51: Chapter 51 The Business Opportunities of Thunderfire Dates

Autumn was deepening, and the morning at the Qinglin Valley herb garden was covered with a thin layer of frost.

Lin Xuan squatted by the experimental field of the "shocking thunder flower," channeling a faint wisp of Thunder Spiritual Energy to his fingertip and gently tapping a leaf.

The pale purple leaf trembled slightly, and the electric arcs at its edges instantly brightened a bit before returning to normal.

"Record: Third quarter of the Hour of the Dragon. Applied a trace amount of Thunder Spiritual Qi stimulation. Leaf vitality increased by about five percent, lasting for three breaths."

He wrote down the final line in his notebook, put away his brush, and heard light footsteps approaching from behind.

"Good morning, Senior Brother Lin!"

Liu Qingyan walked over holding her copy of "An Elementary Introduction to Fire-Attribute Spiritual Plants," with the red squirrel Xiao Huo perched on her shoulder. After the previous red sun grass incident, she had become much more at ease in the herb garden, no longer as reserved as when she first arrived.

"Morning," Lin Xuan nodded in greeting. "How is the red sun grass recovering?"

"Much better!" Liu Qingyan's eyes curved into crescents. "As you suggested, I water them once every three days, only soaking them halfway each time. The few whose roots were trimmed have already started growing new rootlets. Senior Brother Zhao is also much more careful with watering now; he even asked me yesterday about what to watch out for during autumn maintenance."

As she spoke, she sat down on the ridge next to Lin Xuan and flipped open her book. "Senior Brother Lin, I read a passage last night and wanted to ask you about it."

"Go ahead."

"It's about the 'thunder fire jujube'." Liu Qingyan pointed to an illustration on the page—it showed a jujube tree with gnarled branches, dark red leaves, and dense silver patterns on the surface of its fruit. "The book says that the thunder fire jujube is a rare dual thunder-and-fire attribute fruit among second-grade spiritual plants. It is of great benefit to Cultivators who Cultivate thunder-and-fire attribute Cultivation Techniques. The spiritual energy contained in a single ripe jujube is comparable to ten ordinary qi gathering pills."

Lin Xuan's gaze fell upon the illustration. "It is indeed precious."

"But it's extremely difficult to Cultivate." Liu Qingyan turned to the next page. "The root system of the thunder fire jujube requires a special soil environment—it needs to be nourished by abundant fire Spiritual Qi, while also containing trace amounts of thunder-attribute substances, so that the roots can adapt to and absorb dual thunder-and-fire attribute spiritual energy. Ordinary spiritual soil cannot withstand this dual-attribute impact; it quickly becomes compacted and loses its vitality."

"Senior Brother Li of Flame Peak—the one in charge of cultivating the thunder fire jujube—complained to my Master a while ago, saying they've tried for three years and failed dozens of times. The problem lies entirely with the soil."

Lin Xuan's heart stirred slightly. "What kind of soil do they use?"

"At first, they used 'red flame soil,' a specialty of Flame Peak. The fire Spiritual Qi was sufficient, but it completely lacked any thunder attribute, so the jujube saplings couldn't survive past three months," Liu Qingyan explained in detail. "Later, they tried mixing in 'lightning-struck soil,' which is the soil from the outer areas of Thunderfall Ravine that has been struck by heavenly lightning. There was some effect, but the thunder Spiritual Qi in lightning-struck soil is too violent; the roots of the seedlings were scorched as soon as they made contact, leading to an even higher mortality rate."

"Is there no milder alternative?"

"There is!" Liu Qingyan closed the book, her tone serious. "The book records that the best substrate is 'thunder-patterned soil'—soil naturally formed in environments saturated with mild thunder Spiritual Qi over a long period. The thunder attribute in this soil has completely fused with the soil itself, making it mild and stable, which is perfect for the root systems of spiritual plants to absorb. However, thunder-patterned soil is too rare. It can usually only be found in tiny amounts near certain thunder-attribute mineral veins or in the ruins of herb gardens in ancient Thunder Cultivator Immortal Caves."

She sighed. "Senior Brother Li put out a bounty to purchase thunder-patterned soil, offering up to twelve contribution points per catty. It's been three months, and he has only received less than two catties, and even those were of extremely poor quality."

Twelve contribution points per catty...

Lin Xuan stood up calmly and walked to a corner of his experimental field. There was a small pile of soil there, which was the fresh soil cleared out and replaced from the Spirit-Taming Tower Space a few days ago.

He squatted down, grabbed a small pinch of soil from the edge of the pile, and placed it in his palm.

"Junior Sister Liu, look at this."

Liu Qingyan leaned in to inspect the soil in his palm closely. The soil was dark brown and looked ordinary, but if one looked closely, they would find extremely faint, almost invisible silver lines on the surface of the soil grains, like traces left by an extremely fine electrical current passing through.

"This is..." Liu Qingyan's eyes gradually widened.

She extended her index finger, gently pinched a few grains of soil, sniffed them at the tip of her nose, and then carefully channeled a trace of fire spiritual energy to sense it.

A moment later, she suddenly looked up, her voice filled with pleasant surprise. "thunder-patterned soil! Although it's only of low quality with very faint patterns and low thunder Spiritual Qi content... this is indeed thunder-patterned soil!"

Her cheeks flushed with excitement. "Senior Brother Lin, where did you get this?"

"When I was training in the outer areas of Thunderfall Ravine in the past, I happened to find it in a crevice," Lin Xuan replied calmly, having already prepared his cover story. "I thought the soil was a bit unusual back then, so I brought some back. It's been piled up here unused ever since."

"This is a real treasure!" Liu Qingyan carefully put the few grains of soil back into Lin Xuan's palm. "Although the quality isn't high, it's far milder than lightning-struck soil! If mixed into the red flame soil in the right proportion, we might actually be able to grow the thunder fire jujube!"

She suddenly thought of something, and her eyes brightened even more. "Senior Brother Lin, how much of this soil do you have? If you have enough, I can introduce you to Senior Brother Li! He's in desperate need of it right now!"

Lin Xuan quickly calculated in his head.

In the Spirit-Taming Tower Space, the soil within a three-zhang radius under the thunder-attracting vine had acquired the characteristics of thunder-patterned soil after months of being saturated with thunder Spiritual Qi. If he took it all out, there would be about two hundred catties. However, he couldn't take it all out at once.

"About... fifty catties or so," he gave a conservative figure.

"Fifty catties!" Liu Qingyan almost jumped up. "Th-that can be exchanged for six hundred contribution points!"

"No rush," Lin Xuan signaled her to calm down. "First, help me ask if Senior Brother Li is willing to buy it. The price is negotiable, but I want to ensure the safety of the transaction."

"Don't worry! Senior Brother Li is a very nice person!" Liu Qingyan patted her chest. "I'll go to Flame Peak to find him right now! Senior Brother Lin, wait for my news!"

She turned to run but remembered something, looking back to say solemnly, "Senior Brother Lin, if this succeeds, you'll be doing Flame Peak a huge favor. Senior Brother Li won't treat you unfairly!"

Watching the young girl's bustling departure, Lin Xuan looked down at the soil in his palm.

thunder-patterned soil... Indeed, the Spirit-Taming Tower Space is full of treasures everywhere.

He sank his consciousness into the space. The thunder-attracting vine stretched its leaves in the center, and the Thunder-Light Bug rested on the tip of the vine, its body flickering with purple light.

The ground below had undergone subtle changes in soil texture under the day-by-day saturation of thunder Spiritual Qi.

If he actively moved more ordinary spiritual soil in and deliberately cultivated it...

Half an hour later, Liu Qingyan returned, but not alone.

Behind her followed a young man of about twenty-five or twenty-six, wearing the signature crimson robe of Flame Peak. He had a handsome face, with the characteristic efficiency of an Artifact Refiner between his brows. His cultivation was at Qi Refining Stage 5, and his aura was steady.

"Junior Brother Lin, this is Senior Brother Li of Flame Peak, Foundation Establishment Cultivator," Liu Qingyan introduced. "Senior Brother Li, this is the Senior Brother Lin Xuan I told you about."

Foundation Establishment Cultivator cupped his hands with a hearty smile. "Junior Brother Lin, I've heard much about you. I heard from Junior Sister Qingyan that you have some thunder-patterned soil?"

"You are too polite, Senior Brother Li," Lin Xuan returned the gesture. "I do have some, but the quality is not high. I don't know if it will be suitable."

He took out a prepared clay jar from his Storage Pouch—inside was about five catties of thunder-patterned soil, which he had just freshly retrieved from the space.

Foundation Establishment Cultivator took the clay jar, opened the seal, and his expression immediately became focused.

First, he carefully observed the color and texture of the soil, then pinched a small portion, a crimson spiritual light glowing at his fingertip. The moment the spiritual light touched the soil, the silver lines on the surface of the soil grains glowed faintly, without any of the violent rejection reactions seen in lightning-struck soil.

"Excellent!" Foundation Establishment Cultivator's eyes lit up. "It is indeed thunder-patterned soil! Although it's only low-grade, the thunder Spiritual Qi is mild and stable, and it has fused well with the soil."

He looked up at Lin Xuan and said solemnly, "Junior Brother Lin, let's not beat around the bush. This soil is very important to me. How about the market price of twelve contribution points per catty? If you agree, I'll take all fifty catties."

Lin Xuan pondered for a moment.

Twelve points per catty, fifty catties would be six hundred contribution points. This price was fair, and Foundation Establishment Cultivator had spoken candidly—he indeed needed it, and Lin Xuan also needed a stable sales channel.

"Sure," Lin Xuan nodded. "However, Senior Brother Li, this soil was something I obtained by chance in the past, and this is all I have. If I find more in the future, I wonder..."

"I'll take as much as you have!" Foundation Establishment Cultivator said without hesitation. "If the quality can be improved, the price can be negotiated further. Junior Brother Lin, to tell you the truth, the thunder fire jujube project was personally assigned by the Peak Master. As long as it succeeds, any amount of resources invested is worth it."

The transaction was quickly completed.

Lin Xuan took out the other forty-five catties of thunder-patterned soil from his Storage Pouch—he had packaged them in advance. Foundation Establishment Cultivator inspected the goods and transferred six hundred contribution points to Lin Xuan's identity jade token on the spot.

Watching the contribution points on his jade token jump from "873" to "1,473," Lin Xuan felt a slight sense of relief.

With this income, his resources for subsequent Cultivation would be much more abundant.

"Junior Brother Lin, thank you very much this time," Foundation Establishment Cultivator put away the soil, his smile sincere. "If you need anything in the future, feel free to come to Flame Peak to find me. I might be able to help you with Alchemy and Artifact Refining."

He then looked at Liu Qingyan and took out a small jade bottle from his robes. "Junior Sister Qingyan, thanks to your connection this time. I'll give you this bottle of 'qi nourishing pills' as a thank-you gift."

Liu Qingyan waved her hands hurriedly. "Senior Brother Li, this is too precious! I only passed along a message..."

"Take it," Foundation Establishment Cultivator stuffed the jade bottle into her hand. "Your Master has a good relationship with me, and you've helped me a lot in the herb garden. This Medicinal Pill is suitable for consolidating cultivation in the Qi Refining Early Stage, making it perfect for you."

Unable to decline, Liu Qingyan had no choice but to accept it.

After seeing Foundation Establishment Cultivator off, Liu Qingyan turned around and handed the jade bottle to Lin Xuan. "Senior Brother Lin, let's split this bottle of qi nourishing pills half and half."

Lin Xuan laughed in amusement. "This was given to you by Senior Brother Li. What would I want it for?"

"But... without your thunder-patterned soil, how would I have had the chance to help?" Liu Qingyan insisted. "And for this transaction, I didn't exert any effort at all, yet I got a bottle of Medicinal Pills for free. I feel bad about it."

"You did help," Lin Xuan said seriously. "Without the information you provided and your matchmaking, this soil would just be a pile of dirt in my hands. This Medicinal Pill is what you deserve. Keep it safe."

Seeing Lin Xuan's firm attitude, Liu Qingyan had no choice but to take back the jade bottle, whispering, "Then... if there's something like this next time, you must tell me, Senior Brother Lin. I'll run errands for you!"

"Alright," Lin Xuan smiled. "Go get busy. Your red sun grass needs watering."

"Right, right!" Remembering her task, Liu Qingyan hugged her book and hurriedly ran toward the western herb field.

Lin Xuan watched her departing figure, then turned and walked back to his small courtyard.

Closing the door, he immediately entered the Spirit-Taming Tower Space.

Under the thunder-attracting vine, that patch of soil emitted a faint thunder Spiritual Qi under the dual saturation of the Thunder-Light Bug and the vine. Lin Xuan squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil, and sensed it carefully.

The quality was indeed only low-grade, but the advantage was that it could be continuously cultivated.

With a thought, he began to move the ordinary spiritual soil from the edges of the space, handful by handful, to the area around the thunder-attracting vine.

He also controlled the Thunder-Light Bug, making it periodically hover above the soil to release pure thunder Spiritual Qi to saturate it.

"At this rate, it shouldn't be difficult to Cultivate a hundred catties of thunder-patterned soil every month."

A hundred catties would be one thousand two hundred contribution points.

Although it was nothing to high-stage Cultivators, for Lin Xuan, who was in the Qi Refinement Stage, this was a considerably substantial and stable income. More importantly, this channel was hidden and safe, and would not arouse suspicion.

Exiting the space, Lin Xuan sat cross-legged in the Quiet Room.

His identity jade token lay at his side, the number of contribution points carrying a heavy weight.

He closed his eyes and began to plan the usage of this money: the subsequent Cultivation of the Thunder Body Refining Technique required more precious medicinal bath Materials; the maintenance of the startling thunder whip required specialized ointment; and the food for his Spirit Beast also needed a quality upgrade...

And, it was time to make more thorough preparations for exploring the Thunderfall Ravine.

Outside the window, the autumn wind blew through the bamboo forest, the rustling sound like fine rain.

In the soil at the corner of the courtyard, the newly sown electric glow grass seeds had already sprouted hair-thin shoots, gently swaying in the faint thunder Spiritual Qi.