Early the next morning, Qingxue dragged Alexei out of bed while the sun was still barely cresting the horizon.
"Do we have to do this now?" he groaned, stumbling after her as she led him across the courtyard. "It's not even properly light out yet."
"Yan is an early riser," Qingxue said. "And you promised her fruits when the tree bore its first harvest. We should deliver them before she starts her daily work."
Alexei carried a cloth sack containing thirteen Brightglow Fruits, roughly a fifth of the tree's total yield. A generous portion, considering how valuable these things apparently were.
They took Qingxue's flying sword to Yan's cave residence. The stone door split open before they even landed, revealing a surprisingly spacious interior carved directly into the mountainside.
Yan sat on a meditation cushion, grinding herbs with a pestle. She looked up as they entered, her perpetually half-closed eyes opening slightly in greeting.
"Qingxue. Alexei." She set aside her work. "This is an early visit. What brings you here?"
"Morning, Yan," Alexei said after yawning.
He had been calling her just "Yan" since they'd met, despite Qingxue's initial protests about proper forms of address. Yan herself had insisted on it, she found formal titles unnecessarily stuffy for casual interactions. The woman appeared to be in her late twenties, attractive in a scholarly sort of way, with an air of calm competence. In reality, she was over seven hundred years old. Cultivators could maintain whatever appearance matched their mental self-image once they reached a certain level. Yan apparently still thought of herself as relatively young, despite her actual age.
Qingxue got straight to the point. "Why can't Alexei absorb the medicinal effects of the Brightglow Fruit?"
For a moment, Yan didn't understand what Qingxue was talking about.
What did she mean "can't absorb"?
The prerequisite for that question was having Brightglow Fruit in the first place.
Alexei suddenly remembered why they were here. He'd almost forgotten to give Yan her share of the harvest.
"We brought you something," he said, holding up the sack.
Yan's expression shifted slightly.
Alexei reached into the sack and pulled out a single Brightglow Fruit. He placed it on the low table in front of her.
Yan stared at it. Then continued staring at it.
"That's..." She leaned forward, eyes widening fractionally. "No. That can't be."
She started muttering to herself, pulling out what looked like a small slip and consulting it rapidly.
"Shaped like a plum... crystalline flesh and pit... golden veins through the pulp..." Her voice rose slightly. "This matches the description exactly, but that's impossible. The Brightglow Fruit requires centuries of specific environmental conditions, precise spiritual energy density, constant temperature regulation..."
Alexei gently set the fruit down on the low table in front of him. The instant his hand left it, the single fruit split into a small pile, thirteen in total. This wasn't new, it wasn't dropping items from his inventory, more like placing blocks. Things like grilled fish, weapons, armor, water bottles, items that Minecraft normally couldn't place as blocks, he could put down just by holding them and letting go.
The drawback was that everything in that inventory slot got placed at once.
At that moment, Yan had completely forgotten how to form words. Her eyes went round, her mouth hung open, and it clearly wasn't closing anytime soon. Her hands, however, moved lightning fast. She pulled out a box, dumped the herbs inside onto the table, swept them aside with a flick of spiritual energy, and scooped every last fruit into the container. Once plucked, spirit fruits slowly lost their medicinal essence along with their spiritual aura. To prevent loss of potency, precious fruits were almost never kept outside special containers.
Only after she hugged the box to her chest and felt the reassuring weight and texture did she finally snap back to herself.
"Where... where did you get these?"
"From the seed you gave me," Alexei said. "Did you forget?"
When it came to his basic abilities, he wasn't going to flaunt everything, but he didn't plan on hiding them either. After all, in a world of cultivators, abilities like his could simply be chalked up to innate talent. Some kind of divine gift or natural affinity. And living right under the noses of sect members, how could he possibly hide something forever? He was just an ordinary person, trying to conceal secrets among powerful cultivators would be asking for disaster. Trying to sneak around would just mean getting exposed sooner or later. Better to be upfront and natural about it.
If he really wanted to hide his abilities completely, he'd have to move his entire base operation inside a mountain. Only the shielding effect of Minecraft blocks could give him peace of mind about true secrecy.
Yan, of course, had no idea what was going through his head. But after hearing his explanation, she wasn't enlightened, instead she grew even more confused.
"The seed I gave you?" she repeated slowly.
"The pendant you gave me a week ago." Alexei pulled a short length of fragrant five-colored string from his inventory. It was the decorative cord that had held the seed.
Yan's expression had cracked into something approaching disbelief. "You're telling me this fruit grew from seed to full maturity in one week?"
"More or less," Alexei confirmed.
After she calmed down somewhat, Yan turned to Qingxue and said, "Please tell me your student is not playing a prank on me."
"No prank," Qingxue said, confirming Alexei's statement. "This should be his innate divine ability. It massively reduces a plant's growth time."
"Really?" Yan's voice had gone up half an octave.
Qingxue nodded.
"Can you grow spiritual plants other than Brightglow Fruit?" Yan asked Alexei.
That was what she cared about most, the scope and limitations of this ability.
"I think so," Alexei said. "I mean, I haven't tried a huge variety yet, but the few things I've planted have all worked..."
He trailed off, noticing that Yan's expression had shifted into something he could only describe as "academic fervor." Her eyes had opened wider than he'd seen before, revealing irises of an unusual pink shade. Her breathing quickened slightly, and even her normally pale cheeks had taken on a faint flush.
No medical cultivator could refuse the prospect of unlimited spiritual medicine supply.
Yan's mind was already racing through the possibilities. With a massive supply of spiritual plants, she could not only fulfill her dream of becoming a top-tier alchemist, her cultivation would advance dramatically as well.
Her cultivation talent wasn't as exceptional as Qingxue's, true. But she possessed peak-grade Earth Spiritual Roots and a unique physique that, under certain circumstances, could allow her to cultivate faster than even Qingxue's half-step Immortal-grade roots.
The main reason she was only at high-stage Spirit Condensation Realm was the Eastern Territories' thin spiritual energy, combined with a lack of pills and spiritual plants to assist her cultivation. And also because she refused to rely on her physique.
She possessed what cultivation texts called a Resonance Constitution. It was a rare physical trait that made her an ideal partner for dual cultivation techniques. Anyone who practiced paired cultivation methods with her would gain immense benefits from the spiritual energy exchange. But that same trait made her incredibly valuable as a resource to be exploited.
If her constitution became known without a powerful backer to protect her, there was only one likely fate: being taken away by some powerful cultivator to serve as a cultivation furnace, used until her potential was exhausted and then discarded. Even being born into a major clan wouldn't help, she'd just become a political marriage tool, traded to secure alliances with other powers.
Her master had warned her about this the day she'd been taken in as a disciple. The physical changes caused by her constitution couldn't be hidden by artifacts or techniques, her unusual eye color was a permanent marker. From that day forward, she'd developed the habit of keeping her eyes half-closed. Later, once she'd developed spiritual sense, she'd simply stopped opening her eyes entirely, relying solely on spiritual perception to navigate the world.
It was safer that way.
"So," Qingxue said, "can you explain why Alexei showed no reaction to eating the Brightglow Fruit?"
"Ah." Yan blinked, refocusing on the original question. Her eyes slid shut again, hiding the pink glow. "No reaction at all?"
Alexei nodded. "I ate... a few of them. Nothing happened. Just tasted good."
"Hmm." Yan reached out and lightly tapped his forehead with one finger.
An invisible wave of spiritual energy swept through Alexei's body.
She found the problem immediately. There wasn't the slightest trace of spiritual energy circulation within him.
"Have you attempted qi sensing yet?" Yan asked.
"Yeah," Alexei confirmed. "Started trying a few days ago."
"And? Did you succeed?"
"No."
"Ah." Yan nodded slowly. "That explains everything."
She settled back onto her meditation cushion, organizing her thoughts.
"Qi sensing isn't just about feeling the world's spiritual energy," she began, slipping into lecture mode. "It's about constructing a pathway between that external energy and your own spiritual root and qi sea. Think of it like... connecting a water pipe from a reservoir to a storage tank."
Alexei appreciated the metaphor.
"Right now," Yan continued, "your situation is like trying to fill that storage tank, except the pipe outlet is positioned outside the tank entirely. Or more accurately, you haven't even found the pipe or the tank yet."
She gestured as she spoke, illustrating her point.
"The pipe is your spiritual root. The tank is your qi sea. The Brightglow Fruit can widen that pipe, making energy flow more efficiently, but only after you've found and opened the pipe in the first place."
"And qi sensing is the process of finding it," Alexei concluded.
Yan launched into a more comprehensive explanation of spiritual roots, qi circulation, and the fundamental mechanics of cultivation. Alexei paid attention, filing away information that might be useful.
Did he want to cultivate? If he was really honest... Of course he did! Who the hell got transported to a cultivation world and didn't at least try?
He'd just been complaining out loud. During qi sensing attempts, he hadn't slacked off at all. Though staying awake was increasingly difficult. Seriously, try sitting with your eyes closed for an hour or two, thinking about nothing, completely emptying your mind. Any normal person would fall asleep.
The fact that he managed to last thirty-plus minutes each session showed how strong his willpower was.
By the time they left Yan's cave residence, it was already past noon. Their returning group had gained a member. Yan wanted to see the Brightglow Fruit tree with her own eyes, in her entire life, she'd only encountered such high-grade spiritual fruits in illustrated reference books.
As they flew back on Qingxue's sword, Yan was already mentally planning ahead. The sect would be attending the disciple recruitment ceremony in Verdantree City. Before their master passed away, he'd always taken them early to scout for opportunities and rare finds.
Bai Duan had been discovered that way.
Their master had been no ordinary cultivator, either. He'd once been a direct disciple of a major sect in the Profound Border Region, but he'd stumbled badly while pursuing some romantic interest and ultimately left. Only then had he traveled far away to establish the original Aureate Summit Sect in these backwater Eastern Territories.
The cultivation methods he'd taught his disciples were all high-grade, the worst being top-grade Earth tier techniques.
As a child, Yan had believed all her master's boastful stories about cutting down enemies in secret realms, being blessed by fortune, pulling treasures from ruins as easily as reaching into a bag. But as she'd grown older, she'd started noticing inconsistencies.
What was hardest for a person to change? Habits.
Aside from his unreliable personality, the strongest impression she'd gotten from her master was "cautious to the point of paranoia." She couldn't see the slightest trace of the fearless, advance-without-hesitation aura he'd claimed to possess. No signs of the bold risk-taker who'd supposedly dominated secret realms. She'd eventually come to suspect that the cultivation manuals they practiced had been purchased with everything her master owned before leaving the Profound Border Region.
It would explain why a supposed direct disciple from a major sect was so lopsided in his abilities. Strong cultivation techniques, yes. Countless escape spells and trap formations, absolutely. But his direct combat ability had been pathetically weak.
The old man had also claimed to be a master of pills, talismans, and artifact crafting. Whether that was true remained unclear.
Yan shook her head, dispersing the wandering thoughts. They'd already arrived at the courtyard. She could immediately sense the difference. The spiritual energy here was denser and purer than the surrounding sect grounds.
As a medical cultivator, the sensation was wonderfully comfortable. Her gaze quickly locked onto the sapling beside the two-story building.
The ancient botanical text Profound Mirror Spirit Fruit Codex described it precisely:
"Its leaves resemble bamboo segments joined together, six merging into one. Their color is tender yellow, the tips becoming crystalline and transparent, with faint golden veins visible at the ends. Its trunk is pure as snow, marked with pale yellow patterns."
Alexei felt a sudden breeze carrying a subtle fragrance. Yan, who'd been standing beside them, vanished. The next instant, she reappeared next to the Brightglow tree. And then she started examining it enthusiastically.
Her hands ran along the trunk, checking bark texture. She leaned in close to inspect leaf structure. Occasionally she'd pull out a slip and consult it, comparing observations against reference materials.
At one point she pressed her ear against the trunk, as if listening for something.
"Is she..." Alexei trailed off, watching this display. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine," Qingxue said, sounding amused. "Medical cultivators get like this around rare spiritual plants. Let's call it professional obsession."
"Not weird at all." Alexei watched as Yan collected a single fallen leaf, sealed it in a container, and made notes on a slip.
Qingxue patted his shoulder. "You'll get used to it."
"Wait, what's this?"
Yan suddenly paused mid-examination, plucking something from one of the branches.
A half-eaten fruit pit, the flesh gnawed away cleanly.
She'd been too absorbed in studying the tree to notice before, but now that she was looking properly...
"There are dozens of these."
She counted quickly. Forty, maybe fifty pits still clinging to branches. And on the entire tree, fewer than ten intact Brightglow Fruits remained.
Her expression darkened.
"When did this happen?" She turned to Qingxue. "While you were visiting my cave?"
Something must have raided the tree. Birds, perhaps, or...
"Those damned spirit monkeys," she muttered, her normally serene demeanor cracking. "It has to be them... same as always."
Those creatures were repeat offenders. Before Fifth Senior Brother had left on his travels, they'd been constantly stealing his spirit grain and fruit. After he'd departed, the monkeys had redirected their thieving attention to her medicine plots.
Unlike Fifth Senior Brother, she had zero tolerance for that behavior. This year alone, she'd already chased them off several times, employing increasingly creative methods of discouragement.
They'd behaved for barely two months. And now this.
"I'll be right back."
Alexei watched Yan's expression shift to irritation and decided he very much did not want to be a spirit monkey right now. Qingxue looked equally confused by the sudden mood shift.
---
Yan was gone for a full half-hour. When she returned, she was still annoyed, though she'd clearly worked off some of the anger.
"Did you find them?" Qingxue asked.
"I found them, and had a discussion about property rights and theft." Yan's smile was thin. "They seemed apologetic in the end."
Alexei had no doubt that "discussion" had involved liberal application of spiritual energy and possibly some very startled monkeys learning valuable life lessons.
After that, since he only had one pile of bonemeal left, he couldn't demonstrate too much of his plant-growth ability. But making the stripped Brightglow tree blossom again wasn't a problem.
So after Yan circled the now bud-covered tree approximately seventeen times, the three finally returned to the stone table where he and Qingxue were promptly handed thick tomes: Profound Mirror Spirit Fruit Codex, and Comprehensive Herbal Medicine Encyclopedia.
Of course, the only ones studying were Qingxue and Yan.
Alexei couldn't read most of the words. He could look at the simple line drawings of spiritual herbs, sure, but that got boring fast. His mind had already wandered to the mob spawner he'd built yesterday.
The efficiency should be much higher than in Silkspore Basin. In Minecraft, spawner efficiency was mainly limited by mob cap, light level, spawn points, and the wandering mechanic. Mob cap and spawn points didn't matter here, only his MC-placed blocks could spawn monsters in the first place. Light level was easy to control with proper design.
The real bottleneck had been the wandering mechanic.
It was simple enough to explain: when a group of mobs spawned, they didn't all appear simultaneously. First mob spawned, then the next spawn point "wandered" a random distance from the first location. If it landed on a valid spawn block, a second mob appeared. Process repeated until the full group finished spawning. But if the wandering point landed on a slab, farmland, stairs, or any non-solid block that couldn't spawn mobs, the chain terminated immediately.
Silkspore Basin's spawn floor had been tiny, only 6×6 blocks. It was far too small to support a proper wandering chain, which meant each spawn cycle usually produced just a single mob.
Total waste of potential.
This new design, though...
"If you want to go, just go," Qingxue said, amusement clear in her voice. "Nobody's forcing you to stay."
Alexei blinked, realizing he'd been staring at the same page for five minutes without reading a word.
He stood, closing the book. "I'll just... head back to my building."
If he could leave, why the hell would he stay?
Those books had nothing worth looking at anyway.
---
Inside his building, Alexei went straight to the armor stand and began equipping his gear.
[Gold Helmet]
[Gold Chestplate]
[Iron Sword]
[Leather Leggings]
[Iron Boots]
[Shield]
He'd re-crafted everything after returning from Silkspore Basin. Fully armored, he approached the hanging painting on the wall. From beyond it came the familiar sounds. And that smell. That terrible smell of rot and decay that meant the spawner was working.
He stepped through the painting into the corridor beyond.
Clatter-clatter-clatter...
The noise echoed louder now that he was inside. Definitely more than a few mobs.
He raised his shield and started forward.
Fwoosh... CLANG!
An arrow slammed into his shield before he'd gone five meters. The impact sent a shock up his arm.
CLANG! CLANG!
Two more arrows in quick succession, both hitting the shield's center.
He picked up his pace.
The closer he got to the spawning area, the more arrows hit. Some struck his shield. Others embedded themselves in the walls and floor around him. He'd underestimated the spawn rate. When he finally reached the fence gate blocking access to the spawning chamber, he risked a quick peek around his shield. Seven or eight skeletons, clearly visible in the spawn room's darkness. Easily twenty zombies stumbling around. At least three spiders clinging to walls. And...
Tsssssss...
"Oh fuck..."
The creeper was maybe two meters away, already mid-detonation sequence. His brain several things simultaneously:
One: He'd forgotten to set up a proper kill-spot before leaving.
Two: The fence gate was made of regular wood, not MC materials.
Three: He was about to have a bad time.
The explosion was deafening in the confined corridor.
BOOOOOM!
The fence gates disintegrated into splinters. The floor beneath them cratered, dropping two to three meters in a perfect sphere of destruction. Zombies and skeletons near the blast simply ceased to exist, torn apart by the explosion. But the gap was immediately filled by more mobs pouring in from all sides of the spawning chamber.
Dozens of them. Way more than forty. Had to be sixty, seventy mobs in there. And now they had a direct path into the corridor.
Zombies surged forward, moaning and reaching with decayed hands. Two skeletons got pushed to the front by the press of bodies, still firing arrows. And sprinting ahead of them all was a baby zombie wielding an iron sword.
"I am so fucked."
Alexei backpedaled, shield up, as the first wave reached him.
The baby zombie was fast. Way faster than it had any right to be. It ducked under his shield and slashed at his legs. The iron sword scraped against his leather leggings, cutting through but not quite reaching skin. He kicked out, catching the small zombie in the chest and sending it tumbling backward into its larger cousins.
Adult zombies filled the gap instantly, clawing at his shield. An arrow whistled past his head. Another arrow hit his chestplate and bounced off.
He slashed with his sword, catching a zombie across the throat. The blade bit deep, and the monster dissolved into smoke and dropped items.
But three more immediately took its place.
The corridor was maybe two blocks wide. Not enough room to maneuver. Nowhere to run except backward, and even that was filling with mobs as they poured through the destroyed gate.
An arrow hit his shield. Another hit his helmet.
He was being pushed back, step by step, toward the painting entrance.
A spider scrambled over the mass of zombies, using their bodies as platforms, and leaped at his face.
He got his shield up just in time. The spider's legs scrabbled against the wood. Its mandibles clicked inches from his face. He shoved, throwing the spider back into the mob horde, and kept retreating.
The baby zombie came at him again, weaving between adult zombies' legs.
This time Alexei was ready. He timed his swing, catching the small monster mid-sprint. His iron sword cleaved straight through its torso.
It dissolved and dropped a potato.
Another zombie lunged, and he cut it down. Then another followed. Then two more. They just kept coming. He was maybe ten meters from the painting now. An arrow grazed his shoulder, slipping through a gap in his armor.
"Shit..."
He was running out of options. And then he heard voices from beyond the painting.
An arrow shot past him and sailed through the painting.
Thwick...
---
By the stone table in the courtyard, Yan and Qingxue had both tensed at the sound of the explosion. Their eyes narrowed simultaneously, and they moved as one toward the source.
They entered Alexei's building, searching with both sight and spiritual sense.
Then...
Fwoosh!
An arrow shot out from the hanging painting, knocking it askew as it flew straight toward Yan.
Qingxue's hand moved faster than thought, snatching the arrow from the air. She held it up, frowning at the crude construction.
"This is..." Her frown deepened.
She looked at the arrow more closely.
"Why are corpse puppets from Silkspore Basin appearing here?"