Lu Xuan happily returned to his room after putting away the second-grade Sword Qi Talismans into his storage bag.
The young Cloud Stepping Leopard stared at him with its bright green eyes. It looked at Lu Xuan, who was grinning, twitched its ears, and lay down on the ground.
Lu Xuan didn't need to focus to guess what the leopard was thinking. He walked over and gently patted its thick fur on the head.
"Aw..."
It let out a sound that was a bit awkward. Unfortunately, no matter how hard it tried, its innate qualities still showed through, making the sound a bit rough.
Lu Xuan couldn't help but chuckle. He went to the kitchen, cut a piece of dried Pufferfish meat, and tore it into small strips, placing them in front of the young leopard.
"The rewards from cultivating the Spirit Firefly Grass are quite good. It seems my path of careful cultivation is the right one."
"I just wonder if I can cultivate perfect quality plants like the Red Cloud Pine or Sword Grass. If I can, the rewards would be even better."
"The chances are probably lower than with the Spirit Firefly Grass, since the conditions for growing them are more complex. It’s hard to achieve perfection."
"I'll just do my best."
For the next few days, Lu Xuan stayed at home, cultivating spiritual plants and taking care of the Red Whiskered Carp and the Cloud Stepping Leopard.
The young leopard still maintained a proud and aloof demeanor in front of Lu Xuan, but its true thoughts occasionally slipped out, revealing its inner feelings.
After four Spirit Firefly Grass plants matured, it seemed to trigger a chain reaction. A few days later, five more plants matured.
This batch was slightly less impressive than the first. Among the five, one was of good quality, three were of fine quality, and only one was perfect.
"Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass, gained September cultivation."
Lu Xuan picked up the white light orb that appeared on the ground. Instantly, two thoughts flashed through his mind.
A strong surge of spiritual energy erupted within him, racing around his body.
He closed his eyes and focused, trying to control the sudden increase of spiritual energy.
Once it calmed down, Lu Xuan opened his eyes, his gaze bright and clear.
After adding a year and a half to his cultivation, he felt that his spiritual energy had reached the limit of the fourth level of Qi Training.
Now, as long as he practiced diligently and with a few more Spirit Firefly Grass plants maturing, he could smoothly break through to the fifth level.
"Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass, gained a first-grade Evil Dispelling Talisman."
A talisman that trapped evil spirits appeared in Lu Xuan's hand.
He stored it in his bag, starting a new round of talisman accumulation.
"Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass, gained the Wood Growth Technique."
The white light orb entered his mind, and a thought emerged. Lu Xuan received an experience package for the Wood Growth Technique.
Immediately, the principles of the technique, the process of casting it, and controlling spiritual energy flashed through his mind.
Lu Xuan's understanding and mastery of this technique became clearer.
He practiced the Wood Growth Technique from beginner to proficient.
Lu Xuan approached the Red Cloud Pine, channeling his spiritual energy. A faint green energy flowed into the long needles of the Red Cloud Pine.
In an instant, he felt a slight gathering of wood-type spiritual energy around the Red Cloud Pine, full of vitality, merging into the plant.
Focusing on the Red Cloud Pine, although it appeared unchanged on the surface, the weak wood-type energy was clearly promoting its growth.
Lu Xuan decided to test the newly learned Wood Growth Technique, then turned his attention to the last white light orb.
This orb came from the only perfect quality Spirit Firefly Grass, so Lu Xuan had higher expectations for it.
"Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass, gained a drop of Grass Spirit Essence."
A thought flashed through Lu Xuan's mind.
Then, a drop of green liquid appeared in his hand.
The liquid was the size of half his thumb, semi-solid, bright green, and exuded a strong vitality.
"Grass Spirit Essence is made from a large amount of plant essence, containing rich plant spiritual energy. It can be used to feed spirit beasts that consume plant energy, refine related pills, or integrate into artifacts, formations, and puppets."
"Grass Spirit Essence sounds great, but how do I use it?"
Holding the trembling drop of liquid that could break at any moment, Lu Xuan fell into thought.
"I have it! I have a ready-made straw puppet. It's made from special dry grass and is a plant-type treasure."
Lu Xuan turned to look at the straw puppet sitting in the corner.
He had bought this second-hand puppet from a market for scattered cultivators. It was said to come from the Thousand Mechanisms Sect, famous for its puppets, and had a very simple behavior pattern.
When outsiders or spirit beasts invaded the spiritual field, it would alert Lu Xuan and try to bind the intruder.
When the Qi Training mid-level cultivator Qin Ming tried to ambush him, the straw puppet even blocked a deadly spear strike for Lu Xuan, proving its worth.
"Usually, I feed you Spirit Fragments, but today you’ll get something different."
Lu Xuan walked over to the straw puppet, bent down, and stuffed the Grass Spirit Essence into the large dry grass lump on its head.
The originally gray lump quickly turned bright green before his eyes.
"Hey, I helped you dye this thing green."
Lu Xuan chuckled softly. Seeing that the straw puppet didn’t react, he continued to check on the spiritual plants in the field.
Half a day later, he returned to the corner of the yard and noticed that the green color on the straw puppet's head had faded a lot.
After absorbing the drop of Grass Spirit Essence, the straw puppet also underwent significant changes.
Before, it had always quietly guarded the corner of the spiritual field, remaining still unless something intruded.
It lacked the ability to move on its own and had no intelligence, only able to follow a few simple commands.
After digesting the Grass Spirit Essence, Lu Xuan sensed a hint of low intelligence. It even began to turn its head to observe its surroundings.
When Lu Xuan commanded it to patrol the spiritual field, the straw puppet seemed to understand, moving slowly across the ground.
At the same time, the dry gray grass on its body changed, becoming more resilient. It could now shoot out many grass ropes or bind together thicker, longer ropes.
The only thing that didn’t change was its slow reaction speed. It took a while after Lu Xuan gave a command for it to act.
"Now that the spiritual field has expanded, your task is tougher. Remember to patrol the field when you have nothing else to do."
Lu Xuan earnestly instructed the straw puppet.
The straw puppet remained unmoved, its large, somewhat misshapen head with gray grass staring blankly at Lu Xuan.
After Lu Xuan disappeared from its view, two faint green lights seemed to flicker within the gray grass. Then, the straw puppet began to walk slowly across the spiritual field, its green lump still on its head.
(End of Chapter)