I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 149 - 147: Moon Cherry in Full Bloom at Night (Part 2)
Seeing Li Xing with her head bowed in silence, Chu Yunyi proactively started the conversation.
"You’ve come at the perfect time, right in time for the Moon Cherry’s blooming season. If you miss it tonight, you’ll have to wait until next year."
The more beautiful the flower, the shorter its blooming period; the Moon Cherry’s lasts only twenty-four hours.
Li Xing: "It’s already quite difficult for the Moon Cherry to survive a transplant, and this one has even bloomed. Your Chu family’s gardeners are impressive."
"What if I told you this Moon Cherry blooms without any care and has done so for sixteen consecutive years, would you believe it?"
"Ah? How could that be possible!"
Chu Yunyi chuckled softly, shifted his gaze from the Moon Cherry to Li Xing’s face, and said slowly:
"This Moon Cherry was originally planted at the Ye Family estate, and my mother adored it. When she married into the Chu Family, this Moon Cherry was transplanted over as part of her dowry. She personally took care of it every day, yet the tree didn’t bloom and constantly shed its leaves."
"Everyone thought the roots were damaged during the transplant and that it wouldn’t live long, but it never died. Later, when troubles came to the family, my mother fell ill, and my father didn’t care for plants, so he left it to fend for itself. I thought such a delicate tree wouldn’t survive another year, but not only did it live, it also bloomed, without interruption for sixteen years."
Chu Yunyi picked up a branch and gently flicked at the white flowers with his fingers, continuing:
"When I was little, I often saw my mother sitting under the tree, lost in thought, covered with withered leaves. I said the tree was ugly and not worth keeping, but she told me that the Moon Cherry is the most beautiful and pure plant in the world. Whenever the Moon Cherry blooms, its light and its sound can communicate with souls and allow us to reunite with the ones we miss."
Chu Yunyi released the branch, letting the white flower fall off, its bell-like petals lay quietly in his palm and soon turned into shimmering dust.
"I really wanted to see if the Moon Cherry was as beautiful as she claimed, but unfortunately, I never got the chance. The year she went mad, the Moon Cherry bloomed," Chu Yunyi sighed imperceptibly, "it really was beautiful."
Li Xing felt uneasy thinking that if a family’s future depended on sacrificing a woman’s happiness, it might as well be doomed.
"I feel like this tree is using its own way to accompany and encourage Mrs. Chu."
Chu Yunyi spoke as if to himself, in a voice so soft:
"Maybe."
The evening breeze lifted, making the soft branches dance in the wind, emitting the dense ringing sound, as if telling tales of distant memories.
"Ringing—ringing ringing—!"
The air stirred with the movement of Wood Element forces, Li Xing exclaimed: "The Moon Cherry is about to wither!"
Just as Li Xing’s words fell, all the buds simultaneously turned into dust, circling the Moon Cherry Tree before being swept into the starry sky by the wind, merging into the galaxy.
When in bloom, the tree is brilliant; when withered, it remains pure and unsullied—as sacred as love itself.
As the flowers dropped, grayish-green leaves sprouted from the branches, in a blink, the withered Moon Cherry Tree became lush again.
The leaves of a Moon Cherry Tree should be emerald green, but the leaves of this tree are dim and greying, clearly due to not being nourished by Primordial Spirit for many years.
This tree carries a woman’s yearning, and Li Xing couldn’t bear to see it slowly wither away, so she parted the layered branches like a curtain, reaching the tree’s trunk.
Chu Yunyi remained silent, following Li Xing at a distance.
Li Xing took out Gustav’s crystal stone from the Jade Pendant, gripping it hard so that the stone crumbled into powder. Rich Wood Element poured out, under Li Xing’s control, it moved like a green yarn thread, inch by inch penetrating the tree’s roots.
In Qianyuan Continent, the best fertilizer for plants is Wood Element. It’s not difficult to obtain, but the challenge lies in how to uniformly and steadily deliver the Wood Element to the plant’s roots. If one fails to control the Elemental Power well, it can fluctuate during delivery, turning fertilization into poison.
Chu Yunyi stood idly by, quietly observing, recalling the scene from over a decade ago when Ye Lan fertilized the Moon Cherry.
The branches of the Moon Cherry seemed to come alive, constantly reaching toward Li Xing, while the leaves shifted from grey-green to vibrant green.
Li Xing circled the trunk, channeling vast amounts of Wood Element Spirit evenly into the soil at the roots, adding a slow-release array to ensure the Moon Cherry would have ample Wood Element for the next decade.
Li Xing brushed away the powdery remains of the crystal stone from her hand, just as she was about to leave, her wrist was caught by a branch.
At the end of the branch, a large bud gradually swelled, under Li Xing’s gaze, it blossomed into a white flower two to three times larger than typical Moon Cherry flowers. Once fully bloomed, the flower and a small section of leaf-bearing branch dropped into Li Xing’s palm.
The white flower paired with green leaves, elegant and noble, resembling a fine hairpin.
Li Xing grinned, could this be a thank-you gift? This Moon Cherry has truly gained a spirit. She casually tucked the hairpin into her hair and thanked the Moon Cherry Tree.
Upon seeing Li Xing accept the gift, the Moon Cherry released her wrist, stretching its branch and leaves to absorb the moonlight, the leaves breathing in a rhythmic shimmer.
Li Xing turned around to find Chu Yunyi smiling at her, his gaze tender—this was the second time tonight that he showed genuine emotion in front of her.
Li Xing felt bashful under his gaze, but said something awkward:
"I used a Heaven Rank crystal stone on it, you have to compensate me."
Chu Yunyi nodded: "Of course. How would you like to be compensated?"
"The Heaven Rank crystal stone sells for three million star coins, just convert it to cash and give it to me."
"Heaven Rank crystal stones don’t have a price, only an auction starting price of three million star coins with no upper limit, so by those calculations, you’re losing out." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
"Then—what do you think is appropriate?"
Chu Yunyi laughed: "I really don’t know."
Li Xing: ...
"During the competition, didn’t one of your array pearls break?"
Li Xing nodded, thinking to herself, wasn’t this all thanks to you?
"How about this, I’ll help you fix your broken pearl as a way of repaying you for fertilizing the Moon Cherry, how’s that?"
"This... "
In truth, she had considered asking Chu Yunyi to help repair the Glazed Array Bead, after all, he is the youngest and most talented talisman master on Qianyuan Continent, trusting him with this task meant not having to worry about a failed repair.
Precisely because of Chu Yunyi’s strong talent and skill, he might uncover the secrets of the Glazed Array Bead, and if he figures out the pattern of the arrays, the Thousand Leaves Killing Array would be ineffective against him. Losing the Thousand Leaves Killing Array as a trump card would make future competitions against Chu Yunyi even harder to win.
Chu Yunyi noticed Li Xing’s hesitation and spoke up: "You really don’t need to worry about me taking advantage of this to peek into your array setup, as a Heaven Rank talisman master, I regularly repair weapons for people, I’ve maintained basic professional integrity."
Seeing Li Xing still hesitating, Chu Yunyi offered another concession: "If you’re truly concerned, you can supervise the entire process."
Only then did Li Xing reluctantly nod: "Alright then."
Chu Yunyi internally sighed in exasperation; usually, others would beg him to refine artifacts, but now here he was offering to repair Li Xing’s array pearl, and she was less than enthusiastic.
