Chapter 144: Optimizing Spiritual Seeds and the Messaging Mirror

The first century was, in fact, equivalent to cultivating and growing a century-old Red-Leaf Spirit Tea Tree.

Due to the higher grade of the Star-Origin Spirit Fruit Tree itself—being a third-grade spiritual plant right from the start—it required an even greater total amount of spiritual energy.

Not to mention that there were still a second and a third century to follow.

Therefore, wanting to truly nurture it to maturity remained an extremely arduous task.

"No matter what, I must give it a try. If it truly proves impossible, giving up then will not be too late."

Naturally, Zhou Changwang would not be like Old Qin Ming, who ruined his own cultivation due to spiritual planting, nor would he be like the senior spiritual planter in the notes, who wasted decades of time solely to plant the Star-Origin Spirit Fruit Tree, intending only to benefit future generations while being unable to enjoy its rewards himself.

...

The next day, Zhou Changwang arrived right beside the Star-Origin Spirit Fruit Tree at the earliest opportunity. Seeing that the spiritual energy around it had once again become abundant, he hastily began casting the Tree Ring Technique.

One, two, three...

Perhaps because of the added Lesser Gathering Spirit Array, the number of Tree Ring Techniques the spirit fruit tree could withstand had also increased to a certain extent.

Zhou Changwang cast a full eight Tree Ring Techniques before he felt that the spiritual energy within the spiritual plot was completely exhausted and could no longer provide sufficient nourishment.

Thus, he finally stopped, and then began casting the Spirit Rain Technique, infusing spiritual spring water.

Immediately afterward, he turned his attention to the other spiritual plants.

First was the Red-Leaf Spirit Tea Tree, which also belonged to the third-grade spiritual plants.

Although he was not as attentive to this spiritual plant as before, since it was, after all, a third-grade spiritual plant, he would not neglect its cultivation.

Every day, he would also cast several Tree Ring Techniques to increase its tree ring growth.

However, because it had already grown to a tree age of one hundred years, the amount of spiritual energy it exhaled and inhaled daily was enormous, limiting the number of Tree Ring Techniques it could endure each day.

Therefore, he would only cast three techniques daily, each capable of advancing its arboreal age by three days.

In other words, it was still growing at a rate of ten tree-ring days per day.

Consequently, many tender red-leaf spirit tea leaves had sprouted upon the century-old spirit tea tree.

However, Zhou Changwang was in no rush to harvest them.

He planned to wait until it had grown for another decade before carrying out a large-scale harvest.

After all, century-old spirit tea leaves grown for ten years would undoubtedly be much more fragrant than those grown for only one year, and their effect on enhancing a cultivator's spiritual awareness would be far superior.

Finally, Zhou Changwang turned his attention to the remaining eight mu of spiritual fields.

"Now, there are only a few days left before Fairy Lianyue collects the Qingyun Grass and Spirit Rhyme Flowers once every month.

I should stock up on the corresponding spiritual materials to complete the monthly handover task."

Naturally, Zhou Changwang had not forgotten this matter and kept track of the time.

Fortunately, he had not failed to tend to the various spiritual materials within the spiritual fields every day.

The Tree Ring Technique was used continuously every day.

Although the effects were dispersed, Zhou Changwang had long since elevated the Tree Ring Technique to the realm of perfection, and its efficiency in increasing tree rings was astonishing.

With a single casting of the Tree Ring Technique spread across a hundred plants, it could cause those hundred spiritual plants to grow by ten to twenty days of tree-ring time.

With several castings down every day, almost every spiritual plant could increase its tree-ring age by two or three months.

Therefore, at this moment, many Qingyun Grass plants had actually reached their three-year maturity period, while the largest batch of Spirit Rhyme Flowers had already attained nine years of medicinal age.

They only needed two or three days to mature completely and be successfully harvested.

"In addition, I must plan to clear out a spiritual field to plant Thunder Spirit Rice."

Although he still had a considerable amount of Thunder Spirit Rice left in his storage bag due to the last harvest, it would only last him for about a year at most.

For a cultivator, a year could pass in the blink of an eye.

Naturally, he could not sit idly by and consume his reserves without replenishing them.

"Moreover, as far as I know, the Thunder Spirit Rice was a second-grade spiritual rice in the Qi family eight hundred years ago. It was spiritual rice that could be supplied to Foundation Establishment realm cultivators for consumption.

Yet today, the Thunder Spirit Rice I cultivate has only reached the mid-first-grade level... Although all of this is because the batch of Thunder Spirit Rice seeds I obtained suffered severe depletion of spiritual energy and vitality after being sealed for eight hundred years, causing the spiritual seeds to regress.

That does not mean I cannot optimize and elevate its grade once again."

Zhou Changwang had long known that there were differences in grades among spiritual rices.

For instance, the common Spirit Grain Rice was at the initial first-grade level, relatively ordinary and cheap in price.

However, apart from Spirit Grain Rice, there were also Crescent Rice, Blood-Red Rice, Blood Spirit Rice, Spirit Fruit Rice... These spiritual rices varied in grade. Among them, Crescent Rice was also at the initial first-grade level, Blood-Red Rice and Blood Spirit Rice were both mid-first-grade, while Spirit Fruit Rice was a high-first-grade spiritual rice.

The higher the grade, the more expensive the price.

Despite the unique effects of Zhou Changwang's Thunder Spirit Rice, in terms of value, it truly could not compare to Spirit Fruit Rice.

At the very least, the spiritual energy contained within Spirit Fruit Rice unquestionably exceeded that of Thunder Spirit Rice.

"As my cultivation level grows higher and higher, the effects of Thunder Spirit Rice will inevitably diminish more and more.

In fact, after my cultivation level advanced to the sixth layer of Qi Refining, I could already sense that the effect of the Thunder Spirit Rice had weakened by a large margin."

Zhou Changwang silently compared the differences after consuming Thunder Spirit Rice meals daily following his cultivation breakthrough.

First, his 'appetite' had increased.

Where three catties were originally enough to feel 'full' in a day, five catties were now required.

As for its conversion into his spiritual power cultivation, without using Yuhua Pills, he could increase his cultivation by two points daily, but most of that was due to his cultivation technique realm advancing to the realm of great accomplishment.

In reality, the amount of spiritual energy provided by Thunder Spirit Rice meals was no longer as high as before, where it could directly convert into '1' point of cultivation.

That is to say, three catties of Thunder Spirit Rice used to convert into one point of cultivation within the fifth layer of Qi Refining; now, even five catties of Thunder Spirit Rice could no longer convert into a single point of cultivation at the sixth layer of Qi Refining level, requiring six or even seven catties...

"Therefore, cultivating a higher-grade Thunder Spirit Rice is imperative.

As it happens, these few Qingyun Grass plants have reached a medicinal age of three years and are already mature. I might as well harvest them, clear out the spiritual land, and plant Thunder Spirit Rice trees upon it."

As thoughts raced through Zhou Changwang's mind, he quickly dug out a small patch within a patch of initial second-grade spiritual land—about a dozen Qingyun Grass plants that had already matured—pulling them up entirely by their roots.

Then, he placed them one by one into a wooden box, smoothly sealing it with a sealing talisman.

Following that, he took out a spiritual hoe and began simple tasks such as loosening the soil for this small patch of spiritual land.

At this point, he still did not stop; instead, he retrieved three lower-grade spirit stones from his storage bag, crushed them into powder, and scattered them evenly.

This constituted completing the simple work of fertilization.

"Next is selecting suitable spiritual rice seeds."

This time, Zhou Changwang did not intend to cultivate on a large scale.

Because if he did, what would ultimately be grown would merely be mid-first-grade Thunder Spirit Rice, which was of little use to him.

He already had enough spiritual rice.

When eaten by a single person, what mattered was quality, not quantity.

Thus, focusing his mind, he plunged his awareness into his storage bag.

Then, with a flip of his hand, ten perfectly round grains of Thunder Spirit Rice appeared in his palm.

These ten grains of Thunder Spirit Rice were the ones he had selected after careful screening—the plumpest, with the greatest vitality and spiritual essence.

Although they were still at the mid-first-grade level, they were the result of careful selection from countless grains of Thunder Spirit Rice.

Next, with a wave of his hand, he drew some spiritual spring water to soak them.

Immediately afterward, one stimulation technique after another was cast by him.

One, two, three...

After five castings, all ten grains of Thunder Spirit Rice sprouted roots and tender shoots, rapidly shooting up and growing.

Without hesitation, Zhou Changwang planted them in order upon the spiritual land that had just been cleared.

Directly following that, he cast the Tree Ring Technique.

With a single casting of the Tree Ring Technique... the ten young Thunder Spirit Rice tree seedlings rapidly shot up and grew, halting only when they reached about half a person's height.

This single casting of the Tree Ring Technique directly caused the ten Thunder Spirit Rice trees to each gain a month of tree-ring time.

Then came the second casting of the Tree Ring Technique.

Each of the Thunder Spirit Rice trees had already grown to the stage of being on the verge of blooming and bearing fruit.

At this moment, Zhou Changwang naturally dared not cast the Tree Ring Technique any further; he hurriedly unleashed the Thousand Thunder Flash.

In the blink of an eye, countless bolts of lightning, under his control, fell evenly upon each Thunder Spirit Rice tree without leaking a single shred elsewhere.

After one flash came another.

Until he sensed that the Thunder Spirit Rice trees were 'fully saturated,' did he finally stop.

Sure enough, these Thunder Spirit Rice trees quickly sprouted new branches, tender buds, and small flowers one after another.

At this juncture, Zhou Changwang resumed casting the Tree Ring Technique.

However, it was no longer the perfection-level Tree Ring Technique, but rather the entry and mastery levels, slowly increasing their tree-ring time while intermittently casting the Thousand Thunder Flash to impart the power of thunder.

Of course, during this period, he did not forget to irrigate with spiritual spring water and cast the Spirit Rain Technique to increase the spiritual energy of the soil and accelerate the growth rate of the Thunder Spirit Rice trees.

After several rounds of this, individual grains of Thunder Spirit Rice blossomed and bore fruit accordingly.

Under his continuous spellcasting, they grew rapidly until each and every grain was fully ripe and completely matured.

"After this bout of busy work lasting nearly three hours...

All ten Thunder Spirit Rice trees have completely matured and borne spiritual rice.

Pity that still no spiritual rice has advanced to the high-first-grade level.

However, my previous thought was correct: spiritual rice cultivated through such rigorous selection is indeed far superior in quality.

The majority of them are much plumper than the previous ten grains, containing richer spiritual essence and vitality."

After harvesting all the Thunder Spirit Rice and silently comparing them, a smile inevitably surfaced on Zhou Changwang's face.

A single Thunder Spirit Rice tree yielded over two hundred and fifty grains of Thunder Spirit Rice, of which at least one-third surpassed the ten spiritual seeds he had previously selected.

Among them, the dozens of grains with the highest quality appeared, in his view, infinitely close to the high-first-grade level.

They were just lacking one more round of optimized cultivation?

"There is no rush, though.

Once a day is enough.

Any more than that would damage the spiritual soil.

Moreover, the consumption of my spiritual power would be extremely great."

Zhou Changwang understood the principle that too much is as bad as too little.

His schedule every day was extremely tight, and what he cared about most was still the cultivation and nurturing of the Star-Origin Spirit Fruit Tree. It was only due to spiritual energy limitations that he could only perform it three times a day, casting the Tree Ring Technique eight times each time.

Following that, Zhou Changwang directed his gaze toward the ten harvested Thunder Spirit Rice tree trunks.

Since the Thunder Spirit Rice trees had already been harvested, these trunks naturally served no further purpose.

Consequently, he once again employed the Life-Sapping Finger to extract the vitality of the Thunder Spirit Rice trees.

One, two, three...

After several applications of the Life-Sapping Finger, a bottle of vital spirit liquid appeared in Zhou Changwang's hand.

Without the slightest hesitation, he channeled this entire bottle of vital spirit liquid through the Life-Sapping Finger, infusing it directly into the Star-Origin Spirit Fruit Tree.

Next, he cast another dozen or so Tree Ring Techniques.

The vital spirit liquid was completely consumed.

In correlation with this, the Star-Origin Spirit Fruit Tree grew by another half-year of tree-ring time.

At present, it had already reached a tree age of five years.

The next day.

Zhou Changwang gazed at the spiritual rice in his palm—still at the mid-first-grade level—and slightly frowned.

"As expected, breaking through a grade limit is not so easy."

Zhou Changwang sighed with emotion.

On the third day, it was still the same.

On the fourth day.

Zhou Changwang had just concluded the cultivation of the Eight Forms of Tianyuan when he suddenly sensed someone knocking on the array gate.

He hurriedly cast a Cleansing Technique to purify himself before looking out at the scene beyond the array.

Because the Flying Star River Array was entirely under his control, he could see through the array to the scenery outside it, namely outside the valley, whereas cultivators outside the array found it difficult to peer into the valley.

At this moment, at a single glance, he saw Fairy Lianyue standing outside the array.

To his surprise, accompanying her was another female cultivator.

He hurriedly opened the array gate.

"Greetings, Fairy Lianyue."

Zhou Changwang first greeted Hao Lianyue, then looked toward the woman standing behind her and said, "You've come."

The person who had arrived was none other than Qian Xiaoyue, whom he had not seen for nearly a month.

"You two catch up first.
I'll go over to Daoist Li Pengfei's place.
I'll come back in a moment."

Hao Lianyue cast a smiling glance at the two of them and then said, "Right, Daoist Zhou must not forget the Qingyun Grass and Spirit Rhyme Flowers required for the monthly handover. Of course, for the first month, it doesn't matter even if they aren't fully grown; you just need to make up the deficit in the following months."

"Please rest assured, Fairy Lianyue, I have already prepared them."

Zhou Changwang smiled and promptly handed over a storage bag.

After receiving it and sweeping it with her spiritual awareness, the other party indeed discovered that it contained the sufficient quantities of Qingyun Grass and Spirit Rhyme Flowers. She smiled with satisfaction and said, "Then I won't disturb your reunion."

After emptying the storage bag, she handed it back to Zhou Changwang.

Then, she gracefully walked out of the valley's spiritual land.

"Daoist Qian, trust you have been well since we last met?"

Zhou Changwang looked at Qian Xiaoyue and greeted her with a smile.

"Not very well!"

Qian Xiaoyue shook her head.

She said, "You haven't come to see me even once this past month."

"I..."

Zhou Changwang wanted to explain that when he went to the marketplace a few days earlier, he had originally planned to visit her, but because he was delayed too late at the Spirit Plant Hall, he had given up on the idea. Then, realizing abruptly that if he spoke of this, Qian Xiaoyue would probably become even angrier, he could only hedge and offer an awkward smile: "I've been quite busy and couldn't get away..."

"I know you've been quite busy.
So, since you didn't come to see me, I had no choice but to come see you."
Qian Xiaoyue glanced at Zhou Changwang and said of her own accord.

Hearing this, Zhou Changwang felt a slight stir in his heart and was about to speak when a melancholic expression suddenly appeared on Qian Xiaoyue's face, and she said, "I am leaving."

"Huh? What's wrong?"
Zhou Changwang was startled.

"In two days, we will set out for the Shuiyun Immortal Sect to participate in the initiation examination.
Therefore, my coming here this time is actually to say goodbye to you."
Qian Xiaoyue said with a trace of sorrow.

"An initiation examination? In two days, that soon?"

Zhou Changwang was taken aback. He had actually known for some time that Qian Xiaoyue would soon head to the Shuiyun Immortal Sect to participate in the annual entrance examination.

He just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

"That's right.
So, have you decided not to come with me to the Shuiyun Immortal Sect for this entrance examination?"
Qian Xiaoyue looked at Zhou Changwang and asked.

After a brief silence, Zhou Changwang nodded and asked, "What time in two days? I'll come see you off."

"No need."

Qian Xiaoyue shook her head, raised her gaze to the sky, and said, "The Shuiyun Immortal Sect is located in the Southern Border region, five thousand miles away from here. Just the journey alone will take two or three months.
Once we part this time, it is likely we will rarely have the chance to meet again.
The world of cultivation is inherently fraught with peril.
Rather than clinging to longing, it is better to be straightforward."

Though Qian Xiaoyue spoke thus, her eyes turned slightly red.

Turning her body away so Zhou Changwang wouldn't see, she said, "I know you have ambitions in your heart, that you yearn for longevity and aspire to attain Foundation Establishment.
I also believe that with your rate of growth, you will surely succeed in the future.
Rather than taking the risk of traveling for months, staying right here in the Shenfeng Valley Marketplace and waiting to join the Qingyun Sect a few months later when its entrance examination opens is indeed a more suitable choice..."

"Even as for myself, how could I not yearn for that glimmer of possibility?"

As Qian Xiaoyue spoke, a trace of hesitation inevitably surfaced in her tone.

She had originally intended to break completely with Zhou Changwang and sever all ties henceforth, but in the end, she felt some lingering reluctance in her heart and found it difficult to do so.

"Not necessarily."

Hesitating for a moment, Zhou Changwang said, "Since we find ourselves in this world of cultivation, who in their heart does not yearn for immortal longevity?
I understand what you mean.
How about we make a pact?
Let twenty years be the limit. If after twenty years I am still unable to establish my foundation, I will travel to the Southern Border region and seek you out at the Shuiyun Immortal Sect.
I only hope that by then, you will not have forgotten this agreement of ours."

"That is impossible!"

Qian Xiaoyue's eyes instantly brightened. She turned around abruptly, her eyes red, and said, "Then I will wait for you for twenty years.
Perhaps by then, I will have achieved Foundation Establishment a step ahead of you—that is not an impossibility either."

With that, she slightly revealed her cultivation aura, which impressively was already at the fifth layer of Qi Refining.

Then, with a flip of her hand, she produced two golden-inscribed mirrors and said, "Furthermore, during this period, we won't necessarily lose contact for real."

"What is this?"
Zhou Changwang was stunned.

"A Communication Mirror!
It can be used for ultra-long-distance communication.
It is said that it can transmit messages across distances of up to ten thousand miles at most.
Only, every time a message is transmitted, it consumes spiritual energy; the greater the distance, the more spiritual energy is required.
Above this, there is also a treasure called the Sumeru Teleportation Disc, but it is far too expensive; even the entire Shenfeng Valley Marketplace doesn't have one for sale."

As she spoke, Qian Xiaoyue handed one of the golden mirrors to Zhou Changwang and said, "With this, we can still stay in touch at all times.
Even if we encounter problems, we can discuss them with each other."

"This... how many spirit stones did this Communication Mirror cost you?"
Zhou Changwang looked at her in mild astonishment.

"Twelve thousand lower-grade spirit stones.
As it happens, that white-jade spotted fish last time sold for just about that much. Besides, we both had a share in that fish, so I took the liberty of buying these two Communication Mirrors."
Qian Xiaoyue said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Changwang could not help but fall into a daze, feeling a profound wave of deep affection weigh heavily upon his heart.

"The journey thither is long, and I don't know what would be fitting to give you as a parting gift.
I'll give you some spiritual talismans instead; at the very least, they can be used for self-defense."

After remaining silent for a moment, as if recalling something, Zhou Changwang finally spoke.

With a flip of his hand, a pile of spiritual talismans materialized.

Among them were both sealing talismans and summoning talismans.

The sealing talismans were mostly high-first-grade finished talismans and limit-breaking talismans, and within the majority of these talismans was sealed the Five Elements Thunder Transformation Technique he had cast.

One must know that among the sealing talismans crafted by Zhou Changwang, the high-first-grade finished talismans could seal the Five Elements Thunder Transformation Technique at the minor accomplishment level; once unleashed, it was comparable to the full-strength strike of a seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivator.

Meanwhile, the high-first-grade limit-breaking talismans sealed the Five Elements Thunder Transformation Technique at the great accomplishment level, and their power far surpassed that of an eighth-layer Qi Refining cultivator, nearly rivaling the full-strength strike of a ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivator.

The pile Zhou Changwang offered contained over twenty high-first-grade finished talismans and five high-first-grade limit-breaking talismans. If unleashed all at once, leaving aside Foundation Establishment realm figures, likely no cultivator at the Qi Refining level could withstand them.

Aside from the sealing talismans, he also handed over a pile of summoning talismans, specifically Furry Zombie Talismans and Evil-Faced Ghost Talismans.

Among them, the Furry Zombie Talismans were mostly at the finished talisman level, though a dozen or so were of the limit-breaking grade, capable of summoning furry zombies comparable to third-layer Qi Refining cultivators to fight for her.

As for the Evil-Faced Ghost Talismans, they were summoning talismans he had only recently mastered.

Because they were high-first-grade spiritual talismans, even at the entry level, these Evil-Faced Ghost Talismans could summon an evil-faced ghost comparable to the third layer of Qi Refining.

Evil-Faced Ghost Talismans at the fine-talisman grade could summon evil-faced ghosts comparable to the fourth layer of Qi Refining.

However, since Zhou Changwang had only mastered this spiritual talisman recently, most of them were at the entry-level, while fine-talisman grade ones numbered only ten and were not very numerous.

After handing these spiritual talismans over to Qian Xiaoyue, Zhou Changwang also explained in detail the power and functions of these talismans.

"Did you draw all of these spiritual talismans?"

Upon hearing his explanation, Qian Xiaoyue widened her eyes in utter shock and disbelief.

Sealing talismans capable of a full-strength strike matching a seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivator? Sealing talismans capable of posing a threat to a ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivator?

Could such formidable talisman power truly originate from the hands of a 'fourth-layer Qi Refining' cultivator?

Moreover, apart from sealing talismans, there were also summoning talismans?

She was well aware of the preciousness of summoning talismans—not merely the difficulty of refining them, but the method for drawing summoning talismans in itself was extraordinarily rare and precious.

Yet Zhou Changwang had just casually produced dozens, over a hundred of them...

It felt like a dream or an illusion.

She could scarcely believe her own ears.

Yet holding the tangible spiritual talismans in her hands, she was forced to concede that all of this was startlingly real.

Could it be that Zhou Changwang was a talisman-crafting genius?

She knew full well that he hadn't been practicing talisman crafting for very long.

Yet the fruit of his labor today had genuinely startled her.

Not to mention that this gift from him was simply too precious.

Its value was far too high—far surpassing her own Communication Mirror.