Chapter 66, first published on Jinjiang Literature City, exudes a sense of everyday life.
On their first morning after moving into the inner city, the group gathered to study the flowers and plants. Yao Sisi originally wanted to go for a walk in the city to see if there were any rare materials for refining weapons. However, seeing Qi Mu and Liu Yuan fiddling with the square basin and spirit soil, she decided to join in and help.
She saw Qi Mu first enlarge the square basin to its original size, then lay pebbles and spirit beads at the bottom of the basin, her fair fingers forming a hand seal, and then pouring the spirit soil into the square basin.
Placing spirit beads is easy to understand; it's to allow spirit flowers and herbs to absorb the spiritual energy within them, but...
Why are pebbles placed at the bottom of the basin? Is there any particular reason for this?
While arranging the spirit herbs, Qi Mu said, "It's to improve air circulation. This pot of spirit-gathering grass is still a very fragile seedling. If we don't do this, it's easy for the roots to rot."
Yao Sisi asked curiously, "You already had quite a few spiritual plants at home. Did you grow these before?"
After Qi Mu finished planting the Spirit Gathering Grass, it was only as tall as a palm, with round and cute leaves. "I've planted it before. You can put this Spirit Gathering Grass in your training room. It likes to absorb spiritual energy when it is young, so that the concentration of spiritual energy around it will be higher than other places."
Yao Sisi looked at the small flowerpot he brought over. After shrinking, it was only the size of her palm. The Spirit Gathering Grass had also shrunk to only two or three centimeters tall, but it was still a lovely green. "The yard is only so big. If you put the Spirit Gathering Grass here, won't it just gather all the spiritual energy here? What will you two do then?"
When the courtyard was first set up, the house wasn't very big. It also needed to be divided into a weapon-refining room and a kitchen. There were only two training rooms. Because Liu Yuan's cultivation level was relatively low, he couldn't meditate for long periods of time. So, one training room was enough for the two of them. However, since her cultivation level had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage, it was inconvenient for her to cultivate with them.
Qi Mu explained, "They are still very small and won't steal all the spiritual energy. Besides, they are just gathering spiritual energy and can't absorb that much on their own. They are gathering not only the spiritual energy from the courtyard, but from all directions, so they don't affect us."
Yao Sisi understood. So, although the influence of this Spirit Gathering Grass in its early stages was wide, it wasn't as powerful as she had imagined. It wasn't much better than those modern flower advertisements that claimed to have functions like nourishing flowers and removing formaldehyde, but in reality, its effects were very limited.
"This little thing is quite cute in the practice room; it makes me feel better just looking at it."
Seeing that she liked it, Qi Mu smiled slightly and felt very comfortable: "If you like it, I will get you a few more other spiritual plants."
Yao Sisi waved her hand: "No, no, I'm a careless person. What if I kill so many? Let me practice with this one first. We'll talk about the others later."
Qi Mu thought of the unhappy expression on her face after the spirit plant died, so he gave up the idea. He didn't want her to be unhappy: "Alright, let's keep it for now!"
Yao Sisi discovered that most spiritual plants grow very slowly, and in order to be effective in refining pills, they need to be several decades or even over a hundred years old. Seedlings like these that are only ten years old are not considered precious.
It's just that keeping some spiritual plants can improve the environment and decorate the house. If you keep them for a long time, you can use them yourself, or at the very least, you can sell them.
Moreover, some spiritual plants are particularly easy to grow. They don't grow more than a few centimeters even after several years, and they only need to be repotted every few years. Although spiritual plants are easy to grow, there are so many cultivators that the supply still cannot meet the demand. The older they are, the harder they are to find. Ordinary people can grow more and sell them for a lot of money to live a wealthy life. If cultivators grow them, it will be even more convenient for them.
This made Yao Sisi want to start cultivating some spiritual plants that would be useful for those in the Golden Core stage.
Qi Mu was diligently arranging the square pot when she took out a book and started reading. "Is Miss Sisi reading a book about planting?"
Yao Sisi shook her head. "No, I'm looking at what pill formulas are needed for the Golden Core stage, and I'm also raising some spiritual plants to prepare for the future. If I come across any suitable ones for the Nascent Soul stage, I'll raise those as well."
Qi Mu: "Miss Sisi has a long-term vision, but I don't have many spiritual plants on hand. Most of them are for Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages. I really don't have any above Golden Core stage."
Just as Yao Sisi was about to speak, the spirit in her mind finally interjected, "Master, using a square pot to grow spirit plants is nowhere near as convenient as using me. I can even help you take care of them. Spirit plants grown in square pots need their soil changed every now and then, but with me, you don't have that problem at all~"
Ever since she last visited the secret realm, the spirit had been feigning death, and no one knew why. Unexpectedly, it interrupted her now. She paused and replied in her mind, "The soil there isn't good quality; you'd kill any spirit plants you grow!"
The spirit: "..."
Seeing that the spirit had calmed down, she said to Qi Mu, "It's okay if we don't have any now, we'll have more later. By the way, did you pick all the spiritual plants here yourself in the Mystic Beast Forest?"
Qi Mu: "Only some of them were picked by myself; the rest were sourced from elsewhere."
Yao Sisi: "So you're here to pick up goods. No wonder it's so neat and tidy."
Qi Mu was very experienced in planting. Yao Sisi saw that he had finished planting the spiritual plants in no time and was already planning to sell them with Liu Yuan.
The spiritual plants he planted were not only beautiful but also had mutual effects, making them both exquisite and practical. "Are you going to the market in the west? I'd like to go and see what's going on."
The market town was a bit far from here, an hour's walk away, so they simply took a flying magical artifact and arrived at their destination in no time. The market town here looked quite large, and there were several similar markets in this city, with a large number of cultivators traveling back and forth every day.
Holding a sign, Qi Mu quickly found a stall. The stall was made of some kind of stone and was waist-high. He placed the potted plants and square pots he had prepared for sale on the stall.
Yao Sisi looked around with curiosity. The area was bustling with customers. Most of the other stalls were occupied, but there were also quite a few empty ones. Moreover, she noticed that the cultivators here were not always at their stalls. For example, even though it was still morning, some people had already packed up and left. Their movements were very free.
Yao Sisi asked Qi Mu in a low voice, "How long are we going to sell here? Can we keep selling at this stall indefinitely?"
Qi Mu approached her and whispered, "It's not worth staying here all the time. We also need to cultivate and don't have that much time. I only rented twelve hours, which can be split into many days. Today is the first day, so let's rent for a little longer."
Seeing how knowledgeable he was, Yao Sisi suddenly thought of him as a thrifty and capable homemaker. "Oh, I see. Oh, by the way, I have some old curved swords that I forged before. Could you sell them for me while you're at it?"
Qi Mu glanced at the passing crowd, leaned close to her ear as if whispering, and asked, "What's the bottom price so we won't lose money?"
Yao Sisi: "A hundred low-grade spirit stones would be a good deal. A customer once asked me to forge a set of mother and child swords for him. I added some other materials to the leftover piece of material and forged it on the spot."
As the two were talking, customers began to come and go, looking at the square basins in front of the stall. A girl who looked about thirteen or fourteen years old pointed to the square basins on the counter and asked, "How much is this?"
At this moment, Liu Yuan spoke up, "This square basin, shaped like a bamboo tube, is ten feet in diameter and one step deep. It costs fifty yuan."
The little girl hissed, circled the stall, and bargained, saying, "This is a bit expensive, can you make it cheaper?"
Liu Yuan thought about what his master had told him yesterday, shook his head and said, "We've only been out selling for a short time, so the price isn't high. You can take a look at the one on your right. It's only a third smaller than the one you're looking for, and it's priced at 35 low-grade spirit stones."
The little girl shook her head: "This one has a lot of air holes at the bottom, I plan to use it to raise fish, that one won't work."
Liu Yuan picked out one without ventilation holes for her from the stall. "Then take a look at this one. The shape is quite exquisite, and the size is about the same as the previous one. It's also worth 35 spirit stones."
The little girl finally chose the one recommended by Liu Yuan, and asked expectantly, "Big brother, when will your stall close? I want to call my friends over."
Liu Yuan turned to look at Qi Mu, who then said to the little girl, "The time is not fixed today, maybe around noon at the latest, but we will come again tomorrow."
The little girl said, "Noon? That's still in time! Um... handsome young man." She asked Qi Mu, "Do you sell spirit beast bags here? I want to put my little fish in one, otherwise it's inconvenient to carry the square basin out."
Her words inspired Yao Sisi, who was watching the commotion from the side, "Little girl, you think the storage bag can't hold any live creatures, so you want to put the little fish in a square basin and then put it into the spirit beast bag, right?"
The little girl nodded, and Yao Sisi continued, "I have a bag here. Although it's not a specially crafted spirit beast bag, it's perfect for the purpose you mentioned. Would you like to take a look?"
Little girl: "Okay, let me see!"
Yao Sisi took out a small bag about the size of her palm from her space and handed it to her. The little girl checked it and found that it was really suitable for storing small fish. Not only that, it could also be used to store spiritual herbs in their growth period.
She asked, "Sister, how much is this bag? Is it expensive?"
Yao Sisi: "We just set up our stall today and we met you. You're our first customer and you even complimented my partner's appearance. So, I'll give you this bag! It would be even better if you could help me promote it more."
The little girl's eyes widened, as if happiness had come too suddenly. She was stunned for a moment, then jumped up and down happily a few times. "Sister, you're so kind! You and your pretty friends are both beautiful inside and out. I... I'll definitely tell everyone about you!"
Yao Sisi smiled and said, "Okay, then you can take it and play with it!"
After the little girl left, Liu Yuan whispered, "I'm not ugly either, why didn't anyone compliment me..."
Qi Mu and Yao Sisi couldn't help but smile when they heard him say that.
Yao Sisi said to the two of them, "That bag was originally a mistake I made when I was making a storage bag. So its function is similar to a storage bag. It can hold things, but time doesn't stand still. Things are easy to break if you put them in it, so it's not convenient for daily use. I almost forgot about it. I didn't expect it to come in handy today. Not to mention raising fish, it's also a great choice for growing flowers and plants. I'll go back and make a few tonight and sell them along with the square basin."
Qi Mu: "Didn't that little girl say that spirit beast pouches can also be used to grow spirit flowers and herbs?"
Yao Sisi: "Of course it can, but spirit beast bags are so expensive, not everyone can afford them. Spirit beast bags are not simple; they can delay lightning tribulations. My bag is so cheap to produce; it's the most economical choice for everyone to grow flowers and plants. It's just that this bag can't hold spirit beasts. Don't be fooled by the fact that it can hold living creatures; the space inside moves with the owner, and a spirit beast living directly inside would get dizzy from the shaking. But the square basin is different; it has a stabilizing ability, so the little girl was perfectly fine using it to raise fish."
Qi Mu: "I see. This combination of potted plants and selling them is a perfect match, but it will make things difficult for you."
Yao Sisi waved her hand: "It's okay. I just don't know what to do lately. You can sell here for now, I'll go look around elsewhere."
As she turned around, she heard some big news: the Xuan Yun Sect would be recruiting disciples soon.
Having been in the cultivation world for so long, Yao Sisi had never been to a sect before. Unable to contain her curiosity, she approached the group chatting and asked, "Fellow Daoist, how big is the Xuan Yun Sect? When exactly do they recruit?"
Seeing that she asked such a question, the man knew she was from a small place and didn't even know such important matters, so he couldn't help but start showing off, "Fellow Daoist, the Xuan Yun Sect is a top-tier sect. As the saying goes, there are seven sects, eight schools, twelve sects, and thirty-six cities. The Xuan Yun Sect is ranked at the top. That's how big a sect it is!"
Another person added, "As for recruitment, we recruit once every ten years, but they may not necessarily come here. The last time they came was fifty years ago!"
Yao Sisi: "???"
They recruit once every ten years, but the last time they came was fifty years ago?
Is it very far from here?
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