Chapter 63 Preparations before the New Year
It doesn't snow much in Ling An City. Even in these last few days before the end of the year, the temperature has just dropped a lot and it rains occasionally.
Because of its high altitude, the trees on Qingfeng Mountain are covered with thick frost, making it look like a white expanse from a distance. Sometimes, it even snows a little.
Having just emerged from the evergreen Xuanling Immortal Mountain, Xie Kuling was still slightly lost in thought as he looked at the surrounding ice and snow.
He put on his coat and hurried back to Qingfeng Sect.
"Mr. Li has some new dishes, and I've also ordered some chicken, duck, shrimp, and crab. I'll pick them up before the 25th of the lunar year, and I'll start picking them up on the 9th of the lunar new year."
Since Li Chang'an opened up the terraced fields and expanded the planting scale, Xiao Ping'an Supermarket needs more vegetables every day, so the supermarket's purchasing staff come to pick up the goods themselves, and Xie Xuan no longer needs to deliver them every day.
"The 26th?" Xie Xuan asked, somewhat puzzled. "Aren't we having New Year's Eve dinner this year?"
Although business wasn't great in previous years, some regular customers would still book a table for New Year's Eve dinner, so Qingfengpai would only close for the holiday at noon on New Year's Eve.
"Let's have a good New Year this year." With so many tourists, the disciples are all working very hard, so it's better for them to rest early.
The uncle and nephew talked as they walked toward the study.
Before I even reached the door, I saw a young disciple wearing a white down jacket standing under the eaves.
Upon seeing Xie Kuling, her eyes immediately welled up with tears, and she rushed over, sobbing.
"Mountain Lord, Mountain Lord." She grabbed Xie Kuling's robe and raised her left hand: "My hand, my hand, just now, for some reason, it was on fire."
Xie Xuan stopped in his tracks, looking at his young disciple, slightly lost in thought.
Xie Kuling knew what was going on as soon as he heard it.
He squatted down and patted the little disciple's head: "It's alright, Miao Miao has awakened her spiritual root."
"What is the awakening of spiritual roots?" the young disciple asked, choking back tears.
Xie Kuling grasped his youngest disciple's left hand: "Once you awaken your spiritual root, you can begin cultivating. Miaomiao, did your hand hurt when it was on fire just now?"
The young disciple sniffed, as if trying to recall carefully, then hesitated and shook his head: "It doesn't seem to hurt."
“That’s it.” Xie Kuling smiled. “Let’s go to the study and test it with the spirit root stone. After that, the mountain lord will tell you what awakened spirit roots are.”
After saying that, he got up and led his young disciple to the study.
After testing with the spirit root stone, the junior disciple awakened both fire and earth spirit roots.
Xie Kuling explained the concepts of cultivation and spiritual roots to his young disciple in a simple and easy-to-understand way, thus calming the panicked disciple down.
After the junior disciple left, Xie Kuling looked thoughtfully at the spirit root stone.
During this period, six disciples of the Qingfeng Sect have successively awakened their spiritual roots.
Previously, those who awakened their spiritual roots were mostly older disciples who learned about cultivation and spiritual roots from books and the internet. He showed them some cultivation books, which they could barely understand.
Those young disciples who are only in elementary school are unaware of and have never been exposed to cultivation education.
The youngest disciple we just saw was the first among the seven disciples to awaken his spiritual root. He was already eight years old and in the second grade.
Xie Kuling pinched the bridge of his nose: "Uncle, there are now seven disciples in the sect who have awakened their spiritual roots, but our Qingfeng Sect does not have a single proper cultivator who can teach them cultivation."
Although he has now reached the fifth level of Qi Refining, possesses exceptional talent, and cultivates very quickly, he can at most only be a "classmate" with his disciples and cultivate together; he is far from qualified to teach them.
"What do you think? Should we send them to a cultivation academy?"
The Cultivation Academy was founded by the Cultivation Alliance. It teaches cultivators the knowledge that ordinary people need to learn, as well as how to cultivate.
Those who study there are all independent cultivators who choose not to join a sect.
After Xie Kuling finished speaking, he did not receive a reply for a long time.
He turned his head in confusion and found Xie Xuan staring blankly into space.
"Uncle, uncle?"
Xie Xuan suddenly snapped out of his daze. "What's wrong, Bitter Ridge?"
Xie Kuling asked the same question again.
Xie Xuan frowned, somewhat disagreeing: "Only rogue cultivators who haven't joined a sect can go to the Cultivation Academy. If you want them to go to the Cultivation Academy, you have to expel them from their sects first."
Xie Kuling fell silent.
He was naturally reluctant to expel his disciples from the sect, but without a good master to guide them, their cultivation path would be delayed.
He sighed and said, "How about we invite some independent cultivators to be our instructors and share some of the Qingfeng Sect's cultivation techniques and secret manuals with them? If any of them are willing to join the Qingfeng Sect, we can appoint them as elders and provide them with offerings?"
"Getting rogue cultivators to join a sect is no easy task," Xie Xuan said.
Independent cultivators are used to their freedom, but joining a sect means being bound by its rules. In the past, some independent cultivators, when hunted by enemies, would have no choice but to join a sect to find a protector.
Firstly, the Cangxuan Realm is currently very peaceful, and the independent cultivators have no enemies. Secondly, the Qingfeng Sect is not yet powerful enough to be a reliable backer.
"Moreover, those qualified to teach are all cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage or above, and it's even harder to find rogue cultivators with that kind of strength."
Xie Kuling certainly understood this.
He pinched the bridge of his nose again. "Many rogue cultivators will participate in this cultivation competition. It would be great if some of them were willing to join the Qingfeng Sect."
"Before that, I will first teach my disciples to start their cultivation by guiding Qi into their bodies."
Xie Xuan nodded.
That's all we can do.
...
On the morning of the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Chang'an held his last live broadcast of the year.
He gave a heads-up last night, so a lot of people were waiting for his live stream today, and they flooded in as soon as he started.
In no time, the number of viewers in the upper right corner of the live stream showed over one million.
"After this live stream, I'll probably go sell vegetables again in February."
He only resumed farming after the Lantern Festival, and it wouldn't be until February that the first batch of vegetables would ripen.
"We have a lot of vegetables to sell today, including fresh lotus root, which is also 98 yuan per catty. Each person is limited to 10 catties. There are crisp lotus roots and starchy lotus roots. Please buy according to your own preference."
"In addition to these, there are chickens, ducks, crayfish, shrimp, and hairy crabs."
"Chickens and ducks are 10 yuan per jin (500g), and each person is limited to one. There are only 1,900 chickens available."
"The retail price of crayfish and hairy crabs is 15 yuan, and that of green shrimp is 30 yuan. Each person is limited to purchasing five catties of crayfish and green shrimp, and five hairy crabs."
As Li Chang'an introduced the items, he displayed them in front of the camera.
[Yay! Finally, meat is available! Meat lovers rejoice!]
[I can't believe they have such huge crayfish and hairy crabs this season! May I be able to snag some!]
How come chicken, duck, shrimp, and crab are cheaper than vegetables?!
Yeah, I'm used to your high-priced dishes, so hearing about such cheap prices is actually a bit of a shock.
[Someone please tell me, am I hallucinating? Why is meat so cheap?]
Li Chang'an looked at the comments and raised an eyebrow: "Is it cheap? Should I raise the price?"
The live chat was instantly flooded with a string of "No way!" comments.
Li Chang'an chuckled.
Chickens, ducks, shrimps, and crabs are all ordinary species. Although their daily diet consists of vegetables, rice, and water from the Ningjing River imbued with spiritual energy, they themselves have not changed. At most, they just taste a little better than those outside.
Therefore, Li Chang'an only referred to the market price and did not ask for a high price.
But with the year-end approaching and the prices of all kinds of vegetables rising in the market, his prices were considered low.
"Alright, it will be available at 11:00 AM sharp. I wish you all the best in your shopping."
At 11:00 AM sharp, Xianshan Farm put its last batch of vegetables on the shelves before the Lunar New Year.
Within two minutes, it was all snatched up.
Li Chang'an and Tian Xuan were already used to this speed and were no longer surprised.
He looked at the camera and waved: "That's all for today's live stream. Happy New Year in advance everyone!"
Happy New Year!
Li Chang'an turned off the live stream and started processing orders, drawing talismans, and packing packages in the afternoon.
The little cloth bags that the spirit kites carry cannot hold live animals such as chickens, ducks, shrimps, and crabs, but Li Chang'an bought four thousand cages in advance.
When the spirit birds deliver packages, they use their spiritual power to wrap the cages and carry them on their backs. The chickens and ducks stay in the cages protected by the spiritual power, which isolates them from the wind, rain, and cold outside, keeping them unaffected.
The shrimp and crabs were packed in sturdy bags and then filled with Ningjing River water to ensure they were still alive and in good condition when they were delivered to the receiving location.
This time, they sold over 300,000 orders of vegetables, and the spirit kites didn't finish delivering all the packages until the 26th of the twelfth lunar month.
On the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Chang'an began preparing for the New Year.
He wanted to take the members of Xuanling Immortal Mountain to Ling'an City to buy some New Year's goods.
Blade Spirit wasn't interested, but the mountain demon, thinking about how crowded the New Year's goods market would be, became socially anxious and clung to a bamboo stalk, refusing to go out.
Helpless, Li Chang'an had no choice but to take Tianxuan, Tea Essence, and Fungus Essence with him.
He also bought a crossbody cat carrier in advance. There were many mushrooms, but they were small, so they were divided into three groups and put into the cat carrier.
Li Chang'an, Tianxuan, and Chajing each carried a cat-shaped bag.
However, the three of them are tall with long legs, and they all carry cat carriers when they stand together, making them particularly eye-catching in the crowd.
Moreover, Li Chang'an is now a celebrity with tens of millions of fans.
Therefore, Li Chang'an drew several disguise talismans, so to outsiders he looked like a tall, ordinary passerby, and the cat bag did indeed contain a "cat".
The tea spirit was overjoyed to have come to the Cangxuan Realm for the first time and to have met so many people.
He touched this and that, and loved to greet people. When he returned to Li Chang'an and Tianxuan's side, he had added many friends on WeChat.
"Look! I've made so many friends!"
Li Chang'an smiled, not wanting to say that there was a difference between WeChat contacts and friends, and only said, "Be careful when chatting with them, don't get scammed, and delete anyone who makes you feel uncomfortable."
He opened a card in his own name for Cha Jing. During this time, Cha Jing had helped him, and he had been paying Cha Jing's salary by depositing it into that card so that Cha Jing could buy whatever she wanted.
“Okay, I understand.” Tea Essence nodded.
Li Chang'an had already bought couplets and lanterns, as well as a stack of red paper, and was preparing to write the character "福" (fortune) and cut paper-cuts himself.
I also bought some nuts, candies, pastries, fruits, and drinks, as well as some meat and ribs to make preserved meat.
There was a sausage-making stall in the market, so he went and bought some.
After that, it's time to buy New Year's gifts for the mushroom spirits, the kite birds, the mandrills, and the sword spirits.
He paid for the New Year's gifts that Cha Jing and Tian Xuan had chosen directly.
Tea Essence chose a game console, while Tianxuan chose a tea set.
After purchasing New Year's goods, the three returned to Xuanling Immortal Mountain before noon.
As soon as they stepped into the bamboo forest of Xuanling Immortal Mountain, Tianxuan suddenly frowned and said, "Li Chang'an, I'm about to break through."
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