Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!-Chapter 81: Soul Refining Banner and Mill

An Immortal Peach that can extend one’s lifespan!

Jiang Yuanxin pondered that indeed there exist ways to extend one’s lifespan in the Wilderness World, but he wasn’t sure where Wo Hu Temple was. Thankfully, there were still three months left, enough time to upgrade the Soul Refining Banner. Perhaps by then, he could join in the excitement and fight for some fortune.

"Whew! This is the first time an Immortal has possessed me for so long..." After chatting a while, the Yin Mountain female corpse finally departed. Ji Xiuxiang moved her aching, cold body to clear her mind and was frightened to see her husband’s soul lying on the ground, "Changgui! Changgui, how are you?"

"He’s not in any grave danger, just overwhelmed by the heavy Evil Energy from the Yin Messenger. You should guide his soul into a paper puppet to rest for two days, and he’ll be fine." Jiang Yuan repeated the Yin Mountain female corpse’s advice, then went on to tell her that the Queen Mother of the West had already given thanks. He decided to leave first as the day had been quite exhausting.

Ji Xiuxiang gratefully saw him off and hurried to assist her husband in returning his soul. She also had to thank the Immortal for his tremendous help and prepare the agreed-upon thanks for the Yin Messenger. Fortunately, the conditions had been settled, and her husband’s soul could linger in the Mortal World, making the hustle worth it.

Leaving the stone house, Jiang Yuan rushed towards the Old Dragon Cave with eager anticipation!

Building a stove required iron ingots anyway, and such basic building materials would definitely be needed in many places in the future. Whenever possible, mining more couldn’t go wrong. Meanwhile, he wanted to test the power of the Soul Refining Banner.

Two paper figures energetically wielded mining pickaxes under directive, and after more than half an hour, he finally heard the familiar "thud" sound, prompting him to bring out the Soul Refining Banner.

As the banner unfurled, gusts of Yin wind surged.

He carefully examined it, only to discover the primary Soul Refining Banner had a simple design: one long and one short wooden stick forming a T-shape. A white banner cloth with red-trimmed edges hung down from the short crosspiece, and its end was tied up, appearing more like a crude decoration than the imagined Soul Refining Banner.

Especially since the tied-up white cloth made it look somewhat like a small lantern, it seemed rather half-hearted and playful.

"Oooooo..." The mine ghosts, disturbed and sensing human presence, immediately emitted a ghostly wail, drifting out from the stone wall.

But they merely looked at each other briefly as Jiang Yuan was preoccupied with observing and manipulating the Soul Refining Banner, barely paying attention to how many mine ghosts there were. Witnessing the howling Yin wind, the open lower end of the white cloth suddenly unfurled, flapping like a wind-bag, and the mine ghosts, unable to resist at all, were directly sucked in.

"Swish!"

Once more, the white cloth bag shrank back and tied up, stopping steadily as its contents churned a bit before quieting down.

[Absorbed five mine ghosts, estimated Evil Energy refinement time: five hours]

[Soul Refining Banner usage rate: 10%]

"Oh wow! Sure enough, expertise comes with specialization, is it resolved so quickly?" Jiang Yuan was amazed, putting away the Soul Refining Banner and proceeding to open a chest.

However, while dealing with monsters had become convenient, he wasn’t gaining any combat experience.

During previous tests, he figured out that the system only counted skill upgrades by quantity, not quality. Therefore, even when he killed the Flame Rat leader beyond his level, it didn’t earn him much experience, only an achievement reward — emphasizing equality, with no difference between ordinary monsters and boss experiences.

Hoping to quickly level up his combat skills, he had ordered a paper ox to weaken appearing mine ghosts when mining the day before, leaving him to deliver the final blow for the experience.

While using the Soul Refining Banner was fast, his combat skill experience wasn’t accumulating.

"Let’s prioritize you for now. Once you’ve reached full capacity and can’t hold any more mine ghosts, I’ll engage in monster battles for experience." Picking up the spoils from the wooden chest, Jiang Yuan decided to first "feed" the Soul Refining Banner to its full.

Mastery needs personal growth; compelling his combat skill to level up instead of always relying on external items means he has to work harder in mining to encounter more mine ghosts!

Overflowing with enthusiasm and abundant gains, time passed quickly.

By mid-afternoon, Jiang Yuan felt reluctant to end his mining venture, yet his Storage Bag was already full; the Soul Refining Banner was packed with mine ghosts awaiting Evil Energy refinement, and there was only about a tenth left on his progress bar to level up his combat skill to level 2.

Riding a paper crane home, he first collected the iron ingots completed from the Melting Workshop, then added a sufficient amount of iron ore, having accumulated enough materials, he clicked to build a basic mill.

It was Wan Mingchuan’s first time witnessing such miraculous scenes; although he had experienced various ghostly and divine abilities after becoming an apprentice, his master with his hands behind his back seemed indifferent while wood, stone, and other materials danced in mid-air, constructing a small house with a pointed roof partly built on the river.

"My goodness, Master must truly be an Immortal!" Wan Mingchuan tightly covered his mouth with his hands to stop any inadvertent cries from disrupting the master’s crucial tasks. His pair of strikingly black and white eyes refused to blink even once, observing through the thatched house window the incredible scene.

He finally understood how those two houses appeared so abruptly! frёewebηovel.cѳm

Simply divine!

Given the reminder during his apprenticeship that he couldn’t snoop into topics the master didn’t voluntarily discuss, he had to suppress his curiosity, closing his eyes to continue his meditative breathwork.

Wan Mingchuan firmly believed that as long as he could successfully break through his meridians to establish his Foundation, there’s bound to be an opportunity to reach the master’s mystical skills!

[Task 3 complete, rewards issued]

[Task 4: Build a basic Bait Workshop. Reward: Simple Recipe +1]

Finally be able to plant rice!

Jiang Yuan clicked to check the seeds in the market, Wilderness Long Straw Rice seeds cost 3 gold coins each and would mature in two days.

Spending three hundred gold coins to purchase a hundred rice seeds, he didn’t rush to cultivate fields but entered the mill to check usage details.

Still with the classic workshop style in farming games, currently using river water as power, it’s capable of grinding grains’ outer shells, flour, various spices, and medicinal powders.

"Oh! I can grind medicinal materials used for incense making into powder in the mill, eliminating the need to rely solely on manual force like Tian Changgui!" He suddenly had an epiphany and checked the Incense Chart for required materials of different incense sticks, deciding to attempt making some incense.

"Creak, creak..."

Placing spices on the mill tray in the game’s interface, the sluice gate automatically dropped, with river water driving a waterwheel spinning, causing the grinding disk to softly rotate, making the mill full of ancient, primitive rustic charm formally start working.

"Once the Incense Making Skill is upgraded, the incense made by myself can be used in the real world, and perhaps... can also be sold in the window!" Jiang Yuan observed the grinding disk turning in circles, his eyes suddenly shining.

No incense-selling shop had been found in the Cyan Fish Mountain market, and since many Demon Cultivators and Ghost Cultivators were looking to be worshiped and become deities, the incense they needed isn’t just a small amount.

He decided to whip up some incense and examine its price in the window; if suitable, future product sales could at least provide incomes recovery, eliminating the solitary dependence on top-ups for daily expenses.

"Master, let me do this!" Wan Mingchuan’s restless heart, after meditating for a moment, couldn’t resist looking again at the new house with a large waterwheel in the yard, finding his master was hoeing the land so he hurriedly ran out to grab the hoe, "Let me handle these chores!"

Jiang Yuan chuckled and waved his hand, "Let me do it, you can help water after I sow the seeds."

Do you think I’d joke about this - hoeing, sowing, watering, harvesting, these are essential farm tasks for upgrading the Farming Skill, delegating them to the apprentice would stall my progress, wouldn’t it?