After trading a second-grade Fire Sword for a section of third-grade Jiao Vine from a female cultivator, Lu Xuan continued to wander around the black market.
He looked around but didn’t find any more unknown spirit seeds. So, he found an empty spot and hung up the first-grade flying sword he got from Qin Ming. In the end, he successfully sold it for thirty-five spirit stones.
He couldn’t find any protective formations that he was particularly satisfied with in the black market, and the cultivation techniques he saw were not very high in rank, so he had to give up. After weighing his options, he spent thirty-two spirit stones to buy a first-grade shield called Iron Scale Shield, which had tightly packed black scales on the outside and decent protection for a first-grade artifact.
The black market was mostly filled with strange materials from spirit beasts and mature spiritual plants, followed by talismans and pills. Lu Xuan wasn’t very interested in those, so he used his spiritual power to activate a guiding talisman and followed the black arrow out of the thick, almost tangible black mist.
As soon as he stepped out, the cultivator guarding the entrance took back the guiding talisman. Lu Xuan stayed alert, looking around as he quickly left the outskirts of the black market.
On his way, nothing unexpected happened. No one in the black market seemed to pay attention to him, a Qi Refining cultivator who looked quite ordinary in both cultivation level and wealth.
After more than half an hour, he returned to the outside of his courtyard. The formation was still running well, with no signs of being touched or invaded.
Lu Xuan felt a bit relieved, knowing that there were many rare spiritual plants in the spiritual field behind the courtyard. There were first-grade Blood Jade Ginseng, Pure Snow Lotus, Red Cloud Pine, second-grade Sword Grass, Dark Marrow Fungus, Pure Wondrous Tea, and third-grade Mirage Smokefruit…
Even without considering the rewards from their maturity, their value alone was enough to tempt any Qi Refining cultivator to take risks.
As he opened the courtyard door, Lu Xuan immediately saw a black shadow flash past him, heading toward the back of the courtyard. He was startled at first but quickly recognized the figure as the Bi Jing Cloud Stepping Leopard he had left at home.
“This little guy has been waiting for me to come back outside?”
Lu Xuan walked around to the back of the courtyard, where the young Cloud Stepping Leopard was lying by the edge of the Spiritual Spring Pool, its green eyes fixed on the slowly swimming Red Whiskered Carp. It seemed unaware that Lu Xuan had returned.
“I’m back!” Lu Xuan called out. The straw puppet patrolling the area turned its gray head one hundred and eighty degrees, its hollow black eyes glancing in the direction of the voice, but it continued its patrol without stopping.
The Cloud Stepping Leopard remained oblivious, still focused on the Red Whiskered Carp in the spring.
Lu Xuan noticed its grayish-white fur on its ears twitching slightly, revealing its inner excitement.
He went straight back into the house. Only then did the Cloud Stepping Leopard turn its head to look at Lu Xuan’s back. Its ear fur moved slightly, sensing Lu Xuan’s approaching footsteps, and it quickly turned its head back.
With a plop, a plump strip of spiny boar meat was tossed in front of the leopard.
“Aw~~” The Cloud Stepping Leopard squeaked, awkwardly grabbing the meat strip with its cloud-like paws and stuffing it into its mouth.
Lu Xuan chuckled softly as he returned to the house.
During this trip to the black market, he got rid of the second-grade Fire Sword he had just acquired and the first-grade artifact left by Qin Ming that had been in his storage bag for a long time. In return, he got a section of third-grade Jiao Vine and a first-grade defensive artifact, the Iron Scale Shield.
He didn’t lose or gain anything with the spirit stones; he rented a guiding talisman for three spirit stones, which perfectly offset the three spirit stones he made from selling the flying sword and the shield.
He took the section of Jiao Vine out of his storage bag. The deep black vine was about half a foot long, which was indeed a bit short if he wanted to refine it into a whip or rope-type artifact.
However, this didn’t matter much to Lu Xuan; he had spent a lot to buy it mainly for planting and nurturing.
He held the snake-like vine and went to an empty spot in the spiritual field. Each spiritual plant needed a certain amount of space, which made the area of over an acre in the spiritual field feel a bit cramped.
So, he planned to focus on quality over quantity for now. The more common spiritual plants like Spirit Firefly Grass and Blood Jade Ginseng were provided by Hundred Herbs Hall, while he would look for opportunities to obtain other, rarer varieties from different sources.
Lu Xuan used the Earth Summoning Technique, causing the spiritual soil to quietly change and reveal a small crack. He inserted the half-foot-long Jiao Vine into the crack, leaving about two-thirds of its length above ground. Light droplets of spiritual rain began to fall, landing on the dry black vine and soaking into the surrounding spiritual soil.
The spiritual soil gradually became moist, and the water spirit energy seeped through the vine’s surface, slowly entering its interior.
Lu Xuan focused his mind on the deep black, winding vine. A thought flashed through his mind.
“Jiao Vine, a third-grade spiritual plant, can be used to nurture and raise Jiao Dragon spirit beasts once mature. After special processing, it can also be refined into whip or rope-type artifacts or serve as a main ingredient for certain rare pills.”
“When nurturing Jiao Vine, using blood from snake-type or Jiao Dragon-type spirit beasts can promote rapid growth. The higher the grade of the blood, the faster the vine grows.”
“I desire blood that contains powerful energy…”
In an instant, Lu Xuan understood the nurturing method of the newly planted Jiao Vine.
“It requires nourishment from snake-type or Jiao Dragon-type spirit beast blood. Generally, when cultivators hunt snake-type spirit beasts, they pay more attention to their skins, fangs, and venom, and don’t usually value the blood.”
“It seems I need to look carefully in the market. If I can find it, that’s great. If not…”
“Then I’ll use spirit stones to hire cultivators to help me obtain fresh blood from snake-type spirit beasts.”
Lu Xuan thought to himself.
Asking him to personally hunt snake-type spirit beasts in the wild or in secret realms to obtain fresh snake blood?
That was impossible. He would rather spend a little more spirit stones to hire cultivators than leave behind the many rare spiritual plants in his spiritual field to take risks outside.
As for Jiao Dragon spirit beasts, he didn’t even dare to think about it. Even the weakest Jiao Dragon spirit beast had the strength of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and Lu Xuan had no hope of obtaining Jiao Dragon blood.
“For now, I’ll plant it in the spiritual field and wait until I find snake-type spirit beast blood before nurturing it properly.”
“Right now, I can still maintain its vitality with Spirit Rain Technique and Wood Growth Technique, but if it continues like this, its growth will be extremely slow, which isn’t a long-term solution.”
After planting the Jiao Vine in the spiritual field, Lu Xuan inspected the many spiritual plants in the field.
“Third-grade spiritual plants are indeed more troublesome. First and second-grade plants only have requirements for growth environment and special spiritual power, but it seems like third-grade plants have their own personalities.”
“There are two types of third-grade spiritual plants in the field. The Mirage Smokefruit seems like a mischievous one, setting up its own space and making people search for it. If they can’t find it, it’s hard to cultivate.”
“This Jiao Vine is even more demanding; it needs to be bathed in snake blood or even Jiao Dragon blood. If I had Jiao Dragon blood, I’d rather use it on myself!”
Lu Xuan looked at the increasingly large mist ball formed by the Mirage Smokefruit and couldn’t help but sigh.
(End of Chapter)