Li Xuan summoned his soul power once again. The Nine-Heart Nine-Flame Lotus radiated a soft yellow light, which gradually coalesced into a glowing yellow ring. The ring expanded outward, surpassing the lotus and enveloping Li Xuan completely.
Before he could even marvel at the sight, a surge of power flowed into his body through the soul ring. Suddenly, a sense of insight emerged within him—like a whisper in his mind.
"Burn the heart, illuminate the soul, control the spirit, shake the mind... First Soul Skill: Burning Heart Seal!"
The words escaped his lips involuntarily. His hands formed a seal, and a golden-red mark, about the size of a fist, flickered into existence in his palm.
"Go!"
Li Xuan shouted as he thrust his hand forward. The fiery seal flew from his palm and shot straight toward the nearby wall.
BOOM!
The flimsy thatched hut, already on its last legs, had absolutely no chance. With a thunderous crash, the whole thing collapsed into a pile of rubble...
A few minutes later, the dust finally settled. All that remained was a heap of broken timber and scattered straw.
Unfortunately, Li Xuan had been inside said hut... and was now somewhere underneath it.
After a fair amount of struggling, he finally crawled out from the wreckage, covered head to toe in dust.
With a shake of his head—promptly releasing a small dust storm—he muttered irritably, "Great. This thing's got way more kick than I expected. Blew up my whole house."
He hadn't expected Burning Heart Seal to pack that much of a punch. A little overkill for a first soul skill, wasn't it?
His eyes darted toward the nursery patch in the yard. Only when he saw the flower seedlings unharmed did he finally exhale in relief. If those had gotten wrecked too, he'd have been pulling all-nighters for the rest of the week.
Sighing, he stepped away from the ruins. The weather was good, and it wasn't like sleeping under the stars for a few nights would kill him. No point stressing over rebuilding the hut just yet.
After brushing himself off as best he could, Li Xuan plopped down in the courtyard and began reviewing what he'd just learned.
"So the first soul skill isn't just a ranged attack—it's also a marking skill. Once someone's hit by the Burning Heart Seal, I can agitate their emotions from up to a kilometer away using the Burning Heart Divine Flame... Not bad at all! Only issue is that chant..."
Li Xuan sighed. As someone from a more... modern mindset, shouting poetic nonsense before a fight felt a little too embarrassing.
Still, considering that everyone in this world did it before every fight, he supposed he might as well embrace it. No shout, no style, right?
Suddenly, a thought struck him. He slapped his forehead and dashed back toward the ruins, frantically rummaging through the debris.
Thankfully, luck was on his side today. The Voidgrass and Breadgrass—two of his more valuable plant specimens—had somehow survived unscathed. If he'd lost those, he might have cried.
After carefully relocating the salvaged plants to a safer spot, he no longer paid much attention to the wreckage. With a sigh, he redeemed a boxed meal from the system shop and began eating.
Once he'd eaten his fill, he returned to work.
One by one, he began transferring the matured seedlings from their nursery trays into proper flower pots.
Time flew by. By the time the sun dipped below the horizon, Li Xuan had finally put down his tools.
He looked at the fruits of his labor—over a hundred seedlings transplanted. Only six hundred or so to go. At this rate, he figured he'd need two or three more days to finish.
Once done, all that would remain was to return the potted seedlings to the various flower hands who had commissioned them. With that, his rare plant cultivation task would finally be complete.
Just then, his stomach let out a deep, almost mournful growl.
"Didn't I just eat lunch?" he muttered, mildly betrayed by his own metabolism.
Helpless, his gaze fell upon the Breadgrass plant sitting innocently in the corner.
He'd had the thing for a few days now, but had been too busy cultivating the Heartflame Gold Chrysanthemum to tend to it. Now that he'd absorbed his first soul ring, the pressure had eased a little. He could afford to experiment.
He grabbed a well-worn clay jug—an "old actor" that had served him many times—and carefully diluted a drop of green spirit liquid from his little green bottle. No need to waste an entire drop, since the Breadgrass was supposedly ready to bear fruit in just ten days.
With the jug in hand, he made his way to the flowerpot and tipped it slightly. A single drop of diluted green liquid landed on the soil.
In the blink of an eye, the palm-sized Breadleaf shot up to half a meter tall. Beneath its broad emerald leaves, six large fruits swelled rapidly—each one growing to the size of a basketball before stopping.
Li Xuan hurriedly picked all six, afraid the branches would snap from the weight. But just as he harvested the last one, the plant withered rapidly, then dissolved into faint motes of soul energy.
"So... it's a one-and-done kind of plant." Li Xuan scratched his head, a little disappointed. "I thought I had a lifetime supply of bread. Turns out I just bought dinner."
Just then, a glowing system prompt appeared before his eyes:
[Congratulations! You have harvested 6 Breadfruit. Gained 6 points of Herbalist experience.]
"It even gives me sub-profession EXP? Awesome!" Li Xuan grinned.
He inspected the breadfruit. Each looked like a giant cabbage, wrapped in layer upon layer of leafy "packaging."
Curious, he picked one up and peeled back the leaves. Inside...
A chocolate bun.
Wrapped perfectly like a dessert straight out of a high-end bakery. No smushing, no damage—just a pristine, gooey, delicious-looking treat.
"Is this... a dirty bun?" Li Xuan muttered in disbelief. "Wait, no, this isn't dirty. This is divine!"
System-made goods didn't need to make sense. They just worked. That was the law of the land.
Without hesitation, Li Xuan took a big bite.
Soft, fluffy, and filled with rich, bittersweet chocolate—an instant wave of happiness washed over him.
"Oh yeah. This is the stuff. Only sweets can soothe the human soul," he mumbled with his eyes closed in bliss.
As he finished the bun, he noticed something else nestled where the fruit had been: a small, glassy seed about the size of a marble.
He immediately pulled up its stats.
Plant: "Dirty Bun" Breadgrass
Grade: Rare Treasure
Cultivation: 0 years
Description: A miraculous seed that grows into a Breadgrass plant. Matures in 10 days and produces a single "Dirty Bun" breadfruit. Low environmental requirements.
Note: System-exclusive plant with unique properties.
"Nice! With this, I can mass-produce dirty buns!" Li Xuan cheered.
He peeled open the remaining five breadfruits. Inside were:
An egg wrap with pork floss,
A strawberry yogurt jam roll,
A cream-filled bun,
A daliyeva (a dense, dark rye bread),
And... a plain steamed bun.
The last one felt a little off-theme, but hey—Li Xuan figured it was perfect for an Eastern digestive system.
Suddenly inspired, he grabbed the daliyeva seed and planted it into a nearby flowerpot. Bread for the road, after all.