Spirit Bamboo!

Fulfill... one wish!

At those words, the Pineleaf Squirrel, who had shown little interest and dozed through the whole affair, suddenly opened its eyes wide.

It had never cared for the supposed Mechanism Art reward, thinking Spirit Stones would be better.

But hearing Elder Yu say that, the Pineleaf Squirrel instantly perked up.

Asking for a Storage Bag shouldn't count as an unreasonable wish, right?

Whether Lin Jing was interested in learning Mechanism Art now was uncertain, but the Pineleaf Squirrel suddenly felt an urge to build a Mechanical Beast with its own paws.

For no other reason than to make that wish.

Elder Yu's move could truly be called the ultimate open stratagem.

Even the usually even-tempered Lin Jing raised his head slightly and met Elder Yu's eyes seriously, as though trying to confirm whether his words... were true.

"Elder, is any wish really fine, so long as it's not unreasonable?" he asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Of course."

"Elder, we have indeed run into some difficulties, but they should fall within your duties and be something you can resolve..."

"What is it?"

Just as the Pineleaf Squirrel thought Lin Jing was finally going to ask for a Storage Bag on its behalf, Lin Jing spoke to it through their mental link.

[Storage Bags are easy to buy, but a chance to make a wish of an outer sect elder is rare!]

The Pineleaf Squirrel froze.

Lin Jing cupped his hands. "Elder, ever since we joined the sect, the Pineleaf Squirrel and I haven't had a single full meal because of our enormous appetites. We've never even tried the canteen. If we successfully build a Mechanical Beast, could we... eat at the Outer Sect Canteen for free forever?"

The Pineleaf Squirrel: "!!!"

"Hmm???" Elder Yu had expected something serious. He laughed heartily, stroked his beard, and said, "Such a trifling matter is naturally no problem. The canteen has some food left over every day, and those leftovers would be given to the Spirit Beasts and Demon Beasts the sect raises anyway. It's only two more mouths to feed."

Elder Yu reflected that, thankfully, outer sect disciples had seen little of the world, so their requests weren't excessive.

"Thank you, Elder! Once we get back, we'll devote ourselves wholeheartedly to learning Mechanism Art!"

Faced with Lin Jing's wish, the Pineleaf Squirrel still wanted a Storage Bag, but it truly couldn't find fault with this wish either.

After all... with golden spirit rice whetting their appetites, each of them ate as much in a day as ten people.

If there was somewhere they could eat highly nutritious food for free, then over time, the money saved on resources and meals would buy several Storage Bags.

The Pineleaf Squirrel counted on its paws, then silently looked toward Elder Yu.

"Good." At this point, Elder Yu had yet to realize the gravity of the problem. He said, "But don't force yourselves. To go far along the path of Mechanism Art, you must love it."

"Actually, as a beast-taming cultivator, taking up a mechanical craft as a secondary discipline is a good choice."

"Mechanical Beasts are beasts too. Compared with contracted pets, who are like friends and family, these lifeless creations can often carry out more dangerous tasks for Beast Tamers, such as... probing formations and exploring perilous places."

"You've been in the sect for some time now. Aside from beast taming, have any other crafts caught your interest?" Elder Yu... intended to slowly cultivate Lin Jing's interest in Mechanism Art.

"In answer to your question, Elder..." Lin Jing said honestly, "I want to learn alchemy later. Lately, I've been memorizing the properties of plants."

"Alchemy..." Elder Yu was speechless. How trite. Always alchemy or artifact forging. Neither is half as interesting as Mechanism Art.

He said, "Alchemy... isn't easy. Above all, it's tedious. Just to master the basics before learning alchemy, you have to memorize the effects of tens of thousands of plants."

"Yes, just memorizing all that took me a long time." Lin Jing sighed, as though he had returned to his previous life of grinding for college entrance exams, graduate entrance exams, and civil service exams.

He suspected that the terminal illness in his brain had been caused by killing too many brain cells grinding through all those things.

He had passed the exams, but ruined himself in the process.

Elder Yu: ?

"You've memorized the entire Outer Sect Herbology Compendium?" Elder Yu wondered whether he had misheard something.

How long had Lin Jing even been in the sect? Even Qi Refining cultivators could only memorize such vast, complex information bit by bit. It couldn't be poured into their minds through jade slips, or their brains would burst.

"Yes." Lin Jing nodded. He had indeed noticed that his memory had improved somewhat after transmigrating, and the feeling became even more pronounced after he began cultivating. Combined with the fatigue-relieving Spirit-Nurturing Art, memorizing books wasn't difficult.

"What are the medicinal effects of exquisite leaf?" Elder Yu asked.

"It regulates qi and relieves pain. It's one of the key medicinal ingredients for pills treating illnesses caused by disordered true qi."

"Seven-star chrysanthemum."

"It warms yang and dispels cold. It's used to refine..."

"Spirit bamboo sap!" He pointed at the pile of spirit bamboo.

"It calms the mind and restores alertness. It's a supplementary ingredient for refining Clear Spirit Pills..."

Elder Yu was speechless. He had meant to discourage Lin Jing from studying alchemy, but now he didn't know what to say.

Fine, this boy with a longevity body is so clever that learning Mechanism Art shouldn't take much effort either! If you're good at learning, learn more!

After tossing the remaining spirit bamboo to Lin Jing and the squirrel, Elder Yu left them to it.

They had sown the seeds themselves and could only reap what followed. Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel struggled to carry all the spirit bamboo back to their courtyard.

Although they could have asked a disciple contracted to a Horned Ox to transport it, the thought of paying for the hire made them abandon the idea.

Before long, the spirit bamboo had been moved from the Mechanism Workshop to Lin Jing's courtyard.

Looking at the pile of spirit bamboo, Lin Jing rubbed his chin. This time, even if only for a lifetime pass to free meals at the Outer Sect Canteen, he had to work hard to master the basics of Mechanism Art.

"Come to think of it." Lin Jing looked at the pile of spirit bamboo and suddenly remembered something.

"Back in the bamboo grove, when I saw all that spirit bamboo, I wanted you to try combining it with your Glazed Immortal Eyes. But just cutting it down used up all your strength."

"Now, are you interested in giving it a try? This stuff counts as plant material too, right?"

"Squeak?" The Pineleaf Squirrel hopped down from Lin Jing's shoulder and looked at him. Weren't they using it as mechanical materials?

"It's only spirit bamboo. If we run out, we can buy more," Lin Jing said. It wasn't some rare resource.

Hearing that, the Pineleaf Squirrel turned in a circle, thought it over, and decided he was right. It looked at the pile of spirit bamboo with its Glazed Immortal Eyes, wanting to see whether it would work...

Suddenly!

Jadeite light burst from its eyes.

...The divine power of the Glazed Immortal Eyes instantly enveloped ten stalks of emerald-green spirit bamboo.

It seemed to work!

The next instant, beneath the emerald glow, the ten stalks of spirit bamboo slowly... merged into a single small stalk of blue spirit bamboo!

"Squeak..." At the same time, the Pineleaf Squirrel covered its eyes and yelped. It felt that this fusion had consumed far, far more ocular power than combining spirit rice or spirit beans. Its eyes seemed to have been overstrained.

Despite the pain, however, the Pineleaf Squirrel urged Lin Jing to hurry and inspect the blue spirit bamboo's effects.

At its urging, Lin Jing carefully picked up the blue spirit bamboo. With the Black Bear Monster's fate as a warning, he didn't dare use too much force.

"Hmm?" Yet the moment Lin Jing picked it up, crystal-clear sap flowed from one end.

It reminded Lin Jing of the question Elder Yu had asked him earlier.

"Spirit bamboo sap? Spirit bamboo has to receive the rain and dew of heaven and earth, absorb the spiritual energy of the sun and moon, and bathe in wind, rain, thunder, and lightning before sap can form inside it as it grows. These cut stalks lost the ability to produce sap long ago. Could the effect of blue spirit bamboo be to produce spirit bamboo sap naturally?"

Lin Jing launched into an analysis, but the pressure inside the bamboo kept rising. With a boom, a high-pressure jet of water shot out of it, blasting a huge hole through the wall in an instant. This wasn't spirit bamboo sap... it was a high-pressure water pipe! The recoil from the bamboo's water cannon hurled Lin Jing straight into the air. He flew backward and slammed into the house, his body and hands trembling.