Soon after, Lin Jing left the Task Hall with a freshly made task scroll.
With this item, he could freely harvest spiritual bamboo in the Golden Pearl Origin, but without this proof, he would be arrested for "destroying sect resources."
"That senior brother said that using ordinary Flying Leaf Technique to harvest spiritual bamboo is quite laborious, but I'm not sure how the red flying leaf will fare."
Regarding the words of the Task Hall brother, Lin Jing and the pine leaf mouse were indifferent. The other party was talking about a spiritual beast pine leaf mouse, which had nothing to do with their treasure beast pine leaf mouse.
Since Elder Yu entrusted this important task to them, they must chop down enough spiritual bamboo to deliver to Elder Yu, even if they don't eat or drink.
Lin Jing and the pine leaf mouse hurried to the Golden Pearl Origin, afraid of wasting too much time. After all, cutting down ten fewer bamboos means one fewer spirit stone.
After showing the task scroll to the sect brother guarding the bamboo forest, he led the pine leaf mouse into the sea of bamboo.
Walking into the bamboo forest, they looked up to see bamboo leaves blocking the sky and sun. One by one, the towering spiritual bamboos exuded a profound and vibrant green, making the pine leaf mouse drool uncontrollably.
"Squeak..."
"You're a squirrel, not a bamboo rat," Lin Jing corrected, opening the cloth pouch hanging at his waist. The sighing pine leaf mouse immediately took out the precious red flying leaf and held it in its arms.
But before it used the red flying leaf, Lin Jing bent down and picked up a regular bamboo leaf and handed it to the mouse.
"Let's make a comparison. Let's see the destructive power on spiritual bamboo when using an ordinary bamboo leaf for the Flying Leaf Technique versus using your red flying leaf."
Upon hearing this, the pine leaf mouse nodded, took the green bamboo leaf, and soon had a bamboo leaf in one hand and a red flying leaf in the other. Its eyes grew sharp as it looked at the nearest spiritual bamboo!
"Ah squeak!" It unleashed its spiritual power, its small hand waved, launching the bamboo leaf. With a swish, the green light collided with the spiritual bamboo, causing the bamboo stalk to sway slightly, leaving only a tiny nick before the leaf cracked apart.
Seeing this, the pine leaf mouse furrowed its eyebrows. This spiritual bamboo was indeed hard. Normally, staying here for a whole day wouldn't bring them anywhere near riches.
The mouse exchanged a glance with Lin Jing, and this time it used the red leaf to cast the Flying Leaf Technique.
"Squeak!" The pine leaf mouse leaped from Lin Jing's shoulder, threw the red flying leaf, and as a red glow flashed by, with a crack, the red flying leaf went straight through the bamboo stalk, and immediately... the tall bamboo fell!
And it wasn't over. With the pine leaf mouse's control, the red flying leaf continued to fly swiftly, slicing through several spiritual bamboos in mere thoughts, instantly brightening the eyes of Lin Jing and the pine leaf mouse.
This demonstrated that the destructive power the pine leaf mouse could wield with the red flying leaf was definitely much higher than a mid-stage Qi Cultivation pine leaf mouse. Additionally, the maneuverability of the Flying Leaf Technique was beyond the reach of ordinary pine leaf mice!
"We're rich!" Lin Jing exclaimed.
"Squeak squeak!!" The pine leaf mouse was also exceedingly excited. Although controlling the red flying leaf was exhausting, the thought of each spiritual bamboo eventually becoming its own storage bag filled it with intense enthusiasm, sweeping away its fatigue and fueling its energy.
"We're not going back. Let's just settle here." Lin Jing suggested.
"I heard the sound of a stream earlier. There's water in this bamboo forest, meaning there are fish. I'll eat grilled fish, and you'll eat bamboo leaves; let's see where our limits lie!"
The pine leaf mouse was startled, just having been told it wasn't a bamboo rat, and now being told to eat bamboo leaves! But eating is eating, and these bamboo leaves are surely more nutritious than the leaves in the courtyard.
Lin Jing and the pine leaf mouse's eyes sparkled again!
One week later!
The senior brother responsible for guarding the bamboo forest suddenly felt something was off. Sitting in the bamboo house cultivating, he remembered something.
"A few days ago, it seemed like a junior brother entered the bamboo forest for a harvesting task? For several days now, why haven't they come out?"
"They're genuinely diligent." He sighed, looking at the pastries on the table, intending to visit this junior brother. Receiving a task from Elder Yu implies that this junior brother has outstanding talent and potential, and executing the task so diligently means an even brighter future, worth making friends with.
He grabbed the pastries and started entering the bamboo forest. As he delved deeper, his eyelids twitched, noticing vast areas beside the road were bare, unlike the bamboo sea he remembered.
Instead, heaps of bundled spiritual bamboo were on the ground, one pile... another pile... and yet another pile.
"What happened!" He was taken aback, clearly remembering he recently let in a junior brother and his pine leaf mouse. This situation looked like the Pine Leaf Mouse clan from Pine Forest Peak had come for a collective land reclamation.
"Junior brother, where are you!" He activated the Windwalker Technique, and with a whirlwind at his feet, he became light as a swallow, starting to search for Lin Jing and his companions. It didn't take long before he found the pine leaf mouse eating bamboo leaves... and Lin Jing massaging it.
"This senior brother... is there something you need?" Lin Jing looked up, stopping his Divine Technique in hand, eyeing the twitching-lip senior brother on guard duty.
"Did you chop all of these?" His face was incredulous, glancing at the utterly exhausted yet spirited Qi Cultivation third-stage pine leaf mouse, he couldn't believe it one bit.
"Yes," Lin Jing replied with a weary expression.
"This..." The senior brother guarding the forest was silent for a while, then said, "Did Elder Yu mention... how many spiritual bamboos he would need?"
Lin Jing shook his head. "Elder Yu didn't say, but the Mechanism Festival is such an important occasion, surely the more spiritual bamboo the better, right? Only then can more Mechanical Bamboo Dragons be created to make the festival lively."
"I'll consult Elder Yu..." The senior brother felt uneasy, scratching his head, and turned to leave. He feared that if Lin Jing stayed in the bamboo forest longer, the bamboo sea would vanish.
As the senior brother left, Lin Jing and the pine leaf mouse, as if facing an enemy, intensified their harvesting.
...
Outer sect, Mechanism Workshop!
Although Elder Yu primarily focused on Beast Taming Dao, he was also a mechanism enthusiast, passionately researching mechanisms.
Outside the workshop, there was a plaque that read, "Mechanical beasts are also beasts."
At present, he was having tea and chatting with another elder. If Lin Jing were here, he would certainly recognize Elder Mo, who had been out of the sect for several days.
"I just returned to the sect, and before I could fly to Lotus Peak, you stopped me. Is there something important?" Elder Mo sipped his tea, looking at the other.
Elder Yu chuckled, stroked his beard, and said, "A month ago, you placed the Longevity Body you found in the outer sect and asked me to take good care of him. I've been attentive, even custom-designing a sect task to harvest spiritual bamboo for him. Don't you think you should thank me? Ten spiritual bamboos per spirit stone, for outer sect disciples, that's like a pie falling from the sky!"
"Haha! For such a trivial matter, you want thanks? Stop it, with their cultivation, how much spiritual bamboo can they chop?" Elder Mo snorted.
"Do you really think I don't know your stinginess?! Come on, you're eyeing which of my collections?"
"What do you mean stingy? I'm just conserving some for researching mechanical beasts for the sect..." Elder Yu's sentence wasn't finished when a crane descended outside the workshop, delivering a letter.
After reading the letter, Elder Yu's expression changed instantly, "Are you sure you brought back a Longevity Body and not a Wood Divine Body?"
"What's wrong?" Elder Mo was puzzled.
"The disciple guarding the forest said the disciple executing the bamboo harvesting task in the bamboo forest is about to clear the outer bamboo forest!" Elder Yu felt a chill on his scalp.