Immortal Path Space

Chapter 47: Harvest

In a dimly lit cave, a figure sat cross-legged, slowly opening its eyes.

After a month of recovery, the figure couldn't help but marvel at the formidable life force of Immortal Cultivators.

Broken bones had seamlessly rejoined, and lungs nearly sliced in two had fully healed.

Now with some free time, the figure began to inspect the spoils, pouring the contents of a Storage Bag onto the ground.

Firstly, there was the golden Flying Sword that had nearly killed him. Unfortunately, it was a Metal Element Flying Sword, and despite being usable, it didn't fully align with his Spiritual Roots, limiting its power.

Among the items spilled from the Storage Bag, a pile as tall as a person caught his attention, mostly comprising various spirit fruits.

Upon careful counting, there were over thirty varieties, and combined with those Wang Hong had collected, there were over forty types of spirit fruits.

Especially eye-catching were a dozen jade-white, crystal-clear fruitsthe white crystal fruit. According to the books, consuming these second-tier spirit fruits refined a cultivator's Spiritual Energy, eliminating impurities.

This was a rare find; he had scoured Azure Void City without coming across a shop selling them.

Pure Spiritual Energy could enhance the power of Magical Arts, prolong battles, and even increase the success rate of Foundation Building.

After sorting the remaining spirit fruits, Wang Hong discovered they were all first-tier, without any exceptionally precious varieties.

He gathered the spirit fruits into a pile and continued sorting through other items. Astonishingly, there were over fifty thousand Spirit Stones. Ding, the cultivator he had defeated, left Wang Hong deeply impressed. For a loose Qi Cultivator, having a few hundred Spirit Stones was considered wealthy. Were all treasure hunters this promising?

Additionally, there were several Jade Scrolls. One detailed a unique body movement technique called "Shifting Positions," likely Ding's evasive skill that allowed him to float twelve feet away in a peculiar manner.

Another Jade Scroll contained Ding's primary cultivation technique, the "Sharp Gold Decision," irrelevant to Wang Hong.

There was also a scroll recording the experiences of a Foundation Building cultivator, including details about his later years spent in Mist Wind Gorge, cultivating spirit fruits and brewing Spirit Wine with trained spirit monkeys.

Realizing there was a cave mansion of a Foundation Building cultivator in the depths of the orchard, Wang Hong connected the dots that the substantial Spirit Stone sum must have been the cultivator's fortune.

Ding, it seemed, was too greedy. Despite obtaining a substantial amount of Spirit Stones, he still coveted the fortune, ultimately giving away his life.

Additionally, there were cultivation techniques like "Soft Water Art," a manual on controlling insects and beasts, and a guide on brewing high-grade Spirit Wine.

High-grade Spirit Wine was rare, difficult to obtain due to precious ingredients, secret recipes, and the lengthy brewing process spanning decades.

The collection of Spirit Stones was scattered onto the ground, likely expanding the space to around four acres. Wang Hong had been wondering where to plant all the spirit fruits he had gathered.

Picking up a small black sword, a Foundation Building cultivator's Spiritual Weapon Flying Sword, Wang Hong marveled at its value, estimating it to be worth tens of thousands of Spirit Stones.

He couldn't help but sigh at Ding's poor judgment. Perhaps the habit of killing for treasures led him to impulsively attack any target, ultimately resulting in his own demise.

Among the miscellaneous items on the ground were Spirit Herbs, spirit ores, and other items of lesser value, all of which were casually stored in the Storage Bag.

Unfortunately, he didn't find any techniques for hiding one's cultivation level, something Wang Hong had hoped to acquire to deceive others.

Nevertheless, the harvest was plentiful, and one should be content with what they have.

The Nascent Soul appeared in the space, with the Spirit Stones already absorbed. The land area had expanded to four acres, and considering the previous calculation, time inside should have progressed thirty-three times faster than the outside world.

Wang Hong planted each variety of spirit fruit, filling the empty acre of land.

Notably, the more white crystal fruits, the better. He planted all fifteen of them.

Recently, he observed changes in Spirit Grain and Spirit Wheat, not a complete mutation this time but only about half.

The plants grew taller, stems thickened to the size of a bowl, reaching almost ten feet, and the grains became larger with an extended maturation period.

Now, the complete success of the mutation has not yet occurred, and Wang Hong is eager to see what the final outcome will be.

Observing several Spirit Bees flying around Spirit Herbs, he recalled the "Controlling Spirits Technique" he had just acquired, providing a perfect opportunity to test it with these Spirit Bees.

According to the technique, a bee colony functions like a human kingdom, with clear tiers and detailed divisions of labor. Labor roles include those responsible for gathering nectar, brewing honey, cleaning the hive, feeding bee eggs, and more, all falling under the category of worker bees. On the other hand, male bees, despite their larger size, do not participate in any labor. They are solely responsible for two tasks: defending the queen and the hive and mating with the queen.

Normal Spirit Bee colonies have a queen, and all Spirit Bees obey her commands. If the queen dies or is lost, a portion of the bees will slowly evolve into a new queen. However, these queens, born from such evolution, have inherent deficiencies, leading to lower-quality offspring.

Currently, the bee colony in Space is without a queen. Wang Hong's task is to select the strongest egg from those yet to hatch, cultivate it to become the queen, and then use the queen to control the entire bee colony.

However, the hive in Space has already passed nearly three years, and the original eggs have all hatched. The current queens are those that evolved from the bees, and their quality is not ideal, leading to inadequate offspring.

Suddenly, he remembered that Ding, the cultivator he defeated, also had a bee colony in his Storage Bag. It had only been a month, so those eggs should not have hatched yet.

He immediately retrieved the hive from the Storage Bag and indeed found many unhatched eggs inside.

Selecting the strongest egg, he squeezed out a drop of essence blood from his fingertip. In mid-air, he drew a small rune and activated it with Spiritual Energy. The rune emitted a faint light, penetrating the insect's body.

At that moment, Wang Hong felt an inexplicable connection between himself and the insect.

He then manually created a queen platform and placed the egg that had recognized him into it. The larvae in the queen platform would receive special care from the bee colony, being fed with royal jelly, eventually becoming a new queen.

Once the new queen was born, the colony would eliminate the unfit queens, leaving only the most outstanding one.

After dealing with the bee colony, Wang Hong remembered that he had brought in some ant eggs earlier and wondered how they were doing.

Scanning with his divine sense in Space, he discovered several ants happily nibbling on one of his Spiritual Medicines. Furious at the intrusion, as he intended to sell the Spiritual Medicine for Spirit Stones, he threw them all out of Space. Recalling the previous experiment, he caught a handful and brought them back into Space. It seemed creatures hatched in Space could be transported back into it.

With Space matters settled, it was time to return to Azure Void City. Despite the hardships, this journey had yielded abundant rewards.

Space was now out of available space, and even if he found more Spiritual Medicine, there was no place to plant it. Additionally, all his Magical Weapons had been destroyed, posing a significant risk in case of danger.

Thus, he transformed into a middle-aged man with a full beard and joined a group heading back to Azure Void City.

During Wang Hong's absence, the various shops operated smoothly, bringing in an additional thirty thousand Spirit Stones.

Moreover, Zhao Ning reported a piece of information that caught his attention.

Recently, someone was secretly investigating the supply channels of the Elixir Pavilion, trying to find information about his suppliers or Alchemists.

However, the investigator approached the wrong person, attempting to bribe his soldiers with a mere five Spirit Stones. This person was too naive; five Spirit Stones might be a considerable fortune in the eyes of mortals or Qi Cultivators, but for his soldiers, it was just a fraction of their monthly income. As Wang Hong's income increased, so did the benefits for his soldiers, who were comrades that had faced numerous life-and-death trials together.

This incident served as a reminder for Wang Hong. Since he intended to sell Elixirs and Spirit Herbs, it was only a matter of time before someone set their sights on him. If he continued to keep his sources secret, it might raise suspicions.

The Spirit Wine Pavilion was simpler. With dozens of mortals helping to brew Spirit Wine, and Spirit Rice being readily available for purchase with Spirit Stones, there was no need for secrecy. The formula for brewing Spirit Rice wine was not a closely guarded secret and could be easily bought with Spirit Stones.

Thinking about it, Wang Hong realized that he should expose the secret of Space openly rather than keeping it hidden.

Familiarity breeds trust, and by revealing the secret openly, people would get used to it, reducing suspicions.

"Well, in the future, let's hide the secret of Space under the bright and glorious facade," Wang Hong thought to himself.

However, once Spirit Stones became abundant, it would be wise to purchase some spirit fields. Over time, managed spirit fields would yield consistent outputs, and hiring people to tend to them wouldn't require much of his own effort. Additionally, it would help conceal the sources of some Spirit Herbs.

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