Glazed Immortal Eyes

Over the next few days, after learning the Spirit-Nurturing Art, Lin Jing stopped cultivating and spent all his time reading various books to learn about this cultivation world.

Mainly, his cultivation efficiency was simply too low.

Rather than cultivate on his own, he was waiting for the spiritual energy feedback from the Pineleaf Squirrel's breakthrough to raise his cultivation!

This was the normal way for Beast Taming Sect disciples to grow stronger.

Although the Pineleaf Squirrel was not currently absorbing spiritual energy in the usual way, its frequent use of spiritual power to ripen the Spirit Rice Paddy also tempered that power.

After several days, the Spirit Rice Paddy had grown quite tall and was not far from maturity.

He had to admit, his Pineleaf Squirrel really was talented.

Lin Jing had learned from miscellaneous books that an ordinary Pineleaf Squirrel at the third level of Qi Refining would need about half a month to ripen a single Spirit Rice Paddy without outside assistance.

His own Pineleaf Squirrel, however, had nearly finished the farmwork in less than half that time.

Although he occasionally used his meager True Qi to relieve the Pineleaf Squirrel's mental fatigue with the Spirit-Nurturing Art, the help he could provide at merely the first level of Qi Refining could not amount to much.

Most of the credit went to the incomparably pure spiritual power the Pineleaf Squirrel had cultivated on its own, along with its patience and refusal to slack off.

"You're practically born with a sacred farming physique." Lin Jing closed his book and lavished praise on the Pineleaf Squirrel as it ripened the Spirit Rice Paddy.

"Squeak!"

Although the Pineleaf Squirrel did not know what a sacred farming physique was, it was probably a compliment.

It worked even harder.

Its emerald-green eyes gazed expectantly at the Spirit Rice Paddy before it.

Hum!

Before long, the Spirit Rice Paddy finally changed from milky white to white-gold and released a rich rice fragrance-the very sign that it had matured!

"Is it ready?"

As soon as the Spirit Rice Paddy matured, Lin Jing went to the Pineleaf Squirrel's side and peeled away the husks with it. Inside lay translucent, plump grains of white Spirit Rice that looked utterly enticing!

"Judging by the quality, it's hardly any worse than the bag they gave us."

The worry hanging over Lin Jing's heart finally settled.

We're set!

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!" The Pineleaf Squirrel nodded happily.

Just what you'd expect of me.

Next, Lin Jing and the squirrel immediately removed the remaining husks. In the end, several thousand grains of Spirit Rice lay on the ground, gleaming brilliantly.

Looking at the Spirit Rice scattered across the ground, Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel were in especially good spirits. Although it would not feed them for long, it was an excellent start.

The Pineleaf Squirrel looked at the pile of Spirit Rice.

Then it looked at Lin Jing.

Its intentions needed no explanation.

"Stockpiling food is a good habit."

"But we still need to eat this."

"How about this? You can take a hundred grains."

As though he had seen through the Pineleaf Squirrel's thoughts, Lin Jing spoke with a smile.

After all, this was the fruit of the Pineleaf Squirrel's hard work. Giving it a hundred grains was nothing, and it would satisfy its hoarding obsession a little.

A hundred grains less would not starve them to death.

Perhaps one day, if they were so poor they had to eat dirt, they could dig up the squirrel's hundred grains and have something to fill the gaps between their teeth.

Let it hoard!

"Squeak..." At Lin Jing's words, the Pineleaf Squirrel was overjoyed. It immediately ran over, counted out a hundred grains, and separated them into a pile.

A hundred grains of Spirit Rice was not much.

But looking at these hundred grains that belonged to it, the Pineleaf Squirrel felt comfortable all over, as though its vital pores had opened and stamina and spiritual power were surging forth.

Yet just then, an unexpected change occurred.

As the Pineleaf Squirrel gazed at the hundred grains of Spirit Rice, light suddenly spread through its emerald-green eyes, making them shine like jade.

Then, as the Pineleaf Squirrel panicked and Lin Jing watched in surprise,

two beams of jade light shot from the Pineleaf Squirrel's eyes.

They landed on the hundred grains of Spirit Rice.

An astonishing sight followed. Enveloped in green light, the hundred grains of Spirit Rice vanished in an instant.

As the green light faded, a single, brand-new grain of glittering golden Spirit Rice lay on the ground in their place...

At the same time,

within the Pineleaf Squirrel's mind,

an unknown body of inherited knowledge appeared.

Like a Divine Ability hidden within its bloodline,

it allowed the squirrel to understand without being taught.

Glazed Immortal Eyes

Even a pile of worthless stones, once reflected in the Glazed Immortal Eyes, would be sublimated into precious Glazed Treasure Gems.

The Glazed Immortal Eyes could combine a certain quantity of the same resource into another, precious resource.

Like an immortal art that turned stone into gold.

"Squeak?"

Before the eyes of the Pineleaf Squirrel and Lin Jing, a hundred gleaming white grains of Spirit Rice had become one mysterious, glittering golden grain.

This sudden change shocked both Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel.

"I knew the change on the day we formed the contract had to be something special."

"You really did mutate from an ordinary Spirit Beast into a Treasure Beast."

"This is your Treasure Beast Divine Ability!"

A means of turning decay into wonder, of turning stone into gold, of transforming quantity into quality!

This golden grain of Spirit Rice looked more precious than the white grains at a glance!

Lin Jing could not help speaking.

But the very next moment, he could no longer keep his composure.

The Pineleaf Squirrel dropped straight to its knees, picked up the glittering golden grain of Spirit Rice, and burst into a torrent of tears.

"Squeak!!!"

It did not want one grain of golden Spirit Rice. It wanted its hundred grains of white Spirit Rice!!!

The corner of Lin Jing's mouth twitched.

This squirrel's condition seemed terminal.

The golden Spirit Rice clearly looks more precious, all right?

Are you really that hung up on your hundred grains of white Spirit Rice?

"All right."

"I'll give you another two hundred grains of white Spirit Rice in exchange..."

Lin Jing was about to offer two hundred grains of ordinary Spirit Rice for the golden grain so he could study it.

Who would have thought that the grief-stricken Pineleaf Squirrel would glare viciously at the golden grain of Spirit Rice?

Then it bit down, crushed it, and swallowed!

As though taking revenge on it.

"Damn, you just ate it!" Lin Jing was startled again.

He did not even know what it did yet.

"A golden grain of Spirit Rice made by combining a hundred ordinary grains should, logically, be more than a hundred times as effective as ordinary Spirit Rice, right?"

"Otherwise, this Divine Ability would be meaningless, and the so-called Treasure Beast wouldn't deserve its name."

"It's only a hundred ordinary grains of Spirit Rice, not a hundred bowls. It shouldn't eat itself sick."

At that thought, Lin Jing relaxed a little.

"It would be nice if the effect could rival a Spirit Stone."

Lin Jing had thought this golden grain of Spirit Rice would provide tremendous help with cultivation, just like a Spirit Stone.

Unfortunately, reality proved otherwise.

After the golden grain of Spirit Rice, brimming with spiritual energy, entered its stomach, a trace of crimson flashed through the Pineleaf Squirrel's eyes. Rather than feeling full, it was overwhelmed by an intense hunger.

Then, under Lin Jing's silent gaze, it seemed to go mad with hunger. Its stomach rumbled like thunder, and like a reincarnated hungry ghost, it raced toward the pile of Spirit Rice as though possessed, frantically stuffing the freshly harvested grains into its mouth.

Through his Bloodline Contract with the Pineleaf Squirrel, Lin Jing could sense its current state.

Hungry. Extremely hungry.

The golden grain of Spirit Rice did not fill the eater's stomach at all. Instead, it made them hungry!

Driven by that hunger, the Pineleaf Squirrel was practically binge-eating, rapidly stuffing vast quantities of Spirit Rice into its mouth. Previously, eating this much would have left it immediately stuffed, unable to quickly digest the nutrients and spiritual energy within.

This time, however, its digestive ability seemed to have received a terrifying boost as well. It swept the pile of Spirit Rice clean, yet not only did it show no discomfort, its aura kept growing stronger, as though... it had digested all the nutrients in the Spirit Rice in an instant and converted them into its own strength!

Only after... it had finished eating everything did the Pineleaf Squirrel's frenzied binge-eating finally stop, and it gradually regained its senses...

"Enhanced digestion and rapid nutrient absorption? The golden Spirit Rice's effect... is actually this powerful." Lin Jing drew a deep breath. This was far stronger than merely improving the quality of Spirit Rice. Just where had this Treasure Beast Divine Ability come from...?

A Strange Star suspected to have formed from a fallen immortal, a racial mutation caused by its starlight... did this count as a kind of immortal inheritance?

"Whatever the case, Treasure Beasts really are incredibly powerful, just as Elder Mo said. We won't be short of money anymore," he said with feeling.

However... while Lin Jing was happy, once the Pineleaf Squirrel came to its senses and saw that all the Spirit Rice it had painstakingly grown and harvested over a week had vanished, its eyes widened in bewilderment. Even the two hundred grains Lin Jing had given it afterward... had all gone down its stomach.

Its plan to stockpile food had been shattered once again!

"Squeak!!!!" In the courtyard, the Pineleaf Squirrel let out a heart-rending cry. What kind of lousy Divine Ability is this? I can't hoard anything, not a single thing! Why couldn't I have awakened a spatial Divine Ability instead!!!