Spirit Planter

Chapter 16: Spirit Planter

This person, whose cultivation was even lower than hers, was a Spirit Planter?

"Mm, he's the one who cured all my spirit herbs when they got sick. He can definitely help you get rid of those weeds too, so don't worry." Murong Xiaoxiao nodded as she spoke.

Shi Yue's mouth twitched when he heard this. Before he, the party concerned, could even say a word, Martial Aunt Murong had already vouched for him—this was putting pressure on him.

"Really? That's great! Junior Brother, please hurry and help me remove these weeds." The Yellow-shirt Girl's eyes lit up, and she spoke with some excitement.

"Hold on, don't rush. Tell me the whole story first, so I can prescribe the right remedy." Shi Yue raised an eyebrow and spoke.

"It's like this. Half a month ago, a kind of weed suddenly appeared in my spirit field. No matter what method I tried, I couldn't get rid of them. They just kept growing more and more, absorbing all the spiritual qi in the field, and withered the spirit herbs I was planting." The Yellow-shirt Girl explained word by word.

Hearing this, Shi Yue was secretly startled. It seemed this weed had a very strong growth ability.

He walked over to the spirit field and circled around it once.

He noticed that a dozen or so weeds had been cut in half at the waist, the cuts smooth and even, with the roots still left in the soil.

Seeing this, Shi Yue understood the whole situation. It seemed this senior sister had only cut off the parts of the weeds that grew above the soil, without pulling them out by the roots. And this weed happened to have a very strong growth ability—as long as the roots remained, it would keep growing, which was why the entire field was now overrun.

The spirit field was full of weeds, so there were bound to be seeds in the soil. If the seeds weren't cleared out completely, even if the weeds were pulled up by the roots now, they'd grow back later.

At that moment, Shi Yue thought of the Wood Grass Art. The Wood Grass Art could extract the essence of plants, stripping them of their vitality. The extracted essence could just be used to heal the three mu of Water Moon Flowers.

"Junior Nephew Shi, do you have any way to deal with these weeds?" Murong Xiaoxiao frowned when she saw Shi Yue hadn't moved for a while, and asked.

"I have an idea, but whether it can completely remove these weeds, I'll only know after trying." Shi Yue said somewhat uncertainly.

"Then give it a try!" Murong Xiaoxiao urged.

Shi Yue nodded. His ten fingers moved like wheels, forming hand seals rapidly. Soon, strands of pale green light flew out from the spirit field, gathering between his fingers.

Murong Xiaoxiao and the Yellow-shirt Girl watched in surprise as the weeds in the field changed from emerald green to withered yellow, slowly collapsing.

After a quarter of an hour, most of the weeds in the field had turned withered yellow and fallen to the ground.

Shi Yue was drenched in sweat, his face somewhat pale. With his cultivation at the third layer of Qi Refining, he couldn't sustain the Wood Grass Art for long.

Half a quarter of an hour later, Shi Yue's spiritual power was nearly exhausted. He withdrew his hand seals, and the pale green light gathered between his fingers condensed into a fist-sized emerald green pearl.

At this point, a small portion of weeds still remained in the field.

"Hey, why did you stop? Junior Brother, keep going!" The Yellow-shirt Girl blinked, urging him anxiously.

"Alright, Xing'er. Junior Nephew Shi has exhausted too much spiritual power. Let him sit in meditation and recover before continuing." Murong Xiaoxiao glanced at Shi Yue's pale face and explained.

"Oh, fine!" The Yellow-shirt Girl nodded.

Shi Yue sat cross-legged and slowly recovered his spiritual power through meditation.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Shi Yue stood up and once again performed the Wood Grass Art, extracting the essence of the weeds.

A quarter of an hour later, when no more pale green light flew out from the spirit field, Shi Yue withdrew his hand seals. A baby-fist-sized emerald green pearl now appeared in his hand.

Looking out over the spirit field, all that remained were withered yellow weeds.

Shi Yue's lips moved slightly, and faint red light flickered at his fingertips.

With a puff, a wisp of scarlet red flame emerged from Shi Yue's fingertip.

Shi Yue flicked his finger, and the scarlet red flame shot out, landing on the withered yellow weeds. It immediately blazed up fiercely.

The fire grew larger and larger, covering the entire spirit field. Before long, the flames died out.

"The weeds have been removed, but don't rush to plant any spirit herbs yet. Observe for two days. If no weeds reappear, then you can plant them without worry." Shi Yue wiped the sweat from his forehead and offered his suggestion.

"Got it. Thank you, Junior Brother Shi." The Yellow-shirt Girl nodded, speaking with a smile. Her round face revealed two shallow dimples, looking very cute.

Hearing this, Shi Yue's expression remained unusually calm.

"Xing'er, Junior Nephew Shi has worked so hard. Is a simple 'thank you' all you have?" Murong Xiaoxiao reminded her from the side.

"Oh, I forgot. Junior Brother Shi, I don't have many spirit stones on me. Take these five spirit stones as payment for removing the weeds." The Yellow-shirt Girl, suddenly realizing, tactfully pulled out five spirit stones and handed them to Shi Yue.

"Senior Sister is too kind. We're fellow disciples; we should help each other." Shi Yue said this with his mouth, but his hand still took the five spirit stones, a look of delight appearing on his face.

Seeing the change in Shi Yue's expression, Murong Xiaoxiao showed a look of disdain. It was just five spirit stones—was it really worth being that happy?

"By the way, Senior Sister, is there anything else this junior brother can help with?" Shi Yue squinted his eyes and spoke with great enthusiasm.

"Uh, not for now." The Yellow-shirt Girl was slightly taken aback and shook her head.

"If there's anything you need help with, be sure to say so! We're fellow disciples, after all—we should help each other." Shi Yue said with a beaming smile.

Seeing this, Murong Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes. This guy was only this enthusiastic because of the spirit stones!

"Alright, there's nothing else for now. Junior Nephew Shi, go back to your own work. We'll call you if we need you." Murong Xiaoxiao ordered in a tone that brooked no argument.

Shi Yue nodded, mounted his artifact, and flew away.

"Sister Murong, that guy looks so upright, but I never expected him to be such a greedy money-grubber!" After Shi Yue left, the girl named Xing'er said to Murong Xiaoxiao.

"Uh, I didn't expect it either. But he did help you get rid of those weeds. Five spirit stones isn't a loss for you, right?"

"But I'm really poor, Sister Murong. How about you lend me a few more spirit stones to spend..."

"Cut it out. Go find your old man. I'm leaving."

Returning to Uncle-Master Zhou's cave dwelling, Shi Yue immediately came before the three mu of Water Moon Flowers.

With a flick of his sleeve, two emerald green pearls, one large and one small, flashed out and hovered above the Water Moon Flowers.

Shi Yue formed hand seals with both hands, and two streams of dharma power struck the two emerald green pearls respectively.

A flash of green light, and the two emerald green pearls shattered one after another. A massive surge of pure and exquisite wood essence gushed out, all of it drilling into the Water Moon Flowers below.

After absorbing the wood essence, the petals of the Water Moon Flowers returned to white. All three mu of Water Moon Flowers had returned to normal, growing even better than before.

Shi Yue circled the three mu of Water Moon Flowers once. Seeing that each and every Water Moon Flower's petals had turned pure white, he nodded with satisfaction.

This time, being able to solve the problem of the Water Moon Flowers' petals turning yellow was thanks to encountering a senior apprentice-sister's spirit field overgrown with weeds. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known where to draw wood essence.

Today's experience also served as a warning to Shi Yue. If he only thought of solutions when his spirit plants fell ill, this kind of last-minute scrambling wouldn't do. It seemed he needed to learn all the Basic Five Elements Techniques.

Currently, among the Basic Five Elements Techniques, he knew the Spring Rain Art, Metal Spirit Art, Wood Grass Art, and Blaze Art. He was only missing the Earth Spirit Art.

With this thought, Shi Yue found the jade slip recording the Basic Five Elements Techniques and located the cultivation method for the Earth Spirit Art.

The Earth Spirit Art could make the spiritual energy in the soil distribute more evenly, making it easier for spirit plants to absorb.

After silently reciting the cultivation formula for the Earth Spirit Art, Shi Yue entered the Mysterious Space and released the Spirit Devouring Bees from the Spirit Beast Bag.

At this time, the Spirit Rice had already matured. Shi Yue first used scissors to carefully cut each grain of rice, storing them in his Storage Bag.

Two hours later, one mu of Spirit Rice had been harvested, and Shi Yue was drenched in sweat.

He didn't rest. After wiping the sweat from his face, he sat down cross-legged, silently recited the cultivation formula for the Earth Spirit Art, and his ten fingers quickly formed hand seals.

Cultivating the Earth Spirit Art was no simpler than the Wood Grass Art. Shi Yue failed again and again, but he didn't give up. Each failure only stirred his fighting spirit.

Two hours later, Shi Yue's ten fingers rapidly formed hand seals, and both his hands began to glow with yellow light.

Seeing this, Shi Yue's face lit up with joy, and he pressed both hands into the soil.

The yellow light on Shi Yue's hands flickered continuously, looking very conspicuous.

A quarter of an hour later, with a large amount of dharma power draining away, Shi Yue's face turned pale, and a thin layer of sweat formed on his forehead, but his hands remained pressed against the ground.

After another half quarter of an hour, Shi Yue withdrew his dharma power. The yellow light on his hands vanished, and his hands left the ground.

Shi Yue quickly stepped forward, grabbed a fist-sized clump of soil, and squeezed it hard. The clump crumbled, and a surge of spiritual energy gushed out.

The spiritual energy wasn't much, but it was distributed very evenly.

Shi Yue nodded. Since the Spirit Herbs hadn't matured yet, it wasn't convenient for him to use a fireball technique to burn the rice stalks, so he could only let them rot naturally.

I humbly ask the passing daoists for a few recommendation tickets!