Chapter 33 Tea Essence
On the floating island to the north, some trees are planted on the side facing Wolu Mountain. Passing through a few trees, you can see a lake that is more than two acres in size.
Many red flowers are planted along the lake. The deepest part of the lake is only about three or four meters deep. The lake water is now red because of the sunset on the horizon, and its original color is no longer visible.
Looking further into the distance, there is a sea of clouds, reddish-purple in color.
Li Chang'an stood there, amazed by the scenery before him, and stared at it for a long time.
It took him a long time to come to his senses.
We could build a viewing platform here sometime so people can enjoy the beautiful scenery in their spare time.
With a plan in mind, Li Chang'an walked to the lakeside again and tested it with his spiritual power, only to find that there were only about thirty fish in the lake.
Such a vast lake, yet there are only so few fish.
Could it also be due to the loss of spiritual energy?
Li Chang'an frowned slightly, offering no answer.
He watched the lake for a while, then went to the West Floating Island.
On the West Floating Island is a forest, in which there is a bird that does not fly very high. It is about the size of a chicken, with bright red and purple feathers and a long tail.
As soon as Li Chang'an's gaze fell on a bird, the basic manual gave him an introduction.
【Mingyi Bird】: It has a gentle nature, its meat is tasteless, and its eggs are good for eyesight.
There is also a low-level spiritual herb growing in the forest called Bird Valley Grass. It is green all over, not very tall, and has yellow spikes at the top.
Several bright-eyed birds were pecking at the ears of grain by the birdgrass.
Li Chang'an also saw many bird eggs with red shells in the forest.
These bird eggs are about the same size as chicken eggs, and their shapes are similar as well.
Li Chang'an used his spiritual power to probe and picked up a few unfertilized bird eggs. The Mingyi birds just watched, occasionally chirping a few times, but did not rush up to stop him.
As expected of a spirit beast, it is gentler than a chicken.
He then tried reaching out to the fertilized bird eggs nearby, and a bright-eyed bird cried out fiercely, spreading its wings and adopting an aggressive posture.
Li Chang'an then withdrew his hand.
He smiled, collected the bird eggs, left the forest, and went to the South Floating Island.
The South Floating Island is small; it's the smallest one.
Above was a forest, but each tree was covered with a vine, and green flowers bloomed on the vine. The flowers were small and grew in clusters, like grapes.
【Wine Vine】: A mid-tier spiritual plant. Its flowers can be used to ferment wine, and its juice can be added to wine to enhance its flavor.
No wonder I could smell a faint aroma of wine as soon as I entered the woods.
Li Chang'an walked through the forest and finally went to the East Floating Island.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, mist gradually rose around him, carrying a faint aroma of tea.
The scene was similar to the one before we encountered that cluster of mushroom spirits, except this time there were no dazzling vortexes in the fog.
Golden light appeared in Li Chang'an's eyes, his vision unaffected by the fog, as he surveyed the surrounding scenery.
The island is surrounded by shrubs, while in the center stands a tall tea tree.
The tea bushes swayed in the wind, each leaf radiating a faint golden light.
"Young master... young master..."
Li Chang'an was intently examining the tea trees when a soft voice suddenly rang out around him.
The voice was alluring, "Young master, where do you come from?"
Li Chang'an hesitated for a moment, but still took a step and walked towards the direction of the sound.
The voice chuckled softly, becoming even more melodious: "This is the first time I've seen anyone come here, young master. Who are you, young master?"
Li Chang'an stopped in his tracks.
He saw a figure under the tea tree.
"This is the first time I've ever seen..." Li Chang'an murmured, "A demon who has cultivated to such a high level in human form?"
Under the tea tree, there was indeed a beautiful woman dressed in ancient clothing.
Li Chang'an hadn't seen many demons. Whether it was the one he saw when he was sixteen or the mantis demon and snake demon he had seen recently, the human forms they cultivated all had some characteristics of a demon body.
As the Sword Spirit Elder once said, a demon needs to reach the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation to completely transform into human form.
Li Chang'an was lost in thought, unaware that the woman's expression was growing increasingly unpleasant.
"A demon?! I am a demon?!" The woman's voice suddenly became shrill.
Then, as if realizing her lapse in composure, she coughed lightly.
She glanced at Li Chang'an, then moved swiftly to his side.
"Young master, how could I be a demon? Take a closer look." As she spoke, she reached out to touch Li Chang'an's shoulder.
Li Chang'an quickly dodged: "Don't touch me, or I won't be polite."
"You don't like it?" the woman asked in a puzzled voice, then flashed behind Li Chang'an.
This time, it was a man who spoke: "How about this? Then you can take a closer look at me?"
Li Chang'an suddenly turned his head, quickly drew a talisman with his sword finger, and a fire dragon flew out.
"Ah!" The man couldn't dodge in time and was enveloped by the fire dragon.
He patted the flames off his body and rolled on the ground, but he couldn't put them out.
"I was wrong, I was wrong! I am a tea tree spirit, I belong to the wood element, I can't be burned!" The man hurriedly begged Li Chang'an for forgiveness.
"I haven't seen a human in so many years. I was just teasing you for fun. Please, I really know I was wrong."
Seeing him rolling around on the ground, and the huge tea tree becoming somewhat wilted, Li Chang'an still drew another water talisman to extinguish the fire for him.
“Since you know you were wrong, I will let you go,” Li Chang’an said.
The man, catching his breath, slowly got up, tears welling in his eyes: "Thank you."
A green light emanated from him, as if he were healing himself.
The man looked at Li Chang'an, coughed lightly, and said, "The situation was urgent just now, and I didn't think of it for a moment. Actually, I'm almost a celestial tea tree."
He tilted his chin up slightly. "So it's not that you can't call me the Tea Master."
Li Chang'an turned and left.
Who cares about tea or tea connoisseurs?
"Hey, don't go!" Tea Spirit quickly followed.
“I have already…” He counted on his fingers, “What?! It’s already been six thousand years!”
He seemed to have suffered a huge blow. When he came to his senses, Li Chang'an had already explored the entire East Floating Island and was about to board the Black Sword and leave.
"Wait for me!" Tea Spirit quickly flew up.
"I haven't seen a human in six thousand years. The clothes you humans wear now are so strange, and oh, your hair isn't as long anymore. Why is that?"
"Six thousand years of changes can be so great? Well, that makes sense, after all, I've grown from a sapling to this size."
"Do you drink tea? I'm quite skilled at making tea. How about I make some for you sometime? It's 'Fairy Tea,' said to prolong life..."
The tea essence never stopped talking the whole way.
Li Chang'an stared at him speechlessly for several times, but he didn't understand what he meant at all.
Li Chang'an sighed inwardly.
Fine, this tea spirit hasn't seen a human in six thousand years, let him talk it all out.
Moreover, this tea is quite good, even if carefully prepared.
Li Chang'an has only reached the Foundation Establishment stage, while the Tea Essence is about to become an immortal, so its cultivation level must be above his.
But when Li Chang'an attacked it with a fire talisman, this tea spirit didn't even retaliate.
Listening to the tea spirit's rambling, Li Chang'an arrived at the courtyard of the bamboo house as darkness fell.
He jumped off the black sword and rubbed his rumbling stomach.
He had been exploring in the mountains all day and hadn't eaten yet.
"Is this where you live?" Tea Spirit looked around.
He was about to follow Li Chang'an into the courtyard when he suddenly sensed a powerful aura.
He couldn't help but stop in his tracks, a sense of fear creeping over him at the aura emanating from it.
Are there really such amazing people here?
Tea Spirit broke out in a cold sweat, looked around, and finally spotted the black figure under the eaves of the bamboo house.
This, this is...
"Senior Sword Spirit," Li Chang'an greeted.
The sword spirit withdrew its gaze and looked at Li Chang'an: "Hmm."
Some absent-minded tea spirits accidentally kicked the fence.
Li Chang'an turned around when he heard the voice, looking puzzled: "What's wrong?"
Tea Essence quickly replied, "No, it's nothing."
He had already recognized the aura emanating from the person who terrified him; it was the sword spirit that had visited them, these spiritual plants and beasts, from time to time over the past six thousand years.
No wonder that aura was so powerful, yet it also carried a sense of familiarity.
Tea Essence glanced at Li Chang'an, then at Sword Spirit.
"I'm going back now, I'll come visit you again next time."
With the sword spirit present, he felt a little restrained and didn't dare to pester Li Chang'an with words like he had before.
Li Chang'an nodded: "Okay."
The tea essence's expression at that moment felt somewhat familiar to him.
Just like when he was a child, if he went to a friend's house and his friend's elders were home, he would feel uncomfortable.
For him, the Blade Spirit was both a teacher and a friend, and indeed an elder.
Li Chang'an chuckled at his own thoughts and waved to the tea spirit.
The tea spirit tilted its head in confusion and waved in the same way as him.
Then, reluctantly, it flew away.
Li Chang'an withdrew his gaze and took out a few bird eggs from his storage bag.
He took out some leftover rice from last night's steaming and made a fried rice with egg.
The sword spirit walked over and said, "That's a tea tree spirit, already at the Tribulation Transcending stage. Did it do anything to you?"
Li Chang'an, who was serving fried rice with eggs, said upon hearing this, "I didn't make anything."
He briefly recounted what happened after he arrived at the East Floating Island.
"Although the tea tree spirit is harmless, the spells it casts can cause people to faint or feel unwell."
When Li Chang'an returned with the tea spirit, he noticed a strange tea fragrance on Li Chang'an, which was left behind by the tea spirit after casting a spell.
"There are many spirits in the immortal mountains, each with its own personality. Some may be kind to you, but their magic may harm you if you are not careful. You must be vigilant. Only when you are strong enough will some of them obey you."
Li Chang'an nodded, holding the bowl: "I understand, thank you, senior."
Seeing that he did not feel any discomfort, the sword spirit then shifted its gaze.
The eggs of the Mingyi bird are very fragrant, without any fishy smell, and they don't absorb oil.
Therefore, this fried rice was neither oily nor fishy, making it the best fried rice Li Chang'an had ever eaten.
After finishing his meal, he went to the river to practice his swordsmanship, and then returned to the bamboo hut to meditate and rest.
As night deepened, a faint light seemed to float across the fields.
As the night passed and dawn broke, Li Chang'an began another day of farming.
When he returned to the field after delivering the goods, he found a small red creature floating among the weeds.
Li Chang'an squatted down and parted the weeds, where he saw the same mushroom with a red cap and white stem that he had seen yesterday.
Immediately afterwards, several more mushroom spirits emerged from behind the weeds.
"Huh?"
How did they get here?
-----------------------
Author's Note: Tea trees are hermaphroditic [starry eyes], so the tea spirit can be either male or female in human form.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
