Guided by the bandit from the Peach Mountain Bandits, Lu Jin and Lu Ming arrived at a quiet courtyard deep within the manor. The moment they stepped inside, a faint, refreshing peach fragrance drifted past, invigorating their spirits.
Looking ahead, they saw three peach trees standing in the center of the courtyard.
The trunks of the peach trees were a pale crimson, resembling red jade and extraordinarily beautiful. Yet at present, the branches were noticeably dim and gray, drooping downward in a listless, withering state.
A few Red Jade Flat Peaches hung sparsely upon the branches, but just like the three in the storeroom, they were shriveled and withered. Their skin was dull, their quality abysmal, and in terms of size, they were several rounds smaller.
Lu Jin strode forward, circling the trees twice before reaching out to touch a trunk. With a complex expression, he lamented, “They truly are Red Jade Flat Peach Trees! What a pity! What an utter waste!”
Beside the three trees, Lu Jin noticed two others that had completely withered and died. Their trunks were rotted and their root systems decayed—undoubtedly the two Red Jade Flat Peach Trees that had succumbed to illness earlier.
At the sight, Lu Jin's face filled with heartbreak and regret, leaving him speechless for a long while.
Lu Ming stepped forward as well, placing a hand on one of the trunks. Through his senses, the Red Jade Flat Peach Tree felt feeble and drained, akin to a beast cub that had never had a full meal.
“Young Master, I once overheard Guo Kui mention that the condition of these Red Jade Flat Peach Trees deteriorated after the transplant, likely due to the soil here. It's said that cultivating Red Jade Flat Peach Trees requires earth teeming with exuberant vitality. Such earth is called ‘spiritual soil.’ Once formed, it creates a virtuous cycle with the Red Jade Flat Peach Trees, nourishing one another in an endless flow of life.”
“When Guo Kui first transplanted them, he had no idea about this. Only after consulting some masters adept in nurturing spiritual herbs did he rush back to where the Red Jade Flat Peach Trees originally grew, intending to dig up the spiritual soil there. Unfortunately, by the time he returned, the spiritual soil had already lost its vitality due to the removal of the trees, reverting to ordinary dirt.” To save his own skin, the bandit eagerly poured out every scrap of information he possessed.
Lu Jin and Lu Ming were utterly speechless. Had Guo Kui gotten even a single step right during the transplant, he wouldn't have reduced these Red Jade Flat Peach Trees to such a sickly state.
Had he actually succeeded in nurturing the Red Jade Flat Peach Trees, he might well be a True Primordial Energy Master by now, completely transforming his future destiny.
One could only say... this ruthless thug lacked both affinity and fortune, incapable of bearing such a heaven-sent opportunity.
Lu Ming fell into contemplation. Criticizing Guo Kui now was pointless; they still needed to find a way to see if the trees could be saved.
“You may go,” Lu Ming told the bandit.
Upon realizing he was truly being spared, the bandit dropped to his knees in a flurry of kowtows before scrambling away in a panicked frenzy.
Once the bandit was gone, Lu Ming retrieved the diseased peach he had brought from the storeroom. With a thought, emerald-green flames surged from his palm, enveloping the shriveled peach.
Lu Jin understood Lu Ming's intentions at once. He was clearly testing whether Life's Flame could heal the Red Jade Flat Peach.
Under their tense and expectant gazes, Life's Flame burned for about half an incense stick's time, pouring a tremendous amount of vitality into the Red Jade Flat Peach. Soon after, delight washed over their faces.
The shriveled body of the Red Jade Flat Peach wrapped in Life's Flame was visibly plumping up, and the red jade luster flowing across its surface had brightened noticeably.
“It actually works?” Lu Jin's hand trembled as he stroked his beard.
Lu Ming was quite thrilled as well, marveling at how wondrous Life's Flame truly was. While it lacked offensive might, the miraculous restorative abilities it possessed were more than enough to compensate tenfold—even a hundredfold.
“Grandfather, by my estimate, it'll probably take just about two days to restore this Red Jade Flat Peach with Life's Flame.”
“Good, good! This is truly an unexpected pleasant surprise,” Lu Jin agreed with a broad smile.
“Still, curing the Red Jade Flat Peaches only treats the symptom, not the cause. In their current state, these Red Jade Flat Peach Trees likely won't survive another year before completely withering away. Once the trees die, we won't even be able to harvest sick peaches,” Lu Ming said with a frown and a trace of regret.
Moreover, even if Lu Ming used Life's Flame to heal the trees themselves, it wouldn't be a permanent solution. Without spiritual soil, the Red Jade Flat Peach Trees would eventually wither and die anyway. Could he really be expected to guard the trees constantly, supplying them with vitality day in and day out? That was obviously out of the question.
Nurturing the Red Jade Flat Peach Trees was meant to provide Lu Ming with better cultivation resources, not become a shackle that tied him down. If that happened, it would be putting the cart before the horse.
“The conditions for cultivating spiritual soil are extraordinarily demanding,” Lu Jin sighed. “Let alone a Grade 3 Divine Ability Hall like ours, not even Divine Ability Clans like the Li and Yan families would possess such secret arts.”
Lu Ming pondered for a moment, then crouched down, scooped up a handful of dirt, and tempered it with Life's Flame. A moment later, a trace of vitality began to linger within the soil, but as soon as he withdrew the flame, that vitality dissipated at a gradual pace.
Evidently, the effects of Life's Flame were geared primarily toward flora and medicinal herbs, not soil. As such, Lu Ming couldn't simply refine the earth into spiritual soil by burning it with his flame.
However, there seemed to be a crude, roundabout method.
“Grandfather, we could try transplanting these three Red Jade Flat Peach Trees to Thunderfire Hall. Once there, I can first use Life's Flame in place of spiritual soil to replenish their vitality until their condition is restored to great perfection. Afterward, I can temper the surrounding earth with Life's Flame so that it temporarily holds vitality, turning it into ‘pseudo-spiritual soil’ to nourish the trees. If we maintain this for a while, the peach trees will eventually begin to nurture the soil in return. As long as a virtuous cycle forms between the two, the soil will gradually evolve into genuine spiritual soil,” Lu Ming proposed.
Lu Jin stared blankly. Could it really be done that way?
“Will that work?”
Lu Ming rubbed his chin, not entirely certain himself. “It's at least a method. Besides, anything is better than just watching the peach trees wither and die as they are now.”
Lu Jin nodded. True enough; could things get any worse than this? Moreover, the value of the Red Jade Flat Peach Trees was simply too immense. If they truly managed to nurture them successfully, the resulting benefits would allow the Lu family to expand rapidly.
Thus, regardless of whether it succeeded, they had to give it a shot.
“First, let's dig up these Red Jade Flat Peach Trees!”
Lu Jin and Lu Ming exchanged a look and decisively made up their minds. Finding some weapons and tools, they immediately set to work digging.
One old and one young, the pair toiled away in the quiet manor, panting as they dug through the earth while meticulously avoiding the roots. It took them a full half-day before they successfully unearthed the three Red Jade Flat Peach Trees completely intact.
Such delicate excavation left both of them drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted.
“This feels more exhausting than fighting for our lives last night,” Lu Ming muttered weakly, covered in mud as he slumped beside the pit.
Digging a hole was effortless, but they had to ensure that not a single root of the Red Jade Flat Peach Trees was damaged. After all, their condition was already abysmal; if the root systems suffered further injury, even Life's Flame likely wouldn't be able to save them.
Thus, with every strike, they had to focus their minds and rein in their strength, peeling away the earth layer by layer as delicately as unraveling silk from a cocoon.
Lu Jin couldn't help but chuckle. Indeed, even his desperate battle against Guo Kui hadn't been this physically draining.
“I'll go fetch the two chests of heavenly gold sand so we can take them along. As for the Divine Ability Weapons and goods in the storeroom, we'll wait for your father and second uncle to arrive and bring them over to pack everything up.”
Lu Jin said his piece and returned to the storeroom to haul back the chests. He also found some rope, carefully lashed the three Red Jade Flat Peach Trees together, and finally hoisted them along with the chests of heavenly gold sand onto a carrying pole, one on each end.
Looking at Lu Jin, Lu Ming couldn't help but laugh. “Grandfather, we don't look like we just ransacked an enemy stronghold—we look like farmers heading to the city to peddle their harvest.”
“Heh, if I could haul this much plunder every day, I'd gladly carry it on my shoulders until the day I die.”
Lu Jin chuckled merrily, the deep wrinkles on his face softening considerably. Only now did he have the leisure to pull out his tobacco pipe, lighting it and holding it between his lips—an addition that made his resemblance to an old farmer all the more striking.
“Let's go. We'll take these out of the Peach Miasma Mountains first and wait for your father and second uncle.”
Lu Jin balanced the pole across his right shoulder—the chests suspended from one end and the three peach trees from the other. At the same time, the Thunderfire Feather Robe coalesced over his body. Reaching out with his left hand, he grasped Lu Ming's arm.
A moment later, his figure soared into the sky. Guided by Lu Ming, laden with a bountiful harvest, they shot through the air toward the perimeter of the Peach Miasma Mountains.
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