Back at the Tea Garden, Chen Si began to plan his next steps.
The first thing to solve, naturally, was the source of Spiritual Qi.
"These tea trees, the Qinghe Society might transplant them or sell them off in a package deal."
"Blocking someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents. Anyone with a bit of sense, knowing it's impossible, would definitely sell at a good price in advance, never waiting for others to divide it up."
"Even if they can't sell it, they'd burn it down rather than leave it for their enemies."
Chen Si never even considered contracting it. He had no background in the Qingyun Sword Sect, so that path was already blocked.
He had thought about joining the Qingyun Sword Sect, after all, a School of its size would surely have vast Spirit Medicine Gardens.
For him, that meant countless Spiritual Qi.
However, the risk was also very high.
Having already experienced one unforgettable lesson, he would never take that risk. It was better to stay hidden in Qingshan Town and slowly Cultivate.
"I need to find a substitute, a stable source of Spiritual Qi for me to plunder."
Three days later, Du Tai came to visit.
"Brother Chen, I didn't let you down. All the Medicinal Pills have been sold. Here are the remaining Spirit Stones." At the Tea Garden entrance, Du Tai handed over a Spirit Stone bag.
"Thanks!" Chen Si didn't stand on ceremony, taking it and tucking it into his embrace.
In this transaction, the other party could earn at least four or five Spirit Stones, so he didn't pay any more remuneration.
After thinking for a moment, he quietly slipped a small cloth bag to Du Tai, containing over twenty tea leaves, all good quality old leaves.
Du Tai also didn't stand on ceremony and accepted it.
He still had things to do, so he didn't stay long. After a brief exchange, he bid farewell.
Before leaving, he told Chen Si that the Huiling Residence was already selling items at a low price, and it would soon be the Tea Garden's turn, so he should prepare early.
Chen Si thanked him and watched him leave. Then, he left the Tea Garden and headed to a nearby trade market, intending to buy a low-grade spiritual item introduction manual.
Although he could detect simple information about all Spiritual Plants, this required having the actual item.
To find a Spiritual Plant that could replace the Tea Garden and provide him with a stable supply of Spiritual Qi, he still needed to consult ancient texts.
After all, he was still completely ignorant about most Spiritual Plants.
After browsing around, he bought five books. The most expensive one cost three Low-Grade Spirit Stones, while the two cheapest combined only cost one.
He returned to the Tea Garden with the books and carefully read through them.
Among the five books, there were over three hundred types of first-grade Spiritual Plants recorded. After removing duplicates, there were still one hundred and three types.
Among them, sixty-eight types were first-grade low-tier Spiritual Plants, twenty-one were mid-tier, and the rest were first-grade high-tier and unranked.
"duo ling grass, an unranked Spiritual Plant, one of the main foods for low-level herbivorous Spirit Beasts. It has a fast growth rate, short cycle, strong survival ability, and will compete for surrounding Spiritual Qi, so it cannot be planted with other first-grade Spiritual Plants."
"The ash formed after burning can effectively improve the soil and slowly raise the grade of Spirit Fields."
"It matures once a month. A maximum of one hundred duo ling grass plants can be planted per mu of Spirit Field. If too many duo ling grass are planted, the Spirit Field's grade will decrease until it becomes ordinary soil."
He glanced at the sky. It was still early before dark, so Chen Si went out again and bought a bag of duo ling grass seeds.
A large bag, weighing a full two kilograms, only cost one yinqi pill.
This type of Spiritual Plant reproduces quickly, and in less than a year, it can yield over a hundred kilograms of seeds. It's usually used to feed precious chickens and isn't worth much.
Carrying a large bag of grass seeds, he returned to his Immortal Cave. He opened the bag, and with a sweep of his Divine Sense, one hundred grass seeds flew out, divided into two equal portions, and were evenly scattered into Spirit Field No. 2 and No. 3.
A stream of Spirit Spring water randomly flowed out and sprayed onto the Spirit Fields, completing the planting.
The two Spirit Fields were exactly one mu of land.
Spirit Field No. 1 contained the Spiritual Plants he had planted: two Mist Dew Begonia flowers, one purple thunder bamboo, and one Sword Qi Grass.
These three were all second-grade low-tier Spiritual Plants. In terms of value alone, they were almost the same, but each had a different purpose.
Mist Dew Begonia is a main ingredient required for Alchemy. purple thunder bamboo can be refined into a second-grade wood-attribute Flying Sword, and Sword Qi Grass can be refined into the body to condense a strand of Sword Qi.
Of these three items, only the Sword Qi Grass was still somewhat useful to him.
With his current powerful Divine Sense, he could control tens of thousands of such Sword Qi. If unleashed at once, their power would definitely be extraordinary.
Sword Qi Grass could indeed be cultivated to become one of his methods.
purple thunder bamboo is a wood-thunder dual-attribute spiritual item. If properly cultivated and refined into Flying Swords, forming a sword array would also be a good method for engaging enemies.
However, he didn't know Artifact Refining, so Sword Qi Grass was more suitable for him.
"If I get a hundred purple thunder bamboo and sell them as a package, I should be qualified to enter an auction."
Soon, he formulated a plan.
He would focus on cultivating purple thunder bamboo and Sword Qi Grass, harvest a batch of duo ling grass every month, Cultivate one Mist Dew Begonia flower to sell for Spirit Stones, and consume ten drops of spirit liquid for Cultivation.
He planned to stay in the Tea Garden for another month, then leave.
Even if he had to leave early, he would have to plunder a bit of Spiritual Qi from all the spiritual tea plants.
Tea leaves contain a small amount of Spiritual Qi and cannot be plundered; the entire plant must be plundered.
The following days remained calm.
A few days later, Du Tai visited again. He had left the Huiling Residence early and planned to find work in the East District. He came to say goodbye.
Chen Si didn't say much, only wishing him good luck.
He stayed in the Tea Garden for about ten more days, plundering all the tea trees in batches. Only then did he return to the Huiling Residence and inform Shopkeeper Wang of his intention to leave.
At this time, it was less than a month until the spring tea harvest.
Shopkeeper Wang was very accommodating. He went with Chen Si to inspect the Tea Garden. After confirming there were no issues, he allowed Chen Si to settle his account and leave.
Midway, he went to the Affairs Hall and changed his identity, which was under the Qinghe Society's name, to a freeman.
Back in his Immortal Cave, Chen Si checked the growth of the duo ling grass. All one hundred duo ling grass plants had grown half an inch high with tender leaves; their growth rate was indeed very fast.
Under his cultivation, the other three types of second-grade low-tier Spiritual Plants had all advanced to first-grade high-tier.
"Mist Dew Begonia * 2: First-grade high-tier;"
"Spiritual Qi: 11;"
"Can be infused, can be plundered!"
...
"purple thunder bamboo: First-grade high-tier;"
"Spiritual Qi: 11;"
"Can be infused, can be plundered!"
...
"Sword Qi Grass: First-grade high-tier;"
"Spiritual Qi: 11;"
"Can be infused, can be plundered!"
Immediately, he consumed another 40 points of Spiritual Qi to upgrade all four Spiritual Plants to second-grade low-tier.
After fifteen days, he would be able to harvest four second-grade low-tier Spiritual Plants.
Things were developing in an increasingly positive direction.
Two days later, when passing by the Huiling Residence, he noticed that the shop had already begun renovations, and its name had been changed to Tianxin Pavilion.
Chen Si shook his head and walked towards another trade market.
This was Qingshan Town, whose main purpose was to attract Loose Cultivators and serve the entire Qingyun Sword Sect. There were many free trade markets on both sides of the main road.
Occasionally, a large gathering would be held to attract more people.
Rare Medicinal Pills like Foundation Establishment Pill and Core Formation Pill would also occasionally be auctioned off.