Lu Xuan didn't want to be at the front of the group. He planned to follow along with everyone else and would only join in after the first Spiritual Plant Cultivators had tested the Dragon Beard Grass.
As he listened to the discussions, Lu Xuan heard several cultivators sharing their ideas and thoughts freely. He picked up a few insights himself, which was a nice surprise.
Suddenly, he noticed a dark red, snake-like tendril suddenly shoot out from a patch of Dragon Beard Grass, aiming at a nearby Spiritual Plant Cultivator.
With a clang, the tendril was blocked by a shield artifact, and a dark flying sword swooped in and cut it in half.
The cultivator was prepared, so the attack from the mutated Dragon Beard Grass didn't cause any harm, just a moment of panic.
After this attack, the cultivator looked down at a small patch of Dragon Beard Grass by his feet, which seemed to change, as if every piece of Dragon Beard Grass could suddenly strike.
Half an hour passed, and occasionally a cultivator was attacked by the mutated Dragon Beard Grass. Fortunately, everyone was cautious, and the attacks were less damaging, with no injuries reported for now.
However, the many Spiritual Plant Cultivators were still at a loss on how to tell normal Dragon Beard Grass from the mutated kind, with no progress made.
"I wonder if we can find a way to identify and separate the normal Dragon Beard Grass," Wang Ruhai said, standing on a protruding rock with Li Jianfeng, looking at the more than ten cultivators below.
"Perhaps," Li Jianfeng replied calmly.
"I think there's still a good chance. After all, these are the top Spiritual Plant Cultivators in Linyang Market Town. If they can't find a way, then there really might be no other options."
"It would be a shame to waste so many second-grade Spiritual Plants."
Li Jianfeng nodded lightly in agreement.
After waiting a moment longer with no action, the cultured Wang Ruhai stretched and smiled.
"Jianfeng, you stay here. I'm going to look around nearby to see if I can find some Spiritual Medicine. If there are any evil beasts or spirits, I'll take care of them."
"These cultivators are all at the mid-level of Qi training and haven't faced any life-or-death challenges. You should be enough to guard this spot alone."
With that, he flew off quickly on a golden flying sword.
After listening to the discussions and observing secretly, Lu Xuan finally decided to take action and approached three strands of Dragon Beard Grass.
Harvesting Dragon Beard Grass wasn't difficult. As long as one had mastered the Earth Summoning Technique, it could be done fairly easily, and the cultivators present could all manage it.
The challenge lay in distinguishing normal Dragon Beard Grass from the mutated kind and separating any unknown substances inside the normal strands.
If one couldn't tell them apart and harvested the mutated grass, mixing it with the normal grass could lead to violent reactions that would damage the normal plants.
If they couldn't separate them, it would affect the quality of the Dragon Beard Grass, lowering its value.
He kept his spiritual energy flowing and focused his senses on the three strands of Dragon Beard Grass in front of him.
From the outside, the three strands looked quite similar, with only slight differences in length and width.
As he probed into the strands with his spiritual sense, he noticed many thin grayish-white filaments running through the entire length of each strand.
"Which of these grayish-white filaments are normal, and which are mutated?" Lu Xuan wondered cautiously, inspecting each of the three strands without finding anything unusual.
"I wonder what would happen if I harvested it and then replanted it?"
Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind. He used the Earth Summoning Technique to carefully separate the roots of the Dragon Beard Grass from the soil and then harvested it.
He then placed it back into the crack.
"Lu, what are you trying to do?" He Ping, nearby, couldn't help but ask upon seeing Lu Xuan's strange actions.
"I'm just conducting an experiment to confirm a guess I have," Lu Xuan replied, focusing on the replanted Dragon Beard Grass.
Sure enough, a thought emerged in his mind.
"Dragon Beard Grass, second-grade Spiritual Plant, grows in rocky environments, and when mature, can be used to refine healing pills."
"During the mutation process, the filaments inside the plant are quietly undergoing some changes. When stimulated alternately with fire and ice techniques, the mutated filaments will react slightly."
"It needs both fire and ice to show a reaction... normal, normal..."
As this thought crossed his mind, Lu Xuan felt enlightened and quietly sighed.
He harvested the remaining strand of Dragon Beard Grass and then replanted it in the crack.
Another thought appeared.
"Mutated Dragon Beard Grass, second-grade Spiritual Plant, has a certain level of aggressiveness, excels at camouflage, and is almost indistinguishable from normal Dragon Beard Grass."
"I found a mutated one."
Holding a silver-white short blade, Lu Xuan remained alert for any possible attacks from the newly planted mutated Dragon Beard Grass.
"It's disguised pretty well."
After waiting a while, the mutated Dragon Beard Grass showed no reaction, remaining still, as if Lu Xuan's judgment was wrong.
"Well, you can keep pretending. I won't stay here with you."
Lu Xuan moved aside and squatted in front of a few strands of Dragon Beard Grass, pretending to study them closely.
"So, as long as I personally plant the Spiritual Plants, I can sense their immediate state and detailed information."
"That makes sense. The two patches of Spiritual Fields I rented in the market don't belong to me, so it's understandable that I can only discover the state of the Dragon Beard Grass I've planted myself."
"However, these half-heartedly planted plants probably won't yield any light orb rewards, just like the mutated plants I got before and those four Blood Jade Ginseng I left behind."
"I must personally plant the Spirit Seeds or seedlings, nurture them carefully, and harvest them in time to receive light orb rewards."
"Still, being able to uncover the mysteries of this Dragon Beard Grass is quite good."
Lu Xuan mused, not revealing his findings to the Wang family cultivators. Instead, he pretended to use Spirit Rain Technique and Wood Growth Technique, blending in with the other cultivators around him.
During this time, if he discovered any other plants, he would dig them up and casually replant them to learn their detailed information. Unfortunately, he didn't find any rare Spiritual Plants.
"What is this?"
Suddenly, he spotted a mushroom-shaped stone beneath a peculiar rock.
The stone was grayish-white, hard in texture, and had a wide top covered with many strange patterns that, when combined, seemed to form a bizarre face, looking as if it could devour someone.
"Should I plant it and see what happens?"
Seeing its mushroom-like shape and odd appearance, Lu Xuan thought about planting it.
He used the Earth Summoning Technique, and the stone buried in the soil quietly cracked open, leaving a gap just large enough for the mushroom stone.
Focusing his mind on it, a thought emerged in his mind.
Lu Xuan suppressed his inner excitement and absorbed the thought.
"Ghostface Stone Mushroom, third-grade Spiritual Plant, can enhance the cultivation speed of certain evil techniques when mature, feeds on vengeful souls, and remains in a dormant state. It needs a pill made from crushed vengeful souls to awaken."
Continue to ask for monthly tickets!
(End of Chapter)