A white light orb suddenly appeared where the Blood Jade Ginseng was, flickering slightly as if reminding Lu Xuan to pick it up.
With a thought, Lu Xuan watched as the white orb transformed into countless light spots that flowed into his body. A message appeared in his mind.
“Harvested one Blood Jade Ginseng, received one second-grade pill: Blood Essence Pill.”
A bright red pill appeared in Lu Xuan's palm, about the size of a thumb tip, with thin red lines on its surface. He could feel the rich blood energy contained within it.
“Blood Essence Pill, a second-grade pill. Taking it can quickly restore a cultivator's blood energy and also speed up the cultivation of blood energy-based body refining techniques.”
“A first-grade Blood Jade Ginseng yielding a second-grade pill is quite good.”
The Blood Jade Ginseng he dug out had roots of varying lengths, resembling blood-red jade, indicating good quality.
Lu Xuan continued to check the remaining nineteen ginsengs and soon found two more that were fully matured.
“Harvested one Blood Jade Ginseng, received one second-grade pill: Blood Essence Pill.”
The second Blood Jade Ginseng was also of good quality, yielding another second-grade Blood Essence Pill.
“Harvested one Blood Jade Ginseng, received one second-grade secret technique: Blood-Burning Arrow.”
A thought flashed in Lu Xuan's mind, and soon, a mysterious technique appeared in his consciousness.
Details about how to perform the technique, precautions, and cultivation methods flooded into his mind.
“Blood-Burning Arrow, a second-grade secret technique. It uses the cultivator's own blood essence to nurture a blood arrow within the body, which is then shot out from the mouth at high speed with great lethality.”
“The more blood essence burned, the greater the power of the blood arrow, but it should not be used frequently.”
“A second-grade secret technique is quite rare, but it seems to be the kind that harms the user as much as the enemy, so it’s best not to use it unless absolutely necessary,” Lu Xuan thought.
This Blood-Burning Arrow technique was incredibly powerful and hard to defend against, but it came with significant side effects, requiring the burning of the cultivator's blood essence.
“However, this second-grade Blood Essence Pill pairs very well with this technique.”
He decided not to actively practice this technique since it consumed his own blood essence. It would be better to open an experience package for the Blood-Burning Arrow from the white light orb to automatically increase his proficiency.
As for the Blood Essence Pills, he planned to collect them for future use.
Although the remaining seventeen Blood Jade Ginsengs were mostly mature and could be harvested directly, Lu Xuan patiently left them in the spiritual soil.
Only by maximizing the quality of the spiritual plants could he receive better rewards. The perfect quality Red Cloud Pine seeds yielding a third-grade Pure Jade was the best proof of this.
The good quality Blood Jade Ginsengs produced two Blood Essence Pills, and the higher quality one yielded the Blood-Burning Arrow technique, further confirming his assumption.
Three days passed, and Steward He helped purchase seven first-grade spiritual plants that were nearly mature. Lu Xuan decided to harvest them, hoping to get some mutated spiritual plants.
The remaining second-grade spiritual plant was growing alongside the initial second-grade White Pattern Wood and still had some time before it matured.
Just as he finished packing up and was about to head out, he suddenly felt a slight weight on his left shoulder. Turning his head, he saw the Cloud Stepping Leopard lying on his shoulder, its four paws gripping his clothing like fluffy white clouds.
“Get down, I need to go out. Keep an eye on the place, and I’ll bring you back something tasty,” Lu Xuan said.
The Cloud Stepping Leopard didn’t move, its green eyes coldly staring ahead.
Lu Xuan knew the young leopard was stubborn, so he reluctantly let it stay on his shoulder.
Fortunately, he had the second-grade Mist Concealment Array protecting him, so he wasn’t too worried. After telling the straw puppets in the spiritual field to watch over things, he set out with the Cloud Stepping Leopard.
In Linyang Market Town, having not visited for a while, Lu Xuan noticed the market seemed livelier, and the cultivators passing by didn’t look as anxious as before.
With the Cloud Stepping Leopard, he strolled leisurely through the market.
Suddenly, a red and yellow figure rushed toward him.
He remained calm, feeling the red thread needles in his sleeve slightly tremble, ready to spring into action.
The red and yellow figure stopped right before touching Lu Xuan.
He then saw it clearly: a strange four-eyed monkey.
Its entire body was covered in red and yellow fur, with extremely long arms. It had a bright red nose with ridge-like protrusions extending to its nostrils, and its four eyes had two red and two white pupils, forming a ghostly pattern.
At this moment, the strange four-eyed monkey circled around Lu Xuan, its pupils spinning as if it were expressing desire.
After the strange beast appeared, the surrounding cultivators remained calm, so Lu Xuan held back the urge to attack the monkey.
Only the Cloud Stepping Leopard on his shoulder was growling, its back arched, ready to pounce at any moment.
“Xiao Si, stop!”
A clear female voice rang out. Before the words finished, a girl in red quickly approached, looking like a moving flame.
“My apologies, fellow cultivator. My spiritual beast has disturbed you,” she said, stopping in front of Lu Xuan, her bright face showing a hint of apology.
“It’s nothing,” Lu Xuan replied lightly, sensing the deep spiritual energy within her. She was likely a high-level Qi Refining cultivator.
“This four-eyed red monkey grew up with me. It’s skilled at detecting and tracking evil spirits. It seems it sensed something it likes on you and came over,” the girl explained, then paused, looking at Lu Xuan with curiosity.
“Have you recently come into contact with any spiritual fruits that beasts like?”
Hearing that the four-eyed monkey was good at detecting evil spirits, Lu Xuan immediately thought back to what a neighboring cultivator had said days before, guessing that the girl was likely a disciple invited by the Wang family.
He pondered for a moment, pretending to think.
“Spiritual fruits that beasts like? I don’t recall any.”
“However, I’m a Spiritual Plant Cultivator at the Hundred Herbs Hall, and I often deal with various spiritual plants, so it’s possible I came across some spiritual fruits during that time.”
The image of the Red Cloud Pine seeds flashed in his mind. If there was anything in his storage bag that the spiritual beast would be interested in, it was probably the five Red Cloud Pine seeds.
He thought about it but didn’t plan to tell the girl the truth. Instead, he made up a casual excuse to brush it off and mentioned the Hundred Herbs Hall to bolster his reputation.
“I see.”
The girl didn’t suspect anything and moved closer, grabbing the four-eyed monkey’s arm, just as she was about to leave when she noticed the Cloud Stepping Leopard on Lu Xuan’s shoulder.
“Your Cloud Stepping Leopard has quite unusual eyes. If raised properly, it might develop some unique abilities.”
“Really? Thank you for the reminder. I’ll take good care of it,” Lu Xuan said, expressing surprise and gratitude. He already knew about the leopard’s unique traits but needed to maintain appearances.
After watching the girl leave with the four-eyed monkey, he finally relaxed, letting the energy in his red thread needles return to calm.
(End of Chapter)