Xuan Wei fell silent for a moment, his voice low and heavy.
"Actually... I have one more request."
Li Yuan picked up his teacup and smiled. "Please, speak your mind, Fellow Daoist."
Xuan Wei's lips moved slightly as he carefully weighed his words before speaking directly.
"I would like to ask you for one or two more pills."
He immediately added a frantic clarification.
"It is for Vernas—her soul has been fragmented for too long. Although the Heaven-Essence Crystal and vow power have barely managed to keep a thread of life in her all these years, her recovery remains a distant hope. The pills you gifted me have a miraculous effect on the divine soul. I was thinking that if I could obtain one or two more, perhaps she could recover faster."
As he spoke, he slowly lowered his head.
"As for the price... you may name it. As long as you leave me my life, anything else is yours to take."
Li Yuan looked at him, unable to stop himself from thinking, Is that last part your real goal here?!
However, he wasn't truly surprised.
Although Xuan Wei's cultivation path wasn't exactly orthodox and his methods weren't the cleanest, Li Yuan found it hard to criticize him when it came to his devotion to Vernas.
Moreover, they had already established a good rapport. Since the man had humbled himself to such an extent, it would be awkward not to offer something. Li Yuan had plenty of pills left in his storage space, so giving away a few wouldn't hurt.
Still, a point of curiosity struck him.
"Are pills used by cultivators effective for the gods of this world? Won't there be some kind of rejection?"
Xuan Wei shook his head.
"It is not like that. I do not give the pills to her directly."
He explained, "I first use my own spiritual energy to refine the medicinal power, then use my true blood as a medium to brew it into a medicinal soup to slowly nourish her soul. Although the loss of power is greater this way, it is safer. It minimizes the chance of a conflict between her godhead and the medicine."
Hearing this, Li Yuan's gaze toward Xuan Wei became even more complex.
Such a method sounded simple, but the toll on the practitioner was immense. Using true blood as a medium would severely impact a cultivator's foundation if done repeatedly, potentially even leading to a drop in their cultivation rank.
Yet, there wasn't a hint of hesitation in Xuan Wei's voice. He really is a truly devoted soul, Li Yuan thought.
Li Yuan didn't ask any more questions. He reached into his storage space and pulled out a small white jade bottle, placing it on the bar counter.
"Here is a bottle of High-Grade Spirit-Nurturing Pills. There are twenty in total; that should be enough."
Xuan Wei looked at the small bottle, his breath hitching for a split second.
He reached out to take it but didn't put it away immediately. Instead, he asked solemnly, "And the price?"
Li Yuan shook his head.
"Consider it a gift."
Xuan Wei froze, a flash of genuine emotion crossing his eyes as he looked at Li Yuan.
In the world of cultivators, pills, techniques, spirit tools, and opportunities—everything was clearly marked with a price.
Especially High-Grade pills like these; they were rare treasures to any cultivator.
Yet Li Yuan had just handed them over so casually as a gift. It was truly unexpected.
Xuan Wei remained silent for a long time. Finally, he carefully put the bottle away and bowed deeply to Li Yuan once more.
"My deepest thanks, Fellow Daoist."
Li Yuan accepted the bow graciously and then smiled. "Since you're already here, why not have a cup of tea?"
Upon hearing this, Xuan Wei seemed to remember that this was, in fact, a teahouse.
He glanced at the menu beside him and said, "Then I shall trouble you for a cup of green tea."
"Coming right up."
Li Yuan turned to fetch the tea, boil the water, and warm the cup, his movements practiced and natural.
Xuan Wei sat at the bar, his gaze falling on the teapot in Li Yuan's hands. At first, he didn't pay much attention, but as the hot water hit the tea leaves, he caught the fragrance and his brow furrowed slightly.
When the tea was pushed in front of him, Xuan Wei picked up the cup and took a small sip.
In the next instant, his eyes widened and his entire body stiffened.
Trusting his senses, he looked down at the clear tea in the cup with utter disbelief. The shock in his eyes grew until it was beyond measure.
"This water—"
Li Yuan wasn't surprised by his reaction.
"What about it?"
Xuan Wei looked up, his voice rising in pitch.
"Is this spiritual spring water?"
Li Yuan nodded.
"Yes."
"Is it truly from a spiritual spring?"
Xuan Wei asked again, as if afraid he had misheard.
Li Yuan looked at him with a bit of confusion.
"It's spiritual spring water, yes."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the chair at the bar slid back abruptly.
The man dropped directly to his knees, moving so fast that Li Yuan didn't even have time to react.
"What are you doing, Fellow Daoist?"
Xuan Wei pressed his hands to the floor, his voice carrying an irrepressible urgency.
"I beg of you, Fellow Daoist, please grant me some of this spiritual spring water!"
Li Yuan quickly stood up and walked around the bar to help him up.
"Get up and talk."
Even after being helped up, Xuan Wei was still so excited he was on the verge of tears.
"With spiritual spring water, Vernas has a chance for a complete recovery! At the very least, her soul will have the opportunity to stabilize itself without having to rely solely on the Heaven-Essence Crystal!"
Li Yuan was surprised by this claim.
"Spiritual spring water can repair a divine soul?"
Xuan Wei's near-tearful expression froze. The tears in his eyes receded as he looked at Li Yuan with a touch of suspicion.
"You didn't know?"
Li Yuan nodded frankly.
"I honestly didn't."
Xuan Wei stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words.
After a long while, he took a deep breath and began to explain slowly.
"Spiritual spring water is a top-tier treasure even across the myriad worlds. Repairing a divine soul is only one of its many effects. It can strengthen and reconstruct meridians, reshape one's foundation, and if used correctly, it can even grant someone new talent and a brand-new soul."
Li Yuan was slightly stunned.
"A top-tier treasure... surely not? Is it really that exaggerated?"
Xuan Wei looked at him, his tone dead serious, though his expression was one of immense pain for the perceived waste.
"Something that can completely reshape a physical body and soul, even allowing a cripple to step back onto the path of cultivation—how is that not a top-tier treasure?"
Li Yuan fell silent. He had never really given much thought to what spiritual spring water could actually do.
Back on the Kyushu Continent, spiritual spring water was indeed a rare treasure, but as his cultivation level grew, he needed less and less external help. Furthermore, the spiritual spring in his small world was so vast it was practically an ocean. Over time, he had simply used it for making tea and taking baths.
Hearing Xuan Wei speak of it now, it felt as though he had been terribly wasteful all this time.
Seeing Li Yuan's dazed look, Xuan Wei's heart suddenly sank.
He realized he might have been too reckless.
A treasure of this caliber, even a small bottle, would be enough to make countless cultivators fight to the death. One might give away pills, but how could someone just hand over spiritual spring water?
At this thought, Xuan Wei grit his teeth, his gaze turning resolute.
He was about to speak, intending to offer a blood contract as the price for a single bottle of the water.
Even if he had to be a slave for eternity, he would have no regrets if it meant Vernas could wake up.
But before he could open his mouth, Li Yuan waved his hand, and a pale blue light flickered within the teahouse.
In the next instant, a massive sphere of water appeared out of thin air.
The sphere was about half the height of a person, crystal clear, with a faint blue aura shimmering on its surface. The lights of the shop reflected off it, casting a soft, watery glow.
Incredibly pure spiritual qi was constantly radiating from it.
Li Yuan looked at the floating sphere of water, then turned back to Xuan Wei and asked curiously.
"Is this the spiritual spring water you're talking about?"
Xuan Wei stood frozen.
He stared at the water sphere without blinking, his entire being gone numb.
His lips parted slightly, but not a single word came out.
That was indeed spiritual spring water.
And it was of the highest quality, so pure it had almost no impurities.
Such a large mass of it was just hanging there, right in front of him, within arm's reach. To Xuan Wei, it felt like an impossible dream.
His expression shifted from shock to bewilderment, and then to a numb blankness.
He had been prepared to trade his life for a few drops, and now he was being shown... this much?
In this moment, Xuan Wei suddenly felt that his three thousand years of experience didn't amount to much after all.
He remained frozen for a long time before a trembling sentence finally squeezed out of his throat.
"Fellow Daoist... where did this spiritual spring water come from?"
Li Yuan thought about it and answered truthfully.
"I took it out of my small world."
"Is there... a lot of it?"
"A lot."
Xuan Wei closed his eyes, remembering the tea he had just drunk. He had originally thought it was just a drop or two added to regular water... but now he saw that wasn't the case at all. He took a sharp breath and whispered.
"Then... what do you usually use this spiritual spring water for?"
"For brewing tea."
Even though he had anticipated the answer, hearing it with his own ears made him feel like his entire worldview was about to collapse.
Using spiritual spring water to brew tea? Heh... was that really a use a human being could come up with?
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