"Senior! What is this?"
Xiao Fei didn't know what it was, but seeing the green-eyed man treat it so solemnly, he knew it was no ordinary item.
"A tracking mark, mainly used for tracking.
Did you go to Wanbao Merchant House? This should be the work of that old ghost from Wanbao Merchant House."
Xiao Fei nodded, not offering further explanation, and took out the Soul Nurturing Bead from his embrace.
"Senior, how should this be done?"
"You refine the magical artifact first, and then place your soul within it."
"Thank you, Senior."
Xiao Fei thanked the green-eyed man and returned the mask to him before heading back to his guest room.
Following the method taught by the green-eyed man, he successfully refined the magical artifact. The moment it succeeded, Xiao Fei felt a subtle connection between himself and the artifact.
Then, he held the black bead, formed by the condensed soul of his second sister, towards the Soul Nurturing Bead. His soul transformed into a black mist and merged into it.
Sensing into the Soul Nurturing Bead, his second sister seemed to be in slumber, showing no response.
Now, all he could do was wait for her soul to slowly recover; he couldn't help her further.
He found a thin string and hung the Soul Nurturing Bead around his neck, tucking it inside his clothes.
When worn, the Soul Nurturing Bead originally had the effect of nourishing the spirit. Now that it housed a soul, this effect was negligible.
Finally, having found a temporary dwelling for his second sister's soul, Xiao Fei breathed a sigh of relief.
He then looked at the bed where his second sister, Xiao Lan's, corpse still lay.
Gazing at the emaciated body, he wondered what torment she had endured in life and how much pain she had suffered.
Although his second sister had asked him not to seek revenge, how could Xiao Fei forget such hatred?
For as long as he lived, he would destroy the Lin family.
Xiao Fei purchased a superior golden nanmu coffin in the city and buried the body in a corner of his spatial dimension.
After dealing with his second sister's affairs, Xiao Fei lay listlessly on the bed, his eyes vacant, lost in thought. He remained motionless, without eating or drinking, for three days.
Huang Feifei, worried about Xiao Fei, wanted to comfort him but was stopped by the green-eyed man.
"Let him be alone for a while. When men are heartbroken, they don't cry or make a fuss. They just need to be quiet for a bit, and they'll be fine."
The green-eyed man, having lived for an unknown number of years, understood human emotions and social customs very well.
After lying there for three days, Xiao Fei finally got up and ate a large bowl of noodles.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he resumed his normal meditation and cultivation practice every day.
Besides cultivating himself, Xiao Fei also allocated some spirit stones to Huang Feifei, urging her to cultivate diligently.
Huang Feifei, who already had better innate talent than Xiao Fei, saw her cultivation progress by leaps and bounds with the help of the spirit stones. Within half a year, she reached the third level of Qi Condensation.
Although Xiao Fei cultivated using spirit stones daily, he remained at the fourth level of Qi Condensation, with Huang Feifei nearly catching up to him.
In fact, Xiao Fei was more diligent in his cultivation than Huang Feifei, but the spiritual energy seemed to have a vendetta against him, stubbornly refusing to enter his body.
Over the past half-year, he hadn't made no progress, but the pace was indeed slow.
At this moment, Xiao Fei appeared in his spatial dimension.
The spiritual grain in the dimension had been harvested, yielding four to five hundred catties.
This time, he would not sell the spiritual grain for spirit stones; he intended to keep it all for himself to consume.
Additionally, the second batch of ginseng planted in the dimension had reached over ten years of medicinal age.
These ginseng plants had mutated within the dimension, and each now emitted a dense spiritual energy, meeting the standard of a first-tier spiritual medicine.
In a corner of the dimension stood a solitary grave, with two saplings planted in front of it.
These saplings were from the seeds of the Red-tip Fruit gifted by Wanbao Merchant House. He had planted them there, and they had now grown into small trees over ten feet tall.
Xiao Fei dug up a ginseng plant from the dimension and exited the space.
According to the ancestral medical texts of the Huang family, there was a pill called the Foundation Strengthening Pill, which could consolidate the foundation and supplement the origin, and should be beneficial for cultivation.
He was now eager to enhance his strength.
The method for making the Foundation Strengthening Pill was not complicated.
The ginseng, which had reached first-tier spiritual medicine, served as the main ingredient, while the other auxiliary herbs were common medicinal materials, readily available at most pharmacies.
While Xiao Fei was washing and mashing the ginseng into a paste, Huang Feifei had already decocted the other medicinal ingredients to extract their juices or ground them into a very fine powder.
"Young Master, the medicinal juice is ready!"
"Alright, I'm coming!"
Xiao Fei said, adding the ginseng paste to the medicinal juice and simmering it.
"Now, switch to a low heat and boil the liquid until it dries."
One of them was responsible for tending the fire and controlling the heat, while the other held a rice spoon inside, constantly stirring to prevent the bottom from scorching.
The two of them worked from afternoon until late into the night. The liquid in the pot had become very viscous, and when lifted with the rice spoon, it could still draw out threads.
"Alright, turn the heat to the lowest setting, just enough to keep it warm."
"Okay."
This was their first time doing such a thing, and they were filled with novelty. Despite working for so long and not even eating, they remained energetic.
Huang Feifei wiped the sweat from her face, accidentally smearing a large patch of black ash on it, but she didn't seem to notice.
Xiao Fei then took out a jar of honey and poured it all into the medicinal pot, stirring continuously.
A fragrance of honey mingled with the medicinal aroma, whetting the appetite.
Huang Feifei twitched her nose and couldn't resist picking up a small wooden spoon, dipping it into the viscous medicinal paste in the pot, blowing on it, and gently licking it with her tongue.
"Mmm... It's delicious!"
Because sweetness enters the spleen, most tonic medicines have a slightly sweet taste.
Good medicine doesn't necessarily taste bitter; very bitter medicines tend to have a strong cold nature, and consuming too much can harm the spleen and stomach.
Xiao Fei also tasted some of the medicinal paste from the pot. It tasted really good, with a texture similar to malt candy.
At this point, Xiao Fei took out some roasted black sesame powder and other medicinal powders, added them in, and stirred.
"Done! Turn off the heat!"
After adding the powders, the medicinal paste had dried out, and they had to roll it into pills while it was still hot.
This pot of medicinal ingredients yielded twenty pills, each about the size of a pigeon's egg.
"There are twenty in total, ten for each of us."
Xiao Fei divided the pills into two portions and immediately consumed one.
The Foundation Strengthening Pill tasted very good, with a hardness similar to soft candy. It was chewy, and the more you chewed, the more fragrant it became, filling the mouth with a delightful aroma.
After swallowing one pill, a warm current rose in his abdomen, and Xiao Fei quickly sat down to circulate his energy.
The next morning, Xiao Fei opened his eyes. His cultivation had increased slightly.
The Foundation Strengthening Pill was helpful for cultivation, but its efficacy was relatively weak. The increase in cultivation was comparable to eating a meal of spiritual rice.
This way, it would at least accelerate his cultivation progress significantly.
After experiencing the effects of the first pot of Foundation Strengthening Pills, Xiao Fei dug up several more ginseng plants from the dimension. This time, he intended to brew a larger batch.
Furthermore, the Four-leaf Purple Flower Grass that he had previously planted in the dimension had also matured and been harvested. The cleared spiritual fields were now used for planting ginseng.
The area for ginseng cultivation was expanded to one mu.