You Cultivate, I Farm

Chapter 227: Nurturing Spirit Pine

The spirit seed had a slender form, light yellow in color, wrapped in a thick resin-like substance that effectively isolated it from the outside world.

"Although the vitality is weak, it cannot be faked."

A black sword aura shot out from the dantian, as thin as a cicada's wing. Under Lu Xuan's control, it gradually scraped off the resin on the surface of the spirit seed.

He then used the Earth Attraction Technique, creating a narrow crack in the ground to encase the slender spirit seed.

Concentrating his mind on the spirit seed in the shallow layer of the spirit soil, a thought flashed through his mind.

【Spirit Pine, fourth-grade spirit plant. It requires the infusion of the cultivator's spiritual awareness during its growth, communicating and nurturing the plant. The mature pine cone can enhance the cultivator's spiritual awareness.】

【Due to the prolonged inability to give birth naturally, the spirit seed automatically secretes resin-like spiritual substance, isolating itself from the outside world, slowing down the internal vitality's passage.】

"A fourth-grade spirit seed!"

"It can enhance the cultivator's spiritual awareness. What a find!"

Among the spirit plants he currently cultivated, only a few were fourth-grade, such as the Profound Insect Vine, Earth Fire Heart Lotus, and the Hundred-Eyed Enigmatic Wood in the small courtyard of the Sword Sect. As for the fifth-grade Holy Infant Fruit, it was just a subsidiary plant.

Moreover, this fourth-grade Spirit Pine, when mature, could still enhance the cultivator's spiritual awareness.

Spirit awareness improvement was slow, mainly achieved through natural enlightenment during breakthroughs or rare treasures. This Spirit Pine seed, even if the increase in spiritual awareness was not substantial, was considered a rare and high-quality spirit plant.

Lu Xuan carefully dug out the Spirit Pine seed, and the pale blue giant net continued to penetrate deeper into the spirit soil.

With the dormant fourth-grade Spirit Pine seed in hand, he was full of energy, tirelessly exploring the medicinal garden.

"Digging away in this small medicinal garden..."

"Hey, found another one."

After a while, Lu Xuan dug out another Spirit Pine seed enveloped in resin, resembling amber.

In the end, he dug out a total of four seeds from the medicinal garden. Unknowingly, Lu Xuan had continuously advanced toward the center of the garden.

"A significant amount of Green Wood Source Qi has been consumed. It seems I need to visit that ancient forest before leaving the sanctuary."

Perhaps due to the Spirit Pine seeds being limited to a specific area, Lu Xuan searched for a long time without finding new spirit seeds.

"Those transformed ghost vines should have all returned to the central area of the medicinal garden."

He glanced towards the depths of the medicinal garden. On his way here, apart from the initial encounter, he hadn't come across any more transformed ghost vines.

"Unusual occurrences indicate a possible danger. Should I go into the central area of the medicinal garden to take a look?"

Lu Xuan pondered.

Given his cautious nature, he would usually keep a safe distance. But this time was different. The medicinal garden was a legacy left by ancient cultivators and the most likely place to find spirit seeds and young spirit plants. Finding four fourth-grade Spirit Pine seeds near the garden's edge suggested that the central area might hold even greater opportunities.

Moreover, the main advantage of those transformed ghost vines lay in their ability to disguise themselves as normal plants and attack suddenly when cultivators approached for harvesting. However, this trick was ineffective against Lu Xuan; his simple Spirit Rain Technique could easily discern whether the ghost vines had transformed.

"Quietly go take a look. If anything seems off, immediately retreat."

Lu Xuan made up his mind. Threads of nearly transparent lines emerged from the thin, dark-golden concealed spirit robe he wore, enveloping him.

After a few breaths, Lu Xuan's figure seemed to vanish as if wiped away by something. In his view, the entire world was covered in a special substance, hazy and indistinct.

In his invisible state, his movements slowed considerably as he approached the central area of the medicinal garden.

As he continued, Lu Xuan noticed more and more skeletal remains of demonic beasts in the garden. Some were so ancient that they crumbled into dust with a light step.

"Unfortunately, these are useless bones. Their spiritual power is depleted, or else I could have taken them back to nourish the Thorny Bone Tree."

Lu Xuan, hidden in the dark-golden garment, sighed silently.

"What's that?"

After entering the central area of the medicinal garden, Lu Xuan was amazed by the scene before him.

Hundreds of transformed ghost vines gathered together, their dark-green tendrils dancing wildly under the dim sky, resembling a night parade of ghosts.

At the very center of all these transformed ghost vines was an extremely enormous and eerie plant.

Ordinary transformed ghost vines were as tall as an average human, but this one reached five zhang, with dark-green tendrils as thick as an adult's arm, continually intertwining upward.

At its top, there was a grotesque green flower bud about the size of a wooden basin. The bud continuously contracted and expanded, as if breathing.

Perhaps sensing Lu Xuan's gaze, the massive transformed ghost vine's dark-green tendrils moved quietly.

"Not good."

Lu Xuan's spiritual awareness felt the disturbance underground, swiftly retracting the threads covering his entire body, then leaping high into the air.

Just as he left the ground, numerous tentacle-like tendrils erupted from the earth, puncturing the spot where Lu Xuan had just stood, leaving it riddled with holes.

After missing the first strike, countless transformed ghost vines continuously surged toward Lu Xuan in mid-air.

Looking down, all he could see were rising and falling dark-green tendrils, with no safe place to land.

Lu Xuan activated the Cloud-Soaring Technique, changing his trajectory in mid-air and landing in an area with relatively fewer transformed ghost vines.

As soon as he touched the ground, countless tentacle-like tendrils madly surged toward Lu Xuan.

Purple lightning sword energy flashed by, and the surface of the nearest tendrils sparked with electric arcs, making a crackling sound.

However, there were simply too many transformed ghost vines. Soon, they found an opportunity, tightly entwining Lu Xuan. The dark thorns ruthlessly stabbed toward Lu Xuan's skin.

Fortunately, he had previously consumed several drops of Golden Marrow Jade Liquid and Jade Scale Fruits. In addition, he practiced both the Lustrous Bone Forging Technique and the Primordial Dragon Transformation technique, and his physical strength far exceeded that of other early Foundation Establishment cultivators. The thorns didn't even pierce through his skin.

Lu Xuan snorted coldly, and the Xun-Lei Sword Pill in his dantian spun rapidly. Countless black sword auras, like a hurricane, swept out from his body.

The wind roared, and the sword intent filled the air. The surrounding tendrils were cut into pieces by the countless sword auras, falling to the ground and forming an empty area.

Yet, the remaining transformed ghost vines were still relentless, attacking Lu Xuan from all directions.

Lu Xuan wielded the Purple Thunder Sword, his skin radiating a lustrous jade-like glow. The black sword auras surrounded him, and wherever they went, fragments of tendrils fell like rain.