Bean Soldiering, Red Bean, and Bluebird

That red light piled up around Li Ye. Amid the hazy glow, countless indistinct shadows seemed to stand along both banks of the black-and-white river, gazing across at longing.

Among those shadows were men and women, young and old, as well as many dogs, cats, cattle... even blooming flowers, grasses, and insects.

The sight was immensely spectacular.

Li Ye felt as though even his breathing had been squeezed until it would not flow smoothly.

Though this Love-Sickness Life-Death Bean had not clearly displayed any disgust toward him or any desire to attack, merely radiating its power was already more than Li Ye could bear.

The Female Cultivator slowly spoke:

"Many people say longing exists only between men and women."

"But longing is itself an emotion. It is not merely love—familial affection, friendship... after being separated without a word, nearly every kind of emotion can give rise to longing."

"This Love-Sickness Life-Death Bean is a demonic plant that the demon sect once forced into being by using the methods of the Hell Dao to sacrifice an entire city alive, allowing its countless living beings to be separated by life and death and give rise to endless longing."

"I have placed restrictions upon it. Only once both your cultivation and Divine Sense cultivation reach a certain level will you be able to unseal the seals beyond this one. Otherwise, you would not be able to wield it in its complete form."

Her voice was like golden characters, leaving seal after seal upon the Love-Sickness Life-Death Bean in Li Ye's hand.

They ensured that the most terrifying power within would not leak out, and that Li Ye would be able to pick it up.

"Come with me."

Following behind the Female Cultivator, Li Ye felt the scenery around him swiftly change with the wind. Before long, they arrived at a place... that should have been a kitchen.

Pots, bowls, ladles, stoves, and every sort of cooking utensil were all present.

The Female Cultivator casually tossed out a handful of soybeans. The beans landed on the ground and erupted into smoke, transforming into tiny soybean people one after another.

Bouncing about, they began picking up ingredients and tableware, skillfully preparing food. Whether kneading dough, squeezing juice, stuffing fillings, or shaping dough balls, they moved astonishingly quickly.

The Female Cultivator casually found a chair and sat down, pointing at the tiny soybean people. "Bean Soldiering depends on the beans, but it also depends on your mind."

"I treat these beans as my family and friends. Within this Personal Grotto-Heaven, I even invited a Transformation God Ancestor from my sect to lay down certain special restrictions. Now, it is no longer I who maintains this grotto-heaven."

"Instead, these Bean Soldiers whom I cherish use their own lives, striving to preserve their karmic bond with me—this is the return I have received."

"Your Love-Sickness Life-Death Bean should have it easier. So long as it is willing to accept you, it will follow you through life and death. You need not put in too much effort."

She pointed at Li Ye.

An exquisitely subtle spell surged directly into his Divine Sense.

Like a gentle breeze brushing over the lake of his Divine Sense, it scattered countless characters across its surface, yet carried the piercing sharpness of great bells and grand chimes that struck straight into the heart.

Li Ye instantly committed the spell firmly to memory.

Its name was Bean Soldiering. Yet its effect was not simply to scatter beans and turn them into "Bean Soldiers" capable of helping their master. More importantly, it taught one how to cultivate beans and form contracts with them.

Simply put, ordinary Bean Soldiering treated beans as disposable items. Once they were scattered, there was no need to care about them again.

But this divine ability cultivated bean souls. After the spiritual power in the scattered beans faded, their spirituality could still return to the cultivated bean sprouts.

The stronger the sprouts, the more abundant their spirituality; the stronger and smarter the Bean Soldiers would become.

What Li Ye needed to do was leave a "sigil" with his Divine Sense inside the core of this Love-Sickness Life-Death Bean. Through a special power, this sigil would bind him to the spiritual plant.

Only then could he use Bean Soldiering.

He slowly exhaled, sat cross-legged, and cradled the Love-Sickness Life-Death Bean in his hands. His brow slowly writhed as his Divine Sense materialized, transforming into strands of crystalline thread.

The process was agonizingly difficult. If not for the fact that this technique did not demand cultivation—in fact, the lower one's cultivation, the better one could brand the bean sprouts—he truly would not have been able to endure it.

What was even worse was that when he finally guided his Divine Sense into crystalline threads and wrapped them around the Love-Sickness Life-Death Bean, all the resentment accumulated from its life, death, and longing poured into his heart.

This was the most difficult step.

Other spiritual beans might at most have incompatible attributes, but this Love-Sickness Life-Death Bean reached straight into one's Divine Sense and soul, forcing one to experience the pain of longing it had carried and accumulated!

Fortunately, Li Ye had the panel, and so his perception of spiritual plants and spiritual beasts was exceptionally keen.

Moreover, he had already won the affection of quite a few little ones. Finally, the Locust Tree from the Life-Breath Spirit Transformation Scroll stood tall within his Divine Sense.

Thus, things went fairly smoothly.

Before long, he reached the spirituality of the Love-Sickness Life-Death Bean, wrapped layer upon layer in longing so deep it had turned pitch-black, and extended a long, warm hand.

"Come."

"I am willing to share this pain with you."

Threads of Divine Sense, clear without the slightest impurity, slowly approached the red bean hiding in the corner along that hand.

On the surface of the tiny red bean, eyes that seemed to tremble and blink stared at the hand. At last, it sensed many familiar auras within it.

It even seemed to see a beaver radiating rainbow light all over its body, baring its large front teeth in a smile at it.

Only then did it stop resisting the touch of that large hand.

The threads instantly wound around it, forming a flickering sigil as brilliant as starlight.

A phantom of a red bean also appeared on Li Ye's wrist.

—This represented that the sigil had been successfully branded.

In the distance, the Female Cultivator sat eating a qingtuan, her eyes narrowing:

"How exactly did this kid win the affection of so many spirit plants and spirit beasts? There also seemed to be an exceedingly unusual aura suppressing something within his sea of consciousness..."

Of course, she could have directly seen through him with her immense power, but what she hated most was elders or mighty cultivators seeing through her like that. Naturally, she would not do such a thing.

"Such a fine seedling, yet senior brother had to take a liking to him."

The Female Cultivator let out a deep sigh, then gestured with her chin at the little yellow-bean man standing nearby. "Go fetch a pot of soil. Consider it my meeting gift for the little fellow."

The little yellow-bean man blinked his tiny eyes, then merrily skipped away to fetch a flowerpot and set it beside the Female Cultivator.

Li Ye happened to open his eyes just then. Looking down at the Love-Sickness Life-Death Bean in his hand, he saw that his fingers had already been stained with a wisp of profound crimson radiance.

He reached out, gently plucked off a red bean, and tossed it before him.

The red bean rolled around and around on the ground, then in the next instant transformed into an azure bird. Flapping its wings, it landed on Li Ye's shoulder.

Its feathers were as clear and pristine as the jade sea beneath a boundless sky, their edges trailing a wisp of golden splendor. Yet its eyes were red to the point of blackness. The contrast between its somewhat resplendent plumage and deathly still gaze was stark.

Li Ye froze at once.

Wasn't Bean Soldiering supposed to turn beans into "soldiers"?

How had it become an azure bird like this?

Somewhat puzzled, he looked toward the Female Cultivator and cupped his hands. "Senior, why did the red bean transform into such a miraculous bird?"

The Female Cultivator did not seem to care much. "Back when these Love-Sickness Life-Death Beans were in my sect's grotto-heaven, they underwent purification by various divine elders. Perhaps they retained a trace of divine essence from then."

"Besides, Bean Soldiering can turn them into whatever you want them to become.

"Someone once learned this divine ability from me, then spent all day lingering in the Myriad Delights Fox Palace, memorizing the appearances of some beautiful fox clan fellow cultivators."

"You must remember: so long as you know they are your Bean Soldiers, never let appearances beguile you—enough. You've tasted the food I made, so now tell me just how delicious it was."

"If your praise satisfies me, I'll give you a pot of Gold-White Spirit Soil from within the sect. But if it fails to satisfy me..."

She smiled meaningfully.

Li Ye looked at the great tableful of exquisite dishes that had already been prepared anew beside her, and a drop of sweat silently trickled down his temple.

"This junior will certainly do his utmost!"

He cupped his hands, unable to stop himself from giving a bitter smile.