Back in the small hut, Lu Qinghe confirmed no one had followed him. There was no way anyone could connect him to the person who had sold that Spirit Rice.
Only then did he let himself relax.
Though they were within the Sect, and the Sect forbade disciples from killing one another, no one would bat an eye if a few Menial Disciples turned up dead.
This was precisely why every Menial Disciple dreamed of becoming an Outer Sect Disciple. Only Outer Sect Disciples received the Sect’s true attention and protection.
For several days straight, Lu Qinghe did nothing but cultivate and make a show of hauling water to irrigate the Spirit Field.
Five days later, he finally entered the Black Soil Space.
Inside, the Blood Ginseng he had tossed in had grown noticeably larger-one full year’s worth of growth in five days.
Around its base, two small Blood Ginseng sprouts had appeared.
Lu Qinghe felt a surge of delight. He hadn’t dared hope the Blood Ginseng could truly take root and thrive in the Black Soil Space.
Better still, the plant bloomed once a year, bore fruit once a year, and those fruits could be sown again to produce new Blood Ginseng.
Back in the Menial Disciples’ trading area, he had asked around about Blood Ginseng’s uses. First and foremost, it was an alchemy ingredient-many Pills required Blood Ginseng as a primary component for balance and neutralization.
Second, as Ouyang Qi had said, one could swallow it directly to boost cultivation, though the effect would be greatly diminished.
But for Lu Qinghe, that hardly mattered. He was certain that before long, he would have an endless supply of Blood Ginseng growing here.
He had already decided to stop planting Spirit Rice.
Lu Qinghe pulled up the Blood Ginseng. The original five-year root, after just five days in the Black Soil Space, had nearly reached seven years of maturity.
He cleaned the soil from its surface and swallowed it whole.
A rush of spiritual power bloomed inside him, similar to what Spirit Rice provided but noticeably more potent.
In less than half a shi-chen, Lu Qinghe had refined all the medicinal power.
And then he understood something-he had been swindled. A seven-year Blood Ginseng gave him roughly the same benefit as ten jin of Spirit Rice.
In other words, that trade had cost him at least three Spirit Stones.
Lu Qinghe now grasped a truth about the cultivation world: everyone cheated everyone else. There were no kind souls here.
Those cultivators watching the exchange had seen Ouyang Qi’s Qi Condensation third layer strength and hadn’t dared warn him.
One month later, the Black Soil Space held over a hundred Blood Ginseng plants. The largest had accumulated ten years of medicinal power.
Lu Qinghe plucked the ten-year root at once and swallowed it.
Vast medicinal power surged through him, crashing through his acupoints like a torrent before pouring into his Dantian.
A ten-year Blood Ginseng-this was a true spirit herb. Its potency was more than double that of the seven-year root.
It took a full shi-chen for Lu Qinghe to refine all the medicinal power, but his cultivation had finally made real progress.
By his estimate, just three ten-year Blood Ginseng would push him to the mid-stage of Qi Condensation second layer.
But all medicine carried poison, and raw, unprocessed spirit herbs even more so. Lu Qinghe calculated based on his own constitution.
He could safely consume one ten-year Blood Ginseng every three days. That would keep the harm to a minimum.
Even so, this was vastly faster than relying on Spirit Rice. If he swallowed one ten-year root every three days, his cultivation speed would rival that of a three-element spiritual root cultivator.
He could match the pace of Outer Sect Disciples like Shi Rou.
The Great Dao was no longer out of reach. For the first time, Lu Qinghe allowed himself to feel hope about his cultivation.
But hope brought worry in its wake. He didn’t know whether that Outer Sect Disciple from the Affairs Hall might appear without warning to hold him accountable for the Spirit Field’s condition.
Being questioned about the Spirit Field-that he could handle. But if anyone noticed his abnormal cultivation speed, that would be a disaster beyond reckoning.
Lu Qinghe reminded himself: careful, and then more careful. As long as he never carelessly released his spiritual power, others would find it nearly impossible to see through his true strength.
When he finished cultivating, Lu Qinghe stepped out of the hut and looked at the Spirit Field. After a moment’s thought, he planted another batch of Spirit Rice inside the Black Soil Space.
This time he didn’t wait for it to mature. After only a day and a half, he pulled the seedlings out and carefully transplanted them into the Spirit Field.
He watered them with mountain spring water. After several days, the results were plain to see.
The Spirit Rice in the field lacked the vibrant spiritual energy of what grew in the Black Soil Space. Its quality had dropped a full grade-the stalks and leaves, starved of sufficient Spiritual Qi, had begun to yellow and wither at the edges.
Seeing this, Lu Qinghe understood. The Spiritual Qi in this field was nearly exhausted.
A few days later, a voice called out from beyond the Spirit Field.
“Fellow Daoist, are you in?”
Lu Qinghe snapped awake from his cultivation, instantly on guard. He straightened himself and walked cautiously out of the hut.
A man stood outside the Spirit Field, studying the Spirit Rice growing there. Find the original chapter at g.com.
What eased Lu Qinghe’s worry slightly was that the man wore the same gray robes as himself-a Menial Disciple of the Taixuan Sect.
Lu Qinghe approached and addressed him. “May I ask what brings Senior Brother here?”
The visiting cultivator looked Lu Qinghe over with open surprise. He clearly hadn’t expected the person tending this field to be little more than a child.
“I’m Huang Gai,” the man said. “I tend a Spirit Field not far from here.”
“I heard that Senior Brother Liu’s cultivation advanced greatly-he broke through to Qi Condensation fourth layer and left this place. When I learned someone new had come to manage this field, I thought I’d come introduce myself.”
He was sizing Lu Qinghe up. Someone this young, already tending a Spirit Field on his own-that was no ordinary thing.
As for Huang Gai’s words, Lu Qinghe had already drawn his own conclusions. The man who left was almost certainly connected to the Outer Sect Disciple at the Affairs Hall.
He hadn’t abandoned the field because of a breakthrough. The real reason was that he’d discovered the Spirit Rice wouldn’t grow, and he’d fled before anyone could blame him.
Otherwise, why would he have planted Spirit Rice and then walked away from an entire year’s harvest?
Lu Qinghe replied, “Greetings, Senior Brother Huang. I’m afraid I didn’t know the previous Senior Brother had broken through and left. I only came here thanks to the care of a Senior Brother at the Affairs Hall.”
Huang Gai smiled knowingly. “Ah, so you came through Senior Brother Zhou Tong’s connections.”
Once he placed that relationship, many of his speculations seemed to dissolve.
Lu Qinghe finally had a name for the Outer Sect Disciple at the Affairs Hall. Zhou Tong. He carved the name deep into his memory.
Lu Qinghe nodded, still uncertain what Huang Gai actually wanted.
“What should I call you, Junior Brother?” Huang Gai asked.
“Lu Qinghe.”
“Junior Brother Lu, I can see this Spirit Field is lacking in Spiritual Qi. This year’s harvest may not turn out well.”
Lu Qinghe scratched his head. “I’d be grateful for any guidance, Senior Brother. This is my first time growing Spirit Rice.”
“What have you been using to water the field?” Huang Gai asked.
“Spring water from the mountain,” Lu Qinghe answered honestly.
Huang Gai paused, then understanding dawned on his face. “It seems Junior Brother hasn’t learned the Cloud Rain Technique. The spiritual rain it gathers is far better than mountain spring water.”
“Of course, there’s another way-find true Spirit Water for irrigation. If you do, your Spirit Rice might still be saved.”
“The spring on the mountain may be called a spiritual spring, but it’s really just ordinary water that’s absorbed some of the Taixuan Sect’s ambient Spiritual Qi. Compared to true Spirit Water, the difference is vast.”