When Lu Xuan left the Hundred Herbs Hall, Steward He had reminded him to keep a safe distance while cultivating Blood Jade Ginseng. He should not let them get tangled together to avoid affecting each other's growth.
After planting the Blood Jade Ginseng seeds, he finally understood the reason behind this advice. Spiritual seeds or ginseng can slowly move within the Spiritual Field. If they are too close, they will attract each other, get intertwined, and drain each other's life force until one wins and the other withers away.
Of course, Spiritual Plant Cultivators usually prevent such extreme situations. If they notice the roots getting tangled, they will separate them.
"They attract each other, get all cozy, and then drain each other's life force until I separate them," Lu Xuan mused. "It feels like a pair of lovers, and I'm the heartless parent breaking them apart."
Fortunately, he had plenty of time to ensure that no two Blood Jade Ginseng plants would end up too close to each other.
"These Blood Jade Ginseng plants shouldn't have male and female distinctions, right?" He shook his head, dismissing the image of the ginseng plants entangled in his mind.
After planting twenty Blood Jade Ginseng seeds, Lu Xuan used the Spirit Rain Technique to nourish them. The gentle spirit rain seeped into the soil, and the blood-red seeds greedily absorbed it.
Next, he planted a hundred seeds of Spirit Firefly Grass, which looked like dried tea leaves, and also used the Spirit Rain Technique to provide them with nutrients.
The new Spiritual Field was about ten times larger than before. After planting the hundred Spirit Firefly Grass seeds and twenty Blood Jade Ginseng seeds, there was still a small area left.
Lu Xuan planned to use that space to plant Red Cloud Pine, Dark Marrow Fungus, and Sword Grass. If he came across any other good spiritual seeds, he would try to buy them for planting.
"How can I make the best use of this Spiritual Spring?" He looked at the shallow spring within the Spiritual Field, deep in thought.
The water from the Spiritual Spring was usually used to assist in alchemy, brewing, and making tea. Some cultivators even drank it to slightly boost their internal spiritual energy. However, for Lu Xuan, it felt a bit useless. With the rewards from the Spirit Firefly Grass, he found the little boost in spiritual energy unimportant.
"There are some water-based spiritual plants, though they are rare. I could try looking for them at the market or shops," he thought. "But this spring is quite large, so it would be a shame to waste it."
"Maybe I could raise one or two spiritual fish?" An idea suddenly popped into his head, and it grew stronger.
"If I plant spiritual medicine in the Spiritual Field, I'll get light orb rewards. If I raise spiritual beasts, will I get rewards too?" The thought excited him.
"If not, it won't be a loss. Spiritual fish raised in the spring could sell for a good price. If there are rewards, then that would be a big win."
He felt more and more determined to give it a try.
He opened the array and left the courtyard. First, he went back to the old courtyard, where there were still ten Spirit Firefly Grass plants about to mature.
After harvesting a batch and waiting for two days, he helped Xu Wan transplant two Corrosive Moon Trees to her home. Once that was done, all the Spirit Firefly Grass was fully matured.
Out of the ten Spirit Firefly Grass plants, six were of good quality, and four were of superior quality. It seemed that the Spiritual Field's spiritual energy wasn't enough, as he hadn't managed to grow a higher quality spiritual plant yet.
Among the ten white light orbs that appeared, four provided him with varying months of cultivation rewards, totaling over two years, which made his internal spiritual energy more stable.
Three of the light orbs gave him three first-grade talismans, while the other three were experience packs for techniques: two for Earth Summoning Technique and one for Gengjin Sword Art. Lu Xuan understood these two techniques much better now.
He felt that if he fully activated the Earth Summoning Technique, it could cause the ground to shake, creating a significant attack effect. As for the Gengjin Sword Art, he didn't need to say much. If he faced Qin Ming again, even if Qin Ming had a protective artifact like a jade medallion, Lu Xuan was confident he could deliver a fatal blow.
After absorbing all ten white light orbs, Lu Xuan looked at the somewhat empty courtyard and turned to leave.
At the loose cultivator market, he searched around and found very few stalls selling spiritual beast cubs or spiritual beast eggs. So, he went to a spirit pet shop.
Inside the shop, there were all kinds of spiritual beast cubs—flying in the air, running on the ground, swimming in the water—everything you could imagine. Most were spirit pets that looked gentle and docile, with low aggression. It was said the shopkeeper was a family member of an inner disciple from the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect, very skilled in taming beasts.
"Welcome, fellow cultivator! How may I assist you today?" A pretty girl approached Lu Xuan with a smile as he looked around.
"I'm looking to buy one or two fish-type spiritual beasts. Do you have any recommendations?" Lu Xuan got straight to the point.
"Fish-type spiritual beasts are over here."
"This is the Red Whiskered Carp, a non-ranked monster with high ornamental value. Once matured, it can be cooked, and its meat is delicious. The two red whiskers next to its head can also be used as material for crafting."
"The Red Whiskered Carp doesn't require a high-quality environment; it can live in regular spiritual spring water. Of course, if you can feed it some Spirit Rice, it will mature even faster."
"This is the Black Arrow Fish, also a non-ranked monster. It has an arrow-like shape and is very fast. However, it needs to consume a certain amount of blood and flesh essence during feeding."
"This one is the Black Water Python, a first-grade monster. It's amphibious and very aggressive, and it can grow to about six zhang in length."
"As for other water-based monsters, they are often wild and difficult to tame, which could endanger their owner. They may not be suitable for you."
The girl politely pointed out the common water-based spiritual beasts in the shop, subtly indicating that with Lu Xuan's cultivation level of the second layer of Qi Refining, he could only handle beasts like the Black Water Python at most.
After thinking for a moment, Lu Xuan ruled out both the Black Arrow Fish and the Black Water Python. Feeding the Black Arrow Fish required blood and flesh essence, and he rarely had a good meal himself, so he definitely couldn't spare any monster meat for it.
As for the Black Water Python, hearing it could grow up to six zhang made him give up immediately. His spiritual spring couldn't even fit half of it—how could he raise it? Plus, this was still an experimental phase, and he wasn't sure if he would even get a white light orb.
Thus, Lu Xuan leaned more toward choosing a spiritual fish with a short maturation cycle and a low price.
"How much for the Red Whiskered Carp?" he asked, pointing at a fry in the water tank.
The Red Whiskered Carp, as its name suggested, had two long red whiskers near its gills, longer than its body, swaying like ribbons as it swam.
"The fry of the Red Whiskered Carp is one spirit stone each," the girl replied.
"Being non-ranked, it is a bit more expensive than the Spirit Firefly Grass seeds and Corrosive Moon Tree seedlings."
Lu Xuan instinctively compared the prices.
"I'll buy three. How about eighty spirit fragments each?" he naturally tried to negotiate.
"If you want to buy three, I can make a deal at two spirit stones and eighty spirit fragments each. That’s the lowest price I can offer."
"Two spirit stones and sixty spirit fragments, I’ll take them right now."
"Seventy, I can't go lower."
"Alright, deal!" Lu Xuan replied with satisfaction.
(End of Chapter)