"Spirit Firefly Grass is still the most reliable. It grows in large numbers, is easy to cultivate, and importantly, it can also bring cultivation rewards."
Lu Xuan looked around the Spiritual Field. Each spiritual plant had its own characteristics: the second-grade Sword Grass that was as tough as steel, the first-grade Blood Jade Ginseng that had a complicated relationship with other plants, the second-grade Dark Marrow Fungus that preferred to hide in the shadows, and the second-grade Pure Wondrous Tea that only needed Spiritual Spring water for irrigation...
In comparison, Spirit Firefly Grass was quite easy to manage.
Lu Xuan walked around the area where the Spirit Firefly Grass grew and picked twelve mature plants. Among them, four were of good quality, six were of superior quality, and two were of perfect quality.
More than half of the Spirit Firefly Grass in the field had been harvested. Out of a total of one hundred plants, only thirty-nine were left, and they were about to reach maturity.
From the twelve white light orbs that appeared, four contained cultivation rewards: two for six months of cultivation and two for nine months, adding up to a total of two and a half years of cultivation.
"Another two and a half years, I seem to have a connection with this number," Lu Xuan thought, remembering this wasn't the first time he had received an additional two and a half years of cultivation.
He circulated his spiritual energy, calming the surging power, which helped stabilize his cultivation at the sixth level of Qi Training.
Three of the white light orbs brought him three first-grade talismans: a Sword Qi Talisman, an Evil Dispelling Talisman, and an Explosive Flame Talisman, all of which he stored in his bag.
The three white light orbs also revealed three low-level techniques: two Wood Growth Techniques and one Earth Summoning Technique. Lu Xuan absorbed them, gaining a deeper understanding of these techniques.
The Earth Summoning Technique had reached a minor success level, while the Wood Growth Technique had become proficient, allowing him to gather wood-type spiritual energy faster and in greater amounts, improving the growth effect on spiritual plants.
The two perfect quality Spirit Firefly Grass plants produced two white light orbs, one revealing the first-grade Gengjin Sword Art. After the orb merged with him, Lu Xuan felt a new level of understanding regarding this sword technique.
With a thought, a golden sword energy shot out from his fingertips, swirling around him as if it had a life of its own, moving faster and leaving behind golden afterimages, creating a golden barrier around him.
After several breaths, the sword energy gradually faded away, and the golden afterimages dimmed and disappeared.
"The speed of casting is impressive, almost instantaneous. My control over the sword energy has reached a level where it feels like an extension of my body, and the sword energy can linger in the outside world longer."
Lu Xuan carefully experienced the subtle changes in the Gengjin Sword Art.
The other white light orb revealed a first-grade recipe for a Primordial Nourishing Pill, giving him a deeper understanding of how to refine it.
"Maybe I should gather a few more recipes. If I don’t refine them now, when I do, I can ensure the highest success rate and quality for my pills."
Lu Xuan thought to himself, considering he had already consumed several recipes, so he could afford to wait a bit longer.
He had twenty-six mature Spirit Firefly Grass plants in his storage bag. If he collected more, he wouldn't have enough white jade boxes to hold them, so he planned to visit the Hundred Herbs Hall and check if there were any snake-type monster blood available at the casual cultivator market.
Inside the fragrant Hundred Herbs Hall, Steward He spotted Lu Xuan approaching from a distance and set aside his work.
"Lu kid, you’re here? How’s the goods this time?"
"The goods are fine, just depends on whether you have enough spirit stones," Lu Xuan replied, placing his hand on the wooden cabinet in front of Steward He and raising an eyebrow.
"Calling you fat, and you’re still puffing up," Steward He snorted, unable to stand Lu Xuan's smug look.
"How many spirit stones can your spiritual plants consume from the Hundred Herbs Hall? One percent? Or maybe one-thousandth?"
"Steward He, our Hundred Herbs Hall is quite wealthy," Lu Xuan said with a bright smile, picking up a cup of steaming Spirit Tea from the medicine boy who had come to serve.
"Well, at least you have some sense," Steward He replied.
"Let’s take a look at the Spirit Firefly Grass you brought," Lu Xuan said, straightening his expression and taking out twenty-six mature Spirit Firefly Grass plants from his storage bag.
The Red Cloud Pine seeds were not suitable for pill refining, so Lu Xuan decided to keep them for now and sell them to other cultivators when the time was right.
"Superior, superior, perfect..."
The thin old man nodded continuously as he examined the quality of the Spirit Firefly Grass and counted the number, sorting them into different categories.
"Overall, there are twenty-six Spirit Firefly Grass plants: eight of good quality, thirteen of superior quality, and five of perfect quality."
He was already used to Lu Xuan's performance and continued without waiting for a response. "The price remains the same: three spirit stones and fifty spirit fragments for each good quality plant, twenty more spirit fragments for each superior quality plant, and an additional thirty spirit fragments for each perfect quality plant."
"That totals ninety-six spirit stones and ten spirit fragments, right?"
"Your mind is sharp, so there’s no mistake," Lu Xuan replied, taking the more than ninety spirit stones handed to him by the old man and checking them with his spiritual sense before putting them in his storage bag.
After chatting with the thin old man for a while, Lu Xuan planned to leave.
"Lu friend, please wait."
Just as he stepped out of the Hundred Herbs Hall, a somewhat familiar voice called out to him.
Lu Xuan turned around to see a middle-aged cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Training waiting by the door, looking a bit anxious.
This was one of the three spiritual cultivators who had previously partnered with Lu Xuan to learn how to cultivate high-quality spiritual plants.
"Zhou friend, what’s the matter?" Lu Xuan asked.
"I saw the Spirit Firefly Grass you just handed over to Steward He. It truly lives up to its reputation, with all being at least good quality, and several perfect quality ones."
The middle-aged cultivator smiled awkwardly.
"Zhou friend, if you have something to say, just say it directly."
Lu Xuan sensed something was off in his tone and spoke calmly.
"Well, after I learned the cultivation method from you last time, I gave up most of my cultivation time to carefully grow Spirit Firefly Grass with two friends. Just a few days ago, we had a batch mature, but it seems we didn’t get much yield, and there’s a big gap compared to what you cultivated."
"How many Spirit Firefly Grass plants did you harvest? You haven’t been cultivating for long, right?"
"We harvested twenty Spirit Firefly Grass plants in one go, and we’ve only been cultivating according to your method for less than seven days."
"Twenty plants isn’t a lot, so it doesn’t indicate any major issues. Besides, the main reason is that your cultivation time is too short."
"I’ve been cultivating spiritual plants using this method since the seeds were placed in the spiritual soil until they matured, which takes two to three months. You’ve only been doing it for seven days, so that’s a bit hasty."
Lu Xuan said lightly.
"But... the quality of my Spirit Firefly Grass is far inferior to yours!"
"Most of yours are of superior quality, and you have quite a few perfect quality ones, while I can hardly find any superior quality ones."
The middle-aged cultivator hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"So, you suspect that I’m hiding something? That I didn’t tell you everything?" Lu Xuan's expression turned cold.
(End of Chapter)