Chapter 39: Green Pear Spiritual Fruit and Spirit-Root Peach

Third Uncle broke down and left; faintly, it seemed he saw the crystalline glimmer at the corner of his eye.

Chen Chuyang couldn't help but give a wry smile, looking at the hundred spiritual stones in his palm, feeling a bit guilty.

Fortunately, that guilt lasted only a few breaths before he shook it off.

"Another hundred spiritual stones added, yet I'm still short of spiritual stones."

"The Formation on Longshe Shan consumes too many spiritual stones; the Gathering Spirit Formation requires a lot of spiritual stones each month. When will I ever not be short of them?"

The spiritual stones in Chen Chuyang's hand aren't actually many; he can scrape together a little, but mainly he's truly short of money.

All sorts of expenses require spiritual stones; the Gathering Spirit Formation cannot be cancelled, its effect is far better than using spiritual stones alone. If he wants to quickly advance his cultivation, he must use the Gathering Spirit Formation. For example, the Chen Clan also has a Gathering Spirit Formation, but its effect is inferior to his, so its spiritual stone consumption is naturally lower.

Each month requires consumption; the Third-Grade Formation Flowing Water Mist Formation also consumes even more spiritual stones. To set up a new Formation, Chen Chuyang has many issues to consider, foremost the spiritual stone supply—enough for consumption? Relying on his current earning speed, he can maintain it, but adding another Formation would demand a huge amount of spiritual stones.

Chen Chuyang's head ached; the Hundred Herbs Pill hasn't fully formed yet. To make money, further modifications are needed, but the side effects are too great. He doubts anyone would believe that this black charcoal is a pill, only someone like Third Uncle, who trusts him unconditionally, would fall for it.

Perhaps that's the affection coming from his uncle.

"So far, I've comprehended several Formations; when the spiritual stones are sufficient, I'll set up a new Formation. It depends on when Third Uncle returns to Longshe Shan."

"The Killing Formation is indispensable; I can't personally handle it every time, can I? What if I go into seclusion?"

The Flowing Water Mist Formation isn't safe enough; some Strong Ones could still break it.

Add another Killing Formation, and it'll be perfect.

Chen Chuyang has a concept; the idea is already in his mind, only the layout remains.

The ways to earn spiritual stones are limited: spiritual medicine, spiritual fish, and the mountain's spiritual fruit. Those fruits aren't that valuable, and they take a long time to mature; they aren't the best way to make quick money.

"We still need to do Pill Refining; pills are the most profitable business."

"Inside Longshe Cheng, pills are in severe shortage."

"Outside Longshe Cheng, every place lacks pills, especially good ones, which are even scarcer."

Any pill that can boost cultivation is valuable and scarce.

The small families of the Chen Clan cannot refine pills on their own.

Only the Great Qi Dynasty maintains Pill Refiners; a single Pill Refiner is extremely rare and hard to cultivate. A small family cannot raise one; the required consumption is just too great. Chen Chuyang, thanks to years of accumulation and the Chen Clan's long planting history, now has this Longshe Shan.

The consumption of spiritual medicine currently satisfies his personal cultivation, but training a Pill Refiner is truly difficult.

A batch of spiritual medicine has matured; the next batch must wait.

Chen Chuyang glanced at the treasure Third Uncle sent, mostly spiritual medicine, with quite a few spiritual medicine seeds.

He looked at those spiritual medicine seeds, took his tools, and went up the mountain to plant spiritual medicine.

Every corner of Longshe Shan is intimately familiar to Chen Chuyang; each plant and tree resides in his mind.

One day later.

Chen Chuyang watched the successfully planted spiritual medicine seeds, irrigated them with spiritual spring water, and then left them to time.

The insects on Longshe Shan were eradicated by him once; they won't appear for a short period.

Still, he must keep watch; he doesn't want the spiritual medicine eaten by insects.

Some of the mountain's spiritual fruit have matured.

They mature earlier than the spiritual fruit at the edge of Yu Tang; these fruits are all good, and eating them regularly can increase true Qi. For example, the First-Grade Spiritual Fruit green pear tree before him bears numerous fist-sized green pears, emitting a faint fresh fragrance.

The spiritual fruit was plump; Chen Chuyang plucked one and took a bite.

The juice was abundant, filling his mouth with green pear spiritual fruit juice—very sweet and fragrant.

After eating one green pear spiritual fruit, Chen Chuyang felt his body's true Qi increase a little, not much.

Still, it increased; if he ate all the green pear spiritual fruits from another tree, it would boost true Qi considerably.

Behind this green pear tree, there are several more green pear spiritual fruit trees, all laden with fruit.

The branches were bent low; waiting for this batch of spiritual fruit to mature took quite some time—last year the fruits had just sprouted, and this year they ripened.

They mature once every three years, which is relatively slow.

All the green pear spiritual fruits matured; Chen Chuyang tried each tree once, and the taste was the same.

It wasn't in vain that he painstakingly watched, fertilized, and watered; the water was spiritual spring water, which increased the concentration of spiritual energy, leading to the current results.

He felt a strong sense of accomplishment.

"So many green pear spiritual fruits, selling them would bring in a good amount of money."

"However, these treasures won't be sold; the family needs a portion. I'll keep some for myself to eat, and the rest can be used to brew wine."

"The other two spiritual fruit trees on the mountain are also about to mature, perfect for combining them to brew wine."

"The spiritual fruit wine will surely be potent; its effect is far better than eating the fruit directly."

These spiritual fruits, aside from being used for Pill Refining, can mostly be handed over to the family for the father to allocate, strengthening Chen Clan disciples. Compared to pills, spiritual fruits are more direct and have no side effects.

Pills are too scarce; not everyone can obtain them.

After picking the green pear spiritual fruits, Chen Chuyang walked to another fruit tree—a Spirit-Root Peach, which he transplanted from another mountain. At the time, a monster was eyeing it; Chen Chuyang killed the monster before transplanting it, which took considerable time.

The tree did not disappoint Chen Chuyang; it bore fruit—the first fruiting on Longshe Shan—but the yield was small, not comparable to the green pear spiritual fruit.

The two differ greatly in age, and their grades are also different.

The green pear spiritual fruit is a First-Grade Spiritual Fruit Tree, the lowest rank among spiritual fruits.

The Spirit-Root Peach is a Second-Grade Spiritual Fruit Tree; its condensed fruit has stronger effects and is more precious. One Spirit-Root Peach is quite valuable—according to Chen Chuyang's test, it can fetch at least ten spiritual stones, ten times the price of a green pear.

This is the gap.

It is also the difference between the two.

The Spirit-Root Peach, a Second-Grade Spiritual Fruit, can strengthen the flesh; for those whose bodies are not strong enough, it serves as a natural pill.

It is especially suitable for body‑refining practitioners; it has no side effects, and its enhancement is evident, comparable to pills.

The price isn't high; the same kind of pill costs at least several times more than a Spirit-Root Peach.

"Second-Grade Spiritual Fruit has a different effect; my flesh is already too strong to gain much."

So, the Spirit‑Primordial Peach has little effect for Chen Chuyang.

If eaten in large quantities, perhaps it could work, but there is only this one Spirit‑Primordial Peach, it needs to be cultivated; the seed of the Spirit‑Primordial Peach was buried by Chen Chuyang back into the soil, awaiting the tree's regrowth.

Actually, it can be grafted, but that would damage the essence of the Spirit‑Primordial Peach, making it not worth it.

"Both kinds of spirit fruit have ripened; I'm sure father will know and will be very pleased."