1918 Tea Picking

The night passed and the day arrived.

The Head Elder had been standing there without moving for the entire night and yet he had not lost his sense of amazement. In fact, he was feeling more refreshed than ever.

'For Junior to be able to do this for a day straight… simply marvelous.' The Head Elder thought. 'He can probably crack a hundred layer array in a month at this rate.' 

~shua~

~thud~thud~thud~

It was at this time, that the books flying around Lin Mu returned to their respective shelves and the formation in front of him also disappeared.

~huu~

Lin Mu took a deep breath and stretched his body, having sat in one place for quite a while.

"About thirty percent done… I'll need a few more visits to complete the collection." Lin Mu said to himself.

"You can come as many times as you want." Lin Mu suddenly heard a voice from behind him.

"Huh? Head Elder!" Lin Mu finally saw the old man.

Because he was so focused on the books, and had restrained his Immortal sense only to the books, he hadn't sensed the old man at all. Of course, since there was no threat from the old man, Lin Mu's body hadn't warned him either.

"How long have you been there Head Elder?" Lin Mu couldn't help but ask.

"Not long." The Head Elder replied with a smile. "Looks like you had some fun of your own." 

"Yeah… it was nice to read. I've only read them on the surface level though and need to do an in-depth analysis level. Though I've managed to take quite a lot of notes." Lin Mu said, glancing at the Jade Slip in his hand.

"That's good. I haven't seen many juniors as enthusiastic as you." The Head Elder could help but praise. "Well then, do you want to rest now or something else?" he asked next.

"We did decide on discussing further, right?" Lin Mu hadn't forgotten about it. 'I might have actually gotten too engrossed and missed the original time.' He thought.

"Of course. But that is if you're feeling well enough for it. If you are tired, you can go rest." The Head Elder replied.

"It is fine, I don't mind," Lin Mu responded. "Though some tea might be nice." He added.

"Haha, that won't be an issue." The Head Elder said before turning around. "Come on, let's go to the place with the best tea in the Serene Glass Valley." He spoke.

"Oh?" Lin Mu was intrigued and followed behind the old man.

Instead of leaving from the peak's exit, the two directly flew out from the balcony. The Head Elder took Lin Mu past the area of the Shuijing Clan and went to the mountains that were a bit closer to the Great Meteorite Wall. Lin Mu had passed by here, and as such remembered them.

This was the area with all the mountains filled with immortal herbs and fruits.

"There it is, Eight Whorl Peak." The Head Elder pointed.

Lin Mu looked at the relatively smaller peak compared to the others. It was actually half as tall as the peak opposite it. But that wasn't all, as its shape was also rather strange. It had eight spirals on it, which were filled with trees. The trees were also planted along the gradient of the spirals, making them look at lot more prominent than they would if it was just soil and rocks.

On the peak, Lin Mu also saw several members of the Serene Glass Valley hard at work. They seemed to be taking care of the plants, ensuring that they had all their requirements fulfilled, as well as pruning the plants that needed it. 

Overall, it didn't look that different from a mortal farm or orchard. The only difference was that both the plants and the humans were much stronger and long-lived than any mortal.

~shua~

The Head Elder descended to the center of the peak, which was in the middle of the eight spirals. Here, a large pergola could be seen. There were tables and seats set up, along with pleasant decorations that enhanced the aesthetic feel of the place.

"This is possibly one of my favorite places in the valley," Head Elder spoke. "Since you wanted tea, let's get some fresh tea ourselves."

"Oh? Fresh tea?" Lin Mu was intrigued.

"Yeah, we'll pick it ourselves." The old man said and walked towards one of the Eight Whorls. "Each of the eight whorls has a different kind of Tea Tree planted in them. The Tea Trees complement each other when grown in this manner, and this enhances their properties." He explained.

"What tea is this Head Elder?" Lin Mu asked, looking at the plant.

It was about two meters tall and had numerous tiny branches on which small leaves grew. They were barely half a centimeter in size and were dark green in color along with a small white dot in the center. 

"The tea leaves are very small," Lin Mu commented. 

He had seen Tea Trees before and knew how big their leaves usually were. Of course, while the leaves would shrink once they were dried and processed, fresh tea leaves were still quite big.

"This is called as the Pixie Leaf Tea Tree." The Head Elder replied. "It has very small leaves, but at the same time, it has a very strong flavor. But it is also quite hard to pluck and it is easy to mess up." He said, gathering immortal Qi on his fingertips and gently using the Qi threads to pluck the tiny leaves.

Lin Mu observed the elder for a minute before the old man spoke. "Try it yourself. And then tell me what is the benefit of doing this."

"Alright." Lin Mu replied and comped what the Head Elder had done.

Immortal Qi wrapped around his hand and coated his fingers, before transforming into thin threads. It was as if each of Lin Mu's fingers had ten more fingers attached to them.

Lin Mu gently brought his index finger and thumb close to the leaves, while the threads on his fingers got to picking the leaves.