Chapter 11
Shan Heyuan sorted out the spiritual power in the wilted spirit herbs as his thoughts wandered.
Zhao Changming and the others had nearly finished processing the spirit beasts. They marinated the meat they had cut off and set it over the campfire to roast. Before long, it gave off a rich aroma.
As Shan Heyuan worked, his stomach began to rumble.
Li Jiamu brought over several skewers of freshly roasted meat, giving half to Zhong Shuran and half to Shan Heyuan. "Thanks for your hard work today. Here, try this fresh spirit beast meat and see if it suits your taste."
Shan Heyuan looked up and smiled. "Everyone worked just as hard."
Li Jiamu said, "We don't usually work quite this hard. Mostly because we don't usually have such a big haul. Even if we wanted to work hard, there'd be nowhere to do it."
Zhong Shuran sat to one side with his arms and legs spread, tearing into the roast meat with his back teeth. "Heyuan is the best grower I've ever seen."
"The best I've ever seen too," Li Jiamu said. "If only we'd started working together sooner."
Shan Heyuan said, "Fellow Daoist Li, I'm only at the Qi Refining Third Stage. I doubt we could have started much sooner."
Li Jiamu laughed. "That's true. We couldn't before, but shall we work together more from now on?"
Shan Heyuan nodded. "As long as you don't mind."
Chapter 11
Shan Heyuan and the others spent a full three days in the mountains, only returning on the morning of the fourth day.
On this trip into the mountains, every one of them had nearly filled their storage Law Artifacts.
After leaving the mountains, they first went to town to sell their haul before heading home.
After a day of traveling and selling things, Shan Heyuan was so tired his mind was growing hazy.
By the time he and Zhong Shuran returned to the village, it was already evening.
The setting sun shone slantwise over the green mountains, dyeing the woods orange, while the evening breeze gently stirred their hair.
Shan Heyuan reached up and grabbed a handful of his hair, only then realizing with a start that it had grown long enough for him to do so.
Luckily, he had the looks of a fresh-faced, handsome youth, so his half-long hair didn't make him look unkempt. Otherwise, he would have been a sight.
Seeing him grab his hair, Zhong Shuran remarked, "Your hair is getting a little long. You should tie it up."
Shan Heyuan nodded in agreement and was about to speak when a red figure suddenly caught the corner of his eye.
Could that be Shen Duheng?
Shan Heyuan lowered his hand and looked toward the red figure. Sure enough, Shen Duheng was standing there.
Shen Duheng was a sword cultivator, with an upright bearing and an extraordinary presence. Shan Heyuan could never have mistaken him for anyone else.
Shan Heyuan waved to Shen Duheng in delight. "Brother Shen! What brings you here?"
Zhong Shuran had been talking to Shan Heyuan when he suddenly heard his voice. Startled, he turned and spotted Shen Duheng standing not far away.
He knew of this sword spirit, but had never met him.
The moment he saw him, he became wary-
This sword spirit has such an imposing presence!
He was nothing like someone a small town like this could have produced.
Zhong Shuran met Shen Duheng's gaze, a searching look in his eyes.
Shen Duheng nodded to Zhong Shuran in greeting, then turned his gaze back to Shan Heyuan.
Shan Heyuan hurried over to Shen Duheng. "Did you come to wait for me?"
Shen Duheng said, "I was taking a walk."
Shan Heyuan smiled at him. "Your walk brought you all the way to the village entrance?"
Shen Duheng replied briefly, "I felt like coming, so I came."
Shan Heyuan exchanged a few words with Shen Duheng, then turned to Zhong Shuran. "Shuran, we're heading home. See you in a couple of days."
Zhong Shuran gave a slight nod. "See you."
Though they lived in the same village, they headed off in two different directions.
Zhong Shuran watched the two figures recede into the sunset.
Even from far away, he could hear Shan Heyuan chattering to Shen Duheng.
Shan Heyuan had been quiet during the days he spent in the mountains with them, as though he had saved up everything he had to say over those days to tell Shen Duheng all at once.
As Zhong Shuran watched, he suddenly felt a little envious.
Maybe I should see if I have the fortune to invite an artifact spirit someday?
The path of cultivation was long, and having an artifact spirit for company would be nice.
Shan Heyuan knew nothing of Zhong Shuran's thoughts.
He usually didn't have so much to say to Shen Duheng either.
They had been apart for several days, and he had seen many spirit herbs and spirit beasts on his trip into the mountains. He really couldn't resist sharing it all with Shen Duheng.
The two went home together and made dinner together.
Shan Heyuan had a pile of spirit beast meat in his storage ring, all given to him as his share by Zhao Changming and the others. It contained plenty of spiritual power and was perfect for cooking.
With plenty of ingredients on hand, their dinner was especially lavish that evening.
After dinner, Shan Heyuan pulled Shen Duheng over to the worktable and eagerly took out a bag. "Brother Shen, I got seven thousand two hundred spirit pearls as my share this time. Take them."
Shen Duheng took the bag without counting the contents and asked instead, "You were gone four days, and they only gave you seven thousand-odd spirit pearls?"
One look at Shen Duheng's manner, as if he were about to cut someone down, made Shan Heyuan hurry to explain. "No, there were also two Qi Refining Seventh Stage spirit herbs. Shuran and the others were very fair. Everything was divided equally, and the spirit pearls were split after the herbs were deducted."
As Shan Heyuan spoke, he took the spirit herbs out of his storage ring to show him.
Shen Duheng nodded, but handed the bag of spirit pearls back to him. "Keep them yourself. Pay me back when you have more to spare."
Shan Heyuan pushed it back. "I still have some on hand, so I already have enough to spare. Take it. We agreed to go into the mountains again in five days. I should have a steady income from now on."
Shen Duheng studied his expression and, seeing that he really wouldn't take it, finally put the bag away.
Shan Heyuan took out more spirit herbs from his storage ring, all seedlings of the Qi Refining First and Second Stages.
Shen Duheng looked at the seedlings, his gaze asking where they had come from.
Shan Heyuan explained, "These were part of my share too. Shuran and the others didn't want any of them, and they said they weren't worth many spirit pearls, so they gave them straight to me. They also gave me a big bag of spirit beast innards, clots of blood, scraps of meat and the like. I can use them for compost."
Shen Duheng said, "You have a good impression of them."
"They really are good people," Shan Heyuan said.
The spirit herbs had been in the storage ring for a while and weren't in very good condition.
Shan Heyuan put the highest-grade one, a Jade Void Herb, into his Dantian to aid his cultivation, and planted the rest in the spirit field in the courtyard.
In just over a month, quite a few spirit herbs had accumulated in the courtyard.
After watering all the spirit herbs, Shan Heyuan watched them sway in the evening breeze, his heart full of a sense of accomplishment.
The exhaustion that had built up over the past few days had reached its peak. After planting the spirit herbs, Shan Heyuan washed up hastily and climbed into bed.
In the mountains, he had slept in a tent with only a thin layer of grass beneath his mat. It had been hard and damp, and there had been bugs. He had woken on and off almost every night, unable to sleep through even once.
It was much more comfortable back home.
Shan Heyuan slept deeply and, unusually, woke up late.
The next day, the sun was already high in the sky by the time he got up.
Fortunately, there was nothing urgent to do that day, so it didn't matter if he slept a little longer.
Yawning, Shan Heyuan pulled open his door and walked into the sitting room.
Shen Duheng sat in a chair, with the news talisman newly delivered that day beside him. When he saw Shan Heyuan come out, he looked up at him, and his expression instantly turned a little peculiar. "The fourth stage?"
Shan Heyuan had slept so long that he was a little dazed for a moment. "What?"
Then he quickly realized what Shen Duheng meant. "I've reached the Qi Refining Fourth Stage?"
Shen Duheng said, "If I'm not mistaken, you should have."
Shan Heyuan clenched a fist in excitement. "Just a couple of days ago, I was wondering when I'd reach the Qi Refining Fourth Stage. I didn't think it would happen so quickly! It was like water flowing into a channel when the time was ripe. I didn't even notice it myself!"
Shen Duheng looked away. "With your aptitude and cultivation method, you won't encounter any bottlenecks before Foundation Establishment."
Shan Heyuan said, "Not necessarily, right? Senior Brother Ma and Fellow Daoist Zhao have been stuck at Qi Refining Great Perfection for a while. My aptitude is even worse than theirs. I wonder if things will go more smoothly for me when the time comes?"