Chapter 65

Until the end, Shen Mofeng never told Ye Chen what he planned to do. The only thing that could be confirmed was that replacing the female lead in the drama was a joke.

Ye Chen sighed, “Fortunately, it wasn’t true. Otherwise, I would have had to carry you in the rain while you were unconscious, and my muscles would have gotten injured…”

After all, one Shen Mofeng is equivalent to two iron manhole covers!

After the program ended, there were a few rare days off. Ye Chen seized the opportunity to work overtime with Zhou Buchu and completed the remaining tree planting for the second phase of the restoration task in one day. When the final of the two thousand spirit trees was planted, there was still a bit of time left.

“I’m on the one thousand nine hundred ninety-ninth tree,” Zhou Buchu said, carefully keeping count as he filled the last pit with soil.

Before he could finish, Ye Chen’s last sapling was also firmly planted. With a light clang, Ye Chen drove the shovel into the soil, took off his work gloves with a snap, and excitedly shouted, “Two thousand! We’re done, damn it!”

“What about the mountain? What about the mine?!” Ye Chen swept his damp hair back, urgently checking his silent phone.

When the screen unlocked, the Mountain and Sea Realm app icon was dim and unclickable, with four small white words underneath—“Updating.”

“…The Jing Ling even has system updates?” Ye Chen was stunned.

Zhou Buchu leaned over and said, “It’s probably because the spiritual vein has been partially restored, and the Jing Ling has unlocked new abilities.”

Ye Chen: “Jing Ling 2.0?”

Zhou Buchu: “Haha, it should be.”

After about a minute, the Mountain and Sea Realm icon lit up again. Ye Chen quickly opened the app and saw an update prompt on the screen.

“Update contents—

【1. Fixed the bug where the Jing Ling could not materialize. Congratulations! The Jing Ling can now manifest as a physical entity and talk to you face-to-face! Users can summon the Jing Ling’s physical form from the customer service interface!】

Followed by a cheap acting cute emoticon^[1]Japanese style emoticon..

Ye Chen’s expression was blank: “…”

Actually, users weren’t really that interested in seeing your physical form…

【2. Improved the accuracy and flexibility of the Mountain and Sea Realm overview feature. Starting today, users can move the positions of spirit plants, buildings, mountains, and water bodies in the Mountain and Sea Realm overview to better adjust the layout of the Mountain and Sea Realm. The corresponding real-world objects will move accordingly. The move function can be used once per day.】

Ye Chen nodded slowly, “Okay.”

This feature is quite useful, at least for those with obsessive-compulsive tendencies. You can adjust the placement of crops, mountains, or anything else until it’s just right.

【3. Added a function to view the range of divine power coverage. Friendly reminder: Your divine power coverage has reached its limit. Please strengthen your divine power as soon as possible.】

“…What’s this?” Ye Chen was puzzled and quickly clicked to enter the application interface.

In the interface, a new option labeled “View Divine Power Coverage Range” had appeared. Ye Chen opened it anxiously.

【Shen Nong’s Divine Power Coverage:】

Qingsi Mu 568 trees.

Lian wood 492 trees.

…

Present-day apple trees 10 trees.

Present-day cabbage…

Divine power balance: 0

【Fuxi’s Divine Power Coverage:】

Adult spirit chickens (female) 140.

Adult spirit chickens (male)…

Divine power balance: 1327

Ye Chen suddenly realized and exclaimed, “Ah!”

No wonder the growth rate of the saplings he planted had slowed down in the past half month. It turned out that the Shen Nong’s divine power had been depleted? He had planted far more crops than the livestock he raised, and while there was still some Fuxi’s divine power left for animals, Shen Nong’s divine power for plants was completely exhausted. It all made sense.

Thinking about it, Ye Chen pondered, even within the realm of fantasy, divine power is still a type of energy. There must be some kind of fundamental driving force behind its generation. Just as muscle power relies on burning calories, divine power must also have some kind of “fuel”…

“Divine power… how do I strengthen it?” Ye Chen called out to the Jing Ling.

Ye Chen nodded slowly, “Okay.”

This feature is quite useful, at least for those with obsessive-compulsive tendencies. You can adjust the placement of crops, mountains, or anything else until it’s just right.

【3. Added a function to view the range of divine power coverage. Friendly reminder: Your divine power coverage has reached its limit. Please strengthen your divine power as soon as possible.】

“…What’s this?” Ye Chen was puzzled and quickly clicked to enter the application interface.

In the interface, a new option labeled “View Divine Power Coverage Range” had appeared. Ye Chen opened it anxiously.

【Shen Nong’s Divine Power Coverage:】

Qingsi Mu 568 trees.

Huai Mu 492 trees.

…

Present-day apple trees 10 trees.

Present-day cabbage…

Divine power balance: 0

【Fuxi’s Divine Power Coverage:】

Adult spirit chickens (female) 140.

Adult spirit chickens (male)…

Divine power balance: 1327

Ye Chen suddenly realized and exclaimed, “Ah!”

No wonder the growth rate of the saplings he planted had slowed down in the past half month. It turned out that the Shen Nong’s divine power had been depleted? He had planted far more crops than the livestock he raised, and while there was still some Fuxi’s divine power left for animals, Shen Nong’s divine power for plants was completely exhausted. It all made sense.

Thinking about it, Ye Chen pondered, even within the realm of fantasy, divine power is still a type of energy. There must be some kind of fundamental driving force behind its generation. Just as muscle power relies on burning calories, divine power must also have some kind of “fuel”…

“Divine power… how do I strengthen it?” Ye Chen called out to Jing Ling.

With divine power running low, Ye Chen faced more than just the problem of slowed crop growth. As a novice planter with only a few months of experience, the reason he could make any plant thrive, without being constrained by seed survival rates, was thanks to the power of the Shen Nong bloodline. Without this advantage, the success rate of planting rare spiritual plant seeds and saplings would depend on chance. With poor luck, some spiritual plants might face extinction due to failed survival.

Jing Ling recited slowly: “…Shen Nong crafted farming tools, cultivated fields, assisted with the growth of grains and fruits, tasted hundreds of herbs, and encountered seventy poisons in a single day…”

Jing Ling continued, “This refers to the ancient deity Shen Nong’s achievements for mortals. He made farming tools, ensured abundant harvests, and fruitful trees. He also tasted various herbs to cure diseases. Mortals benefited from his crops and were grateful, worshipping him, and their faith coalesced into divine power…”

Ye Chen understood immediately, “So I need to make mortals benefit from my crops and be grateful to me?”

Jing Ling confirmed, “Exactly.”

Ye Chen asked urgently, “What about the Winter Velvet pillows I sell? They help people with insomnia—don’t they count?”

“Of course they do,” said Jing Ling, “Otherwise, your divine power would have been depleted half a month ago and you wouldn’t have made it to now.”

Ye Chen sighed in relief.

The pillow production had reached three times the original amount, but they were always sold out within minutes of listing, making it a stable source of divine power income.

“Helping people with hair growth also accumulates gratitude, right?” Ye Chen cautiously confirmed. “So, if mortals eat the spiritual plants I grow, it should also enhance my power, right? Didn’t Shen Nong also teach mortals how to grow crops?”

Jing Ling affirmed, “Yes, that’s correct. Both ways work; Shen Nong’s divine power covers a broad range.”

Ye Chen rubbed his hands together, preparing to list the hair growth devices. In the past few days, Li Li had managed to make over thirty of them during his spare time, so producing more would be no problem.

“I understand. So, can I claim my mountain and mine now?” Ye Chen felt more confident and set the matter aside for the moment.

Jing Ling responded, “Yes, please claim the Diao Shu Tong Mountain Cave gift pack.”

Ye Chen opened the Mountain and Sea Realm overview and saw that the item bar on the right now had icons for a mountain and a river. After the application update, the interface’s graphic quality had improved, with the mountain, water, and crops displaying more detail and less distortion than before. Ye Chen zoomed in on the map and found that fields and forests were now color-coded and shaped according to plant species.

In short, it felt like the drawings had upgraded from simple kindergarten sketches to a pixelated farm game.

Since the location could still be adjusted, Ye Chen didn’t stress too much about placement. He dragged the Diao Shu Tong Mountain Cave icon to an empty space relatively close to existing resources. After pressing confirm, the corresponding area in the realm silently rose into a small mountain about 200 to 300 meters high. The mountain, like the vast plains in the realm, was barren and lifeless, evoking a sense of endearment.

Though currently barren, with proper modifications, the spiritual beasts residing on Diao Shu Tong Mountain Cave would soon be able to live and thrive there.

Ye Chen looked up and inspected for a moment, then dragged the Wei River, recorded as originating from Diao Shu Tong Mountain Cave, to the mountain. After the drag was completed, the originally smooth mountain top was flattened slightly, creating an effect similar to a heavenly pool on the mountain.

Since it was just a single body of water with nowhere to flow, letting it flow into the Luan River wouldn’t be appropriate, and that’s not how it was written in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Mixing the two unrelated bodies of water might endanger the survival of the Ranyi Fish.

“The mine is on the eastern side of the mountain…” Ye Chen muttered, “But which way is east?”

The eight fragmented suns in the sky were flying erratically, making it impossible to determine directions by the sun rising in the east and setting in the west or by the orientation of plants. Their chaotic movement resembled that of eight untethered Huskies, and Ye Chen hadn’t figured out the pattern in months. Initially, he worried they might collide and explode another sun, but then he remembered that since the time of Hou Yi shooting down the suns and dumping the remaining ones into the Mountain and Sea Realm, thousands of years had passed without collisions. He reassured himself that it wouldn’t happen now either.

“I’ll take you there. I’m familiar with Diao Shu Tong Mountain Cave, having mined there before.” Li Li, who was chopping Qingsi wood nearby, threw down his axe, took off his clothes, and transformed into his original form of a pig with bird claws.

Indeed, he was the epitome of “in times of prosperity, guests are treated to chickens and pigs,” with him being both the chicken and the pig…

Ye Chen mounted the pig, and Li Li began to run swiftly and steadily. In no time, they circled around to the eastern side of the mountain, where the soil differed from other areas. It was blue-gray and the soil crust was hard and smooth. Ye Chen dismounted, and saw Li Li scratch the soil crust with a single claw, revealing a bit of honey-colored raw stone.

“Quick, Uncle Li, dig me a piece,” Ye Chen’s eyes gleamed. “I’ll show it to my agent when I join the team in a few days. He didn’t believe me when I said I have a mine at home.”

Li Li chuckled, using his sharp nails to gouge out several pieces of raw stone, some as small as fists, others as large as washbasins. He then scraped off the outer stone crust with his claws, revealing smooth, lustrous white jade inside, which looked like a gleaming, tender piece of meat from a shellfish.

Ye Chen accepted the white jade from Li Li’s claw, rubbing it joyfully and muttering, “How should I sell this white jade… It definitely needs to be made into something; selling raw jade won’t open up a market.”

He decided to look up the properties of this jade later, hoping it could bring both profit and divine power.

Having seen the jade mine with his own eyes, Ye Chen felt more at ease. Instead of rushing to develop new jade products, he went back to his room, opened his laptop, and started making promotional materials for the hair growth device. He planned to list his existing products first.

Recently, he had saved nearly ten thousand yuan from selling pillows and had lavishly set up broadband at home, eliminating the need to use the café’s internet.

…

Two hours later, Ye Chen finished making the promotional images for the hair growth device and skillfully listed it in his store. Logging into his WeChat alt account, he switched to persuasion mode…

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: Friends, today our store has procured a batch of brand new products directly from the manufacturer. This is an ionic therapy hair growth device. Friends troubled by hair loss, please take note. [Picture]

Beautiful Spring: [Covering mouth with laughter] Why does it look like a pyramid? How does it promote hair growth?

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “This hair growth device integrates Germany’s most advanced negative ion technology. While its appearance may seem simple, the material has undergone specialized ionization treatment. It continuously generates negative ions to nourish the scalp and stimulate hair follicle growth. Simply wearing it for more than ten hours a day will yield results within seven days. If it’s ineffective or the results are not noticeable, we offer a full refund.”

Having an Elder at Home Is Like Having a Treasure: “The regular price for one hair growth device is 318 yuan, but the discounted price for our loyal group of customers is 288 yuan, saving you 30 yuan! You can use it yourself and then lend it to relatives and friends, making it quite cost-effective. If ten people use it, each person only pays 28.8 yuan to grow hair, which is hundreds of times cheaper than hair transplant surgeries that can cost thousands. My uncle used to suffer from severe hair loss, but since using this negative ion therapy hair growth device, his hair has grown abundantly, and the quality has improved. Look at his hair; doesn’t it look like that of a young man?”

As he spoke, Little Swindler Ye wickedly posted a photo of Li Li after being gnawed bald by Tao Tao, with three large bold red characters outlined in gold: “Before Use.”

Then, he posted a photo he took of Li Li that morning, again with three eye-catching characters: “After Use.”

In front of anyone other than Shen Mofeng, Ye the scammer could con people without batting an eye, his smooth-talking pitch flowing like water.

Life Is Like Tea: I fully trust the products from your Chen Chen Wellness Shop! [thumbs up] But I’m getting older, and hair loss isn’t much of a concern anymore.

Seeking A View: I’m used to perming my hair, which makes it look fuller. [smile]

Hair loss is common among middle-aged and elderly people, but because it’s so widespread and not painful, their desire for hair growth is not as urgent as younger people’s, and their enthusiasm for buying this product is much lower than for the sleep-inducing pillow.

Ye Chen’s eyes shifted as he turned his attention to another group…