Overwhelming Momentum

Huang Tao had yanked out a whole handful of hair, yet he still could not figure out why the Soul Calming Incense refused to bloom. Could it really be a diseased specimen?

There was no helping it. He would have to switch to another one.

He could not waste the entire night for nothing. The assessment only lasted four days and three nights in total!

Huang Tao forced himself onward, trudging with difficulty toward the Seedling Area. On the way, he spotted his friend Ma Wu hurrying in the same direction, his expression somewhat anxious.

"Brother Ma? What are you—"

"Hm? Brother Huang?" Ma Wu was the one who had traveled with Huang Tao during the day. Seeing Huang Tao abandon his own plot instead of cultivating there, he was equally puzzled. "I picked a diseased specimen. I worked on it for three or four shichen, but it simply refused to bear fruit. Sigh!"

"Ah? What a coincidence!" Huang Tao froze. "Me too!"

The moment Ma Wu heard that, he felt much better. So he was not the only unlucky one!

"Brother Huang, let's go choose together. It's already midnight. If we wait any longer, it'll be too late."

"Let's go!"

Quite a few people had come to select new seedlings or seeds, but no one considered any other possibility. After all, such things were not uncommon. Who had not accidentally killed a few flowers and plants? Besides, everyone had deliberately chosen plants that were somewhat difficult to cultivate.

Thus, when Zhao Xing launched the first wave of Earth Veins Synthesis, most people did not connect it to this.

Was there anyone who could have thought of it and noticed?

There were.

For example, Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze, who were relatively close to Zhao Xing. Both were at the Gathering Yuan Third Stage, and they were nearby. If they observed and compared carefully, they could still discover that the abnormality was man-made.

Zhao Xing had thought of that as well, so he controlled how efficiently he drained these two neighbors.

I can't let the experts notice too early. I need to control the pace. But the areas they occupy are rich in yuan energy, and the yuan energy they use when casting is purer. Even after reducing the absorption ratio, they still provide more than everyone else.

Against the weaklings, he sucked them dry without restraint. Of their yuan energy, he directly took eighty or ninety percent.

Against these experts, Zhao Xing was much more careful, cutting flesh with a dull knife and slowly boiling the frog in warm water.

"Earth Veins Synthesis may be difficult to learn and practice, but there's no guarantee someone else knows this spell."

"But I haven't felt anyone draining my yuan energy yet. There probably isn't another old schemer nearby."

The weak could not recognize it, while the experts had not noticed.

Though puzzled voices continuously rang out in the darkness, everything was unfolding as Zhao Xing had expected.

As time passed, the accumulated yuan energy gradually grew. At the center of the spell, the Adamantine Bamboo finally began to stir.

At the first quarter of the hour of the Ox, the tip of an Adamantine Bamboo shoot broke through the surrounding soil, emitting a faint golden glow.

Seeing this, Zhao Xing immediately split off a dark cloud to water the Adamantine Bamboo and aid its growth.

At the second quarter of the hour of the Ox, the Adamantine Bamboo continued growing. The veins on its leafy sheath thickened, and it reached half a meter in height.

At the third quarter of the hour of the Ox, the Adamantine Bamboo doubled in height to one meter. Its first bamboo joint appeared, a sign that it had left the seedling stage.

At the fourth quarter of the hour of the Ox, the Adamantine Bamboo developed its second joint and fully entered its growth stage.

Once it reached this point, there was no stopping it.

As the saying went, bamboo shoots sprang up after rain, advancing with unstoppable force.

Though Adamantine Bamboo was high-grade, it was still bamboo. Supplied with vast amounts of yuan energy by Earth Veins Synthesis, abundant nutrients, and a suitable environment, it immediately began to explode with growth.

When the first bamboo joint appeared, it was only one meter tall. Yet a quarter-hour later, the second joint emerged, and its height surged to four meters!

Afterward, the leafy sheaths encasing it began to fall away. Nearly every quarter-hour, it grew two more bamboo joints, shooting upward at a rate visible to the naked eye!

By the end of the Yin Hour, each of the twenty Adamantine Bamboos stood over fifty meters tall and more than thirty centimeters in diameter!

They were golden from head to toe, their leaves and branches the same color.

The twenty Adamantine Bamboos were lush and flourishing, turning the area into a veritable Golden Bamboo Grove!

When dawn broke, sunlight shone upon the Adamantine Bamboo grove, making it gleam brilliantly. Everyone noticed the sight.

"Hm? What huge bamboo!"

"What's going on? How did so much bamboo appear overnight?"

"They're so tall. There are only twenty of them, but they look like an entire bamboo grove!"

"Golden-colored—they're so beautiful. What variety is that?"

"Golden all over and more than fifty meters tall... could they be second order top-grade Adamantine Bamboo?"

"What? Second order top-grade? And twenty of them at once?"

"Whose plot is that?"

"Zhao Xing from Locust Willow Courtyard grew them!"

Throughout the assessment grounds, all the clerks began discussing it heatedly.

They could not help but notice. At fifty meters tall, they were simply too conspicuous. Every clerk in the area could see them; they would have had to try not to notice.

"Cultivated to maturity overnight?" Li Chengfeng, in the west, frowned as he watched the figure beneath the Golden Bamboo Grove. "Bamboo does have an advantage in growth speed, but this is far too exaggerated."

At the sight of that Golden Bamboo Grove, he faintly felt a sense of crisis, as though someone was about to surpass him.

"How did he do it?" Zong Shichang stared in disbelief. "Adamantine Bamboo is second order top-grade. Not to mention twenty plants, even one is difficult to cultivate!"

"Don't know." Li Chengfeng shook his head. "Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze are close to him. Perhaps they know something. Why don't you go ask around, Brother Zong?"

Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze themselves were equally bewildered.

They did not know much either. Zhao Xing's Cloudcalling had concealed the activity during the growth stage, and it was not until daylight that everything was revealed before the crowd.

It was not just the Adamantine Bamboo. Green vines had also spread across the ground.

Judging from the cultivation results of these two plants alone, Zhao Xing currently stood alone at the top!

By comparison, the performances of the two of them were far inferior.

Wen Nanxing had cultivated four types of plants: Second order top-grade, top-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade.

The second order low-grade plant had already entered maturity, but the mid-grade one was still progressing slowly and remained in the growth stage.

As for the second order top-grade Seven Star Flower, it had not even begun to bud.

My second order top-grade plant hasn't even entered the growth stage, yet he has already cultivated so many mature second order top-grade plants? A trace of surprise flashed through Wen Nanxing's eyes.

"There's something wrong here. Something is seriously wrong!"

Tang Wanchun frowned deeply and calculated on his fingers. He was calculating the effectiveness of his student Xiao Ze's spellcasting and the growth cycle of the plants he had cultivated.

At the end of his calculations, he suddenly started, rising to his feet as he carefully examined the blue plant in the mud.

"Something's off! By rights, Xiao Ze's Icy Lotus should have grown its fourth lotus leaf by now. Why does it only have two?"

Thoughtfulness also flickered through the eyes of another official beside him. He was Pang Yuan, Wen Nanxing's teacher. "Wen Nanxing's spellcasting effect has also been greatly weakened."

"Furthermore, since the Zi Hour, people have been frequently heading to the Seedling Area and returning to replant. Many have killed their own plants."

Tang Wanchun said, "One or two would be understandable, but so many people have encountered this?"

"There is only one possibility—the earth vein yuan energy has been affected!"

The two then exchanged a glance and blurted out in unison, "Earth Veins Synthesis!"

Chen Shijie gave a soft laugh. "Why are you two so anxious, my lords? Could it be that you wish to offer your students a reminder?"

Tang Wanchun and Pang Yuan hurriedly cupped their hands. "We would not dare. We simply did not expect that someone among the clerks could cast Earth Veins Synthesis."

Chen Shijie smiled and waved a hand. "Then sit down and calmly watch how things unfold."