Thinking of those bags upon bags of Gold Touch Value, Zhou Xuan rubbed his hands together and immediately pulled out a sack.
He casually untied the sack's opening and reached inside.
The grains felt cool and smooth. When he pulled out a handful, they were all crystal-clear, like jade: Mutated Spirit Rice.
With a thought, he used the system to convert a few grains.
[Ding! Metal Touch value +0.02!]
[Ding! Metal Touch value +0.03!]
Watching the numbers jump on the panel, Zhou Xuan's heart burned with excitement.
Two or three cartloads of rice would weigh at least several thousand jin. If he converted it all, what an enormous sum he'd gain!
Ten thousand Gold Touch Value, easily—probably more!
But just as he was about to convert the whole handful, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
"Direct conversion will certainly get me a lot of Gold Touch Value. But what if I use Gold Touch Value to perform Enlightenment on this stuff?"
Once the idea surfaced, he couldn't hold it back.
Even ordinary chicken meat could become Immortal Chicken Meat, infused with Spiritual Energy, after Enlightenment.
So what would Mutated Spirit Rice—already containing violent Spiritual Energy—become if he performed Enlightenment on it?
No sooner had the thought occurred than he acted.
Zhou Xuan picked three grains of Mutated Spirit Rice from his hand and laid them in his palm.
"System, perform Enlightenment on them!"
[Ding! Spiritualized mutant rice detected. It can be imbued with spirit. Consume 0.03 Golden Touch value?]
The cost wasn't high.
Zhou Xuan estimated that performing Enlightenment on one grain of Mutated Spirit Rice cost about as much as the Gold Touch Value he'd get from directly converting three or four grains.
The cost was a little steep, but if the result was more valuable, it was absolutely worth it!
"Yes!" he confirmed without hesitation.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a faint golden light flashed across his palm and vanished.
The three grains, though crystal-clear, had carried a trace of wild agitation within them. In an instant, they underwent a complete transformation.
The violent Spiritual Energy within them, charging about in all directions, seemed to be smoothed and set in order by an invisible hand.
The grains turned even more translucent, like the purest crystal. A faint, visible white mist even curled around their surface.
Pure, gentle Spiritual Energy drifted from the grains, carrying an intoxicating fragrance of rice.
[Ding! Imbuement successful! Obtained spirit rice (low grade)!]
Just as he'd expected!
Zhou Xuan's eyes lit up.
These weren't failed crops anymore. They were genuine Spirit Rice, fit for cultivators to eat directly!
It was only low-grade, but Spirit Rice was Spirit Rice!
Without another moment's hesitation, he tossed the three grains of Enlightened Spirit Rice into his mouth.
They didn't taste like anything special—if anything, they were a little bland.
But when he gave them a light chew, gentle Spiritual Energy burst from the grains, becoming a warm current that flowed down his throat and into every limb and bone.
Zhou Xuan didn't even need to deliberately circulate his cultivation technique. His body instinctively absorbed the pure energy, nourishing his flesh, blood, bones, and sinews.
Wonderful!
An indescribable feeling of comfort swept through his entire body.
"Excellent stuff! This is absolutely excellent stuff!"
Zhou Xuan's breathing grew a little ragged.
He immediately began calculating at lightning speed.
A grain of Spirit Rice weighed about two or three grams.
A jin of Spirit Rice came to roughly two hundred grains.
The three grains he'd just eaten hadn't contained much Spiritual Energy, but what they had contained was pure and gentle, and his body absorbed it with great efficiency.
After a quick estimate, he arrived at a conclusion that made his heart pound.
If he ate a whole jin of this Enlightened low-grade Spirit Rice, its effects would probably come very close to those of a Qi Gathering Pill!
A Qi Gathering Pill sold for ten Low-grade Spirit Stones at the Sect's Marketplace!
And it was often impossible to find one at any price!
How much would it cost him to perform Enlightenment on a jin of Spirit Rice?
A jin was about two hundred grains, and the cost of Enlightenment per grain was less than 0.03 Gold Touch Value. That meant a jin of Spirit Rice would cost him less than six points! Then a hundred jin of rice would cost six hundred Gold Touch Value.
Six hundred Gold Touch Value for a hundred Qi Gathering Pills worth ten Low-grade Spirit Stones each!
He'd really struck it rich this time!
Zhou Xuan gazed at the dozen or so sacks of Mutated Spirit Rice before him, his heart swelling with excitement.
With this batch of Spirit Rice, he had more than enough resources to break through into the Qi Refining Realm!
He'd even have plenty left over!
Uncontainable joy surged through his entire being.
He was already planning to go into seclusion at once, perform Enlightenment on a hundred or so jin of Spirit Rice, and push his cultivation straight into the Qi Refining Realm!
Just as Zhou Xuan was basking in the joy of this windfall,
a familiar voice, cold as ice and laced with scorn and distance, came from behind him without warning.
"Zhou Xuan."
The voice seemed to carry a bone-chilling cold, jolting Zhou Xuan from his elation.
That voice...
He slowly turned around and looked toward where it had come from.
Beneath the trees not far away stood a motionless figure dressed in white.
She wore a simple white gown, spotless and immaculate. Her graceful figure and chilly bearing made her seem like a moon palace immortal who had never set foot in the mortal world.
That stunning face was still as familiar as ever, yet seemed so strange and distant.
She stood there, utterly out of place amid the filth, chaos, and rotting stench of the Miscellaneous Affairs Department.
It was Liu Ruyan!
What was she doing here?
Zhou Xuan's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
Liu Ruyan looked at Zhou Xuan—at his filthy Servant Robe, and at the sack of Poison Rice by his feet.
A complicated look passed through her eyes: pity, disappointment, and, more than anything, a lofty scrutiny and confusion.
Her red lips parted, her voice carrying a hint of incredulous mockery.
"I never imagined you'd stoop to eating this kind of thing."
"The Spiritual Energy in this rice is wildly violent. A mortal who eats it will explode, and a cultivator will damage their meridians and suffer a lingering injury to their Dao. If you've eaten it, that's perfect. It saves me the trouble of doing it myself."
Liu Ruyan's gaze was cold, and her tone held a hint of disdain.
"To stay here, you really are shameless. You don't even care whether you live or die."
Liu Ruyan's words wiped the smile from Zhou Xuan's face.
He slowly turned around to look at the familiar yet distant figure, anger rising in his heart.
She was always so high and mighty, as if the whole world owed her something.
Especially that look in her eyes—lofty and disdainful, as if she were staring at an incurable stray dog wallowing in a muddy pit.
Zhou Xuan didn't answer her question. Instead, his gaze fell on the sack by his feet.
His lips curled into a mocking smile, and he shot back, "You're the one who cooked up all this mess, aren't you?"
Before you continue