What Was Big Brother Hinting At?

Spirit Stones were hard to earn!

Prices were not cheap either!

The Qin Clan's shops sold Spirit Carp—the only thing that could raise the cultivation of Spirit-Drawing Stage and Qi Refining disciples without the effects of Pill Poison—for twenty-five Spirit Stones each.

They were even more expensive than medicinal pills.

Yue Shuo needed to grow at least nine Gathering Spirit Grass plants before he could exchange them for one.

After all, those in the Spirit-Drawing Stage could not refine First-Grade spirit pills.

His cultivation speed was not slow.

If he failed to buy Spirit Carp and others noticed that he had advanced to Qi Refining Level One too early, it might not be a good thing.

Therefore, before reaching Qi Refining Level One—

he had to buy Spirit Carp at least once!

He needed nine Gathering Spirit Grass plants!

Of course, if he could achieve something in Talisman Crafting, then depending on their quality and type, First-Order Talismans sold for two to ten Spirit Stones each.

Making money seemed easier than growing Gathering Spirit Grass.

However, ten blank First-Order talisman papers plus a small amount of First-Grade Talisman Ink cost two Spirit Stones and one Spirit Stone respectively, for a total of three Spirit Stones.

That was equivalent in value to five Grain-Repelling Pills.

Where would the Spirit Stones for the talisman paper and ink consumed during practice come from?

Meanwhile, a bottle of five Low-Grade Spirit-Gathering Pills, which could increase Qi Refining Level One cultivation, cost twenty Spirit Stones, and Low-Grade spirit pills contained no small amount of Pill Poison.

It was recommended to take one bottle every half year at Qi Refining Level One.

One bottle a year was safest.

Of course, he currently had neither spirit pills nor Spirit Stones, while the Spirit-Gathering Array that could increase cultivation speed was even more expensive.

A First-Rank Spirit-Gathering Array required four hundred Spirit Stones.

It increased cultivation efficiency by around fifty percent.

He looked at the Spirit Field that came with a First-Rank Spirit-Gathering Array and felt immensely fortunate.

Next—

Yue Shuo cast the Qi-Replenishing Technique twice, restoring his mana to ninety points, then cast the Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique once.

[Divine Sense: 10/15]

[Mana: 40/100]

[Qi-Replenishing Technique (First-Tier): 3/100 (Beginner)]

[Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique (First-Tier): 2/100 (Beginner)]

Yue Shuo did not cast the spirit mist cluster solely on that one Gathering Spirit Grass plant from earlier.

Instead, he tossed the spirit mist cluster condensed by this Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique at another Gathering Spirit Grass seedling.

He had memorized Planting Miscellany so thoroughly that it rolled off his tongue.

He knew that Gathering Spirit Grass also required a certain amount of time to fully absorb the spirit qi clusters created by the Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique.

Yue Shuo continued practicing the Qi-Replenishing Technique and the Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique.

Two more Qi replenishments, one more spirit-gathering mist.

[Divine Sense: 7/15]

[Mana: 30/100]

[Qi-Replenishing Technique (First-Tier): 5/100 (Beginner)]

[Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique (First-Tier): 3/100 (Beginner)]

He repeated the cycle twice more.

After only a sliver of Divine Sense remained, he began sleeping in the Spirit Field.

[Divine Sense: 1/15]

[Mana: 10/100]

[Qi-Replenishing Technique (First-Tier): 9/100 (Beginner)]

[Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique (First-Tier): 5/100 (Beginner)]

After sleeping for around two hours, he woke up automatically.

Yue Shuo could now form his own biological alarm clock. He woke when his Divine Sense had recovered by nine points and reached ten.

His mana had also recovered by more than half during sleep.

After completing another three rounds of spellcasting—

Yue Shuo finally went back to sleep until dawn, though he could only sleep for around three hours.

Before sleeping, he glanced at the panel.

He was thoroughly satisfied.

In one night, he had grinded quite a bit of proficiency in two First-Tier spells. Just looking at those numbers pleased him greatly.

[Divine Sense: 1/15]

[Qi-Replenishing Technique (First-Tier): 15/100 (Beginner)]

[Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique (First-Tier): 8/100 (Beginner)]

When the next morning arrived—

after arranging Gu Jiu's tasks—

Yue Shuo first went to check on the eight Gathering Spirit Grass seedlings that had absorbed spirit mist clusters and grown nearly half another leaf.

Then he began his methodical cultivation.

Throughout the entire day, he used the Wood Essence Art five times for Spirit-Drawing Entry.

Whenever he was not cultivating, he remained in the Spirit Field. At night, he began casting the Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique on the Gathering Spirit Grass.

For the time being, he no longer practiced Tai Chi Fist.

His Divine Sense was currently a little tight, and Tai Chi Fist was still rather far from advancing.

Yue Shuo persisted in this unchanging routine for seven days.

On the seventh night—

the Qi-Replenishing Technique advanced.

[Qi-Replenishing Technique (First-Tier): 1/200 (Proficient)]

(Proficient: Consume ten percent of your mana to additionally recover around thirty percent of your mana.)

The panel's final changes before sleep were:

[Cultivator Character Panel]

[Name: Yue Shuo]

[Age: 12/100 years]

[Realm: Mortal]

[Spiritual Root: Metal 1, Wood 1, Water 2, Fire 1, Earth 1]

[Comprehension: 120]

[Cultivation: 199/500 (+2)]

[Breakthrough Chance: 50%]

[Qi and Blood: 120/120] [Mana: 10/100]

[Divine Sense: 1/15] [Pill Poison: 0/5]

[Talent: Reborn as Human (Purple)]

[Bloodline: Unknown Thin Bloodline (2)]

[Cultivation Methods: Tai Chi Fist, Wood Essence Art, Evergreen Method, Thousand Waves Formula, Sharp Metal Art, Blazing Sun Art]

[Tai Chi Fist (First-Tier): 524/2000 (Perfect)]

[Wood Essence Art (First-Tier): 96/100 (Beginner)]

[Spells: Qi-Replenishing Technique, Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique]

[Qi-Replenishing Technique (First-Tier): 4/200 (Proficient)]

[Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique (First-Tier): 57/100 (Beginner)]

The Qi-Replenishing Technique had reached the Proficient level, while his primary cultivation method, the Wood Essence Art, was not far from advancing as well.

He would complete it the next day.

As he continuously cast the Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique, its effects had improved somewhat. He had already cast it on fifty-seven Gathering Spirit Grass plants in the Spirit Field.

Every cast guaranteed the growth of one leaf.

As proficiency increased, the spell's effect also improved slightly.

Thus, this batch of fifty-seven Gathering Spirit Grass plants showed surprisingly little difference in growth. They had reached the stage of five or six spirit leaves.

The forty-three Gathering Spirit Grass plants that had not received the spell—

only had two or three leaves.

That was equivalent to two or three months of growth, still very far from the ten-year maturation period.

As for this portion of Gathering Spirit Grass—

Yue Shuo had also followed the details recorded in Planting Miscellany, having Gu Jiu carry well water containing faint spirit qi and personally water them every day.

Combined with the Spirit-Gathering Array in the Spirit Field—

and Yue Shuo, a Spirit-Drawing Entry cultivator who cultivated the wood-attribute spiritual-plant-exclusive Wood Essence Art, remaining close by for long periods—

this allowed Gathering Spirit Grass that needed two or three months to grow in the wild—

to achieve the same result in around twenty days.

It was roughly a four- to fivefold acceleration.

Under normal circumstances—

if he had not successfully cultivated the Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique—

he would probably need at least two years to grow the hundred Gathering Spirit Grass plants in this Spirit Field to maturity.

However, there was another way to accelerate their growth.

That was to plant only ten Gathering Spirit Grass plants as the focus in one mu of Spirit Field, allowing them to receive more spirit qi nourishment.

They could reach ten years of growth within a year.

This was also the suggestion that old man had hinted at when Yue Shuo took up his post.

For the actual planting, some of the Gathering Spirit Grass had to be turned into fertilizer to nourish the remaining ten plants.

However, Yue Shuo had already learned the Lesser Cloud-Rain Technique.

So there was no need to do that.

Once again, Yue Shuo went to sleep when only one point of Divine Sense remained.

The next day, as he looked at the proficiency values on his panel that changed every day, his heart brimmed with delight.

That day, Gu Jiu brought him a letter from his elder brother.

What was written in it surprised Yue Shuo somewhat.

After reading the letter, he fell into thought.

"The people abducted by the pirates may not be dead. That does not surprise me, considering Father and Mother had clearly made preparations..."

"Big Brother did not ask me to gather information in his letter, but he must have such thoughts..."

Yue Shuo read the letter twice more.

He could recite it from memory, yet he found no further meaning in its words. His elder brother seemed merely to be informing him of the matter.

But had this not been a tacit speculation they shared back when they were home?

His elder brother had replied so late.

And he had deliberately written about this matter, ruling out the possibility that Sister-in-law had written it for him. Could it be that Sister-in-law was also by his side?

Or perhaps—

what was Big Brother hinting at?

Yue Shuo pondered for a long while before suddenly freezing.

Could it be that our family has ties to the pirates!? Big Brother was warning me to be careful!?