Time flowed away like water, grasses and trees withered and flourished, and a year passed.
Xu Xuan had spent a year at this outlying herb garden.
Every day, he repeated the work of weeding, watering, fertilizing, and observing, no different from the other menial workers.
Yet the Azure Needle Grass and Dew Blossoms under his care grew ever more luxuriantly.
Their yield and quality steadily improved, gradually becoming the benchmark for this area.
Even the perpetually strict Manager Zhao looked much gentler when he saw him.
Occasionally, he would even ask for an opinion or two on managing the spiritual fields.
Xu Xuan remained modest and kept a low profile.
He neither competed with the other menial workers nor joined in gossip, simply doing his allotted work in silence.
In his spare time, he sat in meditation and practiced breathing exercises, using the herb garden's spiritual energy, richer than that of the outside world, to temper his spiritual power.
After a year, although he had made no breakthrough, his spiritual power had grown increasingly pure.
What pleased him even more was that perhaps the good fortune of the Earth Spirit of the Eight Directions had taken effect.
Or perhaps his steady conduct had earned trust.
Li Jiangping visited the herb garden more and more often.
Sometimes, he would exchange a few words with him, casually revealing news from within and beyond the sect.
That day, Li Jiangping finished his inspection.
Seeing no one nearby, he strolled to the edge of the field where Yuan Tong was busy working and asked with apparent casualness:
"Brother Wang, how have you been lately?"
Xie Xie set down his work and answered respectfully, "Thanks to your blessings, Immortal Master, all is well."
"The spiritual energy here is abundant and greatly benefits the body."
Li Jiangping nodded, gazed toward the main peak wreathed in clouds and mist in the distance, and sighed:
"Good, as long as you've settled in."
"The outside world is far from peaceful these days. Being able to live quietly in this herb garden is a blessing in itself."
Something stirred in Xu Xuan's heart, and he cautiously followed up:
"What makes you say that, Immortal Master?"
"Has something happened outside the sect?"
Li Jiangping lowered his voice:
"You've spent so long in the mortal world that there are things you don't know."
"In recent years, undercurrents have been stirring in the Southern Region's cultivation world."
"The Profound Sword Gate, which borders our Azure Wood Sect, has been expanding rapidly in strength. Its disciples have become increasingly overbearing outside, and clashes with our disciples have grown more frequent."
"A little while ago, disciples from both sects even came to blows over a newly discovered small spirit stone vein, with casualties on both sides."
Surprise appeared on Xu Xuan's face.
Were the Azure Wood Sect and the Profound Sword Gate fighting?
This news was quite important to him.
Friction between sects often meant intensified competition for resources.
Missions for the lowest-ranking disciples might become more dangerous, but the disorder might also bring opportunities.
"Such a thing happened? How is the sect responding?"
Xu Xuan asked again.
"How else? Naturally, we won't yield an inch of ground."
A trace of worry colored Li Jiangping's voice.
"The sect has ordered stronger defenses at all key resource sites."
"Herb gardens like ours may not be strategically vital, but we still need to be more cautious and guard strictly against prying scoundrels."
"I hear the sect's higher-ups are forming alliances with several friendly factions to prepare for the unexpected."
Li Jiangping paused, then revealed another piece of news.
"Also, about half a year ago, word spread that an extraordinary treasure had appeared in the Black Marsh, ten thousand li to the south, drawing many rogue cultivators and factions there to investigate."
"They say quite a few people died, and even Golden Core Stage experts were stirred into action."
"Yet in the end, it seems no one obtained the treasure. Instead, miasma spread throughout the area and demonic beasts grew restless. It has now become a forbidden land where no life can survive."
The Black Marsh?
An extraordinary treasure?
Xu Xuan silently committed it to memory.
Such news was often difficult to distinguish as true or false, but wind blowing from a hollow cave did not necessarily come without cause.
If he wanted to investigate, that would only be possible after his strength improved.
"Thank you for telling me all this, Immortal Master."
Xu Xuan said sincerely, "My knowledge is shallow. All I know is to keep my head down and farm. The storms of the outside world are truly beyond my reach."
"I only wish for peace in the sect and safety for you, Immortal Master."
Li Jiangping was very satisfied with his reaction and said with a smile:
"Just stay here with peace of mind."
"The sect has stood for thousands of years and has deep roots. A few storms cannot shake it."
"Work hard. When this year's batch of Azure Needle Grass is handed in, if its quality reaches the superior grade,"
"I may be able to secure a Spirit Nourishing Pill for you as a reward."
The words "Spirit Nourishing Pill" once again kindled the light of hope in Xu Xuan's eyes.
He hurriedly bowed:
"For your great kindness, Immortal Master, I, Xu Xuan, will spare no effort and will not disappoint you!"
After seeing Li Jiangping off, Xu Xuan sank into thought.
Before troops and horses move, provisions must go first. Under outside pressure, the Azure Wood Sect will surely place greater importance on producing basic resources. My spiritual planting skills can become more valuable.
In extraordinary times, the rules will change as well. The path to promotion won't remain as strict as before. This may be my chance to become an inner disciple.
And I must get that Spirit Nourishing Pill into my hands first...
Thus, Xu Xuan focused even more intently on the spiritual fields before him.
He took routine care to its utmost and also began attempting more meticulous management.
Using knowledge from his previous life, he made simple compost from the remnants of different spiritual herbs and observed its subtle effects on the soil's spiritual energy.
He carefully recorded changes in the medicinal herbs' growth under different weather conditions and worked out patterns.
To others, these actions were merely a waste of time.
Yet the actual results left even Manager Zhao secretly marveling.
The Azure Needle Grass and Dew Blossoms in those fields indeed reached another level of growth.
They brimmed with spiritual energy, far surpassing other spiritual fields under the same conditions.
Xu Xuan knew well that keeping his head down and working hard alone would not be enough to gain more within the sect.
He had to demonstrate irreplaceable value.
He began, seemingly casually, to mention ideas for optimizing herb garden management and improving low-grade spiritual herb yields in his conversations with Li Jiangping or Manager Zhao.
These included dividing planting areas more precisely according to the herbs' characteristics, using companion plants to suppress specific pests and diseases, and establishing a simple crop rotation system to maintain soil fertility.
Although these suggestions were piecemeal,
they were all conclusions drawn from years of practical observation.
They were quite feasible.
At first, Li Jiangping and Manager Zhao paid little attention, but Xu Xuan brought them up so often that they finally tried adopting one or two.
To their surprise, they truly worked.
The two could not help valuing Xu Xuan more highly.
Li Jiangping also gradually began mentioning Xu Xuan's name to the herb garden's higher-ups.
Cold and heat traded seasons, and another three years swept past.
Within the Azure Wood Sect's herb garden, Xu Xuan's figure became ever more a part of this spiritual soil.
Over those three years, the Azure Needle Grass and Dew Blossoms he tended received superior ratings year after year, contributing more to the herb garden than expected.
Li Jiangping also fulfilled part of his promise.
Not only did he secure a precious Spirit Nourishing Pill for him,
but because he was "steady, hardworking, and insightful," he also granted him limited permission to go out, with Manager Zhao's tacit approval.
Every few months, he was allowed to accompany the convoy transporting spiritual herbs to a trading market for low-ranking disciples on the outskirts of the sect grounds and buy personal necessities.
To Xu Xuan, this Spirit Nourishing Pill was undoubtedly sweet rain after a long drought.
He found a pretext to request two days off.
After laying the simplest of warning restrictions in his stone dwelling for menial workers, he solemnly swallowed the pill.
The surging medicinal power released as the pill dissolved far exceeded that of a Yellow Bud Pill, almost bursting his fragile meridians.
Xu Xuan held his mind steady and, with the tenacious will accumulated over two lifetimes, guided this torrent to scour the six chakras within his body again and again.
At last, he broke through the barrier and opened the human body's first Spiritual Treasury.
At the same time, he clearly sensed that many impurities had been washed from his False Spiritual Root. Its quality improved, and its sensitivity to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth grew considerably stronger.
A Spirit Treasury Cultivator already had half a foot in Qi Refining.
The most immediate benefit of his increased cultivation was that his perception of and influence over spiritual plants grew stronger.
He could understand the spiritual herbs' needs more precisely and could also cast auxiliary spells such as the Lesser Cloud and Rain Art, Earth-Tilling Art, and Golden Light Art.
He used them for weeding, watering, fertilizing, and driving away pests.
This considerably improved the growth in the spiritual fields under his care, making them renowned within the herb garden and occasionally drawing managers from other herb gardens to observe.
Manager Zhao and Li Jiangping valued him even more highly.
With permission to go out, Xu Xuan could finally visit other areas of the Azure Wood Sect.