Peering at a leopard through a tube, Senior Brother Guo was already this busy in the Spirit Plant Academy. There was no need to think about anywhere else.
Lu Qing no longer needed to step outside to take a look. He merely raised his head to the sky.
He discovered that today had originally been a clear blue day, the vault of heaven entirely cloudless.
Yet now, countless streaks of light and escaping lights shot across the sky, like meteors falling from the heavens, forcefully creating a meteor shower in broad daylight.
Lu Qing raised a hand and closed the Cloud Mist Formation again.
He could still see outside, but an additional layer of mist evolved by the formation now covered everything.
"Minor ripples... where exactly would they manifest? In a person, or in an object?"
Holding the Cultivation World order jade slip in his hand, Lu Qing thought.
He had originally assumed Senior Brother Guo would be the one indicated by the divination, but they had likely not even spoken for a full minute. The ripples did not originate here.
"Could it be these two extra orders?"
Lu Qing tossed aside that absurd thought. If that truly were the case, it would be quite good.
He was a novice Spirit Planter Master. Naturally, the orders he received would not involve difficult spirit plant seeds.
"Red Fang Rice, Dragon Fang Rice."
"Am I up against rice now?"
The jade slip contained seeds. To prevent Spirit Planter Masters from doing things haphazardly, detailed introductions had thoughtfully been left on the jade slip itself.
The cultivation methods for these spirit plants were largely the same and nothing special. The sunlight, water, and soil required by mortal grain were likewise needed by them—either all three, or two of them, and so on.
The Moonblade Spirit Rice Lu Qing had chosen earlier was an exception.
That was only because its leaves could serve as talisman paper, meaning it was no longer purely food meant to be eaten.
"No difficulty."
Lu Qing examined them and found no difficulty.
He only needed to plant them like ordinary plants. The sole unusual thing was that these were seeds infused with spiritual qi; from sprouting and breaking through the soil to growing, flowering, ripening, and bearing fruit, they did not require years of effort.
Or rather, the two batches of seeds he had received were both fast-growing spirit plant varieties.
"Fifteen spirit fields, three types of plants. Three plots for each will do."
Lu Qing sowed all the seeds into the soil.
Cloud rain descended from the clouds.
The sharp edge of Sword Qi entered the earth.
Lu Qing did not rush to enter Foundation Establishment.
Instead, he first honed his other methods.
Five days later.
Dao Academy disciples left the mountain.
The Demonic Path's lair came under attack.
This was what happened on the first day.
Their momentum was simply one of killing gods if gods stood in their way, killing demons if demons stood in their way.
"Too impressive!"
"Inner Academy disciples are dealing with Demonic Path Elders, while Outer Academy disciples are dealing with Demonic Path disciples. The front lines are fighting fiercely right now."
"Ah, how wonderful. I heard someone suddenly broke through an entire major realm on the battlefield and killed a Demonic Path old thief who tried to ambush them."
"The Demonic Path's lair has countless Spirit Stones, spirit fields, and spirit medicines. I even heard someone dug up an ancient ginseng over ten thousand years old and received a reward after handing it over to the Dao Academy."
"I'm dying of envy over whatever reward could make that disciple willing to give up that ancient ginseng."
"I want to leave the mountain gate and slaughter Demonic Cultivators too!"
"Opportunities are everywhere!"
Looking at the heated messages from the Outer Academy, Lu Qing could roughly guess how swift as thunder the front lines had been.
Risks and opportunities coexisted.
Lu Qing also saw the figures of Gu Xuantian's group among them.
However, on this battlefield of demon extermination, although they possessed Heaven-Grade Aptitude, the ones shining brilliantly were mostly the strong.
Their talent was peerless; they were Heaven's Pride. Yet among those able to enter the Inner Academy, which one had not once been a monstrous genius who suppressed others until they dared not raise their heads?
"Chen Xuanming, Gongsun Sheng, Li Mingyue..."
During this period in the Outer Academy, Lu Qing had not seen any streaks of light flying overhead.
The escaping lights that would occasionally pass through the sky on ordinary days now seemed to have vanished altogether.
The entire mountain gate was like a place whose previous clamor had suddenly fallen silent.
Lu Qing had thought it was already quiet before, but unexpectedly, this was true quiet.
It was utterly empty.
Even the White Cranes that usually lingered over the lake were nowhere to be seen.
Lu Qing asked the White Crane Boy and learned that the White Crane Clan had also rushed to the front lines. The White Crane Boy loved Spirit Stones most in his life, and he was now preparing to see whether he could fish in troubled waters and pick up a little profit along the way.
When he saw Lu Qing ask about it, the White Crane Boy even invited him to leave Li Mountain with him.
Lu Qing refused. How could he possibly go out?
He also tactfully warned him to be careful when he reached the front lines.
Privately, Lu Qing had seen the sky full of streaking lights earlier, along with the enormous rewards being offered. With such a grand operation, he was not standing from the perspective of the upper echelons and could not see the hidden truth.
But after seeing the victories reported over the past two days and recalling the divination's great misfortune, he always felt that something strange was still going on with the Demonic Path.
White Crane Boy: "Heh, Lu Qing, you're being far too cautious. Don't worry. This Boy will stay in the rear, and the moment things look bad, I'll run. Who can possibly be faster than me?"
He spoke smugly through the message.
Lu Qing could not help laughing aloud. The White Crane Boy was boasting, but he was not wrong. The White Crane Clan was astonishingly fast, and the White Crane Boy was one of the best among them.
With his innate bloodline Divine Ability, he should be able to escape when used for running away, right?
Lu Qing only hoped he would not run into some Demonic Path old man.
Lu Qing: "Boy, you are extraordinary."
White Crane Boy: "Of course I am."
He put down the token. He could not see how the battle at the front lines was going at the moment.
What he needed to do now was handle his own affairs first.
After cultivating for seven consecutive days, the Cloud-Riding Water Arrow was nearly at major mastery. Yet the technique that would reach major mastery fastest was instead the Concealment Art, which specialized in hiding one's aura. He only needed a few more days of cultivation to perfect it.
"Since I'm a Spirit Planter Master now, I should also acquire the Geng Metal Finger, an essential technique for planting."
Lu Qing had not discovered any insect infestations yet, but he still needed to prepare for trouble before it arose. Spirit fields naturally emitted spiritual qi, and with a Spirit-Gathering Formation here as well, how could insects of the Cultivation World possibly avoid it completely?
Another seven-day cycle arrived.
Lu Qing headed to a corner of the cliff by Dao Peak.
The courtyard and spirit fields behind him were visible clearly in the distance.
Cry!
A crane's call rang through the vast sky.
Guo Yongheng wore a broad smile, looking pleased as spring breeze.
"Junior Brother Lu, nothing much going on lately?"
"Nothing on my end, Senior Brother. But joy is written all over your face. What good news is this?"
Hearing that, Guo Yongheng's smile broadened further. "Hahaha, it seems Junior Brother is the type to devote himself wholeheartedly to cultivation."
He teased him before saying with a smile, "This matter has not reached the mountain gate yet. Junior Brother has been focused on cultivation and doesn't know, but I have a friend at the front lines. He told me they discovered a Minor Realm over there."
"A Minor Thousandfold World."
He spoke mysteriously, waiting for Junior Brother Lu before him to be greatly shocked.
Lu Qing truly was shocked.
A Minor Realm, a Minor Thousandfold World.
Holy shit. Even Lu Qing's Dao Heart, which had been steady through cultivation, rippled.
No wonder. No wonder this mission had come down so quickly and with such lavish rewards.
He had misunderstood the meaning of this Minor Realm before.
The Minor Realm mentioned by the divination was clearly not the same thing as the Minor Realm he had heard about.
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