Upon seeing Shi Lei suddenly stand up, Elder Huang was also startled, fearing that Shi Lei was unwilling to sell the ginseng to him. He immediately stood up as well and hurriedly explained, "No, no, little brother, don't be hasty. You, you mustn't misunderstand... I, I was just guessing blindly. I, I didn't mean anything else. I just wanted these two ginseng plants of yours far too much."
"Look, both of your herbs are extremely potent in medicinal energy. As a physician, who wouldn't love medicinal ingredients of such pure efficacy? I was just momentarily mesmerized, which is quite normal, isn't it..."
"I have no desire to pry into your secrets. If you don't wish to tell me, I won't press you. I was purely curious..."
...
Hearing Elder Huang's machine-gun-like explanation, Shi Lei finally let out a sigh of relief and began to understand.
Yet, Shi Lei still couldn't figure out for a moment how Elder Huang had guessed that his ginseng was cultivated!
Shi Lei pondered for a moment without finding an answer, but he gradually sat back down in his original seat.
Seeing Shi Lei sit back down, Elder Huang felt a weight lift from his heart.
However, instead of sitting down, he asked Shi Lei, "May I ask your esteemed surname, little brother? How should I address you?"
"Without presuming, my surname is Lei, Lei Yutian, with the single given name Shi."
"Very well, little brother Lei Shi, it is not convenient to talk outside. Why don't you accompany me to the inner parlor for a detailed discussion? What do you think?"
Shi Lei nodded slightly upon hearing this.
"Xizi, wait for me here for a moment."
"Understood." Although Xizi did not understand why Shi Lei was not using his real name, he nodded heavily anyway.
Elder Huang gave a brief instruction to his granddaughter standing nearby, and then led Shi Lei into the inner rooms.
...
Passing through a courtyard space brimming with floral fragrance, Shi Lei followed the old man into a quaint and tidy room.
The room contained a table, chairs, a desk, and a bed—it appeared to be the old man's bedroom.
Once Shi Lei and Elder Huang were seated in the inner room, Shi Lei decided not to hide it any longer and asked calmly, "Elder, how did you figure out that my ginseng was cultivated?"
"This, this ginseng really was cultivated?! This, this is simply incredible! I, I just made a guess based on many years of experience, never expecting I'd actually hit the mark... Could you perhaps be a Spirit Planter?!" Elder Huang clearly had not expected Shi Lei to speak the truth, and he asked with a look of utter shock.
"Uh... This... This ginseng was indeed cultivated by my 'master'. But I wonder how you, elder, managed to tell that this herb was cultivated rather than wild?!" Shi Lei asked Elder Huang, feeling greatly astonished in his heart.
After all, it was merely a mortal medicinal herb. As long as the secret of his spatial dimension was not exposed, it did no harm to speak of it.
Shi Lei thought for a moment and refrained from claiming to be a Spirit Planter himself, for he truly was not one. Aside from cooking fine spirit cuisine, he knew none of the other hundred arts of cultivation, so he simply invented a Spirit Planting "master" for himself for the time being.
"Indeed, indeed... Truly, only a Spirit Planter possesses such formidable skill."
"I only know that ordinary wild herbs possess age rings. These two ginseng plants have practically no age rings on their stems, yet their rootlets are moist, plump, and appear exceptionally uniform and robust. This is the ultimate manifestation of a herb's medicinal potency. If they were wild mountain ginseng, such a phenomenon generally would not occur."
"Mm-mm... What you say is true. Indeed, only someone like my master could cultivate such herbs." Once again astonished, Shi Lei also felt a deep sense of curiosity. On one hand, he was shocked that Elder Huang knew about the Spirit Planting Technique; on the other hand, he was extremely curious about the wondrous mysteries of this technique.
The "Spirit Planter" belonged to one of the hundred arts of cultivation. Among mortals, although many people tilled the earth, grew crops, planted flowers, and raised grass, there was no such designation as a Spirit Planter.
The [Spirit Planting Technique] and mortal crop farming were two entirely different matters.
Mortal crop farming relied on human labor and left one at the mercy of the heavens.
The Spirit Planting Technique, however, was quite different. It was a craft and technique created by Cultivators through the combination of various special five-element arts.
For instance...
The [Cloud and Rain Art] could water spirit herbs and sprouts, providing them with sufficient spiritual energy nourishment to help them grow better and faster.
The [Geng Metal Art] could eliminate certain pest insects that devoured and harmed spirit herbs and sprouts, allowing the spirit plants to grow healthily.
If the wood spiritual energy within the [Changchun Formula] were fed back into spirit plants and trees, it could make the wood spirit qi within them even more abundant, and legend had it that there was even a certain probability of causing mutations...
Such cultivation techniques, formed by combining various ingenious five-element arts, were primarily used for cultivating spirit herbs and medicines. Naturally, there were many kinds of Spirit Planting techniques, and the skills of each Spirit Planter varied.
...
"So that's how it is. I never imagined your esteemed master would be a Spirit Planter. To be able to see medicinal herbs cultivated by a planter in this lifetime of mine—I feel my life has been well spent," the old man said with a hint of melancholy.
"I wonder how Elder Huang came to know of this Spirit Planter?" Shi Lei asked again.
"To not keep secrets from you, long ago, my ancestors were Spirit Planters. It is only a pity that ever since he left home, he never returned. But now all of that is in the past. I only learned of this matter from the lips of my forebears. What a pity... sigh..." Elder Huang said helplessly while reminiscing about the past.
"So Elder Huang's ancestors were actually Spirit Planters. I am truly in awe." Hearing this, Shi Lei's heart settled, and he understood the situation.
Since it was a matter concerning the other's family, Shi Lei naturally found it inconvenient to press further.
Upon meeting Elder Huang, Shi Lei had not sensed the slightest fluctuation of mana from him; clearly, he was merely a mortal. Yet he never expected that his ancestor had also been a Cultivator, and a Spirit Planter at that.
In the world of cultivation, although Spirit Planters were not as sought-after as alchemists, they were on par with spirit chefs.
However, once someone became a Spirit Planter, it meant they possessed a steady source of cultivation resources and could become entirely self-sufficient. Among the hundred arts of cultivation, it was a very practical craft that was easy to master.
Therefore, very few in the cultivation world were willing to study alchemy, while quite a few Cultivators studied the Spirit Planting Technique.
After all, without countless rare treasures to practice with, it was nearly impossible to become an excellent alchemist.
Even the lowest-ranking First Order alchemist was a national-treasure-level figure in the cultivation world; you might find a hundred planters without a single alchemist appearing. Alchemists were simply too rare.
Naturally, for mortals, the Spirit Planting Technique was nothing short of divine skill.
...
Seeing that Elder Huang was reluctant to dwell on the past, Shi Lei turned the conversation back to the ginseng herbs once more...
"Elder Huang, do you still need these two ginseng plants...?"
"Yes, yes, yes, of course I do! Brother Shi, look, I'll acquire them at 100 gold coins per piece. How does that sound to you? If you have more ginseng or herbs of the same quality in the future, bring them right over. The more, the better..."
After inspecting the two ginseng plants, Elder Huang praised them endlessly, and the two of them chatted quite congenially.
"Very well then." Shi Lei thought for a moment and nodded slightly.
"Splendid!" Elder Huang's face flushed red at this, looking as excited as an old child.
At that moment, a woman walked in from outside the hall. It was Elder Huang's granddaughter, carrying two cups of tea...
"Come, come, have some tea, have some tea. I have nothing better to entertain you with here besides this herbal tea. Please don't mind it."
While welcoming Shi Lei to taste the tea, Elder Huang handed the two boxes of ginseng to his granddaughter and instructed her, "Quickly, fetch two thousand liang in silver notes for our guest."
Hearing this, Elder Huang's granddaughter acknowledged the command and left, quickly returning with four silver notes of 500 liang denomination each.
...
Emerging from Elder Huang's small apothecary, Xizi walked behind Shi Lei with eyes shining brightly.
"Brother Lei, I never imagined you possessed such precious medicinal treasures. I wonder how much you earned this time?"
"Not all that much. By the way, Xizi, can you accompany me to take care of a few more matters?" Shi Lei asked Xizi.
"Of course no problem at all, Brother! Whatever you need, just say the word. As long as it's within my power, I will definitely not shirk..." Xizi asked with a flattering expression and a beaming smile.
"Ahem... It's like this... In a moment, I'll need you to help me purchase a large quantity of items, but you must not reveal my identity. If anyone asks you, just say you are buying them for yourself, and you must continue to do this in the future." Shi Lei instructed Xizi solemnly.
"Ah, Brother Lei, c-can this work? I-I'm just a poor beggar..."
"No problem, you must have confidence in yourself. I believe in you, let's do it this way."
Although Xizi had no idea who Shi Lei truly was, he now fully understood that Shi Lei's background was by no means simple. He had to hold tightly onto this thick thigh.
"I see your figure and build are quite similar to mine. Help me pick out two sets of clothes together, and you can buy two sets for yourself as well... And then... help me find a residence in Yishui City. The house doesn't need to be too large, as long as no one disturbs us and it's a bit secluded." Shi Lei chuckled as he handed a 500-liang silver note into Xizi's hand.
"T-This is f-f-five hundred liang?!" Xizi's eyes went wide as saucers, holding the silver note and turning it over and over for a long time before crying out in shock.
Clearly, he had never laid eyes on a silver note of such a large denomination before.
"Why are you making such a fuss over nothing? Look at your lack of composure. Let's go, let's check out the tailor's shop first..."
As he walked, Shi Lei tucked the other three silver notes securely into his tunic, placing them away with care.
...
Before long, Shi Lei and Xizi had purchased a set of clothes and ordered a few more sets, which cost nearly four liang of silver...
Shortly after, the two of them purchased a three-section courtyard in a quiet and secluded area in the western part of Yishui City, which cost three hundred and seventy liang of silver...
Soon, Xizi went out and bought all kinds of furniture, spending quite a bit more silver, and even recruited a few nimble-handed hired helpers to work together...