Jiang Mi had bought a martial technique at the Peerless Statesmen Pavilion before. That Cold Pool Sword Technique had cost seven spirit stones-seven thousand taels after conversion.
Seven thousand taels!
At this world's prices, if all seven thousand taels were spent on steamed buns, they would be enough to feed one person from the Tang dynasty to the Qing dynasty.
[As for the "great-aunt" Liu Hei had mentioned, Liu Bai confirmed that she did exist. Because you knew Changfeng Fist, Liu Bai acknowledged you as her, too.]
[It felt rather strange. After all, in your first simulation, you had still called her Senior Sister.]
[You turned these matters over in your mind several times, always feeling that Liu Daye had been hiding some secret. But he was already dead, so thinking about it any further was useless. You sighed and continued practicing your swordsmanship.]
[The days passed, one after another.]
[You mastered the second form of Cold Pool Sword Technique, and your Changfeng Fist also reached the threshold of small accomplishment.]
[You were delighted, and since you had no vices, you could only celebrate by unleashing Changfeng Fist all around the courtyard.]
[Dull booms erupted in the courtyard. The jujube tree shook violently, its leaves rustling as they fell, and several unripe green jujubes rolled to your feet.]
[Startled, you hurried over to check on the jujube tree.]
[You had wanted to celebrate, not attack your old friend, the jujube tree! It had kept you company your entire life in the last simulation, and had accompanied you for so many years in this one! Nothing could happen to it!]
[You leaned closer and saw that the trunk was as smooth as ever. Not even a scrap of bark had been grazed.]
[You were dumbfounded.]
[You had put your full strength into that punch. When fighting demonic beasts on Severed Dragon Ridge, that punch could twist the face of a houtian fourth stage monster.]
[Yet when you hit this crooked-necked tree, it wouldn't even give you so much as an expression?]
That couldn't be right, could it?
Jiang Mi remembered that at the beginning of this simulation, she had been able to slap bluestone slabs apart like potato chips when she was only at the houtian first layer.
Bluestone slabs were stone, at least. How could they take less of a beating than wood?
Besides, she was already at the houtian sixth layer now, and her Changfeng Fist had reached small accomplishment. Her fighting power had multiplied several times, yet she couldn't even damage a tree?
Jiang Mi pondered for a long time and decided there was only one possibility.
This jujube tree was no ordinary jujube tree.
This wasn't her first time at Liu Family Ferry. In her first simulation, she had lived here for decades and eaten this tree's jujubes every year. They were very sweet, just difficult to pick. Back then, she had eaten them countless times without ever noticing anything amiss. Why was it that this time...
Right-
Understanding suddenly dawned on Jiang Mi.
But back then, she had been a mortal, with no spirit root and no ability to sense spiritual energy. Other than finding them sweet, what else could she have felt?
Things were different now. She had a spirit root.
Perhaps she could find out right now just what these jujubes could do.
[You bent down and picked up one of the fallen green jujubes.]
[It wasn't ripe yet, only a little larger than the pad of your thumb. Its skin was smooth, and it still carried the freshness of having just fallen from the branch.]
[You tentatively took a bite.]
[Jujubes at this stage should have been sour and astringent, difficult to swallow. Yet the instant you bit through the skin, a rush of refreshingly sweet juice filled your mouth, without any of the astringency you had imagined.]
[You chewed and swallowed.]
[A warm current rose from your stomach and flowed slowly along your meridians. It wasn't fierce, but gentle and lingering, like the warm sun of early spring, seeping bit by bit into every limb and bone.]
[Your eyes widened. You looked down at the greater half of the green jujube remaining in your hand, and even your hand trembled.]
[Was this... a treasure of heaven and earth?]
[You hurriedly sat cross-legged and circulated your cultivation technique. That warm current traveled through your meridians, one circuit, two circuits, three circuits... This was nothing like the meager trickle of spiritual energy drawn in by your crippled spirit root. Your body was like drought-parched land receiving sweet rain, and even your long-stalled body-tempering progress moved forward again!]
[You stood and looked up at that crooked-necked jujube tree, your gaze utterly changed.]
[The jujube tree wasn't tall, only twenty or thirty feet. Its trunk was crooked and twisted, like a stooped, hunchbacked old man. Its branches and leaves weren't particularly lush, with green jujubes hanging sparsely among them. It looked no different from the jujube trees planted in the other villagers' courtyards.]
[You remembered how, during the first simulation, the previous owner had said, "This tree bears jujubes every year. They're very sweet."]
[Now you finally knew why the jujubes were so sweet!]
[Immediately afterward, you also realized that the low-rank martial artist who delivered your meals had behaved dishonorably. They had picked and eaten your jujubes without even leaving any for you. You made a special trip out and had your meal delivery person replaced to vent your anger before returning to shut yourself away in the courtyard.]
[This jujube tree could bear fruit containing spiritual energy, and it already had this effect before ripening. What about once it was ripe? You looked up at the tree full of green jujubes. Most were still green, with only a few beginning to yellow. Judging by the timing, they were at least another month or two from ripening.]
[There was no rush. The tree was yours, and so were the jujubes. They weren't going anywhere.]
[You had lived here for so many years in the last simulation without anything happening. It should be the same this time.]
[But there were only two possible reasons for a tree like this to be in the courtyard. The first was that it had never been an ordinary jujube tree, but if that were truly the case, the previous owner would never have sold the tree along with the courtyard. The second possibility was...]
[Something lay beneath it. Because it was buried deep, you couldn't be affected at all while standing on the surface, but the jujube tree's roots reached deep enough, and that was what had caused its transformation.]
[You lowered your head to look at the ground beneath your feet, your eyes growing brighter and brighter.]
[That explanation made sense.]
[The previous owner was a mortal who couldn't sense the spiritual energy in the jujubes at all. The courtyard was perfectly level. Since he hadn't known there was anything underground, he naturally wouldn't have dug deep.]
[You stood beneath the jujube tree, looking down at the soil underfoot, and remained silent for a long time.]
[To dig or not to dig? That was a question worth considering.]
[If you dug up treasure, it would be a windfall from heaven. But if you caused too much of a commotion and brought a fatal disaster upon yourself, it would become a calamity from heaven instead.]
[You stared silently at the jujube tree for a while, then looked up at the sky and suddenly laughed.]
[What exactly were you agonizing over?]
[For a martial artist with a crippled spirit root like you, reaching the houtian sixth layer already meant green smoke was rising from your ancestors' graves.]
[Now your ancestors' graves weren't smoking-they had exploded, giving you this chance to defy heaven and rewrite your fate, and you were actually still wondering whether to seize it?]
[Your ancestors were already watching you from heaven in disappointment!]
[Dig! Of course you had to dig! But you had to dig gradually, slowly, and with a plan.]
[Although you were already fifty-one, judging by your physical condition in the last simulation, living another twenty-odd years would be no problem. You could cultivate while eating the jujubes first. It wouldn't be too late to dig when this life was nearly over.]
[Two months later, the jujubes ripened.]
[The treeful of green jujubes turned deep red, hanging in clusters from the branches, their weight bending the boughs. The red jujubes were a size larger than the green ones, heavy in your palm and giving off a faint, sweet fragrance.]
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