Longevity through Upgrading Buildings

Chapter 150: Chapter 121: [Kitchen], [Wine Cellar], and [Array Room] (2-in-1)_4

He summoned the Thunder Falcon Boat, circled around the area a few times, and then rose above the mist to check things out.

The only thing to say is... perfect!

With this array in place, even ordinary cultivators at the Qi Cultivation Stage would never notice this island if they passed nearby. As for those at the Foundation Establishment Stage... as long as they don’t sweep the area repeatedly with their divine sense, they shouldn’t be able to detect it either.

Having settled the most critical safety issue, Ji Yuan finally returned to Mist Island.

The fog here was good at deceiving outsiders, but as the master of the array, Ji Yuan was immune—it even served as a handy trick to tease the Big Toad.

Finally, Ji Yuan spent another dozen days taking time to comprehend the Rain Killing Array.

Once this array is activated, it causes rain to fall within a ten-mile radius.

And every drop of that rain can become a lethal weapon.

It’s great for dealing large-scale damage, but can also be used to restrict the enemy and force them to reveal a weakness.

The effect was excellent.

If it’s set off on a rainy day, the results are even better, like twice the gain with half the effort.

With the array now complete, Ji Yuan had ticked off a big item on his list—and finally had a chance to deal with the Wine Cellar Tu Yue had excavated.

The Wine Cellar was also inside Ji Yuan’s Cave Mansion, dug out by Tu Yue using the Cyan Cicada Sword, hacking away slice by slice. But compared to Ji Yuan’s handiwork, hers looked far less elegant—full of pits and bumps everywhere.

But that didn’t matter, as long as it could hold wine.

Ji Yuan stepped inside the Wine Cellar, pasted a paper slip but got no reaction, so he would have to try adding wine.

When it came to wine, Ji Yuan hadn’t drunk much, and hadn’t prepared a lot either—just a few jars he picked up earlier when he killed that demon cultivator and found them in his storage bag.

He now took out the three jars of aged wine, but the system panel still didn’t react.

Maybe the Wine Cellar doesn’t count as a building?

That seems unlikely—even the Spirit Field is recognized as a building, so why wouldn’t the Wine Cellar count?

Could it be because I eat rice, but drink wine so rarely?

Ji Yuan thought about it for a moment, then glanced at the spacious stone chamber with just three jars of wine inside. Maybe there wasn’t enough wine in here for the panel to acknowledge it as a Wine Cellar.

If that’s the case, he would just have to buy more next time.

Just as Ji Yuan was putting away the three jars, preparing to leave, a sudden idea flashed in his mind... Wine—one jar is wine, but if I dilute this jar with water to make a hundred jars—

Would those hundred jars not still be wine?

At most, the quality would suffer—they’d just be watered-down wine.

Well, either way, it’s worth a try. May as well test it out.

Ji Yuan definitely didn’t have that many wine jars, so he went to the other side of the island, chopped a few bamboo stalks, and made bamboo tube wine containers.

He spent half a day on this, and once dozens of bamboo tube wines were set up in the stone chamber—

The panel finally refreshed.

A new building appeared.

In the center of the stone chamber floated a line of text.

[Wine Cellar: Level 0 (Current)]

The system panel also updated to show the new building.

[Wine Cellar: Level 1 (Cannot upgrade)]

[Spirit Effect: After one night of storage, wine flavor +20%; the longer the wine stays in the cellar, the richer and more fragrant the taste.]

[Upgrade Criteria: Low-grade Spirit Stones ×10; three types of Spirit Wine, one jar each; a hundred jars of wine stored in the cellar. (Not achieved)]

Looks just like the Kitchen.

One makes food tastier, the other makes wine tastier.

The older, the better.

The upgrade requirements aren’t hard either—Spirit Wine can be bought in Cloud Rain Marsh Market, and as for a hundred jars, Ji Yuan already has sixty or seventy in here—just needs to buy a bit more.

’Buy a few jars of Spirit Wine, let them sit for a few days, and then submit them for a quest on Thousand Mechanism Island—see if they meet the requirements.’

If that works, it’ll be another way to freeload.

Leaving the Wine Cellar, Ji Yuan planned to make a trip to Black Water Square nearby.

Go buy some wine, restock on talisman paper and herbs—days spent making pills and painting talismans yielded big gains, but used up lots of materials too.

After a day out, Ji Yuan even came back with a batch of Spirit Pigs.

Now that his body refinement had reached completion, he needed more of these—not to mention the Big Toad, another major Spirit Pig eater.

With wine and pigs in hand, the Wine Cellar naturally upgraded to Level 1.

The Level 2 Wine Cellar perk popped up as well.

[Wine Cellar: Level 2 (Cannot upgrade)]

[Spirit Effect: Wine flavor +40%; consuming it grants a small boost to cultivation (effect depends on wine quality); produces one tael of Heart’s Desire Wine daily.]

[Upgrade Criteria: Low-grade Spirit Stones ×80; ten types of Spirit Wine, ten jars each; Cyan Bamboo Spirit Water ×10 catties; must have mastered at least one Spirit Wine brewing method. (Not achieved)]

Ji Yuan eyed the new feature with slight interest—mainly this daily welfare Heart’s Desire Wine.

The name sounded odd—no idea how it tasted yet.

But ultimately, it wasn’t much of a cultivation boost, so Ji Yuan didn’t focus too much on it.

After wrapping up the building upgrades, he once again immersed himself in cultivation.

Just like that, more than half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

In all that time, Ji Yuan only returned to Water Dragon Sect once—the rest of it was spent cultivating alone on Mist Island.

In terms of talisman making, Ji Yuan had mastered almost all the Tier One upper-grade talismans.

If he didn’t lack tier two talisman techniques, he’d already be trying to break into Tier Two talismans.

His alchemy lagged a bit, since he started later.

But when it comes to Spirit Gathering Pills and Qi Blood Pills, Ji Yuan could make them easily now.

With some more experience, he could try crafting Tier Two Water Spirit Pills, and once the Alchemy Room hits Level 2, he’ll unlock the method for Foundation Establishment Pills.

On that trip back to Water Dragon Sect, he didn’t forget to submit wine for a quest on Thousand Mechanism Island.

After submitting, he didn’t bother following up.

If there was a payoff, great. If not, no big deal.

On this day—

Ji Yuan paused his cultivation and summoned the system panel once more.

Right now, the Enlightenment Room was still at Level 1, but whether it’s pushing for Tier Two talismans or Tier Two pills, both would need a buff to his insight.

So it was time to prioritize the Enlightenment Room upgrade.

[Enlightenment Room: Level 2 (Cannot upgrade)]

[Spirit Effect: Insight boost up to 20%; when facing a bottleneck, an extra 10% insight bonus.]

[Upgrade Criteria: Mid-grade Spirit Stones ×20, Illusion Heart Flower ×3, Earth Vein Spirit Marrow ×1 pot (Not achieved)]

Spirit Stones were enough, and Earth Vein Spirit Marrow could be bought at Hundred Treasures Tower—only Illusion Heart Flower was missing, but he could ask at Hundred Treasures Tower too.

Also, it was time to upgrade the Pigsty.

If he wanted to reach Foundation Establishment, mana alone would take years—better to try boosting his physique to a Vajra-like body first, so he could gain Foundation Establishment stage combat power ahead of time.

[Pigsty: Level 3 (Cannot upgrade)]

[Spirit Effect: Produces one tael of Runyu Fat per month; after slaughtering a Spirit Pig, a Quenching Acupoint Pearl is guaranteed to appear in the heart.]

[Upgrade Criteria: Mid-grade Spirit Stones ×40, Earth Core Lava ×5 catties, must craft Qi Blood Pills. (Not achieved)]

Forty mid-grade Spirit Stones was pricey, but manageable, and Earth Core Lava should also be available for purchase.

Ji Yuan could make Qi Blood Pills himself.

Since that’s settled, time for another trip back to Water Dragon Sect to buy the upgrade materials for both buildings.

He could also ask about any news from the frontlines. It’s been almost a year since he joined Water Dragon Sect—wonder how things are going there now.