Peach Blossom Spirit Brew Rain, Fish Scale Harvest

He took the Huai Spirit Scroll back to his room.

Facing the sunset's rosy glow, he studied the faded, yellowing characters on the book's surface. Its feel in his hand was no different from ordinary paper.

To be honest, whether he scanned it with his Divine Sense or ran his fingers over it, he simply could not sense that this thing was actually a "spirit beast" requiring two thousand points to bind.

He had previously bound first- and second-rank ones, which had cost only twenty and one hundred points respectively.

According to the spirit beast and spirit plant ranks issued by the Four Seasons Sect, ranks one through three corresponded to Qi Refinement through Foundation Establishment, while anything above the third rank involved the Golden Core realm.

"So it's Golden Core?" With that deduction, he truly felt this thing was a little too hot to handle. Yet throwing it away would be a pity.

"Focus on cultivation for now. Once I reach Foundation Establishment and enter the Four Seasons Sect, I'll look for a divine ability or Magic Tool capable of controlling it. A Golden Core book demon could provide far too much help."

Having made up his mind, he placed the Huai Spirit Scroll into a box and set it by the cabinet, keeping it separate from the Aura of Golden Fortune plaque and the Flint Crystal Worm larvae.

Afterward, he took out that peach branch.

The peach branch remained as warm and smooth as jade in his hand. Several peach blossoms upon it even glimmered with a rosy spiritual radiance, and he could faintly smell the sweet, delicate fragrance unique to peach blossoms.

"According to what Senior Su Ya said..."

He gently touched the peach branch to his brow.

A slightly cool current of Spiritual Energy suddenly poured into his spiritual platform.

Amid the rosy halo of a swaying peach tree, strange, pulsing characters abruptly appeared in his mind. They were ancient seal script, yet he miraculously understood their meaning.

"Peach Blossom Spirit Brew Rain!"

This was unlike the spell Li Ye had imagined, one that directly cast magic to hasten growth. It required certain supporting ingredients and was somewhat related to spells like the Small Cloud Rain Art he had learned before. It even came with a secret brewing method.

Peach Blossom Brew was made by mixing peach petals, Spirit Spring Water, morning dew, and cinnabar.

Then, by scattering it with a special technique, it would form a patch of cloud and rain. Plants watered by that rain would be ripened to varying degrees.

Most importantly, the peach branch itself could substitute for peach petals. Nothing could be better than peach blossoms blessed by a mountain god and transformed into jade. This peach branch alone was an inexhaustible source of Spirit Stones!

All he needed to do was find morning dew and cinnabar.

"No wonder Fellow Daoist Su Ya gave me such a meaningful look before leaving and said someone would soon come begging at my door. So they'll be seeking Peach Blossom Brew.

"This really is a fine business for making money.

"As for morning dew, I can gather some tomorrow morning.

"But cinnabar..."

Li Ye silently picked up the Automaton Box he had never used before. It was something from the Mo Family Automaton Workshop. As long as he wrote down the item he needed inside, mortals would deliver it straight to his door.

The mortals in the market relied on small businesses like these, serving "immortals," to make a living.

It was rather like food delivery riders.

He now wrote the four words "finest cinnabar" on the wooden board inside the box. The required number of Spirit Stones immediately appeared after them. Since he wanted the finest grade, it cost one Spirit Stone per liang.

"I'll take ten liang first."

After writing down the quantity he wanted, all the words instantly vanished and were replaced by two characters: "Please wait."

Li Ye waited for roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

Then came a knock at the door.

"Pretty fast." He went to open it. Outside stood a young man in grayish-white robes, without the slightest Spiritual Energy fluctuation on him. The words "Liu's Sundries" were embroidered on his robes.

The young man was extremely respectful as he took out the box he had been carefully protecting.

"Immortal Senior, here are the ten liang of cinnabar you requested."

Inside the box was powdered cinnabar, brilliant red in color and radiating abundant Spiritual Energy. It was unquestionably the finest cinnabar.

"Mm."

"Not bad."

Li Ye directly took out ten Spirit Stones and handed them to the young man.

"Thank you, Senior. If there is nothing else, I'll take my leave."

"Nothing else."

The latter hurriedly thanked him again, then quickly departed with the Spirit Stones.

Seeing how cautious he was, he had likely experienced some less-than-pleasant things before. No matter what, cultivators tended to possess an indescribable sense of superiority toward mortals.

This was still a market run by a righteous sect. If it were a market on the demonic sects' side, mortals would likely have an even harder life.

He shook his head and went back inside to prepare.

After spending half the night committing all the knowledge required for this divine ability to memory, and incidentally procuring a large vat and drawing all the Formation Patterns described in the divine ability onto it, he quietly waited for tomorrow to arrive.

The next day.

Before dawn.

Li Ye emerged from his room with a yawn. The cool air of early spring gave him a shiver, swiftly driving away his drowsiness.

"Morning dew..."

Morning dew was naturally the dew that formed at dawn. He quickly found quite a bit of it among the lotus flowers and water hyacinths.

Droplets of dew rested on the lotus's blue-violet petals and the water hyacinth leaves, waiting for him to gather them.

According to the Peach Blossom Spirit Brew Rain inheritance: morning dew counted as a primer. Together with cinnabar and flower petals, it had to be placed in a large vat inscribed with Formation Patterns, thoroughly mixed and fermented with Spirit Spring Water, then sealed away for seven times seven—forty-nine—days before it could be taken out.

The amount of water depended on the quality of the peach blossom petals and the quantities of morning dew and cinnabar. But Li Ye did not need to worry about peach blossom petals. He could naturally fill an entire vat—fifty jin's worth.

For the next few days, he gathered morning dew in preparation for brewing wine. Then, around the sixth day, he suddenly noticed a strange change in the Spirit Water Phoenix-Eye Lotus's gourd—

The water hyacinth's gourd had originally been round, plump, and emerald-green, but now its surface was densely webbed with cracks. Golden-red bloody light flowed through those cracks.

He narrowed his eyes for a closer look, then suddenly jumped into the pond.

Splash!

Huge ripples instantly spread across the pond. One by one, the Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp hiding beneath the water hyacinths swam out. The golden-red color on their heads had become even more pronounced, and even the tiny bumps there had grown somewhat larger.

Li Ye fell into thought. Slowly parting the pond water concealed by the Spirit Water Phoenix-Eye Lotus, he discovered, to his surprise, roughly twenty-odd scattered scales resting on the pond bottom near its roots.

The scales were crystalline, like golden-red gemstones, gleaming with brilliant color beneath the faint morning sunlight.

"One falls every seven days."

"But there are clearly more than twenty now..."

"Could it be that you little fellows kept crashing into that gourd and made it shed so many?"

The fish swimming in the distance remained in a joyful state, brimming with Spiritual Energy. They showed no signs whatsoever of injury or depleted Spiritual Energy; on the contrary, they were far livelier than when he had bought them.

Since they were fine, Li Ye could only gather up all the scales. Before leaving, he thought it over and tried to pluck the gourd covered in blood-colored cracks.

In response, the Spirit Water Phoenix-Eye Lotus conveyed the thought that it had yet to mature.

Helpless, he could only give up.

Then he would go back and prepare the Peach Blossom Brew first, before tasting these fish scales to see what they were like.