Chapter 517: I Worked Diligently and Earnestly
Chapter 517: I Worked Diligently and Earnestly!
Jiang Chen did not depart immediately, choosing instead to remain in place and tally the harvest of his expedition.
First, the cultivation techniques and mystic arts went without saying.
Ranging from foundational texts to Earth-grade profound scriptures, the collection covered the Dao comprehensively.
Yet, the true prize was seizing one of the Jade Dew Sect’s supreme heirlooms: the Jade Dew Spirit Spring.
Coupled with the Spirit Plant Nursery Record, a grand compilation of agricultural Dao refined over a millennium.
Other cultivators might have salivated over the rare flora like the Four Seasons Fruit Trees and Jade Dew Spirit Buds. For Jiang Chen, however, even standing at the Golden Core stage, his thirst for profound knowledge remained insatiable.
“Five Four Seasons Fruit Trees and Jade Dew Spirit Buds in total!”
“Plus a handful of root stocks for other rare spirit flora.”
“A rather abundant hoard of Spirit Stones, Spirit Weapons, and Spirit Pills to boot.”Having verified his plunder, Jiang Chen’s gaze shifted to the bowl-sized snake scale. It was unmistakably a relic shed from a monstrous serpent.
What set it apart was its profound spatial arrays, boasting an internal void of considerable size.
Judging by the sheer dimensions of this single scale, the beast must have stretched hundreds of paces in length, its mortal coil possessing terrifying bulk.
Feeling the biting, abyssal chill seeping from the relic, Jiang Chen fell into deep thought. “Up to this point, I have yet to lay eyes upon a true great demon. I wonder what kind of elemental fury they command?”
He had heard from several Senior Brothers that the chasm between sect-raised spirit beasts and wild demons was as vast as the heavens and earth.
The guardian beasts within an immortal sect were nurtured on a bottomless supply of spirit meals from birth, living a life of pampered luxury. Consequently, their killing intent and martial ferocity were entirely eclipsed by the savage beasts of the wilderness.
This was glaringly evident in the spirit beast, Storm Crane 7.
Despite boasting a millennium of karmic accumulation, it struggled to suppress even a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Conversely, a wild demon with merely a few centuries of tempering required a fully coordinated hunting party to subjugate. Often, cultivators still faced the threat of total annihilation unless profound killing arrays were laid out in advance.
It was no wonder the sect elders heavily favored taming the vicious, blood-soaked monsters of the mortal dust. The pampered creatures of the sect were fit only to serve as gatekeepers or glorified mounts.
Faced with such a stark contrast, the optimal choice was painfully obvious.
It took less than an hour for Jiang Chen to return to the protective arrays of the sect.
He had actually beaten Mo Yin back to the mountain.
At this very moment, the foolish prince was likely still buried in his lover’s treacherous embrace, seeking solace for his bruised soul.
Jiang Chen retrieved Chen Bo’s Communication Talisman and attempted to send a spiritual ripple, but received only dead silence in return.
It was highly probable that his Senior Brother had departed the sect to track down Chen Tian in the mortal dust.
Left with no other avenues, he altered his course toward Red Leaf Valley.
His courtyard was quiet; only Fortress, Da Huang, Wang Zai, and Gege were present.
Ruo Qunshuang had departed for the dueling platforms to temper her martial Dao.
Confronted with a sudden expanse of idle time, Jiang Chen felt a jarring sense of unease.
After all, the recent cycle had been relentless-repairing Qing Xuan’s artifact, traveling to Crimson Fire Peak to force-mature crops, and managing the endless demands of his own Spirit Farm.
Weighing his options, his silhouette blurred as he vanished into his hidden pocket realm.
Within this isolated domain, the absence of sun, moon, and stars made divining the exact passage of time impossible.
The ambient temperature and spiritual moisture remained in perpetual equilibrium, completely masking the turn of the seasons.
Stepping through the spatial rift, Jiang Chen discovered Xiao Linglong fast asleep, cradled in the wooden arms of the puppet Koji Maid.
Resting beside them was a porcelain wine cup, brimming with a violently turbid, unrecognizable concoction.
Jiang Chen raised a hand, silencing the puppet with a gesture. He approached with the utmost caution, lifting the cup and bringing it to his nose to divine its essence.
A noxious, eye-watering stench assaulted his spiritual senses, shooting straight to his crown. His brows locked in a deep scowl.
While Xiao Linglong possessed a genuine passion for brewing, her alchemy was pure chaos. Trying to predict what profane ingredients she might throw into the cauldron was an exercise in madness.
Her historical recipes had already included Five-Colored Earth, the morning dew of spirit rice, and the highly questionable mucus secreted by the Dragon-Transformed Meridian-Reversing Worm Mother.
If she hadn’t been too small to wrestle a Dragon Carp into submission, he had no doubt she would have forcibly stuffed one into the brewing jar by now.
The most terrifying aspect was her absolute refusal to sample her own creations; the inaugural sip was always reserved for her ‘Daddy.’
One could generously interpret this as profound filial piety… or pragmatically recognize it as being treated like a sacrificial test subject.
A cold sweat slicked his spine just imagining it. There was absolutely no way Jiang Chen was letting this cursed liquid exist a second longer. Seizing the opportunity while Xiao Linglong slept, he hastily marched to the edge of the realm and dumped the entire cup into the dirt.
Watching the earth aggressively sizzle and absorb the concoction, he finally exhaled a breath of relief.
A warm smile returning to his face, he gently scooped Xiao Linglong out of the puppet Koji Maid’s embrace.
Seeing that the transfer hadn’t disturbed her slumber, he carried her directly to the Water Spirit Palace.
After all, a proper bed with plush, spiritually woven bedding awaited her there.
With his domestic duties handled, Jiang Chen relocated to the sacred soil dedicated to nurturing rare spirit plants. He retrieved his hard-won spoils: the Four Seasons Fruit Trees, the Jade Dew Spirit Buds, and the assorted seedlings.
Initially, he had possessed a single Four Seasons Fruit Tree. However, under the miraculous influence of his Spirit Finger, it had undergone a transcendental metamorphosis into the mythic Spacetime Ring Tree.
This divine anomaly bore Four Seasons Fruits, each harboring profound elemental laws.
The Spring Fruit: Bestowed a powerful blessing of vitality, lasting for three days.
The Summer Fruit: Amplified the resonance of all active blessings by half.
The Autumn Fruit: Suppressed all karmic backlash and internal injuries to an absolute minimum.
The Winter Fruit: Forcibly extended the lifespan of any active blessing by an additional seven days.
Its most heaven-defying trait manifested on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar cycle, and during major solar terms. On these days, the Spacetime Ring Tree would exhale a tidal wave of Four Seasons Qi, accelerating the growth speed and harvest yield of all surrounding spirit plants twofold.
Consequently, it stood as the absolute pillar of his pocket realm’s karmic accumulation.
Later on, he had secured another Four Seasons Fruit Tree and a Jade Dew Spirit Bud from the mortal auction houses.
Now, combining his previous stock with the spoils plundered from Mo Yin, he possessed exactly six of each variety-a perfect sum to cultivate into two neat rows.
One must understand, an ordinary cultivator would treat a single Four Seasons Fruit Tree or Jade Dew Spirit Bud as a supreme sect foundation, guarding it with their very life.
Yet here, Jiang Chen possessed a veritable orchard of them, too numerous to count on a single hand.
However, his planting process was admittedly a bit more archaic this time around.
Since his Earth, Metal, and Fire Spirit Roots were currently occupied elsewhere, he lacked his usual elemental conveniences.
He was forced to churn the earth through brute force, commanding a swarm of thick vines to violently drill and aerate the soil.
Once the Spirit Farm was adequately prepared, he carefully embedded the saplings into the earth. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned the Major Rain Spell.
Jiang Chen’s mastery over the Dao of water had reached a terrifyingly precise zenith. The torrential downpour was strictly confined to the immediate patch of earth.
The surrounding terrain was left entirely untouched, sparing him unnecessary expenditure of Qi.
Under this concentrated spiritual nourishment, the rare flora-which normally required centuries to mature-began to evolve at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The tender saplings shot upward, their trunks thickening with ancient vitality.
The dormant seeds rapidly split, burying deep roots before erupting into verdant sprouts.
The sheer concentration of ambient Wood Spirit Qi in the immediate area surged to intoxicating levels.
Jiang Chen nodded in deep satisfaction. “Once I fully force-mature these Jade Dew Spirit Buds, I’ll have an endless supply of premium spiritual tea.”
His previous staple had always been the Orchid Mist Tea, offered as a mortal tribute by The Shen Clan.
Lin An religiously hauled back a solid pound of the harvest every single month.
Brewing those leaves during his Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment days had naturally been sufficient.
But now that he commanded the heaven-defying might of a Golden Core, his palate demanded a profound upgrade to match his station.
Just as he was admiring his handiwork, a tiny, bright voice echoed from behind. “Daddy!”
Jiang Chen instinctively answered, “I’m right here.”
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Xiao Linglong stared at the freshly sprouted orchard. “Did you go out to toil in the mortal dust and just return?”
Jiang Chen offered a sagely nod. “My superior witnessed my diligent and earnest efforts, and graciously bestowed this Reward upon me.
“Furthermore, they made it explicitly clear that there would be plenty more harvests where this came from.”
Mo Yin: “…”
Hui Jiuming: “…”
Xiao Linglong gasped out a loud “Wow!” She was about to run over and throw herself into his arms when her gaze snagged on the empty porcelain cup sitting across the courtyard.
Jiang Chen’s heart seized, his Qi circulating as he mentally prepared to instantly sever his connection and flee the pocket realm.
Xiao Linglong tilted her head in pure, innocent confusion. “Daddy, where did the special brew I prepared for you go?”
Jiang Chen blinked, schooling his features into a mask of total innocence while sweating bullets. “I couldn’t resist. I drank every last drop while you were sleeping!”