Bamboo Mound

“Um… Village Chief, you misunderstood. I was thinking that these mulberry candies will eventually be eaten up, and since I’m traveling around, I’m afraid I’ll never see this mulberry tree again.”

He chuckled awkwardly and waved his hand in explanation.

Realizing he had misunderstood, the village chief was not embarrassed and immediately offered a solution.

“That’s easy. These mulberry branches will grow from cuttings. That’s how we plant them in our village. Young friend, just take a branch and plant it somewhere else, won’t you?”

"However, if you do not find a place to settle down in a short time, you can also take some mulberries. Although we have never tried planting mulberries, they should be able to grow."

"That's... fine too."

To be on the safe side, Ning Chang planned to break off a small, healthy branch and also pick some mulberries.

As for the growth of this Yisang tree, he believed that the cultivation techniques fostered by the cultivation world should not be in short supply.

The Chu Kingdom even has growth-promoting formations in every city, and the bamboo planted in his courtyard in the Qingyun Sect is also an improved fast-growing variety.

Thinking back to the bamboo in the courtyard, Ning Chang suddenly remembered that he still had some Qingling bamboo seeds in his bag. It would be nice to keep a few as a return gift for Yisang Village.

With this thought in mind, he flipped his hand and grabbed half a palmful of bamboo seeds, placing them in the village chief's hand.

"These are some spirit bamboo seeds, which are several times harder than ordinary bamboo. They might be of some use to your village."

Before the village chief could recover from his daze, he continued talking.

"I'll take my leave now. As for the mulberry branch, I can just pick a small one myself."

After saying that, he disappeared in one step, leaving only the village chief standing there. He slowly lowered his half-raised arm, and the reply that was on the tip of his tongue gradually faded away. Finally, he uttered it in a tone that only he could hear.

"Hey! Hey..."

After a long pause, he lowered his head, opened his palm, looked at the handful of bamboo seeds, and shook his head with a dry laugh.

......

After leaving the village chief's courtyard, Ning Chang went directly to the outermost edge of the mulberry grove.

After scanning the branches several times, I finally selected one that looked quite good.

That branch grew directly on the main stem, about two feet long, and split into two branches half a foot from the top. The leaves were tender and the branches were green, with only one unripe green mulberry hanging on the entire branch.

After breaking it off, I carefully adjusted the space in my storage bag before finally placing the sugar jar and the mulberry branch in a gap among a pile of bamboo.

As for mulberries, they were easier to pick. Ning Chang simply picked dozens and put them into a bamboo tube made of green bamboo.

However, after that, Ning Chang fell silent in front of the untouched pile of dried meat.

Along the way, apart from taking out and eating two when I was feeling a bit craving, I hardly touched them again!

He even only took two fasting pills!

I ate it during the first two days of my journey.

Since leaving that small island in Tianhu Lake, Ning Chang has not felt hungry or thirsty for several days!

Naturally, he also stopped consuming fasting pills and dried meat.

Now that we are about to reach a city, and asking for directions will take us through one city after another, food is not a concern for the time being.

So all that dried meat in the bag is just taking up space.

"Just throw it away on the way, keep some as snacks."

The main reason for the excess meat jerky is that Ning Chang doesn't have a clear understanding of his own speed and distance.

Even though he had already reached the Spirit Platform, he still habitually prepared things using the conditions of an ordinary person.

If ordinary people were to travel this distance from Stone City in Chu to here, it would take several months, and even if several more batches of dried meat were sent, it wouldn't be enough to eat.

However, even with his spiritual level, he only used less than half a month, without even having the chance to eat half a percent of it.

"That's what growing up is all about; time will teach people everything."

As he marveled at this, a strange feeling enveloped Ning Chang's entire body.

However, the feeling came and went quickly, lasting only a few breaths, so he didn't take it seriously. He flashed into the air and started running towards the right front of the valley entrance.

...

"Roasted sweet potatoes! Roasted potatoes!"

"Candied Haws~"

"This sugar figurine is mine! I'm not letting you have it! Hehehe~"

Two children chased each other past a young man in brown clothes. When the child being chased turned around to laugh, he bumped into the young man.

However, as the two made contact, the young man seemed to flash by, silently turning to the side, and the child, as if he hadn't bumped into anything, continued running forward.

The young man in brown was Ning Chang, who had just entered the city.

After leaving Yisang Village yesterday, I walked until this morning before encountering endless farmland.

Following the farmland for a while, we finally came to see Lingcheng.

When paying the city entrance fee of twenty copper coins, he also threw in a silver coin directly. After all, he now had more than thirty taels of silver, and there was no use in saving it. Breaking it into copper coins would make it even harder to store.

Then he asked the gatekeeper about the general store in the city that sells maps.

Within minutes of entering the city, I realized that Lingcheng was much more lively than Shitoucheng, with people coming and going on the streets, creating a bustling scene.

Ning Chang's arrival brought a unique fragrance to Lingcheng, attracting countless passersby to stop and sniff, trying to find the source of the scent.

However, it was destined to be impossible. After all, the fragrance had a wide range and could be smelled from a great distance. It did not become stronger with distance, so it was impossible to spot Ning Chang in the crowd.

Following the path pointed out by the gatekeeper, I arrived at the general store and saw a middle-aged man in brown clothes carrying a whetstone as he came out of the store.

Upon entering, one finds a middle-aged owner talking to someone of similar age behind the counter.

There were two other customers browsing and selecting items in the store.

He went straight to the counter, and under the watchful eyes of the two owners, asked:

How much does the map cost?

The shopkeeper remained in the same position. "What kind of map would the customer like?"

"What kind are they?"

"There is a map of Lingcheng, a map of an area outside the city, a map of the surrounding villages, and a road map that includes several surrounding cities and paths."

"Is the road map the same as the national map?" Ning Chang asked the boss again to confirm.

"Well... I guess so?" the boss thought for a moment and replied uncertainly.

"Then bring out your map with the largest recorded area."

Upon hearing this, the boss finally stood up and walked towards the room behind him.

After a whooshing sound, the boss came out carrying a rolled-up piece of paper.

"Here it is, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight copper coins. What do you think?"

Just as Ning Chang was looking at the map, the boss spoke again:

"I'm not bragging, but this is the largest map we can find in the entire Lingcheng. If this still doesn't satisfy you, then we'll have to look in other cities."

"This map records the cities, villages, roads, mountains, and so on in the southern region of the entire Wangzhou Kingdom."

"Yes, this is Lingcheng, the capital of the Zhou Kingdom."

The boss pushed the map to the middle, pointed to a corner, and then moved to the other edge of the map.