"Third-grade spirit seed!"
Lu Xuan almost shouted in surprise but quickly hid his excitement. He didn't expect that the strange stone he picked up in the secret realm, after planting it out of boredom, turned out to be a dormant third-grade spirit seed.
So far, among all the spiritual plants he had cultivated, only the Phantom Smoke Fruit and the Flood Dragon Vine were at the third-grade level, and he had acquired them through unusual means.
"The Ghostface Stone Mushroom feeds on vengeful spirits. Both its name and cultivation method sound quite eerie."
However, when it came to the third-grade level, being eerie didn't matter much anymore. Just as he was about to put the Ghostface Stone Mushroom into his storage bag, he suddenly froze.
He pulled back his arm and casually glanced around. More than ten spiritual plant cultivators were trying to identify normal Dragon Beard Grass, three of whom were near Lu Xuan. Among them, the two Wang family cultivators were at a higher cultivation level, and only the one with a centipede scar on his face, Li Jianfeng, was looking down at everyone from a high spot.
Lu Xuan understood that these two were supposedly there to protect the more than ten spiritual plant cultivators, but they were actually keeping an eye on them to prevent any of the cultivators from pocketing the second-grade Dragon Beard Grass on the hillside.
Thinking this, Lu Xuan ignored the Ghostface Stone Mushroom and walked to the side. Using the excuse of searching for normal Dragon Beard Grass, he looked around to see if he could find any new Ghostface Stone Mushrooms.
To his surprise, after a while, he found two more Ghostface Stone Mushrooms. After trying to plant them, he discovered they were also in a dormant state and needed vengeful spirits to awaken.
Lu Xuan felt something was off.
"Logically, the Ghostface Stone Mushrooms are not hidden, and the Wang family cultivators and spiritual plant cultivators have been in this area for a long time. They shouldn't have missed these mushrooms. So why are they still here now?"
"There’s only one possibility: the Wang family cultivators don’t know what this strange-faced stone is!"
The other spiritual plant cultivators probably thought the same. The more Lu Xuan thought about it, the more convinced he became, and an idea formed in his mind.
"Hey? What is this thing? It looks so strange!"
He suddenly exclaimed and pulled the Ghostface Stone Mushroom from the crack.
The nearby spiritual plant cultivators turned to look curiously, and Li Jianfeng's gaze also fell on Lu Xuan.
Lu Xuan held the Ghostface Stone Mushroom and jumped over to Li Jianfeng.
"Daoist Li, I found this peculiar thing while trying to identify the Dragon Beard Grass. It seems to have a strange face."
"The secret realm was discovered and developed by the Wang family, and the Dragon Beard Grass here belongs to them, so I decided to present this to the Wang family."
Li Jianfeng glanced at the Ghostface Stone Mushroom in Lu Xuan's hand and said lightly, "It's just a weird-looking stone."
The Wang family cultivators had already noticed this strange stone when they entered. At first, they thought it was some rare treasure and took a few pieces back for study. After some time and even consulting a specialist from Wanbao Tower, they found nothing special about it.
Since the Ghostface Stone Mushroom was different from normal spiritual plants and was dormant without any spiritual energy fluctuations, it looked just like any other stone on the hillside. Gradually, the Wang family cultivators lost their curiosity and regarded it as just a strangely shaped rock.
"I see! I thought it was some treasure! Turns out it's just a ripped-off thing."
Upon hearing this, Lu Xuan couldn't hide his disappointment and casually tossed the Ghostface Stone Mushroom to the ground.
The strange stone rolled on the ground, occasionally revealing its terrifying face made up of bizarre patterns. The spiritual plant cultivators around, who had been listening, continued their work of identifying the Dragon Beard Grass.
The whole afternoon passed slowly, and they hadn’t found a good way to distinguish normal Dragon Beard Grass from the mutated ones.
During this time, some spiritual plant cultivators tried various cultivation techniques to provoke the mutated long beards, but this method consumed a lot of spiritual energy and couldn’t guarantee that there weren’t any hidden mutated Dragon Beard Grass around.
As evening approached, the elegant scholar Wang Ruhai returned to the camp, dragging the corpse of a wolf-like beast.
"How did it go? Did you find any effective methods?"
Li Jianfeng shook his head and looked at the beast's corpse in Wang Ruhai's hands.
"I found a second-grade beast and took care of it, and I also discovered a few first-grade spiritual plants, so it wasn't a bad haul."
Li Jianfeng nodded.
After the spiritual plant cultivators finished their identification work, they returned to the camp, had dinner, and went back to their rooms.
Since they had little time, the camp was built simply, just serving as a resting place.
It was hard to see in the dark, and the surprise attacks from mutated Dragon Beard Grass were much more dangerous at night than during the day. So no cultivators stayed on the hillside, except for a mid-level Qi Refinement cultivator from the Wang family guarding the outer area.
Many spiritual plant cultivators were still discussing how to quickly and effectively identify the plants, while others went straight to their rooms to cultivate.
Lu Xuan practiced for a few cycles, took out the Cloud Stepping Leopard to stretch its legs, and then lay down early on the wooden bed to rest.
In the dead of night, everything was silent.
After sleeping for a long time, Lu Xuan suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze bright.
He listened carefully for a while but didn’t sense anything unusual.
Quietly, he circulated his spiritual energy, seeping into the thin dark golden Hidden Spirit Cloak he was wearing.
Immediately, the semi-transparent threads inside the cloak moved swiftly and silently, and Lu Xuan’s figure vanished from the wooden bed.
A moment later, he appeared in the room without anyone noticing.
He held a Ghostface Stone Mushroom in his hand, a smile on his face.
"Spent most of my spiritual energy to bring back a so-called ripped-off thing~!"
He chuckled and quickly took a Primordial Nourishing Pill from his storage bag to replenish his spiritual energy.
During the day, he used Li Jianfeng's own experience to label the Ghostface Stone Mushroom as worthless, completely dispelling all the cultivators' interest in the strange stone.
He had intended to pick it up and put it in his storage bag right away, but out of caution, he waited until midnight to use the Hidden Spirit Cloak's invisibility to sneak away with the Ghostface Stone Mushroom.
To avoid raising suspicion when everything disappeared, he deliberately only took one of the more hidden Ghostface Stone Mushrooms.
The remaining ones, and any that might still be undiscovered, he planned to gradually take away during their stay.
"Getting back one wasn’t easy, but considering its value as a third-grade spiritual plant, it was worth the effort and energy."
"However, I’m just an ordinary, honest spiritual plant cultivator. How am I supposed to find some vengeful spirits to wake this Ghostface Stone Mushroom up?"
Lu Xuan thought to himself, planning to start cultivating the Ghostface Stone Mushroom once they left the secret realm.
(End of Chapter)