Late Spring Chill, Revival

This was where the shortcomings of his lack of knowledge showed.

Though Li Ye knew this was Spirit Vein Willow, he had no idea what it had originally looked like or how it was supposed to be pieced together.

He wondered whether he should buy a book cataloguing all kinds of spirit beasts and spirit plants.

But books like that were generally expensive, so he calculated how many spirit stones he currently had.

"Last time, I got a total of four thousand spirit stones from selling Moon Nectar Pearls. I've spent over three thousand six hundred spirit stones here and there buying things these past few days. Spirit stones really aren't enough to spend!"

After doing the math, Li Ye immediately felt that he needed to be more frugal.

At the very least, until the spirit plants he had cultivated could be harvested and turned into profit, he had to save.

Besides, he was already raising quite a lot. He probably did not need to add any new spirit plants or spirit beasts in the short term.

Micro-Stream Beaver, lotuses, Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp, Spirit Water Phoenix-Eye Lotus, Golden Horn Ants, Start of Spring Wheat...

Those spirit plants and spirit beasts had indeed provided him with quite a bit of Spiritual Energy and food, but simply eating them himself was clearly not enough. He needed to find a way to turn them into cash.

For instance, could the Flint Fire Seed be rented out to alchemists?

Or the scales of those Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp, the gourds of the Spirit Water Phoenix-Eye Lotus, and materials from the lotuses.

He had painstakingly cultivated all of those things. No matter what, they ought to fetch some spirit stones.

And those Golden Horn Ants—he also needed to gradually figure out how to bind them.

That way, they could both obey his commands and purify ore, while also making up for the flaw of lacking "metal" among the Five Elements.

"Even if they won't bring in many spirit stones, a trickling stream wears through stone. It'll add up to no small gain."

After pondering for a while, Li Ye lowered his head to look at the pile of Spirit Vein Willow, and his head began to ache again.

"Do I have to get hold of a spirit vein to test it? Forget it. Tomorrow, I'll ask Senior Spirit Vine about it. I'll bring everything along too and have it appraise their value."

He filled a basin with spirit water and soaked all the Spirit Vein Willow in it to preserve their vitality. He even added a few drops of Purple Oil Spring Rain before tossing it aside and leaving it alone.

He still had to put today's flour into the vat, and he needed to carry out his daily circulation cycle. There were still many things to do—matters that could not be dealt with right now could only be set aside for the time being.

The next day.

Li Ye had been asleep when he suddenly felt something furry and soft crawl onto his face. The soft fur, accompanied by a chorus of "squeak, squeak, squeak," jolted him awake.

"What are you doing?!"

Opening his eyes, he found that it was indeed the Micro-Stream Beaver. The little fellow anxiously pointed outside and squeaked at him.

"Hmm?"

A sense of foreboding welled up in his heart. Li Ye took a deep breath and looked outside.

A fierce wind swept dust and fallen leaves through the courtyard. The sky was overcast, and flakes of white snow drifted slowly down.

It was as though he had slept straight through to winter.

"Oh no!"

"A late spring cold snap!"

"It really happened!"

He smacked his forehead in frustration. He had forgotten that from Jingzhe to Qingming, there was a strong chance of a late spring cold snap.

For crops, a sudden plunge in temperature was an enormous problem!

Li Ye immediately threw on his clothes and rushed outside.

Yet when he looked toward the wheat he had been most worried about—

He was stunned to see that the five Frost Wheat plants planted in the very center, along with the wheat spirit that had once been yellow but was now pale blue, were jointly holding up a halo of light.

The remaining thousand-odd stalks of Start of Spring Wheat seemed to be drawn by the wheat spirit's power, breathing out threads of Spiritual Energy.

Then, transformed through the Start of Spring Wheat bound to the five central Frost Wheat plants, it flowed into the light barrier.

The swirling snowflakes were blocked by the barrier, and as they fell, the cold spiritual power within them seemed to have already been dispelled.

The snow silently accumulated around the wheat stalks' roots, covering them like a quilt.

It... seemed they were actually quite comfortable.

"Ha." The anxiety in Li Ye's heart instantly eased somewhat.

What he had worried about most was the wheat. A late spring cold snap had an immense impact on wheat; if something went wrong with it, his mission would become troublesome as well.

But now, it seemed there was really no problem at all.

The connections between the wheat spirit, the Frost Wheat, and those few Start of Spring Wheat plants had formed a perfect closed loop, blocking the chill brought by the late spring cold snap. It was truly an unexpected delight!

With a sigh of relief, he looked toward the other spirit plants and spirit beasts.

Though the lotuses in the stream were somewhat wilted, they were alive at least. Their mood had changed to trembling with cold, and their status had changed to suffering from a cold invasion.

In this situation, all Li Ye could do was place several Fire Spirit Stones into the stream and bury them there. So long as their roots were not completely destroyed, they would always be able to survive.

The Spirit Water Phoenix-Eye Lotus was doing all right too.

When he checked on the Crimson-Gold Dragon Carp, he found that the fish had long since used their heads to burrow into the mud at the bottom of the pond, hiding amid the dense leaves of the Spirit Water Phoenix-Eye Lotus.

"...You really are clever."

After being reminded, the beaver on his shoulder dashed through the snow and hid inside its nest.

The nest was warm and comfortable. If it had not been worried about its master, it would never have come out in the first place.

If anyone had it worst, it was the Golden Horn Ants that had only just arrived.

Their nest was made of metal to begin with, and they had all huddled inside it. Li Ye hurriedly moved them into the kitchen.

Then there was nothing else to worry about.

"..."

"I thought this would take some effort. Who knew it would be this easy?"

Leaning against the doorpost, he gazed over his courtyard, then at the snowflakes suddenly drifting down from the sky, and muttered to himself, "By rights, the Four Seasons Sect should have been able to predict this cold snap... Could this be part of the mission too?"

"Mm...!!"

Li Ye suddenly sensed something. A flash of delight appeared on his face as he quickly made his way to where the formation was set up, then bent down to look below—

Bright silver snowballs had piled up within the formation, melting at an exceedingly slow pace and scattering the moonlight gathered by the Luminescence Art, ensuring that the hibernating Silver Moon Grass remained alive.

Buried below were clumps of somewhat wilted silver grass, along with Flint Crystal Worms that had originally been sleeping beneath the soil but had now awakened.

Was this right?

Li Ye's first thought was that this late spring cold spell was not true winter. If these little fellows woke up like this, would it affect them later on?

But seeing how spirited they were, Li Ye still let out a sigh of relief. He immediately brought over powder made by crushing Fire Spirit Stones and placed it before the Flint Crystal Worms.

The Flint Crystal Worms, having hibernated for a time, immediately feasted to their hearts' content.

The Silver Moon Grass also began to slowly revive, drawing in the congealed moonlight from the ice spheres formed of surrounding moonlight at a visible rate. Some even began to condense Moon Nectar Pearls.

Li Ye's face immediately broke into a broad grin.

He had thought the snow would bring him some trouble, but who would have expected it to be a good thing instead? Still, this was only a late spring cold spell, not winter... Could it really revive the Silver Moon Grass and Flint Crystal Worms too?