Chapter 47

Song Yi held a spirit coin worth twenty in her hand. It was the pay she had earned through a whole day of hard work today, even sacrificing her own image for it.

This was the first time she had ever touched physical currency in this world. Usually, using an identity token was very convenient, and now she actually no longer felt uneasy just because it had not been exchanged into spirit stones.

According to the administrator, handing out physical currency was meant to give everyone a sense of ritual. It was different from numbers on an identity token. Working hard to earn spirit coins and then spending them could leave a deep impression on them.

Yes, this spirit coin was only passing through Song Yi’s hands. In a while, she would still have to “spend” it.

Song Yi and the others had been arranged to stay here overnight and would only return to school on Sunday. Did eating and drinking not cost money? Did sleeping not require lodging fees?

Was charging only twenty not very conscientious?

Although they could have directly freeloaded off the labor force, they still let the money pass through your hands once. Was that not very considerate?

Their strategy was very successful. Song Yi crouched by the river, clutching this blood-and-sweat money, unwilling to spend it just like that.

Never mind that later on, she had only needed to swing her sword a few times and was doing her old trade. At the beginning, she had honestly put in labor too.

Plucking the school’s spirit fruit for profit and selling lucky mystery boxes could both help her rapidly accumulate wealth, but the labor she had put in might not even be as much as this twenty.

Song Yi was considering the feasibility of eating a dine-and-dash meal and sleeping a dine-and-dash sleep. There was nothing she could do. The administrator uncle had said he only accepted physical currency, not transfers.

This pocket realm was not meant for tourism anyway. His method of charging was actually just symbolic, while also conveniently taking the currency back so it could pass through the hands of the students who came to help out later.

“We have to keep it! At least fifteen of this belongs to me. I should get to decide how to use it.” The inner demon in her sea of consciousness was still trying to fight her over the ownership of this twenty.

Working properly was a first for the inner demon too.

“You still have the nerve to say that…”

Just as Song Yi was about to reason with the inner demon, someone walked over and patted her. “Song Yi, you’re here.”

Song Yi’s hand trembled, and the spirit coin worth twenty fell into the river.

The bottomless river swallowed the tiny spirit coin whole.

Song Yi and the inner demon stopped their elementary-school-chicken squabble and stared in disbelief at the unruffled surface of the river.

The boy still had not realized there was a problem. “Sorry, Song Yi. My name is Li Qing. During the day, I failed to recognize a true expert when I saw one. You’re really amazing. I’m also sorry for accidentally knocking you over.”

He was the boy who had knocked Song Yi over earlier. He had even complained about the low efficiency of these first-year students, only to be slapped in the face within minutes.

After discovering Song Yi’s level, he felt a bit embarrassed and wanted to apologize, but after that, Song Yi had become an extremely busy person.

Only now, when everyone had finished work, the tents beside the planting area had been set up, and they were getting ready to make a fire and cook, did he finally see Song Yi sitting alone in a daze.

Naturally, a person with such thick nerves did not notice a spirit coin falling into the water.

“Do you want to fish? I happen to be pretty good at fishing. Want me to teach you?” Li Qing looked at Song Yi staring at the river and took the initiative to speak.

Suddenly, Song Yi turned her head. Her tone was fierce. “You’re finished. I’ll never share the same sky with you!”

She had spent so long thinking about how to preserve the money, and all of it had been for nothing.

However, because her eyes were red and her pursed mouth looked as though she was about to cry, her fierce tone was not very lethal.

The boy was a little stunned. He admitted his previous behavior had not been very good, but it did not seem to have gone this far, right?

Had he not already suffered the slap in the face?

He still wanted to say something, but Song Yi ran off on her short little legs, leaving him behind to scratch his head in confusion.

Song Yi went to meet up with Lin Ze and Li Wenwen.

By now, they already understood Song Yi well enough. Although her expression had never been very rich, they could still tell her mood from tiny changes in her face. At this moment, they could see four words on her face: deep suffering and bitter hatred.

“I’m no longer the me I used to be. I’m going dark for revenge!” She clenched her little fist.

After learning what good deed Li Qing had done, Lin Ze and Li Wenwen were united in hatred and went to settle accounts with him.

Li Qing, who finally understood why Song Yi’s hatred value had been maxed out, wanted to cry but had no tears. He had wanted to get along properly with the little kid!

He hurriedly went to explain the situation to the administrator. The administrator walked over and patted the depressed Song Yi on the head. “If it falls into the river here, that counts as paying.”

This failed to comfort Song Yi. When she was holding that coin, she had not planned to pay.

She was still deep in thought. How should this revenge plan be arranged?

Song Yi’s contemplation was interrupted by a burst of food aroma.

It was about time for dinner.

The administrator said, “Everyone worked hard today. There’s nothing particularly special here, so I’ll invite everyone to taste the fruits of your own labor. I’ll say less, or the meat will get tough, and then you’ll complain I talked too much.”

Everyone burst into laughter, but that was indeed the truth. One after another, they impatiently stretched out their chopsticks.

Although there was not much pay for coming here to work, when it came to food, the administrator did not treat them poorly.

His cooking was excellent. He used happy fruit as an ingredient in all kinds of ways.

Pressed into juice, it was sweet and tart; beaten into jam and spread on beast meat, it could make the meat even more tender and give it a unique flavor after roasting; adding a small amount into the base of a soup pot made fish soup taste even sweeter and fresher…

Song Yi had not known that happy fruit could produce such a rich variety of textures.

Inside the absolute-spirit pocket realm, things were far less convenient than outside. Everyone had long grown used to using spiritual power or other convenient spirit-energy creations. But occasionally doing things with their own hands like this did not feel bad either. At least the food in their mouths tasted especially delicious.

The pocket realm grew colder at night, but sitting beside the bonfire and drinking a bowl of warm soup made her feel as if her whole body had come back to life.

Li Wenwen and Lin Ze relaxed. Seeing Song Yi eat so heartily, they knew she was probably fine.

The little kid often looked very much like a big shot, but in truth, she was unexpectedly easy to coax.

Song Yi’s cheeks puffed in and out, ready to turn grief and indignation into appetite.

Just then, Li Qing came over to Song Yi’s side again. “Song Yi, I’m sorry. I really didn’t do it on purpose. Can you forgive my rudeness?”

Song Yi’s mind turned, and she thought of something. “Right, are you studying agriculture?”

“No. I’m in the pill Dao. This time, I came to study the main ingredient of pills.”

Song Yi’s eyes lit up. “Pills? I’m very interested in pills too. Since we share the same ideals, let’s not talk about forgiving or not forgiving.”

A normal person’s interpretation of this sentence: I forgive you.

Song Yi’s own meaning: I haven’t forgiven you, but I can’t let you know that.

Of course Li Qing was happy. “Really? That’s great. I thought you were planning to study agriculture.”

Song Yi immediately shook her head. “Agriculture is far inferior to the pill Dao.”

Neither was her Dao anyway, so she was extremely free and easy about stepping on one while praising the other. If the two sides started fighting, Song Yi would even clap and cheer, then continue fanning the flames.

How could Li Qing know the sinister intentions of Song Yi, a sword cultivator? He loved the pill Dao very much. Hearing Song Yi’s words, he increasingly felt that she was a kindred spirit.

“I used to think you lower-grade kids didn’t understand anything. Turns out it was all my prejudice. I really can talk well with you.”

Song Yi asked, “Can you tell me about your recent research?”

If she wanted to cause trouble, she first had to understand his situation before she could find his “weakness.”

Li Qing instantly opened the floodgates and explained to Song Yi how unique the effect of the happy fruit’s roots and stems was. It was clearly something that would wither and die as soon as it touched spiritual energy, yet after being incorporated into pills, it could stimulate a large amount of spiritual energy. It was an important ingredient in pills such as the Spirit-Replenishing Pill and the Barrier-Breaking Pill.

Song Yi suddenly said, “It really is impressive. But I think roots and stems grow in the soil, so the most useful thing should be the soil, right? Why not use the soil to refine pills?”

“Ha ha, what are you talking about? Soil is for farming, not for refining pills.” Li Qing laughed, feeling that Song Yi really was a first-year little kid who did not even understand common sense about pill refining.

Song Yi looked at him strangely. “Why can’t you? Don’t you also incorporate strange metals and stones into pills?”

In the Old Era, there had been no spiritual plant like happy fruit, but Song Yi knew about the black soil in absolute-spirit zones, because it was itself a kind of heavenly spirit and earthly treasure.

It could absorb all the spiritual energy in a space, but the soil itself contained powerful energy. No spiritual plant could grow on it.

In the past, black soil had been difficult to find. There might only be a tiny piece of it. Cultivators either swallowed it directly or found a pill refiner to refine it into pills.

Song Yi was not surprised to see this world’s black soil being used for farming. A heavenly spirit and earthly treasure that had been rare in the past might now just be a common thing found everywhere. Too much time had passed, and the methods and techniques of the two worlds already differed greatly.

It was just that when Li Qing mentioned the effect of happy fruit roots and stems, Song Yi found it a little strange. It was like a weakened version of black soil’s effect.

Li Qing trembled all over. “Right. Why can’t we?”

Some people had researched the effects of black soil before, but most of it had been in the direction of cultivation studies. Using black soil in pills had instead become a blank area.

He bowed to Song Yi, then rushed toward the planting area.

Song Yi immediately beckoned to Li Wenwen and Lin Ze. “You absolutely have to record the exciting scene in a while.”

Li Qing crouched on the ground, carefully grinding the black soil between his fingers and sensing the power within it. Then he used a small box to collect some samples and said regretfully, “The instruments here aren’t complete. I’ll have to wait until we return to school tomorrow to analyze the specific effects.”

Song Yi rushed over, panting, and said with deep sorrow and righteous indignation, “How can you just give up like this? I heard that pill refiners in the past refined a hundred pills and tasted a hundred herbs before finally producing all kinds of pill formulas. What analysis can compare to personal experimentation in reliability? Are you unwilling to pay even this tiny bit of sacrifice now? I misjudged you.”

“Uh, this…” Li Qing wanted to say that nowadays, there was no reason to personally test medicine.

But thinking carefully, the black soil did not feel poisonous anyway. It was only a tiny bit. If anything unusual happened, he could just refine it directly.

So he really did put a bit into his mouth.

Song Yi turned her head. Li Wenwen and Lin Ze made an okay gesture at her: Look at today’s pill cultivators. They even eat dirt. The footage had already been faithfully recorded!

There was a warm feeling in his dantian, and it was truly extremely similar to the medicinal properties of happy fruit roots and stems!

As he thought and recorded, he did not forget to thank Song Yi. It was all because she had inspired him.

Song Yi immediately waved her hands. “Please don’t say it’s my credit. You did all of this yourself.”

Li Qing said solemnly, “How can that be? Don’t refuse. I won’t steal your credit. You ignored our past grudge and inspired me. If I repaid kindness with enmity, what kind of person would that make me?”

Song Yi: …

Of course she had not been kind enough to remind him. Filming a pill cultivator eating dirt was one goal. As for the second goal, it was that she knew black soil had a side effect. A dozen or so hours later, his whole body would turn black.

This was a sign of the medicinal properties taking effect. Black soil’s effects were comparatively domineering. Li Qing was only at Foundation Establishment, so he would probably directly break through a realm. The effect of a heavenly spirit and earthly treasure was no joke.

Breaking through a realm seemed like a good thing, but using medicine to break through was uncontrollable. The fluctuations of spiritual power during the breakthrough might make nearby happy fruit wither and die. At that point, Li Qing would have to face the administrator’s wrath!

See? Pill cultivators really were unreliable.

The reputation of pill cultivators would be dragged down in one move.

There was no helping it. In the New Era, you could not fight and kill, and committing crimes was not good either. She could only make little moves like this to vent her anger.

The only thing was that the hateful Li Qing insisted on dragging her into the water with him and refused to let her extricate herself from this matter.

“When we go back to school, will I have to endure the homeroom teacher’s wrath again?” Song Yi felt that she had endured far too much pain for her age.

But Song Yi did not regret it.

Those who cultivated had to pay attention to having their thoughts run smoothly.

Before sleeping, Lin Ze reminded them mysteriously, “Don’t fall asleep yet. Gather at midnight.”

But Li Wenwen did not make it until then. After working for a whole day, she quickly fell asleep.

When the time came, Song Yi wanted to wake her up, only to receive a “flying kick” directly.

Song Yi left her alone and quietly crawled out of the tent.

Lin Ze was already waiting for her. “Come on. Let’s go to the river.”

He told Song Yi, “According to custom, if money falls into a river, you can treat it as a wishing well and make a wish.”

Song Yi did not really believe in “wishing.” Praying was not as useful as the sword in her hand.

Prayer was useless, but the sword in her hand could help her prevail wherever she went.

She could not help yawning. “You called me out in the middle of the night just for this? It’s useless.”

Everything had a price. How could there be any logic in having your wishes come true without paying any price?

There were indeed some “wishes” that could come true, but those were no longer ordinary wishes. Calling them “offerings” was more appropriate. For example, taking the heart’s blood of however many virgin boys and girls as offerings and refining it could grant a breakthrough in realm, and so on.

That was also a price.

Lin Ze, however, said with conviction, “Since you believe in equivalent exchange, then think of it this way. You’ve already paid the price of twenty. Wouldn’t it be too much of a waste to do nothing? And this was twenty with extraordinary significance. You can make a twenty-yuan wish.”

Song Yi hesitated for a moment and thought of an excellent tradition: since she was already here.

But a twenty-yuan wish?

Song Yi pressed her palms together and prayed, “Then I hope that after we go back, the homeroom teacher won’t scold us.”

Then Lin Ze chuckled. “Now, let’s fish the money back out.”

Song Yi: ???

Weren’t you bringing me here to make a wish?

“We should make the wish, but we should also get the money back. These things don’t conflict.”

Song Yi was shocked and quickly stopped him. “Don’t. Spiritual power isn’t easy to use here, and the water is deep. It’ll be very hard to find.”

Otherwise, she would have picked the money back up long ago.

Although she felt regretful about losing the money, she would not drag her little friend into danger. This was a troublesome matter even for adults.

“Who said I was going into the water? I’m just returning to my old trade.”

Lin Ze took out a pitch-black stone tied with rope from his storage pouch. “There’s a kind of ore used in the manufacture of spirit coins. It attracts this stone, so fishing it up will be very simple.”

Why had he only said this now?

Because he knew Song Yi wanted that spirit coin as a keepsake. If they fished it up directly, would she not have to pay the meal fee again?

But if everyone knew Song Yi had lost the money, they would not think the money had returned to her hands.

The wish-making was just something incidental.

Lin Ze had always been meticulous with money. As long as something could be put to use, he would absolutely make the best use of it.

It was just that a small accident occurred in the plan. When Lin Ze lifted the stone back up, many spirit coins were stuck to it. Which one was Song Yi’s was already impossible to tell.

Clearly, besides Song Yi, quite a few careless ghosts had dropped money too.

Lin Ze sighed. “It’s rare to find a place where you can stick this much money.”

Before he had started doing business, he had used this method to earn money. But now, too many people used identity tokens, and sometimes the earnings were very poor. Later, after he had other paths, this livelihood had been set aside.

If other places had this many spirit coins, maybe he really would have kept doing it.

According to Lin Ze’s thinking, it did not matter if they could not tell which spirit coin was Song Yi’s, because all of these could be hers.

“When we take these, we have to say one thing: thank you for nature’s bounty.” Lin Ze imparted strange knowledge.

In a tent on the slope, the administrator, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened his eyes with a laugh. “Kids these days…”

His divine sense controlled the situation inside the pocket realm. Two kids not sleeping in the middle of the night and running to the river—of course he had to pay more attention to that. Then he saw a scene that made him not know whether to laugh or cry.

What he had not expected even more was still to come.

Counting the spirit coins they had salvaged, Song Yi listened to the clear clinking sounds and felt a special sense of satisfaction.

Although she had not been able to find the spirit coin she had dropped, her mood had already completely recovered.

Song Yi no longer dwelled on the spirit coin problem. Instead, she stroked her smooth chin and said, “After taking this money, what if the wish doesn’t come true? I’ve decided to make an offering and do an equivalent exchange.”

“Eh?” This time, Lin Ze was the confused one.

After removing the filter of commemorative significance, she did not care about this little bit of money. But if they could bring out its value, then it would be extremely worthwhile.

Song Yi’s method of “offering” was very simple. After putting the money in a bag, she placed it outside the administrator’s tent.

She even muttered softly, “These are wishing coins. My wish is that after we go back, we won’t be criticized by the teacher.”

Of course she knew that with the administrator’s cultivation, he could hear the movements outside.

Song Yi was deliberately letting him know.

After all, this set of “wishing” also had a more commonly understood name: bribery.

They had worked so hard to help the administrator fish the spirit coins back up. If not credit, there was still toil. Since he had taken their money, he had to do things for them, right?

The matter of her egging Li Qing on to eat dirt would very likely be discovered by the administrator tomorrow. But after the administrator accepted the money, would he still have the nerve to report her to the homeroom teacher?

The administrator was completely baffled. He had not expected Song Yi to bring the money back, nor did he understand what she meant. What did she mean by making a wish not to be criticized by the teacher?

The next day, Li Qing did not destroy the plants here. He had indeed broken through, but it had happened outside the pocket realm. He was impatient to return and study the effects of black soil, so he had gotten up very early and left the pocket realm.

When the medicinal effect took hold, he was on the road. His whole body suddenly turned the color of black charcoal, scaring quite a few passersby. Someone even uploaded the scene to the Spirit Net.

From a certain perspective, Song Yi could be considered to have achieved her goal of damaging pill cultivators’ reputation.

But the administrator still understood what good deed Song Yi had done, as well as the meaning of that bag of money.

He accepted her money, then without the slightest hesitation, carried the child off to find her homeroom teacher.

“You took the money but didn’t do the job!” Song Yi accused.

The administrator picked at his ear. “That was the pocket realm’s money.”

Song Yi confirmed once again that “wishing” really was the lowest cost-performance method in this world.

Seeing passersby look over, Song Yi raised her arm and shouted, “We pill cultivators will never admit defeat!”

Look, pill cultivators really were this unreliable!

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