Chapter 394: New Second-Level Spirit Rice

Chapter 394: New Tier 2 Spirit Rice

Speaking of Pure Bamboo, Chen Mobai recalled several other items he had bid on at the auction.

He had already integrated the Quintessence of Metal into his Five Elements Sword Fingers. The Five Metals Primordial Stone, intended as a gift for his sister, was still resting in his storage bag.

What remained were an iron bead and a beast hide, both acquired to throw others off track while he bid for the lamp stand.

Chen Mobai examined the iron bead using his knowledge of ancient artifacts and confirmed it was an accessory for a magical artifact, possibly a slingshot projectile. However, all the enchantments and energy within it had been depleted, rendering it completely useless despite a faint residual spiritual aura.

The beast hide, likely from an unknown Tier 2 demonic beast, bore some innate patterns. Although the auction house advertised that a cultivator who understood these patterns could master a divine ability inherited from a demonic beast's bloodline, Chen Mobai knew it was pure deception.

Believing he didn't possess such high talent, Chen Mobai took a look and then directly gave it to Luo Yixuan, who was standing nearby.

"You can post a task at the Spirit Treasure Pavilion to refine it into an inner armor. The Artifact Forging Department should have artificers capable of this. The quality of this beast hide is quite good; if refined into a defensive artifact, it would be more than sufficient for use during the Qi Cultivation stage."

Luo Yixuan happily accepted it; she genuinely needed a powerful defensive artifact.

"Oh, by the way, Master," Luo Yixuan added, "Senior Disciple Brother sent word that most of the 20,000 talismans you gave him have been sold. Should we stop supplying or raise the price now?"

Liu Wenbai had been busy with the Little South Mountain shop across the five major markets in Jianguo recently. Most rogue cultivators of a certain cultivation level knew this shop belonged to Chen Mobai and would visit out of curiosity.

Upon visiting, these rogue cultivators, accustomed to comparing prices, discovered talismans of quality far superior to those found in the Eastern Barrens.

When they inquired about the price, they found it was the same as ordinary talismans.

Consequently, within just half a month, "South Mountain Talismans" had completely saturated the market.

Along with this, the Little South Mountain shop also sold a significant amount of spirit rice and spirit wine. However, compared to the overwhelming popularity of the talismans, these only barely broke even, just enough to cover rent.

The talismans stocked daily in the market stalls were instantly bought out. Many talisman shops even approached them seeking cooperation, asking if they could be supplied with talismans of such quality, and some even desired exclusive distribution rights.

"Keep the price as it is," Chen Mobai said calmly. "Just notify Wenbai to come pick up the goods."

Chen Mobai explained that his puppet factory in the Immortal Sect could produce 10,000 talismans a day.

Since his inspection tour of the five major markets in Jianguo, Chen Mobai hadn't returned for over a month. Theoretically, he should have accumulated nearly 400,000 talismans.

If all these were sold in the Eastern Barrens, they could fetch over 30,000 low-grade spirit stones.

Although he had amassed a fortune by killing Yuan Hongyuan and others, Chen Mobai knew deeply that only through business could one truly get rich.

After all, business could generate spirit stones daily, unlike robberies that weren't an everyday occurrence!

However, upon returning to the puppet factory to transport the talismans, Chen Mobai discovered a few minor issues.

The puppets in his factory, operating 24 hours a day, had a slightly high damage rate because many of their components were made of wood.

Although he had anticipated this and asked Chai Lun to build two specialized repair puppets, they could only handle simple parts replacements.

Repairs involving chips or precision joint components still required his personal attention.

During Chen Mobai's absence, six puppets in the factory were damaged, causing a slight decrease in talisman production efficiency.

"It seems best to leave one of my puppet avatars in the factory," Chen Mobai thought to himself while repairing the puppets.

When the great war between the Divine Wood Sect and Trembling Mountain Peak had just ended, Chen Mobai, inspired by Fu Zongjue's puppet avatar, also wanted to use a method of splitting his consciousness to place his Formless Puppet in one realm and his main body in another, thereby managing both the Immortal Sect and the Heavenly River Realm.

However, due to the separation across two realms and his own low cultivation level, his main body's mind was somewhat unable to bear the strain.

Conveniently, he had an extra piece of Tier 3 Soul Nurturing Wood, and he wondered if it would be useful.

After finishing the repairs, Chen Mobai began his experiment.

Although Soul Nurturing Wood was also a rare heavenly treasure, it had appeared several times in the Eastern Barrens, so the Divine Wood Sect possessed relevant information about it.

Chen Mobai removed his Flying Sparrow Hairpin, letting his long, flowing hair, which he had nurtured for a long time, cascade down. Under the control of his divine sense, it transformed into a black whip, sweeping up the Soul Nurturing Wood.

Immediately, he felt an invisible, tranquil fluctuation descending from the Soul Nurturing Wood above his head, settling into his Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness.

At that moment, the Great Toon Flower, which he had long refined into his body, suddenly emerged.

Chen Mobai immediately suppressed the Great Toon Flower's passive protective power, opened his Purple Mansion, and allowed the Soul Nurturing Wood's energy to flow in.

Amidst a flash of silver light, his true body had already teleported to the Heavenly River Realm, while the Formless Puppet, inhabited by a wisp of his divine sense, remained in place.

Little South Mountain.

Chen Mobai's brows furrowed slightly as he felt a faint dizziness from his divine sense being split across two realms.

The Soul Nurturing Wood still had an effect; at least, compared to the previous unbearable sensation that nearly caused him to collapse, it now felt like a mild symptom after a cold, entirely tolerable.

"I just don't know how long the power of this Soul Nurturing Wood can last."

Chen Mobai recalled the Divine Wood Sect's records on Soul Nurturing Wood: this spiritual item was a supreme treasure for ghost cultivators, but for proper Qi-cultivating immortal cultivators like them, it was merely a spiritual item that nourished the mind and purified divine sense.

Long-term wearing of Soul Nurturing Wood would absorb impurities within the divine sense and could also slowly enhance its power.

However, this would also cause the Soul Nurturing Wood's efficacy to gradually weaken until it completely lost its spiritual effect.

A Tier 3 Soul Nurturing Wood was perfectly useful for the divine sense of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Chen Mobai felt an indescribable change occurring in his divine sense under the fluctuations of the Soul Nurturing Wood, and a look of relief appeared on his face.

It seemed as if the bottleneck in his divine sense was showing signs of loosening.

If he could use this Soul Nurturing Wood to perfect his divine sense to the Foundation Establishment stage, then his current inspection tour of the five major markets in Jianguo could truly be considered a complete success.

Thinking this, Chen Mobai used a simple artifact shrinking technique to reduce the Soul Nurturing Wood to the same size as his Flying Sparrow Hairpin.

He then used the Soul Nurturing Wood as a second hairpin, placing it crossed with the Flying Sparrow Hairpin in his high bun.

"Master."

At that moment, his three disciples, who had received his message, also arrived.

Zhuo Ming, unaware of the Soul Nurturing Wood, greeted him and then couldn't help but glance twice at the simple, entirely black hairpin resembling a severed branch that had suddenly appeared in Chen Mobai's hair.

"Wenbai, inside here are talismans and some talisman ink samples. Take them."

Chen Mobai handed a storage bag to Liu Wenbai, who immediately extended both hands and respectfully accepted it.

"Master, is this the income from the Little South Mountain shop's first month of operation in the five major markets of Jianguo?"

After receiving it, Liu Wenbai handed Chen Mobai a small storage bag filled with spirit stones.

"You can keep these for now and give them to me at the end of the year. If you have the opportunity in the market, try to exchange them for high-grade spirit stones."

Chen Mobai now thought little of a few hundred spirit stones. He waved his hand, indicating that Liu Wenbai, managing the branches in the five major markets, had many expenses, so he should use them first.

"Yes, Master!"

After nodding, Liu Wenbai's divine sense permeated the storage bag in his hand. He wanted to see how he would arrange people to divide the talismans into stacks later.

Then, he stood frozen, mouth agape, his face filled with shock.

"Senior Disciple Brother, what's wrong?"

Seeing Liu Wenbai's expression, Luo Yixuan thought he was possessed. She immediately rushed to Chen Mobai, eager to show off.

"Master, aren't there too many talismans?!"

Liu Wenbai swallowed hard. As a member of an aristocratic family, he had seen quite a bit of the world.

But he had never witnessed a sight like 300,000 sheets of ultra-high-quality talismans piled together.

This was property worth tens of thousands of spirit stones!

His hands trembled involuntarily.

"I can freely enter and exit the Divine Tree Secret Realm. These talismans are all made by me using the secret techniques of the Longevity Sect, with the Red Sun Spirit Tree as the raw material. Future production will also be endless."

"However, only you three need to know about this. Remember, do not reveal it."

"From now on, the talismans can be stored in the warehouse down the mountain. The rice granary is empty, so Ming'er, please take care of it."

Zhuo Ming immediately nodded upon hearing this.

She was more than willing to manage things.

Liu Wenbai had initially planned to ask the mortals cultivating fields on Little South Mountain to help divide the talismans, just like before, but 300,000 sheets were simply too many.

After reporting to Chen Mobai, he simply decided that from now on, the Little South Mountain shop would specialize in supplying other talisman shops on a large scale. The priority was to capture Jianguo's market with low prices and high quality.

This way, they would supply in bulk, eliminating the need to divide them into individual stacks, and this labor cost could be shifted to the downstream talisman buyers.

Chen Mobai offered a few minor suggestions regarding this, as this model was more mature in the Immortal Sect.

Upon hearing about the distributor model, Liu Wenbai felt enlightened. He immediately took a Qinghong Bird that very night to the Jade Pot Market to put the concept into practice.

"Master, recently, many talisman shops in Divine Wood City have also been looking to purchase from us," Zhuo Ming added, but Chen Mobai didn't want to attract too much attention within the sect.

As a rule, he instructed Zhuo Ming to sell only 100 stacks of talismans per month, with no further supply once sold out.

He would only begin monopolizing the market after he became the sect leader or achieved Core Formation.

"The Little South Mountain shop in Divine Wood City will only sell talismans retail; no bulk supply."

After saying this, Chen Mobai descended the mountain with Zhuo Ming and Luo Yixuan.

Today happened to be the harvest time for a batch of spirit rice, and since it was convenient, Chen Mobai was quite willing to go into the fields.

After a day of work, harvesting and storing the spirit rice, Chen Mobai took Zhuo Ming to see the most precious ten mu of spiritual fields, where Tier 2 Jade Bamboo Spirit Rice was cultivated.

"I can already smell the fresh fragrance of the rice."

Chen Mobai broke off a section of the best-growing jade bamboo, closed his eyes, and inhaled the aroma of the spirit rice within its hollow, a look of satisfaction on his face.

Clearly, Zhuo Ming had put her heart into tending to these ten mu of spirit rice.

"Master, three of the hybridized spirit rice varieties are adapting well. Which one do you think is most suitable?"

After examining the ten mu of Jade Bamboo Spirit Rice, Zhuo Ming led Chen Mobai and Luo Yixuan to see the other hybridized spirit rice varieties. These were part of Chen Mobai's experiments to improve the Jade Bamboo Spirit Rice's drawback of maturing only once every ten years.

Over the years, he had experimented with no less than a hundred varieties, many of which met the requirements, and ultimately selected these three for focused development.

If the improvement of the rice seeds was completed, their Divine Wood Sect would have an inexhaustible supply of Tier 2 spirit rice for consumption.

In the short term, it would simply mean having an additional type of spirit rice.

However, Chen Mobai's true intention was to add free spirit rice to the benefits for Divine Wood Sect disciples in the future.

Only with a strong next generation could the sect grow increasingly powerful.

The reason the Immortal Sect could enable universal cultivation was that everyone grew up eating spirit rice, ensuring abundant innate vital qi and no defects in their spiritual roots or bloodline.

If every Qi Cultivation disciple in the Divine Wood Sect could eat free Tier 1 spirit rice, and Foundation Establishment cultivators had sufficient Tier 2 spirit rice, then a century later, Chen Mobai was confident he could lead the Divine Wood Sect to become the greatest sect in the Eastern Barrens.

"This Fire Spirit Rice can be harvested twice a year. While its taste isn't as good as Jade Sprout Spirit Rice, the spiritual energy it contains is no less."

"Then there's this Phoenix Tear Bamboo spirit rice, which replaces the Jade Bamboo. Judging by its growth and spiritual energy content, it should also be able to grow into Tier 2 spirit rice, but it won't take ten years. I estimate six or seven years would be enough."

"However, the one that should best suit your wishes, Master, is this Green Ridge Spirit Rice. It's a Tier 1 spirit rice from the Yan Kingdom that grows on plateaus and has extremely strong tolerance for earth qi. After hybridizing it with Jade Sprout Spirit Rice, they achieve perfect complementarity. After several more rounds of cultivation, if it can consistently grow to Tier 2, it will be an entirely new type of Tier 2 spirit rice!"

After reviewing all three hybridized spirit rice varieties, Chen Mobai's face lit up with delight, and he spoke.

"Ming'er is like me!"

Luo Yixuan, who was accompanying them, looked enviously at the shyly bowing Zhuo Ming after hearing this.

Among his three disciples, while Chen Mobai was generous with praise, there was no doubt that Zhuo Ming, with the lowest cultivation, always received the most commendation.

The words "like me" implied future succession.

It was the highest praise a teacher could give a disciple!

"Watch closely, this is the Thunder Art of Vitality that I gained from my secluded cultivation."

At that moment, Chen Mobai reached out and held a stalk of Green Ridge Spirit Rice in the spiritual field. The most violent lightning power, in the eyes of cultivators, suddenly became as gentle as water in his palm, condensing into drops that seeped from his fingertips into the roots of the rice plant.

Then, as if time had fast-forwarded, this hybridized spirit rice plant rapidly absorbed earth qi, water qi, and spiritual energy, growing and heading, transforming into a slender rice spike filled with plump grains.

Zhuo Ming and Luo Yixuan were both astonished by this sight.

"It's only at Tier 1; it can't be used as seeds for next year."

Chen Mobai plucked this Green Ridge Spirit Rice, which had been ripened by the Divine Wood Thunder. After squeezing a handful to discern its spiritual essence, he slightly shook his head.

He then proceeded to ripen the entire one mu of Green Ridge Spirit Rice.

Unfortunately, only the spirit rice harvested from three stalks barely reached Tier 2.

"Take these and plant them. Inform me once they sprout."

Zhuo Ming nodded repeatedly. Without the Divine Wood Thunder's accelerated ripening, she would have had to wait until next year at the earliest to achieve this result.

Master truly is Master; I still have much to learn!