New Mission, Profound Cultivation Method

Li Ye stayed cooped up at home for several days.

Seeing that the deadline for submitting the task was drawing near, while the wind and snow were steadily dwindling and showed signs of gradually subsiding, he looked at the Silver Moon Grass and sighed softly.

According to the task description, Silver Moon Grass was a typical seasonal spiritual plant. After the Beginning of Spring, when all things revived, it would gradually cease producing Moon Nectar Pearls until the next winter arrived.

He did not know what changes would occur, or whether they would disrupt the Flint Crystal Worms' stability.

The life-filled spiritual power these little fellows provided him every day was truly comfortable, each time leaving him feeling as refreshed as though he had taken a sauna.

Change was what he did not wish to see.

Yet the sun and moon turned, and the seasons changed. There was simply no helping it.

"The only solution is the pearls I've stockpiled. Once I turn in this task, I'll see if I can buy a formation and transplant the Silver Moon Grass into it."

"Forget it. I should go ask Senior Spirit Vine first."

"And deal with the spiritual plants while I'm at it. This Glass Snow Lotus probably can't be saved. Once the snow melts, finding cold-attributed birds will be troublesome too..."

Muttering to himself, he rose to his feet, tucked away a box containing fifty Moon Nectar Pearls and two other boxes containing ten Moon Nectar Pearls each, then headed out once again for the market.

Spirit Vine already knew that the Silver Moon Grass he cultivated could produce more Moon Nectar Pearls. It would not do for him to keep delaying the task submission, and besides, he did not know whether turning in more would affect the task evaluation.

If it could affect it, he would take out the other two boxes as well.

If it could not, then he would save some Moon Nectar Pearls.

Spirit Stones could be earned again, but the produce of such seasonal spiritual plants would become difficult to obtain once the season passed. He had to stockpile some.

Before long, he arrived at the Four Seasons Sect's shop.

But this time, Senior Spirit Vine seemed to be in a poor mood. The panel displayed its emotion as fury, which only changed to anger after it saw Li Ye.

Mm, it seemed his face had made a rather good impression here.

At the very least, seeing him had not changed it to something like extreme fury.

"You're here."

"How many Moon Nectar Pearls did you collect?"

"Let me tell you, most people did poorly on this Moon Nectar Pearl task. The quality was poor as well."

"The sect's alchemists just came to speak with me. If you have any extra, take them all out. I certainly won't let you suffer a loss, boy!"

Li Ye blinked and took out all three boxes, arranging them in a row atop the counter. The neatly placed Moon Nectar Pearls within gleamed with silver radiance beneath the light.

They truly looked like tiny moons.

"This junior did his utmost and only managed to harvest this much."

"Please have a look, Senior, and see whether they will do."

He actually felt a little guilty saying that. Ten days had passed since his previous visit, and counting the days spent accumulating Vital Essence, he had stockpiled nearly a hundred pearls.

With three days of spring still remaining, he could stockpile another dozen or so.

But Spirit Vine did not know that. Looking at the seventy neatly arranged Moon Nectar Pearls, it was briefly stunned. Its mood visibly improved, and the little white flowers on its vines all bloomed.

"Good, good, good!"

It praised him in rapid succession. "Truly excellent. Counting the two you gave me a few days ago, that makes seventy-two Moon Nectar Pearls in all. That ranks second in this assessment task."

"I'll count them as thirty Spirit Stones each for you, boy."

"Here, that is two thousand one hundred Spirit Stones. Go ahead and count them."

As soon as it spoke, a pile of Spirit Stones abruptly appeared atop the counter, overflowing with spiritual light and gleaming in every color. Li Ye swallowed softly at the sight.

Spirit Vine clearly wanted to create a shocking effect.

That pile of Spirit Stones could bury it completely. If the counter had not been large enough, it probably would not even have fit.

Over two thousand Spirit Stones! From a single task? No wonder the original owner had fought so fiercely with so many people to obtain it. No wonder he had completely lost his composure upon seeing the Silver Moon Grass wither.

"Then this junior will take them first." Li Ye swiftly stored all the Spirit Stones in his Storage Pouch, the smile on his face impossible to conceal.

Spirit Vine also knew that, so long as one paid a little attention, using a Storage Pouch to store Spirit Stones would make it clear exactly how many there were. Yet Li Ye's straightforwardness still pleased it—perhaps when someone looked pleasing to the eye, everything about them seemed agreeable.

It said unhurriedly, "Since you have completed the first stage of the task, this old man shall tell you about the second stage."

Li Ye nodded. "Please speak, Senior. This junior is all ears."

"The spiritual plant for this second stage is the same as for the first. It is still a seasonal spiritual plant unique to our Four Seasons Sect, beginning at the Beginning of Spring and ending at Grain Rain."

"As the saying goes, people regard food as their heaven. What this second-stage task requires is a kind of spiritual wheat, and it is spiritual wheat meant for the mortals and low-ranking cultivators under our sect to eat."

"Do not underestimate it. So many senior brothers and senior sisters in the sect cultivated while eating spiritual wheat."

"If you grow spiritual wheat well, then after entering the sect, even if you accomplish nothing else, becoming a spiritual wheat farmer will still leave you free of worries in cultivation."

"This task does not restrict how much spiritual wheat you produce, but naturally, the more the better. Here, these are the spiritual wheat seeds."

A box filled to the brim with spiritual wheat seeds was placed before Li Ye.

Every seed inside was exceptionally verdant, radiating abundant Spiritual Energy. If no one told him otherwise, he would have thought they were tiny pieces of emerald jade.

He glanced at it, and the panel immediately took effect—

Name: Four Seasons Spirit Wheat · Start of Spring Wheat

Mood: Longing to Sprout

Status: Good

Huh, it wasn't bound this time?

He was slightly taken aback, but on second thought, these were seeds cultivated by the Four Seasons Sect. Perhaps they truly had no flaws. It seemed he could not be too opportunistic when planting this thing.

He reached out to put the box away, but then suddenly thought of something. Feigning curiosity, he asked, "Senior, some days ago, when this junior was strolling through the market, I saw someone selling Wheat Pellets. What exactly are those?"

"Oh?" Spirit Vine said casually, "The elders of my sect believe that pills are made through human effort, refined from all manner of materials with the aid of tools. Yet there are countless spirit plants in this world—when they nurture seeds, are those seeds not their pills? If the great power of nature forms a pill, it must naturally be even more extraordinary."

"So-called Wheat Pellets are formed when, under special circumstances, the wheat germ within spirit wheat comes into contact with some kind of spiritual power—or through some fortunate coincidence—and unexpectedly fuses with flour, becoming something akin to a medicinal pill."

"Most spirit wheat is mainly used as a replacement for Grain-Refraining Pills. Moreover, the life-force spiritual energy nurtured within the wheat is also somewhat beneficial to the body. The specifics depend on the type of spirit wheat."

"Take this Start of Spring Wheat, for instance. With spring's surging vitality, coupled with the endless spring rain, it is absolutely comparable to a spirit pill with both wood and water attributes. Its price is correspondingly staggering—far beyond anything you could imagine."

At this point, it paused. "If you, boy, have the ability to raise a spirit pill from Start of Spring Wheat, I'll make the decision to have the sect's physician examine your injuries."

Li Ye smiled "ecstatically." "Thank you for your favor, Senior."

Then he scratched his head sheepishly. "However, this junior has one more question. I wonder if I may..."

"Go ahead."

Spirit Vine was happy to have completed its task, so it did not mind offering a little more guidance. Its master had said to forge more good ties; if this boy proved capable in the future, that would count as a good thing.

Only then did Li Ye ask, "This junior cultivates the Five Elements Ascending Spirit Art of the Four Seasons High Sect. This technique only goes as far as the Qi Refinement realm. Might it be possible to obtain the subsequent portions?"

Spirit Vine "looked" steadily at Li Ye for a while.

Li Ye wore a puzzled expression, as though wondering why it was looking at him that way, but he could not help feeling somewhat uneasy inside.

He had no idea what level of cultivation this spirit vine possessed. Its Divine Sense alone made him feel as though he had been seen through completely.

He remained silent and still.

Suddenly, Spirit Vine said meaningfully, "The Five Elements Ascending Spirit Art is quite an interesting technique. I recall that one of the entry assessments requires one to cultivate to the tenth level of Qi Refinement, and also have five different spirit plants or spirit beasts of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth sincerely entrust themselves to you."

"If you wish to cultivate the Five Elements Ascending Spirit Art to the higher levels, this is indispensable."

Li Ye immediately understood.

So this truly was the miraculous aspect the technique had brought him. He had thought it was the panel, but it seemed that now, he really could... reveal a little of it.