AWB Chapter 23 About Seeds
Chapter 23 About Seeds
It is said that Ouyang Hanrui had already finished eating the Lingmi Noodles, and he wanted to order more from Lao Xiao. He contacted Lao Xiao several times, but Lao Xiao replied that his cultivation friend had not been able to grow them.
Old Xiao, in the group chat with the four of them, made up some nonsense: "This place only comes out for one season out of the year. And the place is surrounded by mountains, so getting things out isn't easy; you have to find people to carry them out from the mountains. You guys should be careful with your food; this stuff isn't as simple as you think. There are also some chickens, ducks, and rabbits. Next time, I can bring you some meat, but you'll probably have to slaughter it yourself. Some of it might die, some might live, or I can make it into cured meat or dried meat. What do you think?"
In that group of four, the old Taoist priest, his master, and Ouyang Xiu excitedly said, "Yes, yes, anything is fine, even eggs are okay." Old Xiao said, "Eggs won't do. Even if you take them out to hatch, once they're out of that place, the eggs they lay won't be any different from ordinary eggs. It's actually the food they're fed and the environment that make their food taste so good. As for anything else, don't even think about it."
The old Taoist's master suddenly asked, "Old Xiao, do you have any millet seeds or wheat seeds?" Old Xiao replied, "No." Old Xiao also told them, "If you take the seeds, you might be able to get some of the effects of the spirit rice after planting them for one season, but after two or three seasons, they will be gone."
The old Taoist's master asked, "Why?"
Old Xiao said, "Because of the environment." The old Taoist's master knew that the environment was very important. Even ordinary rice grown in a good environment contains something special, let alone this kind of spiritual rice. The environment for the rice would definitely be better. Old Xiao said directly, "Because this thing needs an environment, and that environment is in the mountains. The fields in the mountains are not big, and they can only grow a little bit each year. It's not that we don't want to sell it to you, it's just that we really don't have any."
Ouyang Xiu jumped in and said, "Old Xiao, I know, it's just that the spirit rice and spirit noodles are gone, but the animal parts like chicken, duck, and fish are still there, right?"
Old Xiao said, "There are still some of these things, but not many. If we have to get them out of the mountains, they might die while we're carrying them out. If we slaughter them there, they won't be fresh when we bring them out. In fact, it's a very difficult thing to get them out."
Ouyang Xiu said, "Just give us as much as you can. How do you want to sell it? By weight or by the piece? Just give us the whole batch."
Old Xiao said, "Wait a minute. I'll ask my friend who's practicing Buddhism if he's come down the mountain recently. If he has, I'll have him bring some with him. Once I get them, send me a message. Haha."
After receiving a clear reply, the old Taoist's master quickly told Xuanyuan, "Old Xuanyuan, it's not that I don't want to help you, but I asked around, and it's related to the environment. The place where it's grown, my fellow cultivator, should have a spirit-gathering array. That is to say, there should be an array set up there to make the spiritual energy abundant, which is why the rice and flour grown there are so good. It only produces one crop a year, and there's only so much of it."
The old man Xuanyuan said, "It's not that I wanted it. My disciple is in a special department, right? In the special forces. After he ate it, it greatly helped his martial arts cultivation. That Xiao Tao wanted to get more to improve the physical fitness of the soldiers under his command, and also to improve the combat level submitted to the country. He wanted the soldiers under him to eat some, but the amount was a bit large, so he wanted to cultivate it himself. He took your spiritual rice to cultivate before."
The old Taoist master said, "Ah, rice cultivation? Can it really be cultivated? I don't believe it either."
The old Taoist priest Xuanyuan said, "I don't know how he did it, but he managed to get a few of them. I've never seen anything like them before."
The old Taoist master said, "The practitioners over there said that the seeds are useless once they are taken out. They can only be cultivated for one season and have a slight effect. After that, they are no different from ordinary rice."
The old Taoist's master said, "Old Xuanyuan, I guess this thing, how should I put it, is related to the environment and the spiritual energy of that place. Think about it, weren't there many spiritual flowers and herbs on this earth before? But now look how many there are? Basically none. Even ginseng living for a hundred years is a miracle. So don't even think about it."
The old Taoist priest Xuanyuan said, "Hey, you're talking about this century-old ginseng. Hehehe, you old thing, you old bald donkey, ask your fellow cultivator if he can bring out some Chinese medicine from the mountains. Share some of the good stuff."
The old Taoist priest said, "Old man Xuanyuan, don't you have any on your Changbai Mountain? Isn't your family the one with the most? Go and get some yourself."
The old Taoist priest Xuanyuan said, "You don't understand, do you? Many of the things on Changbai Mountain have owners. I want to ask, in those treasure lands where spiritual energy gathers, are there any plants that they themselves have planted?"
The old Taoist priest said, "You say it was planted hundreds of years ago? Are you kidding me? Are there some immortal beings in the mountains who have lived for thousands of years? Would they be willing to take this out? I don't know, they all kept it for themselves."
The old Taoist priest Xuanyuan continued to persuade the other Taoist priest to help: "Why don't you go and try, ask around, see if there are any spiritual herbs or objects."
The old Taoist priest said, "He said there are chickens, ducks, fish, rabbits, and the like, and you can take some of the animals out to eat. But he said that once they are taken out, their offspring are useless."
The old Taoist priest Xuanyuan said, "That's for sure. Unless it's an animal that has already begun cultivating, what he takes out is definitely not a cultivated one, just an ordinary one. It just means it grew up in that place and has a certain level of spirituality. How many do you think he can take out? Can you share some with me?"
The old Taoist priest said, "Tch, tch, you fooled me again. You old fool, I knew you were trying to trick me."
The old Taoist priest Xuanyuan said, "Hehehe, you old bald donkey, all you've managed to produce are two seeds. Whether they're useful or not, let's try them out first."
The old Taoist priest said, “Don’t make things difficult for me. These things can’t be done so easily. You have to exchange them for something. Besides, I don’t want to offend that friend. He’s quite secretive. If you expose him in public, you know how it is in today’s society. We are supposed to be outsiders, not involved in the progress of society. But if you take this out, you will have already participated in the progress of this outsider world.”
The old Taoist priest Xuanyuan said, "I will bear this karma, how about it? Is that alright? You old bald monk, go and ask him."
The old Taoist priest said, "I reckon you can't bear this karma, you old Xuanyuan."
The old Taoist priest Xuanyuan said, "What's going on? How could I not bear it? It's just that, well, it's just that there's no way to ascend, isn't it?"
The old Taoist priest said, "You may not know, but my old disciple has successfully transcended his tribulation."
“I know this, I know this,” said the old Taoist priest Xuanyuan.
"Now that you know, do you know why he succeeded?"
The old Taoist priest Xuanyuan was taken aback for a moment and said, "I thought it was a natural success, but it seems there is something else behind it."
The old Taoist priest said, “Yes. Let me tell you the truth. We’ve been friends for so many years, and neither of us has made any progress in this realm for decades. Actually, my old disciple received a few fruits from a kind person. You may not know, but they were spiritual fruits.”
Old Master Xuanyuan's heart skipped a beat. In this world, we were already at the top, and no one had ever obtained a spiritual fruit before. This suddenly appearing spiritual fruit made Old Master Xuanyuan ponder for a moment before finally asking, "Old Taoist, do you have any more of this? Where did you get it from?"
The old Taoist priest bluntly stated, "That 'spiritual rice' and 'spiritual flour' you had, wasn't it from there? You've already eaten them, haven't you?"
“I’m asking about the spiritual fruit,” said the old Taoist priest Xuanyuan.
The old Taoist priest said, "He said there's only one season a year, so you'll have to wait until the second half of this year. We got it last year, but even after the new year, we still have to wait until August or September. This cycle of the four seasons isn't something a deity can conjure up; it has to grow."
After leaving Rongcheng, the old Taoist priest Xuanyuan returned to his residence, his old Taoist temple, and made a phone call to his disciple, Commander Tao.
"Xiao Tao, this spiritual rice is probably useless if you try to grow it in the ordinary world, so don't even think about it. We asked that friend who's cultivating, and he said his place is very small, and he can't grow much in a year. I guess after the old folks upstairs divided it up, there won't be much left, and it won't be able to be cultivated on a large scale. We can't get the seeds out, and even if we plant them in the ordinary environment, they won't have any effect; they'll be completely useless. As for your idea of giving it to the soldiers to improve their physical fitness, forget about it; it's not feasible. Finally, this friend who's cultivating doesn't want the outside world to disturb his life. You know, people's hearts are hard to fathom. We cultivators need to isolate ourselves from people in all walks of life in the real world to cultivate better. If you popularize this, it might not be a good thing for the Taoist priest to be placed in the public world; he will suffer the consequences and be punished by the heavens. So, don't even think about it."
After finishing his phone call with Commander Tao, the old Taoist priest Xuanyuan suddenly felt a pang of unease. He muttered to himself, "It's not that I don't want to give it to you, it's just that reality doesn't allow it. This environment needs protection. Look at all these destructive elements roaming this timeline; the political landscape is unsettled. Peace might be better, but without peace, no one wants to participate in this chaotic world."
~~~~Cute dividing line~~~~
After finishing his conversation in the group chat with the four people, Lao Xiao found a quiet place and called Mingyue, saying, "They still want spirit rice and spirit noodles, but I refused. Then, they couldn't refuse anymore, so they mentioned that they might have some chickens, ducks, fish, rabbits, etc., and asked if you could sell some of them."
Lin Yue replied, "Last time we went to buy 5 pairs each of chickens, ducks, and rabbits, and 50 jin of fish. Now, half a year has passed, and apart from the rabbits being plentiful, there aren't many chickens and ducks left. The chickens and ducks are laying eggs now, but if we take them out to incubate them, there might be some problems."
Old Xiao said, "I've already warned people in that group that the offspring from this egg might be no different from anything born outside."
Lin Yue said, "That's good."
Old Xiao then said to Lin Yue, "I made up a story about raising these things deep in the mountains and forests. It might be a bit difficult to get them out, as it involves traversing many remote mountain and forest roads. Hmm, do you think there are any issues with saying it this way?"
Lin Yue said, "It doesn't have much of an impact. In fact, it's better this way, because it shows how hard it was to get these things." Lin Yue then asked, "So, how much do you think would be appropriate for us to take out?"
Old Xiao said, "Ten pairs of the same kind, do you have any?"
Lin Yue said, "Yes, we do have that. We need more rabbits. Rabbits have a high reproductive rate. We have several hundred rabbits now, so you can take out a hundred rabbits. Try to catch as many males as possible, and keep the females to have babies. It would be better if we took out more rabbits later."
Old Xiao asked, "Do the rabbits produce offspring every month?"
Lin Yue said, "Yes."
Old Xiao said, "Lin Yue, do you just sell another batch of rabbits, eggs, and duck eggs every one or two months?"
Lin Yue said, "That's possible, but how do we get it out?"
Old Xiao said, "How about this, on the day our hot pot restaurant closes for the month, I'll go with you to put the stuff in my little storage room. There are security cameras outside the storage room, but not inside. On that day, we'll turn off the cameras and put the stuff in. What do you think?"
Lin Yue said, "Okay."
Old Xiao continued, "My partner might not be too keen on this kind of fund transfer. How about this, Lin Yue, I've seen two storefronts in your neighborhood, the two-story kind. I'll rent them and we can open a hot pot restaurant together. That way, only the two of us will know about the funds, and the money can be deposited and processed separately. What do you think? If it's feasible, we can open the hot pot restaurant within two months, spend a month on renovations, and it will be easier to process the accounts without attracting too much attention. Secondly, is the hot pot restaurant a sole proprietorship? If the amount is too large, it might cause problems. Do you think you need to open a company? I mentioned it to you before, opening a company. This way, the fund transfer will be as compliant and legal as possible."
Lin Yue said, "I agree with opening a hot pot restaurant, but I'm not considering opening a company for the time being. As for the products we sell, I'll set a limit, and we'll try to keep the products out of the public eye. We'll keep a low profile as much as possible, and live a simple life."