That tiny green shoot was still growing rapidly, utterly overturning the laws of nature!
Liu Yu did not dare blink even once, afraid he might miss something.
He keenly noticed that as the Clear Spirit Grass grew, the black spirit soil gradually dulled and turned yellow.
It seemed to be taking on the color of yellow earth, like ordinary mud.
Liu Yu watched the Clear Spirit Grass sprout, grow one leaf, then two, and finally reach full maturity.
The entire process took less than eight hours!
Tiny droplets of water clung to the leaves of the Clear Spirit Grass, and an extremely faint fragrance drifted from it.
It smelled a little like medicinal herbs, yet also like the damp dew among the grass at dawn.
This medicinal fragrance was exactly the same as that of the Clear Spirit Grass he had seen in the sect's Spirit Herb Garden.
Truly unbelievable!
However, the spiritual energy in the black spirit soil had clearly diminished considerably, and even its color had taken on a faint yellow tinge.
Liu Yu "scooped up" a handful of the spirit soil he had just planted in and brought it before his eyes to examine it closely.
Could the black spirit soil turn into ordinary yellow earth once its spiritual energy is exhausted, losing its heaven-defying effects?
The possibility startled Liu Yu, and he hurried to find the cause.
Suddenly, inspiration struck. His primordial spirit swiftly returned to his body, and he took a spirit stone from his storage pouch before entering again and placing it on the black soil where he had just grown the Clear Spirit Grass.
The spirit stone emitted a faint white glow as the soil rapidly absorbed its spiritual energy. The faded patches of black spirit soil were turning dark again.
Only when the spirit stone had exhausted its spiritual energy and crumbled into dust did the patch he had planted in return to its original appearance, almost exactly as it had been at the start.
This way, I can keep making use of the black spirit field's heaven-defying effects.
Seeing this, Liu Yu breathed a sigh of relief and put his worries to rest.
Entering and leaving the Immortal Abode Space took an enormous toll on his mind. Once he relaxed, a wave of fatigue swept over him, almost impossible to resist.
He pulled up the three stalks of Clear Spirit Grass by their roots. The black spirit soil clinging to the roots fell away on its own, seemingly unable to be taken out of the field.
Liu Yu noticed this, but his mind was so exhausted that he had no desire to investigate it for now.
With a thought, his primordial spirit returned to his body.
Outside, he abruptly rose to his feet.
He took a jade box from his storage pouch, placed the Clear Spirit Grass inside, and sealed it tightly to prevent its spiritual energy from going to waste.
"Phew..."
Liu Yu softly exhaled, overjoyed by the Immortal Abode's heaven-defying effects.
Once everything was done, he could no longer resist his mental exhaustion. He fell straight onto the stone bed and drifted into dreams.
In his dream, he became a Nascent Soul Cultivator with vast divine abilities and a lifespan of a thousand years. He wielded all manner of powerful spells with effortless ease, overturning mountains and treading seas with a wave of his hand, becoming an object of reverence for countless cultivators.
He was also about to marry Bai Yuxuan, the "Cold Moon Fairy," one of the Twin Beauties of Primordial Yang. Unfortunately, he woke from his beautiful dream just as he was about to enter the bridal chamber, leaving him filled with regret.
Creak...
Liu Yu pushed open the window and stood before it, facing the morning sunlight as he narrowed his eyes slightly and gazed at the mountains.
The world seems a little different today.
Looking at the familiar scenery outside the window, this thought suddenly arose in him, and his heart was utterly peaceful.
Liu Yu sat cross-legged on the stone bed.
His modest reserves of magical power circulated along the meridian pathways of the Wood Spirit Art, absorbing and refining the spiritual energy between heaven and earth.
Only after twelve greater celestial circuits did he slowly bring his cultivation to a close.
It had taken just under an hour to complete today's practice of the Wood Spirit Art.
Liu Yu finished his practice, rose, and walked out of the wooden hut.
It was dawn, and thick mist still lingered in the mountains, with faint threads of spiritual energy perceptible within it.
A few shafts of sunlight had already reached the woods at dawn. Birds and beasts could occasionally be seen bounding among the trees, instantly lifting the spirits and easing the heart.
After admiring the beautiful scenery for a while, Liu Yu prepared to leave Greenwood Peak and head to Clear Spring Peak to claim a chore assignment.
Outer disciples of the Primordial Yang Sect could collect a monthly stipend, but they had to complete one sect mission every three months, or their stipend would be revoked.
If they failed to complete any sect missions for an entire year, their cultivation would be crippled and they would be expelled from the sect.
With Liu Yu's standing as an outer disciple, he could collect three Pure Spirit Pills suitable for advancing mid-stage Qi Refining cultivation and five low-grade spirit stones each month.
Sect missions could be accumulated, so long as he completed them at a rate of one every three months.
Special circumstances, such as entering seclusion to break through to a higher cultivation level, had to be reported to the General Affairs Hall in advance.
There were tedious chores to perform, preventing them from devoting themselves entirely to cultivation.
Even so, countless rogue cultivators could only dream of such treatment and longed to take their places.
Greenwood Peak was two or three hundred li from Clear Spring Peak, where the General Affairs Hall stood.
With Liu Yu's total reserves of magical power at the fourth level of Qi Refining, he would probably have to stop and recover before traveling even fifty li if he flew on his sword.
Flying in fits and starts would likely waste time. Riding a spirit bird tamed by the sect was the most suitable choice.
Along the way, Liu Yu passed quite a few spirit mountains.
Although the Primordial Yang Sect's inner and outer disciples numbered twenty thousand in total, they were scattered across hundreds of spirit mountains within a thousand-li radius, so there were not actually many disciples on each mountain.
Generally, spirit mountains with higher-grade spirit veins had over a hundred cave abodes carved into them.
Those with lower-grade spirit veins also had twenty or thirty cave abodes.
Spirit fields had been established around almost every cave abode, ranging from four or five mu to just one or two. They were planted with all kinds of spiritual herbs and trees, a riot of purple and crimson.
It was early morning, and occasionally one or two particularly diligent disciples could already be seen tending medicinal herbs and spiritual plants in the fields.
Clear Spring Peak stood roughly a thousand zhang high, its summit wreathed in mist and dotted with white clouds.
On the mountainside, halls and pavilions with a simple, natural elegance stood in neat rows.
From time to time, cultivators flew between the halls and pavilions atop streaks of spiritual light in various colors.
Liu Yu did not linger over the sights. He went straight to the General Affairs Hall and stepped inside.
"Senior brother."
He cupped his hands in greeting to a white-robed inner disciple responsible for assigning chores and asked to claim an assignment.
This senior brother from the inner sect wore a stern expression. He gave Liu Yu a glance, noticed that his cultivation was only at the fourth level of Qi Refining, and paid him no further attention.
Such low-level cultivators were utterly commonplace in the outer sect and did not stand out at all.
He opened the chore register in his hands and spoke in a rather cold tone:
"Junior brother, the sect has plenty of chores. I'll just assign you one at random!"
Though he said this, his eyes remained fixed on Liu Yu, and his words seemed to carry a hidden meaning.
"Sorry for the trouble, senior brother, but could you check whether there are any assignments tending the Spirit Herb Garden?"
Liu Yu smiled, having long since grasped his deeper meaning.
As he spoke, he took out a spirit stone and, with his back to the other disciples in the hall, discreetly slipped it over.
Tending the Spirit Herb Garden was a highly sought-after chore.
One only needed to cast the Cloud and Rain Spell every few days and clear the weeds and pests from the spirit fields, leaving plenty of free time for cultivation.
Moreover, the spiritual energy in an herb garden was richer than on an ordinary spirit mountain.
Claiming such a sought-after assignment was no easy matter.
Several decades more life experience than ordinary disciples, coupled with the repeated trials of these past two years in the outer sect, had taught Liu Yu many of the "rules."
In this General Affairs Hall, whether senior brothers or senior sisters, whether cold-faced or smiling, there was not a single one who refused spirit stones.
If you wanted an easy chore, or an assignment of your own choosing, you first had to offer some benefits to sate your senior brothers and sisters.
If you offered nothing, then you could only obediently wait for these senior brothers and sisters to make a "fair and reasonable" arrangement for you!
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