Chapter 30: Chapter 30: The Spring Chill and Awakening
This is when the lack of knowledge becomes evident.
Even though Li Ye knew this was a Spirit Vein Willow, he had no idea what it originally looked like or how to piece it together.
He wondered if he should buy a book that records various Spirit Beasts and Spirit Plants to have a look.
But such books generally cost a lot, so he calculated his current number of Spirit Stones:
"Last time I sold Moon Liquid Pearls, I earned a total of four thousand Spirit Stones. In these days, I’ve spent over three thousand six hundred Spirit Stones, bit by bit. These Spirit Stones really aren’t enough!"
Calculating this, Li Ye suddenly felt that he should be more frugal.
At least until the Spirit Plants he’s cultivating can be turned into profit, he must be more frugal.
Moreover, he already had quite enough on his hands, and in the short term, he probably didn’t need to add more Spirit Plants or Spirit Beasts.
Weichuan Beaver, Lotus Flowers, Golden Red Dragon Carp, Spirit Water Phoenix Eye Lotus, Golden Horned Ant, Spring Wheat...
Those Spirit Plants and Beasts did provide him with a good amount of Spiritual Qi and food, but just consuming it himself was clearly not viable; he needed to find a way to realize some gains from them.
For example, could the Flint Fire be rented out to an Alchemist?
Or the scales of the Golden Red Dragon Carp, the gourds of the Spirit Water Phoenix Eye Lotus, the materials from the Lotus Flowers?
All of these had been carefully cultivated by him, so they should at least be exchangeable for some Spirit Stones.
And those Golden Horned Ants, he still needed to gradually figure out how to bind them.
Not only to make them obey his commands for ore refinement, but also to fill the "golden" deficiency in the Five Elements.
"Although the number of Spirit Stones exchanged might not be much, a steady accumulation can also become a significant reward."
After thinking this over for a while, Li Ye looked down at a pile of Spirit Vein Willow, feeling a headache coming on again:
"Do I need to test on a Spirit Vein?
Oh well, tomorrow I’ll ask Senior Teng of the Spiritual Mechanism Vine, and bring everything along for an appraisal."
He filled a basin with Spiritual Water, submerged all the Spirit Vein Willows inside to maintain their vitality, and added a few drops of Purple Oil Spring Rain before putting it aside.
He still had to put the flour he got today into the jar, and run the daily All Heavens circulation. There was still much to do—those issues he couldn’t handle now could only be put aside.
...
The next day.
Li Ye was originally sleeping, but suddenly felt something furry and soft climb onto his face, the soft fur and the sound of "chirp chirp" instantly woke him up.
"What are you doing!"
He opened his eyes to see Weichuan Beaver, who was anxiously pointing outside and chirping at him.
"Hmm?"
A bad foreboding surged up in his heart, Li Ye took a deep breath and looked outside.
He saw the wind sweeping the dust and fallen leaves in the yard, the sky was overcast, and white snowflakes were gently falling.
It was as if he had slept through to winter.
"Not good!"
"Cold spring snap!"
"It really happened!"
He felt a bit annoyed, slapping his forehead, forgetting that from Jingzhe to Qingming, the cold spring snap could occur.
For the crops, suddenly turning cold would be very troublesome!
Li Ye immediately put on his clothes and went outside.
However, when he looked at the wheat he was most worried about.
He shockingly found that the five stocks of Cold Ice Wheat planted at the center, along with the Wheat Spirit who was originally yellow but had turned pale blue, were cooperatively holding up a light curtain.
The other approximately one thousand plus stocks of Spring Wheat seemed to be drawn by the power of the Wheat Spirit, emitting wisps of Spiritual Qi.
Through the conversion by the Spring Wheat bound to the five stocks of Cold Ice Wheat at the center, the Spiritual Qi entered the light curtain.
The swirling snowflakes were blocked by the light curtain, seemingly losing the cold Spiritual Power as they fell.
The snowflakes piled up silently at the base of the wheat, covering it like a quilt.
They seemed rather comfortable.
"Ha." Li Ye’s initial anxiety dissipated somewhat.
What he was most concerned about were these wheat; the cold spring snap had a significant impact on them, and if the wheat had issues, his tasks would be problematic.
But now, it seemed there was no issue at all.
The connection among the Wheat Spirit, Cold Ice Wheat, and those few stocks of Spring Wheat formed a perfect closed loop, blocking the cold brought by the spring snap, truly an unexpected advantage!
He breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the other Spirit Plants and Beasts.
The Lotus Flowers in the creek seemed a bit withered, but at least they were still alive, with emotions turning to [shivering], and status turning to [invaded by cold].
Faced with this situation, Li Ye could only lay a few pieces of Fire Spirit Stone in the creek; as long as its roots weren’t completely destroyed, it would survive.
The Spirit Water Wind Eye Lotus was in a good condition too.
When he checked on the Golden Red Dragon Carp, he found these fish had already burrowed their heads into the soil at the bottom of the pond, hiding among the dense branches and leaves of the Spirit Water Phoenix Eye Lotus.
"...You are quite clever."
The beaver on his shoulder retreated into its warm nest after alerting him, and if it weren’t worried about its master, it wouldn’t have come out.
As for the most unfortunate, it was the just-arrived Golden Horned Ants.
The nest of these little guys was made of metal, and they all shrank into the ant nest; Li Ye hurriedly moved them into the kitchen.
Then, everything was fine.
"..."
"I originally thought it would take some effort, but it turned out to be so easy."
He leaned against the doorpost, looked at the courtyard, and then at the suddenly falling snowflakes from the sky, muttering to himself:
"According to reason, the Four Seasons Sect should be able to predict this cold wave... is it also part of the task?"
"Hmm...!!"
Li Ye suddenly felt something, a tinge of delight appeared on his face, and he quickly went to the place where the Array was placed, leaning down to look—
Silvery white snowballs piled inside the Array, slowly melting, and spread the moonlight gathered by the Light Technique, ensuring the Silver Moon Grass in hibernation was still alive.
Below were clusters of slightly withered silver grass, and Flint Fire Crystal Insects buried in the soil layer but already awake.
Is this right?
Li Ye’s first thought was that this cold spring snap wasn’t the real winter; would these little ones waking up like this affect the future?
But seeing their energetic appearance, Li Ye breathed a sigh of relief, immediately bringing out the powder of crushed Fire Spirit Stones, placing it in front of the Flint Fire Crystal Insects.
The Flint Fire Crystal Insects, after hibernating for a while, immediately indulged themselves.
The Silver Moon Grass also began to revive gradually, visibly absorbing the congealed moonlight from the ice balls formed by the moonlight around them, and even began to coagulate Moon Liquid Pearls.
Li Ye’s face instantly lit up with joy.
He originally thought the snow would bring some trouble, but it turned out to be a good thing; despite it not being winter... it could even let the Silver Moon Grass and Flint Fire Crystal Insects revive?