Peach Blossom Wine's Price, the Difficult Puzzle of Piecing Together Willows

Divided into more than thirty scattered pieces, these living spirit plants could still be reassembled. That vitality alone was terrifying.

As he pondered, he inspected the spirit plants one by one and confirmed that every part of the Spirit Vein Willow was here.

But there were more than thirty of them. How many Spirit Stones would it take to buy them all at once?

Besides, buying everything in one go would inevitably make him look like some easy mark or foolish rich man.

If word got out, that would be real trouble. He still had to leave the Zhou Family later—who knew whether someone might decide to rob him?

Then...

He glanced at the empty gourd in Third Uncle Zhou's hand and the man's wine-craving expression.

He suddenly recalled Zhou Qiumai mentioning that Third Uncle Zhou valued wine as dearly as his life but refused to farm, so he did not have many Spirit Stones.

Coupled with that profiteer's behavior just now...

Li Ye immediately had an idea. It seemed he would have to put on a performance.

With that thought, he put on a helpless expression and made to rise. "There isn't a trace of Spiritual Energy, and I can't see what they truly are, yet the price is so high. It seems this junior is powerless to do anything."

As he walked away, he thought that if Third Uncle Zhou remained unmoved, he could only try asking Zhou Qiumai whether he could come back to buy these later—or simply find a cultivator to help.

"Hey, hey! Don't go! I can lower the price!" Third Uncle Zhou's composed expression instantly crumbled, and he hurriedly stopped him.

Though he had brought these items out of the Ripple Cliff Grotto-Heaven, several Foundation Establishment Cultivators had merely tossed them aside.

At the time, he had only just reached the Qi Refinement Realm. Thinking they were some kind of Treasures, he had grabbed them and run. Yet after sitting here for years, no one had wanted them.

The last time he went to catch Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp, the Old Matriarch had already given him a good beating with her cane.

His wine was about to run out, and he had no Spirit Stones in his pocket. It was rare enough to encounter someone interested in buying. Even if Li Ye was trying to haggle him down, he could only accept.

But who would have thought that the moment he said he could lower the price, Li Ye would leave even more resolutely?

"Hey, hey!"

He was instantly dumbfounded. Ignoring the laughter of his other brothers beside him, he hurried after Li Ye.

"Young friend! Young friend!"

Third Uncle Zhou stopped Li Ye with an embarrassed smile. Li Ye's face darkened. "Senior, are you trying to force a sale now?

Just now, you said one hundred Spirit Stones, no haggling. Now you're lowering the price and blocking my way. Could it be that you truly take me for some easy mark?"

His expression was displeased, but inwardly, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Sure enough, Third Uncle Zhou cared more about his wine!

"That's not what I mean!" Third Uncle Zhou rubbed his hands together. "I find Fellow Daoist quite agreeable to the eye. Besides, you bought my carp before, and you're good friends with my nephew Qiumai. Such a bond is truly rare.

If Fellow Daoist is willing, five hundred... six hundred Spirit Stones, and you can take everything!"

Gritting his teeth, he named a price.

Li Ye's expression eased slightly, but he still shook his head. "Six hundred Spirit Stones is still too much for a pile of useless things. If these were truly useful, Senior would have long since gone to the Four Seasons Sect to exchange them for Spirit Stones.

So, three hundred Spirit Stones!

For Fellow Daoist Zhou Qiumai's sake, in a few days I can give Senior a bottle of wine—a bottle of Peach Blossom Wine."

"Peach Blossom Wine!"

"Could it be the Peach Blossom Wine from Returning Shore Market?"

Third Uncle Zhou's face lit up with delight. "Naturally, that would be wonderful!"

After speaking, he seemed a little embarrassed. "Then I'd be the one profiting. A bottle of Mountain God Jade Reward Peach Blossom Wine costs at least two hundred Spirit Stones. That's a fine thing indeed."

Two hundred Spirit Stones?

Going by this world's measure, where one liter of wine was equal to two jin, his fifty jin of wine should sell for five thousand Spirit Stones... This truly was a path to amassing wealth.

Once he sold it, he could keep brewing more. Before spring ended completely, he should be able to brew another batch—that would be ten thousand Spirit Stones. Of course, he would definitely keep some for himself rather than sell it all.

He committed the information to memory, took out three hundred Spirit Stones and handed them over, then said:

"Sigh, Senior has given me a pile of spirit plants that may well be useless. I need to return and try them out, so I won't attend the rest of the banquet.

Please pass word along for me to Senior and Fellow Daoist Zhou."

"Of course, of course." Third Uncle Zhou did indeed need to find Zhou Qiumai—he still had to buy wine.

Li Ye put the spirit plants into his Storage Pouch and left directly. Along the way, he happened to encounter Su Ya and went over to greet him.

Su Ya also knew that some cultivators did not care much for such banquets, so he smiled and nodded.

Afterward, Li Ye returned to the place where he had entered earlier. The mortal woman from the Zhou Family was unexpectedly already waiting there.

She smiled at Li Ye. "Senior, are you heading back? Please board the carriage. This little sister will send Senior back to the market."

"Mm." Li Ye boarded the carriage. Today's gains had already been considerable.

A thousand jin of spirit wheat flour, over fifty Wheat Pellets, and a wheat spirit, along with the Golden Horn Ant and the Spirit Vein Willow—he needed to return and sort through them properly.

The journey passed without a word.

Nothing like bandits blocking the road happened, nor did they run into any demons or monsters. He entered the market peacefully and arrived at the gate of his little courtyard.

"Your driving skills are quite good. I'll put in a few good words for you with Fellow Daoist Zhou."

"Senior, I will never forget your great kindness!"

He casually said a word to the woman driving the carriage, and she was immediately overwhelmed with gratitude.

She had begged for this assignment as well. Being able to interact with an immortal cultivator—even if she only received a few words of praise—would make life easier for both her and her family.

"Mm, off you go."

After returning home, Li Ye first checked on his spirit beasts and spirit plants. Nothing unusual had happened; after all, he had only been gone for a few hours.

Then he released the Wheat Spirit that had been kept in his pocket the whole time.

The little fellow had clearly been stifled badly. The moment it came out, it drifted toward the wheat Li Ye had planted, casually picked a stalk to lie on, and fell asleep with its eyes closed.

By coincidence, the stalk it lay on happened to be Frost Wheat.

Since it was such a coincidence, Li Ye simply bound the Wheat Spirit to the Frost Wheat. It only cost a hundred points of Vital Essence, apparently calculated according to the second tier.

Over the past month or so, Li Ye had, as usual, stuffed himself with plenty of ingredients containing Spiritual Energy, accumulating eight hundred and thirty points of Vital Essence.

This was already his limit. If he ate any more, he would no longer be able to take it.

It was not merely that his appetite could not keep up. So much Spiritual Energy had accumulated within his body that it would not do if he did not refine it.

He had actually experienced what it felt like to be overflowing with Spiritual Energy.

Should I use these Spiritual Materials to have an alchemist refine some spiritual pills that replenish vitality?

Spiritual pills should provide more Vital Essence, and they ought to be easier to digest too. Otherwise, so much Spiritual Energy would go to waste. What a pity.

"An alchemist, huh."

Li Ye shook his head and took out a huge pile of Sharp Metal Ore weighing a full hundred jin.

These ores were covered in stony impurities, but according to the jade slip the Female Cultivator had given him, Golden Horn Ants liked the process of breaking things down and transporting them.

So he asked the beavers to bury the raw ores in the shallow underground layers, somewhere that would not touch the market's formation.

Then he took out the Golden Horn Ants' nest and let them run around as they pleased.

Only after finishing all that did he finally have the time to properly deal with that mysterious Spirit Vein Willow.

"It always feels grimy."

"Ugh, did Third Uncle Zhou not even know to wash things before selling them? Or did he think something had to be dirty and old to look like a treasure?"

While grumbling, he swiftly washed the pieces of all sizes clean, all the while agonizing over how exactly to put them together. This... seemed impossible to assemble at all.

Before him, these truly looked like entirely separate spirit plants—three that resembled tree forks, two densely tangled root systems, and a huge pile of branches and leaves.

Honestly, if the panel had not shown that they were all parts of the Spirit Vein Willow, anyone would probably have thought they were separate spirit plants.

He stared at the pile, sinking into indecision.