The Eternal Farmer: I Trade My Harvest for Immortality

Chapter 242: Jade Dew Spirit Bud

With the starting price slashed, the heckling ceased. The atmosphere in the auction hall shifted instantly from hostility to predatory focus.

The bidding resumed.

Round after round, the price climbed steadily, eventually crossing the 200 Mid-grade Spirit Stone mark once more. This time, however, the momentum didn’t stall. The crowd’s fervor was palpable; people were no longer shouting insults, but numbers.

Jiang Chen watched the proceedings with a detached interest. He didn’t open his mouth yet. He watched as the field of bidders thinned out, two-thirds of the room dropping away as the price surged toward 250 Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

Eventually, the competition boiled down to two men. They were cautious, tactical—the kind of bidders who waited until the very last second to raise the stakes by the minimum increment of 10 stones, terrified of overpaying.

When the bid hit 270, one of them let out a frustrated sigh and slumped into his chair, shaking his head.

Liu Sang scanned the room, a smug, triumphant grin spreading across his face. “It seems this tree belongs to me?”

“280,” a calm voice cut through his victory lap.

Liu Sang’s smile curdled. He whipped his head around, glaring toward the back of the hall. The speaker looked utterly unremarkable—just another nondescript loose cultivator lost in the crowd. And yet, this nobody had the audacity to interject at the finish line.

“290!” Liu Sang barked, his heart hammering against his ribs.

“300,” Jiang Chen replied, his tone as flat as a stagnant pond.

Liu Sang’s face flushed a deep, angry crimson. “Fellow Daoist,” he gritted out, “it’s just a rare fruit tree. Is it truly worth going this far?”

Jiang Chen didn’t even turn his head. He merely caught the man’s gaze in his periphery. “I could say the exact same to you.”

Faced with such icy composure, Liu Sang’s resolve broke. He didn’t know who this man was, and in a place like this, mystery usually meant trouble. “Fine. You’re a ruthless one. I’m out!”

The gavel fell. With no further challengers, Jiang Chen secured the Four Seasons Fruit Tree—or rather, the sapling—for 300 Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

To any other cultivator, 300 stones for a sapling was an absurd overpayment; 250 was already pushing the ceiling of its market value. But Jiang Chen possessed a variable no one else could account for: a max-level Spirit Finger.

He didn’t care if the natural probability of a mutation was one-in-a-thousand. He didn’t care about the risk of failure. He had the one thing most cultivators lacked: infinite patience. If a year wasn’t enough, he would wait 10. If 10 years failed, he would wait 100. One successful mutation would turn this “overpayment” into a legendary windfall.

According to the ancient records, the Four Seasons Fruit Tree had five known evolutionary paths:

Four Spirits Qi Gathering Tree: The trunk splits into four cardinal directions, etched with quad-color Spirit Patterns.

Effect 1: Drastically boosts Spirit Qi absorption for the Spirit Root corresponding to the current season.

Effect 2: Produces “Four Symbols Spirit Liquid” upon ripening, used to stabilize breakthrough-shaken cultivation realms.

Four Seasons Reincarnation Tree: Fruits manifest seasonal runes upon maturity.

Effect 1: Consuming a seasonal fruit provides a massive temporary boost to the cultivation speed of techniques and arts.

Effect 2: Acts as a natural Spirit Gathering Array, creating a permanent Qi vortex beneath its canopy.

Spirit Plant Treasure Tree: The wood transmutes into a natural “Magical Artifact Embryo.”

Effect 1: Can be harvested and refined into top-tier defensive artifacts.

Effect 2: Fruits condense into “Four Seasons Spirit Pearls.”

Effect 3: Defensive properties shift dynamically with the seasonal cycle.

Seasonal Divine Tree: Fruits receive a “Heavenly Blessing” on each solar term or seasonal node.

Effect 1: Each fruit carries a unique, temporary seasonal buff.

Effect 2: Consumption grants the user a permanent affinity for seasonal blessings.

Cross-Season Wonder Tree: A botanical impossibility where spring buds, summer flowers, autumn leaves, and winter bark coexist on a single trunk.

Effect 1: Combining fruits grants multi-layered, synergistic amplification effects.

Effect 2: Planting the fruits in bulk can permanently alter the climate and seasonal characteristics of an entire region.

This potential was exactly why Jiang Chen had been willing to pay the “premium.” But before he could even finish savoring his win, the next item brought the room to a fever pitch.

“Our next lot,” the auctioneer announced, his voice vibrating with excitement, “is the Jade Dew Spirit Bud. A living tea tree!”

A collective gasp swept through the hall. In the Green City markets, Orchid Mist Tea was considered the height of luxury for a loose cultivator. But the Jade Dew Spirit Bud was an entire tier above—a delicacy usually reserved for the inner circle of major sects.

“The Jade Dew Spirit Bud? Isn’t that the signature treasure of the Jade Dew Sect?” “The Jade Dew Sect was wiped off the map 30 years ago!” “Someone’s been sitting on stolen goods for three decades just to dump them here?”

The murmurs turned into a roar of speculation.

Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes. The Jade Dew Sect hadn’t been as powerful as the Cloud Sea Sect, but it had boasted over 1,000 disciples and a Nascent Soul Sect Leader. They were local hegemons until one night, 30 years ago, when an unknown force shattered their mountain-protecting array. By dawn, everyone from the Sect Leader down to the lowest stable boy had been slaughtered. Even the dogs hadn’t been spared.

First the Four Seasons tree, now this. The seller was likely clearing out a “hot” inventory linked to that ancient massacre—either a participant looking to liquidate or a survivor finally forced to sell their inheritance.

The auctioneer looked visibly nervous under the weight of the room’s sudden, predatory intensity. “Starting bid for the Jade Dew Spirit Bud is 200 Mid-grade Spirit Stones! Increments of 20!”

This time, no one complained about the price. It was a bargain for such a treasure.

The bidding war was instantaneous and brutal. Jiang Chen, perched in the back, watched the chaos unfold. The players in the VIP boxes, who had remained silent for most of the afternoon, finally came alive.

He felt a pang of desire for the tea tree, but a quick mental tally of his stones told him he was already outclassed. Within minutes, the price screamed past 600 stones, and the momentum showed no signs of slowing.

“Forget it,” Jiang Chen muttered, leaning back. “That tree and I have no fate.”

He stayed only to see how high the madness would go. 10 minutes later, the bid shattered the 1,000-stone ceiling. Only a handful of bidders remained, their voices tight with desperation.

Suddenly, a low, gravelly voice echoed from the premier VIP box in the corner.

“Friends, I ask that you give the Lei Clan some face. This Jade Dew Spirit Bud belongs to us.”

The name hit the room like a physical blow. The frantic shouting died instantly.

In Green City, three names carried absolute weight: the Sen Clan, the Sun family with their booming wine trade, and the Lei Clan—the undisputed masters of alchemy.

You could live without wine. You could not live without pills.

One by one, the remaining bidders shut their mouths, unwilling to offend a family that controlled their access to life-saving medicine over a mere tea tree.

The gavel fell for the final time. The Lei Clan claimed the Jade Dew Spirit Bud for 1,240 Mid-grade Spirit Stones.