Seeing the other party remain silent with a strange expression on his face, Jin Fugui sighed and said, “I admit I’ve used it. Forty jin of Spirit Rice, is that acceptable?”

Jiang Chen’s eyes widened upon hearing this. “So it has been used!”

“Thirty jin of Spirit Rice. I can’t go any lower than that,” Jin Fugui said with a pained look.

“Who said I was buying?” Jiang Chen retorted with an annoyed eye-roll. He waved his hand dismissively. “I don’t want the paper puppet. What’s in this bottle?”

Jin Fugui immediately replied, “Century-old Monkey Wine, absolutely top-notch stuff.”

“What effect does it have?” Jiang Chen was quite curious.

Jin Fugui answered, “It can slowly replenish spiritual power.”

“Not very useful for me.” Jiang Chen shook his head, then turned his gaze to the third item and asked, “What kind of seeds are these?”

Jin Fugui shook his head. “I don’t know what kind of spirit plant these seeds are from either, but they were excreted by a millennium-old spirit beast, so the price isn’t low. You probably can’t afford them.”

“Name a price so I can give up hope.” Jiang Chen truly didn’t believe a new item could be that expensive.

Since they were eaten by a millennium-old spirit beast, they definitely weren’t ordinary spirit plants. Although there was an element of gambling involved, wasn’t that part of the charm? Anyway, he had nothing better to do. What if there was an unexpected gain?

“Three hundred jin of [Tier-2 Spirit Rice].” Jin Fugui raised three chubby fingers on his right hand.

“Profiteer!” Jiang Chen instantly lost all interest.

“If you’re not buying, I’m leaving.” Jin Fugui didn’t want to delay too long. He chuckled, “I knew you needed the paper puppet…”

Jiang Chen quickly interjected, “I’m not buying anything. Can you help me find a recipe for brewing wine instead?”

“You want to brew [Spirit Wine]?” Jin Fugui put away his lecherous expression.

“Alright, I’ll bring it for you next month, but you have to pay a deposit first.” A sly glint flashed in Jin Fugui’s eyes.

“How much?” Jiang Chen asked.

Jin Fugui blurted out, “Ten jin of [Tier-1 Spirit Rice]. You give me five first.”

“Take it.” Jiang Chen wasn’t short on this amount of Spirit Rice.

“Same time next month.” Jin Fugui wore the expression of someone whose scheme had succeeded and quickly left, leading his spirit beast camel.

When he reached a deserted spot, he opened his small storage pouch, rummaged around for a bit, and pulled out a recipe for brewing [Spirit Wine].

This thing wasn’t exactly everywhere, but many Spirit Farmers had it. Although the price of Spirit Rice wasn’t high, [Spirit Wine] was different.

But why didn’t he just sell it directly earlier? That would have been a one-time transaction! Only by keeping the other party constantly thinking about it could he be remembered.

A few more days passed, and the temperature dropped lower and lower.

Only then did Jiang Chen begin planting the spirit rice seedlings.

The quality of Spirit Rice is greatly related to the Spirit Farm. The higher the grade of the Spirit Farm, the more spiritual energy it contains. Naturally, the quality of the spirit plants grown would also improve, and along with it, the yield would increase as well.

On a first-grade Spirit Farm, mass production could only reach one thousand jin. At most, it wouldn’t exceed one thousand five hundred jin. Even with Lin An finding Earth and Water Spiritual Root cultivators to help, they only managed one thousand one hundred jin.

But on a second-grade Spirit Farm, it directly doubled; the starting yield was two thousand jin. If combined with cultivation realm, spell level, external factors, etc., it could even reach three thousand jin.

This was also why Jiang Chen bought the spirit beast dung.

However, these few dozen jin couldn’t possibly cover the entire Spirit Farm. Therefore, he specifically arranged it in one corner as an experiment to see how adding century-old spirit beast dung would affect the quality of the spirit plants and their yield.

And so, the planting for the fourth quarter officially began.

When the spirit seedlings filled the second-grade Spirit Farm, the surrounding wood spiritual energy rapidly increased.

Truly worthy of being the Core Farm area. The concentration of wood spiritual energy was even stronger.

Jiang Chen immediately sat cross-legged on the ridge between the fields and began circulating the [Evergreen Art].

Instantly, a powerful suction force drew the wood spiritual energy from the Spirit Farm into his body. Five strands of spiritual power began to circulate, cycle after cycle, through his meridians.

In the following days, Jiang Chen focused on cultivation.

Finally, next month arrived; it was December.

The time agreed upon with [Beast Mountain] disciple Jin Fugui had come.

Jiang Chen cultivated while patiently waiting.

Right at that moment, as more and more spiritual power accumulated within his body, suddenly, a sixth strand of spiritual power appeared.

Although it seemed like just one more strand, it represented his strength advancing another step.

“Fellow Daoist Jiang!” Jin Fugui’s voice rang out from afar.

Jiang Chen opened his eyes and looked toward the source of the sound.

The familiar spirit beast camel. The familiar bell sounds. The familiar bundle. And the familiar plump cheeks.

Jin Fugui said with a beaming smile, “Fellow Daoist Jiang, I’m quite punctual, right?”

“Is this your Spirit Rice?” Jin Fugui initially didn’t pay much attention, but then suddenly froze as he looked closer.

Although he was a [Beast Mountain] disciple, because he often traded in Core Farm areas, his discerning eye wasn’t bad.

At a glance, he realized that this Spirit Rice before him was actually robust and thriving.

One must know that this was winter planting. The difficulty was greater; it tested one’s skill even more. Yet now it completely matched the quality of those experienced old Spirit Farmers.

If he remembered correctly, hadn’t this fellow only become a formal disciple two months ago?

This truly shocked Jin Fugui.

Subsequently, the smile on his face became even brighter and more radiant.

“Winter is indeed difficult for cultivation,” Jiang Chen said with a light laugh.

“Ah yes, yes, yes,” Jin Fugui superficially agreed while feeling speechless inside.

If this is called ‘difficult cultivation’, then what are the others? Trash?

“Did you bring the wine brewing recipe?” Jiang Chen appeared very expectant.

“I promised my brother here I’d get it for him,” Jin Fugui said, patting his chest, and then pulled it out from his small storage pouch.

Jiang Chen took it and looked at it.

Indeed, it was a recipe for brewing [Spirit Wine]. With Spirit Rice as its main ingredient, the process was: soaking rice → steaming → cooling → mixing with yeast → saccharification → alcohol fermentation.

The steps were extremely detailed; easy to understand at a glance.

However, what surprised Jiang Chen somewhat was that his attribute panel suddenly showed changes.

What did this mean?

It meant he could also improve the recipe by consuming [Lifespan]!

“Rest assured; it’s definitely not fake,” Jin Fugui dared to guarantee firmly, without hesitation.

“Alright then; here are the remaining five jin of [Tier-1 Spirit Rice] for you,” Jiang Chen said as he snapped back to reality, taking out his small storage pouch to hand over the remaining amount without delay.

After receiving the remaining five jin of [Tier-1 Spirit Rice], Jin Fugui looked curiously and asked, “Fellow Daoist… Brother Jiang, how many jin of [Tier-2 Spirit Rice] can your mu of Spirit Farm produce approximately?”

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Chen replied, “Around one thousand five hundred jin or so.”

Barring unforeseen circumstances, it should have a yield of two thousand jin. The quarterly task only required submitting one thousand jin, which meant he had an additional one thousand jin as profit.

He certainly couldn’t reveal the full amount, so he specifically concealed half of it. Regardless, one must always guard against others.

“Five hundred jin of [Tier-2 Spirit Rice]… that is enough,” Jin Fugui mused aloud.

“What do you mean?” Jiang Chen asked with a raised eyebrow.

“During the New Year celebration, the Immortal Sect will open a market in Red Leaf Valley, where formal disciples and even core disciples from various regions will participate,” Jin Fugui explained in detail.

“What does that have to do with me?” Jiang Chen asked, still not fully understanding.

“You can use Spirit Rice to exchange for other things at that time,” Jin Fugui said seriously.

“Oh, right,” Jiang Chen said, finally realizing the point.