The Kiao Vine is a third-grade spiritual plant, so Lu Xuan naturally didn’t think that a small bottle of low-quality Black Line Snake blood would be enough for its growth needs. He mainly wanted to see what changes the Kiao Vine would undergo after being bathed in the snake blood.
The results were quite satisfying. Even though the bottle of snake blood didn’t quench its thirst at all, the Kiao Vine still showed encouraging changes and was no longer in its previous withered state.
"It looks like I need to find larger and higher-grade snake monster blood in the future," Lu Xuan thought as he looked at the Kiao Vine, which still retained its dark red color, feeling the obvious surge of vitality within it.
For the next three days, Lu Xuan stayed peacefully in his courtyard, focusing all his energy on cultivating spiritual plants and raising spiritual beasts. He had stocked up on spirit rice, monster meat, and other common supplies in the house, so he didn’t have to worry about daily life for a while.
During these three days, out of the last thirty-nine Spirit Firefly Grasses, thirteen reached full maturity. Among them, five were of good quality, six were of high quality, and two were perfect quality.
With planting comes harvest. The thirteen white light orbs brought Lu Xuan thirteen rewards. His cultivation level increased by a total of two years, further solidifying his strength at the sixth level of Qi training. Additionally, he received four first-grade talismans, and three experience packs for techniques: Earth Summoning Technique, Wood Growth Technique, and Gengjin Sword Art.
Lastly, he absorbed two recipes for Primordial Nourishing Pills, which increased his theoretical knowledge about refining those pills.
On the Red Cloud Pine tree, two of the remaining four Red Cloud Pine seeds were about to reach full maturity. Of course, he could pick them now since they looked just like the first Red Cloud Pine seed he had picked before. However, Lu Xuan, being able to sense the subtle state of the spiritual plants at any time, knew that the seeds had not yet reached their best maturity period.
Picking them too early or too late would slightly affect the quality of the seeds, which in turn would affect the rewards from the white light orbs. So, he decided to wait for the right moment to harvest them.
Lu Xuan left the two seeds for now, determined to come back the next morning to check on them.
That night, as the night fell and the world became quiet, the spiritual field was covered by a thin layer of spiritual energy, seeming to fall into a deep sleep under the night sky. Only the straw puppet, with its long gray legs, slowly patrolled between the furrows of the spiritual field.
A figure, like a wisp of smoke, floated in front of the formation. The figure paused, revealing a cultivator dressed in dark clothes and with their face covered, quietly observing the thin spiritual energy shield.
"This should be the place," the cultivator thought. "I wonder what Daoist Zhou is thinking. A loose cultivator at the third level of Qi training doesn’t have enough confidence to come here alone, yet he still spent spirit stones to invite me to check it out."
"It seems that he has been planting spiritual plants for too long, spending every day with those flowers and grasses, and his sharpness has dulled quite a bit."
"However, according to him, this loose cultivator, a spiritual plant cultivator, is highly regarded at the Hundred Herbs Hall, and the spiritual field is filled with many rare spiritual medicines. Once I take care of him, everything here will belong to me."
Several thoughts flashed through his mind as the figure took out a shimmering talisman from his storage bag.
"To avoid disturbing other cultivators and attracting the patrolling law enforcers, I can only use this second-grade Breaking Spirit Talisman."
There are generally three ways to break a formation. The first is to have a skilled formation master who can dismantle it from the source. The second is to use related breaking talismans or artifacts to quickly break the formation. The last is to use brute force; no matter how exquisite the formation is, one can just charge through it.
For a first-grade formation, with his fifth-level Qi training, brute force wouldn’t be too difficult. However, making a loud commotion could easily cause a disturbance.
With no other choice, the masked cultivator had to rely on the second-grade Breaking Spirit Talisman.
Every formation has its own way of operating spiritual energy. The higher the grade, the more complex and varied the spiritual energy becomes, often with other special and mysterious features.
The second-grade Breaking Spirit Talisman in his hand could quickly find the operating method of a first-grade or ungraded formation, allowing him to spot flaws and easily break the formation, saving a lot of time.
The spiritual light on the Breaking Spirit Talisman became vibrant and eventually merged into the thin spiritual energy shield. Soon, strands of spiritual energy emerged on the round shield, moving in a mysterious and complex pattern.
The masked cultivator’s eyes lit up as he quickly discovered a flaw in the first-grade protective formation.
After several breaths, he easily passed through the formation and entered the spiritual field.
In the dim night, he was greeted by a large area of Spirit Firefly Grass, with long leaves sparkling like stars.
"Twenty or thirty mature Spirit Firefly Grasses; just these alone are worth far more than the Breaking Spirit Talisman I just used."
The masked cultivator moved lightly through the spiritual field, darting toward the nearby house while glancing at the spiritual plants on either side.
Since the other party was just a loose cultivator at the third level of Qi training, he didn’t take it seriously. His attention was mostly on the numerous spiritual plants in the field, already treating them as his own possessions.
"There are about twenty first-grade Blood Jade Ginseng plants, and they look pretty good. I could exchange them for a lot of spirit stones with Daoist Zhou, after all, he promised he only needed the jade slips of this loose cultivator."
"These three should be the second-grade Pure Wondrous Tea plants he mentioned. Heh, from his earlier complaints, it seems he couldn’t compete with this little loose cultivator."
"Eh? What’s this?"
The masked cultivator slowed down, his attention caught by a spiritual herb in front of him.
The herb was about two feet long, jet black, standing straight in the spiritual soil, shaped like a sword, and there were faint strands of sword intent swirling around in the soil.
Such a rare spiritual herb was easily recognizable, even if he had never cultivated spiritual plants before.
"And this vine looks like a dead snake at first glance."
With snake-like vines, sword-like spiritual herbs, and many Spirit Firefly Grasses, Blood Jade Ginseng, and three precious Pure Wondrous Tea seedlings...
"This trip was definitely worth it..."
The masked cultivator thought with ease. The number and quality of spiritual plants in this loose cultivator's field surprised him with unexpected joy.
"Once I take care of that little loose cultivator, everything will be mine."
He quickened his pace, and a short blade as black as ink appeared in front of him.
The blade trembled slightly, as if it would shoot out at any moment, piercing through the wall and directly striking the cultivator inside.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, several thin grass ropes shot out from the spiritual field behind him, wrapping around his ankles and arms like a creeping vine.
The black blade transformed into a streak of black light, swirling around the grass ropes and cutting them into pieces.
Then, guided by the cultivator, it followed the direction of the grass ropes and directly severed the limbs of the straw puppet made of gray grass.
"So it was just a straw puppet; it’s a bit aggressive, though."
Seeing the limbs of the straw puppet cut off, the masked cultivator felt relieved.
A new week has begun, and I’m asking for recommendations, monthly votes, and most importantly, for you to keep reading. Thank you all!
(End of Chapter)