FVN Chapter 4 The Evergreen Spirit Tree Technique
Chapter 4 The Evergreen Spirit Tree Technique
The sky gradually brightened.
Early in the morning, Su Qingyan quickly packed his supplies and boarded an oxcart to head towards Jin Su Shan Market.
Although Jinshushan Market is only two townships away from Yaxi Village, this place is vast and sparsely populated, with long distances between townships.
Su Qingyan set off early in the morning and did not arrive at his destination until sunset.
Looking up, the words "Jin Su Shan Market" are engraved on a large blue stone wall. Below is an arched entrance with no door, but a simple barrier that prevents ordinary people without magical powers from passing through.
Apart from the slightly more imposing walls, the town is filled with low wooden houses, much like any other town.
There was absolutely no trace of what is called "ethereal beauty".
Su Qingyan did not try to enter the market, but looked around the entrance and found the Zhou family's receiving point - a small shed set up by the roadside.
There was only a young man in his early twenties sitting at the table.
He immediately stepped forward, smiled, and asked softly, "Esteemed immortal, are you a cultivator from the Zhou family of Jin Su Mountain?"
The young man glanced at Su Qingyan with a slightly puzzled look and nodded.
Su Qingyan continued, "Then we're all family. My wife married into your Zhou family from Jin Su Mountain. In recent years, she's been thinking about her family back home. So, when she found something good in the mountains, she immediately asked me to bring it over to you."
"My wife's name is Zhang Hui. I wonder if the immortal master remembers her?"
His tone was very gentle, and his words were full of concern and sincerity. The phrase "I miss my family back home" immediately increased the young cultivator from the Zhou family's goodwill towards him, and the relationship between the two quickly grew closer.
Moreover, Zhang Hui was quite famous in the Zhou family's cultivation circle because of her "husband-killing" reputation, and this young cultivator from the Zhou family happened to know Zhang Hui as well.
"Brother, you're really lucky!"
"Zhang Hui is a well-known beauty in our Zhou family. If she weren't the widow of an elder in the family, I would have loved to marry her. You're lucky to have her."
"It's rare that Zhang Hui, a woman from another family, still thinks about our Zhou family even after being married off for several years."
"Come in quickly."
"Let me see what good stuff you've found. Don't worry, with me here, I won't let our own people suffer," the young cultivator said with a smile, his tone very kind.
Su Qingyan followed the young cultivator into the small shed, took out a single mutated red ginseng from his bundle, and placed it on the table in front of the young cultivator.
He added, "This was collected from the forest next to the Biyue Mountains. Dissolving it in a water tank can easily poison a black pig."
"My wife said this was no ordinary item, so she immediately asked me to bring it over."
The young cultivator examined the mutated red ginseng for a long time but couldn't figure out its specific effects. Upon hearing that it was highly poisonous, he became much more cautious and dared not put it in his mouth to taste.
Then he patted a small cloth bag hanging at his waist. In an instant, the bag opened automatically, and a strange-looking, long-nosed, brown piglet jumped out.
"This is a long-nosed spirit boar, a rather practical spirit beast. It has a very keen sense for spiritual plants such as medicinal herbs and can, to a certain extent, judge the value of some unknown spiritual plants," the young cultivator explained.
Seeing the young cultivator's attitude, Su Qingyan felt quite lucky to have gone out this time.
The other party was, after all, a cultivator, and it was truly rare for him to be so polite to a mortal like me.
The slight advantage that comes from one's maternal family is not very useful in the eyes of most cultivators; on the contrary, the prejudice of "the difference between immortals and mortals" will be very strong.
At the young cultivator's signal, the long-nosed spirit pig approached the table, carefully sniffed the mutated red ginseng with its long nose, and immediately sneezed several times, constantly shaking its long nose and making strange "whimpering" noises.
After a brief exchange, the young cultivator somehow understood the long-nosed spirit boar's meaning and estimated the approximate value of the mutated red ginseng.
After a moment's thought, he said, "This mutated red ginseng is formed by the accidental evolution of high-age red ginseng under specific conditions."
"It can indeed be considered a kind of spiritual plant."
"Similar to a low-grade first-tier spiritual plant."
"However, compared to those spiritual plants that have beneficial effects on cultivators, this mutated red ginseng does not fetch a high price, but for you mortals, it is still a huge fortune."
"If you're sure you want to sell, I'll exchange it for gold and silver for you."
As he spoke, the young cultivator patted another palm-sized cloth bag at his waist, took out a large amount of gold and silver from it, and began to weigh it.
Seeing this, Su Qingyan quickly stopped the young cultivator and said with a smile, "Immortal Master, my family is not short of money. Could you perhaps exchange it for a cultivation technique?"
The young cultivator was somewhat puzzled, but then he suddenly realized something and was instantly relieved.
After thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said, "It's not valuable enough."
"Your mutated red ginseng can't be exchanged for even the most ordinary cultivation technique."
"I have the metal-attribute cultivation technique 'Golden Edge Gathering Qi Technique', the fire-attribute cultivation technique 'Blazing Sun Burning Body Technique', the earth-attribute cultivation technique 'Yellow Sand Qi Guiding Technique', and the wood-attribute cultivation technique 'Evergreen Spirit Wood Technique'. These techniques can all be cultivated to the peak of Qi Refining. Only after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage will you need to change to a new technique."
"Each of the four cultivation techniques costs at least 10 spirit stones, while your mutated red ginseng is worth at most 1 spirit stone, and it's hard to sell."
It turns out the value was unequal.
That's easy.
Su Qingyan took out the remaining twenty mutated red ginsengs from the bundle and placed them on the table.
He then humbly asked, "Immortal Master, which of these four cultivation methods should I choose?"
The young cultivator stared in astonishment at the pile of mutated red ginseng on the table, exclaiming in disbelief, "You're just a mortal, yet you have such good fortune!"
"It's time for your family to cultivate immortality."
After a pause, the young cultivator continued, "Those of you who weren't accepted into the Moon Shadow Sect can only have four or five spiritual roots, which means you're destined not to go very far on the path of cultivation."
"I'm just telling the truth, don't be angry."
"Therefore, I think what you should be thinking about most is surviving and living a long life."
"It is very rare for ordinary mortals to live to sixty or seventy years old, while Qi Refining cultivators, even the lowest level Qi Refining early stage cultivators, can live to 100 to 120 years old if nothing unexpected happens."
"This is just the most ordinary Qi Refining stage cultivator. If you cultivate the 'Evergreen Spirit Wood Technique,' you might be able to live to the record high of 150 years old."
"From the perspective of living a long life, I highly recommend this book, 'The Evergreen Spirit Tree'."
"You have 21 mutated red ginsengs here. Although they are hard to sell and you can't even get one spirit stone per ginseng at the market price, Zhou Hui is, after all, a daughter of the Zhou family of Jin Su Mountain who has married out. I'll take a loss and buy them all for 20 spirit stones, and let you choose another cultivation technique to take back with you."
"For the second skill, I recommend the Earth-attribute 'Yellow Sand Qi-Drawing Technique.' The spells that come with this skill are all defensive, making it quite effective at saving your life and very practical."
What do you think?
……