Yu Yinyin: …

“Wait, how exactly are you planning to supply it?”

She had no clue what was spinning around in Lin Qinghen’s little head; how did he come up with so many peculiar ideas?

“Master, don’t forget, the medicinal effects in elixirs come from the raw materials themselves, not from the alchemist. The alchemist just enhances those effects,” Lin Qinghen explained patiently, thinking this was all quite straightforward. 

“Red Round Wheat is different from other ingredients. It’s mutated from regular grain, so it’s edible on its own!”

Yu Yinyin was momentarily stunned.

It took a moment for her brain to catch up. Hearing Lin Qinghen’s words, it finally clicked.

It was true; the formula for Homeostasis Powder could vary greatly. Red Round Wheat was commonly used in Zhongzhou, where it was a staple grain. Although the mutation rate was low, the sheer volume of crops made up for it.

But here in Lei City, Bei Zhou, Round Wheat wasn’t grown as a staple. The main ingredient for the three-star Homeostasis Powder here was usually Er Ling Flower.

Unlike Red Round Wheat, which had a chance of mutating, Er Ling Flowers could be directly cultivated without that gamble. However, their growth cycle was longer, usually taking two to three months—four to five times longer than Red Round Wheat. This meant the amount of growth stimulants needed would also multiply.

Most people didn’t use much growth stimulant when cultivating spirit plants, as the cost often outweighed the benefits for regular ingredients. Furthermore, plants like these couldn’t be eaten directly and had to be refined by alchemists to be usable.

This was the case for the majority of spirit plants in the Spirit World; they each had their pros and cons.

Generally, medicinal ingredients and food were distinct, no matter the spirit plant’s grade or rarity.

Red Round Wheat, however, was one rare exception. It already had edible properties.

But previously, not many ate it raw. After all, it was just a three-star plant. Despite its special qualities, it was still quite low-level. Even if it mutated, it would still be at the bottom in the Spirit World.

Without refining, its effects weren’t as potent, dropping it down a grade to around Yellow Level Two-Star, and it wasn’t as convenient as carrying elixirs. It was practically useless.

If a Spirit Master or martial artist carried this stuff while adventuring, it’d just take up space without offering much benefit. That’s why people typically bought it as an alchemical ingredient instead.

It was out of habit that Yu Yinyin hadn’t considered Lin Qinghen’s angle right away.

But the Red Round Wheat in Lin Qinghen’s possession was different. Even without refining, it was still three-star quality.

And with the rat infestation just outside the city, the people dealing with the aftermath didn’t need to carry much on them or go far. If they got injured, they could just retreat to the camp.

In this case, the usual drawbacks of Red Round Wheat wouldn’t matter.

Back in the Lin family, Lin Qinghen had tested it. Red Round Wheat could be brewed like a tonic; you could just chug it down quickly, or squeeze out the juice and apply it to a wound—just like Homeostasis Powder. It worked both internally and externally, plus it filled you up, though it was flavorless.

Selling it would just involve one extra processing step. For someone like Yu Yinyin with her level of Spirit Qi, making it non-viable as a seed was a breeze. This way, Die Meng’s Red Round Wheat would be the only supply in Lei City.

The cost of Red Round Wheat was incredibly low, even when Lin Qinghen used growth stimulants to speed things up. It was ridiculously cheap.

After all, it had mutated from One-Star Round Wheat, which had already evolved to be efficient in this regard. Despite being a Three-Star spirit plant, it retained the short twenty-day growth cycle of a One-Star, vastly different from other Three-Star plants.

Once its mutation rate and quality improved, and the mutation period was pushed forward, the meaning of Red Round Wheat changed entirely.

Its disadvantages were erased, and its advantages were maximized, making all its remaining traits stand out among other Three- and Four-Star spirit plants.

That’s why, back in the Lin family, even a tiny elixir containing Red Round Wheat could make the entire Three Mountain region sit up and take notice, willing to fight over it.

Lin Qinghen patiently gave Yu Yinyin some time to digest all this. Once he figured she had understood, he nudged her to move on. “Master, if you get it now, shall we head to the next place?”

Yu Yinyin was still in shock, her mind shaken. She felt as though Lin Qinghen’s sheer unpredictability had left her mentally exhausted. Hearing him now, she hadn’t even processed his words. “Where do you want to go?”

“To check out the Die Meng Medicine Garden, of course.”

Lin Qinghen didn’t consider himself a businessman; he was a farmer. Naturally, he needed to inspect the land to feel at ease. Yu Yinyin took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. “…Alright.”

Standing nearby, Yin Jiuxiao could hear Lin Qinghen muttering as they walked away, “Jiuxiao usually wakes up in about two hours; I need to hurry. If he wakes up and can’t find me… tsk, it’ll be hard to explain.”

Yin Jiuxiao was both amused and exasperated. Explain what? What could you possibly say?

With so many secrets hidden, it was likely that what Yin Jiuxiao saw was only the tip of the iceberg.

But with the powerful barriers Yu Yinyin had set up around the Medicine Garden, outsiders couldn’t enter. Although Yin Jiuxiao followed them, his current state wasn’t strong enough to get past those barriers.

After circling the area and failing to get in, he decided to leave. Figuring that Lin Qinghen was safe with Yu Yinyin, he returned to resume his cultivation, intending to absorb the remaining two sources of power.

His newlywed was certainly no ordinary character.

Yin Jiuxiao, who had reincarnated with little concern, now felt himself becoming competitive.

He had to cultivate diligently and quickly enhance his strength. Otherwise, Lin Qinghen might just surpass him, and he’d end up relying on Lin Qinghen to support him.

The Die Meng garden itself wasn’t very big, nor was there anything particularly special about it. Located at the northern edge of the city, at the base of a small hill, it was surrounded by other medicine fields, with Die Meng’s plot being the most remote and smallest.

The first batch of Round Wheat Yu Yinyin had planted there was nearly ready for harvest. Several more were growing, one batch just in bloom. Lin Qinghen came not only to familiarize himself with the place but also to discuss pollination with the Bee Crystal Butterflies, instructing Yu Yinyin to set it up in this area.

By now, Yu Yinyin didn’t seem fazed by anything he said. She just accepted it all with a blank expression.

Higher quality and three times the usual yield? For Lin Qinghen, that was hardly worth mentioning.

When he explained the pollination process to Yu Yinyin, Old Shopkeeper Xie naturally tagged along.

Shopkeeper Xie had initially worried about this young master; his first impression was of someone rash and unsteady.

Though Yu Yinyin had given him a vague explanation about having a way to procure elixirs and plenty of them, he remained concerned.

Lin Qinghen looked pretty ordinary, after all.

While the garden of Red Round Wheat was indeed remarkable, and Yu Yinyin had credited Lin Qinghen with the research, the loyal Shopkeeper Xie had assumed that such a young person couldn’t have managed it alone. Yu Yinyin, a master in this area, must have provided significant guidance.

But now, as he watched this young man calmly instruct Yu Yinyin on how to handle the Bee Crystal Butterflies for pollination, he began to see Lin Qinghen differently. At that moment, Lin Qinghen seemed more like an experienced master.

When Lin Qinghen poured growth stimulant on a plant to demonstrate, and they saw the results with their own eyes, Shopkeeper Xie had no choice but to believe it.

A single stalk of Red Round Wheat… how could it bear so much fruit?

This young master was certainly no ordinary person.

No wonder the master, who had once been so disheartened, had renewed faith in life. It was undoubtedly all because of this young man.

Even Shopkeeper Xie’s nine-year-old granddaughter, Xie Yun, initially hid behind him, wary of Lin Qinghen as if he were a masked stranger.

But as she watched Lin Qinghen work with Yu Yinyin and saw the Bee Crystal Butterflies, her eyes began to sparkle.

Who would’ve thought Bee Crystal Butterflies could be used this way?

With considerable talent, Xie Yun was already at Yellow Level Nine-Star and would reach Mysterious Level soon enough.

After witnessing the plant’s yield, she stopped being afraid of Lin Qinghen, stepped forward, and hesitantly asked a few questions that had been on her mind. Lin Qinghen patiently answered each one, then asked for her name.

“My name is Xie Yun. You can call me Ah Yun; that’s what everyone in the medicine shop calls me.”

The little girl looked up at him, aware of the recent trouble caused by the departing alchemists. She knew exactly what had happened.

“Young Master,” she asked softly, “now that you’re here, will our medicine shop do well? Grandpa and the others… won’t be bullied anymore, right?”

Lin Qinghen patted her head and replied, “I’ll do my best.”

Red Round Wheat was certainly a big step forward, but it wasn’t enough to support Lin Qinghen’s vision alone.

What he wanted went far beyond this.

Lin Qinghen had come to the Medicine Garden to think about his newly assigned tasks and ponder how to complete them.

Five types of spirit plants… should he approach each one with the same gene-editing techniques he used for Red Round Wheat?

Different plants varied greatly, and there was no universal solution. Working through them one by one would take a lot of time.

Since receiving the task, Lin Qinghen had been pondering his approach but hadn’t settled on a plan.

Yet as he stood amidst the fields, the difference was obvious compared to his scattered thoughts outside.

Stepping into the garden, he already felt a faint glimmer of inspiration.

At first glance, the garden seemed ordinary. But as he stepped onto the soil, Lin Qinghen immediately noticed something different.

Yin Jiuxiao had once told him that farming in Bei Zhou was far more challenging than in Zhongzhou, and it was all due to the soil.

Even now, Bei Zhou still bore the scars of the Demonic Qi Rift from eleven years ago. The soil beneath his feet was one of its lingering effects.