"Are you sure you're giving this to me?" Li Nianfan was intrigued by the seed. He wanted to know what could grow out of it.
Zhao Shanhe saw that Li Nianfan was interested. He trembled with joy and said, "Mr. Li, there's no use letting anyone keep this other than you. Who knows, it might have died a long time ago. You deserve to keep this."
Li Nianfan thought for a while and nodded. "That's true, some efforts are needed to save this seed. I'm afraid not many people can do that, and it'd be a pity if it is dead. I'll keep this."
This seed was indeed extraordinary that even the expert said he needed some effort to save it. How would anyone else be able to do it?
Zhao Shanhe could not hide the grin on his face. This seed was useless in his possession. Who would have thought that it would be appreciated by the expert? It was worth it, so worth it!
The others looked at him with envy. They felt bitter in their hearts. This guy was just lucky.
In an instant, the scene fell into a brief silence. Li Nianfan sat on the stool looking at the five cultivators opposite him. He was waiting for them to ask for favors. They were being so kind-hearted and had brought over so many precious elixirs. Of course, Li Nianfan had to give them something in return. However, after waiting for a long while, none of them asked for favors.
This was awkward.
It would be weird for him to start by offering them a painting, right? This would depreciate the value of the art, and only the most self-absorbed people would offer to give out their paintings. It seemed inappropriate to keep them for dinner, either. It was only in the afternoon, and there was still some time until dinner time, but if he invited them out, it would seem even more inappropriate.
Little did he know that the five cultivators were feeling more uneasy than he was. They could not keep calm at all.
'Why's the expert staring at us?'
'Did we offend him?'
'Argh! What should we do? I feel so pressured! I might pee my pants anytime.'
Under the gaze of Li Nianfan, they felt completely exposed. They even started to believe that Li Nianfan could read their minds.
In short, it was terrible!
It was only for a short moment, yet their backs were soaked in sweat.
"Oh, right. The tea leaves in my backyard have matured. Why don't you all bring some home?" Since they did not ask for a painting, Li Nianfan finally thought of what he could give them in return.
The cultivators paid attention to their cultivation from within, and tea leaves were appreciated among the community of the cultivators. Li Nianfan knew that his self-planted tea leaves were presentable and that they would not embarrass him.
Bai Wuchen and the rest felt so relieved hearing that. They thanked him with delight, "Thank you, Mr. Li! Thank you, Mr. Li!"
'The tea leaves must be special, or else, Mr. Li wouldn't have hesitated for so long to finally decide on giving them to us. Furthermore, even the watermelon and congee were extraordinary. How great would the tea leaves be?'
'It's likely to be an immortal item!'
'We must've touched him with our sincerity so much that he's willing to part with his precious tea leaves and share some with us.'
The visitors' thoughts ran wildly.
'We must impress him more in the future and try to understand every hint of his!'
'Look at these cultivators, they're so polite! Anyone could tell that they're grateful for the tea leaves!' Li Nianfan thought. He then said, "You're all too polite. I'm the one who should thank you all."
Li Nianfan smiled and said, "Xiao Bai, go and pick four portions of tea leaves."
"Yes, my master."
Not long after, Xiao Bai walked back from the backyard with four portions of tea leaves.
Li Nianfan said, "These tea leaves have just matured. They're not much, only one kilo a pack. Hope you don't mind."
"Of course, not! Of course, not!" Bai Wuchen and the rest shook their heads vigorously. They accepted the tea leaves from Xiao Bai and kept them close to their bodies.
With such a precious item in their possession, they did not dare to stay for much longer. They bid farewell and left. Upon leaving the four-part architecture, they did not even bid farewell to one another, they all held onto the packet in their pockets and flew home hastily. They were rushing as if they were carrying one of the most precious items, afraid that someone would snatch it from them. The most nervous person of all was Lin Qingyun. She was the lowest ranking of them all and she regretted not coming here with a guard.
Luo Shiyu was rather tempted. She could not help asking, "Dad, are we going to try them out when we get home?"
"No way!" the Holy Emperor rejected without even thinking. He said with a serious tone, "Shiyu, this isn't a joke. There are so few of them. it's very precious! How can we taste it so casually?" He had decided that once he got back to the palace, he would place the tea leaves at the deepest end of the treasure vault. Only during important occasions would he bring it out to taste some of it.
Inside the four-part architecture, Daji looked at Li Nianfan with a guilty and sincere look. "Mr. Li, my injuries have troubled you greatly."
"It's nothing at all. You only have to rest and get well soon," Li Nianfan answered nonchalantly.
However, the more casual he was, the more touched Daji felt. Because of her, Mr. Li broke the rule of Heaven and saved her from Heaven's lightning. He even gave up his hidden identity to owe so much to the cultivators. Daji felt that she owed Li Nianfan too much. She had decided that whatever Li Nianfan pleased, she would do all she could to please him and never make him worry.
Right. Mr. Li liked to play chess. She would work hard to learn and understand it sincerely to please Mr. Li.
Daji saw that Li Nianfan seemed to be organizing the Elixirs and Spiritual Herbs as if putting them in order.
Out of curiosity, Daji could not help asking, "Mr. Li, what're you doing?"
Li Nianfan explained, "These elixirs are pretty good. I'm checking to see which are useful for your injuries and which are good for planting."
"Planting?" Daji was shocked. She looked at Li Nianfan stunned.
Elixirs were not easy to plant, they had strict requirements for their surroundings. Also, planting the elixirs required a great deal of time and sacrifice. Especially the Premium grade elixirs which required a certain technique of planting. Even so, only a few would survive. To put it simply, even if one succeeded at planting them, the elixirs took at least a hundred years to mature which was extremely time-consuming!
In this Immortal Realm, one could only come across elixirs by chance as they were grown and nurtured by nature. Finding an elixir was completely due to someone's luck in finding it. Planting the elixir artificially was almost impossible, and to mass-produce them was even more impossible!
Li Nianfan nodded. "Yeah, I'm planning to use these Spiritual Herbs as a bonsai, placing them here at the inner court to decorate the place."
The Spiritual Herbs he was talking about were the sixteen Premium grade Spiritual Herbs given by Lin Qingyun.
Using the Premium Spiritual Herb as decorations?
Daji's tiny brain almost exploded as she thought, 'There's such a practice in the world?'
After staying silent for a while, she still decided to persuade him. "Mr. Li, the growth of the elixirs depends on the will of nature. If the planting technique is wrong, these elixirs might not be able to live and might even be ruined!"
It was alright if they were normal elixirs, but the more precious the elixirs were, the more difficult it was to plant them. If they were ruined, it would be a total waste! Daji knew that Li Nianfan was a hidden bigshot but his attitude was too careless. Who would plant Spiritual Herbs in his backyard? One should at least design an elixir garden first, right?