Three days later, at the External Affairs Hall square.

A small-scale trade fair was underway.

Steward Sun from the Vessel Hall was standing before a stall with several disciples, loudly hawking a newly forged batch of magical swords.

“Come take a look! Magical swords forged from refined Red Copper, capable of cutting through iron like mud! Only fifty contribution points each!”

However, the disciples gathered around were few and far between.

In stark contrast, a long queue had formed before a small stall belonging to the Repair Hall.

Zhang Asheng stood behind the stall, holding a recently repaired old magical sword, demonstrating it to a senior brother.

“Senior brother, please look. Although this sword has been repaired, we have remelted and cast a ‘reinforcement rib’ along the spine. The material used is ‘high-purity Red Essence Copper’ personally refined by our Hall Master. Not only is its toughness better than a new sword, but its spiritual energy conduction speed is also twenty percent faster!”

The senior brother took the sword, casually twirled it in a flower pattern, and his eyes instantly lit up. “A fine sword! The feel of this is even better than the new goods from the Vessel Hall! How much?”

“Thirty contribution points,” Zhang Asheng replied with a simple, honest smile. “And it comes with one free maintenance session.”

“Sold!”

This scene happened to be witnessed by Steward Sun not far away.

His face instantly darkened to the color of a pot bottom.

“Where did those trash pickers get high-purity Red Essence Copper?” Steward Sun gnashed his teeth, suddenly turning his head to glare at the young man beside him. “Didn’t you say that was scrap material? That Spirit-Eroding Sand was mixed in, wasn’t it?”

The young man trembled with fear. “Y-yes… it was scrap! That Spirit-Eroding Sand was personally mixed in by this disciple! In theory, as soon as they fired up the furnace, it should have exploded!”

“Idiot!” Steward Sun slapped the young man on the forehead. “They didn’t have an explosion at all, and they even refined the copper! This Repair Hall… is a bit strange.”

He strode over to the Repair Hall’s stall and said in a sarcastic, insinuating tone, “Well, well, if it isn’t the Repair Hall, the professional trash pickers. What, did you manage to dig up some food from the garbage heap?”

The surrounding disciples instantly fell silent, their gazes shifting between the two sides.

Faced with the provocation, Su Ming, who had been organizing the account book, slowly raised his head.

He didn’t argue, nor did he get angry. He just looked at Steward Sun with a gentle gaze, as if looking at a “wealth-scattering child,” his tone sincere. “Steward Sun, you jest. Objects have no inherent nobility or baseness; it’s their proper use that makes them treasures. We must also thank Steward Sun for the ‘generous gift’ sent a few days ago, which solved our Repair Hall’s urgent material shortage. If the Vessel Hall has more of this ‘difficult-to-handle’ scrap material in the future, feel free to send it over. The Repair Hall will accept it all.”

“You!”

Steward Sun felt as if he had punched cotton, his chest tight and suffocating.

Looking at Su Ming’s calm face, he suddenly felt an inexplicable chill.

This outer sect disciple didn’t seem like someone picking through trash; it was more like he was… devouring people.

“Fine! Very good!” Steward Sun laughed in extreme anger. “Since Hall Master Su is so fond of garbage, let’s just wait and see! I’d like to see how long this trash-picking business of yours can last!”

With that, he flicked his sleeve and left.

Su Ming watched his retreating back, the smile on his face gradually fading.

“Wait and see?” Su Ming murmured softly to himself, his fingers unconsciously rubbing a jade slip inside his sleeve. “I’m afraid by then, you won’t even have any garbage left to send.”

Lin Yu lazily rolled over in the Consciousness Sea. “Disciple, keep a low profile, a low profile. We are ‘problem solvers,’ not ‘troublemakers.’ However… if trouble insists on knocking on our door, then turn it into a resource. Later, we should research how to make that batch of ‘Spirit-Eroding Sand’ into something for self-defense.”

Su Ming gave a slight nod in reply. “Yes, Master.”

……

In the southeast corner of the Spiritual Plant Garden, waves of heat rolled.

This was a terraced field specially developed for “Fire Sun Grass.”

Fire Sun Grass was the main ingredient for refining Qi Recovery Pills. It loved intense sunlight, its leaves as crimson as tongues of flame. But right now, this expanse that should have been vibrant and red was tinged with a withered, grayish pallor.

Steward Wu paced back and forth on the field ridge, his hands clasped behind his back, his two mustache ends almost pulled out from his constant tugging. The boots on his feet were caked with dark red mud, raising a puff of dry dust with every step.

“Brother Su, you’ve finally come.”

Seeing Su Ming’s figure appear at the path entrance, Steward Wu rushed forward as if seeing a savior, his face squeezing out a smile uglier than crying. “If you hadn’t come, my assessment this year would probably be doomed because of this little plot of land.”

Su Ming cupped his hands in a salute, his expression calm. “Steward Wu, please calm down. Let’s assess the situation first.”

He walked to the edge of the field and crouched down.

Most of the Fire Sun Grass seedlings before him were only about the length of a finger. The edges of their leaves were curled and blackened, as if scorched by fire. Even worse, the soil around the roots had hardened into clumps, showing a strange purplish-red color and emitting a faint smell of sulfur.

Su Ming extended two fingers, gently pinched a bit of soil, and brought it to his nose to sniff.

Pungent, dry and hot, yet mixed with an inescapable musty, damp odor.

“Water and fire clash, toxic energy stagnates.”

Su Ming patted the soil dust from his hands and stood up. “The formation master hired previously, did he use a ‘Heavy Water Formation’ to suppress the earth fire?”

Steward Wu was taken aback, then immediately gave a thumbs-up. “Amazing! Indeed, it was an inner sect senior brother from Formation Peak. He said this earth fire was too fierce and needed to be suppressed with heavy water. But once that formation was activated, the fire was suppressed, but these grasses…”

“Heavy water is cold and sinks; earth fire is fierce and dry.”

Su Ming looked at the withered seedlings, his tone even. “It’s like pouring a basin of ice water into a pot of boiling oil. The oil pot might cool down, but the food inside gets fried to a crisp. Although Fire Sun Grass likes fire, it’s nurturing fire, not this kind of ‘stifled fire’ trapped in the soil and unable to release.”

In the Consciousness Sea, Lin Yu’s phantom figure curled his lip, playing with a non-existent pointer in his hand. “Tsk, a classic case of failed ‘acid-base neutralization.’ Disciple, this is a great opportunity to make quick money. The fire poison in this soil is essentially energy stagnation. Just wash it once with your *Like Water Art*.”

Su Ming understood in his heart, but his expression remained unchanged.

“Steward Wu, there is a method to resolve this.”

Su Ming turned around, his gaze clear. “However, we cannot use formations to forcefully suppress it anymore. It requires meticulous, gradual work.”

“How so?” Steward Wu asked urgently.

“Remove the Heavy Water Formation and switch to manual guidance.” Su Ming pointed at the hardened soil. “I will use a unique ‘Moistening Technique’ to gently permeate the soil to a depth of three inches with mild water spiritual energy. Like washing silk, we will slowly neutralize and carry away the stagnant fire poison. This process cannot be rushed; it must be done gradually.”

Steward Wu hesitated slightly. “Manual labor? For this entire acre of land, how much spiritual energy would that consume? Brother Su, you…”

He somewhat doubted whether Su Ming’s Qi Refining fifth or sixth layer cultivation could sustain it.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep