Chapter 9 (continued)

Checking on the Remaining Tranquility Grass was more important.

The Remaining Tranquility Grass was doing well.

Shan Heyuan breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did he notice that Shen Duheng had come out of his room at some point and was standing beside him.

He greeted him. "Brother Shen."

Shen Duheng reached out and pulled him to his feet. "Did something just happen to the Remaining Tranquility Grass?"

Shan Heyuan nodded gravely. "Yes. I was fast asleep when I suddenly felt the spiritual power in my Dantian go out of control. After it startled me awake, I discovered that the Remaining Tranquility Grass was about to wither."

Shen Duheng said, "It withered without any warning?"

"More or less." Shan Heyuan frowned. "If I had to make a comparison, it was like someone swimming underwater who suddenly couldn't hold their breath anymore and was drowning, on the verge of death—that was how it felt to me. It happened very suddenly, and the whole process was extremely fast."

Shen Duheng stared at the Remaining Tranquility Grass. "A Dantian is still unsuitable for the Remaining Tranquility Grass to grow in, after all. Even with your Chaos Spirit Root, it can only survive there for a while."

Shan Heyuan nodded. "I had a similar guess."

He had thought he'd found a shortcut to cultivation, but it turned out this had a time limit too.

Shen Duheng said, "Try putting the Remaining Tranquility Grass back in."

Shan Heyuan nodded, squatted down, dug up the Remaining Tranquility Grass again, and put it into his Dantian.

He could only put living spirit herbs inside.

The soil and droplets of water clinging to the herb were left outside, falling onto his hand.

He paid no attention to the dirt. Holding his breath, he widened his eyes and sensed the condition of the Remaining Tranquility Grass in his Dantian.

Shen Duheng stayed quietly beside him.

The next moment, Shan Heyuan hurriedly took the Remaining Tranquility Grass back out. "No good!"

The Remaining Tranquility Grass, which had just regained its vitality, had begun to wither the instant it entered Shan Heyuan's Dantian. It was already drooping, and the bud at its tip had begun to dry out, its edges turning brown and yellow.

Shen Duheng stared at the Remaining Tranquility Grass. "It seems a spirit herb can only be placed in your Dantian once."

Shan Heyuan buried the Remaining Tranquility Grass in the soil again and quickly fed spiritual power into it. "That's what I think too. I just don't know whether different spirit herbs can stay in my Dantian for the same length of time."

Shen Duheng said, "We'll know if we try."

All kinds of spirit herbs grew in the spiritual field in the courtyard, seedlings Shan Heyuan had dug up and brought back before.

The different spirit herb seedlings were of different grades.

The lowest was Qi Refining First Stage, and the highest was Qi Refining Fifth Stage.

After replanting the Remaining Tranquility Grass, Shan Heyuan began testing with a Qi Refining Fifth Stage Ketu Grass seedling.

Shen Duheng stood guard beside him.

Shan Heyuan gently shook the soil off the Ketu Grass and put it into his Dantian.

Once inside his Dantian, the Ketu Grass released a large amount of spiritual power.

He skillfully circulated his cultivation method, using the pure spiritual power to cultivate rapidly.

Shen Duheng asked, "How is it?"

Shan Heyuan guided the spiritual power through a complete cycle, then said gravely, "There doesn't seem to be a problem. The Ketu Grass is doing well in my Dantian and giving off a large amount of spiritual power. There's no problem cultivating with it either."

Shen Duheng said, "It might only run into trouble after some time."

Shan Heyuan sensed it carefully. "That's what I think too."

Shen Duheng said, "Go back to sleep for now. Call me if something goes wrong."

There was nothing they could do at the moment, so they could only go back to sleep.

Shan Heyuan wished Shen Duheng good night and went to bed.

The rest of the night passed smoothly. Shan Heyuan slept until full daylight and woke naturally in the morning. The Ketu Grass was still sitting obediently in his Dantian, giving off a large amount of spiritual power at every moment.

This spiritual power nourished his body day and night. In the end, most of it dissipated, while a small portion was stored in his Dantian.

Nourished by the abundant spiritual power, he made rapid progress. If he could maintain this state, he reckoned he would reach the threshold of Qi Refining Fourth Stage in less than half a month.

In any case, he couldn't let the supply of spirit herbs in his Dantian run out.

Nothing went wrong early in the morning, or later that morning.

In the afternoon, Shan Heyuan was reading at his desk when his expression suddenly changed, and he stood up.

Shen Duheng looked up and met his eyes. "It stopped working again?"

Shan Heyuan nodded, took the seedling out of his Dantian, and held it up for Shen Duheng to see.

The seedling had been lush and green before he put it in, but now it was completely wilted and had turned an unhealthy gray-green.

Shan Heyuan glanced at the timekeeping talisman on the wall.

It was already 1:36 in the afternoon. The Qi Refining Fifth Stage seedling had stayed in his Dantian for eleven hours and forty-four minutes.

A Qi Refining Fifth Stage spirit herb was already quite valuable to him. He hadn't expected it to wear out so quickly.

With a heavy heart, Shan Heyuan replanted the spirit herb in the spiritual field in the courtyard and put another one into his Dantian.

Shen Duheng stayed with him throughout.

That evening, the two sat in front of the workbench, and Shan Heyuan took the last experimental seedling, an Earth Spirit Ginseng, out of his Dantian.

This Qi Refining First Stage Earth Spirit Ginseng seedling had stayed in his Dantian for only twenty-nine minutes.

It was the shortest time.

He took the Earth Spirit Ginseng seedling to the courtyard and planted it, gave it a quick watering and fertilizing, and used Gentle Breeze to regulate the spiritual power inside it.

Only after making sure the seedling had survived being replanted did he return to the house.

Shen Duheng took out the experimental records and laid them in a row on the workbench. "We've more or less figured out the situation."

Shan Heyuan nodded.

According to the experimental results, different spirit herbs of the same grade stayed in his Dantian for different lengths of time, and even spirit herbs of the same kind and grade showed slight differences in how long they stayed there.

Every spirit herb stayed in his Dantian for a different length of time and released a different amount of spiritual power.

Shan Heyuan said heavily, "If I want to cultivate this way, I'll have to keep looking for new spirit herbs nonstop."

Shen Duheng said, "The advantage is that cultivating this way is extremely fast and has hardly any side effects."

Shan Heyuan smiled wryly. "The drawback is that it burns through spirit pearls. I didn't expect using spirit herbs to be just as troublesome, even though I don't need spirit pills to help me cultivate."

Shen Duheng stared at the experimental records. "Finding a cultivation method that suits you is a good thing. So many people scheme and struggle to advance without success, while you only need some spirit herbs to cultivate without any worries. You're very fortunate."

Shan Heyuan said, "You're right, Brother Shen. I was being greedy. I'll think of something."

Shen Duheng said, "I have two suggestions."

Shan Heyuan immediately said, "Please, go ahead, Brother Shen."

Shen Duheng said, "You could sell the Earth Spirit Ginseng on the mountain, use the spirit pearls to buy high-grade spirit herbs in town for cultivation, then sell them after you're done."

Shan Heyuan had considered this method too. "The quality of spirit herbs drops somewhat after they're used for cultivation. Take the Qi Refining Great Perfection Remaining Tranquility Grass: after I used it to cultivate, it'll take at least a month to recover, and a Qi Refining Great Perfection spirit herb can only be used to cultivate for less than two days."

Shan Heyuan said, "I don't have enough capital to keep it going. If I use this method, I'll have to gather some spirit herbs in the wild and use them alongside the ones I buy. That should barely be enough to keep up with my cultivation."

Shen Duheng said, "You could join a hunting team."

Shan Heyuan said, "Right. I can ask Senior Brother Ma and Zhong Shuran whether they can recommend a hunting team."

Shen Duheng nodded. "You could also help someone look after a Spirit Plant garden and borrow the Spirit Plants there to cultivate."

Shan Heyuan's eyes lit up. "That's an option too. I'd just have to hold back and keep the Spirit Plants in the garden from all dropping in quality within the first month."

Shen Duheng reminded him, "It's easy for a Spirit Plant cultivator to find work."

Shan Heyuan looked at his expression and caught on. "Right! It's thanks to you recommending that I train as a planter back then, Brother Shen, that my cultivation has gone so smoothly!"

Shen Duheng inclined his head. "It was nothing. In the end, it was your own choice."

Even so, after being praised, Shen Duheng's expression grew noticeably more cheerful.

Shan Heyuan saw it clearly from beside him and said sincerely, "Without you, Brother Shen, I wouldn't know what to do."