Chapter 203: The First Harvest

The warm sunlight made people feel lazy, and the gentle spring breeze induced drowsiness. In the courtyard, Lin Dong was half-asleep, staring at Yun Lan as she explained the locations of various major sects. Occasionally, he would nod blankly. Ma Chun ran in from the front yard.
“Boss, there’s someone named Feng Jingtang who wants to see you.”
“Feng Jingtang?” Lin Dong nodded dazedly. Just as Yun Lan was surprised by his calmness, he suddenly stood up.
“Feng Jingtang!” Lin Dong shouted. “Let him in.”
Ma Chun was startled and quickly nodded.
“It seems you were dozing off,” Yun Lan said lightly.
Lin Dong smiled bitterly. Yun Lan’s voice was like music, but she simply lacked the talent to be a teacher. Her explanations were dull, and while she could make interesting stories entertaining, things like the distribution of mountain ranges, the history of various sects, and how to identify spiritual beasts made him lose focus.
“There are things you must listen to carefully,” Yun Lan said seriously. “Everything I’ve told you these days must be memorized by every disciple of these sects. Otherwise, they might face danger when traveling.”
“I’ll listen carefully, for the sake of my life. I promise,” Lin Dong said quickly, nodding.
“It’s good that you understand the importance of listening carefully!” Yun Lan smiled. “Just don’t forget again.”
“If I forget, you can just explain it once more,” Lin Dong said with a grin. Though the content was dull, aside from that, Yun Lan’s voice was quite pleasant—better even than Yi Yi’s singing.
Yun Lan was speechless.
“Lord Lin…” From afar, Feng Jingtang followed Ma Chun, running over excitedly. In his hands were several bright red branches that stood out sharply.
Lin Dong was overjoyed. When Ren Qingsong had given him the Wanhong Fruits, they had been placed in a bright red wooden box, as it was said that only containers made from Wanhong Tree branches could hold them, otherwise their medicinal properties would fade. Although Ren Qingsong had taken the box back, Lin Dong could immediately tell that the branches in Feng Jingtang’s hands had the same color as that box.
He stood up to greet him. After sending Ma Chun away, Lin Dong took the three bright red branches from Feng Jingtang, examined them carefully, and confirmed they matched the box in his memory before handing them to Yun Lan.
Yun Lan poured a little spiritual energy into the branches before nodding.
Without hesitation, Lin Dong took out five thousand silver taels and handed them to Feng Jingtang. “This is your payment.”
“Thank you, Lord Lin. Thank you so much.”

Feng Jingtang was overjoyed. After taking the silver note, he stuffed it tightly against his chest through the collar, patted it carefully, and asked, “Lord Lin, are there any other instructions?”
“How has Old Feng been lately?” Lin Dong asked.
“Thank you for your concern, Lord Lin. My father has been in surprisingly good health and full of energy these days,” Feng Jingtang said with a smile. “Xiao Liang has also been sent to the academy. I visit him every few days.”
“That’s good. As for the Wanhong Tree, do you know what it means to speak carelessly?” Lin Dong said calmly.
“I know, I know.” Feng Jingtang immediately felt a chill down his spine and hurriedly nodded.
“That’s good. Also…” Lin Dong suddenly smiled. “Stay in Qiufeng City and don’t wander around. Open a shop and run it properly, or buy some land outside the city to live a peaceful life as a landlord. Don’t worry about the Wanhong Tree—as long as it was picked the day after Dean Wan applied fertilizer, I guarantee you’ll be fine. But if you leave Qiufeng City one day, I can no longer guarantee your safety. There are likely people out there who want to silence you.”
The terrifying day half a month ago flashed through Feng Jingtang’s mind, scaring him so much that he collapsed to the ground.
“Alright, as long as you have no intention of leaving Qiufeng City, given my relationship with Old Feng, we will definitely not do you any harm,” Lin Dong said, helping Feng Jingtang up. “Of course, that’s on the condition that you don’t talk about the Wanhong Tree.”
“I swear! If I ever mention the name Wanhong Tree again in my life, may bad things happen to me,” Feng Jingtang quickly swore.
“Go now!”
Lin Dong waved his hand, and Feng Jingtang fled the backyard in a panic.
Turning to Yun Lan, Lin Dong said with a smile, “If we count the days, the Qinglan Fruits should be ripe soon.”
Yun Lan raised the three branches of the Wanhong Tree in her hand and stood up.
The two went to the door of the small vegetable garden. Lin Dong took out a key to open the door. Inside was an empty room.
As soon as he stepped in, the scene before Lin Dong’s eyes suddenly changed. The sound of wind rushed past his ears, and in an instant, it seemed as though countless swords were stabbing at him.
Unperturbed, Lin Dong stepped forward against the swords. The scene changed again, and a wall made of copper and iron, covered with countless spikes, pressed down on him.
To the side, Lin Dong took four steps to the left. In an instant, all the illusions disappeared, and Yun Lan stood beside him.
All this was because Yun Lan had set up a fifth-level spiritual array in the room.

Although this fifth-level spiritual array appeared formidable, its lethality was actually not very high; it was a type of trapping spiritual array. If Lin Dong took a wrong step and triggered the array, he would simply be surrounded by an overwhelming sea of illusions, making it impossible for him to move even half a step out of the room.

After half a month, the cyan-blue tree in the room was no longer just a branch about a foot long, and it was completely different from the cyan-blue trees in the cave. The original branch was now about 1.4 to 1.5 meters tall, with two main trunks standing side by side, less than three centimeters apart. At first glance, they resembled twin brothers who were inseparable, which was quite different from the usual behavior of cyan-blue trees. This was undoubtedly due to another attribute mimicry feature of the small garden.

If the entire cyan-blue tree were transplanted elsewhere, within a year, the two trunks would push each other apart by several meters. Over 180 years, even hundreds of meters or kilometers wouldn’t be a problem.

Amidst the dense cyan leaves, a cyan fruit appeared and disappeared from sight. Lin Dong was delighted and quickly stepped forward to pick it. After searching for a while, he reached his right hand into the leaves and pulled out another cyan fruit.

Looking at Yun Lan, she already had one blue fruit in each hand.

“I didn’t expect your spiritual array to have such a remarkable effect.”

Seeing Yun Lan offer him both blue fruits, Lin Dong smiled and handed one of the green fruits back to her. “Exchange them.”

Yun Lan shook her head. “Give them to Tian Hao!”

“He’s gone traveling with Xiao Tianchi. When he returns, he won’t lack cyan-blue fruits.” Lin Dong smiled, took a blue fruit from Yun Lan’s hand, and pushed the green fruit back at her.

Yun Lan didn’t argue and warned, “With your strength, if you consume cyan-blue fruits at the same time, while a large amount of spiritual energy is converted into spiritual power, it will also cause some damage to your meridians. So it’s best to consume them separately.”

“There’s such a rule?” Lin Dong was surprised. He had hoped that once the cyan-blue fruits entered his stomach, he could break through to the ninth level of the Spiritual Mobility stage the next day.

Yun Lan said helplessly, “I used the cyan-blue fruit as an example when I explained yesterday that consuming spiritual materials also needs to be done in stages.”

Lin Dong felt ashamed. It seemed he really needed Yun Lan to repeat it several times; otherwise, missing one or two points could have serious consequences.

After placing the cyan-blue fruits on the mobile counter, Lin Dong immediately took out the shovel from the corner, dug two small holes, and planted the two branches of the Wanhong tree there. After putting the remaining Wanhong tree branch on the mobile counter, he opened the attributes of the small garden, canceled the 1,500-fold growth acceleration for the cyan-blue tree, and set the growth rate for one of the Wanhong tree branches to 1,500 times.

After finishing everything, the two left the room. Yun Lan returned to her room to practice, while Lin Dong used the delivery door in the storage room to reach Lin’s Inn in Xilan City. After setting up a small garden in the room, he planted the remaining branch of the Wanhong Tree in the center and activated a 1,500-fold growth rate.

He rushed back to Qiu Feng City Inn without pause and immediately knocked on the fourth room on the east side.

It was Ren Qingsong, who had been at the inn for three or four days, who opened the door.

“Dean Ren, it’s time for you to step in,” Lin Dong said with a smile.

After closing the door, Ren Qingsong shook his head and said worriedly, “Lin Dong, the more I think about it, the more I feel it’s not feasible. If you get tricked by that so-called major sect and can’t produce the Wanhong Tree, I know Dean Wan’s temper well. If he suspects I deliberately distracted him, our friendship of decades might be ruined.”

“Don’t worry, Dean Ren. I’ve seen that spiritual medicine with my own eyes, and I can guarantee 100% that they won’t deceive me,” Lin Dong said confidently. “In ten days, I promise to bring the Wanhong Tree to Dean Wan.”

Ren Qingsong still shook his head, hesitating.

“Dean Ren, it’s not that I’m deliberately making things difficult for you. This matter is truly special to me,” Lin Dong said helplessly.

Ren Qingsong smiled bitterly. “On one hand, there’s an old friend of many years, and on the other, the president of a fourth-rank prefectural martial testing institute I’ve long dreamed of becoming. You really give me a tough choice.”

Lin Dong shook his head and said seriously, “Dean Ren, even if you decide not to help me, I definitely won’t change my registration until I reach the ninth level of the Lingdong stage.”

Ren Qingsong still smiled bitterly. “If you’re threatening me, I might actually give up this chance to get promoted in a fit of anger.”

With no other choice, Lin Dong sat down and waited patiently for Ren Qingsong to make a decision again.

To be honest, this situation was quite perplexing for Ren Qingsong. The main reason was that he desperately wanted to get promoted, to the point where he wasn’t willing to take any risks. Yet, it was still Ren Qingsong who had to handle this matter. Given Wan Cui Lin’s obsession with spiritual materials—as president of Qiu Feng Prefecture’s Martial Testing Institute—he only visited the institute a few times a month, and even then, he would go and return the same day. For him to be away for over ten days, unless there was a new high-grade spiritual material to handle, only Ren Qingsong, his old friend of decades, could do it.

They waited for over half an hour. Fortunately, the outcome was fairly good. With Lin Dong’s repeated assurances, Ren Qingsong finally regained his resolve. Gritting his teeth, he left Lin’s Inn and headed straight for Wan’s family’s estate.

In the evening, the man assigned to Wanjiazhuang came back with news. Ren Qingsong and Wan Cuilin, each on a horse, set off toward Qingmei Mountain. At this point, it was likely too late for Ren Qingsong to change his mind. After hearing the news, Lin Dong finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had already decided that after finishing this matter, he would spend more time practicing, aiming to give Ren Qingsong a huge surprise within a month. After the inn was upgraded, the maximum cultivation bonus had increased from four times to five times. Moreover, although he had already taken two Qinglan fruits before, the two he had now still retained significant medicinal effects. Breaking through to the ninth level of the Lingdong stage and entering the ranks of warriors within a month wasn’t too difficult either.