Chapter 90: Identification and Breeding

Chapter 90: Chapter 90: Identification and Breeding

"Hm?"

Elder Wang was taken aback for a moment, then nodded with a smile. "Alright, let me take a look."

With that, he picked up the heavy block of wood that Li Changsheng had bought for a spirit stone fragment and began to examine it carefully.

After looking at it for a while, he closed his eyes, circulated his Spiritual Power, and touched the block to perceive its texture and grain.

A few breaths later, Elder Wang opened his eyes, set the wood down, and shook his head. "This block of wood should have been a Tier One Top-Grade Spirit Wood. It’s a shame so much time has passed; the Spiritual Qi within has long since dissipated."

Li Changsheng asked, "Does it still have any value?"

"Yes, of course it does. Although its Spiritual Qi has dissipated, its material quality remains."

Elder Wang nodded without hesitation and explained, "While it can’t be used for refining things like talismans or artifacts, it can be burned into charcoal. Alchemy Masters are particularly fond of charcoal made from this kind of high-grade spirit wood."

"But this block is only the size of my palm. It can’t be worth many Spirit Stones, can it?" Li Changsheng asked doubtfully.

Elder Wang weighed the block in his hand, pondered for a moment, and said, "It’s probably worth around twenty Spirit Stones."

Twenty Spirit Stones!

Li Changsheng’s eyes lit up. He pointed to the remaining five items. "Elder Wang, could I trouble you to look at these as well?"

Elder Wang nodded. He picked up the three pieces of jade one by one, and after inspecting them, said, "Two are Tier One Mid-Grade Spirit Jades, and one is a Tier One Low-Grade Spirit Jade. Although their internal Spiritual Qi has dissipated, if you grind them into powder and add them to talismanic ink, they can slightly increase the success rate of talisman creation."

"The mid-grade ones are about ten Spirit Stones each, and the low-grade one is worth three."

He gave the prices without Li Changsheng even having to ask.

Elder Wang then picked up the withered grass, looked it over, and sniffed it. "This is a Tier One Lower-grade Spirit Medicine. Unfortunately, its Spiritual Qi has completely dissipated, so it’s useless. You could burn it for fertilizer, but it wouldn’t even be worth a few spirit stone fragments."

He then picked up the last item: a purplish-red rootlet, shorter than his palm and as thick as a chopstick, and began to study it intently.

He spent a full Cup of Tea’s Time examining it.

Elder Wang gently set down the purplish-red rootlet, shaking his head and sighing. "What a pity. A true pity..."

"What is it?" Li Changsheng asked.

Elder Wang explained, "This should be one of the rootlets of a Tier Two Spirit Medicine, a Purple Sun Ginseng. It’s a shame the Spiritual Qi has vanished..."

Hearing it was a Tier Two Spirit Plant, Li Changsheng’s eyes brightened. He asked, "Then how many Spirit Stones can it sell for?"

Elder Wang pondered for a moment. "The Purple Sun Ginseng has mild medicinal properties and can be used as a supplementary ingredient for most Tier Two Elixirs."

"Although the Spiritual Qi in this rootlet has dissipated, it can still enhance the medicinal effects of Tier One elixirs and increase the success rate of their formation."

"A rootlet this size should fetch at least a hundred Spirit Stones."

"It’s that expensive!" Li Changsheng exclaimed in shock.

Elder Wang gave a wry smile. "Have you ever seen a cheap elixir?"

Li Changsheng paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

’That’s right,’ he thought. ’Elixirs are never cheap, so a Purple Sun Ginseng rootlet that can enhance their effects and success rate would naturally be expensive too.’

"Junior Brother Li, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be heading back now."

Seeing that he had no more questions, Elder Wang stood up to leave.

"I’ll see you out, Senior Brother Wang."

Li Changsheng packed up his items and chatted idly with him, walking him all the way out of the Marketplace before turning back.

Back in the Marketplace, he didn’t linger. After a quick look at the other stalls at the crossroads, he headed for the exit.

Once outside the Marketplace, Li Changsheng let Xiaohua out and swung himself onto its back.

"Time to go home, Xiaohua."

GRUNT... GRUNT...

Xiaohua grunted twice and ambled along the main road toward their small courtyard.

Soon, the man and his pig reached the small path leading home.

Looking at the fields of golden Spirit Rice lining the path, Li Changsheng’s eyes filled with envy.

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, it was almost time for the new season’s Spirit Rice to ripen.

But since he had planted his Spirit Rice relatively late, he would have to wait a few more days for it to mature.

As he passed by Dong Xing’s home, Li Changsheng glanced at his Spirit Field and frowned.

The five mu of Spirit Fields were overgrown with weeds. This season’s harvest would surely be reduced.

Looking at the tightly shut door of the wooden house, Li Changsheng shook his head and urged Xiaohua to move on.

「Back at the small courtyard.」

Li Changsheng strode into the backyard, picked some melons and fruits, cut some purple alfalfa, and returned to the wooden house.

Wisps of smoke curled up from the chimney.

「More than an hour later.」

Li Changsheng walked out of the house carrying two wooden buckets.

"Here, pig, pig, pig..."

"Dinner time, Big Flower, Xiaohua, Little Xiaohua..."

After shouting a few times, he walked to the feeding trough and poured in the pig slop—a random stew of Mortal Rice, mixed fruits and vegetables, and Spirit Rice.

SPLASH...

After pouring the slop, Li Changsheng turned and went back to the kitchen.

A moment later, he emerged with two more wooden buckets and went straight to the beast pens.

As soon as he got close, the cries of the Red Foxes and Snow Goats filled his ears.

Li Changsheng walked to the Red Fox pen, took several chunks of fresh, bloody meat totaling about ten jin from the bucket, and tossed them inside. He then threw in four stalks of Jade Grass.

Without stopping, he moved on to the Red Fox cub pen.

The six Red Fox cubs had already grown to be about the length of his forearm.

Li Changsheng stared at one of them, his gaze fixed.

[Target: Red Fox]

[Species: Red Fox (Male)]

[Ungraded: 85%]

[Talent: Agility.]

[Status: Healthy.]

’Another half-month or so, and they should be ready to be sold...’

A smile appeared in Li Changsheng’s eyes. He tossed the rest of the meat from the bucket into the pen, followed by six stalks of Jade Grass.

Seeing the food, the cubs pounced on it immediately, baring their teeth as they tore into and devoured the raw meat.

Li Changsheng carried his bucket to the innermost pen and looked at the Snow Goats lying inside, his gaze fixed.

[Target: Snow Goat]

[Species: Snow Goat (Female)]

[Tier One Low-Grade: 23%]

[Talent: Sharp Horns.]

[Status: Healthy.]

He checked several of them in a row. Their cultivation progress was all about the same, but not a single one was pregnant.

’Looks like I’ll have to give you all a little something extra...’

With a slight thought, a white jade bottle appeared in Li Changsheng’s hand. He uncorked it and tilted his palm.

A dark green liquid with a pungent smell slowly flowed into the wooden bucket.

The juice was extracted from a Snake Saliva Spirit Tree. It had aphrodisiac properties. He poured in about half a small bottle.

Li Changsheng put the jade bottle away and looked at the male Snow Goat, which stood with its head held high, full of vigor. He sneered, "If they still don’t get pregnant after this, then I’ll have to consider whether you’re useless..."

"And being useless means being eaten..."

With that, he lifted the bucket, poured the food into the trough, and then turned and walked out of the beast pen.

Back in the courtyard, Li Changsheng glanced at Xiaohua’s family of three, then turned and entered the wooden house.

He had a simple meal with Xiaobai, cleaned up, and then walked up the stairs.

「On the second floor.」

Li Changsheng walked to the large vat and peered inside.

The insects, which had been like tiny specks just a few days ago, were now about the size of a fingernail. Their soft outer shells also looked much harder.

’Grow up quickly...’

Li Changsheng muttered to himself, then returned to the soft couch, sat cross-legged, and began to cultivate using his Cultivation Technique.

Without the aid of elixirs, his cultivation progress these past few days had been as slow as grinding stone, advancing only bit by bit.

Not only was it time-consuming and laborious, but the results were also extremely poor.