Holding the Huntian Sword, Jiang Xia felt as though it had been custom-made just for her.
The sword's weight and balance were absolute perfection, and she didn't have to worry about whether she'd even be able to lift it. She remembered watching television dramas where any decent sword weighed a ton, making it nearly impossible for a beginner to just pick up.
What Jiang Xia didn't realize, however, was that the Huntian Sword only felt this way in her hands. In anyone else's hands, the weapon would be a completely different story. After all, not just anyone could win the acknowledgment of a divine artifact.
Reciting the mental incantation inwardly, Jiang Xia decided to try making it float first.
She truly possessed an astonishing talent for cultivation—something that left Xingxing marveling in pure amazement. Her Host had only recited the incantation once, and the sword had risen steadily before hovering smoothly in mid-air.
"Whoa, Host, you're amazing!"
"You succeeded on your very first try!"
Xingxing was starting to feel that this Host it had chosen wasn't just competent—she was freakishly talented, almost to the point of being slapped in the face by its own initial doubts. But what did that matter? Her Host was her everything now; the stronger her Host became, the stronger it would recover.
The next step was to step onto the sword.
However, Jiang Xia's spiritual power wasn't quite sufficient yet; she could only manage to stand on the blade, completely unable to drive it into flight. Still, it was a fantastic start. Now she just needed to work hard to raise her cultivation level.
And so, every single day, Jiang Xia tested her limits before diving back into focused cultivation.
Two months flew by, and Jiang Xia's spiritual power reached the 9-Star Spirit Disciple level. Her spiritual power was now sufficient to sustain Sword Flight for an entire hour.
Do not underestimate this single hour. That was a full two hours of travel time—more than enough for Jiang Xia to fly all the way out to the main road where she had first arrived.
As Jiang Xia made daily progress, Jinjin was also recovering his spiritual power. He had changed quite a bit from before, though no one else knew it yet. He was immensely looking forward to meeting Jiang Xia once he finally broke out of his shell. Jiang Xia would definitely love him; he still had plenty of confidence in his own good looks.
Throughout these two months, Jiang Xia practiced diligently every day while never forgetting to water the trees she had planted.
All of the peach trees had now grown to three times her height, and she believed that before long, Immortals' Valley would boast a breathtakingly beautiful peach orchard. During this time, Jiang Xia had also used generous amounts of spirit liquid to water one particular peach tree on its own. In a remarkably short span of time, that tree had shot up and successfully borne fruit.
Anyway, spirit liquid was the one thing Jiang Xia had in abundance, and she happened to be craving peaches. When the tree fruited, every single peach grew so exceptionally large that it took both hands cupped together just to hold one.
There was no denying that the seeds were top-tier, and the water was even better. A single peach was enough to leave Jiang Xia more than half full.
Her vegetable garden had already yielded two full harvests—completely disregarding the seasonal rhythms of the outside world. But with the blessing of the spirit liquid, that was only to be expected.
In the course of these two months, Jiang Xia had also successfully harvested two precious medicinal herbs: ginseng and ganoderma. These had actually been discovered by Xingxing.
One day, while Jiang Xia was deep in meditation, Xingxing suddenly came scampering over to announce it had found something wonderful.
"Host, hurry up and follow me! I found treasure!"
Puzzled, Jiang Xia followed it along. When they reached the spot, she discovered an entire patch of ginseng and ganoderma, along with various other rare herbs. Any single one of these taken out to the outside world would be immensely valuable—she was about to strike it rich!
Though she was sitting on a mountain of spiritual herbs, she couldn't exactly pull them out of nowhere, could she? But these could easily be taken to the commercial market to be sold; she would be a wealthy little lady in no time.
Xingxing only knew that these were all medicinal herbs that could fetch a hefty sum of money—enough to buy endless delicious treats. That was why, the moment it discovered them, it had rushed to summon its Host.
And so presented itself the heartwarming sight of Jiang Xia, Xingxing, and Jinjin happily digging up herbs together. Every single herb was treated with the utmost care; she had read enough novels to know you couldn't damage the medicinal materials, or they would lose their value.
After an afternoon of hard work, Jiang Xia dug up every last herb in that patch, clearing the space so she could plant other fruit trees there later.
She really had the outer perimeter of toxic miasma to thank for this. Otherwise, how could these precious herbs have continued to grow in such undisturbed peace until Jiang Xia arrived? They would have been long gone.
According to Xingxing's appraisal, the oldest of these herbs was two thousand years old. That made them absolute top-grade treasures. While Jiang Xia was training hard, Xingxing had been recovering its own abilities—and appraising the age of items was one of them, coming in handy right when it was needed most to prevent them from being swindled.
Jiang Xia had also explored the other side of the lake. The land across the lake was even more expansive and better suited for cultivation, though she hadn't quite mapped out her plans for it yet. Over there, she had found a hot spring and a Cold Pool—truly, it had everything one could ever want. There were also countless nameless treasures of great value, but Jiang Xia's mind wasn't focused on those right now.
She needed to focus on her cultivation so she could head out and restock her supplies. The food she had brought into Immortals' Valley was practically gone. If she didn't stock up soon, she and Xingxing would run out of proper delicacies; sure, they had fruits and vegetables, but man couldn't live on produce alone.
Eating came first above all else. Immortals' Valley could undergo its massive renovation project once she returned.
***
Jiang Xia was finally ready to head out.
She performed Sword Flight for two hours, landing at the very edge of the forest. Here, she had to dismount and walk the rest of the way. After all, there were people near the edge of civilization. If she startled someone and got branded as some kind of monster, that wouldn't do at all. After all, nobody flew around these days—it was unrealistic, unscientific. Perhaps there were eccentric masters out there who could fly, but it certainly wasn't common knowledge.
Jiang Xia walked until she reached a populated area, then hailed a cab to the airport.
She was heading to Beijing. That was where the pharmacies were concentrated. She ought to be able to fetch a fine price for her medicinal herbs there.
As soon as Jiang Xia stepped off the plane, she headed straight for the five-star hotel she had booked online in advance. It certainly wasn't cheap, but considering she was about to make a small fortune, splurging a little bit was nothing to feel guilty about.
Arriving at the hotel, Jiang Xia checked in and went straight to her room to rest. Between the three-plus-hour flight and everything else, it was nearly five o'clock in the evening. Better to rest for a bit before going out to hunt down some good food.
Having gone nearly two months without meat, she and Xingxing were craving it like mad.
Once she was well-rested, Jiang Xia set off directly for the nearest night market.
Spicy crawfish, teppanyaki squid, fried assorted tripe, sweet and sour pork, all kinds of meat and veggie skewers, stinky tofu, roasted corn, milk tea, and plum juice. By the time her hands were entirely full and she couldn't carry another single thing, she finally turned back toward the hotel.
Back in her room, she and Xingxing launched into a frenzied feast. Jinjin could only sit on the sidelines and watch.
She was determined to eat her fill and satisfy her long-starved cravings. It had been way too long, and she had missed real food terribly.
With her stomach full and her cravings satisfied, Jiang Xia set about sorting through the ginseng, ganoderma, and various other herbs she had brought. She couldn't sell the absolute best ones—those two-thousand-year-old specimens were likely completely extinct nowadays.
In the end, she selected: one 500-year-old ginseng root, two 200-year-old roots, one 100-year-old root, and one 300-year-old root. As for the ganoderma, she picked three 200-year-old caps, one 300-year-old cap, and one 600-year-old cap. The rest were the various other medicinal herbs, which admittedly weren't as precious as the ginseng and ganoderma. However, Jiang Xia had already looked up what all of them were online.
She couldn't sell everything at once; she had to hold some back for later sales. Dumping too many rare items on the market all at once might draw unwanted attention. While she wasn't particularly afraid at this point, avoiding unnecessary trouble was always a good idea.
These should still fetch a pretty penny, right? Once she sold them, wouldn't she officially be a wealthy little lady?
She couldn't help feeling a little flutter of excitement.
After organizing everything, Jiang Xia packed the herbs back into her backpack, turned in early, and went to sleep. She had herbs to sell tomorrow morning.