began digging holes and burying themselves.
The silvery-white shoots atop their heads fell off one after another, while the red Moon Nectar Pearls the Silver Moon Grass had never managed to mature slowly dripped down as well.
Seeing this, Li Ye hurriedly gathered everything.
Then he watched them slowly collapse together, curling into a ball. Though their auras had become extremely weak, the vitality within them was far stronger than when they had previously been half-dead.
There were even faint signs that their spiritual power was advancing in rank.
"Looks like I worried for nothing."
Li Ye let out a breath and finally relaxed.
It was at that moment that he suddenly realized his cultivation had reached Qi Refining Fifth Layer.
He had been consuming all sorts of Spirit Materials during this period, and together with the spiritual energy they had released, it had directly allowed him to cross an entire level.
When he had first arrived, he had only been at Qi Refining Stage Three.
He had not expected to cross two levels so quickly.
To advance simply by eating, drinking, farming, and raising spirit beasts—there truly was nothing more comfortable than this.
Still, only the lower stages could advance this quickly. With how well he was eating and drinking, surely he would not get stuck in Qi Refinement for more than a decade, would he?
He took the red Moon Nectar Pearls and the tender shoots shed by the Flint Crystal Worms back to his room for a closer look.
To his surprise, he discovered that a tiny flame was burning within the former, while the latter was as hard as iron and cool to the touch, with wisps of comforting energy flowing into his body.
"My heavens, fire seeds?"
Li Ye was instantly stunned.
Legend had it that all kinds of strange flames existed in the world. With a fire seed, one could control such flames. Yet now, there were five entire Flintfire seeds before him!
Though they were merely the weak Flintfire of the Flint Crystal Worms, they were still Flintfire!
If Li Ye took these fire seeds out to sell now, he could probably exchange them for several hundred Spirit Stones.
"But I don't have a Fire Seed Box."
He could only carefully set the five fire seeds aside for the time being. Tomorrow, he planned to visit the Mo Family Automaton Workshop to buy a box specifically for storing fire seeds. Without such a thing, the fire seeds would suffer too much loss.
After storing the fire seeds and silvery tender shoots away, he suddenly heard a rumbling boom from outside.
The moonlight that had filled the sky just moments ago had vanished, and gloomy clouds locked down the heavens.
Silver serpents slithered through the pitch-black clouds, baring fangs and brandishing claws. Thunderclaps sounded one after another, as if they meant to shatter the deathly silence frozen by winter.
"Huh? Is it going to rain already?" Li Ye found it rather strange.
Could there be some Magic Treasure or divine ability capable of controlling the weather? This spring rain had come a little too punctually.
He had long prepared basins and jars in the courtyard, intending to collect spring rain as a "gift" for the Spirit Vine.
After going out to inspect things, he sat beneath the eaves and patiently waited for the spring rain to fall.
He did not have to wait long. After the thunder rumbled several times, a fine spring rain began drifting down from the sky. It was somewhat different from what he had imagined, seeming to carry a faint glimmer of light.
Looking out from beneath the eaves into the distance—countless raindrops glittered with a soft purple radiance as they fell from the firmament, joining into a curtain of rain. It was even more spectacular than the pill rain and fireworks the Four Seasons Sect had just bestowed.
"Hmm?"
He instinctively sensed something was wrong and went out into the rain to the basins.
Yet he discovered that after the spring rain fell, the purple brilliance brought by the lightning had vanished at some point. What collected in the basins was merely ordinary water carrying a trace of spiritual energy.
"No! The rain carrying that purple radiance is the spring rain the Spirit Vine needs, isn't it? Why isn't there any such rain here?"
Li Ye grew somewhat anxious. He swept his gaze across the courtyard and suddenly spotted a soft purple glow near the Beavers' dam—more precisely, near the Beaver nest bound to Hungry Bone.
It floated atop the rainwater like oil, with wisps of lightning gleaming within.
Before you continue