Lee Hyun first inspected the seeds he had bought at Cuiyun Market.
The Yin Water Lotus seeds were about the size of a fingernail, black and hard. He pressed lightly on the outer shell with a finger, but it did not give in the slightest. When he dropped one onto the stone floor, it rang with a clear clink.
'A sprout is supposed to break through a shell like this?'
The stall owner had explained that Yin Water Lotus seeds should not simply be thrown straight into water. One side of the hard shell had to be ground thin against a stone, then soaked in cold water for several days to improve the germination rate.
Avoiding the part containing the embryo, Lee Hyun carefully ground the rounded end of each seed against a whetstone. Once the pale inner shell showed beneath the black outer layer, he stopped.
He left the ground seeds soaking in cold water for several days.
He had already decided where to plant the Yin Water Lotus.
It was near the aquifer he had discovered long ago while creating Spirit Field No. 1-2.
However, Lee Hyun had no intention of reopening the stone slab that sealed the aquifer. The groundwater beyond it was under considerable pressure. If he opened it carelessly, he might flood most of Tunnel No. 1.
Instead, he dug a separate cavern about thirty zhang (about 90 m) away from the slab. He left a thick layer of bedrock intact between the cavern and the aquifer so that even if cracks formed, they would not create a direct channel for the water.
He left several support pillars between the ceiling and floor to prevent collapse, then coated the floor with several layers of fine clay to keep water from seeping out. At one end, he created an overflow channel so that if the water rose too high, it would drain into a sealed cavern on the opposite side of the spirit fields.
Although he had not drawn water directly from the aquifer, perhaps because it was so close, the air inside the cavern was colder and damper than elsewhere.
"This should be suitable enough for growing Yin Water Lotus."
Lee Hyun cast the Spirit Rain Art several times to fill the newly made reservoir with water. Even at its deepest point, the water did not rise above his waist, while a broad shallow section about knee-deep remained in the center.
He spread fine mud gathered from around the aquifer across the reservoir floor. Lee Hyun buried the ground Yin Water Lotus seeds at regular intervals in the shallow section, lightly covered them with mud so they would not float up, then carefully sent a faint stream of energy from the Germination Art into them.
The dormant vitality within the seeds stirred faintly.
In the damp soil outside the reservoir, he planted the Water Root Grass he had bought in Yunjing.
Water Root Grass was merely a mundane herb, but it had the characteristic of sending its roots deep into waterside mud. It seemed likely to help hold the newly made reservoir terrain firmly in place and stabilize it.
Finally, Lee Hyun carved words into the wooden board at the reservoir entrance.
「Spirit Field No. 1-6」
After staring at the words for a moment, Lee Hyun nodded.
...
He chose a slightly elevated area above the reservoir for the Stone Honey Peach seeds.
Stone Honey Peach grew by absorbing water qi and earth qi, but its roots might rot if submerged in water. For that reason, rather than planting them in the damp soil directly beside the aquifer, he decided on a place where moisture could slowly seep through while still allowing proper drainage.
Lee Hyun dug deeply into the floor of a bedrock cavern, then laid down layers of large gravel, small gravel, and sand in that order. Over that, he spread a mixture of spirit-field soil and mud from around the aquifer, shaping the ground into a gentle slope so excess water would drain into a pit on the opposite side.
There were seven Stone Honey Peach seeds in total.
Lee Hyun soaked the seeds in spirit rainwater for a day, then planted them three zhang apart so their roots would not become entangled.
He placed a separate wooden board at the entrance to the spirit field.
「Spirit Field No. 1-7」
...
Next, Lee Hyun created a small test spirit field and divided the interior into several sections, planting small amounts of Bone-Rot Flower, Yin Soul Grass, Purple Poison Orchid, and Earth Vein Flower in each.
Once the spirit plants had grown to a certain point, he planned to vary the Spirit Rain Art watering intervals between sections, while leaving one section entirely unwatered until signs of wilting appeared. Lee Hyun recorded the conditions and dates on the wooden boards in each section.
He placed another wooden board at the spirit field entrance.
「Test Spirit Field」
...
A month later, Lee Hyun returned to Yunjing and collected the small model the old artisan had made.
The model consisted of a forearm-length tank, a thin bronze pipe, and a water bucket that tipped around an axle.
Lee Hyun brought it back to Tunnel No. 1 and tested it countless times. At first, once the bucket tipped, it would not return to its original position. When he increased the weight of the stone counterweight, the bucket refused to move even after filling with water.
He shaved down the counterweight little by little and adjusted the axle position, but when the axle was too close to the center, the bucket would not tip, while if it was too far forward, the water spilled out after only a small amount had collected.
'This is surprisingly finicky....'
Lee Hyun shaved the bottom of the bucket so that it tapered slightly narrower toward the front. That way, as more water collected, the center of gravity would shift forward more quickly.
Even after that, he made several more trips to Yunjing to obtain spare parts and bronze pipes of different thicknesses.
He used the Soil-Softening Art of the Earth Shovel Sword to soften the bedrock before excavating the tanks and channels. In sections without bedrock, he tightly packed pottery clay and fired it hard. He also built the bucket and stone counterweight himself, enlarging the old artisan's model to match the scale of an actual spirit field.
He made the tank low and wide so that the water level would not change drastically as the amount of water decreased. Even so, the flow rate through the bronze pipes still differed between when the tank was full and when it was nearly empty.
But Lee Hyun did not need a water clock capable of measuring ten days with perfect precision. He only needed it to supply water periodically before the spirit plants reached the limit of what they could endure.
...
One year later.
Spirit Field No. 1-1 in Tunnel No. 1.
A newly expanded cavern lay about one zhang diagonally above the entrance to the spirit field. Inside sat a wide, shallow tank. Lee Hyun had covered it with hemp cloth purchased in the mundane world to keep dust from getting inside.
Two bronze pipes, each thinner than a finger, ran side by side from beneath the tank. Clear droplets of water slowly fell from their ends into a small wooden bucket balanced on an axle.
Drip.
One drop fell.
Drip.
Another followed.
The water inside the tank was spirit rainwater Lee Hyun had prepared in advance with the Spirit Rain Art.
Rather than flowing directly into the spirit field, the water accumulated little by little inside the bucket on the axle.
For the past ten days, the bucket had not tipped.
But with the drop that had just fallen, the water's center of gravity crossed the axle.
Clack.
The bucket tipped forward.
Splashhh―
The spirit rainwater that had accumulated inside poured all at once into the distribution basin below.
From the distribution basin, the water split into several streams and flowed down gently sloping channels into the furrows of the spirit field.
The parched soil rapidly grew damp, and the water spread evenly around the roots of the Bone-Rot Flowers and Yin Soul Grass.
Once the bucket had emptied and become lighter, the small stone counterweight hanging from the rear descended.
Click.
The empty bucket returned to its original position.
Drip.
A fresh droplet fell from one of the bronze pipes.
Water for the next irrigation cycle began accumulating once again.
Lee Hyun watched as the water spread evenly across the entire spirit field.
"Hmm... Why did it work properly right from the start? That actually makes me nervous...."
Strictly speaking, it was not the first attempt. He had already gone through several rounds of trial and error.
He had installed the bronze pipes in pairs, so that even if one became blocked, the irrigation interval would merely double rather than stop completely.
Water produced through the Spirit Rain Art contained no impurities to begin with, and perhaps because of the spiritual qi within it, it hardly evaporated at all compared with ordinary water, so long-term operation presented few difficulties.
He had also finished compiling the results from the test spirit field.
Once more than thirty days passed without irrigation, some of the spirit plants began losing vitality from their leaves, and the medicinal potency they had painstakingly accumulated started dissipating little by little.
In conclusion, an automatic irrigation interval of roughly ten to fifteen days was sufficient, and even in the worst case, it only needed to remain under thirty days.
Each spirit field's tank held enough spirit rainwater for the bucket to tip thirty times. If the field was watered once every ten to fifteen days, one tank could maintain the spirit field for about a year.
However, this method allowed the spiritual qi within the water to gradually dissipate, so growth was somewhat slower than when Lee Hyun personally used the Spirit Rain Art each time.
In other words, this device was not meant to grow spirit plants in optimal condition. Its purpose was to keep them from dying or losing too much medicinal potency while Lee Hyun was away.
"Now I won't have to tend the spirit fields every ten days. Of course, it still needs more testing. I'll run it long-term and gradually expand it to the other spirit fields."
...
Most of the Water Root Grass planted around Spirit Field No. 1-6 took root without issue.
However, there were no signs that any of the mundane herbs had transformed into spirit herbs.
Lee Hyun was not disappointed. He recorded the result on a wooden board. If mundane herbs could turn into spirit herbs so easily, spirit herbs would have no reason to be rare in the world.
Of the twenty Yin Water Lotus seeds, eleven sprouted. At first, a coin-sized leaf appeared at the end of each slender stem, and as time passed, green circular leaves unfurled one by one across the surface of the water.
An extremely faint trace of cold water qi lingered beneath the leaves. It was hardly enough to justify calling them spirit herbs yet, but at least the reservoir's environment seemed well suited to Yin Water Lotus.
The Stone Honey Peach seeds showed no change for a long time.
Lee Hyun suspected they might already have rotted, but whenever he examined them with the Aura-Reading Art, he could still detect the faintest trace of vitality within.
After half a year, sprouts finally pushed through the soil from three of the seven seeds.
The sprouts had brown stems, and their leaves were thicker than those of ordinary peach trees. He could also see faint yellow-brown energy flowing along the veins.
"At least three survived...."
Lee Hyun installed the same irrigation devices in Spirit Fields No. 1-2 through No. 1-5.
After filling the last tank with water using the Spirit Rain Art, he sank to the floor with a slightly exhausted expression.
"Phew... Filling several tanks all at once isn't easy."
The Primordial True Qi that had filled his entire body was now nearly depleted.
Lee Hyun simply lay down on the floor.
With his eyes closed, he circulated the Primordial One-Qi Art, and the sparse spiritual qi around him slowly seeped into his entire body.
"Automatic watering... and recovering spiritual power while lying down...."
A smile appeared at the corners of Lee Hyun's mouth.
"Life keeps getting more comfortable."
...
Two years later.
The automatic irrigation devices installed across five spirit fields had undergone repeated improvements and were now dependable.
One bronze pipe had once become clogged with fine stone dust, but thanks to the backup pipe, the spirit plants suffered no harm. Afterward, Lee Hyun added a filter screen to every tank.
The Stone Honey Peach saplings had also grown to the height of Lee Hyun's knees.
The Yin Water Lotus leaves had grown as large as an adult's palm and covered nearly half the reservoir's surface in green. There was still no sign of flowering, but it was a variety that required decades before producing its first bloom in the first place.
Lee Hyun gradually grew accustomed to a life where he filled the spirit-field tanks, occasionally checked the devices for malfunctions, and spent the rest of his time cultivating whenever there was nothing else to do.
***
Three hundred and thirty years later.
A low vibration stirred the cultivation chamber of Tunnel No. 1.
The Primordial True Qi flowing throughout Lee Hyun's body surged once like a vast wave.
The energy filling his bones and muscles, meridians, and internal organs had grown far denser and heavier than it had been in the past.
Lee Hyun, who had been lying down, slowly opened his eyes.
"Hmm...."
He had already reached Primordial Body, 3rd Stage two hundred and thirty years earlier.
He was no longer merely at the level of someone who had just entered Qi Refining Stage 3, but had reached late Qi Refining Stage 3, close to the threshold of Qi Refining Stage 4. In other words, his Primordial Body was likewise nearing the 4th Stage.
For the first time in a long while, Lee Hyun took out a wooden board and carved himself a new handmade status screen, savoring the changes. Writing everything down where he could see it from time to time made even accomplishments he had already achieved feel fresh again!
【Age: 555】
【Realm: Qi Refining Stage 3 (late)】
【Spiritual Power: 206】
【Spiritual Root: Wood, Fire, Earth】
【Cultivation Art: Primordial One-Qi Art】
【Constitution: Primordial Body, 3rd Stage (late)】
For a Qi Refining Stage 3 cultivator, a spiritual power value of 206 was downright absurd.
Even accounting for the quality of his spiritual power, Lee Hyun estimated that he had already far surpassed the level of a cultivator at Qi Refining Great Perfection. In fact, he had.
This was all because the volume of his entire body was vastly greater than that of a dantian.
After cultivating for so many years, the proficiency of his techniques had also changed greatly. Most of the techniques he had used consistently over the past three hundred and thirty years had reached Major Attainment!
【Techniques (Minor Attainment): Sword Control Art, Earth Spike Art, Wood Binding Art, Poison-Discerning Art】
【Techniques (Major Attainment): Azure Steel Sword Art, Fireball Art, Lightness Art, Distance-Shrinking Step, Aura-Concealing Art, Spirit Rain Art, Soil-Turning Art, Yang Metal Art, Germination Art, Earth Escape Art, Qi Sphere Barrier, Spirit Light Shield, Aura-Reading Art, Farsight Art, Night Vision Art, Ground-Sense Art, Keen Hearing Art, Scent-Tracking Art, Cleansing Art, Air-Clearing Art, Breath-Sealing Art, Detoxification Art, Faint Light Art, Fire-Kindling Art】
【Techniques (Perfection): Spirit-Concealing Art】
【Applied Technique: Reclining Escape Art】
He had made noticeable progress in no fewer than twenty-nine techniques. Among them were the Sword Control Art, Earth Spike Art, and Wood Binding Art, which he had newly learned over the long years simply to relieve his boredom.
Most of the techniques that had reached Major Attainment were ones he had found at least some use for over the past three hundred and thirty years. They had become so deeply ingrained in him that his Primordial True Qi now responded almost the instant his intent formed.
Lee Hyun had not brought so many techniques to Major Attainment because he was a genius, but because Tier 1 basic techniques had simple structures. Even an ordinary talent who lived for more than five hundred years would inevitably comprehend nearly all techniques of this level.
Lee Hyun stopped carving into the wooden board and turned his awareness inward, examining his essence, qi and spirit.
"That's strange... It feels like my realm isn't rising anymore...."
Over the past ten years, Lee Hyun's maximum spiritual power had barely increased.
Whenever his entire body was already filled with Primordial True Qi and he tried to draw in even more spiritual qi, the surrounding spiritual qi slid across the surface of his skin and dispersed. No matter how he circulated his cultivation art, he could not force any more of it inside.
It felt like trying to pour more water into an already full waterskin.
'Could this be the bottleneck between Qi Refining Stage 3 and Stage 4...?'
Lee Hyun recalled Zhang Ping, whom he had met long ago in Yunjing.
- I've been stuck at Qi Refining Stage 3 for more than fifty years.
Back then, Lee Hyun had thought there must be something wrong with Zhang Ping, but now he realized that was not the case. He had heard about it before, but there truly did seem to be a bottleneck when advancing from early to mid Qi Refining.
"This doesn't seem like something I can solve just by cultivating harder... There must be something I don't know."
It seemed the time had finally come for him to truly venture outside.