In the cultivation world, most Cultivators prefer to eat spirit rice.
Very few eat pasta, because making pasta is very complicated.
It requires drying the wheat, husking it, grinding it into flour, and then kneading the dough before it can be steamed or baked into delicious food.
Furthermore, for a Cultivator exploring the supreme Dao of Immortality, eating a flatbread or a steamed bun is truly unseemly.
Li Zhuo, being in the mountains, naturally didn't have this problem.
He didn't have the conditions to Cultivate large areas of rice in the mountains, nor did he have the seeds.
Li Zhuo could only Cultivate wheat.
Originally, he was still debating where to dry the wheat, but now with Little Flower, the problem was easily solved.
At this moment, Little Red's cave was piled high with spirit wheat.
Upon closer inspection, there was a faint flame burning on the spirit wheat.
This was the low-temperature flame left by Little Flower, solely to remove moisture from the wheat.
Little Red was currently lying in the spot where the Chi She Clan Leader used to be, absorbing the surrounding Spiritual Qi.
Upon careful sensing, the Spiritual Qi here was actually much denser than when the Five Elements Spirit Grass was present.
This was because there was also a Gathering Spirit Formation within the cave.
Li Zhuo had carved the Formation Eyes and Formation Flags within the Safe Zone, and then dispatched Puppet Soldiers to the cave to help the little snake set up a small Gathering Spirit Formation.
With the help of Spirit Stones and the remaining Spiritual Qi in the cave, this place had become a true Cultivation treasure land.
Coupled with the hundred-poison bramble ball at the entrance ensuring safety, this cave could indeed be called a Safe Zone.
Little Red coiled within the Gathering Spirit Formation, breathing in the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
After a moment, it slithered out of the Gathering Spirit Formation and went to the pile of wheat.
It extended its tail into the wheat, stirring it around to help the wheat dehydrate as quickly as possible.
After completing this task, Little Red slithered back into the Gathering Spirit Formation.
As a Spirit Beast guarding the Safe Zone for its master, Little Red dared not be negligent in the slightest.
It Cultivated diligently every day.
Moreover, not long ago, its master even sent Puppet Soldiers to construct a Formation for it, which instantly made the Spiritual Qi in the cave much denser, greatly increasing Little Red's Cultivation speed.
In addition to the Formation, every one or two days, Little Flower would come and bring it a precious five spirit fruit.
With the blessings of the five spirit fruit, the hundred-poison bramble ball, and the Gathering Spirit Formation, Little Red's Cultivation progressed extremely quickly.
In a remote and Spiritual Qi-deficient mountain range like Wanshou Mountain, the Cultivation resources Little Red enjoyed absolutely far surpassed those so-called Spirit Beast overlords.
Even the Spirit Beasts kept in two or three-star Schools could not enjoy the Cultivation resources Little Red currently had.
For Little Red, who once only dreamed of absorbing a tiny bit of Spiritual Qi to become a true Spirit Beast, this was like a dream.
Little Red looked out through the cave entrance towards the Safe Zone, its heart filled with happiness and peace.
Just then, Little Red suddenly heard footsteps approaching from outside.
It looked up and saw Little Flower bypassing the hundred-poison bramble ball at the entrance and walking in.
On its back, it carried two round, disk-shaped stones, whose purpose was unknown.
Feeling Little Red's gaze, Little Flower carefully placed the stones down and explained, "These are millstones. Song Ling Rat Adult punched them into a rough shape, and then ground them little by little with stones."
"What?"
"The Immortal gave Song Ling Rat Adult a task to create two millstones."
Looking at the round millstones and feeling their rather smooth and flat surface, Little Red looked incredulous: "This… to make them like this, it must have taken a lot of effort."
Recalling the Little Squirrel's temper, Little Red absolutely couldn't imagine this Squirrel obediently smashing stones into the shape of millstones with its fists.
Not to mention, the surface of these millstones was quite smooth and flat, requiring immense patience.
The Little Squirrel didn't seem like a patient creature at all.
"At first, Song Ling Rat Adult was indeed unwilling, and even angrily wanted to fight the Immortal~"
Little Red pictured the Squirrel in its mind and unconsciously nodded.
It could indeed do such a thing.
"But then, the Immortal only mentioned things like 'spirit wheat,' 'thieves,' and 'precious seeds,' which actually made Song Ling Rat Adult's face turn red, and in the end, it obediently agreed."
"Huh?" Little Red looked confused.
Little Flower, however, smiled and said, "In the past few days, Song Ling Rat Adult left the Safe Zone and directly collapsed a small mountain wall to finally produce these two stone mills.
Now it's sulking in the Safe Zone, ignoring everyone."
"Haha~"
Little Red laughed for a while, then asked, "How do you use this stone mill?"
Little Flower set up the stone mill in front of the wheat pile, scratched its head, "The Immortal said it seems to be for grinding wheat and such. Let me figure it out~"
With that, Little Flower picked up a handful of wheat and gently rubbed it.
The husk of the wheat was rubbed clean.
Then, it put the wheat into the round opening at the top of the stone mill.
It gently turned the millstone.
Squeak, squeak, creak…
The glistening wheat was crushed by the stone mill, replaced by slightly coarse flour.
————
Li Zhuo sat cross-legged under the Daosheng Qingwen Banyan, breathing in the Wood Spiritual Qi from the Gathering Spirit Formation.
Following the key points of the Myriad Wood Evergreen Technique, he drew in Spiritual Qi to circulate through his major Meridians, slowly increasing his Cultivation.
At this moment, more than half of Li Zhuo's magical power in his Meridians had already solidified, just a little short of being able to Breakthrough to the fourth Rank of the Qi Refining Realm.
"I should be able to attempt a Breakthrough tomorrow," he murmured softly.
Li Zhuo stood up and walked towards the Five Elements Fruit Tree.
Currently, Little Guo lived on the Five Elements Fruit Tree.
The little fellow was very ambitious.
It refused Little Flower's help and chose to build its own nest.
Being in the mountains, there was no shortage of branches and tender leaves for building a nest.
Little Guo flew and flapped, and actually managed to bring back enough branches.
It even discovered a branch with a strong Wood Qi aura under the Daosheng Qingwen Banyan.
This made the little fellow overjoyed, sighing that its Luck was truly profound.
Little Guo used this Wood branch as its Foundation to build a warm little nest.
It lived on the fruit tree, feeding on fire-attribute spirit fruit, slowly increasing its Cultivation and strength.
Li Zhuo stroked Little Guo's head, checking its Rank and attributes.
The results were quite good.
"Little Guo is Cultivating very diligently~"
"Chirp, chirp~"
Receiving praise, Little Guo happily flapped up and down, becoming even more serious about its Cultivation.
Leaving the Five Elements Fruit Tree, Li Zhuo was about to go check on the Little Squirrel when he suddenly saw Little Flower running into the Safe Zone, carrying a snakeskin bag and looking very excited.
"Immortal, it's done~"
Little Flower opened the snakeskin bag, and inside was fine white flour.
"I ground it several times, and finally succeeded~"
Looking at the white flour, Li Zhuo was stunned for a moment before finally accepting the fact that he was eating white flour in the cultivation world.
He looked at the white flour, then at Little Flower's expectant face.
Li Zhuo smiled and said, "Let's eat steamed buns~"
"Steamed… steamed buns?"
"I'll teach you."
That being said, Li Zhuo didn't really know how to make steamed buns.
He could only roughly describe what a steamed bun looked like and how he imagined it was made.
"It has a skin, a filling, and it's steamed…"
Little Flower's eyes were first bewildered, then enlightened, and it became even more expectant.
"Human Race food is truly elaborate~"
Leaving that remark, Little Flower began to try little by little.
It has to be said that this leopard's culinary talent was truly excellent.
After only a day, Little Flower presented a steaming hot bun to Li Zhuo.
"Immortal, please try it~"
Li Zhuo smiled and took the bun, full of praise.
Little Flower, however, was stunned.
Because it distinctly felt that the Immortal seemed different.
More powerful, more unfathomable.
Little Flower knew that the Immortal's Cultivation had become even more profound.