Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Planting Spirit Plants, the Finicky Lotus
After putting the Cold Ice Wheat into the Storage Pouch, he felt great and continued to wander around the market.
He wondered if he could find a suitable spiritual bird to bind with the Cold Ice Snow Lotus in one go.
But perhaps buying the Wheat Pill had exhausted his luck, for after searching for quite a while, he found nothing, though he did buy an interesting insignificant magical artifact.
"Another Mo Family Mechanism Workshop."
"It’s a pity they aren’t open; only bought outside. Otherwise, I’d definitely go in to broaden my horizons."
On the way home, he rubbed the mirror he held in his hand.
This mirror only needs to be placed somewhere, and the other side will show what’s reflected inside, making it akin to a Cultivation Realm version of a surveillance camera.
And it doesn’t need wires to connect! It’s wireless!
However, the distance is quite limited, only a few hundred meters, coupled with the fact that it’s easy to be detected by Divine Sense, and it only has visuals without sound, it makes for a curious item.
After all, in the Cultivation Realm, casually installing surveillance would indeed allow others to trace back using the spiritual power fluctuations of the magical artifact.
But for Li Ye, it’s still quite useful. With this item, he could observe the Spirit Plants in the courtyard while inside the house, and quickly respond if anything happens.
After returning home, he first entered the house to warm up, and took out the Glazed Snow Lotus and Cold Ice Wheat.
Actually, he had been thinking earlier; the description of the Cold Ice Wheat was "can bind with any Spirit Plant that can produce seeds."
So, could this Glazed Snow Lotus be possible?
A lotus seed is a standard seed, isn’t it?
The problem is: with only a one-sided need, whether it can still be bound, and also if he could find a suitable spiritual bird in the future to bind with the Glazed Snow Lotus?
"Let’s try."
"But is my Vital Essence enough?"
He focused his spirit on the two different Spirit Plants, faintly able to feel the Cold Ice Wheat’s willingness to bind, but the Glazed Snow Lotus emitted a sense of rejection.
[Requirement: Consumes thirty points of Vital Essence.]
"I see." Li Ye’s eyes lit up; this binding was not successful, rather, it wasn’t impossible.
It means that if he could persuade the Glazed Snow Lotus, he could proceed with the binding.
It’s quite odd, though; is the Glazed Snow Lotus considered a Spirit Beast? Isn’t binding possible only between Spirit Plants and Spirit Beasts?
Could it be that these Spiritual Grain are special?
This failure didn’t disappoint him; instead, it confirmed his idea of being indeed effective. A Golden Finger is not such an inconvenient thing? Just have to explore its usage properly.
The only issue is that this fellow is about to die in a month; he wonders if binding could solve the problem?
He sighed, picked up the Cold Ice Wheat, and went into the courtyard.
According to the guidance from the young cultivator’s book, the Cold Ice Wheat needed to root in pure snow.
This pure snow could be the snow falling from the sky, but it required very high environmental standards.
Because the snow would inevitably absorb quite a few things during its descent.
Obviously, the snow here isn’t good enough.
Therefore, Li Ye could only find a way to make snow himself, which wasn’t difficult; just compress the water droplets with spiritual power and spray them into the air to directly form snow.
However, his main concern was with the water used to make the snow.
After thinking about it, he simply decided to try communicating with the Cold Ice Wheat.
Then set the water fetched from the well, filtered water, and water with added Spirit Stone dust on one side.
And asked, "Which one do you prefer?"
"..."
A long silence.
Just when he thought these Spirit Plants had too poor spirituality to communicate, he faintly felt the consciousness fluctuation of the Cold Ice Wheat.
It pointed to the well water.
To note, this well was the only Spiritual Qi Source in the courtyard, and because of it, the monthly rent costs a whopping twenty Spirit Stones. Luckily, the original owner had just paid the rent not long ago when he arrived.
With that, it’s all sorted; Li Ye immediately took the well water outside to make snow, then carved out a section around the Silver Moon Grass for the forty Cold Ice Wheat plants, and patiently began planting.
He admitted to being a novice in planting, even after reading some books, sometimes the depth or other controls are challenging to perfect—
Yet, he could faintly sense the consciousness of these wheat plants. As long as they feel comfortable, then it’s the most suitable, anyway adjustments can be made more frequently.
Practice makes perfect; he doesn’t believe that just because he can’t now means he won’t in the future.
And so, he quickly planted those forty Cold Ice Wheat plants.
Truthfully, the plantings weren’t exactly orderly, and even the spacing between them was somewhat tight or loose, all skewed, tilted, with varying depths.
However, it was precisely how they felt most comfortable, with even two of the plants exhibiting a consciousness of "wanting to get close."
After completing the planting, Li Ye checked them over.
Their so-called "Wheat Pill" had yet to be gestated, apparently requiring some more time.
When it’s completed, he’d truly want to taste what this pill produced by the wheat will be like.
"Little fellows, grow diligently!"
He habitually whispered some words of encouragement to the Cold Ice Wheat.
After planting, he found a place to install the mirror, ensuring a clear view of the situation here, and then returned to the house, taking out the Glazed Snow Lotus.
Having stayed in a Storage Pouch capable of storing Spirit Plants and Spirit Beasts for a while, the Glazed Snow Lotus exhibited some withered aura.
But once it encountered the cold wind enveloped in snowflakes from the outside, it seemed to come alive, with the previously closed buds showing signs of blooming.
However, as soon as Li Ye stopped, it immediately returned to withering.
"..."
Was this flower teasing me?
He glanced around; the cold wind continued to blow, and even being still felt chilly. How could randomly walking a few steps ever result in a differing cold ice snow condition?
Based on the understanding from the Spiritual Mechanism Vine earlier, this kind of Spirit Plant seems to dislike being rooted in one place for extended periods; supposedly, its favorite is the dynamic snowfields of a snowy mountain.
No need for movement to "roam" all around.
He couldn’t quite understand it, but given already bought, along with its lotus seeds being remarkably important.
Thus, he could only keep moving, and during this, he constantly sensed the awareness fluctuations of the Glazed Snow Lotus.
The result was still unproductive.
It seemed only to want to absorb so-called cold ice snow gas everywhere.
After a while, Li Ye felt unable to endure the cold outside, placing the lotus bottle by the well before quickly retreating into the house.
He brushed off the snow on himself and lay back on the bed, silently pondering the next steps.
The things present already occupied his limited energy; trying for more would risk outweighing the benefits.
So, for this period, he’d stay home, first dealing with the lotus and Spiritual Grain, recovering some Vital Essence so he could bind all the Silver Moon Grass and Flint Fire Crystal Insects.
When the quantity of Moon Liquid Pearls produced by this batch of Silver Moon Grass is sufficient, he’d approach the Spiritual Mechanism Vine to hand in the tasks, meanwhile getting some Magic Texts, for the original owner had too few magic skills.
And while considering this, he drifted deeply into sleep.
As he slept until evening, upon waking, he glanced at the mirror hanging nearby and suddenly saw a rather eerie scene.
Instantly waking him up in shock.