Within the garden.
Chess Gentleman spotted those... strange bamboo stalks at a glance.
No.
More accurately, they were Bamboo Wood Ants!
Naturally, he knew of Bamboo Wood Ants. He even knew that Li Ye had cultivated a highly unusual nest of them, but he had never expected that they could even... devour Myriad Sinking Bamboo?
Myriad Sinking Bamboo was exceedingly special. It contained the literary aura infused into it by Bitter Journey Academy's founding patriarch, and ordinary spirit beasts would not even dare touch it, much less devour it at will.
That was why the mortal kingdoms under Bitter Journey Academy's jurisdiction even regarded Myriad Sinking Bamboo as a "divine object" for driving away plagues and pests, and its effects were rather good.
It seemed these Bamboo Wood Ants were no ordinary spirit insects either. Why did he sense a strange trace of divine incense and worship within them?
Li Ye had no idea he had already thought so much. He spoke.
"Here."
"Please take a look, Chess Gentleman."
At Li Ye's command, the bamboo that had been strolling about upright at a leisurely pace immediately sprinted over. Before Li Ye and Chess Gentleman, it swiftly changed forms.
A Spring Autumn Brush, writing brush, ruler, inkstone, canvas...
It transformed into every object a Confucian scholar might need.
Finally, it changed back into bamboo and silently rooted itself in the earth.
"Not bad."
"Every single one of these objects looks flawless. Little friend, your Bamboo Wood Ants are truly marvelous!"
Chess Gentleman naturally saw the benefits of this brand-new Myriad Sinking Bamboo at a glance. In the past, they would have needed to cultivate it painstakingly before crafting it into all manner of objects.
Now, it could transform directly.
It was practically like the Mo Family's Luban Ruler. It would be