Homemade Spiritual Soil

At this moment, it had been more than ten days since he obtained the black seeds.

Almost every day, he cast the Growth Technique on the seeds. Though he had held some hope in his heart, after one Growth Technique after another fell upon them with no reaction whatsoever, he gradually grew indifferent.

After all, even Chen Yushu himself had said that he had tried countless methods, yet none could cultivate the seeds until they sprouted.

Zhou Changwang naturally would not arrogantly believe that he could accomplish what Chen Yushu could not.

The reason he kept trying the spell was merely to use it as a tool for practicing his technique.

Yet just as he cultivated the Growth Technique to Major Mastery, the seeds sprouted.

"So these black seeds were not dead seeds after all. It was only because my Growth Technique had been at too low a level to make them sprout."

Looking at the tender yet sturdy shoots emerging from the three black seeds before him, Zhou Changwang truly felt an unexpected delight.

Then, he vaguely recalled what Chen Yushu had said back then.

If someone could cultivate the black seeds until they sprouted, he was willing to offer a reward of one thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones?

To be honest, when he first heard that condition, his heart had indeed lurched fiercely.

Heaven knew how great the temptation of one thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones had been to the Zhou Changwang who had possessed only a single Low-Grade Spirit Stone in total.

But now, he barely needed to think before abandoning the idea of going to claim the reward.

There was no other reason.

The gap in strength and status between them was simply too great.

Chen Yushu was not only a mid-stage cultivator at the Sixth Layer of the Qi Refining Realm, with extraordinary skill in cultivating spirit plants, but also had a formidable background. His master was even a senior spirit plant cultivator within the Spirit Plant Hall...

Zhou Changwang had no desire to place his personal safety in the palm of the other man's hand.

Even if Chen Yushu was willing to keep his promise, there would certainly be no shortage of trouble afterward.

"But in that case, how should I deal with these sprouted spirit seeds?"

Zhou Changwang looked at the seeds that had grown shoots and felt a little troubled.

Once spirit seeds sprouted, they had to be planted as soon as possible. Otherwise, there was a risk that their vitality would be severed.

Yet from his experience, ordinary spirit fields and spirit lands would find it difficult to keep them alive. At the very least, his three mu of spirit fields were absolutely unsuitable.

There was not enough spiritual energy.

They simply could not support them.

Not to mention that these three spirit seeds were mysterious and extraordinary in origin, making them wholly unsuitable to reveal before others.

After thinking it over, Zhou Changwang decided to make his own spiritual soil.

Most spirit fields in the cultivation world were established atop spiritual veins.

Only when situated above a spiritual vein would heaven-and-earth spiritual energy naturally seep out from it, allowing the various spirit plants and living things within the spirit field to grow smoothly.

But if it was merely a First-Rank Spiritual Vein, it was almost impossible for it to produce a Second-Rank or even Third-Rank spirit field. Naturally, it was likewise difficult to grow all manner of high-grade spirit plants and spirit materials.

Thus, cultivators used all sorts of supplementary methods to raise the grade of their spirit fields.

The most common methods were gathering spiritual energy with formations, supplementing the fields with various spirit items, or drawing in spirit springs and spirit eyes...

But all of those were extravagant dreams to Zhou Changwang.

Thus, his method was exceedingly simple and crude.

He would supplement them with Spirit Stones.

He directly dug up three handfuls of suitable soil outside the house and placed them separately into three small bamboo tubes.

These bamboo tubes were actually three bowls. Their history was, speaking of which, even older than his own. When his father first arrived and had no money to buy furniture, he had gone up the mountain to cut bamboo and made them himself.

They had long been discarded, but now they were just right for use.

Then, he took out a Low-Grade Spirit Stone and crushed it with brute force into glimmering powder, sprinkling it into the three bamboo tubes before mixing it evenly with the soil.

In this way, he made three simple little spirit fields.

Only then did he bury the three seeds separately in the three bamboo tubes.

"Now it's simple."

A faint excitement rose in Zhou Changwang's heart.

He also desperately wanted to know what kind of spirit item these black seeds would grow into.

If they were spirit rice, then what kind of spirit rice would they be?

Then, he directly cast the Growth Technique, using the power within the spell to strengthen their vitality. Immediately afterward, he used the Spirit Rain Art.

After all, he was casting it on three tiny potted plants.

Therefore, Zhou Changwang deliberately controlled the range of the spirit rain, making it only just large enough to cover the three pots.

This was an ability he gained only after cultivating the Spirit Rain Art to Minor Mastery.

Otherwise, all the surrounding houses would have fallen within the range of his spell.

Concentrated essence was the real thing. Though the Spirit Rain Art covered only a small area, Zhou Changwang's expenditure after casting it had not decreased by much. Thus, every drop of the drizzling spirit rain contained spiritual energy more than a hundred times denser than ordinary spirit rain.

Therefore, when the spirit rain ceased, Zhou Changwang watched helplessly as the shoots that had originally been buried beneath the soil broke through it one after another and emerged.

"From the looks of it, these three seeds have taken root.

Next, I only need to pay attention to their growing environment and water and fertilize them."

Seeing this, Zhou Changwang felt relieved.

Though this "fertilizer" was incomparably expensive, something ordinary people simply could not afford to consume.

Even he had to grit his teeth and endure the pain...

"You have to give something up to gain something.

If these spirit rice seeds truly are extraordinary, then my early investment will surely be repaid a thousandfold, even ten-thousandfold."

Thinking this, Zhou Changwang carefully placed the three pots of spirit plants on the windowsill of his room.

Qi Refining, Third Layer (21/100)

The next day, when Zhou Changwang opened his eyes, the first thing he did was look at his Attribute Panel.

Seeing that his cultivation had increased by another point compared with yesterday, his mood brightened as well.

Even though such growth in cultivation was far inferior to taking spirit pills.

He knew, however, that while cultivation-boosting spirit pills like Vitality Pills and Yellow Spirit Pills were good, they could not be consumed in excess.

The barrier of pill toxins was something countless cultivators avoided like venomous scorpions.

His previous actions of swallowing spirit pills one after another in order to raise his cultivation as quickly as possible had already been extremely risky.

Thus, although there was still more than one bottle of Yellow Spirit Pills in his Storage Bag, he did not swallow them directly. Instead, he deliberately restrained himself, taking one only every three to five days.

Most of the time, he relied on the spiritual energy contained within Spirit Rice, cultivating and refining it to increase his cultivation.

After getting up, Zhou Changwang hurriedly looked toward the three pots of spirit seeds he had just planted. Seeing that the spirit seeds were growing fairly well, he finally let out a long breath.

He then cast the Growth Technique and Spirit Rain Art again, ensuring they could continue growing normally, before leaving the room.

His father, Zhou Qiankun, had risen even earlier than he had. By now, he had already cooked the Spirit Rice porridge. After calling Zhou Changwang over to eat, he went out with him.

Today was the day the Spirit Grain Rice in his spirit fields would officially be harvested.

Thus, father and son joined forces, intending to harvest the spirit fields as quickly as possible so they could hand them over to the Spirit Plant Hall and fulfill the previous lease agreement.