Even though the Moon-Eroding Fruit only brought a fragment of the first-grade artifact, the Silver Splitting Blade, and he still needed to gather the rest, Lu Xuan was quite satisfied.
In the cultivation world, among various cultivation resources of the same level, the most valuable items are pill formulas and cultivation techniques, followed by formations, artifacts, pills, and talismans. Lastly, there are various cultivation materials like spiritual herbs, spiritual ores, and the flesh and blood of spirit beasts.
The Corrosive Moon Tree was just a low-grade spiritual plant, so even a fragment of an artifact was a pleasant surprise. He looked at the three silver-white shards swirling around him, eagerly anticipating the moment they would combine into the Silver Splitting Blade.
That day, the quiet courtyard, which had not been disturbed by any cultivators, suddenly heard a voice from outside.
“Lu Xuan, are you home?”
Lu Xuan immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Zhang Hong’s wife. He had only seen her a few times when visiting Zhang Hong's family. In his memory, she was a graceful and gentle woman named Xu Wan, with a cultivation level of the second layer of Qi Refining.
Lu Xuan opened the courtyard door and saw Xu Wan looking a bit haggard.
“Sister-in-law, is there something you need? Please come in and talk.”
“No, Lu Xuan, there is indeed something I need your help with.”
Seeing Lu Xuan, Xu Wan’s hurried breathing calmed down a bit.
“I heard from Old Zhang that there were Black Bud Worm larvae appearing in your spiritual field, and you spent quite a few spirit stones to deal with it.”
“Recently, many loose cultivators in the northern district have suffered from pest infestations. I’ve been on guard day and night, but still couldn’t prevent it. When I discovered it, the situation in my spiritual field had become quite serious.”
“I wanted to ask if you know any loose cultivators nearby who can deal with the Black Bud Worm larvae and how much they would charge?”
Lu Xuan thought for a moment and shared the information he had gathered.
“I know of three: Fairy Lingyun, who is skilled with flying needle artifacts; the sword cultivator Li Xu, who uses Sword Qi Threads; and Qin Ming, who has deep knowledge of ice techniques. Among them, Qin Ming has the lowest price, needing seven spirit stones, and there’s some room for negotiation.”
“Seven spirit stones…”
Xu Wan’s expression showed a hint of hesitation. She bit her lip, her hands nervously rubbing against each other in front of her stomach.
Her husband Zhang Hong had used most of their savings to prepare for this, and with the costs of raising their child, spending seven spirit stones to deal with the pest problem would make it hard to afford food for a while.
“Thank you, Lu Xuan.”
She ultimately decided to hire someone to get rid of the Black Bud Worm larvae. Her expression returned to normal as she thanked Lu Xuan and turned to leave.
“Wait a moment.”
Lu Xuan called out to Xu Wan, and when she turned back, he confidently said, “Sister-in-law, I recently made rapid progress in a technique. I’m now about seventy to eighty percent sure I can deal with the Black Bud Worm larvae. Why don’t I take a look first?”
“Then thank you, Lu Xuan.”
Xu Wan’s face lit up with surprise at his words. She hadn’t expected him to offer help for free, but hiring a fourth-layer Qi Refining cultivator would clearly cost more than a second-layer cultivator. If Lu Xuan could solve the problem, it would save them some spirit stones.
Lu Xuan closed the courtyard door and followed Xu Wan.
When he asked her if she needed help, he had already thought about it.
After the appearance of the white light orb in his spiritual field, his first priority was to avoid putting himself in danger.
The Zhang family was just next door, and he was dealing with the relatively harmless Black Bud Worm larvae. Previously, he had easily dealt with the adult Black Bud Worm with the Gengjin Sword Art. Now, with his deeper cultivation and better understanding of the sword technique, along with the Silver Splitting Blade fragment and various talismans in hand, he was confident he could handle the larvae.
Lu Xuan thought to himself, feeling quite steady.
Moreover, there was another important reason.
From the original owner’s memories, he knew that he had received a lot of help from Zhang Hong to become a Spiritual Plant Cultivator. When he first rented that small spiritual field, Zhang Hong had lent him some spirit stones.
After taking over this body, he had also received some guidance from Zhang Hong on how to cultivate spiritual plants. Plus, Zhang Xiuyuan, that little boy, was quite adorable, and it was a good opportunity to check on him.
The two families were not far apart, and soon Lu Xuan entered the Zhang family’s courtyard with Xu Wan.
Zhang Xiuyuan was guarding the spiritual field. When he saw Lu Xuan enter, a hint of joy appeared on his face, but then he seemed to remember something and turned his head away, pouting.
“Zhang Xiuyuan!” Xu Wan called out sternly.
“Hello, Uncle Lu,” the child said reluctantly, a bit afraid of his mother.
“Hello.”
Lu Xuan didn’t mind and walked over to the edge of the Zhang family’s spiritual field.
The spiritual field in their courtyard was almost twice the size of his own, and the variety of spiritual plants was richer. Besides Spirit Firefly Grass, there were three other common spiritual plants.
He quickly spotted the infected Spirit Firefly Grass.
Turning it over, he could see thin black threads tightly clinging to the leaves, almost merging with them.
Lu Xuan’s eyes sharpened as he focused on the black threads.
Then, he closed his eyes, recalling the essence of the Gengjin Sword Art, and circulated his spiritual energy, compressing and refining it within his acupoints.
In an instant, a golden sword qi as thin as a hair shot out, slicing through the black threads attached to the leaves, splitting one in two.
After cutting one Black Bud Worm larva, the golden sword qi still had power left. It drew a beautiful arc and cut another black thread in half.
Just like that, one by one, the black threads were severed, falling to the ground, twitching a bit before going still.
“Wow! Uncle Lu is so amazing!”
Zhang Xiuyuan, who had somehow come over, squatted next to Lu Xuan and exclaimed loudly.
Lu Xuan stood up, appearing calm and collected under Zhang Xiuyuan’s admiring gaze.
“Just some Black Bud Worm larvae, not worth mentioning.”
“Lu Xuan, thank you for your hard work. Please come inside for a cup of hot tea.”
Seeing that the Black Bud Worms that had troubled her were easily dealt with by Lu Xuan, Xu Wan’s face relaxed, and she invited him into the house.
After sending Zhang Xiuyuan to review his cultivation knowledge, Xu Wan returned from the inner room with five spirit stones.
“Lu Xuan, thank you so much. Please accept these spirit stones.”
“No, sister-in-law, I can’t accept these. Brother Zhang has helped me so much; how can I take your spirit stones?”
Lu Xuan quickly waved his hands to refuse.
He knew Zhang Hong had done him a favor, and he also understood that Xu Wan, as a woman with a child, had a hard life. He certainly didn’t want to take these five spirit stones from her.
“No! You’ve helped so much; you must accept this! If I hire someone else, it will cost even more. Giving you these five spirit stones is already a huge bargain.”
Xu Wan seemed weak on the outside but was very strong-willed, insisting that Lu Xuan take the spirit stones.
Lu Xuan couldn’t refuse any longer and thought of a compromise.
“How about this, sister-in-law? I won’t take the spirit stones; you keep them for yourself. But I also won’t work for free. If you have any unknown spirit seeds you found in the wild, just give me one.”
He proposed a middle ground. Zhang Hong often went to the wilderness, so he might have found some unknown spirit seeds.
“Unknown spirit seeds? I do have one, but I don’t know what kind it is, and its vitality is almost gone.”
Xu Wan thought for a moment and replied.
She went into the inner room and quickly brought out a dried seed.
The seed looked like a small sword, grayish-black on the surface, clearly having been stored for quite some time.
“Your brother Zhang found two seeds a long time ago by chance. He asked some loose cultivators, but no one knew what kind they were.”
“He tried to plant one, but it didn’t even sprout, so he gave up.”
“The remaining seed, I wanted to trade it, but it wouldn’t get me anything precious, so it has been sitting at home for a long time. The vitality inside has already diminished quite a bit.”
“Then I won’t be polite and will take this spirit seed.”
Lu Xuan looked at the long, sword-like withered seed and smiled as he said.
After receiving the dried spirit seed, he didn’t linger any longer. Amid Xu Wan’s gratitude and Zhang Xiuyuan’s reluctance, he left the Zhang family.
(End of Chapter)