Chapter 83: Harvest of the Spiritual Tree (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Cassia seeds fall in the middle of the month, heavenly fragrance drifts beyond the clouds.

Before he knew it, another autumn had arrived.

"Let's go, Xiao Xiao Shimei."

"Okay, Senior Brother!"

Lin Jue called his Xiao Xiao Shimei and Fuyao to walk out together. Just in case, he still tucked away three bottles of spiritual liquid.

Lin Jue hadn't been up the mountain to look for medicine for a while, unless he happened to encounter it on the way of his cultivation. Now, almost all the spiritual liquid was extracted from the spiritual plants brought back by his Xiao Xiao Shimei.

Before they had even walked out of the inner courtyard, they suddenly heard a voice from behind:

"Where exactly are you two going?"

The two and the fox turned their heads at the same time; it was the Third Shixiong.

"What's wrong, Third Shixiong?"

"Is there any work to be done?"

"There's no work, I'm just telling you that the Mount Mingzhou Grand Vegetarian Offering Ceremony is approaching, and we need to set off half a month in advance. Do you want to prepare some dry rations?" The Third Senior Brother looked at Lin Jue.

"Are you the one taking us, Third Shixiong?"

"No choice! It's the season for harvesting grain; your First Senior Brother is busy, and your Second Senior Brother likes quiet. Only your Third Senior Brother, I can both get drunk in my room and roam the world. If we encounter monsters on the road or meet rude monster-people at the Grand Vegetarian Offering Ceremony, I can protect you. Is there anyone more suitable than me?"

"I see." Lin Jue thought for a moment and asked, "Did you prepare dry rations for the last Mount Qiyun Grand Vegetarian Offering Ceremony?"

"Mount Qiyun is not far, and there are places to eat in between, so we didn't prepare any dry rations. Master went to visit his old friends and prepared some scorched rice. Just take the scorched rice and dry it in the sun. Besides that, there are the Famine-Relief Pills refined by the Second Senior Brother, which can stave off hunger on the road. Eating them is about the same as eating stones; the only difference is that you can pass them after eating."

"This..."

Lin Jue knew roughly what it was.

"Leave it to me."

"Then I can rest easy." The Third Shixiong grinned. "Are you going out?"

"I told you before, Senior Brother, our fruit might be ripening soon."

"Oh, that opportunity of yours." The Third Senior Brother nodded very calmly, as if he didn't care. "It's good that it's ripe. Even if you can't refine it into pills, you can take it to the Grand Vegetarian Offering Ceremony to see if anyone else needs it."

"Okay."

"Go."

The two and the fox went into the mountains.

Fuyao was becoming more and more lively, running in front. Unlike most foxes, it liked to jump very much when walking and running. Whenever it encountered an obstacle, it would jump over it, with a light figure and infinite energy.

It was the season when wild fruits were full, and there was often fruit fragrance by the roadside, which often caused it to stop and sniff for a while.

"How old is Fuyao?"

The Xiao Xiao Shimei stared at the fox in front, her expression puzzled.

"When I picked it up, it should have been born not long ago. It's been a year and a few months now."

"Senior Brother, have you noticed that Fuyao seems to have grown larger than ordinary foxes?"

"Is that so?"

Lin Jue couldn't help but look carefully.

That palm-sized fox back then had indeed grown up, and now it looked almost as big as a dog. But it wasn't until his Xiao Xiao Shimei said this that Lin Jue realized—

It seemed that most foxes were smaller than the dogs at the foot of the mountain.

As if it heard them talking about it, the fox, which was jumping over a dead tree, suddenly turned its head, staring at them with lively eyes.

Lin Jue smiled and continued forward.

They were already familiar with the road.

The two carefully climbed down, while the fox found the protruding parts of the mountain rocks and jumped to the bottom of the valley one by one. If seen by people at the foot of the mountain, it would likely be another legend of a fox spirit.

Before they even reached the bottom of the valley, there was a strange fragrance.

When they reached the bottom of the valley, several spirit monsters were already waiting here.

Lin Jue still stood in the position near the cliff as before. Seeing several spirit monsters looking at them, he performed a Daoist salute to them, and his Xiao Xiao Shimei followed him and also performed a salute.

Some spirit monsters nodded, while others just flickered their eyes, not understanding this set of etiquette.

"You came early!"

The voice of a golden chicken came from a tree branch in front.

The voice was as crisp and ethereal as a bird's call.

The golden chicken dragged its colorful tail feathers and looked down at them. It was one of the only two spirit monsters among those raising trees and fruits in the bottom of the valley that could speak human language; the other was that exceptionally large clouded leopard.

However, the other spirit monsters were not necessarily because their Dao cultivation was insufficient, but more likely because they lived deep in the mountains with no human traces, so they had nowhere to learn human language and no need to communicate with humans, so naturally they couldn't speak. This golden chicken seemed to have learned it because it had intersections with a certain Daoist temple in the mountains.

"You came even earlier, Daoist friend," Lin Jue said kindly. Every seven days, he would come here once. Over time, he had also had intersections with them.

"The fruit should be ripe today!"

"Is it ripe today?"

Lin Jue couldn't help but show a bit of joy.

This joy was not only the joy of obtaining treasure, but also the happiness of seeing the results of his hard work in watering and getting a return for his spiritual liquid. This kind of happiness was very simple.

"It should be ripe!" The golden chicken was also very happy. "This kind of tree also appeared ten years ago, but it didn't grow as well as this time!"

"Did you discover it ten years ago too, Daoist friend?"

"It was fate! I discovered it!"

"Hmm..."

Lin Jue knew the reason roughly.

Actually, before Lin Jue got involved, these spirit monsters mostly relied on their own primordial energy to nourish this small tree, or collected other things that possessed spiritual aura and were suitable for nourishing spiritual trees. However, these things were not as good as the spiritual liquid extracted by Lin Jue, so when Lin Jue intervened halfway, they accepted it.

But it wasn't just the credit of Lin Jue and his Xiao Xiao Shimei.

It was truly that there were rules in the mountains, and the spirit monsters were simple by nature. Seeing Lin Jue and his Xiao Xiao Shimei pay so much, they were unwilling to fall too far behind, and since then, they had paid more than before.

It actually felt like they were competing.

"Since you have obtained this kind of spiritual fruit before, Daoist friend, I wonder what its efficacy and function are?"

"You're asking about the fruit?"

"Naturally."

"Eating the fruit can make you smarter and increase your Dao cultivation."

"Besides the fruit, is there any other use?"

"Of course."

"Please enlighten me."

"Like the leaves and branches, they can be used to build a nest."

"What is the efficacy of building a nest?"

"It's fragrant!"

"Ah..."

"You shouldn't stand so close to the cliff," the golden chicken reminded them. "I heard from other spirit monsters in the mountains that in the past year, people in Mount Yishan have often thrown stones from the mountain to the foot of the mountain. Be careful when walking against the cliff so you don't get hit."

"..."

Lin Jue couldn't help but turn his head and look at his Xiao Xiao Shimei upon hearing this.

His Xiao Xiao Shimei had a dull expression and reached out to scratch her head.

Looking at the small tree in front again.

The small tree was still lush and had grown to the height of a person, half-hidden in the clouds and mist. I don't know if it was reflecting light or what, but the clouds and mist often showed a bit of colorful light.

The tree bore bright yellow cinnabar fruits, less than the size of a chicken egg.

Lin Jue looked up at the sky.

Today was a sunny day, blue as if washed.

There was no fog in the mountains, only beside the small tree.

It was probably spiritual mist.

Gradually, the spirit monsters in the mountains gathered more and more, until a clouded leopard as big as a tiger jumped down from the mountain, and the spirit monsters were gathered. Almost all eyes were focused on the small tree.

They saw the clouded leopard step forward, approach the small tree, and sniff it.

Then it turned its head and swept across the many spirit monsters.

The many spirit monsters also looked at each other.

Based on his understanding of them, Lin Jue knew roughly that the spiritual fruit on this tree should really be ripe. As for what looking at each other meant, he didn't know.

Just as he was puzzled, most of the spirit monsters cast their eyes on the clouded leopard, watching intently.

The two and the fox also looked over.

The clouded leopard let out a low roar, then took another half step forward, walked close to the small tree, and looked back and forth among the branches and leaves of the small tree. After looking for a long while, it finally stretched out its head and held a fruit that was blocked by leaves near the top in its mouth.

"Sha..."

It pulled it off in one go, and the small tree shook three times.

The clouded leopard retreated.

The many spirit monsters all cast their eyes on its mouth, stretching their necks and constantly looking, as if they wanted to see how big that cinnabar fruit was, and then they looked at each other again. After a moment, most of the spirit monsters cast their eyes on that exceptionally fat macaque.

The macaque waved its hand, stood up, walked to the small tree, and still looked for a long time before choosing one.

It used both hands to gently take it down.

Lin Jue understood roughly.

At the same time, he looked up at the sun—

It was already noon, and it was a bit sunny in the mountains.

Choosing like this was also quite time-consuming.

Just as he lowered his head, he saw that most of the spirit monsters had cast their eyes on their side, their eyes constantly shifting.

"Hmm?"

Lin Jue reacted immediately, stood up quickly, and bowed deeply to them.

"Many thanks!"

Then he stepped forward.

This spiritual plant was indeed spraying clouds and mist, and this cloud and mist was mixed with strange fragrance, which made people feel refreshed when they smelled it, and the cloud and mist felt exceptionally cool when it touched the skin.

There were still fifteen fruits on the tree.

After all, the fruit had been thinned, the nutrition was completely sufficient, and the size was actually not much different.

Not much different, but there were differences.

"This..."

Lin Jue could be considered to have experienced the difficulties of the clouded leopard and the macaque.

These fruits were all round, hanging in different positions on the tree, high and low, left and right, and were often half-hidden by leaves. It was difficult to find them all, and even more difficult to compare their sizes.

So Lin Jue also chose for a while before choosing the one he thought was the biggest.

Not long after, there were three fruits.

Holding the fruit in his hand, it was still surrounded by spiritual mist, and the strange fragrance was constant. This kind of fragrance seemed to have an instinctive attraction to the living beings in the world, making people want to swallow it, drooling.

Ordinary plants in the mountains, growing in places with deep spiritual aura, occasionally obtaining the spiritual aura of heaven and earth, could become spiritual plants. If they were strange flowers and plants themselves, it would naturally be better.

However, most of these spiritual plants did not look like they had many wonderful or special features. When they bloomed and bore fruit, perhaps the spiritual aura would drift out with the fragrance of flowers and fruits, so they could be found by spirit monsters or animals in the mountains. At other times, the spiritual aura was just a bit thicker. Only practitioners searching carefully could detect the strangeness.

This spiritual tree not only had treasure light and strange colors before it bore fruit, but also needed to be fed with spiritual liquid extracted from so many spirit monsters and so many spiritual plants. After bearing fruit, it swallowed clouds and spat mist, so it was obviously not simple.

"Hu..."

Lin Jue blew a breath, and the spiritual mist converged.

This was the secret of the harvesting method, which could ensure that the spiritual aura of the heavenly materials and earthly treasures he collected would not dissipate and the treasure nature would last forever.

Then he waited patiently.

All the spirit monsters were like this—

Impatient while waiting, scratching their ears and cheeks. When it was their turn, even if there were not many fruits left, they still had to patiently compare and choose for a long time.

After all the spiritual fruits were picked, in an instant, the leaves of the spiritual plant turned from green to yellow, as if they had withered and died. And the spirit monsters in the mountains were obviously very experienced in this, and they didn't feel sorry for it, but just walked up again, plucked and broke off all the leaves and branches of the spiritual plant, and even pulled out the roots.

The distribution of roots, trunks, and branches was much more casual.

The roots were not carefully picked out like digging for ginseng; there was only a root ball, and not much of it. The clouded leopard and the macaque split it equally, not knowing what they were going to do with it. The three of Lin Jue took the three thicker sections near the bottom of the trunk. The further back, the same length was distributed, but they were thinner, and after that, there were only branches left.

The leaves were even more casual.

The clouded leopard gathered them into a pile and pushed them around a few times, and everyone got some. It seemed that this was not so precious, and everyone had no objections.

Lin Jue focused on the trunk distributed to the three of them.

It was about the thickness of a wrist and nearly the length of a palm, and it felt quite hard. I don't know if it was suitable for making bean soldiers.

Anyway, the size was suitable.

After all, the bean soldier was less than a palm long, and the body was thinner than a wrist. The thickest section of the trunk even had a surplus in thickness.

The Xiao Xiao Shimei's and the fox's were slightly thinner.

Of course, the fox's was also Lin Jue's.

As for the Xiao Xiao Shimei's, it depended on the use of this thing. If there was no other wonderful use she could use, it would naturally be Lin Jue's too.

"Many thanks, Daoist friends."

Lin Jue bowed to them politely and sincerely.

"Let's part here."

The two climbed up, and the fox jumped between the mountains.

The many spirit monsters also all dispersed.

In the blink of an eye, nothing was left at the bottom of the valley.

But Lin Jue would probably remember them forever.

Because the process of obtaining treasure like this was truly impressive. ===== CHAPTER 84 =====