Flint Fire Seed, Spring Rain Like Oil

Fireworks suddenly blossomed across the sky.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The magnificent riot of purples and reds was like a garden of fireworks blooming in the air. Strange flowers of every kind burst open one after another, illuminating the night sky of the Zi Hour, dispersing the heavy clouds and mist, and letting the bright moonlight spill across the earth.

Li Ye saw it clearly.

Through the panel, he could identify the true forms of those "flowers."

They were actually the petals of a spirit plant called the Seasonal Firework Tree. It seemed that once its petals were activated by spiritual energy in the sky, they created this peculiar spectacle.

Of course, the even grander gesture was the "gifts" that fell along with the fireworks.

The streaks of light falling from the heavens like meteors were clearly pills! And pills wreathed in spiritual energy at that!

As luck would have it, one of them happened to be falling 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 at once. They immediately dropped what they had been holding in their mouths and gathered around.

Li Ye stepped forward as well and picked up the pill.

Just holding it, the rich fragrance of the pill rushed straight into his nose.

Merely smelling it made his entire body feel wonderfully at ease. The comfort was beyond words, almost enough to make him feel as though he were floating toward immortality.

A tiny jade slip had fallen alongside the pill.

"Rank 2 Spirit Cleansing Pill."

"Effect: continuously purifies impurities from spiritual power."

"Can be used to purify spiritual power when breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm..."

For a moment, he felt even his breathing grow heavy. A Rank 2 spirit pill—and one effective for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm—was the Four Seasons Sect really giving it away for free just like that?

"Rich and overbearing. Truly rich and overbearing."

He muttered a few words, swiftly placed the spirit pill into an empty pill bottle he had finished, tightly stoppered it, and only calmed down after taking several deep breaths.

After obtaining this, he immediately decided not to go out.

No matter how good the other spirit pills were, so many cultivators outside would certainly fight 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 someday in the future?

Do not covet too much. Do not seek to be fully satisfied.

This was enough.

The fireworks in the heavens continued to bloom, but Li Ye had already begun busily moving the Silver Moon Grass and Flint Crystal Worms into a small plot of land inside the house, covered by the formation.

During the process, he could already sense the Silver Moon Grass weakening. It had been full of vigor just yesterday, yet after only a single day, it had begun to wither, its silver blades drooping down.

The Flint Crystal Worms had also begun 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 he had dug up beside the spirit spring, then filling all the surrounding area 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. There was so much of it that it was as though they had been squeezed dry.

"What are you..."

Li Ye saw that the status prompt on the panel had changed to preparing for hibernation. After releasing this spiritual energy as a gift to Li Ye, the Flint Crystal Worms began digging holes to bury themselves.

The tiny silvery-white shoots atop their heads fell off one after another, while the red Moon Nectar Pearls that the Silver Moon Grass had never managed to mature slowly dripped down as well.

Seeing this, Li Ye hurriedly gathered everything.

Then he watched as they slowly collapsed together in a heap, curling into a ball. Though their auras had become exceedingly faint, that vitality was far better than their previous half-dead state.

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 only then that he abruptly realized his cultivation had reached Qi Refining Fifth Layer.

During this time, he had continuously consumed all kinds of Spirit Materials, and combined with the spiritual energy they had released, he had directly crossed an entire layer.

When he had first arrived, he had only been at Qi Refining Stage Three.

He had not expected to cross two layers so quickly.

Eating, drinking, farming, and raising spirit beasts, all while advancing in cultivation—there truly was nothing more comfortable than this.

Still, only the lower stages could progress this quickly. With all the good food and drink he had, surely he would not get stuck at Qi Refining for over 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 astonishment, he discovered that a tiny flame was burning within the former, while the latter was as hard as iron, icy-cold to the touch, with thread after thread of a comforting aura flowing into his body.

"My heavens, a flame seed?"

Li Ye froze on the spot.

Legend had it that the world contained all manner of strange flames. With a fire seed, one could command such flames—and now, right before him, were no fewer than five Flint Fire seeds!

Though they were merely the feeble Flint Fire of Flint Crystal Worms, Flint Fire was still Flint Fire!

If Li Ye took these fire seeds out and sold them now, he could probably trade them for several hundred Spirit Stones.

"But I don't have a fire seed box."

For the time being, he could only carefully set the five fire seeds aside. Tomorrow, he planned to visit the Mo Family Automaton Workshop and buy a box made specifically for storing fire seeds. Without one, the loss to the fire seeds would be far too great.

After putting away the fire seeds and the silver sprout, he suddenly heard a rumbling boom from outside.

The moonlight that had just filled the sky with clear radiance had vanished. Dark, heavy clouds had locked down the heavens.

Silver serpents slithered through the pitch-black clouds, baring fangs and claws. Thunderclaps rolled one after another, as though they meant to shatter the deathly stillness frozen beneath winter's ice.

"Huh? Is it going to rain already?" Li Ye still found it rather strange.

Could there be some Magic Treasure or divine ability that controlled the weather? This spring rain had arrived 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.

So, after going out to take a look around, 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 drizzle began to descend from the sky. This rain was somewhat different from what he had imagined; it seemed to carry a faint gleam.

Looking out from beneath the eaves into the distance—countless raindrops shimmered with a soft purple glow as they fell from the heavens, joining into a curtain of rain. It was far more spectacular than the pill rain and fireworks the Four Seasons Sect had handed out earlier.

"Hmm?"

Instinctively sensing that something was wrong, he braved the rain and went over to the basin.

Yet he discovered that after the spring rain fell, the purple radiance brought by the lightning had somehow dispersed. What collected in the basin was merely ordinary water with a trace of Spiritual Energy.

"No! The spring rain with that purple radiance is what the Spirit Vine needs, isn't it? Why isn't there any of that rain here?"

Li Ye grew anxious. He swept his gaze across the courtyard, then suddenly noticed a soft purple glow by the beaver's dam—more precisely, by the beaver nest bound to Hungry Bone.

It floated atop the rainwater like oil, wisps of lightning radiance still swirling within it.