Couldn't understand?
He was clearly courting death!
Xun Bin stared coldly into Lin Mo's eyes. Then his expression softened slightly, and he chuckled under his breath. "It doesn't matter if you don't understand. Once you become Master's disciple, you'll understand everything."
Lin Mo shook his head again.
He took the Basic Formation Diagram Guide out of his Storage Bag and said quietly, "This was a gift from Cloud Crane High Person, the sect's newly appointed Guest Elder."
"Although I haven't formally become his disciple, I can still be considered half a disciple of Senior Cloud Crane. Elder Gou should have heard about this."
"So... I, Lin Mo, thank Elder Gou for his kindness. Please convey my gratitude to him, Senior Brother."
Cloud Crane High Person...
Xun Bin frowned slightly and fixed his gaze on Lin Mo again. Seeing that Lin Mo had no intention of changing his mind, he gave a low, vicious laugh. "Fine, fine!"
"Don't blame me for not warning you. No one has ever dared refuse my master. Since you insist on playing dumb when you know perfectly well, we'll see how this ends!"
With that, he shot Lin Mo a venomous glare, flicked his sleeve, and turned to leave.
Lin Mo stood where he was. The great stone weighing on his heart, which had only just settled after he set up the formation, rose once more.
The consequences of offending Elder Gou were easy to imagine. They were far more than an ordinary Outer Sect Disciple could bear.
And Lin Mo was an ordinary disciple.
Wang Qiuru only saw him in a new light because a string of wonderful misunderstandings had ultimately convinced her beyond doubt.
In reality, though, if Elder Gou truly wanted to deal with Lin Mo, there was little he could do!
"If worse comes to worst, I'll have to ask Cloud Crane High Person for help again..."
Lin Mo pondered for a long while, turning the matter over from every angle, but could think of no other solution. At last, he sighed softly and returned to his courtyard to continue cultivating.
Only by becoming strong enough himself could he truly gain a foothold in the Azure Cloud Sect. He had to seize every moment to improve his cultivation. There was no time to lose!
Time flew, and before he knew it, two days had passed.
Another crop of spirit plants ripened in the backyard, yielding six mutated fire spirit fruits and one hundred and eleven ordinary spirit fruits.
To Lin Mo's delight, three more of the ordinary spirit plants he had cultivated successfully mutated. All three were golden coin grass, which had never mutated before, though they had yet to mature.
Compared with ordinary golden coin grass, the mutated spirit plants were thicker and sturdier. Their leaves were such a deep green that they looked almost black, the coin patterns on their surfaces were more distinct, and their spiritual energy was noticeably richer.
All fifteen spirit rice plants had also matured. They produced one hundred and fifty ears, each bearing one hundred grains, for a total harvest of fifteen thousand grains of spirit rice.
That sounded like a lot, but in fact, one tael of spirit rice contained roughly two thousand grains. A level bowl held half a catty, or around ten thousand grains.
This harvest of spirit rice was not even enough to half-fill Lin Mo's stomach. To eat spirit rice at all three meals each day, he would need to plant at least fifty stalks just to scrape by.
If he wanted his younger sister and Qin Sang Sang to enjoy some too, he would have to aim for a hundred!
"Growing Spirit Rice Plants is easy. I have plenty of seeds."
Lin Mo put all the fruit into his Storage Bag, crushed the withered spirit plants and buried them in the soil, then planted another crop of seeds.
As before, he watered every spirit plant with two drops of spirit liquid, except for the spirit rice plants, of which there were too many.
The five hundred drops of spirit liquid he had obtained from the Black Market last time would soon run out again!
"No amount of spirit liquid is ever enough. I'm poor, far too poor."
Lin Mo shook the empty Treasure Gourd, considering whether to make another trip to the Black Market that night.
It was difficult to obtain large quantities of spirit liquid anywhere except the Black Market, but trading too often was unsafe. He could not bring out mutated fire spirit fruit every single time, or sooner or later, someone would grow suspicious.
Elder Gou alone was enough of a headache. If he also provoked the people of the Penglai Commerce Association, not only might his secret spirit plant cultivation be exposed, but he might even lose the Treasure Gourd!
"Senior Brother Lin Mo!"
Just as Lin Mo was quietly weighing his options, someone arrived.
Outside the courtyard, a Servant Disciple came running up, panting. He knocked on the door and called out repeatedly, "Quick, hurry to the Spirit Plant Courtyard! The three elders and Steward Wang are all waiting for you there."
"It seems to be about your spirit field. They're going to confiscate it!"
What?!
Lin Mo's heart jolted. With no time to think further, he hurried out the door and followed the Servant Disciple straight to the Spirit Plant Courtyard.
The Spirit Plant Courtyard on Spirit Plant Peak had three Outer Elders in total.
Cui Zhong, Elder Yuan, and Elder Zhu.
Because of Steward Cui from the Servant Disciples' Courtyard, Lin Mo had met Cui Zhong before. He knew only the surnames of the other two elders, and this was his first time meeting them.
"Bastard!"
Lin Mo had only just reached the entrance to the Spirit Plant Courtyard when he heard an angry curse from inside. "Since when does the Spirit Beast Courtyard get to meddle in our Spirit Plant Courtyard's affairs?"
"Of course I don't care about a few mu of spirit fields, but what gives Gou Fengying the right to point fingers? What gives him the right to make decisions for my Spirit Plant Courtyard?!"
Which elder was that? His voice didn't sound like Cui Zhong's...
Not daring to make much noise, Lin Mo cautiously stopped outside the door and bowed. "Disciple Lin Mo has come as ordered. Greetings, elders. Greetings, Steward Wang."
Although his head was lowered, Lin Mo had already taken in the scene inside.
A tall, elderly man with a full beard sat in the chair facing the doorway. He had a powerful frame, and his face was filled with anger.
Cui Zhong and a hunchbacked old man sat on either side of the bearded elder. Wang Qiuru stood before them with her back to Lin Mo, leaving her expression hidden from him.
The atmosphere in the room was oppressive, and all three elders wore grim expressions.
"Come in."
Wang Qiuru reacted first, beckoning Lin Mo to stand beside her. Then she cupped her hands and said, "Rest assured, elders. Other disciples might not be able to do it, but Lin Mo definitely can, because he's a spec-"
At that point, she suddenly realized she had nearly let something slip and quickly corrected herself. "Because he takes particular care of his spirit field. His spirit plants are growing far better than those in the other fields!"
Was this really a matter of how much care he took?
The bearded elder in the chief seat slammed his hand down on the table, his anger undiminished. "Gou Fengying is throwing his weight around as the head of the Spirit Beast Courtyard! He actually called me to account, claiming I failed to tend that Ghost-Crying Field properly and delayed his cultivation of spirit insects."
"What kind of place is the Ghost-Crying Field? Everyone in the sect knows!"
"If I could turn waste into treasure, would I merely be an Outer Elder? I could even take a turn in the Sect Master's seat!"
Lin Mo listened in utter bewilderment.
He knew about the Ghost-Crying Field.
It was a taboo within the Spirit Plant Courtyard and had lain abandoned for years. Supposedly, the wails of malevolent ghosts could be heard there every night, and any spirit plants planted there would wither completely that very evening. No method could keep them alive.
From what the bearded elder was saying, Elder Gou-Gou Fengying-seemed to be deliberately making trouble, demanding that he restore the Ghost-Crying Field!
"Calm your anger, Senior Brother Yuan. Gou Fengying may be making things difficult, but didn't he also offer a solution?"
Elder Zhu, who sat to Elder Yuan's right, offered a few quiet words of comfort. Then he turned to Lin Mo and spoke softly.
"You're Lin Mo?"
"Elder Gou of the Spirit Beast Courtyard proposed sending you to restore that Ghost-Crying Field."
"Are you confident you can do it?"
Before you continue