It was as if a kitten was scratching at Qian Duoduo's heart; he opened his mouth several times but dared not speak.
“The finishing touches are especially crucial. At this moment, you must not be impatient. Artifact Refining has its secrets: be as careful at the end as you were at the beginning.” Liu Boli’s words made Qian Duoduo’s heart clench, silencing the kitten.
The fire within the cauldron turned a pale yellow, gently baking the Golden Claw Armor from both sides.
“Pay attention—” Liu Boli reminded.
His right fingers undulated like waves, and the Golden Claw Armor inside the cauldron was compressed accordingly.
“The Fifth Layer merging into one—whether it merges well or not depends on this final step.” As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Boli flicked his finger, and a dark golden armor appeared before Qian Duoduo.
“Master, amazing! What grade is it?” Qian Duoduo carefully touched the surface of the armor. It was warm and soft, like skin.
“A high-grade Mortal Weapon,” Liu Boli replied from inside the Golden Toad, “It’s enough for your Outer Sect competition.”
Qian Duoduo put on the Golden Claw Armor, then his blue robe, and moved around in the room, exclaiming, “It fits perfectly, it’s light. It feels like I’m not wearing anything.”
He had wanted to praise him a few more times, but Liu Boli had already closed his eyes, appearing calm and in meditation. Qian Duoduo knew this meant he needed to control his emotions. A Level Five high-grade Artifact Refiner refining a high-grade Mortal Weapon was as easy as playing.
He put away the Golden Claw Armor and went to the Estate to tell Huang Guiren that he would be in seclusion for a few days.
Returning to his dwelling, he closed the door, blew the dust off the Spiritual Platform, and sat down. It had been several months since he had Cultivated on the Spiritual Platform, ever since he paid off Huang Guiren’s debt.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to use it, but he truly had no money.
These past few days, selling the spirit chicken eggs and Purple Clover Grass from the Estate, his token had accumulated tens of thousands of gold coins.
He would rely on this money to Breakthrough to Qi Condensation Level Five.
Setting it to the two thousand gold coins per hour tier, Spiritual Qi gushed out like morning mist. Qian Duoduo circulated the Golden Light Technique’s Fifth Layer Cultivation Technique, guiding the Spiritual Qi to flow through the Spiritual Veins in his body.
After two days and two nights, the barrier at the end of the Fourth Layer in Qian Duoduo’s body was broken through again. During the Breakthrough, a surge of power vibrated from inside out. Although Qian Duoduo immediately pulled it back in, a layer of dust still floated up from the Spiritual Platform.
Qi Condensation Level Five!
Qian Duoduo looked down at his token; only a pitiful three hundred gold coins remained on it.
“I still have to work, I still have to earn money.” He sighed in his heart, jumped off the Spiritual Platform, and walked towards the Estate.
Stepping out, Qian Duoduo realized it was already dusk.
After autumn, Mengyuan Mountain was filled with a rich osmanthus fragrance. This scent came from a tree called the August Spiritual Osmanthus. The bark of the August Spiritual Osmanthus could be used in Medicinal Pills, while its flowers, fruits, and roots were materials for artifacts. It was said that the Spiritual Osmanthus fragrance could aid meditation, clearing the mind and refreshing the spirit.
As he approached Buhuan Estate, other floral scents began to mix with the Spiritual Osmanthus fragrance.
The rich, sweet scent that tingled the tip of the tongue was the smell of Spiritual Gardenia. The gentle, warm, and ardent scent was that of the red Spiritual Roses. The serene, elegant, and uplifting scent was the opening of Spiritual Orchids. The one that brought immediate joy was certainly the Spiritual Lilies. The refreshing fragrance was the honeysuckle blooming. The calming and cozy aroma was the Spiritual Narcissus flowering.
And the rich fragrance that was no less than that of the Spiritual Osmanthus was only the violet clover.
If the Spiritual Osmanthus fragrance was the wind, then the violet clover’s fragrance was the sea—a sea of scent formed by millions of blooming flowers.
In the fragrant sea of clouds, over eight thousand types of spiritual plants were like eight thousand babies, and their wisps of fragrance were their laughter and cries.
Qian Duoduo had personally planted these babies, watched them sprout, seen their leaves grow, and then their flowers bloom, with some already bearing fruit.
Qian Duoduo felt like their mother, and also their father.
Haha, this feeling was so exhilarating.
When Qian Duoduo’s Spiritual Awareness touched them, he felt that they all had feelings, knowing it was him and not someone else.
Through the touch, from the trembling of their branches and leaves, Qian Duoduo knew they were happy; their branches stood tall, their leaves spread open, and their flowers were even more vibrant.
Qian Duoduo was a little intoxicated, sitting on the large stone at the entrance of the Estate, as if thousands of babies were simultaneously calling him “Dad” and “Mom.” He didn’t know which one to answer, nor did he need to.
Just then, he heard the sound of eggshells cracking, followed by a chorus of naive and sharp chirps. Another batch of Spirit Chicken chicks had hatched.
They cried out “Mama” and “Papa,” at the top of their lungs, heedless, as if they were the world, and the world was them.
However, even though they occupied the high ground of sound, they could never cover the low-level sounds of the spiritual plants.
His Spiritual Awareness, like a tide, slowly extended towards the river, which was the newly cultivated Spirit Beast area.
It was even livelier here. Not to mention the violet clover used as fodder, the Spirit Beasts ate them and simultaneously provided them with fertilizer. The female Golden Ox was still alone, lying on her side, head resting on the ground, eyes lazy, but her ears twitched constantly, shooing away an annoying horsefly.
The Golden Ox’s neighbor was a Spiritual Cat, and she had eight children. Three little Spiritual Cats were treating their mother’s body as a playground, darting in and out. The other five were wrestling in a pile. These children were as boisterous as their mother. When she first arrived at the Estate, this seemingly demure Spiritual Cat would secretly eat Spirit Chickens every day. After eating, she would bury the Spirit Chicken feathers in the soil to eliminate traces of her crime.
The Spiritual Cat’s home was directly opposite the pond. What? Senior Brother’s most cherished little turtles had quietly crawled out of their eggshells! This most exciting moment for him was missed.
The four little turtles were only the size of a finger. Although they had just entered the water, their two small eyes were already gleaming, eyeing the small fish and shrimp in the water…
The most lawless were the golden ants. They ignored the Spiritual Bamboo fence, crawling through the gaps. From who knows where they got the clue, they found two dead Spiritual Bees, and dozens of ants were carrying them, triumphantly marching back to their nest.
Their triumphant ant claws seemed to want to stomp out smoke signals on the ground.
The waving antennae above their heads were all shouting—“Food has arrived, bystanders move aside!”
In the Estate, besides the spiritual plants Qian Duoduo personally planted and the Spirit Beasts he personally raised, there were even more uninvited little insects.
The most annoying, of course, were the mosquitoes, flies, and horseflies. They were the professional thieves of the Estate. If one wasn't careful, the blood from Spirit Beasts or leftover meat would be stolen by them.
The most popular were the bees and butterflies. They would emerge from one flower and land on another, eating pollen with their mouths and filling their leg pouches. Those flowers, to become mothers themselves, were very generous to these matchmakers.
For a period, Qian Duoduo was particularly annoyed by the Spiritual Locusts that flew in from who knows where. They especially loved to eat violet clover leaves, arriving in swarms and reproducing without restraint. Their presence was almost on every violet clover plant, like bandits, nearly devouring all the spiritual plants in the entire Estate.
Flying Swords and Formations were completely ineffective against the locust plague.
If Qian Duoduo hadn't known that they had no ears and hadn't evolved Spiritual Awareness, he would have suspected they were sent by Jin Buque.
Later, by chance, Qian Duoduo saw the Spirit Chickens happily preying on the Spiritual Locusts, and then he suddenly realized—Qian Duoduo still knew too little about Spirit Chickens.
When the Spirit Chickens were released from the coop, the Spiritual Locusts became like unarmed bandits, not only becoming a delicacy for the Spirit Chickens but also raising the quality of the Spirit Chicken claws and beaks by one grade as artifact materials.
Suddenly, a bad thing turned into a good thing!
Unbeknownst to him, Qian Duoduo’s Spiritual Awareness enveloped the entire Estate. The Estate was like a world contained in a bottle, and all the stories of life unfolded before his eyes.
Suddenly, as his Spiritual Awareness spread out, Qian Duoduo saw someone he shouldn't have seen.