Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
During these ten days, Lu Xuan mostly stayed in his courtyard, nurturing spiritual plants and playing with the Cloud Stepping Leopard. Occasionally, he would visit the scattered cultivator market to buy some daily necessities like spirit rice and monster meat, as well as copper and iron ores needed for second-grade Copper Bone Bamboo.
While at the market, he sensed a restless energy in the air. The opening of the new secret realm's outer area had stirred many cultivators, causing the prices of artifacts, talismans, and pills in the market to rise significantly. This didn't affect Lu Xuan much; he continued his simple and busy life at his usual pace.
In his spiritual field, the four mature Blood Jade Ginseng plants showed new changes. Following the method he learned from the Hundred Herbs Hall, he infused spiritual energy into the mature ginseng, secretly guiding the flow of the plant's spiritual energy.
At this moment, the Blood Jade Ginseng sprouted a light red stem at its top, with a red mass forming on it, resembling jade encased in stone. Through a thin red membrane, he could see several ginseng seeds inside. The next step was to nurture these seeds well and, when the time was right, use a special method to detach them. After processing, they could be used to grow new Blood Jade Ginseng.
"I wonder if not harvesting the mature spiritual plants normally will affect the light orb reward," he thought. Previously, when he treated those mutated spiritual plants, he didn't get any light orb rewards since he hadn't grown them himself, and the cultivation time was short. He wasn't sure if refining the spiritual seeds would also be affected.
Nearby, the Spirit Firefly Grass, which occupied more than half of the spiritual field, was thriving. It was a vibrant green, with slender leaves dotted with glowing spots, full of life and very appealing. Lu Xuan used the Spirit Rain Technique, Wood Growth Technique, and Earth Summoning Technique in turns to nourish the Spirit Firefly Grass. After absorbing a lot of experience and practicing multiple times a day, he had gained a good grasp of the Wood Growth Technique, allowing him to slightly speed up the growth of low-grade spiritual plants.
By comparing the current state of the Spirit Firefly Grass with past experiences, Lu Xuan estimated that this batch could mature several days earlier than usual.
By the spiritual spring pool, the Cloud Stepping Leopard crouched low, its green eyes fixed on a lone Red Whiskered Carp. Although the carp had low intelligence, it had noticed that its companions were disappearing and realized that the area outside the pool was unsafe. It either hid at the bottom of the pool or swam around the edges, using the stone walls for protection.
Hearing Lu Xuan's footsteps, the leopard's gray-white fur on its ears twitched slightly. It turned its head to look at him. Lu Xuan immediately understood what it was thinking and smiled when he saw a white light orb floating in the pool.
"Let's get cooking," he said. As soon as he uttered the first word, the Cloud Stepping Leopard sprang out, lightly stepping on the water's surface to snag the carp's long red whiskers. Before Lu Xuan could summon the Red Cloud Needles, the leopard dove into the kitchen with the struggling carp.
Lu Xuan couldn't help but chuckle. This little guy had become addicted to eating Red Whiskered Carp, but the monster meat raised on spirit rice from the spiritual spring was indeed delicious.
He fished the white light orb from the surface of the spiritual spring pool. A thought flashed through his mind.
[Harvested one Red Whiskered Carp, gained first-grade Wood Wall Technique.]
A technique appeared in his mind.
[Wood Wall Technique: Can control surrounding trees or stimulate certain special spiritual seeds to quickly build a wooden wall to defend against external attacks. In environments with many spiritual woods, the power of the technique increases.]
"Not bad for a first-grade defensive technique," Lu Xuan murmured to himself. In the cultivation world, among treasures of the same grade, techniques, methods, and recipes were the most valuable, followed by formations, artifacts, pills, and talismans, with various monster materials, spiritual herbs, spiritual medicines, spiritual ores, and stones being of lower value. Spiritual seeds were the least valuable.
Of course, this wasn't an absolute ranking; it could vary based on effectiveness, function, and quantity. For instance, various materials from the same monster could have significant price differences.
The first-grade Wood Wall Technique was not much weaker than the second-grade artifact, the Red Scale Armor, or the second-grade pill, Beast Spirit Pill, he had obtained from the previous two Red Whiskered Carps.
Suppressing the urge to use the technique on the spiritual plants in his field, he returned to the kitchen. The Cloud Stepping Leopard had already placed the Red Whiskered Carp in the pot. Whenever the carp tried to jump out, the leopard would stomp it back down with its paw.
It was a complete domination over the carp. Whether it was tired or resigned, the carp eventually stopped struggling and accepted its fate in the pot.
"Unnecessary, and it's not even cleaned yet," Lu Xuan said, pushing the Cloud Stepping Leopard aside. He took the half-dead Red Whiskered Carp, using the Silver Splitting Blade to cut off its two long red whiskers and scales, then opened its belly to remove the insides.
Half an hour later, both Lu Xuan and the leopard sat slumped, disregarding their appearances, with satisfied expressions on their faces.
The days spent nurturing spiritual plants were simple and peaceful, yet fulfilling and busy. Lu Xuan enjoyed it, quietly tending to his small spiritual field, waiting for the plants to mature, regardless of the changes happening outside.
Unknowingly, the first batch of the one hundred twenty Spirit Firefly Grass plants had matured. Lu Xuan carefully checked the spiritual field and found the ten that had fully matured first. Among these ten, there were four of good quality, four of superior quality, and two of perfect quality.
"Finally, my cultivation can increase significantly," Lu Xuan sighed. While waiting for the Spirit Firefly Grass to mature, he practiced his own cultivation in his spare time, but the slow progress was hard to bear.
"Spirit Firefly Grass, give me more cultivation!" Thoughts flashed through his mind.
[Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass, gained six months of cultivation.] *3
[Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass, gained nine months of cultivation.] *2
Out of the ten white light orbs, five contained cultivation rewards. Instantly, a large amount of spiritual energy surged within him, rampaging through his meridians.
Once the spiritual energy settled, Lu Xuan was pleasantly surprised to find that his cultivation, which had been stuck at the sixth layer of Qi Training for a long time, had finally broken through to the seventh layer.
"I've finally joined the ranks of high-level Qi Training cultivators."
Feeling the surging and abundant spiritual energy within him, Lu Xuan reflected on his journey. Over a year ago, he was just a small scattered cultivator at the second layer of Qi Training, with ordinary talent, practicing low-grade methods, lacking spirit stones to buy pills to improve his cultivation, living on the outskirts of a chaotic market, always anxious and barely getting by.
If he had relied solely on this, it would have taken countless years to reach high-level Qi Training, perhaps even until the end of his life without success. There was also a high chance he could fall during an exploration of a secret realm, disappearing without a trace, like a drop in the ocean causing no ripples.
Looking at the many thriving spiritual plants in his field, he felt even more grateful for the favor of the white light orbs.
(End of Chapter)