“Chirp chirp…”

The little monkey, upon seeing the mountain-moving ape on the ice, was filled with fear in its eyes and struggled to climb down from Xu Taiping.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take you over there.”

Xu Taiping gently patted the little monkey’s head, then infused his spiritual power into his feet, and in the blink of an eye, he arrived in front of the mountain-moving ape.

At this moment, the mountain-moving ape was covered with burn marks all over its body, and it was already on the brink of death, but it was still trying to see the little monkey.

“Chirp chirp…”

At this moment, the little monkey leaped down from Xu Taiping and rushed to the mountain-moving ape, embracing its face with its hands.

Then Xu Taiping saw the two monkeys, one big and one small, starting to “chirp” and communicate with each other.

“The old monkey is explaining things to the little monkey, but I don’t know exactly what he’s saying.”

The Fairy Lingyue seemed to understand some monkey language.

Xu Taiping wasn’t very concerned about what the two monkeys were saying, but the scene in front of him did bring back memories of his grandfather.

After all, on that snowy night, his grandfather had explained things to him in a similar way.

“You… young man…”

Just then, the mountain-moving ape seemed to have finished explaining things to the little monkey. It lightly tapped the little monkey’s head with its finger, then looked at Xu Taiping and said, “Can you… take care of… my child? I can… make it form a soul contract with you, serving you for a century…”

Xu Taiping had long understood the matter of forming a soul contract with a spirit beast, but he hadn’t expected such an opportunity to be presented to him so easily.

The Fairy Lingyue didn’t interject, but quietly watched from the side, clearly letting Xu Taiping make his own choice.

“What about you? Are you willing?”

Xu Taiping didn’t directly agree or refuse, but looked at the little monkey.

Upon hearing this, the mountain-moving ape immediately whispered a few words to the little monkey, seemingly conveying Xu Taiping’s words to it.

“Chirp…”

After hearing the mountain-moving ape’s words, the little monkey turned around and hugged the mountain-moving ape’s head. However, under the mountain-moving ape’s persuasion, it soon turned back to look at Xu Taiping and nodded.

“Then you’ll follow me from now on.”

Xu Taiping nodded.

He felt sorry for the little monkey, and he didn’t really want to leave it in the mountains.

The process of forming a soul contract was very simple. The mountain-moving ape took a drop of its original demon blood from the little monkey’s body and dropped it into Xu Taiping’s palm, then had the little monkey swear an oath.

After forming a soul contract with the little monkey, Xu Taiping clearly felt that he could command the little monkey with his thoughts, although he certainly wouldn’t do so.

The reason he took in the little monkey was mostly out of sympathy, rather than a need for a spirit beast.

As for why he had to form a soul contract, it was because according to the rules of the Qingxuan Sect, a spirit beast without a soul contract couldn’t enter the territory of the Qingxuan Sect.

The mountain-moving ape must have known about this.

“Young man…”

Just then, the mountain-moving ape suddenly reached into its mouth and pulled out a piece of transparent crystal ore, then lightly tossed the piece of ore, which weighed over a hundred pounds, in front of Xu Taiping.

“This thing belongs to you…”

The mountain-moving ape pointed at the piece of ore that had rolled to Xu Taiping’s feet.

“What is this?”

Xu Taiping was a little confused.

“Ice Soul Moon Spirit Stone?”

At the same time, the Fairy Lingyue exclaimed.

“Ice Soul Moon Spirit Stone is a material for forging spirit weapons, very rare, and in my original cultivation world, it is considered a very precious ore.”

She then explained to Xu Taiping.

“Spirit weapons?”

Xu Taiping was also surprised.

From his current understanding of magical tools and weapons, the weapons in the cultivation world were divided into magical tools, magical treasures, spiritual treasures, and the legendary immortal treasures.

Spirit weapons were a type of spiritual treasure, specifically referring to weapons with extremely strong attack power.

You see, let alone spirit weapons, he hadn’t even seen a magical treasure at the moment, let alone a spiritual treasure or spirit weapon.

“Quickly take it, and when the land bears fruit three times, use this Ice Soul Moon Spirit Stone as nourishment, then plant it on a spiritual mountain. It might be able to nurture a high-quality spirit weapon with special abilities.”

The Fairy Lingyue said with a hint of excitement.

If it were in her original world, a piece of Ice Soul Moon Spirit Stone wouldn’t have made her so excited, but it was different on this continent. The preciousness of the Ice Soul Moon Spirit Stone here was comparable to the Ice Soul Fairy Spirit Stone in their world.

“Chirp chirp chirp…”

Just as Xu Taiping picked up the Ice Soul Moon Spirit Stone, there was a heart-wrenching scream from the ice in front, and when he looked up, he saw that the mountain-moving ape had closed its eyes.

“It’s gone.”

The Fairy Lingyue’s tone was somewhat desolate.

Next, Xu Taiping found a way to bury the mountain-moving ape’s body in the mountains, and then took the snake skin and demon gall of the Fire Mark Python before returning to the Green Bamboo Residence with the little monkey.

…

Inside the bedroom.

“Little monkey, I’m called Taiping, and you can be called Ping’an from now on, okay?”

Xu Taiping placed the little monkey on the table, then wrote the word “Ping’an” on the paper with a brush.

“Chirp chirp.”

The little monkey nodded as it held the paper.

It seemed to understand the meaning of Xu Taiping’s words.

Then, Xu Taiping got some food for the little monkey.Perhaps it was due to exhaustion, the little monkey, after devouring a plate of mutton, collapsed onto Xu Taiping’s bed and fell into a deep sleep, snoring loudly.

“Taiping, it’s time to plant the Earth-Hiding Fruit.”

The soul of the Lingyue Fairy appeared beside Xu Taiping.

“Mhm.”

Xu Taiping nodded with anticipation.

…

That night.

“Sister Lingyue, the hole is ready.”

In the spiritual medicine garden, Xu Taiping had dug one large and three small pits in a space he had reserved earlier.

“The east is associated with wood and signifies growth; place the Fire Ganoderma in the small pit to nurture treasures that can enhance cultivation speed.”

“The north is associated with water and signifies balance; place gold and silver treasures in the small pit to nurture treasures that can heal and restore.”

“The west is associated with metal and signifies destruction; place the Soughing Wind Pearl, tiger head, tiger gall, snake head, and snake gall in the small pit to nurture treasures of destruction and weaponry.”

Under the guidance of the Lingyue Fairy, Xu Taiping followed her instructions, pouring the prepared items into the three small pits according to their respective directions.

“Finally, place the Earth-Hiding Fruit into the main pit and wait for three months.”

After filling and covering the three small pits, Xu Taiping took out the Earth-Hiding Fruit and carefully placed it into the main pit.

“Little Taiping, see you in three months.”

The ethereal figure of the Lingyue Fairy floated above the main pit, smiling and winking at Xu Taiping.

“Mhm, see you in three months, Sister Lingyue.”

Xu Taiping nodded.

After the second transformation of the Earth-Hiding Fruit, the fruit would take three months to mature, something the Lingyue Fairy had already explained to Xu Taiping.

“Speaking of which, it’s time to sell seeds in the garden. Last year’s harvest of the Nine-Leaf Purple Perilla was good, but relying solely on the sale of Nine-Leaf Purple Perilla for merit, I could only save up about a hundred merit coins.”

After planting the Earth-Hiding Fruit, Xu Taiping looked at the now barren medicine garden, where the Nine-Leaf Purple Perilla had been sold off, and murmured to himself.

“Adding the merit coins obtained from the Evil Ghosts and Tiger Demon, I now have about five hundred merit coins left. Although it’s enough for future expenses, it’s not sufficient to buy medicinal materials and cultivation techniques. It seems I need to plant some more valuable medicinal herbs this year.”

He pondered this as he returned to his bedroom.

By now, he had deeply realized that cultivation required not only talent and perseverance but also money, lots and lots of money, and in the Qingxuan Sect, money was in the form of merit coins.

“Three months, that should pass quickly, right?”

Xu Taiping muttered softly to himself, then closed the bedroom door.