The white-headed viper, whose head is naturally white, is also known as the white-headed snake or white-banded viper. It’s one of the 27 venomous snake species in the country and is excellent for steeping in wine or as food for cats, dogs, and foxes.

Li Xiang didn’t like eating snakes, though they could be quite delicious if prepared well.

In China, this snake is a protected species, but internationally, it can be freely traded in many countries, primarily for the pet trade. Demand is high among enthusiasts of rare animals and venomous snakes, and they are almost exclusively caught in the wild, with no captive breeding.

Once the Apocalypse arrived, most of the life on Earth would be wiped out anyway, so Li Xiang felt no guilt about killing these animals and plants for Achievement Points and Spiritual Medicine rewards.

So many humans were going to die, so why not plants and animals?

Besides, after some of the more powerful animals mutated into Demon Beasts, they would prey on humans too.

Along the way, Li Xiang harvested a lot more Spicy Strips.

"The cat, the dogs, and the Little Fox are in for a treat!" Aside from a few rare, high-quality specimens he set aside for steeping in wine, almost all the rest were used to improve his pets’ diets.

He also found several nests of exceptionally large centipedes, which meant the big rooster with the red crest and colorful feathers now had its own food supply.

While exploring the mountain forest, Li Xiang also saw some precious plants, like orchids. He didn’t know the variety, but based on their appearance, they were definitely very expensive types. Li Xiang didn’t dig them up.

The main reason was that illegally digging up orchids and planting them at home would be a huge hassle if discovered, possibly even leading to jail time.

Selling the Chicken Blood Stone and raising the Little Fox were already risky enough. There was no need to add orchids to the mix.

To mitigate the risks and avoid conflict with the authorities during this era of peace, Li Xiang resolved to be more careful in the future.

He had only explored about a fifth of this Primeval Forest, but Li Xiang’s haul was already substantial. Seeing that it was almost five o’clock, he grew worried about the peach tree in the System’s Warehouse and activated his Divine Movement Technique to head back.

The main issue was that living things couldn’t be stored in the System’s Warehouse. He’d tried it before; any animals he put inside all died. However, certain fungi would stay fresh for a period of time before they too perished.

But plants, especially a peach tree this large, carried their own nutrients and could survive for a long time even in a vacuum. Some scientists had done studies showing that certain plants could live for forty years in a vacuum.

But Li Xiang wasn’t sure about the Otherworldly Warehouse. If the peach tree died before he got home, it wouldn’t be worth it.

’If it can store items, it should be able to store air, right?’ Li Xiang decided to run an experiment when he got back. For instance, he could fill a food storage bag with air, seal it tight, and then place it in the System’s Otherworldly Warehouse.

’Or I could use a bottle with a stopper, put an insect inside, seal it, and then put it in the System’s Warehouse.’

’Since the bottle has air and is a sealed environment, the insect could probably survive. But the air in the bottle is limited, so it probably wouldn’t last long. It’s just like an astronaut going to space wearing a spacesuit with an oxygen tank.’

These thoughts popped into his head as he sprinted, but they were pretty damn useless. It was all rather pointless and unnecessary.

When Li Xiang got home around six-thirty, his grandma had just woken up. She came into the backyard to wash up and saw Li Xiang digging a hole with a shovel. Next to him lay a thick peach tree, its branches covered in beautiful blossoms. The fox and dogs were circling nearby, and the Little Fox even went to sniff the peach blossoms, a look of pure bliss on her face.

His grandma couldn’t help but ask in surprise, "Xiang Ya, where did you dig up this peach tree?"

Li Xiang replied, "I was exercising on the mountain this morning and saw it in a ravine. The blossoms were so pretty that I just had to dig it up and bring it back."

"It really is pretty! We’ll have peaches to eat in the future!" His grandma didn’t think much of it. Li Xiang often went up the mountain and brought things back—stones, mushrooms, wild berries, herbs... She was used to it by now. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

In truth, many of the wild berries and herbs Li Xiang had brought back before were actually Spirit Medicine Level, albeit of a lower Tier. He gave them to his family to nourish their bodies.

Back home, when he took the peach tree out of the System’s Otherworldly Warehouse, it still seemed perfectly fresh—not even a single blossom had withered. Li Xiang was relieved. He planted the tree next to the War Drum Pavilion.

He had made many drums before and already painted them with red lacquer, but Zhao Xueqing said it would be best to add some traditional-style color paintings. Li Xiang found this difficult; he’d never learned to paint, and his previous attempt at carving a tea table had turned out hideous.

So, Zhao Xueqing took all the small drums away on a tricycle. She bought brushes and paints and invited Lei Xiaohui to help her work on them in their spare time.

In any case, the drums belonged to the National Tea House, so Li Xiang let Zhao Xueqing do as she pleased with them.

Yao Yao saw this and wasn’t about to be outdone. "You can paint, so why can’t I?" She also bought paints and brushes and came over to Li Xiang’s house to work.

Her main reason was that her big drum was too large to move conveniently. It was better to just work at Li Xiang’s house, where she could also spend time with him and shoot some videos.

He had to admit, both girls were multi-talented and painted quite well.

Li Xiang mused that if he ever needed anything painted in the future, he could just leave it to them.

These past few days were the start of the bamboo shoot harvest. The county where Li Xiang lived was a major producer of bamboo shoots. The families of Zhao Xueqing, Yao Yao, and Lei Xiaohui all owned many acres of bamboo forest, so Li Xiang gave them a few days off to help their families with the digging.

The three women didn’t just seriously dig for shoots; they filmed videos while they worked. They even shared them with Li Xiang, asking him to repost and promote them.

Employees who still worked while on vacation? Li Xiang certainly wasn’t going to refuse such diligent workers.

The peach tree’s trunk was as thick as a bowl. Its root ball, still packed with soil, was hemispherical and over a meter in diameter. It was quite heavy, but Li Xiang handled it all by himself. He planted the tree, filled the hole, and tamped the soil down firmly. Gazing at the vibrant peach blossoms, Li Xiang was very satisfied.

To prevent the peach tree from toppling over in the wind and rain, he followed the example of professional gardeners and installed a support frame.

He used a hashtag-shaped support structure, which was very sturdy. This involved placing four posts evenly around the trunk, each leaning inward. At the top, four crossbars of appropriate length were fixed to the posts, forming a square that held the trunk securely in the center.

Once it was secured, Li Xiang poured several buckets of water on it to help the roots set.

There were bound to be gaps between the soil and the roots, and a thorough watering would help the soil settle and make close contact with the roots, allowing them to absorb nutrients more easily.

’In a few days, a good amount of peach gum might start to seep out.’ Li Xiang inspected the trunk. The tree’s bark was very rough, with cracks in some places. Tiny particles of peach gum were already present, but they weren’t big enough yet.

The secretion of peach gum is actually a sign of damage to the bark. Besides its natural cracks, Li Xiang had inevitably left many wounds when digging up and trimming the tree. All these spots would secrete peach gum.

Although this gum secretion would reduce the peach yield, it was uncertain whether the tree would even bear fruit in its first year after being transplanted.

After planting the peach tree, Li Xiang went to feed the chickens.

He shook out a dozen or so large centipedes. The magnificent rooster with the red crest and colorful feathers immediately flapped its wings and rushed toward its master. Li Xiang reached out and snatched it up.

The rooster struggled, so Li Xiang immediately gave it a light smack. Of course, he didn’t use any real force, just a gentle reprimand. "I’m not going to eat you, so what are you struggling for?"

"CLUCK, CLUCK, CLUCK..." The rooster settled down.

This rooster was such a scoundrel. Li Xiang casually stroked its smooth feathers a few times before putting it back on the ground.

"CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK~" The rooster immediately started using the centipedes to lure over the little hens. Li Xiang couldn’t bear to watch and simply walked away.

"Little Fox, from now on, you’re in charge of keeping this rooster in line. Make it obedient and loyal!" Li Xiang still preferred his cat, dogs, and the Little Fox.

"CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP." The Little Fox nodded with Spiritual intelligence. Her charming foxy eyes glinted with cunning and confidence, as if to say, ’Leave it to me. I guarantee I’ll whip it into shape.’

"WOOF WOOF WOOF~" Er Huang also wagged his tail, eager to join in, but Li Xiang had no faith in him. ’A simpleton like you, training a chicken?’ he thought. ’You only know how to chase them, and you probably can’t even catch one.’

The Little Fox, on the other hand, could catch chickens with ease. It was only because she had taken refuge with Li Xiang, who forbade her from terrorizing the village’s chickens, that she restrained herself.

"Come on, I’ve got something good for you!" Li Xiang remembered the Five Spirit Ointment. ’A dog will travel a thousand miles to eat poop,’ he thought. Although he’d never seen Dahuang or Er Huang eat poop, he figured they probably wouldn’t turn their noses up at it, right?

As for foxes, he’d heard they would also eat feces when food was extremely scarce. But the Little Red Fox was an Alien Species, so he had no idea if she shared that habit.

So, he took out two pellets and offered one to the Little Fox first.

The Little Fox was his "daughter-in-law" who had "married" into the family, after all, so she got priority.

But the Little Fox just sniffed it and gave a look of disgust, clearly recognizing what it was.

Li Xiang was baffled. ’It smells pretty good, though. Not stinky at all. Look, I’m even brave enough to hold it in my bare hands without finding it dirty.’

If it were ordinary poop, Li Xiang, a clean freak, would never touch it directly. But holding it was one thing; eating it was still a bit nauseating. That was mainly because his resources were so abundant. If this were his only treasure, he probably wouldn’t be so picky.

"If you don’t want it, fine. Er Huang, come here!"

Li Xiang held the jade-like, yellowish-orange, mutated Five Spirit Ointment and waved it gently at Er Huang.

As expected, the dog was more of a poop-lover. The moment Er Huang saw the thing, he had started bouncing excitedly, running in circles. Now, hearing his master’s call, he leaped up, his mouth aiming straight for the Five Spirit Ointment in his master’s hand.

But just as he leaped, when his mouth was still dozens of centimeters away from the Five Spirit Ointment, a fiery red figure pounced and knocked him aside.

"CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP!" The Little Fox stood up on her hind legs, put her "hands on her hips," and, shedding her usual gentle demeanor, let loose a torrent of scolding at the dog.

Though Li Xiang couldn’t understand her, he could roughly guess what she was saying. It was probably something like: "You mutt! If you dare eat that poop, don’t you ever touch me again!"

The dog immediately hung his head, tucked his tail between his legs, and admitted his mistake.

Li Xiang: "..." ’You useless thing. Now that you have a wife, you won’t even eat poop? And such high-quality poop, too.’