It took more than just skill to force Spirit Plants to mature; all kinds of supporting materials and fertilizers were needed as well.
Fertilizer of too high a grade might be more than a Spirit Plant could bear, while fertilizer with incompatible attributes might have the opposite effect.
Cost was another consideration. If too much fertilizer was used to force a First-grade Spirit Plant to mature, would the cost even be recouped?
In short, it was a whole field of learning.
After a period of practice, Li Xiuchang discovered that when it came to Spirit Plant cultivation, Heaven itself was practically forcing food down his throat.
In the area of forcing Spirit Plants to mature, he grasped the techniques with astonishing ease. After practicing for only a short while, he had mastered them completely.
Now, forcing First-grade Spirit Plants to mature had become second nature to him.
"I'll stop practicing Spirit Plant Cultivation Arts for now. There isn't much fertilizer left, and I'm running out of land."
"Once I get out, I'll go sign up for the Tier 1 Spirit Planter assessment."
Li Xiuchang felt that with his current level of Spirit Plant Cultivation Arts, passing the Tier 1 Spirit Planter assessment shouldn't be difficult.
During this period, he discovered that whenever he practiced Spirit Plant Cultivation Arts, his Length Value grew at an astonishing rate—far faster than when he practiced Spirit Cooking or Alchemy.
Of course, compared with when Senior Brother Mo had taught him, adding more than an inch in just a few hours, the difference was still considerable.
Sure enough, the gap between having a master's guidance and having none was enormous... Li Xiuchang looked forward even more to Zhao Yuansi teaching him Alchemy in the future.
He handed the small amount of remaining fertilizer to the ghost couple, entrusting them with caring for the Spirit Plants in the courtyard, and planned to practice Alchemy.
But when his gaze swept over a packet of pitch-black plant-ash fertilizer, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind—could he make fertilizer himself?
Fertilizer used to cultivate Spirit Plants was mainly made from monster beast feces or plant ash. If he remembered correctly, charcoal could also be used as fertilizer, and it was much the same as plant ash.
Then could his Charcoal Attribute Mana be used for fertilizing?
The more Li Xiuchang thought about it, the more promising it seemed.
Thus, he took the First-grade Spirit Plants and Spirit Medicine he had planted not long ago as test subjects and began injecting Charcoal Attribute Mana into the soil around their roots.
During this attempt, Li Xiuchang failed to control the amount of mana he injected and ended up "nursing" three Spirit Plants to death one after another.
But it also allowed him to see that the idea was feasible.
At the very least, the Spirit Plants could absorb his Charcoal Attribute Mana!
Finally, he succeeded with the fourth Spirit Plant, causing its growth rate to increase visibly.
Li Xiuchang was incredibly excited. Charcoal Attribute Mana had not only displayed its usefulness in Spirit Cooking, helping him earn several thousand spirit stones; now it seemed that it would also shine brilliantly in Spirit Plant cultivation!
Did he know what it meant to be able to fertilize Spirit Plants with mana?
It meant that mana could be used as fertilizer!
Judging from the results just now, one application of Charcoal Attribute Mana was more effective than ordinary First-grade fertilizer.
And this effect might even improve as Li Xiuchang's Cultivation Level increased.
This meant that when he planted Spirit Grass and Spirit Medicine in the future, he could ignore fertilizer costs and make them mature faster.
Put simply, it had only one function: helping him earn more spirit stones!
Li Xiuchang fertilized every First-grade Spirit Plant in his courtyard. With the successful experience from earlier, he did not make another mistake.
Every First-grade Spirit Plant in the courtyard was successfully fertilized!
"Looks like my Charcoal Attribute Mana is universal fertilizer. It works on every Spirit Plant—amazing!"
After mastering the technique, Li Xiuchang tried fertilizing the ten stalks of Netherfrost Grass in the courtyard as well.
Although the fertilization succeeded, the effect was greatly reduced.
It was equivalent to using First-grade fertilizer on a Second-grade Spirit Plant, so it was only natural for the effect to be poor. He estimated that it would only improve once Li Xiuchang's Cultivation Level rose.
But it did not matter. Mana did not cost spirit stones, so he decided to fertilize the Netherfrost Grass with Charcoal Attribute Mana whenever he had time. Even a little would accelerate its growth.
In the days that followed, Li Xiuchang fertilized the Spirit Plants in the courtyard once every few days. He spent the rest of his time practicing Spirit Cooking and studying Alchemy.
Both arts required lighting a fire. Once Li Xiuchang used his Charcoal Attribute Mana to start one, thick smoke billowed out, and as his Cultivation Level rose to the Mid Qi Condensation stage, the smoke's power and toxicity increased accordingly.
Fortunately, Li Xiuchang used only one stove by himself, so the amount of smoke was not large. With the ghost couple's help to collect it, he could even sell the smoke for a few spirit stones.
It was rather embarrassing to say, but although Li Xiuchang had taken Zhao Yuansi, an Alchemy master, as his teacher, he was still stuck at the stage of armchair theory when it came to Alchemy. To this day, he had not actually refined a single batch of pills.
After reading Introduction to Alchemy from cover to cover, Li Xiuchang finally began firing up the furnace to refine pills.
As an Alchemy apprentice, he had assumed that the first things he refined would be non-grade pills such as Grain-Aversion Pills. In reality, though, Grain-Aversion Pills, being pellet-shaped pills, were not something he could handle yet.
For now, he could only refine things like Overlord Liquid for treating hair loss, Moonwarm Powder for menstrual abdominal pain, Essence Gathering Powder for strengthening yang and replenishing the kidneys, and Skyward Oil for prolonging pleasure and enhancing arousal...
After entering the Mid Qi Condensation stage, Li Xiuchang needed even less sleep. He could basically stay up all night grinding every day.
He refined pills during the day and cooked at night, making progress in both Alchemy and Spirit Cooking.
As for Soul Control, he lacked the necessary conditions and could only set it aside for now.
When he had nothing else to do, Li Xiuchang could only use the ghost couple to practice Ghost Capturing and Ghost Controlling techniques. Overall, his improvement was minimal.
There were no years in the life of grinding. In the blink of an eye, Li Xiuchang had been in seclusion for more than two months.
Over these two months, judging from the rate at which his Length Value increased, Li Xiuchang had ranked his talent in each of his arts.
Spirit Plant Cultivation Arts was unquestionably first, and it led by an overwhelming margin.
Alchemy ranked second, though his talent in Alchemy was not much stronger than his talent in Spirit Cooking, which ranked third. His Soul Control talent was at the bottom of the four arts.
Two months of diligent study and hard practice had pushed Li Xiuchang's Length Value past the five-inch mark!
Length Value: 5.03.
Li Xiuchang had originally planned to grind away like this for a year or two before leaving seclusion, but two events that came one after another disrupted his plans.
Over the past few days, two people had come to his door in succession. Seeing that Li Xiuchang was in seclusion, they had merely left messages on the Courtyard Protection Array without disturbing him.
The Courtyard Protection Array came with a message function. Messages left there would be transmitted through the array into the Identity Token.
Li Xiuchang read the messages. The first had come from the outer sect's General Affairs Hall, asking him to make a trip there soon.
The reason was that Li Xiuchang would turn eighteen in a few days. According to custom, outer sect disciples had to visit the General Affairs Hall upon turning eighteen to undergo a routine examination and answer questions about their cultivation and progress in their arts. They would also receive a "coming-of-age gift" issued by the sect.
The second message had come from Li Xiuchang's master, Zhao Yuansi.
Zhao Yuansi had summoned all his disciples to Zhao Manor to attend a lecture half a month later.
Li Xiuchang was immediately in a difficult position. Neither matter was easy to put off, but he could not leave this place either. What was he supposed to do?
Before you continue