CHAPTER 46: CHAPTER 046 HONEY PICKLED YELLOW PEACH

Dragon Cypress had been keeping track of time. Every year, the Spider King Spurge always arrived a little later than the other caravans, but its arrival time was basically fixed.

This year, Dragon Cypress had calculated the timing and, together with Ink Orchid, arrived two days early.

Ink Orchid brought 200 Fruit-Scented Orchid Seeds and 5 Spider King Silk Scrolls, hiding in the woods not far behind the hill.

Dragon Cypress lay in the grass at the top of the hill, looking down at the caravan below.

They only waited one day,

The next morning, the Spider King Spurge led the caravan and arrived right on time.

The Spider King Spurge spit out its giant Zeqi Seed...

A ’Little Flame Spider’ with a size that marked it as Mountain Lord Level hurried to secure a spot, spat out its own seed, which took root, sprouted, and quickly grew into a four- or five-meter-tall stalk of White Ivy Grass.

Dragon Cypress recognized that one as Mountain Lord White Ivy.

Mountain Lord White Ivy anxiously set up its own Life Seed Plant, then tried to run towards the hill, only to have the Spider King Spurge snare its back leg with a strand of silk and drag it back.

Judging from the look of it, it was getting a good tongue-lashing.

After quite some time,

Mountain Lord White Ivy, with heavy steps, walked toward the hill.

It saw Dragon Cypress from a distance, and when it got to the foot of the hill, it started to hurry upward.

Dragon Cypress turned and ran behind the hill.

"Little Dragon Cypress!"

"Little Dragon Cypress, don’t run..."

White Ivy began to run as well, giving chase and calling out.

Dragon Cypress stopped, turned for a look, then fluttered its wings, flying into the small woods at the base of the hill.

"Little Dragon Cypress, why are you running?"

White Ivy chased right after.

It strode along recklessly, charging left and right, making the trees in the grove shake and rustle.

Ink Orchid stared in astonishment.

Dragon Cypress knew this White Ivy was bold—spirited and lively—so wasn’t all that surprised.

"Mountain Lord White Ivy, we meet again."

"Yeah! We meet again. The year before last, I even bet with Melde that you wouldn’t make it through another year..."

White Ivy realized it had said something wrong and quickly praised, "Clever and brave Little Dragon Cypress, facing hardships alone—not only did you take firm root in Cloud Trace Continent, you’re doing great, and you’ve even become a mid-level Ant King."

Mountain Lord White Ivy looked at Ink Orchid, changing the subject.

"You must be Ink Orchid? The beautiful and agile Flower Mantis Warrior!"

"I’m Ink Orchid. Mountain Lord White Ivy, hello..." Ink Orchid greeted timidly.

"Hello. Hello. Ink Orchid, hello."

White Ivy was full of enthusiasm. With a thought, the silk binding the goods on its carapace came undone.

With a ripping sound,

An oversized, stuffed silk bag was opened.

A strand of silk wound around and took out a pitch-black metal can, gently setting it in front of Ink Orchid.

"Ink Orchid, a little gift for our first meeting."

"Thank you..."

Ink Orchid was shy and surprised, gave thanks, then secretly swept with her spiritual power, and couldn’t help but ask:

"Mountain Lord White Ivy, what’s this?"

White Ivy explained, "I teamed up with Yellow Peach Mountain Lord from the Golden Mantis Clan: it used its metal ability to make this metal can, I lined it with silk, then made an inner wall with earth system abilities. That way, the can stores Origin Force Fruit even better."

White Ivy: "Inside the can is honey and three whole fresh yellow peaches."

White Ivy: "Honey-pickled yellow peaches—fragrant and sweet!"

"Thanks!"

Ink Orchid thanked again.

"Mountain Lord White Ivy, you’re so generous..." Dragon Cypress couldn’t help but comment.

This can was intricately crafted and valuable in itself, plus the three intact yellow peaches inside.

The whole set was easily worth 50 Source Stones.

Seeing Dragon Cypress speak, White Ivy hesitated, and at last, repressing her heartache, waved some silk, took out another can, and set it in front of Dragon Cypress.

"Little Dragon Cypress, one for you, too."

"Thank you..."

Dragon Cypress was a little speechless.

White Ivy was the complete opposite of Melde—so generous she’s almost over the top, not a qualified Flame Spider Roving Merchant at all.

"Mountain Lord White Ivy, how is Grass Dragon and Mountain Lord Melde doing?" asked Dragon Cypress.

"Grass Dragon is an intermediate warrior in its third age period this year. It wanted to come see you in Ten Thousand Nations Continent, and I agreed to bring it, but Melde absolutely refused, saying this place was too dangerous."

White Ivy, always cheerful, said lightly: "As for Melde, it’s doing better than ever. Earning a lot, eating well, and planning to evolve to sixth age period this summer—soon, it’ll be ahead of me by four whole age periods."

Dragon Cypress: "..."

"Mountain Lord White Ivy!" Ink Orchid opened the silk bag and first handed over last year’s five Spider King Silk Scrolls.

"Oh!"

"Right!"

"Let’s talk business!"

"You’ve got 5,000 Source Stones’ worth of goods stored at Melde’s place, right? Melde asked me to bring them and hand them over to you."

While speaking, White Ivy waved her silk, opened a large silk bag with a tearing sound, took out five small silk bags, and set them gently in front of Ink Orchid.

"Dragon Cypress, you made this Origin Force Food yourself? Check the variety, quality, and quantity."

Ink Orchid opened one, dug in, and carefully counted through everything.

Dragon Cypress walked over to Ink Orchid, opened one too, swept back and forth with spiritual power and said, "Looks fine."

Ink Orchid added, "No problem."

"That’s good!"

White Ivy gathered in the five Silk Scrolls with her silk.

Ink Orchid held up the silk bag containing the Fruit-Scented Orchid Seeds and said, "Mountain Lord White Ivy, this year we have 200 Divine-Given Fruit-Scented Orchid Seeds for sale. Please check the quality first."

"Okay."

White Ivy manipulated a fine strand of silk into the bag, rolled out a single seed, studied it up close, and exclaimed with delight: "I saw the seeds you sold last year, and this year’s crop is even better quality!"

Ink Orchid: "Yes. I’m raising the price."

"Of course!"

White Ivy: "Six Source Stones per seed."

This matched the price Dragon Cypress had predicted.

"Deal!"

Ink Orchid agreed readily. After chatting a bit, she found White Ivy very friendly and easy to talk to, and was no longer shy, then said:

"Two hundred seeds at six each makes 1,200 Source Stones. Mountain Lord White Ivy, I’ll need 800 stones, and then, the orchid seeds I commissioned you to find..."

"I have them!"

White Ivy opened a large silk bag, took out a petite silk pouch, and said, "I’ve found Ink Orchid, Spring Orchid, Sweet-Scented Orchid, Spring Orchid, Tiger-Head Orchid, Spotted Tongue Orchid, Red Column Orchid, Wenbanlan, Jade Orchid, and Fruit-Scented Orchid—a total of ten varieties, with twenty to fifty seeds of each."

So many! So many types of orchid I didn’t have!

Ink Orchid was stunned, and after a moment, squealed with joy and started hopping.

White Ivy: "Piece of cake. If you need more, I can keep looking for you this year."

White Ivy: "As agreed, my fee for this commission is 200 Source Stones. Hard-earned money, so no haggling!"

"Deal. No haggling."

Ink Orchid cheered, "Keep looking! I want to collect every kind of orchid!"

White Ivy: "Got it! Noted. Same rules, same price."

White Ivy worked the silk, opened the pouch, counted out 800 Source Stones and handed them to Ink Orchid. "Ink Orchid, there are 200 Source Stones left."

Ink Orchid: "I’ll buy some Origin Force Food—thirty Green Torreya Seeds from a Mountain Lord Level Insect Clan Warrior territory, and fifty-five Large Fruit Hemlock Pine Nuts from a Lord-Level Insect Clan Warrior territory."

White Ivy calculated for a bit, "That’s exactly 200 Source Stones. All settled."

She got the goods for Ink Orchid and took away the Fruit-Scented Orchid Seeds, storing them carefully.

The deal was smoothly concluded.

I’ve got a stable supply of Divine-Given Seeds now~ White Ivy was feeling pretty happy, too, and asked Dragon Cypress:

"Little Dragon Cypress, Melde says you’ve been developing an orchard?"

Dragon Cypress replied, "Planning to build an orchard, large-scale planting of top-quality fruit trees."

White Ivy waved out a small silk pouch and set it in front of Dragon Cypress, "Melde asked me to bring you these—it’s the seeds you needed."

Dragon Cypress said politely, "Thank you, Mountain Lord White Ivy. And please pass along my greetings and gratitude to Melde."

Dragon Cypress added, "Mountain Lord White Ivy, I also need a batch of rice seeds and lotus seeds—did you bring any?"

White Ivy: "That depends on which kind you want."

Dragon Cypress: "Any variety is fine, just for decoration, the cheaper the better... If you could just spare me some, that’d be great."

"Uh..."

"Well... sure..."

White Ivy got right to it, picked out a pile and tossed them to Dragon Cypress. "These are all worthless. Have fun."

White Ivy asked, "Do you need anything else?"

Dragon Cypress: "Please throw in two large silk bags, five medium and small ones, and a few more silk ropes."

White Ivy: "Got it!"