“There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Primordial One-Qi Art itself. In fact, it is far more profound than the other basic cultivation arts given to new disciples. But... no, forget it. I still don’t know whether that applies to you...”
Lu Baishan pointed to the one of the two inner rooms whose door stood open.
“Use that room. Put your things away first, then come back out.”
Lee Hyun entered the room Lu Baishan had indicated.
Inside were a small bed and an old chest. It seemed to have been vacant for a while, as a faint layer of dust had settled over the floor and furniture, but there was no visible damage to the walls or ceiling. When he opened the window, the pond and verdant spirit field came into view at a glance.
Lee Hyun took his bedding and clothes from his storage pouch, set them on the bed, then stepped back outside.
Lu Baishan had already left the building, and Lee Hyun hurried after him.
“Today, you’ll be pulling weeds.”
“Won’t we be using techniques?”
“Do you know how to use any?”
“Not yet.”
“Then pull them by hand.”
“Yes.”
The green grass covering most of the spirit field had grown as high as his knees.
Its leaves were slender, with clear beads of dew gathered at their tips.
“What kind of spirit herb is this?”
“Green Dew Grass. It is used in Spirit-Restoring Powder, which quickly replenishes spent spiritual qi, and Meridian-Cooling Pills, which soothe heat in the meridians. It isn’t a precious spirit herb, but it has many uses, so there is always steady demand for it.”
“How do I tell the weeds apart?”
“Anything that isn’t Green Dew Grass is a weed. Don’t leave any roots behind.”
“Yes.”
The instructions were simple, but actually doing it was not.
The roots of Green Dew Grass were thin and white, and many weeds had similar roots. If he simply yanked on a weed, the stem would snap, so he had to carefully loosen the soil and pull out the roots as well.
It took quite a while to remove even a single weed. Before he knew it, Lu Baishan was already far ahead of him.
‘I thought cultivators would handle all their farm work with techniques... So they actually pull weeds by hand too.’
Still, he didn’t dislike it.
If he had done this sort of work in his previous life, he would have complained endlessly, but perhaps because he had reached Qi Refining Stage 1, neither his back nor his knees hurt at all.
With his body comfortable, the work did not feel mentally taxing either.
As he followed the roots of the weeds and loosened the soil around them, he occasionally came across unfamiliar insects or plant roots.
‘Ugh... What is that?’
When Lee Hyun found a bug with a green carapace and showed it to Lu Baishan, asking what he should do with it, Lu Baishan explained that it was a Green-Carapace Bug that sucked the sap from Green Dew Grass. With a gesture, he lifted it into the air and burned it away.
On the other hand, a creature that looked like an ordinary earthworm was an Earth Spirit Worm, which evenly distributed spiritual qi through the soil, so there was no need to kill it.
Even within the same soil, some things had to be eliminated while others had to be protected. It was only his first day, but Lee Hyun found the process of learning to distinguish them one by one rather interesting.
As the sun began to sink beyond the mountains, Lu Baishan was the first to straighten up.
“That’s enough for today.”
“There’s still some left over there.”
“After sunset, the dew on the Green Dew Grass returns to its roots. If you disturb the soil then, you’ll damage its medicinal potency.”
Lu Baishan gathered the weeds they had pulled into one pile atop the stone wall, then formed a hand sign with his fingers. The weeds were instantly engulfed in flames and burned away.
“Do you have anything for dinner?”
“I have Hunger-Warding Pills.”
“Save those for when you run out of food. There’s spirit rice in the storehouse behind the house. Scoop out a bowl, and we’ll cook it.”
Inside the storehouse stood rows of jars as tall as a person’s waist.
When Lu Baishan removed the lid from one of them, a faint fragrance spread through the air. Inside were grains of rice with a lustrous sheen.
“Is this spirit rice?”
“Yes. It’s a variety called Qinghe Rice. There’s no need to wash it.”
Lu Baishan put water and spirit rice into a pot, covered it with the lid, then lightly rested his palm against the side.
A faint red glow spread from his fingertips. Before long, a rich, savory aroma rose from the pot.
Lu Baishan divided the cooked Qinghe Rice between two bowls and took out a small portion of salted spirit vegetables from the cupboard. That was their entire dinner.
Lee Hyun picked up a mouthful of rice with his chopsticks and put it into his mouth.
The grains were soft, yet had a pleasant springiness the more he chewed. A subtle sweetness spread across his tongue, and after he swallowed, a warm current slowly unfurled within his stomach. The hunger he had built up from spending the entire day moving around the spirit field quickly subsided.
‘This is good.’
He had only eaten a meal, yet he could feel the Primordial True Qi in his dantian increase ever so slightly.
“Eating spirit rice regularly should help with cultivation by itself.”
“This Qinghe Rice is only a Tier 1 mid grade spirit grain even if you rate it generously, so it will probably only have an effect during early Qi Refining.”
“Thank you, Senior Brother Lu.”
“It isn’t coming from me. The sect provides it, so there’s no need to feel indebted.”
...
For the next several days, Lee Hyun pulled weeds and cleared irrigation channels in Spirit Field No. 73.
At night and before dawn, he cultivated the Primordial One-Qi Art, and when the sun rose, he went out to the spirit field.
He scooped fallen leaves from the irrigation channels and dug out mud that blocked the flow of water. He pulled weeds growing between the Green Dew Grass and searched for traces left by spirit insects during the night, reporting them to Lu Baishan.
Lu Baishan barely spoke while they worked.
But when Lee Hyun stopped repeating the same mistakes and competently handled tasks even without being told, his attitude gradually began to change.
On the tenth day, Lu Baishan stopped Lee Hyun as he was about to pull another weed.
“Don’t pull that one.”
“It doesn’t look like Green Dew Grass.”
“It’s an Earth Vein Flower. It isn’t a spirit herb, but its roots slowly draw spiritual qi up from deep underground. Leaving a few around the edges of the spirit field benefits the Green Dew Grass as well.”
Lu Baishan pointed to the soil around its roots.
“A spirit-plant cultivator who can only distinguish weeds from spirit herbs is only half-qualified. Don’t just look at the trees. Look at the whole forest. You need to see the larger picture and understand what harms the spirit field and what helps the things growing within it.”
“I’ll remember that.”
After that day, Lu Baishan would occasionally explain things about spirit fields and spirit herbs while they worked.
One day, while Lee Hyun was organizing supplies in the storehouse, he found an old book. When he looked through it, it contained nothing more than basic knowledge about the cultivation world, but two characters caught his eye.
“Senior Brother Lu, are these two characters also read as ‘yeongsik’?”
“Which yeongsik do you mean?”
Lu Baishan looked at the section Lee Hyun had opened, then used a dry branch to write two terms on the ground.
Spirit plant.
Spirit sense.
“They are both read as yeongsik, but their meanings are different. Spirit plant is a broad term for plants that grow while containing spiritual qi. Spirit grain, spirit fruit, spirit trees, and spirit herbs all fall into that category.” [TL Note: In Korean, both 靈植 and 靈識 are pronounced yeongsik.]
Lu Baishan pointed to the second term.
“Spirit sense, on the other hand, is an old term for a cultivator’s ability to perceive their surroundings beyond the physical senses.”
“Is it no longer used?”
“You’ll often see it in ancient texts, but these days, most people call it divine sense.”
With the tip of the branch, Lu Baishan drew a long line between the two terms he had written.
“It is said that in the ancient era, heaven-and-earth spiritual qi was abundant. Rather than deliberately planting spirit herbs in fields and cultivating them, it was more common to gather heaven-and-earth spirit treasures from the mountains and wilderness. Because of that, the term spirit sense usually referred to a cultivator’s perception. But as heaven-and-earth spiritual qi gradually declined and naturally occurring spirit treasures became scarce, later generations began cultivating spirit herbs, spirit grain, and the like professionally. As the field of spirit plants grew in importance, cultivators began using the term divine sense instead of the older spirit sense for convenience.”
“Can cultivators in Qi Refining use divine sense as well?”
“Didn’t you develop a new sense when you entered Qi Refining? That is simply what we call divine sense. Of course, compared to the divine sense of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, what a Qi Refining cultivator possesses is little more than child’s play...”
“I see.”
“Language has a life of its own, just like spirit herbs. Is it not natural that it changes with the passage of time?”
...
Lee Hyun realized that Lu Baishan’s knowledge and experience with spirit plants far surpassed that of the ordinary Senior Brothers on Medicinal Field Peak.
Lu Baishan supervised not only Spirit Field No. 73 but also several smaller spirit fields nearby. Outer disciples who were unable to deal with spirit insects or plant diseases would often come to Lu Baishan for advice, and after hearing his explanations, every one of them would politely thank him before leaving.
Lu Baishan sometimes took Lee Hyun around the nearby spirit fields to show him the spirit plants commonly cultivated in the Outer Gate.
He held up a yellowing ear of grain.
“This is the Qinghe Rice we ate. It needs to be harvested once more than half the ear has turned yellow. That way, its spiritual qi remains intact.”
This time, he pointed to a grass with red leaves.
“This is Blood-Clotting Grass. It can be applied directly to wounds or used to make Blood-Staunching Powder. Its medicinal effect is weak, but it grows well and demand is high, so it is commonly cultivated in Outer Gate spirit fields.”
The more Lu Baishan explained, the more Lee Hyun realized that spirit plants differed from what he had imagined in many ways.
None of the spirit plants he had seen so far were varieties that needed to be grown for long periods. Some even took less than twenty days from sowing to harvest.
“Senior Brother Lu, if we leave these spirit plants unharvested and grow them longer, their medicinal potency should become stronger, right?”
“Not necessarily. Most of the varieties we grow have short lifespans. If you leave them too long, their medicinal potency disperses, and many die after producing seeds.”
Lu Baishan plucked one of the red leaves from the Blood-Clotting Grass and rubbed it between his fingers.
“This Blood-Clotting Grass reaches its peak medicinal potency in three months. Once it passes six months, the stem hardens and produces less medicinal juice. Grow it for a year, and instead of becoming more potent, it becomes useless.”
“Then are there no spirit plants that become more valuable the longer they age?”
“There are plenty whose medicinal potency grows stronger over the years. But valuable varieties are mainly handled by the Inner Gate.”
“Is there no way for me to obtain seeds like that?”
“Valuable varieties would be difficult, but if you only want seeds for low tier spirit plants that require many years of growth before becoming useful, you can easily find them at cultivator markets frequented by rogue cultivators. They’re simply unpopular.”
“Unpopular?”
“Yes. Qi Refining rogue cultivators who belong to neither sect nor clan have short lifespans and little leisure to think about future generations. Even if they do manage to raise a spirit plant for many years, they often lack the strength to protect their spirit field and end up having it taken from them. Unless a variety can help them earn spirit stones in a short period of time, there isn’t much demand for it.”
‘It isn’t as simple as I thought. Still, that means cultivator markets have seeds worth growing for a long time. I should visit one someday...’
...
One day, Lu Baishan handed Lee Hyun four yellowed, faded books.
The covers read 《Introductory Guide on Spirit Plants》, 《Tier-1 Spirit Herb Compendium》, 《Spirit Soil and Water Veins》, and 《Qinghe Valley Spirit Field Regulations》.
“These contain the basic knowledge you’ll need for spirit plants. I’m lending them to you, so make sure you don’t lose or damage them.”
“Thank you.”
From that day onward, Lee Hyun read the books whenever he had spare time between bouts of cultivation after work.
...
After that, the seasons changed several times.
In spring, new shoots of Green Dew Grass blanketed the spirit field in green, while summer brought rampant spirit insects. In autumn, the yellow ears of Qinghe Rice bent low, and in winter, thin layers of ice formed over the irrigation channels of Medicinal Field Peak.
Lee Hyun repeated much the same work every day.
At first, he often confused even Green Dew Grass with weeds, but after a year, he could tell whether a plant lacked spiritual qi merely by looking at the color of its leaves.
He also began learning basic techniques from Lu Baishan.
The first thing he learned was the Spirit Rain Art. The first cloud he managed to produce was closer to a wisp of mist hovering above his palm than an actual cloud. It released three drops of rain, then stopped.
Only after practicing every day for several months could he finally summon enough rain to wet a single furrow.
Next, he learned the Soil-Turning Art.
Turning the soil over gently was easy enough, but removing only weeds and stones without disturbing the roots of the spirit herbs was difficult. Once, he lost control of the force and uprooted ten Green Dew Grass plants at once, earning a scolding from Lu Baishan.
The third and fourth techniques he learned were the Yang Metal Art and the Germination Art.
The Yang Metal Art was the most difficult technique he had learned so far. At first, the silver needle flew no farther than the length of a finger before dispersing. Even after he began to get the hang of it, he frequently pierced Green Dew Grass leaves instead of spirit insects.
Although the Yang Metal Art was classified as a basic technique, killing only spirit insects without damaging the spirit herbs required extremely precise control.
In the end, Lee Hyun continued practicing the Yang Metal Art, but caught and disposed of spirit insects by hand.
At least the Germination Art was easier to learn than the Yang Metal Art.
When he converted his Primordial True Qi to the wood attribute, gathered it at his fingertips, and infused it into a seed, he could sense a faint vitality stirring within the hard shell. However, if he infused too much vitality, the sprout would swell abnormally and quickly rot.
It was only near the end of his second year that Lee Hyun could finally be said to have reached the Novice stage in all four techniques.
“Senior Brother Lu, do I lack talent when it comes to learning techniques?”
“Hmm? No. Among all the juniors I’ve seen, your comprehension of techniques is among the best. You handle them with the seasoned skill of an eighty-year-old rather than a twenty-one-year-old.”
‘...’
“But I heard these four techniques are the basics of spirit-plant cultivation, yet they’re extremely difficult.”
“Hmph. They’re only called basic because that makes things convenient for the people assigning the work. Do you think there’s anyone in all of Qinghe Valley who has reached Major Attainment in the Yang Metal Art or Germination Art? Simply having more spiritual power does not make someone automatically better at using techniques. What matters is comprehending the principles behind them.”
...
Lee Hyun continued cultivating steadily as well.
Progress with the Primordial One-Qi Art was slow, but Lee Hyun did not grow impatient. Once he became accustomed to cultivating, he could even absorb spiritual qi while walking through the fields.
After cultivating every single day without fail, he finally broke through the barrier to Qi Refining Stage 2 one winter, two and a half years after entering the sect.
“Finally, Qi Refining Stage 2!”
Lee Hyun felt immensely satisfied by the sensation of power surging through his entire body.
The Primordial True Qi in his dantian was incomparably more abundant than when he had first begun, and his divine sense had also grown somewhat stronger. Even with his eyes closed, he could sense the outlines of objects within a little over ten zhang (about 30 m).
...
Life in Spirit Field No. 73 was not bad.
Lu Baishan was taciturn but dependable, and Lee Hyun had grown accustomed to the work. Whenever the harvest was good, he also received a small number of additional contribution points.
It seemed he could simply spend a few more years learning about spirit plants and techniques, then leave the sect before anyone discovered that he did not age.
***
One month later.
Lee Hyun had summoned a cloud over the spirit field with the Spirit Rain Art, while Lu Baishan stood opposite him, checking whether the irrigation channel Lee Hyun had dug was deep enough.
Just then, the cry of a crane sounded above the spirit field.
‘Hmm?’
A paper crane appeared in the sky, circled once above the spirit field, then stopped in front of Lu Baishan. Light flowed from Lu Baishan’s identity token, and the paper crane unfolded by itself, transforming into a letter.
As Lu Baishan read through it, his expression gradually hardened.
“Senior Brother Lu, what happened?”