Chapter 17

Although Ba Yicheng claimed he would stay halfway, no one was truly naive. Li Mengze and Wen Yuanyuan exchanged glances, instantly understanding each other. The inherent flaws of men, even after cultivating immortality, were hardly improved; the attitude of the man before them made it clear he thought the same way.

Wen Yuanyuan and Li Mengze ignored Ba Yicheng, walking side by side toward the city. Finding a reliable place to stay seemed far more sensible, after all, that man was not theirs to worry about.

In Demon Thought City, several righteous sects had established bases. The Kunlun Sect’s outpost was an inn within the city itself. Upon arrival, the disciples on duty were cultivators at the Golden Core stage. After presenting their identity jade slips, they were led to the exclusive resting area for Kunlun disciples.

Perhaps because they had arrived early, the courtyards were still empty. Wen Yuanyuan and Li Mengze shared one courtyard, while Ba Yicheng was assigned another nearby. After agreeing to meet up for a walk that evening, Li Mengze and Wen Yuanyuan retreated to their respective rooms.

The Kunlun base was well equipped, certainly better than any ordinary inn. Besides resting rooms, there were training chambers and alchemy rooms, thoughtfully arranged.

Upon entering her room, Li Mengze first changed her bedding, set up a formation to block spiritual sense, left a thread of her consciousness outside, and then entered her own space.

After years of modification, her space was worlds apart from when she first arrived. The plantation she had established was now filled with spiritual herbs; aside from a few particularly finicky plants placed in suitable spots, the rest encircled a small pool where aquatic herbs grew.

The only regret was that all spiritual plants in her space were of medium grade or lower—not because she lacked better seeds, but because the current spiritual energy in the space could only support these. Thankfully, though her alchemy skills and cultivation had improved rapidly, she had not yet broken through to the high-grade alchemist level; otherwise, it would have been a cause for concern.

Alchemy was a profitable business, but also a money sink. Without some foundation, don’t expect much progress in alchemical skills. Li Mengze’s rapid advancement over the years was entirely thanks to her space.

Previously, she had thought the Golden Core stage was still far from her reach, requiring perhaps a decade or more to break through. Yet, after one journey and a sudden enlightenment, she had advanced straight to late Foundation Establishment. Perhaps after leaving the Tianyi Secret Realm, she would need to make plans for her space’s spiritual vein.

But in today’s cultivation world, any place with abundant spiritual energy was already occupied. To move a spiritual vein into her space would be as difficult as reaching the heavens.

As Li Mengze’s cultivation grew, her space expanded, but unfortunately, the larger the area, the more spiritual energy was required. The tiny amount she could cultivate was only enough for the original small space. Now, with greater area, the demand for spiritual energy had outpaced supply. The spring behind the mountain had accumulated a pool of spiritual water, enough for baths and daily needs, but only provided basic energy—a grand undertaking was out of the question.

After surveying her domain, Li Mengze collected materials from the herb garden for making energy-restoring and spirit-restoring pills, then entered the alchemy room. Only after stepping outside did she realize her previous assumptions had been too simplistic. Most of the time, cultivation alone did not replenish the spiritual energy consumed; thus, when traveling, pills were essential.

Her previous batches of pills had mostly been sold at stalls; the remaining ones had been traded with Zhang Qing for talisman paper. Now, her personal supply was nearly depleted. It seemed she needed to work harder in the coming days.

Entering the alchemy room, she activated the earth fire. Four little fire qilins opened their mouths, spewing earth fire straight into the alchemy furnace. The furnace she now used was not the one her uncle had given her in the early days, but the Hundred Herbs Furnace—a treasure her uncle had acquired by chance, usable up to the Nascent Soul stage. He never said from whom he had taken it, nor did she ask; anything he gave her was always trustworthy.

This furnace, after a few uses, truly astonished her—it could enhance pill formation rates and increase the yield by more than ten percent.

This time, Li Mengze was mainly refining Demon Expelling Pills, which, as the name suggested, prevented demonic energy from invading the body. It was a fifth-tier, mid-grade pill, ideal for use in the demonic domain, but its main ingredient, demon-expelling grass, was extremely rare, making it hard to find on the market.

Li Mengze had never refined it before, and her demon-expelling grass was scarce. Even splitting it was difficult. To avoid failure, she specifically gathered materials for energy-restoring and spirit-restoring pills to practice first, lest her hands become stiff after not refining for so long and waste precious materials.

She was exceedingly familiar with energy-restoring and spirit-restoring pills, able to make them with her eyes closed, but tonight, for some reason, she failed two batches before regaining her touch.

Such mistakes made her wary of attempting the Demon Expelling Pills. She extinguished the earth fire, ceased alchemy, and instead sat in meditation. After circulating her cultivation method through a full cycle, she opened her eyes, exhaled a murky breath, and sighed.

The spiritual energy in her space was simply too thin. If she cultivated inside, not only would she fail to replenish her space’s energy, she would actually deplete it, upsetting the balance. Clearly, the search for a spiritual vein could not be delayed any longer.

Perhaps due to her mounting concern, she could not calm her mind. She decided to stop cultivating and went to the spiritual fields she had planted on the mountain’s rear. These grew purple rice, a high-grade spiritual grain, but it required little energy, so it could be cultivated in her space. The planting, however, was entirely her own handiwork—no spells involved. Seedling raising, transplanting, harvesting, and threshing were all done personally. Whenever she could not settle into cultivation, she came here. Not only did it increase her physical strength, it also tempered her will.

Never underestimate this kind of farm work. Li Mengze was a sword cultivator; at the Foundation Establishment stage, she had already comprehended water, wood, and earth elements of sword energy—an impressive feat, all thanks to her planting experience.

Because her insights while farming were subtle and ineffable, she couldn’t easily teach them. Fortunately, cultivation was not about oral transmission but personal effort; otherwise, Li Mengze would surely hand out spiritual seeds to everyone and send them home to farm.

Whenever she encountered bottlenecks in cultivation, Li Mengze would come here. Perhaps she was a born cultivator; every time she worked with her own hands, her heart grew peaceful. Without the aid of spiritual power, her body bore more strain, but after such labor, her cultivation was hundreds or thousands of times more effective.

If left to grow unchecked, the spiritual rice would need harvesting every few days. So, after reaching Foundation Establishment and gaining control over her space, Li Mengze set the maturation cycle to once every three months.

This batch of spiritual rice had matured a few days ago, sown before she set up her market stall. The heavy grains drooped low, already showing signs of damage from spiritual beasts. According to the space’s artifact spirit, other spiritual beasts existed here, though Li Mengze had never seen them.

Judging from the spiritual energy, the beasts couldn’t be high-level. Out of curiosity, she had once scanned the entire space with her spiritual sense, but found no signs of life. She surmised the space still had room to expand, areas beyond her current cultivation.

With spiritual power withdrawn, Li Mengze took up a sickle by the field—smaller and with a shorter handle than ordinary sickles, designed so that the spiritual fields would be completely drained of water during harvest, turning paddies into dry fields, making long handles unsuitable.

Her clothes shifted from wide sleeves and narrow skirts to jeans and a t-shirt. Magic garments were wonderful, transforming into any style desired—comfortable and convenient, a true necessity for both home and travel.

Though she had performed these actions countless times, after prolonged harvesting, her arms ached and her waist hurt. A single acre of spiritual rice, harvested alone, had gone from taking five days in her early attempts to just one now, thanks to repeated practice. After harvesting came drying, then threshing. The threshing machine resembled those from her previous life, though much smaller. Powered by spiritual stones, it was simple and convenient. One stone could thresh five acres. She had discovered this when she saw an outer sect disciple using it and, upon inquiry, learned it was an invention by an artifact refiner and had become widely available—just fifty spiritual stones for one, sold at the sect.

Even cultivators grew tired from large-scale manual labor. After harvesting, Li Mengze habitually soaked in the spiritual pool she developed in the rear mountain, then enjoyed a sound sleep. Upon waking, her body felt lighter and her cultivation progressed more efficiently.

Not long after waking, she sensed movement outside her spiritual sense. Emerging from her space, she found a small paper crane tapping at her door. When she opened it, the crane flew in, circled her twice, then opened its sharp beak and spoke in Ba Yicheng’s voice: “I’m waiting for you in a private room on the second floor. Hurry up.” No context, no explanation.

As Li Mengze stepped out, her senior sister was already approaching, likely having received the same message.