Ordinary Storage Bags do not have such a function, but a spatial ring does. Whatever goes in comes out looking exactly the same.
The colors and aromas still looked quite appealing. Junior Sister, who was feeling hungry, had her appetite thoroughly stimulated and reached for the nearest meat dish.
Unfortunately, the flavor fell a little short.
After trying every single dish, Junior Sister's hunger had subsided, and her palate began to grow picky.
Seeing her eating pace slow down, Liao Xing asked, "Do these dishes not taste good?"
"Aside from being boiled or roasted, they lack seasoning. The taste is just so-so," Junior Sister replied. "Third Senior Brother, once we get back, I'll cook something delicious for you!"
Thinking of last night's thoroughly mediocre roast snake meat, Liao Xing chose not to dampen Junior Sister's enthusiasm.
Operating on the principle of zero waste, the two of them finished all the food, called the waiter to settle the bill, and then stated their request to purchase spiritual food.
"The patrons wish to buy spiritual food? Certainly, we sell it here as well," the waiter said with a smile. "What would the two of you like to buy?"
"Give me ten... no, twenty portions of every single ingredient you have in the shop, and get me two hundred catties of spiritual rice," Junior Sister said.
Liao Xing and the waiter were both stunned.
"H-Honored guest, we have a great many ingredients here. Between the Monster Beast meat and spiritual vegetables, there are over a hundred varieties, and spiritual rice is very expensive," the waiter said, fearing she might not realize it.
Upon hearing this, Junior Sister grew somewhat worried that her spiritual stones might not be enough, and asked with faltering confidence, "How much will all of this come to?"
"This... I'll need to go calculate it."
"Then I'll have to trouble you."
The waiter soon returned and announced, "That comes to a total of one hundred thousand low-grade spiritual stones."
"So much?" Junior Sister was dumbfounded.
"That's right. Our pricing for ingredients is uniform; it's the same everywhere. Because the honored guest wants every single kind of ingredient, the total price is relatively high. However, this quantity should last the honored guest for a year."
It would last a year—that meant the variety was indeed quite extensive.
Junior Sister looked at Liao Xing. "Third Senior Brother, is this price fair?"
When Liao Xing heard the price, his breathing tightened. In his mind, he calculated that the money from today's sale fell far short, and he wondered which magical treasure he would need to sell to make up the difference.
Seeing her look over, he nodded and said, "Wangyue Pavilion's prices are very fair. However, these items cannot be kept fresh; if you buy them back, they will spoil quickly. You could buy a smaller amount and come back to purchase more next time."
"But coming all this way is such a hassle!" Junior Sister felt that spending the better part of a day traveling back and forth was far too wasteful.
"I come by quite often; I can buy some on your behalf."
"Fine then, I'll just take a month's supply," Junior Sister said. "Is that all right?"
"Of course!" The waiter was not upset at all. "Which ingredients would the honored guest like?"
Junior Sister selected a few, but considering that Master and the others were still up on the mountain, she ultimately decided to pick out a bit more. The final calculation came out to just under ten thousand low-grade spiritual stones.
"Junior Sister, Senior Brother will pay for you," Liao Xing said.
"No need, Third Senior Brother, I've got this," Junior Sister patted her Storage Bag. "I have money."
Eldest Senior Sister had said that Third Senior Brother was the poorest of them all. Since he had given her five thousand low-grade spiritual stones yesterday, he surely had no money left in his pockets.
Although they had sold a batch of Monster Beasts today, it only yielded a little over five thousand low-grade spiritual stones, and she couldn't bear to spend his money.
Chapter 12: Purifiers and Planters
Junior Sister pressed Liao Xing down, but he still insisted on paying for her.
Junior Sister had never intended to spend so much of his money and felt quite embarrassed. Liao Xing waved it off unconcernedly, saying, "It's fine, we'll just hunt a couple more Monster Beasts to make it back."
He had no money, but that merely meant he spent a lot, not that he couldn't earn it.
However, this incident also made him realize that now that he had a Junior Sister, he couldn't just spend all his earnings the moment he got them. He needed to save up some money—just in case Junior Sister wanted to buy things again!
Previously, he had thought Junior Sister didn't spend money, but now he realized that when she spent, she spent big. Buying a batch of ingredients was more expensive than a whole pile of pills and magical treasures bought by others; she certainly wasn't easy to support!
After stepping out of Wangyue Pavilion, the two planned to head straight back. Thinking of the vast quantity of ingredients in her Storage Bag, she felt quite cheerful. It was just that these ingredients were terribly expensive; if she didn't earn money, the spiritual stones in her hands wouldn't even last a few years of eating.
Most importantly, nobody else ate like this!
Spiritual food was precious, and people usually only came to eat it occasionally. Someone like her, who intended to eat like this every day, if not entirely unprecedented, at least never appeared in books.
Junior Sister checked the inventory list and found that the Monster Beast meat accounted for the vast majority of the expense. Curious, she asked, "Third Senior Brother, aren't Monster Beasts everywhere? How can Monster Beast meat still be so expensive?"
"Monster Beasts are not spiritual beasts; the spiritual energy within their bodies is rather violent. Eating them directly easily leads to a spiritual energy riot in the body, so they must undergo special processing before they can be eaten. That's why the price is so exorbitant," Liao Xing explained.
Junior Sister slapped her own forehead. How could she have forgotten the setting of "Purifiers" from the book?
Because You Xueer and the Purifiers had very little plot involvement, the descriptions were sparse, and she hadn't remembered it for a moment.
"Then how come the snake we ate last night didn't cause any trouble?"
"We were familiar with that snake. The small piece we cut off was the part of its body where the spiritual energy was most docile; eating a small amount was fine."
"No wonder you guys wouldn't let me eat anymore after that." Junior Sister looked at the list in her hand with some distress; she couldn't afford this kind of pricing. "If only I could grow spiritual vegetables myself. Third Senior Brother, can my Wood Spiritual Root grow them?"
"The growing conditions for spiritual vegetables are also quite demanding. Having a Wood Spiritual Root isn't enough," Liao Xing explained. "Only mutated Wood Spiritual Roots can do it, but cultivators with those roots cannot use spiritual techniques; they can only farm. They are known as Planters."
"Aside from mutated Wood Spiritual Roots, is there no other way?"
"Not necessarily. You can use a Spirit-Gathering Array, but spiritual vegetables grow slowly that way, and it's also expensive."
Junior Sister sighed. "So spiritual food is just bound to be expensive."
And expensive it certainly was.
"However, being expensive has its advantages. Spiritual food contains spiritual energy; eating it allows you to absorb a small portion, which has a similar effect to Spirit-Enhancing Pills, and it has no medicinal toxins."
Junior Sister understood. If not for such benefits, why would cultivators be willing to spend vast sums of money researching it?
"Since they're hard to grow, why didn't you stop me when I was buying seeds just now?" she asked curiously.
Liao Xing looked at her with some perplexity. "Weren't the seeds you bought ordinary ones? You can't grow spiritual vegetables with those."
Junior Sister's jaw dropped. "..."
Seeing her reaction, Liao Xing knew she didn't understand and continued to explain, "Spiritual vegetable seeds are generally hard to come by. For one thing, spiritual vegetable seeds are very scarce; for another, those who cultivate spiritual vegetables don't want anyone stealing their business, so even fewer are put up for sale. Although eating ordinary vegetables leaves impurities in the body, since you haven't reached Inedia yet, there's no helping it; you can just take some medicinal pills later to purge them."
"Are you talking about Glazed Pills? But I heard that kind of pill is priceless and unavailable on the market; the moment one appears, it's snapped up."
No matter the reason, it was impossible for a human body to be completely free of impurities. Those who consumed too many medicinal pills would also accumulate medicinal toxins in their bodies, which, over time, would affect their cultivation.
At times like this, Glazed Pills became crucially important.
Glazed Pills, as the name implied, were pills that could make the body as translucent as glazed glass.
Of course, that was an analogy, but their function was to expel medicinal toxins and impurities from the body.
Medicinal toxins and impurities left inside the body blocked the meridians, affecting both the absorption of spiritual energy and the use of spiritual techniques. Once cleared, one's cultivation speed would increase.
Unfortunately, such pills were extremely difficult to refine because one of their main ingredients, Yellow Heart Grass, was very rare.
Therefore, once a Glazed Pill was born into the world, it would never last until the next day before being sold.
Right now, trying to find a single Glazed Pill on the market was harder than reaching the heavens.
"You don't need to worry about that. The sect has Yellow Heart Grass; when the time comes, we can just ask Eldest Senior Sister to refine one for you," Liao Xing said.
"Huh? The sect has Yellow Heart Grass? Then why aren't they selling Glazed Pills?"
Given the exorbitant price of Glazed Pills, selling just a few a month would mean the Taiyi Sect wouldn't be so poor.
Liao Xing said calmly, "Master won't allow it."
Junior Sister: "..." A sect that had to rely on a master to be supported, yet he wouldn't let people sell Glazed Pills?
What kind of logic was that?
"Master won't allow them to be sold, but people within our sect can eat them ourselves," Liao Xing said. "So you don't need to worry about having impurities in your body."
"Oh." Knowing that the sect possessed Glazed Pills, Junior Sister stopped fretting over spiritual versus ordinary vegetables and decided she would find a spot to plant them as soon as they got back.
Between Hanyue City and the Taiyi Sect lay a cluster of grand mountains. Hearing Liao Xing mention that this was where they frequently came for experiential training, she looked down at the scenery with curiosity.
Suddenly, several figures appeared in her field of vision, and she tugged at Liao Xing's sleeve. "Third Senior Brother, it looks like someone down there is being hunted down."
Liao Xing glanced below, hesitated briefly, and steered his flying sword downward.
A man dressed in brocade robes was blocked by several other men, and he turned back with unreconciled fury to glare at his pursuer. "He Tong, I always regarded you as my closest kin, yet you plot against my life!"
"Ha! You clearly treated me like a servant, summoning and dismissing me at will, and your kindness was nothing more than charity. When did you ever truly look at me as an equal?" the man sneered. "Sixth Lord promised me that as long as I take care of you, he will take me as his foster son, making me truly a member of the Jin family."
"Sixth Uncle has always looked up to my father! How could he possibly dare?!"
"Heh, if you don't die, where would Young Master Yu ever get the chance to stand out?" He Tong sneered. "Considering our friendship of so many years, I've cleared up your confusion, so now you can die in peace. Attack!"
The brocade-robed man retrieved the last weapon from his spatial ring and engaged them in battle. However, he was clearly no match for the group and suffered numerous wounds from their spiritual techniques.
Hovering low in the air, Liao Xing and Junior Sister watched the scene below, and Liao Xing murmured, "It's him!"
"Third Senior Brother, you know him?"
"He is Jin Haochen, the young master of Wangyue Pavilion."
Junior Sister's tongue outran her brain: "Third Senior Brother, save him!"
Without hesitation, Liao Xing set her down on the ground, told her to stay put, and plunged into the fray sword in hand.
Among their opponents, there was one mid Golden Core stage cultivator while the rest were at Foundation Establishment. Liao Xing was in the early Golden Core stage, but as a sword cultivator, dealing with a mid Golden Core opponent was well within his capability.
Junior Sister watched as he knocked down the adversaries one by one, and then her gaze drifted toward Jin Haochen.
This was prime fish in You Xueer's pond!
Chapter 13: Applying Eye Drops Against You Xueer
The book recorded that because Jin Haochen had been betrayed by those close to him in his early years—and had indeed nearly died—he was breathing his last when the Jin family finally tracked him down. Even after his injuries healed, he suffered severe sequelae, causing his personality to become extremely radical and dismissive of everyone, with only the female protagonist managing to enter his heart.
Could this event today be the exact origin of that?
...
Liao Xing had originally only intended to knock the men down, but unexpectedly, all of them ended up dead.
Junior Sister walked over, saw black blood trickling from the corners of the dead men's mouths, and said, "Third Senior Brother, it looks like they were poisoned to death."
Liao Xing nodded, and the two looked toward Jin Haochen. After uttering a perfunctory "thank you" to the pair, Jin Haochen dramatically fainted.
"Third Senior Brother, what should we do?"
"He's severely injured; let's take him back to the sect for treatment first."
This place was very close to the Taiyi Sect, making it much more convenient to bring him back for medical attention.
Most importantly, Liao Xing possessed no medical skills and had to bring him back for Eldest Senior Sister to examine.
Seeing that Jin Haochen looked ready to kick the bucket at any moment, the two did not dawdle. Carrying him with them, they returned straight to the Taiyi Sect and headed directly for Ji Qing's peak.
Ji Qing had successfully broken through to the fourth grade today. Before she even had the chance to inform her junior brothers, she saw Liao Xing and Junior Sister arriving with an unconscious person in tow.
"Eldest Senior Sister, save him!"
At a single glance, Ji Qing could tell the man was heavily injured. "Bring him to the guest room."
Liao Xing carried Jin Haochen inside, followed by Ji Qing, who inspected him and remarked, "This fellow has quite some luck."
"How so?"
"I happened to successfully refine a fourth-grade healing medicinal pill today, which is just right for his injuries." Ji Qing produced a pill, had him swallow it, and then tended to the wounds on his body.
While she was treating his injuries, Jin Haochen fluttered his eyes open, cast a hazy, dazed glance at her, and promptly lapsed back into unconsciousness.
Only after dressing his wounds did she ask Liao Xing what had happened in Hanyue City. Hearing that he had been betrayed by someone he trusted elicited a sigh of emotion from her.
"Eldest Senior Sister, if there's nothing else, I'll head back first."
"You must be tired from going out today; go back and rest."
Ji Qing presented Junior Sister with a paper crane, into which Junior Sister channeled her spiritual energy, allowing it to carry her soaring back to her own peak.
Once Junior Sister had departed, Ji Qing asked Liao Xing about their time in Hanyue City. Hearing that she had spent nearly ten thousand spiritual stones on ingredients in a single go left her equally astonished.
"Junior Sister shows no interest in spiritual pills or magical treasures, yet she buys so many ingredients... Her state of mind is truly pure," Ji Qing praised in the end.
"Junior Sister is still young, and she'll have plenty of places to spend money in the future. We need to save up more spiritual stones to support her," Liao Xing remarked, feeling for the first time that his meager savings were far from enough.
"Indeed. To support Junior Sister, our current income won't suffice," Ji Qing sighed. "No, I must go refine a few more batches of pills."
"Then I'll go hunt a few more Monster Beasts," Liao Xing chimed in.
Jin Haochen, lying flat on the bed: "..."
Had they forgotten he was a patient here?
...
Returning to her peak, Junior Sister pondered for a moment and decided to plant the seeds she had brought back first.
The very first step was to clear and till the soil.
Looking around at nothing but grassy meadows and woodlands, she felt the very first step was already rather difficult.
She produced the sickle she had bought today and began energetically slashing away at the patch of grass to the left of her courtyard.
"Junior Sister, what are you doing?" He Fan and Rong Xuan walked over. Seeing her hacking at the grass on the ground, they wore looks of utter puzzlement.
"I'm planning to clear out some land to grow some vegetables, rice, and wheat," Junior Sister replied.
"Why don't you go plant them over by the sect's spiritual fields?"
"I'm growing ordinary food; using the spiritual fields for that would be an awful waste. Those are where Master and Eldest Senior Sister grow their medicinal herbs," Junior Sister explained. "Besides, being close by makes it convenient for me to tend to them."
"Very well, we'll help you."
"Thank you, Fifth Senior Brother, Sixth Senior Brother."
Working together, the three of them quickly cleared out two mu of land.
"Junior Sister, should I burn this grass for you?"
"No need, I still have use for it."
"What use could weeds possibly have?"
"After they dry out, we can burn them. The remaining plant ash is fantastic fertilizer for the soil," Junior Sister said. "Sixth Senior Brother, you have an Earth Spiritual Root. Could you help me turn the soil over and clear out the rocks inside?"
"Of course."
Rong Xuan's Earth Spiritual Root wasn't the purest, but his control over earth and mud was more than sufficient. In no time, he had turned over the compacted soil and cleared away rocks of all sizes.
Aside from the soil being a bit impoverished, everything else about the plot was ready.
By now, night had fallen.
"Fifth Senior Brother, Sixth Senior Brother, since you helped me till the land, let me treat you to dinner. I bought quite a bit of spiritual food today."
"You know how to cook?" He Fan asked curiously.
"I do, I used to do it all the time."
"You used to cook often? Aren't you a young miss of the You family?"
Junior Sister paused. *Oops, old habits speaking.*
"Although I am a young miss of the You family, the lady of the house is a stepmother, and I also have a younger sister who is only a year younger than me. That should give you an idea of what my home life was like." Junior Sister's expression turned somewhat desolate, and she added, "In my household, You Xueer is the true young miss, while I... am merely treated worse than a servant."
"You had a hard time in the past?"
"Terrible. When I was little, I often went hungry and had to snatch food from the servants. Later, when I grew terrified of hunger, I would venture out on my own to find ingredients and cook for myself. As for my clothes, a kind-hearted auntie next door couldn't bear to watch, so she took old garments and altered them for me. Every time I saw You Xueer showing off how Father bought her new clothes or delicious treats, I couldn't help wondering—why are we both Father's daughters, yet our treatment differs so drastically?"
Junior Sister intentionally applied eye drops against You Xueer to the two men, hoping to ruin You Xueer's image in their minds. That way, if they ran into You Xueer in the future, they wouldn't blindly fall head over heels in love with her the way the book described!
Seeing her energetic Junior Sister suddenly turn so sorrowful, He Fan felt a pang of deep sympathy.
No wonder fourteen-year-old she looked so thin and frail; it turned out she hadn't eaten her fill since childhood!
"That sister of yours was deliberately showing off to you. Such a young age, and her heart is already rotten," He Fan said with heartache.
"Mm-hmm. Not only did she show off to me, but whenever she caught me finding my own food, she would knock it to the ground and force me to pick it up and eat it," Junior Sister said. "She had maidservants around her, and I couldn't beat them. Later, as I grew older, I would eat outside before returning home."
Speaking of it, Junior Sister felt a twinge of melancholy. These were all things the original owner had experienced in the past, so she wasn't lying to them.
Having said her piece, she stopped; the best effect came from knowing when to quit.
She washed the rice, set it to boil, and then took out the spiritual vegetables, skillfully washing and cutting them. She also produced a piece of Monster Beast meat, sliced it thinly, and prepped various seasonings with the intention of making roast meat later, alongside some master spices to prepare a batch of braised meat.
Seeing her nimble movements, both He Fan and Rong Xuan firmly believed her words.
If she hadn't been doing this since childhood, she couldn't possibly possess such fine knife skills, nor would her movements be so practiced and fluid.
A thought arose in both of their minds: Junior Sister had suffered so miserably in the past; from now on, they must dote on her even more.
Chapter 14: Upgrading to Spiritual Seeds
Once all the dishes were prepared and served on the table, she said somewhat apologetically, "This is my first time handling spiritual food, so my grasp of the flavors might be a bit lacking. Fifth Senior Brother, Sixth Senior Brother, please bear with it."
He Fan and Rong Xuan thought otherwise. While she was roasting the meat, the two of them had already caught the intense aroma. With it smelling so delectable, how could it possibly taste bad?
Sure enough, a single bite of the meat made them feel so fragrant and blissful they lost all sense of direction.
Junior Sister had prepared plenty, expecting there to be leftovers, but the two senior brothers devoured every single morsel of meat until not a scrap remained.
Having eaten so much for the first time, the two felt slightly embarrassed.
"Junior Sister, day after tomorrow we'll come help you sow the seeds."
Leaving behind these words of sheepish embarrassment, the two of them returned to their respective dwellings.
Junior Sister washed the tableware, tidied up the kitchen, and feeling somewhat fatigued, washed up and climbed into bed to lie down.
"This body still tires far too easily. I'll need to properly exercise in the future."
She wanted to sleep, but sleep eluded her. Thus, she took out the seeds she would need the day after tomorrow to inspect them.
These seeds looked quite similar to the ones from her previous life. Thinking of her Wood Spiritual Root, she decided to try channeling the Wood Spiritual Energy within her body into the seeds to see if they differed from those in her past life.