They lay there, identical as twins.

Greenish-yellow, perfectly round, and possessing a lustrous, jade-like sheen.

A unique herbal fragrance wafted from them, clearing the mind.

If one disregarded the quantity and focused strictly on quality…

These possessed the color, density, roundness, and aromatic concentration of a perfect pill. They were indistinguishable from those refined by Master Fang Xiaozi.

In his very first true attempt at alchemy—and refining a Foundation Establishment tier pill, no less—Jiang Chen had achieved top-tier quality right out of the gate.

He swallowed hard, forcibly suppressing the urge to consume them immediately. With a thought, he swept them all into the [Jade Green Gourd].

“Not now,” he told himself. “I’ll save them for the Spirit Qi Tide next spring.”

After all, once winter arrived, the ambient Wood Spirit Qi in the world plummeted.

Eating them now would be a waste of their potential.

After securing the treasure, Jiang Chen began the cleanup work.

He scrubbed the interior of the Golden Cauldron, cleared the ash from the fire chamber.

He polished the wooden ladle, the mortar, and the pestle.

He cleaned everything until it was spotless, without a single speck of dust remaining.

To be honest, he suspected he had a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Back when he was just washing dishes, his desire for cleanliness hadn’t been very obvious.

But now that he was maintaining a professional set of alchemy equipment, he found he couldn’t tolerate even a microscopic blemish.

If there was even a single dot of grime, his heart felt uncomfortable. It had to go.

Outside, the night had deepened.

Da Huang, the Guinea Fowl, and the Fortress were already asleep. The yard was silent.

Even the five fire-attribute Fire Crows had retreated into the stone house, standing in a dazed, lethargic row on their perch.

Seeing their state, Jiang Chen took out a handful of Top-quality Spirit Rice and hand-fed them one by one.

He started from Crow One—the largest, who occupied the center spot—and went down the line to Crow Five.

After the feeding, he specifically infused a trace of warm Fire Spirit Power into each bird.

These creatures were native to the Earth Fire Zone. They thrived on heat and were used to diving into earth fissures to devour Earth Fire Crystals.

But now, tasked with patrolling the Spirit Farm daily, they were cut off from their natural habitat.

Therefore, whenever Jiang Chen had time, he would act as their battery, infusing them with his own Fire Spirit Power. It was the elemental equivalent of giving them vitamins.

If the Fire Crows went too long without replenishing their fire energy, they would lose vitality.

Their mood would deteriorate, they would get depressed, and eventually, they would just start slacking off.

Of course, once the Golden Crow Vine regrew its nodules and began condensing fire energy again, they would have a self-sustaining food source.

Jiang Chen placed a porcelain dish in front of the five crows, then walked to the balcony.

Outside, the summer symphony of insects and frogs was long gone, replaced by the desolate whooshing of the wind.

Gusts of cold air swept through the valley, freezing the earth and enforcing a heavy silence.

Tonight, dark clouds choked the sky, allowing only a sliver of the crescent moon to bleed through.

The world outside was a blur of hazy gray.

Pat.

Suddenly, something fell from the sky.

It hit the ground with a crisp rustle.

At first, it was sparse—just one or two grains here and there.

But as time passed, the frequency increased, the sound growing denser until it was a constant rhythm.

Jiang Chen extended his spiritual sense. The particles were small, white, and hard. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. “This is… graupel, right?”

Formed when supercooled water droplets freeze onto falling snowflakes, it usually heralded a heavy snow or hailstorm.

With these pellets falling now, the situation was self-evident.

Sure enough, before long, the hard pellets gave way to soft, fluffy flakes. Snowflakes as large as goose feathers drifted down from the heavens.

They hissed softly as they collided with the accumulated graupel on the ground.

To be honest, it was a strangely soothing sound.

At the same time, a profound chill silently spread through the air.

Asleep in his corner, Da Huang instinctively curled his body into a tighter ball.

The Guinea Fowl huddled together in a mass of feathers, shrinking further into the corner.

Only the Fortress remained motionless under the poplar tree, resembling a piece of dead wood. It seemed the Treant had truly accepted the outdoors as its home.

“Winter came early this year,” Jiang Chen noted.

He turned and retreated into the bedroom, sealing the balcony door behind him.

The advantage of the stone house was instantly apparent; the biting wind vanished, replaced by stillness.

Inside, the five Fire Crows had already deposited their Fire Spirit Liquid into the porcelain dish. The amount was the same as before—five drops combined into a tiny puddle.

Jiang Chen didn’t absorb it immediately. Instead, he carefully decanted it into a small gourd.

In fact, he hadn’t refined any of the Fire Spirit Liquid produced during this period. He was hoarding it all in the same gourd, planning to use it only after it was completely full.

He shed his formal disciple robes, climbed into the soft Nanmu bed, and pulled the snowy-white silk quilt up to his chin. He closed his eyes and fell into a deep, comfortable sleep.

Time flew by. The next day arrived.

Jiang Chen woke and pushed open the window.

A blast of icy wind mixed with drifting snow assaulted him.

The world outside—the vast Spirit Farm—had vanished under a pristine blanket of white.

Whether it was Da Huang or the Guinea Fowl, everyone was cowering in their nests, too lazy to move.

Only the honest, hardworking Fortress was out there, carefully patrolling the perimeter of the Spirit Farm and the stone house.

It scooped up dog poop.

It scooped up chicken poop.

Since it was winter and the snow covered the ground, there were very few weeds to manage.

The entire patrol routine was actually much simpler than usual.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen closed the window, dressed quickly, and headed downstairs.

He hauled open the heavy stone door. The blizzard tried to rush in, a fierce wind carrying dense snowflakes attempting to invade his territory.

Jiang Chen circulated the [Nine Flames Mystic Art].

Fire Spirit Power surged from his Qi Sea. His entire body, from the inside out, instantly radiated a scorching, intense heat.

Sizzle.

The invading wind was blocked by a wall of thermal pressure, and the snow vaporized into mist before it could touch him.

He stepped out onto the thick drifts, carving a path toward the second Spirit Farm.

Entering the field, he found the golden Mutated Spirit Rice plants draped in coats of pure white snow.

From their originally opulent, golden luxury, they had suddenly become low-key and humble.

Jiang Chen nodded slightly. “Not bad. They’ll definitely mature before the New Year.”

Compared to ordinary Spirit Rice, the mutated strain was superior in every aspect.

Its resistance to severe cold and intense heat was exponentially higher.

A little frost and snow meant nothing to these plants.

Satisfied, Jiang Chen merely glanced at them, tossed a companion Green Lotus into the paddy, and turned toward the chicken coop.

If his calculations were correct, it was egg collection time.

Inside the dark coop, the Guinea Fowl stared out at the white world with round, bulging eyes.

Suddenly, a familiar face filled their vision.

It blocked out the scant light from the entrance, plunging the coop into total darkness.

It’s him.

The Giant Chicken Brother is back.

Every time he comes, he shoves that evil, massive hand underneath us… exploring.

Our eggs! We can’t protect them!

Of course, the Guinea Fowl had long since grown numb to this robbery. They had stopped hoping for mercy.

They only prayed that after the Giant Chicken Brother took their eggs, he wouldn’t develop an appetite for them.

Being a chicken in this world… is really hard!