Chapter 29

He also sent Zhong Shuran a communication talisman, asking him to help look after the spirit herbs in his courtyard.

Once everything was arranged, he immersed himself wholeheartedly in cultivating Drunken Ox Grass.

On the small mountain, crop after crop of Drunken Ox Grass was planted.

They harvested most of it and put it in storage rings as compost material, keeping a small portion to breed new varieties.

The mature Drunken Ox Grass grew steadily higher in grade, from Qi Refining Fifth Stage to Qi Refining Tenth Stage, and then to Qi Refining Great Perfection.

One evening, the Qi Refining Great Perfection Drunken Ox Grass Shan Heyuan had planted matured, and the seeds it produced gave off a different Spiritual Power signature.

Somewhere in the unseen, Shan Heyuan had a premonition that this new batch of seeds was what he wanted.

He reached out, stripped off a seed, and laid it in his palm to examine it.

The seed was about twice the size of the Drunken Ox Grass seeds he had first planted. It had turned dark brown, and was packed with heavy endosperm and Spiritual Power, making it exceptionally plump.

He gently crushed it, and it released a large amount of pure Spiritual Power-unmistakably the kind only Foundation Establishment-grade seeds could release.

After planting day and night for two seasons, Shan Heyuan had truly grown Qi Refining-grade Drunken Ox Grass into Foundation Establishment-grade grass.

When he realized it, the taut string in his mind suddenly relaxed, and he was overcome by exhaustion.

His eyes could barely stay open, but he still struggled to harvest the batch of seeds.

Shen Duheng pressed a hand on his shoulder. "There's no rush. Rest for the night first."

The autumn wind blew in from afar, and Shan Heyuan caught the scent of rain. "Let's harvest them anyway. It's going to rain."

Shen Duheng said, "That's not rain. It's your Tribulation Lightning."

Shan Heyuan thought he had advanced another stage. He scanned himself with his Divine Sense and found that he had only gone from Foundation Establishment Early Stage to Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.

He had no bottleneck to begin with, and with large quantities of spirit herbs flushing through his meridians day and night, he had advanced one minor stage in just two seasons-half a year.

That did seem a little too fast.

In a daze, Shan Heyuan thought, Perhaps the seniors of the Supreme Harmony Sect were mistaken. Maybe I don't have a Chaos Spirit Root and poor Root Bone, but an excellent Spirit Root that's never been recorded?

After letting his thoughts run wild, Shan Heyuan came to his senses. "Should I prepare to undergo the tribulation?"

Shen Duheng said, "No need. You've only advanced a minor realm. Besides, the Tribulation Lightning won't strike you, so sleep without worry."

Shan Heyuan wanted to press the matter, but sleepiness surged over him like a tide. He couldn't even make it into the thatched hut where he was staying before he fell forward and slipped into a deep sleep.

Before he lost consciousness completely, he felt Shen Duheng catch him.

When Shan Heyuan opened his eyes again, he smelled the fresh scent of rain.

It was probably the scent left after autumn rain had washed the mountain woods.

The scent refreshed him, and all the muscles and bones in his body felt as though they had been tended to.

He hadn't slept so well in a long time.

Perhaps the only sleep that could compare was when he was young and knew little of the world, when he would sleep soundly after wearing himself out and wake naturally.

He put on his shoes and walked outside.

Sure enough, it had just rained. The sky was blue, mountain mist filled the air, and cool breezes blew in waves, leaving him feeling light enough to ride the wind wherever he pleased.

He drew his gaze back from the distance. Nearby, the seeds on the Drunken Ox Grass had turned yellow, their weight bending the stalks.

This was a batch of mature Foundation Establishment-grade Drunken Ox Grass seeds.

"Awake?" Shen Duheng returned on his flying sword and tossed down the spirit bird he was carrying. "I thought you'd sleep another day."

"I've had all the sleep I need," Shan Heyuan said. "Brother Shen, is the demon ox still down below?"

"It is," Shen Duheng said. "It's lying by the spirit spring."

Shan Heyuan stood at the edge of the mountaintop and looked down. Sure enough, he saw the pitch-black demon ox leisurely drinking from the spirit spring.

Shan Heyuan withdrew his gaze and stripped off a handful of seeds. "Brother Shen, can you get the Drunken Ox Grass seeds to the spirit spring without the demon ox noticing?"

"Just scatter them on the wind," Shen Duheng said. "Shall we do it now?"

"Let's do it," Shan Heyuan said. "We've stayed here long enough. It's time we went back."

Shan Heyuan handed the newly collected Foundation Establishment-grade Drunken Ox Grass spirit seeds to Shen Duheng.

Shen Duheng did not approach the demon ox.

He merely performed a sword dance on the mountaintop.

As his sword moves began, an autumn wind arose.

A long wind swept ten thousand miles through the autumn woods, and a handful of seeds rustled down onto the mountaintop, the mountainside, the foot of the mountain, and the bank of the spirit spring.

The demon ox noticed nothing. When the Drunken Ox Grass seeds fell by its mouth, it even curled its tongue around one and ate it with a smack of its lips, looking as though it wanted more.

The grass seeds fell into the damp soil and quietly sprouted, nourished by the Spiritual Power carried on the wind.

In just one night, the tender green Drunken Ox Grass grew to about a foot tall.

The newly grown Drunken Ox Grass had thick leaves and gave off a fresh, sweet scent, a sharp contrast to the wild grass around it that had begun to wither and yellow.

The demon ox rolled over and got to its feet. First, it bit open a spirit beast egg it had taken from a nest a few days earlier and drank the rich egg liquid to wet its throat. Then it happily curled its tongue around a clump of Drunken Ox Grass, and sweet juice filled its mouth in an instant.

As soon as it swallowed the first mouthful, it eagerly bit off a second, then a third.

As it chewed, it failed to notice that the mist by the spring was thicker than usual and carried the fresh, sweet scent of Drunken Ox Grass.

That was mist Shan Heyuan had made from concentrated Drunken Ox Grass spirit liquid using Spring Breeze Turns to Rain.

The demon ox ate one mouthful after another until it had finished all the Drunken Ox Grass near the spirit spring, then went on to eat what grew on the mountainside. Once its enormous stomach was full, it staggered over to the spring, bleary-eyed with intoxication, and fell into a deep sleep.

When its snores were shaking the heavens, Shen Duheng flew down from the mountaintop. With one stroke of his sword, silence returned to the mountain.

Fortunately, Shan Heyuan hadn't been too short of spirit pearls when he bought Shen Duheng's storage ring, and the one he chose had a decent amount of space. Otherwise, it certainly wouldn't have held such an enormous carcass.

After doing away with the demon ox that had occupied the place for years, Shen Duheng took out the water storage bag Wen Chengyi had given him and filled it with the sweet, cool Core Formation-grade spirit spring water.

Wen Chengyi wasn't greedy; the water storage bag held only about 150 liters.

After the bag was filled, a little under half the spring water remained.

Shan Heyuan took out a water storage bag and filled it with 100 liters. When he tried to take more, there was only a little left at the bottom of the spring.

They couldn't very well take every last drop. If they emptied it completely, there would be nothing left to draw out more spring water, and it would be difficult for the spring to fill again. The spirit spring would be ruined.

Heavenly treasures were not easy to form. They couldn't destroy a fine spring out of greed.

Shan Heyuan looked regretfully at the small pool of spirit spring water left behind, then stopped filling his bag.

It would probably take at least ten years for the spring to fill again. He wondered whether they would still be near Jingzhishan Town then.

Seeing Shan Heyuan stop, Shen Duheng asked, "Shall we go back?"

Shan Heyuan wanted to go back, but he truly couldn't bear to leave the Core Formation-grade spirit spring they had worked so hard to obtain.

He paced around twice, then suddenly said, "I-I'll take some spring mud back too!"

Chapter 29

This spirit spring was probably a naturally formed wild spring. Clear sand and stones covered its bottom and surroundings, while there was relatively little mud.

Shan Heyuan reached in and scooped some up, sensing faint Spiritual Qi within the sand and stones.

Perhaps because they had been immersed in the spirit spring day and night, over time they had become spirit mud containing a certain amount of Spiritual Qi, and there were even signs that they might evolve into Spirit Stones.

But it would take far too long for real Spirit Stones to form. There would probably be only the slightest hope of that happening tens of thousands of years from now.

Shen Duheng said, "Stop playing with it. Let's dig."

"I'll get a shovel," Shan Heyuan said. "We can dig out most of it and leave enough to give the spring a foundation?"

Shen Duheng agreed with his principle of leaving some leeway in what they did. "All right."

Both of them were cultivators, so they worked quickly.

In no time, they had dug out most of the mud, sand, and stones from the bottom of the spirit spring. In particular, they had removed almost all the silt.