With two spirit stones in hand, Lin Donglai thought about going to buy some seeds.
The seeds for Blood Marrow Rice could be purchased right at the Hall of Spirit Plants—one pound of seed grain cost one spirit stone.
One mu of paddy required eight pounds of seed, which Lin Donglai simply could not afford.
With two pounds of seed, he could only plant two fen of field, so Lin Donglai thought that perhaps he could start by planting some unranked spirit herbs instead.
As for other things like blank spirit stone powder, dan-wood ash, and spirit beast fertilizer, all of that would have to be set aside for now.
But if he planted those unranked spirit herbs, who would he sell them to?
The first person Lin Donglai thought of was that bald alchemy apprentice who used to set up a stall between Lingxi Peak and Xianmiao Peak.
The Marrow-Nourishing Pills and Tendon-Changing Pills he refined before sold for one spirit stone a bottle.
His other herbs were also unranked spirit herbs or semi-spirit herbs, five doses for one spirit stone.
He should make for a pretty good cooperation partner.
As an alchemy apprentice, he would certainly need large quantities of these spirit herbs for practice.
Lin Donglai also needed to hone his farming skills and reach the standard as soon as possible.
When an idea strikes, act on it—no dawdling.
It would be even better if that bald fellow could become a full-fledged alchemist during their partnership. Then Lin Donglai would never have to worry about finding buyers for the spirit herbs he grew.
Over the next few days, as Lin Donglai traveled back and forth between the two peaks and the valley, he kept a special eye out for that bald alchemy apprentice.
Hard work pays off. That day happened to be a small market, and he ran into the bald alchemy apprentice manning his stall again. Minor Primordial Cultivation Pills, Marrow-Nourishing Pills, Tendon-Changing Pills—those no longer had a market.
This time he was selling some new pills: Minor Yellow Sprout Pills, Fasting Pills, Suoyang Pills, and the like.
These things sold fairly well among low-tier disciples, and even among menial disciples.
When he finished selling and was about to pack up, Lin Donglai came up to him: "Might your path be slow, Senior Brother!"
The bald man rubbed his smooth, shiny forehead and looked at Lin Donglai suspiciously: "Junior Brother, were you calling me?"
"This junior is Lin Donglai, an outer sect disciple of the Hall of Spirit Plants. Greetings, Senior Brother."
"You're one of this year's immortal seedlings—you do look familiar. Did you fill a prescription from me once?"
He grew wary: "Let me tell you, my prescriptions are definitely effective. After all this time, if you're coming to pick a fight over them, I won't stand for it."
Lin Donglai waved his hand and smiled: "How could I? Thanks to Senior Brother's herbs, this junior was able to successfully draw qi into his body and formally become an outer sect disciple."
"Then what do you want with me?" The bald man remained somewhat cautious and did not give his name.
But he often set up his stall here, so if Lin Donglai wanted to ask around, he could certainly find out—it just would not be as sincere as approaching him directly.
"This junior possesses a lower-grade Jia Wood spirit body and is being specially cultivated by the Hall of Spirit Plants. I originally wanted to plant spirit rice, but Senior Sister Huang Yue said that those who plant spirit rice can only be called spirit farmers—a true spirit planter must plant spirit herbs as well."
"It's just that I can't afford first-tier spirit herb seeds, so I thought I'd plant some unranked spirit herbs to practice with. But the Hall of Spirit Plants has no channel for exchanging the seeds of those unranked spirit herbs, so I thought I'd come ask you, Senior Brother."
"I see." Xiao Yi nodded, letting down his guard. "Unranked spirit herbs are worth too little. No one needs them except alchemy apprentices."
"Unranked spirit herbs are mostly purchased in bulk from cultivation clans and vassal sects outside."
"The sect can't monopolize all of this business—it has to leave the smaller clans and sects some way to survive."
"Even we alchemy apprentices have to spend spirit stones and merit when we apply for these unranked spirit herbs for refining practice."
"So that's how it is. Looks like you don't have the seeds of these unranked spirit herbs either, Senior Brother." Lin Donglai was slightly disappointed.
"Well now, seeds can be arranged!" Xiao Yi's eyes rolled, and he asked: "Junior Brother, do you truly possess a lower-grade Jia Wood spirit body?"
"How could it be false?" Lin Donglai declared loudly. "It was personally tested by inner sect Senior Brother Li Yunze himself. Even Senior Sister Huang Yue of the Hall of Spirit Plants said I would be specially cultivated!"
"Is that so." A flicker passed through Xiao Yi's eyes. "To be honest with you, Junior Brother, I need large quantities of unranked spirit herbs for my alchemy practice—to raise my pill success rate to eighty percent before I can become a first-tier low-grade alchemist."
"I have channels to get unranked spirit herb seeds, and I can give them to you for free."
Lin Donglai was astonished: "How could I possibly accept that?"
"There is a condition. Once you grow them, you hand them all over to me for pill-refining practice, and we split the spirit stones earned from selling the pills in Azurewood Immortal City fifty-fifty. How about it?" Xiao Yi laughed smugly. After all, an alchemist had far better prospects than a farmer. Under these circumstances, agreeing to a fifty-fifty split was already doing this junior brother a great honor.
"Deal!"
Lin Donglai had not expected him to have connections in Azurewood Immortal City in the outer sect.
The two settled it on the spot, using their outer sect tokens to leave each other's imprints for communication.
Two days later, Xiao Yi sent Lin Donglai a message through the outer sect disciple token.
"This bag is Seven-Star Grass seeds. This bag is Suoyang Grass seeds. This bag is Essence-Replenishing Flower seeds, and this bag is Kidney Essence Grass seeds..."
"I've made inquiries. The best-selling pill in Azurewood Immortal City right now is called the Myriad Wonders Pill. The recipe came from the Hehuan Sect, and it can boost yang and stir vigor."
"Going forward, I'll focus on this pill formula to hone my skills and advance to first-tier low-grade alchemist."
"For this pill, only the main ingredient is a first-tier low-grade Myriad Wonders Flower; everything else consists of unranked spirit herbs, all right here. In half a year we can harvest a batch."
"We'll sign a contract: once these spirit herbs mature, they all go to supplying my alchemy practice, and the spirit stones earned from selling the pills will be split fifty-fifty."
"No problem!" Lin Donglai nodded without haggling.
Though the Myriad Wonders Pill did not sound like a proper pill, Lin Donglai could not care less about that.
Lin Donglai felt he was getting something for nothing—snaring an alchemy apprentice to fund his farming and obtaining spirit herb seeds. He had already profited handsomely.
And Xiao Yi, for his part, felt that the early stages of his alchemy practice would inevitably be full of trial and error, with his capital sunk without return. Being able to use a few seeds to snare a talented spirit-planting disciple to supply his pill refining—this was pure profit.
"How should these spirit herbs be cared for?"
"That's your problem." Xiao Yi shook his head. "The one who sold me the seeds didn't give me any planting methods either. You'll have to look up books and figure it out yourself."
"Let's be clear in advance: there are two hundred seeds of each kind here. You must successfully grow at least half for me, or you'll have to make up the shortfall."
"No problem. Though it definitely won't happen this year—I'll need to work things out first. Once I find the planting method, it'll be next year before I can deliver."
Lin Donglai was a straightforward fellow, confident he could grow them.
These past few days, besides waiting for the seeds, he had been cultivating. He had already accumulated a portion of earth-element essence the size of a mung bean, and had additionally used nine drops of essential blood to refine a portion of innate fetal breath, converting it into earth-element fetal breath and planting it into his spleen, where it faintly showed the promise of a blessed-field seed.
It had gone surprisingly smoothly.
At this pace, once he gathered five portions of earth-element essence—needed only a month or so—he could switch to cultivating the Renzi Water-Gathering Art and condense water-element essence.
As for these fifteen portions of five-element essence, it would probably take less than three months in total.
During this period, though his cultivation level would be hard to raise—everything going toward replenishing his spiritual marrow and condensing essential blood—he could spend the time studying the Art of Sprouting Gestation, learning all manner of spirit-planting knowledge, and consulting Huang Yue for her experience in growing these unranked spirit herbs.
As for those two spirit stones, he still had to exchange them for two pounds of Blood Marrow Rice seeds. This stuff concerned his own spiritual marrow nourishment and essential blood condensation—it was extremely important.