Chapter 109: Slow on the Uptake
Chapter 109: Slow on the Uptake
After half a day of cultivation work, Lu Chen waited outside the valley and spent a spirit stone to teleport a passing spirit crane back to his cave abode.
As he pushed open the door, a flash of black light slipped through the crack.
Stepping into the courtyard, he found Cloud-Treading Lynx gracefully perched on a boulder, its emerald eyes coldly fixed on him.
Lu Chen couldn't help but chuckle, walking over to tug playfully on the tufts of fur at the tips of the lynx's ears, earning a bone-piercing yowl in response.
The Grass Puppet tirelessly continued its vigil in the spirit fields, and Lu Chen realized with a twinge of guilt that he hadn't fed it spirit stones in a while. He took out a piece of shattered spirit stone and tucked it into the large grass tumor on the puppet's back.
In the Spirit Spring pond, four Iron Crabs hid beneath a strange stone, their large, green-black claws relentlessly attempting to crack the boulder in two.
Nurtured by the richer spiritual energy of the spring water within the cave, Lu Chen noticed that these young Iron Crabs seemed much more lively than before.
Without a moment's rest, he began his inspection of the spirit fields.
He watered the Azure Mist Spirit Tea with spirit spring water, sprinkled fine iron ore around the Copperbone Bamboo, nourished the Dragonvine with the blood of the Emerald Water Snake, carefully tended to the Illusion Smoke Fruit while guiding the vein changes of the Luminous Wood, and then checked on the Crimson Jade Ginseng, Ethereal Glow Moss, and Silverleaf.
By the time he had inspected all the spirit plants, half a day had passed.
Although it was busy work, Lu Chen found great pleasure in it.
The spirit plants in his cave's spirit fields were linked to the white light group reward, so he couldn't afford to neglect them. Additionally, the Monkey-faced Orchid cultivation task he had undertaken offered a sword imprint as a reward, which could later be exchanged for rare spirit seeds, making it equally important.
With the prospect of light group rewards and rare spirit seeds, Lu Chen didn't mind the busy schedule.
The next day, after a quick check on the spirit plants in his cave, he hurried off to the valley without a moment's rest.
"Lu Shidi, you haven't finished feeding all the Monkey-faced Orchids yet?" Yan Ping asked as he passed by Lu Chen.
"Yes, Yan Shixiong. I'm a bit slower today than yesterday," Lu Chen replied with a smile. As Yan Ping entered the house, Lu Chen swept his spiritual sense over the spirit fields, heading towards a secluded corner.
Spiritual energy stirred, and with a subtle application of the Earth-Drawing Technique, the spirit soil around a Monkey-faced Orchid's roots loosened. Lu Chen gently pulled, and the plant came free.
He quickly replanted it in the spirit soil, using the Earth-Drawing Technique to ensure the soil snugly enveloped the roots.
A thought floated into his mind.
Monkey-faced Orchid: A second-rate spirit plant. Can be used to refine certain pills that enhance spiritual power after maturation. Favors exotic insects as food. The expression on its petals changes with its own state.
Today's insects are simply delicious! Divine!
"Hmm?"
Lu Chen stared at the center of the flower, which maintained a cold expression, confusion written all over his face.
"So, this is the expression it makes when it finds the food delicious?"
Through the Monkey-faced Orchid's real-time status, he understood that it was currently in a state of extreme satisfaction. However, its expression conveyed a strong sense of indifference.
The actual display was vastly different from its current state.
As he couldn't linger in the spirit fields for too long, Lu Chen returned to the wooden house, his curiosity piqued.
After a short rest, he headed back to the spirit fields to cast a round of Spirit Rain Technique.
As he passed by the Monkey-faced Orchid he had dug up earlier, he noticed a distinct change in the expression on its petals compared to before.
The once indifferent expression had transformed into a smiling one.
"There is indeed a change, but is it related to its previous real-time status?"
"What if the changes are normal, but because it's a spirit plant, it can't react immediately like a cultivator or a spirit beast?"
"In other words, it has a long reaction time?"
The more Lu Chen thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. The monkey-faced orchid displayed highly human-like expressions, but it was still just a spirit plant and couldn't immediately convey its emotions through facial expressions like a cultivator or a spirit beast.
This could also explain why the previous cultivators hadn't discovered a better method for cultivating the monkey-faced orchids.
They might have conducted similar experiments, trying different approaches based on the orchid's expressions.
However, their experiments had started on the wrong foot.
The orchid's current expression was either a reflection of its previous state or it would take time for the expression to match its current state.
In the first case, adjusting the cultivation methods based on the expression would be ineffective. In the second case, by the time the orchid's expression aligned with its state, any adjustments made would take time to show results, leading to incorrect conclusions.
With this new hypothesis, Lu Chen paid close attention to the orchid's expressions during each stage of his experiments with the Spirit Rain Technique and feeding it exotic insects.
Now that he understood the principle behind it, he didn't need to keep digging up and replanting the orchid. After a few days, he was able to summarize a general pattern.
There were two main factors that influenced the monkey-faced orchid: the Spirit Rain Technique and the feeding of exotic insects—the very two methods used in their cultivation.
The Spirit Rain Technique didn't have a significant impact. Most of the orchids would display a smile or a cold expression about an hour after the technique was cast.
Feeding exotic insects had the most noticeable effect. Depending on the type of insect, the orchid's petals would exhibit various exaggerated expressions within about half an hour.
Lu Chen deliberately chose different types of insects to feed the orchid he had previously dug up. He found that while the insects had a nourishing effect, the orchid's expressions varied greatly due to the difference in their tastes.
When fed insects with mediocre or bad flavors, the petals would show expressions of anger, sadness, or indifference, which affected the orchid's growth.
"With this knowledge, I can adjust the Spirit Rain Technique and choose the right exotic insects based on the delayed expressions shown by the monkey-faced orchid," Lu Chen thought.
"In a way, this is a form of precision cultivation. The difference is that this method can be self-taught, as long as one discovers the delay in expression changes," he mused to himself.
"The next step is to confirm this discovery and then make some profit from it," Lu Chen decided.
The mystery behind the orchid's expressions wasn't of great value to him personally.
He didn't intend to keep this discovery to himself and slowly unravel it. Instead, he planned to inform others and gain some benefits in return.
Lu Chen first thought of the Agricultural Hall, but they didn't directly cultivate spirit plants, and he didn't know any powerful cultivators there.
Additionally, bypassing the Foundation Establishment cultivator behind the monkey-faced orchid fields might displease him.
Considering that the cultivator had a large number of monkey-faced orchids, which meant they held significant value to him, Lu Chen decided, after much deliberation, to inform the Foundation Establishment cultivator through Yao Shi Jie.
Of course, he would have to prove that his discovery was feasible and effective first.
(End of Chapter)
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