"Three mature pine nuts from the top-grade Red Cloud Pine, along with a second-grade Fire Sword, the 'Complete Guide to Basic Talismans,' and second-grade Red Thread Needles."
"The Sword Grass and Dark Marrow Fungus are both second-grade, and they are not as common as the Red Cloud Pine. The rewards from the light orbs when they mature will surely not disappoint me," Lu Xuan thought to himself.
For the next two or three days, he opened the Mist Concealment Array and carefully observed the current state of many spiritual plants, ensuring that no mutated gnawing insects had invaded.
All twenty-six Spirit Firefly Grasses matured during these days. Among them, nine were of good quality, thirteen were of high quality, and the remaining four were of perfect quality. After harvesting the Spirit Firefly Grass, twenty-six white light orbs appeared.
Out of these, six were cultivation rewards: three for June, two for September, and one for a year, bringing Lu Xuan a total of four years of cultivation.
The spiritual energy in his body surged like a raging wave, crashing and rolling before slowly calming down. Adding four years of cultivation made Lu Xuan's strength advance significantly, bringing him closer to the seventh level of Qi training.
There were also twelve white light orbs that produced twelve first-grade talismans, mainly Sword Qi Talismans and Evil Dispelling Talismans, along with two or three other talismans like the Explosive Flame Talisman.
The first-grade talismans in his storage bag were piling up. If he used them all at once, Lu Xuan guessed they would be as powerful as a full strike from a high-level Qi training cultivator.
In addition, there were four first-grade Primordial Nourishing Pills and two technique experience packs for Earth Summoning Technique and Wood Growth Technique. Lu Xuan absorbed these, enhancing his understanding of the two techniques.
The remaining two white light orbs produced one first-grade Primordial Nourishing Pill recipe and one drop of Grass Spirit Essence. Lu Xuan stuffed it into the grass tumor on the Straw Puppet's head.
"Let’s celebrate your full recovery. Now, you still need to keep a good watch over the spiritual field!"
Before long, the gray tumor on the Straw Puppet's head quickly turned green, and it began a new round of patrolling the spiritual field. With the power provided by the Grass Spirit Essence, Lu Xuan felt its steps were a bit more vigorous.
A few days later, the snake monster blood he had ordered from Wanbao Tower arrived as promised. Lu Xuan spent four spirit stones and, along with the three spirit stones he had paid as a deposit, received a vial of snake blood from Wanbao Tower.
According to the young girl who introduced it, this vial of snake blood was freshly made and still quite fresh. The blood came from a beast called the Double-Winged Golden Scale Snake, which was first-grade.
The blood was contained in a transparent jade bottle, and the bright red liquid sparkled with golden flecks, as if the sunset was reflecting off a sea of blood.
Lu Xuan took the transparent jade bottle to the Jiao Vine. He opened the bottle cap and poured the golden-tinged blood over the vine.
Instantly, the vine seemed to come alive, gently twisting like a snake as the golden blood slowly seeped into it. After absorbing all the blood, Lu Xuan noticed golden patterns forming on the surface of the vine, creating strange designs on the deep black Jiao Vine.
Lu Xuan focused his mind on the Jiao Vine.
"After waiting so long, today has finally come!"
"I finally get to taste the more delicious and powerful snake blood!"
The Jiao Vine, now covered in golden patterns, continued to move slowly, seemingly still immersed in the joy of absorbing the Double-Winged Golden Scale Snake's blood.
About half an hour later, the golden patterns on the vine slowly faded, returning to a twisted, dried-up vine.
"Last time, after absorbing the blood of the unranked Black Line Snake, the Jiao Vine showed no changes. This time, after absorbing the first-grade Double-Winged Golden Scale Snake blood, it produced these golden patterns. Could it be that the quality of the snake blood affects the different growth states of the Jiao Vine?"
Lu Xuan thought for a moment, considering whether he could get a large amount of this snake blood from Wanbao Tower. If he could continuously irrigate the same type of monster's blood, perhaps the Jiao Vine would grow faster.
He inspected all the spiritual plants in the spiritual field, using techniques to meet their subtle needs, reminding the Cloud Stepping Leopard and Straw Puppet to guard the place well, then opened the Mist Concealment Array and left the courtyard with a total of thirty-nine Spirit Firefly Grasses.
With all one hundred Spirit Firefly Grasses matured, he planned to go to the Hundred Herbs Hall to get more Spirit Firefly Grass seeds and start a new round of planting.
Although the Spirit Firefly Grass was not particularly valuable compared to other first and second-grade spiritual plants, and the rewards from the light orbs were not much, he had only discovered so far that the Spirit Firefly Grass provided cultivation rewards. Therefore, he still needed to plant a certain amount to ensure his cultivation could improve.
He balanced the quantity of Spirit Firefly Grass with the quality of Blood Jade Ginseng, Pure Wondrous Tea, and other unknown spiritual seeds like Sword Grass, Dark Marrow Fungus, and Mirage Smokefruit to achieve a good mix of quality and quantity.
As soon as he stepped outside, Lu Xuan saw a cultivator with the surname Wu not far away. The cultivator also spotted Lu Xuan and called out to him immediately.
"Lu Dao Friend, where are you going? Come try my newly brewed spirit wine."
Lu Xuan didn’t want to refuse his kindness and went to the Wu cultivator's home.
"Lu Dao Friend, come and taste my spirit wine."
As soon as he sat down, the Wu cultivator brought over a pot of deep yellow spirit brew and poured a cup for himself and Lu Xuan.
"I noticed that a second-grade defensive array appeared outside your courtyard recently. You really are willing to spend some resources..."
Lu Xuan took the spirit brew from his hand, took a sip, and found the taste rich and long-lasting.
"Good wine!" he praised, setting the cup down.
"Dao Friend Wu must be aware that the market is becoming increasingly dangerous, with mutated cultivators appearing. Just the other day, one even infiltrated the patrol guard Wang Shan from the neighboring market."
"Plus, I encountered a scene where a cultivator invaded my spiritual field a long time ago. Since the spiritual plants in the field hold all my wealth, I had no choice but to invest heavily to protect this asset."
Lu Xuan casually explained.
The Wu cultivator nodded. "That’s true; it’s always better to be cautious."
"Come, let’s keep drinking. This spirit wine is made from the gallbladders and bones of snake monsters, something hard to come by on ordinary days."
"Is that so?"
Lu Xuan picked up his cup but suddenly hesitated.
"Spirit wine made from snake bones and gallbladders? That must require a lot of snake monsters. Where do those gallbladders and bones come from?"
Thinking of this, Lu Xuan directly asked the Wu cultivator.
"Dao Friend Wu, I’d like to ask you something. Where do you get the snake bones and gallbladders for your brew? Is it from Wanbao Tower or another shop, or perhaps the loose cultivator market?"
"None of those," the Wu cultivator shook his head.
"It’s hard to gather a sufficient amount of the same type of snake monsters in the loose cultivator market, and the prices at Wanbao Tower are a bit high, not very cost-effective."
"I got these from a friend of mine."
"A friend?" Lu Xuan's eyes lit up.
"Yes, a friend I’ve known for many years. His family has a secret technique for discovering and capturing snake monsters with remarkable skills."
"He’s currently at the sixth level of Qi training, and with this technique, he can even hunt second-grade snake monsters."
"Could you introduce me to him? I urgently need some materials from snake monsters."
"Sure," the Wu cultivator replied directly.
(End of Chapter)