After wrapping up everything, Ye Hao hastily left the area and returned to Baiyun City.
He slept for a while, and by the time he woke up, it was already noon. Only then did he hurriedly take the teleportation array back to the Baiyun Sect.
However, just as Ye Hao returned to his wooden house, a voice filled with resentment drifted over from a distance.
Lu Jie looked at Ye Hao before him with a resentful expression. "Brother Ye, you certainly made me wait."
Beside him was the cart of spirit beast dung Ye Hao had requested. Even from afar, it reeked of a foul stench.
Fortunately, he and Ye Yu were the only ones living nearby, and Ye Yu had been out hunting demon beasts lately, rarely coming back.
So there was no need to worry about disturbing others.
"I'm really sorry. I was delayed by some other matters."
"For this cart of spirit beast dung, I'll pay an extra low-grade spirit stone as an apology."
Ye Hao hastily cupped his hands in apology.
He pulled out two low-grade spirit stones and stuffed them into Lu Jie's hands.
Only then did Lu Jie's expression gradually soften.
He nodded, then pointed to the spirit beast dung beside him and said, "Brother Ye, you're planning to use this spirit beast dung as fertilizer, right?"
"I do have that idea. Has someone in the Baiyun Sect already tried it?"
Ye Hao looked at him curiously.
"Some spirit farmers tried it before, but they couldn't strike the right balance."
"Either the potency was too strong, or it was too weak. Over time, people gave up."
"If you want to give it a try, Brother, you'll probably have to put some real effort into it."
Lu Jie cautioned.
If Ye Hao really managed to figure out a way to use spirit beast dung for fertilizing, Lu Jie could directly earn money by selling spirit beast dung.
Instead of going to the black market to sell spirit artifacts.
This time in the black market, he had sold a few First-Tier longswords.
He had barely managed to earn a few spirit stones.
Yet when he left the black market, he was targeted again.
In the end, he had no choice but to detonate a spirit artifact and even consume a few talismans to protect himself and escape from their hands.
Calculated this way, he hadn't actually earned much at all.
On top of that, he had to risk his life.
If he sold spirit beast dung, things would be much simpler.
This stuff was usually buried anyway.
There was as much of it as anyone could want.
Plus, cleaning spirit beast dung was dirty, exhausting work; even if others knew it could earn spirit stones, no one would likely enjoy doing it.
"As long as it works."
What Ye Hao feared most was that spirit beast dung would have no effect at all. Now that he knew others had already tried and merely failed to optimize it, he realized this path was viable.
"Alright, then I'll look forward to your good news, Brother Ye."
Lu Jie responded with a smile.
Just as he was about to get up and leave, something suddenly occurred to him, and he lightly sized up Ye Hao in front of him.
Feeling more and more that Ye Hao's physique strongly resembled someone he had seen in the black market, he couldn't help but ask, "By the way, Brother Ye, when did you get back from your trip to Baiyun City?"
"I feel like I saw someone somewhere who looked remarkably like you."
"I came back last night and didn't stay long in Baiyun City."
"Whoever you saw might have looked a bit like me, but it probably wasn't me."
Ye Hao explained with a smile.
Naturally, he understood that Lu Jie had become suspicious.
But he certainly wasn't going to admit it.
Lu Jie had no way to push further either.
After all, he only harbored suspicions.
"I see. I must have misseen."
"Now that the delivery is done, I should head back."
"If you need more spirit beast dung in the future, you can send me a message."
After saying this, Lu Jie took out his communication jade token.
"Sure, I'll message you then, Brother Lu."
Ye Hao nodded, then pulled out his own communication jade token and pressed it against Lu Jie's to exchange contact details.
After watching him leave, Ye Hao did not head back into his wooden house.
He pushed the cart of spirit beast dung to the edge of his spirit field.
He spread out the dung, mixing it with chopped dry spirit grass and rotten wood chips.
He stacked them in alternating layers of manure and plant matter.
Channeling a thread of the Clear Water Technique, he slightly moistened the heap, then used earth magic to gather soil to seal the outer layer, building a compost pile half a person tall.
"If buried directly into the field, internal fermentation will generate foul heat, burning the roots of the white spirit rice and breeding filthy insects."
Ye Hao muttered quietly to himself.
Faint spiritual energy slowly welled up inside the compost pile as it gradually decomposed.
After a few months, when the manure and grass fully blended and the odor dissipated into loose, dark-brown spiritual manure, spreading it across the spirit field would slowly release spiritual energy, nourish the soil, and make the white spirit rice thrive even more.
At this thought, Ye Hao raised his hand, allowing a faint thread of wood Qi at his fingertip to gently sweep over the compost pile, accelerating the conversion of organic matter inside.
He also set up a simple pest-repelling restriction to prevent wild insects from gnawing on the compost.
"Now, all I can do is wait."
Ye Hao wasn't sure if his method would succeed either; he could only give it a try based on the techniques he had seen back on Earth.
Whether it succeeded or failed...
In the end, it was only two low-grade spirit stones.
...
Scripture Pavilion!
Situated on the east side of the inner sect, it was a five-story wooden and stone building with double-eaves roofs.
Bronze bells hung from its eaves, and spirit-locking runes were carved into its outer walls. It was a vital location where the Baiyun Sect stored cultivation techniques, spell jade slips, ancient texts, and classics.
A pavilion-guarding elder was permanently stationed here, and the entrance to every floor was protected by a spiritual light restriction.
Disciple waist tokens were required to verify identity.
Without a matching token, one would be blocked by the light barrier and unable to ascend to the next floor.
Blue-gray stone steps led all the way up.
Ye Hao looked up and saw the plaque of the Scripture Pavilion.
Three ancient characters were shrouded in a faint spiritual glow.
The bronze bells on the eaves chimed softly in the wind, producing a clear, lingering sound.
Holding his handyman waist token, Ye Hao walked up to the first-floor entrance. As the jade token in his fingertips lightly touched the light barrier, the pale-white restriction on the first floor slowly parted, letting him inside.
The first-floor hall was spacious, lined with rows of dark wooden shelves filled with yellowed ancient books and old rubbings of jade slips. The air was filled with a scent of ink mixed with a faint fragrance of spiritual wood.
Quite a few handyman disciples stood quietly between the bookshelves, heads lowered as they flipped through basic manuals.
At the staircase leading to the second floor, a translucent blue light barrier floated.
Ye Hao reached out a hand to test it, but the moment his fingertip touched it, he was gently repelled by the spiritual light.
That was a restriction requiring outer disciple clearance; with his status as a handyman disciple, he could not cross it by a single step.
"Come over here."
Suddenly, an aged voice sounded right in Ye Hao's ear.
Hearing this voice, Ye Hao froze in his tracks, instantly recognizing it as belonging to Li Danyan.
The mysterious guardian of the Scripture Pavilion.
This caught him completely off guard; he had no idea when he had managed to draw that person's attention.
All he could do was brace himself and walk toward him.
Right after Ye Hao had entered, Li Danyan snapped his eyes open and stood up from his rocking chair.
Sizing up Ye Hao in front of him, he grabbed and squeezed Ye Hao's hand bones as if verifying something.
"Interesting. A bone age of sixteen."
"Sixth-Layer Qi Refinement!"
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