Ways to Earn Three Spirit Stones

Night fell.

Yue Shuo did not continue cultivating Tai Chi Fist, a technique that consumed Divine Sense immensely. Instead, he chose to activate an innate spell from one of his cultivation arts.

Because he was trying it within the Spirit Field.

Yue Shuo decided to first activate the Qi-Replenishing Technique that came with the Wood Essence Art.

After comprehending the Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique, he had always felt as though he was groping through fog, unable to figure out how to cast it.

Form hand seals, stir one's spiritual power, and cast it upon the target.

Yet he had practiced forming hand seals many times. He felt his gestures were standard enough, and he had also tried stirring his spiritual power at the same time.

But he still did not know how to complete the spell.

It seemed as though something crucial was missing.

Since he could not figure it out for the moment, he set it aside. Efficiency came first now.

Yue Shuo sat cross-legged on his bedding within the Spirit Field. The temperature inside was neither cold nor hot, perfectly pleasant.

He planned to move the bedding back into the courtyard later.

Before this, it had simply been out of habit.

It seemed sleeping required bedding.

Beneath the cover of the Spirit Field Formation.

Yue Shuo silently recalled the contents of the Wood Essence Art in his mind.

For the Spirit-Drawing Entry portion, the contents of all first-rank cultivation arts were actually more or less the same.

The only difference lay in where one stored one's intent after drawing spiritual energy into the body.

After reaching Qi Refining Level One, the starting points and routes of the meridians through which spiritual power circulated within the body also differed.

Still, the meridian circulation of first-rank cultivation arts was truly quite simple.

The main time-consuming part was drawing spiritual energy into the body and refining it.

But as proficiency increased.

The time needed for Spirit-Drawing Entry and refinement also grew shorter and shorter.

As for the Qi-Replenishing Technique that came with the Wood Essence Art.

He needed to complete a basic internal cycle, making his spiritual power travel once through the basic meridian and acupoint cycle of the Wood Essence Art.

This required control over one's own spiritual power.

It also required sufficient spiritual power.

Generally speaking.

Only after reaching Qi Refining Level One would one naturally learn this spell.

Yue Shuo glanced at his panel.

[Divine Sense: 15/15]

[Spiritual Power: 100/100]

Ever since his Wood Essence Art had reached a certain stage of entry-level mastery, his spiritual power had naturally become one hundred points.

After cultivating for several days now, that value had not changed.

However, Yue Shuo knew.

The quality of his spiritual power should have improved through his daily cultivation.

Once he was ready.

He did not draw spiritual energy into his body. Instead, he circulated his spiritual power along the meridian cycle route of the Wood Essence Art.

This was the circulation route of Qi Refining Level One.

Yet he smoothly made the spiritual power he had refined over more than ten days travel one full cycle through that meridian route.

After it was completed.

The misty cluster of spiritual power shrank by around one-tenth.

At the same time, he felt heaven and earth spiritual energy pouring into his body, just as it did when he entered meditation to draw in spiritual energy.

Huh?

But once the heaven and earth spiritual energy touched his cluster of spiritual power, merged into it, and was assimilated—restoring it to its previous size.

The heaven and earth spiritual energy stopped flowing into his body.

This seemed to be a passive mode of negative-pressure suction.

The Divine Sense and spiritual power consumed were both minimal. Yue Shuo checked and recalled it.

[Divine Sense: 14/15]

[Spiritual Power: 90/100][Spiritual Power: 100/100]

Moreover, beneath cultivation arts, the spell section now had an additional entry for Qi-Replenishing Technique. When he sensed it with his mind.

It displayed:

[Spell: Qi-Replenishing Technique]

[Qi-Replenishing Technique (First Rank): 1/100 (Entry)]

(Entry: Consume one-tenth of your spiritual power to restore approximately another two-tenths of your spiritual power.)

One-tenth of his spiritual power and one point of Divine Sense in exchange for recovering two-tenths of his spiritual power?

Yue Shuo felt the effect was mediocre.

Then again, this was only the effect at the entry level. Besides, he could feel that practicing this spell benefited the compression and refinement of his spiritual power.

Unfortunately, he currently had nowhere that required him to expend spiritual power.

"How about trying the Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique again?"

When Yue Shuo had previously tried the Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique, he had merely formed hand seals while circulating spiritual power and locking onto a target with his intent.

But he had not drawn his spiritual power out.

He had only made a brief attempt.

Now, he could practice it properly.

Cultivating Tai Chi Fist had improved his control over his body, and his comprehension and memory were strong as well.

Thus, practicing hand seals came easily to him.

He could complete the twelve hand-seal gestures of the Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique within five seconds.

Whenever he had spare time, while recovering his Divine Sense in the Spirit Field, he also practiced forming hand seals now and then. At present, he had already reduced the time to three seconds.

Next, he disregarded the waste of spiritual power and the consumption of Divine Sense.

He focused with all his might!

His hands formed seals with incomparable familiarity. His spiritual power stirred as naturally as an arm moving at his command, and his intent locked onto a spot one foot before him.

In an instant.

Yue Shuo seemed to sense the hazy particles of spiritual energy between heaven and earth responding to the hand seals and the stirring of his spiritual power.

Repeatedly entering stillness during Spirit-Drawing Entry had kept him utterly calm at this moment.

It was merely a flash of inspiration.

Naturally, he poured out the spiritual power within his body, turning it into a guide and mold for drawing in spiritual energy particles.

Using his own Divine Sense and spiritual power as the lead.

The hand seals transformed them into a certain spell pattern.

A small vortex of spiritual energy appeared before his eyes.

Yue Shuo felt as though his body had suddenly been hollowed out, a sensation of weakness washing over him.

He promptly threw the egg-sized cluster of faintly blue, mist-like spiritual energy in his hand onto the nearest Gathering Spirit Grass seedling.

The spiritual energy cluster landed upon the seedling.

The seedling stretched its slender tender leaves as it slowly grew.

It was a slowness visible to the naked eye—or rather, extreme speed... slowness and swiftness fused together in a wondrous way.

It rapidly absorbed the descending spiritual energy cluster.

As the spiritual energy cluster vanished.

The Gathering Spirit Grass seedling, which had originally been only a little over an inch tall, grew to around an inch and a half. It was verdant and utterly adorable.

Its tender leaves widened by several degrees.

It also grew another long, slender leaf.

It had originally possessed only two leaves, but now it had three. Yue Shuo remembered the common knowledge described in Planting Miscellany.

When Gathering Spirit Grass reached maturity.

A single plant stood six inches tall and possessed twelve mature leaves.

If left entirely to grow wild, under the poorest spiritual energy conditions, it would take ten years before it matured and could be harvested.

That was the minimum requirement for alchemy.

But when cultivated by a spiritual plant cultivator.

Planting it in a Spirit Field required only one or two years. With full effort devoted to cultivation, the time could be even shorter.

And how did one determine the medicinal potency and maturity of a spiritual plant?

By observing its growth.

First, its height; second, the number of leaves.

Furthermore, Gathering Spirit Grass shed its leaves and regrew them each year, while it grew another inch taller every two years.

Ten days after sprouting, it needed to reach one inch in height to count as a healthy young plant.

Therefore.

One could determine what stage a clump of Gathering Spirit Grass was in, and how long until maturity, from its height and number of leaves.

Its previous one-inch height had been the seedling baseline.

And its two tender leaves represented Gathering Spirit Grass at roughly the two-month growth stage. Now that it had grown another leaf.

It meant the Gathering Spirit Grass before him had reached the three-month stage.

It was still far from maturity.

But it also let Yue Shuo see a certain hope.

He remembered that a Qin Clan shop purchased one mature Gathering Spirit Grass plant for three Spirit Stones. Of course, buying one cost four Spirit Stones.

Yue Shuo looked inward at his panel and saw that he had half his spiritual power remaining.

His Divine Sense had decreased by one.

[Divine Sense: 13/15][Spiritual Power: 50/100]

The corner of Yue Shuo's mouth twitched.

Judging by that rate of consumption, setting aside the Gathering Spirit Grass's natural growth time and the expenditure required to restore spiritual power.

He would need to consume 120 points of Divine Sense and 6,000 points of spiritual power.

To obtain one mature Gathering Spirit Grass plant.

And earn three Spirit Stones...