Jade Ring Spirit Patterns, Spirit Beast Trading (Two Chapters in One; Comments and Monthly Votes Appreciated)

Ye Jingcheng stepped into the Grotto-Heaven once more.

His eyes were bright, though tinged with fatigue.

After all, he had spent the past two years planning herb exchanges, dealing with cultivators, and traveling back and forth across the Central Region. The mental effort involved had been no less than that of refining pills for two years.

Fortunately, he had now gathered everything he needed, making it all worthwhile.

It was midsummer. Green jade lotuses bloomed in the lake, fish leaped freely from the water, golden light bamboo gleamed in the distance, and flocks of sheep raced about. The entire Grotto-Heaven brimmed with life, and Ye Jingcheng could not help relaxing.

If returning to Yellow Sand Mountain meant safety, then returning to the Grotto-Heaven meant truly having nothing to worry about. After all, within this Grotto-Heaven, he alone was heaven.

He did not force himself to continue refining pills. Instead, he chose a spot beside the spirit lake, brought out a grand armchair, and lay back in it, doing nothing and thinking of nothing, simply emptying his mind.

Even when the spirit beasts and wood demons gathered around, Ye Jingcheng merely waved his hand, brought out some spirit pills, and sent them off on their separate ways.

From his very first day of cultivation, he had known that training required a balance between tension and relaxation. After several years of keeping himself taut, he could finally rest for a while with an easy mind.

The tasks ahead remained far from light. The trip to Xuanji in five years and the journey to the Earth Immortal Realm in twenty-five both carried considerable risks.

Ye Jingcheng sat beside the spirit lake for three straight days. Only on the fourth day, when the first light of dawn emerged and a fish-belly white appeared along