Chapter 58: Second-Rank Spiritual Seeds and a Transaction [Seeking Follow Reads]

Qin Ming froze for a moment upon hearing this.

"Brother Su, as long as it is within my power, I will agree to anything you ask."

Seeing how readily Qin Ming agreed, Su Yuqing revealed a faint, amused smile on his face; he took five fruit pits out of his storage bag and handed them over, then said, "Help me cultivate these. Once the fruits ripen, I will take only three, and the rest will belong to you. I trust this won't be too difficult for Brother Qin, correct?"

Qin Ming took the fruit pits, each the size of a pearl, and examined them closely; after frowning in thought for a while, he suddenly said, "Aren't these the spiritual seeds of the Second-Rank spiritual plant, the Divine Essence Fruit?"

He hadn't expected Su Yuqing to actually obtain the spiritual seeds of a Second-Rank spiritual plant.

"Indeed, Brother Qin truly lives up to his reputation as a gifted spiritual planter; you identified this spiritual plant just by looking at the seeds," Su Yuqing said with a nod.

Qin Ming asked puzzledly, "Brother Su, since you are about to leave this place, how am I to deliver the spiritual fruits to you then?"

"You can simply entrust Fellow Daoist Gu of the Mirror Jing Xue Ge to deliver them for you, or if you have the opportunity, you may come to the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty to find me," Su Yuqing replied, handing him a jade slip containing a map.

Qin Ming took the jade slip, nodded, and agreed.

For him, cultivating a Second-Rank spiritual plant was no longer a difficult task.

"Brother Qin, what are your plans for the future? With your talent, staying here is truly a waste," Su Yuqing suddenly asked.

After a moment's thought, Qin Ming replied, "I plan to first advance to become a Second-Rank spiritual planter, thereby freeing myself from the corvée labor of the Spirit Feather Sect, and we shall see about the rest later."

"Mm, I also plan to return and find a way to achieve Foundation Establishment; otherwise, I cannot break through to become a Second-Rank pill refiner," Su Yuqing said with a nod.

Foundation Establishment?

A trace of envy surged in Qin Ming's heart.

Qin Ming asked curiously, "Does achieving Foundation Establishment have something to do with breaking through to become a Second-Rank pill refiner?"

"Of course it does; refining Second-Rank pills requires the Innate True Fire of the Foundation Establishment stage," Su Yuqing explained concisely.

Qin Ming suddenly understood.

Immediately afterward, Qin Ming took a bag containing one hundred jin of top-grade Beast Tooth Rice from his storage bag and handed it to Su Yuqing, saying, "Brother Su, on the occasion of our parting, I have nothing else to give you; this is just a small token of my regard, please accept it."

Su Yuqing took the bag and opened it, whereupon a dense wave of spiritual energy immediately rushed toward his face.

"Top-grade Beast Tooth Rice!"

Su Yuqing grabbed a handful of the spiritual rice and gently rubbed it together; delighted, he said, "I never expected Brother Qin to offer such a generous gift; in that case, I would be rude to refuse."

Qin Ming smiled; compared to the pill refining experience the other had imparted to him, this bit of spiritual rice counted for very little.

"Very well, it is getting late, so I won't stand on ceremony; I have already spoken with the Steward Hall regarding my hut in the shed district, which you may take over at any time."

"Brother Qin, let us meet again by fate; I hope that the next time we meet, you will already be a Second-Rank spiritual planter."

"Brother Su, may the Immortal Dao be ever green."

With that, Su Yuqing cupped his fists toward Qin Ming, bid farewell, and departed; Qin Ming watched from afar as Su Yuqing left, until the other's figure disappeared completely.

He had now seen off someone who, to him, was both a teacher and a friend.

Qingyang Market.

Qin Ming once again arrived at the Juxuan Pavilion.

Shopkeeper Liao had long known that today was the day for the spiritual rice harvest.

He had specially changed into a very festive red brocade robe and was waiting at the shop entrance, looking left and right.

As soon as he spotted Qin Ming arriving, his face immediately broke into a warm smile, and he hurried out to welcome him.

"Fellow Daoist Qin, you have finally arrived."

Qin Ming smiled slightly and said, "As soon as the spiritual rice ripened, I came straight here, after all, we signed an agreement with your pavilion back then."

"Good, good, good! Haha!"

"Fellow Daoist Qin, please follow me; our Gu Gezhu wishes to personally host you," Shopkeeper Liao said, ushering him forward.

Subsequently,

Qin Ming followed Shopkeeper Liao's lead to a private room on the seventh floor of the Juxuan Pavilion.

Gu Qingzhao also walked out from within the private room; her starry eyes held a smile as she said, "Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Qin, on further refining your spiritual planting skills!" Qin Ming chuckled and replied, "It is still too early; once the transaction is finished, I still need to go to the Steward Hall to participate in the advancement assessment."

"With Fellow Daoist Qin's talent, the advancement assessment should hardly pose any difficulty for you, correct?" Gu Qingzhao said, rarely revealing a smile.

"Come, Fellow Daoist Qin, let me treat you to some newly arrived high-grade Mist Tea."

This time, Shopkeeper Liao did not rush to leave; he probably also wanted to see what premium Beast Tooth Rice looked like.

He personally brewed the tea and poured water for the two of them.

After a few exchanges of pleasantries, Qin Ming knew that Gu Qingzhao could hardly wait any longer, so he took out the top-grade Beast Tooth Rice and placed it in the center of the room; there were fully six large bags of it.

Gu Qingzhao's beautiful eyes lit up with delight; she stood up and opened one of the bags of spiritual rice.

Instantly, a misty spiritual radiance reflected upon her cheeks, and a dense spiritual energy refreshed the heart and mind.

She murmured in astonishment, "Th-this isn't premium Beast Tooth Rice."

"It is, in fact, top-grade Beast Tooth Rice!"

Shopkeeper Liao also hurried over to take a look and was so shocked he could not speak.

After a long while,

Qin Ming spoke up, saying, "There are six hundred jin in total; I kept a little over one hundred jin for myself."

"Fellow Daoist Gu, please inspect and accept the goods."

Only then did Shopkeeper Liao recover his senses; he took out a large measuring Dharma tool, weighed everything, and then excitedly reported to Gu Qingzhao, "Gu Gezhu! It is correct; it is six hundred jin! A full six hundred jin of top-grade Beast Tooth Rice!"

Gradually, Gu Qingzhao's expression of shock turned into one of joyful surprise.

She smiled brightly at Qin Ming and said, "I never expected that what Fellow Daoist Qin cultivated this time would be top-grade Beast Tooth Rice; it seems our pavilion has gotten the better end of the deal."

"In that case, since top-grade Beast Tooth Rice is extremely rare and seldom seen on the market, I will add an extra portion of spiritual stones on my end."

"We can purchase this batch of top-grade Beast Tooth Rice at a rate of twenty spiritual stones per jin."

Upon hearing this, Qin Ming raised no objections and readily nodded in agreement.

Gu Qingzhao's expression brightened with joy; with this batch of top-grade beast-tooth rice, her branch of the Mirror Jing Xue Ge was likely to become famous throughout Yunze Dahuang.

"Here are twelve thousand spirit stones."

"Fellow Daoist Qin, please count them."

Qin Ming cleared his throat lightly; to have such a huge sum deposited at once, claiming he wasn't excited would be false.

This was the result of his two years of hard farming, during which he had cast the Advanced Spirit Rain Art countless times.

However, it was not appropriate for him to lose his composure here, so he maintained an air of ease, merely glancing casually as he said faintly, "I still trust Fellow Daoist Gu's word."

He quickly counted them once with his spiritual sense, and after confirming there were no errors, he stored the spirit stones in his storage bag.

Gu Qingzhao's beautiful eyes grew even brighter; she took out a purple jade tablet and handed it to Qin Ming, saying, "This is a senior VIP identity tablet of our Mirror Jing Xue Ge; Fellow Daoist Qin now qualifies to possess it."

Qin Ming took the purple jade tablet and asked in confusion, "What is the use of this identity tablet?"

At this, Shopkeeper Liao stepped forward to explain, "Fellow Daoist Qin, you may not know that this Yellow-Rank 'Snow' character tablet is open only to cultivators approved by our Pavilion."

"With this identity tablet, one can prioritize the allocation and purchase of resources within our Pavilion, and even access... top-secret intelligence of the Immortal Realm."

"Furthermore, you will enjoy a twenty percent discount."

Qin Ming had not expected this identity tablet to have such great utility; he immediately put it away and said to Gu Qingzhao, "Then thank you, Fellow Daoist Gu; I shall accept your generous gift without further modesty."

The transaction concluded.

"I must still go to the Duties Hall to participate in the promotion assessment for a Top-Grade Spirit Planter; Fellow Daoists, I shall take my leave first," Qin Ming said as he bid farewell.

Gu Qingzhao smiled gently, "Fellow Daoist Qin's promotion to Top-Grade Spirit Planter is such a grand event; I too wish to witness it, so I shall accompany Fellow Daoist Qin to have a look."

"Indeed, a Top-Grade Spirit Planter is an extremely rare existence; I will also go to witness it," Shopkeeper Liao added in agreement.

Qin Ming paused slightly, then smiled and said, "In that case, let us go together."

(End of Chapter)