CHAPTER 89: CHAPTER 87: A LETTER FROM AFAR, MERFOLK SPECIALTIES

The Pill-Refining Hall is offering a purchase price of a thousand Spirit Stones for every jin of that honey!

It’s important to know that the Crystal Spirit Bee is merely a First-Tier Spirit Bee, and this honey usually fetches no more than a few dozen Spirit Stones per jin.

After all, there are just too many people raising bees, and just last time at the market, there were so many bees spotted, making it clear the honey market is already saturated.

What’s even more intriguing is that the contract includes an assessment from an Alchemy Master regarding the "Crystal Light Honey"—

Spiritual Power is crystal clear, imbued with the vitality of morning dew, combined with the warmth and coziness of sunlight, it can serve as an auxiliary ingredient for multiple Spirit Pills.

Even Li Ye, a beginner in alchemy, could tell that this is high praise indeed.

"This evaluation was written by Su Ya’s elder sister, your master’s junior sister."

Li Ye blinked; his first reaction was wondering how to address his master’s junior sister. Then again, wouldn’t it still be as Uncle Master?

On second thought, the Spiritual Mechanism Vine was reminding him that this Uncle Master Su has a good rapport with their lineage, so there’s no need to worry about being scammed or anything.

"Since Uncle Master Su has personally expressed interest, of course the disciple is willing."

Li Ye agreed: "However, the amount of honey I produce now is not much. I need to raise more bees."

Previously, he had only bought five Mist-Imbibing Magnolia Trees, and now the Crystal Spirit Bees could only produce three jin of honey daily.

This was with careful tending, resulting in extremely lush growth of the Mist-Imbibing Magnolia Trees.

Of course, it’s more than enough for personal consumption and gifting friends, but definitely insufficient for supplying the sect.

Three jin per day? That would probably be used up immediately upon entering the sect.

"You can manage it as you see fit; the sect certainly won’t mind having more. Bring as much as you have."

"By the way, this batch of Hungry Bones should be almost purified. You might as well take a hundred plants this time, I’ll store them for you using a Sealing Spirit Box."

"Besides, you will eventually purify all the plants, especially since you recently purified that piece of Hungry Ghost Evil Bone.

For this task at Huiya Marketplace regarding Hungry Bones, you have already ranked first."

The Spiritual Mechanism Vine took out a hundred Sealing Spirit Jade Boxes from beneath the counter, stacking them on top.

"...Alright, Senior Brother." Li Ye chuckled silently.

His senior brother truly trusted him enough to give him a hundred plants directly, whereas others were reportedly given just one plant each at Huiya Marketplace.

But this worked well for him too, taking a hundred plants directly meant no need to send someone to fetch them.

He placed these jade boxes into his Storage Pouch, and it was only then that the Spiritual Mechanism Vine remembered something.

It hurriedly took out a jade box imprinted with the Four Seasons Sect insignia from under the counter, placing it in front of Li Ye and opened:

"Ahem, I’ve been busy lately, almost forgot about this."

"Look, this is your Inner Sect Disciple’s Storage Ring."

Inside the jade box lay a ring quietly, jade-backed with golden threads outlining the edges, identical to the ring seen at Senior Brother Qian Fang’s place.

Storage Ring!

Li Ye’s eyes lit up, extending his finger to touch it.

Upon the touch, a suction force came from within the ring, drawing a bit of his Mana and Divine Sense, followed by a mystical feeling of mutual understanding.

Just like he felt with his own crafted Sun and Moon Ring.

"This item is now bound with your Mana and soul, no one else can open it. In the future, if you wish to expand the ring’s space, you can find cultivators in the Heavenly Craft Hall to modify it."

"It also has the ability to store spirits, allowing live beings to be kept inside for up to three days."

"As for other functions, you can research them yourself, I won’t see you off, go ahead and leave!"

After the Spiritual Mechanism Vine finished the instructions, it immediately retreated.

It wouldn’t even come out unless Li Ye was there to shop.

Now that summer’s Yang Qi is rising, it is indeed somewhat uncomfortable for it.

"Well then, Senior Brother, Junior Brother will take his leave!"

Li Ye already knew his senior brother’s increasing casualness toward him, which was a good thing.

So after putting on the ring, he exuberantly left.

On the way, he could clearly feel the enormous space inside the ring, roughly one mu in size!

Moreover, with just a thought, items inside could be effortlessly retrieved.

Far more convenient than sticking a hand into a Storage Pouch.

More importantly, this ring worn on the finger was definitely more elegant compared to a Storage Pouch hanging at the waist.

After all, Li Ye was now an Inner Sect Disciple of the Four Seasons Sect.

"This ring is really nice."

Even though it was merely a ring, he felt walking was brisker.

But he didn’t forget his main business, finding a cultivator selling Mist-Imbibing Magnolia Trees in the marketplace, bought all remaining 20 trees in one go.

That cultivator was practically seeing the God of Wealth when he saw Li Ye and especially left a Sound Transmission Talisman.

Said if Li Ye needed, he could contact him anytime, as he had more Mist-Imbibing Magnolia Trees at home.

"I will certainly contact you if needed." Li Ye accepted the Sound Transmission Talisman and left.

Then he purchased a corresponding number of Crystal Spirit Bees, and eagerly returned home to begin planning the plantation.

The original Mist-Imbibing Magnolia Trees were to remain untouched, so Li Ye simply made them the center, planting around them, designating this area as the Mist-Imbibing Magnolia Trees plantation zone.

Later, he would bind the Crystal Spirit Bees in symbiosis with these Mist-Imbibing Magnolia Trees.

—Surely, these Mist-Imbibing Magnolia Trees would produce vast amounts of honey for him.

Looking upon the flying Crystal Spirit Bees, they seemed like glittering Spirit Stones in the air!

After finishing the planting and symbiotic binding of the Mist-Imbibing Magnolia Tree, Li Ye selected Gourd Spirit Turtles to start binding, two for each of the Five Elements, making a total of ten.

It’s not that he didn’t want to bind them all at once, but the Vital Essence was consumed very quickly.

Binding these Spirit Turtles actually required a full three hundred points of Vital Essence.

In addition to the Mist-Imbibing Magnolia Tree and Crystal Spirit Bees bound earlier, all the Vital Essence he had saved up during this period was exhausted.

"Sigh, this empty feeling is really uncomfortable."

Without the Vital Essence, he always felt something was missing, so he called the Transporting Locust Spirit to bring some snacks, eating while watching the actions of the Gourd Spirit Turtles.

The Gourd Spirit Turtles, after binding, carried their gourd seeds and crawled to different places, digging holes and hiding them inside.

Then they watered the seeds repeatedly with the gourds on their backs.

Even though they were just juvenile turtles, they were extremely resilient, making trips back and forth without any fatigue.

Until the gourd seeds had absorbed enough Spiritual Qi, the turtles dug pits around the seeds and stayed there.

"It’s still too early to see results." Li Ye swallowed the pastry in his mouth, "The seeds of the Five Elements Gourd should sprout in just over a dozen days, let’s wait and see then."

He shook his head and returned to his reclining chair to rest with his eyes closed.

...

In the blink of an eye, another ten days had passed.

During this time, Li Ye wasn’t idle; whenever he had time, he would communicate with the Earth Emotion Fungus through the Earth Emotions Technique.

He also extracted the heavy resentment qi from some objects brought by Zhou Qiumai.

The Earth Emotion Feed Store had thoroughly entered the right track, selling 20,000 Spirit Stones worth of feed daily, just waiting for the distribution of Spirit Stones after a month’s time.

He could still stay here for over a month; by then, he could collect a sum of Spirit Stones and enter the sect, hopefully buying something.

However, there was an unexpected joy today.

——The Transporting Locust Spirit brought back two items.

They were a Memory Pearl and a gift sent by Senior Brother Su Ya from the East Pole Yang Sea!

"Looks like he received my honey, let me see what Senior Brother is doing over there."

Li Ye immediately put down his work, sat in front of the table, and softly activated the Memory Pearl.

The orb instantly projected a vast ocean, sunlight spilling onto the azure blue sea, creating a magnificent scene of golden light.

Vaguely, he could see some crows, their black feathers edged with gold, flying above the sea, and merfolk with human torsos and fish tails frolicking in the water.

It was truly like mythical scenery.

This sight sparked a longing in Li Ye, who had rarely seen the sea.

"How beautiful."

He decided that no matter what, he must visit the East Pole Yang Sea in the future.

But for now, he should first see what Su Ya has to say.

In the scene projected by the orb, Senior Brother Su Ya had changed into somewhat cooler clothes, sitting with a merfolk who had black hair flowing down like seaweed.

It was as if they were chatting face to face, with Su Ya pointing at the merfolk, laughing, "This is the Taoist Friend Yang Ke I met here, Junior Brother Li, your honey was almost entirely snatched up by this guy!"

It sounded like a complaint, but judging by his expression, it was clearly a joke; obviously, he had a great relationship with the merfolk.

The merfolk wasn’t extraordinarily handsome but exuded a strong masculine aura.

He looked at the Memory Pearl and said:

"Taoist Friend Li, I’ve already sent a few clan members to Huiya Marketplace, planning to discuss the honey with you in person.

To be honest, this honey contains extremely pure Power of Sunlight, crystal-clear and bright, and when mixed with my clan’s Wangshu Clear Dew collected at night, it tastes extremely good.

Therefore, I want to collaborate with you.

Details will be discussed by my clansmen upon their arrival to you, and I’ve sent several of my clan’s specialties with the Memory Pearl; I hope you’ll accept them, Dao You."

This speech made Li Ye feel like he was talking with some young master from a grand family, quite unlike his previous assumption that merfolk might be somewhat "wild".

Su Ya seemed to see through his doubts through the Memory Pearl, "Yang Ke is the Young Clan Leader of the Yangyao lineage."

"Remember, don’t ask for Spirit Stones! Directly ask for the merfolk’s specialties!"

"Look, this is his residence!"

After saying this, Su Ya grabbed the Memory Pearl and leaped into the sea.

"Splash!"

Ripples and waves scattered across the scene, clearly showing a series of crystal palaces under the sea.

Those palaces were resplendent with an iridescent glow; nearby were corals, tridacnas, agates, and flowing lines of Spirit Veins winding around, probably not much different from any Undersea Dragon Palace.

The scene ended there, but the beauty lingered in Li Ye’s heart.

"Even merfolk are sending people over great distances to purchase this honey? Looks like I underestimated the value of this honey."

He muttered to himself and took out the brocade box that came with the Memory Pearl.

Opening it, there lay three huge silver pearls on the red silk, exuding a special beautiful luster.

The phrase "pearl-like radiance" truly described these pearls; the spiritual energy was almost about to condense into Spiritual Liquid!

"..."

"Specialties... are truly extravagant."

Li Ye had no idea what to say, are these pearls the specialties?

Seems like there’s nothing wrong with that?