Chapter 167 Flag

Ji An manipulated the Azure Wood Transformation Technique, controlling the output of his magical power. Green light spots, radiating a vibrant aura, fell into his palm and then slowly dissipated into the void.

Several glistening red seeds appeared in his palm; they were the seeds of the Purple Fire Gourd.

Over the past year, he has been using magic to nourish himself every few days.

Now, the seed's vitality has reached its limit; it can no longer be increased.

"Finally, we can plant them."

Ji An whispered something and put the seeds into the jade bottle.

Within the spiritual veins, planting spiritual herbs and trees doesn't require much attention to the season; as long as the conditions are suitable, the spiritual plants will naturally thrive.

After dinner, the bright moon hung over the mountaintop, and the golden fire spirit of Crimson Flame Peak had completely subsided and retreated into the mountain's belly.

After completing the spell on the Jade Leaf Mulberry and the Green Ivy Tree, Ji An arrived at the Crimson Cloud Pine Forest.

The pine trees in the forest have now formed pine cones, and the pine nuts will be ready for harvest in a few months.

The only pity is that no more Crimson Cloud Pine trees have broken through to the second-tier low-grade level these days.

Some pine trees lack sufficient foundation and require more resources to break through their grade, or they may never be able to break through.

Ji An decided to select another fifty red pine trees for intensive cultivation, while continuing to cultivate the original ones for another year.

If you cannot cultivate it to the second tier, give up and select a promising Spirit Pine to cultivate for three years using the same method.

His goal is to cultivate over a hundred second-tier Red Cloud Pine trees, which would yield over 20,000 jin of second-tier pine nuts annually. However, second-tier low-grade should be the limit for Red Cloud Pine trees.

Ji An arrived at the nest of the fire crystal ants, found a suitable spot, and used his telekinesis to move a large amount of ant droppings.

He released the Thick Earth Returning to Origin Spell, which thoroughly mixed the soil and ant droppings, creating a small, special spiritual field, and then planted the Purple Fire Gourd seeds.

The excrement of these fire crystal ants is a very high-quality fertilizer for the Purple Fire Gourd.

He activated the Spring Breeze and Rain Incantation, and a cloud several feet in diameter rolled and shimmered with a faint spiritual light under the moon.

The rain fell silently, and red gourd vines sprouted from the soil.

Ji An used Jin Guangshu to make knives and axes, and cut down more than a dozen pine branches, each about ten feet long, to make wooden poles.

He then unleashed a burst of fireballs and placed the wooden pole inside to bake it.

Although the Red Cloud Pine is a fire-elemental spiritual plant, it could not withstand such intense high-temperature baking and quickly lost its life.

Ji An tied the wooden poles into a frame for the gourd vines to climb, so that the lifeless wooden poles would not steal any of the spiritual energy.

In the future, he will transform into the old man who grows gourds and see if he can cultivate the best gourds.

...

Huang Feihu walked into the stone house and laughed:

"Uncle-Master, the two disciples I mentioned to you a couple of days ago have arrived. When do you have time to meet them?"

He will be able to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill in two more years, and he will leave after successfully establishing his foundation.

After careful selection and comparison, he chose two disciples to succeed him.

Ji An nodded slightly and said:

"Now is fine."

He sighed inwardly, "All good things must come to an end."

However, he wished his elderly companion of over ten years well as he had a better future and was leaving.

Huang Feihu shouted towards the door:

"You two come in."

Two disciples at the seventh level of Qi Refining entered the stone house and bowed.

"Disciple Huang Xuan greets Martial Uncle Ji."

"Disciple Li Cheng greets Martial Uncle Ji."

Ji An sensed that the two were both quite young, not even twenty years old, and their faces were full of sincerity.

"Very good. For the next two years, you will work with Flying Tiger and familiarize yourselves with the situation at Crimson Flame Peak."

"As long as you work diligently, you can stay. You can go now."

His main purpose in recruiting disciples was to help them handle trivial matters; all they needed to do was be efficient and reliable.

"Thank you, Uncle-Master."

The two men's faces lit up with joy as they left the stone house to wait.

Ji An turned his head and smiled:

"Feihu, tomorrow you take them around to familiarize them with things here. After a few months, you can let them handle things on their own and see if they can manage."

"OK."

Ji An pondered for a moment and said:

"What level have you reached in your planting magic?"

After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, will one make a living through farming or by crafting talismans?

The other party planted several acres of talisman grass outside Crimson Flame Peak and also frequently drew talismans.

Huang Feihu said:

"Over the years, I have been able to consult my teacher uncle from time to time. My Thick Earth Technique and Small Cloud Rain Technique have both reached the perfect level. I haven't practiced the Withering and Flourishing Technique much, but it is still at the Great Perfection level."

My talent for talisman making is average. After years of specializing in the Golden Armor Technique, my success rate in making talismans has barely reached 60%.

After establishing the foundation, planting remains my main focus.

But if conditions permit, I'd like to try alchemy.

Relatively speaking, the profit from making pills is higher than that from making talismans.

The sect is now recruiting many more disciples than before, and even pills for the Qi Refining stage have a large market.

Ji An nodded slightly. He had originally wanted to tell the other party about the impending demonic calamity, but after thinking about it, he decided to wait until the other party had reached the Foundation Establishment stage before telling him.

...

Three months later.

It was harvest season for pine nuts, and the monks from the Diligent Work Hall came to Crimson Flame Peak to collect this year's rent.

A few days later, Du Huaiyuan arrived at Crimson Flame Peak and asked:

"Junior brother, how many pine nuts are needed to brew wine this year?"

We need to step up our game; in just over a month, I'll be heading to the Immortal City of Mingfeng Mountain.

Ji An smiled and said:

"We definitely need to step up our efforts. This year, I plan to use 40,000 jin of top-grade pine nuts to brew wine, and another 300 jin of second-grade pine nuts."

This year's pine nut production is higher than expected, and the sales of roasted pine nuts are worse than those of Lingjiu (a type of Chinese liquor).

Du Huaiyuan whistled and laughed:

“Okay, that way we can brew dozens more kilograms of spirit wine.”

I've made a list; please have someone buy the rest of the materials.

Ji An took the list, glanced at it, and said:

"Could I borrow your flying boat, senior brother?"

He had a lot of things, but he didn't have a flying boat or enough storage bags to hold them all.

“Junior brother needs to buy a flying boat. Once the production of spirit wine increases, relying on scattered sales won’t work at all. We need to sign a supply agreement with the spirit food shops. You’ll have to deliver the goods, right?”

Otherwise, you'll have to buy a lot of storage bags.

"Flying boats are somewhat useful on ordinary days, but buying a bunch of storage bags and carrying them around is a bit silly."

"We'll buy them in a few years. Senior brother knows the market. How many spirit stones will it cost to buy these things?"

Du Huaiyuan handed over the flying boat and pondered for a moment:

"It will cost approximately three thousand seven or eight thousand."

With plenty of pine nuts and a variety of other ingredients, the total cost is still considerable.

If it were him, he simply wouldn't have the financial resources to brew tens of thousands of kilograms of pine nut wine at once.

Ji An handed the flying boat and the list to Xia Yuhan beside him, and then pointed out forty mid-grade spirit stones:

"Give it to Fei Hu and let him go and make the purchase."

A month later, all 40,000 catties of pine nuts were brewed into spirit wine, yielding more than 15,000 catties of wine.

After being aged for three years, the pine nut wine can be sold to the public. The price of each pound of pine nut wine fluctuates around two spirit stones, and Ji An's net profit should be a little over ten thousand spirit stones.

From now on, we will receive this many spirit stones every year, and this is just the income from pine nut wine.

Time flies, and half a year has passed.

The earliest planted spirit peach trees have been cultivated to the highest grade, and the spirit apricot trees have been cultivated to the superior grade.

The branches of the two sacred trees were covered with small flowers, the apricot blossoms like snow and the peach blossoms like rosy clouds, their beauty dazzling.

The peach tree grown from the two peach seeds I received from my master is now as thick as an arm and is currently of superior quality.

Ji An shook his head slightly. The foundation of the spirit apricot tree was not strong enough. He didn't know if it could be cultivated to the highest grade in the future.

As he was pondering, a silver light descended from the sky, hovering and flashing beside him—it was a communication talisman sword.

Ji An reached out and took the document, reading the information within with his divine sense. He laughed loudly and shouted to the people nearby:

"I'm going out to visit a friend today and will be back in a few days. You all go about your business."

He summoned the flying shuttle and sped away.

Yunmeng Peak, Pansi Cave.

Ji An stepped into the cave and cupped his hands in greeting:

"Senior sister, the flag is being completed a few months later than I expected."

Liu Suyun took out the woven flag and a small, fist-sized porcelain jar, and said softly:

"Junior brother, you may not know this, but one of the senior brothers from the Enforcement Hall needs his magical artifact repaired. He has an urgent mission to Mingfeng Mountain and cannot be delayed."

This was my fault. I recently acquired some low-grade second-tier spiritual tea called 'Cloud Peak Silver Needle,' and gave one ounce to my junior brother. Please forgive me.”

"Since it's a serious matter, Senior Sister hasn't done anything wrong."

However, I haven't tasted the second-tier spiritual tea yet, so I'll gladly accept my senior sister's gift.

Ji An took the flag and saw that it was as smooth as satin, its color was dark yellow, and it was woven with golden lotus and unicorns, with a precious light emanating from it.

"Senior sister, I won't stay any longer. I need to find Senior Brother Zhao Lei as soon as possible. Once I get the Apricot Yellow Flag, I'll have fulfilled one of my wishes."

"Oh, and I have two more good things to tell you, Senior Sister. Crimson Flame Peak can now reliably supply top-grade copper-patterned mulberry leaves, and the other two Earth Spirit Fruit Trees have also been cultivated to the top-grade level."

Liu Suyun clenched her fist and said:

"I wish I had met my junior brother earlier, otherwise I would have been able to cultivate more high-level golden-spotted spiders and golden-bearded silkworms."

Ji An said seriously:

"It's not too late now, Senior Sister. Just wait and see. I will definitely be able to cultivate a second-tier Earth Spirit Fruit Tree and a Copper Pattern Mulberry."

Liu Suyun smiled:

"I await good news."

After leaving the Spider Cave, Ji An pushed the speed of the shuttle to its limit and arrived at the Copper Mountain before the sun had completely set.

It was getting late, and it was not a good time to visit, so he went to Zhang Yuanshan's cave to stay the night.

At dawn the next day, Ji An bid farewell to Senior Brother Zhang and found Zhao Lei's cave.

A burly young man, shirtless, stepped forward and said:

“Uncle, my master has a lot of magical artifacts to make recently, so we may have to wait up to six months.”

If your senior uncle is in a hurry, it's better to choose another senior uncle or senior master.

“I’ll talk to Senior Brother Zhao. You can tell him that Ji An of Crimson Flame Peak has already collected the materials to forge the spiritual weapon.”

"Uncle-Master is actually going to forge a spiritual weapon, please come in!"

The burly young man invited Ji An into the cave, went inside to report, and quickly came out again, saying:

"Please wait a moment, Uncle-Master. My master is currently at a critical stage in refining a magical artifact and will be able to come out in a while."

About half an hour later, Zhao Lei hurriedly came out and said with a smile:

"Haha, junior brother, you've gathered all the materials so quickly?"

He thought to himself, 'Wasn't it said that Junior Sister Liu's golden-spotted spider wouldn't produce silk again for over ten years? Has it recovered so quickly?'

Ji An took out two jars of spirit wine and then took out all the ingredients:

"Two jars of top-quality pine nut wine, for my senior brother to try."

All the materials are gathered; my senior colleague will check them.

I learned from Mo Shan that most weapon refiners are avid drinkers, and he keeps spirit wine in his storage bag.

"I'll gladly accept the spirit wine."

Zhao Lei quickly put away the spirit wine, a smile appearing in his eyes.

He then weighed the various spiritual objects and nodded, saying:

"The materials are sufficient. Junior brother can come and collect the spiritual artifact in three months."

He paused, then said:

"I have reserved room for improvement in the Apricot Yellow Banner. In the future, my junior brother may be able to upgrade it to a mid-grade or even high-grade spiritual weapon."

Ji An bowed:

"Senior brother's skills are superb. If I need to improve the quality of my spiritual weapon, I will definitely seek your help again."

(End of this chapter)