The morning light had just faded, and the dew was still wet. Wei Changsheng was squatting at the edge of the field, his fingertips lightly tapping the handle of his small hoe. The hoe vibrated slightly, and the Spiritual Dust Sensing Array buried in the soil instantly lowered its frequency, its alarm threshold resetting to zero. His movements were natural, as if he were flicking mud from his shoes, but in reality, his peripheral vision had already locked onto the red figure outside the field path.
Liu Yan'er arrived silently, yet she brought with her an uncontainable wave of heat. She stood by the field, the nine miniature Pill Furnaces at her waist gently swaying, and the fire crystal hairpin in her hair flickering, as if reading an invisible thermometer. She didn't speak, her gaze sweeping over the three acres of lush green fields before finally resting on a grain of rice blown out by the wind at Wei Changsheng's feet.
Wei Changsheng's heart sank.
That grain was a mutated spiritual rice, accelerated by the System for three years, its Spiritual Qi contained but surging like an undercurrent. Logically, it shouldn't have leaked, but last night, when the spiritual network fluctuated, the wind direction shifted seven degrees, just enough to blow one grain out.
He was about to lift his foot to cover it, but Liu Yan'er had already bent down and picked it up.
The moment her fingertips touched the grain, her ear tips reddened, and a faint purple light actually emanated from her palm. That light resonated slightly with the ziyang flower seed tucked in her hair, like old friends meeting and gently greeting each other.
"Your rice," she looked up, her voice clear, "is too fiery; it's prone to exploding the Pill Furnace during Alchemy."
Wei Changsheng grinned, cupped his hands, and bowed: "Senior Sister Liu is right; I'll adjust the soil formula later."
He responded easily with his mouth, but his mind was rapidly processing data: Too fiery? That meant she sensed the Spiritual Qi fluctuation frequency, but didn't pinpoint the source. Good, he wasn't exposed.
He took half a step forward, using his body to block the main area of the field, and pulled out a clay pot from his embrace: "Coincidentally, I brought a newly mixed soil sample, preparing to renew the land contract. If Senior Sister doesn't mind, you can take a look."
Liu Yan'er glanced at the clay pot, didn't take it, and instead stared at the small hoe at his waist: "Your tool, its patterns are quite unique."
"It's a family heirloom." Wei Changsheng handed the hoe over, handle first, with the rune side facing up, "It can measure the purity of earth spirits. My ancestors said it's a 'Spiritual Vein stethoscope'."
She took it, her fingertips tracing the runic grooves, her pupils constricting slightly.
These patterns... how are they so similar to the carvings she saw when repairing ancient Pill Furnaces? Seven parts similar, three parts divine charm; what was lacking wasn't the technique, but the era.
She didn't make a sound and returned the hoe.
When Wei Changsheng took it, he deliberately let his sleeve brush against the gap of her Pill Furnace bag, and smoothly slipped in a small paper-wrapped packet. His movements were as quick as pulling out a handkerchief, yet as precise as a surgical scalpel.
The paper packet contained ordinary Ninglu Grass powder, but after a year of System acceleration, its Spiritual Qi density was three times higher than outside. He didn't write anything or mark it, relying purely on "anonymous gift" to create an information gap.
"Does Senior Sister often come to inspect Pill materials?" He changed the subject, squatting down to pretend to tidy the field path.
"The Spiritual Qi fluctuations in the medicine garden have been abnormal recently, so the steward asked me to come and take a look." Her gaze still hadn't left the field, "Where did you learn this 'four parts three-yin soil, three parts yang sand' ratio?"
Wei Changsheng's hand paused.
Here it comes.
This ratio was from the Incomplete Manual of the Dantian Records that Su Jin had mentioned. He had originally thought it was just a lucky guess, but he didn't expect someone to actually recognize it.
"I saw half a page when drying ancient books." He didn't even lift his head, "The words were all blurred, so I tried it according to the incomplete diagram, and I didn't expect anything to actually grow."
"Oh?" Liu Yan'er raised an eyebrow, "A Servant, able to enter the library to dry ancient books?"
"Sweeping dust is a job anyone can do." He clapped his hands and stood up, "The key is that the earth doesn't lie; what you give it, it returns to you."
These words sounded simple, but Liu Yan'er felt a shock in her heart upon hearing them.
She had been doing Alchemy for ten years, accustomed to hearing "Heaven And Earth Treasure" and "Opportunity", but no one had ever said "the earth doesn't lie". These words were like a seed, gently falling into her Dantian; before it even sprouted, it had already taken root.
She stared at Wei Changsheng, and suddenly said: "Your name is Wei Changsheng?"
"Yes."
"Your rice will cause trouble sooner or later."
"Trouble?" He smiled, "As long as the Pill Furnace doesn't explode, I'll take responsibility for whatever happens."
"Not exploding the Pill Furnace." She shook her head, "It's that someone will target you. Your soil, your rice, your tools... none of them should be in the hands of a Servant."
Wei Changsheng's smile remained unchanged, but an alarm blared in his heart.
This woman was ten times more perceptive than he had anticipated.
He was about to make another excuse when he suddenly felt a warmth at his feet. The little fox had somehow sneaked over, its tail gently sweeping across the top of his shoe, a blue light flashing briefly at its ear tips.
The System prompt popped up silently: "High-level Pill Fire aura detected, symbiotic spirit body entering resonance pre-state."
Wei Changsheng's eyes narrowed.
What the little fox could sense was never a coincidence.
He looked down at the fox, then up at the person, and suddenly felt that this red-clothed woman harbored more than one fire.
"Senior Sister is right." He put away his smile, his tone becoming a bit more serious, "That's why I wrote the soil formula on a Jade Slip, and even added failure records. It consumes a lot of Spiritual Qi, has a high threshold, and is difficult to control even for those at Qi Perfection—whoever wants to try, feel free."
Liu Yan'er stared at him for two breaths, then suddenly chuckled: "You're quite good at self-preservation."
"Just a Servant, living long is the real skill."
"Indeed." She turned to leave, but suddenly stopped, "Next time, don't use cinnabar to fake it. Three days of tempering with Earth Core Fire is not just for show."
Wei Changsheng was stunned.
She knew even that?
"Senior Sister is discerning." He cupped his hands, "Next time, I'll definitely use the real thing."
Liu Yan'er didn't turn back, raising her hand to gently stroke the fire crystal hairpin in her hair, its light gradually steadying. She walked a few steps, then said: "That packet of grass powder, who gave it to you?"
Wei Changsheng's heart skipped a beat.
She found it?
"What grass powder?" He feigned ignorance.
"Don't pretend." Her tone cooled a bit, "The one you slipped into my Pill Furnace bag, its Spiritual Qi is impure, but its density is abnormal, like... it was force-matured."
Wei Changsheng grinned: "Senior Sister is overthinking; maybe the wind blew it in."
Liu Yan'er didn't press further, only leaving behind a sentence: "The wind doesn't bend to slip into bags."
After she left, Wei Changsheng stood rooted to the spot, unmoving.
The little fox squatted at the edge of the field, its ears twitching, then suddenly opened its mouth and spat out a wisp of extremely thin blue flame, which landed on the mutated rice grain that Liu Yan'er had discarded.
The grain instantly carbonized, but from the ashes, an almost invisible rune emerged, perfectly identical to the patterns on the small hoe.
Wei Changsheng squatted down, picking up the ashes with the tip of the hoe, and asked in a low voice: "That fire on her... is it from the same root as yours?"
The little fox didn't answer, only swept its tail across the back of his hand, then turned and jumped onto the field path, disappearing into the tall grass.
Wei Changsheng stood up, patted his pant legs, and on his way back to the straw shed, casually pulled out the System Shop interface.
"Perfect Grade Golden Core Pill Formula, 5000 planting points..." He flipped through the harvest records, "I've only accumulated over three hundred now, still far off."
He gritted his teeth: "I need to expand the fields, accelerate growth, and cultivate some high-value crops."
As he was thinking, the System interface suddenly flickered, and a line of gray text appeared on the homepage:
"Potential energy core detected, activation progress: 0.7%."
Wei Changsheng was startled. He refreshed, and the text was gone.
He frowned, pulled up the character tag records, scrolled to the latest entry, his pen tip pausing. Under the name "Liu Yan'er", he inexplicably drew a small flame.
Before the ink was dry, the System interface flickered again.
That line of gray text reappeared, the progress bar jumping one notch:
"0.8%."
Wei Changsheng stared at the number, and suddenly felt a chill down the back of his neck.
He closed the Jade Slip and looked up at the sky.
A crack appeared in the clouds, and sunlight slanted down, landing precisely on the miniature Formation Plate under the brim of his straw hat. In the center of the Formation Plate, an undetected mutated rice powder glowed with a faint purple light, echoing the ziyang flower seed in Liu Yan'er's hair from afar.
He raised his hand and touched the hoe's runes, muttering: "This game of chess, I'm afraid it's getting bigger and bigger."
Night fell, inside the straw shed.
Wei Changsheng was checking his planting plan when he suddenly noticed the little fox curled up in the corner, its ear tips flashing blue, as if receiving some signal.
He squatted down and asked softly: "You sensed it again?"
The little fox opened its eyes, a flicker of golden flame deep within its pupils.
Wei Changsheng's heart trembled.
Golden flame... it wasn't Liu Yan'er's fire, nor was it Wu Xiang Old Demon's black Qi.
It was another kind of fire, ancient, pure, as if it had been burning for a hundred thousand years.
He abruptly opened the "Dao of Alchemy" directory in the System Shop, his finger hovering over the "Eternal Motion Pill Fire" entry.
The entry was grayed out, the price not displayed.
But the moment he gazed at it, a small line of text popped up at the bottom of the interface:
"Energy core compatibility increased, unlocking hidden product preview: Eternal Motion Pill Fire (Incomplete Manual) — requires energy core collaborative activation."
Wei Changsheng's breath hitched.
He slowly looked up, towards the direction of the medicine garden.
The red-clothed woman was standing by the field, holding the carbonized rice grain in her palm, her fingertips flickering with faint light, as if dissecting some invisible rune.
She suddenly looked up, her gaze piercing through the night, looking straight at him.
Wei Changsheng didn't dodge.
The two looked at each other across the distance, one breath, two breaths.
She opened her mouth, seemingly about to say something.
Inside the straw shed, the little fox suddenly bristled, flicking its tail and knocking over the jade bottle on the table.
The medicinal powder in the bottle spilled out, forming half of an incomplete Formation Plate on the ground, connecting end to end with the patterns on the small hoe.
