Li Fire Sword

Amid the dense, luxuriant, slender fiery-red pine needles, five pine cones were half-hidden and half-revealed, one of them already ripe.

The outer red pine-cone skin was like fish scales, circling the pine nuts within layer by layer from bottom to top.

There were not many pine nuts at the very center, just over twenty, each the size of a fingertip, like pomegranate seeds.

They were pale red, crystal-clear and translucent, their delicate fragrance spilling everywhere; just smelling them made one's index finger twitch and mouth water.

As his mind gathered on the ripe Red Cloud Pine Cone, Lu Xuan immediately obtained detailed information about it.

"Red Cloud Pine Cone, from the First Grade Spirit Plant Red Cloud Pine. It contains abundant Spiritual Power, and after consumption, Qi Refining Low Stage and Mid Stage cultivators can slightly increase their cultivation."

"Its taste is sweet, crisp, and lingering, deeply popular among many female cultivators."

Lu Xuan peeled off this ripe Red Cloud Pine Cone and placed it into a specially made vessel. Related runes were drawn on the vessel, allowing it to preserve the pine cone's freshness to the greatest extent.

While peeling off the pine cone, he also learned in passing that the harvested pine cone was of Good Grade.

At the spot where the Red Cloud Pine Cone had been harvested, a White Light Orb naturally appeared, flickering faintly.

Lu Xuan's emotions surged. This was the first mature First Grade Spirit Plant he had ever harvested.

Before this, whether it was Spirit Firefly Grass or Eclipse Moon Fruit, they had all been No Grade spirit plants, their value far lower than that of the Red Cloud Pine.

"Harvested one Red Cloud Pine Cone. Obtained Second Grade Flying Sword, Li Fire Sword."

The White Light Orb turned into countless specks of light that poured into Lu Xuan's body. Immediately afterward, a thought flashed through his mind.

A Flying Sword quietly appeared in his hand.

The Flying Sword was about three feet long. Its blade was light and fiery red, with dark-red veins on the edge. As it trembled, tiny flames flew out from the blade.

"A Second Grade Flying Sword!"

Lu Xuan could not help crying out in surprise. This was the first Second Grade Magic Tool he had obtained in his cultivation career.

Before he had obtained the miraculous aspects of the Spirit Field, if he wanted to buy a Sword Qi Talisman, he had to scrimp and save for ages before he could afford one.

But now, not only did he have Treasures like the Split Silver Blade and Thunderfire Pearl, he also had a great many talismans. Sword Qi Talismans, Exorcism Talismans, and the like, which had once been difficult to obtain, were already piled into a heap, and he even had two Second Grade Myriad Sword Qi Talismans.

And now, he had obtained another Second Grade Magic Tool, the Li Fire Sword.

"Plant one Spirit Field, gain countless opportunities."

"I don't love exploring Secret Realms, and I don't like fighting over Treasures. I only like raising a few flowers and grasses."

The appearance of the Second Grade Li Fire Sword made Lu Xuan look forward even more to the remaining four Red Cloud Pine Cones. At the same time, it also strengthened his resolve to quietly farm in peace.

He put the Li Fire Sword into his Storage Bag and came to the area where the Spirit Firefly Grass was planted.

Of the one hundred Spirit Firefly Grasses, sixty-five remained, and they had already entered the stage of rapid maturation. Specks of fluorescent light flickered on their slender leaves, extremely eye-catching even in broad daylight.

Lu Xuan harvested fourteen mature Spirit Firefly Grasses in one go.

Among them, four were of Good Grade, seven were of Superior Grade, and the remaining three were of Perfect Grade. Not a single one was Common Grade.

He placed the fourteen mature Spirit Firefly Grasses into White Jade Boxes to prevent their vitality from draining away.

Looking toward the Spirit Field, fourteen White Light Orbs quietly arrived.

"Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass. Obtained Six Months of Cultivation." *2 "Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass. Obtained Nine Months of Cultivation."

"Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass. Obtained One Year of Cultivation."

Among them, four White Light Orbs brought cultivation rewards, totaling three years of cultivation.

As the thought flashed through his mind, wave after wave of rich Spiritual Power appeared inside Lu Xuan's body.

It surged and rampaged wildly through his Dantian and meridians. He clenched his teeth and did his utmost to circulate his technique.

Only after a while did the Spiritual Power inside his body gradually settle down.

After many days of bitter cultivation, along with this time's and the previous small cultivation rewards, Lu Xuan finally broke through to Qi Refining Stage 6.

"Heaven rewards the diligent. It was not in vain that I stole moments of leisure from my busy days, and, while planting the Spirit Field, seized every bit of rest time to cultivate hard. To have achieved what I have today is inseparable from my painstaking diligence."

Lu Xuan sighed inwardly.

"Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass. Obtained First Grade Talisman, Sword Qi Talisman." *3 "Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass. Obtained First Grade Talisman, Exorcism Talisman." *2 Among them, five White Light Orbs brought First Grade Talisman rewards, increasing the stockpile of talismans in Lu Xuan's Storage Bag even further.

"Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass. Obtained one First Grade Essence Nurturing Pill." *3 "Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass. Obtained one First Grade Essence Nurturing Pill Recipe."

"Harvested one Spirit Firefly Grass. Obtained one drop of Grass Spirit Essence Liquid."

The remaining five White Light Orbs yielded three Essence Nurturing Pills. As for the other two, probably because the Spirit Firefly Grass was of Perfect Grade, one yielded a pill recipe, while the other yielded the Treasure, Grass Spirit Essence Liquid.

Lu Xuan absorbed the Essence Nurturing Pill Recipe, and at once, he gained a much deeper understanding in his mind regarding the refinement of Essence Nurturing Pills. His grasp of material handling, dosage, refining heat, pill retrieval timing... and so on improved by quite a bit.

When it came to refining Essence Nurturing Pills, although he had never yet had any actual practical experience, he was already a genuine theoretical expert.

A drop of emerald-green, semi-solidified liquid appeared in Lu Xuan's hand. It was precisely Grass Spirit Essence Liquid, containing a large amount of vegetation essence.

Lu Xuan called the Grass Puppet over and stuffed the emerald-green liquid into the Gray Grass Tumor on its head.

Not long after he stuffed it in, the Gray Grass Tumor turned lush green at a speed visible to the naked eye, like an old tree sending out New Sprouts, brimming with dense vitality.

"Only when you've eaten and drunk your fill will you have more strength to guard the spirit field."

Lu Xuan looked at the Grass Puppet with a patch of green on top of its head and said with a smile.

"Daoist Lu, Daoist Lu, are you there?"

A somewhat familiar voice came from outside the house. Lu Xuan thought back briefly and soon recognized it as a cultivator surnamed Wu from nearby. He was rather old, fond of the contents of a cup, and had once even come to the courtyard to ask Lu Xuan whether he was growing any spirit plants suitable for brewing wine.

"Daoist Wu, I'm here. Is something the matter?"

"Nothing much. It's just that those lackeys from the Law Enforcement Hall finally withdrew these past few days, and I'm in a good mood. I wanted to find someone to drink with, so I thought of you, Little Friend Lu."

Lu Xuan opened the courtyard gate and said to Cultivator Wu with a smile.

"All right. I'll tidy up a little, then come drink a cup with you, Daoist Wu."

The old man surnamed Wu nodded and left.

Lu Xuan returned to the house and, to guard against the unexpected, hid the Thunderfire Pearl and the Myriad Sword Qi Talisman inside his clothes.

Cultivator Wu was at Qi Training Stage 4. If, by any chance, he harbored evil intentions toward him, then even if he had kept something hidden, Lu Xuan was confident that with so many talismans and magic tools in hand, he would be more than able to handle it.

After thinking for a moment, he called the Cloud Stepping Lynx over as well.

The Lynx Cub's face was expressionless, its pair of green eyes staring wide, but inwardly it leaped onto Lu Xuan's shoulder with cheers and joy, its four white clouds clinging tightly to Lu Xuan's robe.

Only then did Lu Xuan feel completely at ease. With the Cloud Stepping Lynx's wondrous eyes, even evil spirits that ordinary cultivators would find difficult to detect would have nowhere to hide, giving Lu Xuan's safety yet another layer of assurance.

Bringing the Lynx Cub with him, he activated the array formation and walked toward Cultivator Wu's residence.

As it happened, he also had some matters he wanted to consult the old man surnamed Wu about.

Unknown spirit seeds were already very hard to find in the Rogue Cultivator Market, while in those large shops, although they had spirit seeds of many varieties, most were expensive, and their grades were not very high either, mostly first grade or no grade, making it difficult to satisfy Lu Xuan's increasingly discerning eye.

So he had the idea of going to the mysterious black market in the marketplace to take a look, and at the same time sell off some things in his hands. Cultivator Wu's cultivation was not bad, and he had stayed in the marketplace long enough; presumably, he understood quite a bit about that black market.