Chapter 128: A Sudden Shift in Art Style for Farming
Chapter 128: A Sudden Shift in Art Style for Farming
"Fellow cultivator, how about 100 spirit stones for this odd spirit herb? This price is already higher than that of many ordinary second-grade spirit herbs, and it's a fair deal for a spirit herb of unknown variety and grade."
Although Lu Chen felt urgent, he casually replied in a nonchalant tone.
"One hundred spirit stones is too low! This spirit herb has a peculiar appearance, obviously a rare and exotic variety. How about 150 spirit stones, and it's yours."
The one-eyed middle-aged cultivator compromised.
"Even if it's a rare and exotic spirit herb, without knowing how to cultivate it, it's useless," Lu Chen pointed out the crucial issue.
Bit by bit, he haggled with the stall owner and finally acquired the third-grade Thornbone spirit herb for 120 spirit stones.
Half a day later, Lu Chen stood in a small courtyard, looking around.
The Celestial Sword Sect had a rule that inner disciples were not allowed to cultivate or rear sinister and exotic spirit herbs or beasts.
He now had five dormant Ghost-faced Stone Mushrooms and the newly acquired Thornbone spirit herb, both of which fed on resentment and absorbed essence from bones—not exactly conventional spirit herbs.
However, the thought of giving them up pained Lu Chen. After all, whether it was the Ghost-faced Stone Mushrooms or the Thornbone, they were both third-grade spirit herbs, and once mature, they would yield bountiful orb rewards.
Helpless, he came up with a solution: rent a small courtyard in Jianmen Town specifically for cultivating spirit herbs with styles similar to the Thornbone.
With determination, he quickly found this small courtyard.
The courtyard was located in a relatively remote area of Jianmen Town. While the spirit field wasn't large, only about half an acre, the spiritual energy here was rich and pure, better than the spirit field Lu Chen previously had in Linyangfang City.
After some haggling, he rented the small courtyard for 40 spirit stones per month, paying the rent for the first six months in advance.
Then, he bought a second-grade protective formation and enveloped the entire courtyard within its range.
"As expected of a place near the sect, this small spirit field still costs 40 spirit stones per month," Lu Chen thought with a slight heartache.
The third-grade Thornbone spirit herb cost him 120 spirit stones, the rent and deposit for the courtyard came up to 280 spirit stones, and the second-grade formation was about 200 spirit stones.
With these expenses, he had about 1,200 spirit stones left.
"I can only hope that this investment will bring greater returns," Lu Chen thought.
Being a third-grade spirit herb of the dark and sinister variety, Lu Chen had high expectations for the white orb it would produce.
He planned to use this courtyard to cultivate sinister and exotic spirit herbs, coming out from the Celestial Sword Sect from time to time to tend to their growth.
Of course, with this cultivation method, he wouldn't be too particular about refined cultivation techniques. Being able to cultivate them to maturity would already be a good outcome.
Lu Chen took out the five Ghost-faced Stone Mushroom spirit herbs he had obtained from the secret realm from his storage bag.
The Ghost-faced Stone Mushroom spirit herbs were still dormant, their eerie patterns on the grayish-white surface unchanged, resembling strange faces.
"Finally, I can plant them after getting my hands on them," Lu Chen said as he performed the Earth Drawing Technique, burying the five spirit herbs in the spirit soil.
Then, he took out the second-grade Yanhou Bell that he had bought specifically.
Gently shaking the bell, numerous vengeful spirits oozed out from the intricate patterns on its surface under Lu Chen's command.
Soon, ten semi-transparent vengeful spirits stood before Lu Chen, dazed.
These vengeful spirits had lost their sentience and only retained a hint of instinct, acting solely on Lu Chen's commands as the owner of the Yanhou Bell.
Without hesitation, Lu Chen sent the golden sword aura back and forth, relentlessly slicing and dicing the fragments until they could no longer be divided.
Then, he gathered the minuscule fragments together and divided them into five small piles, evenly spreading them over the surface patterns of the Ghost-faced Stone Mushrooms.
Focusing his spiritual sense on the mushrooms, Lu Chen immediately noticed a slight change. The previously hard-as-stone mushrooms now showed signs of life.
The intricate patterns that formed the eerie faces were slowly absorbing the vengeful soul fragments.
"Crushing the vengeful souls does indeed awaken the dormant Ghost-faced Stone Mushrooms," Lu Chen said with a hint of joy as he sensed the five mushrooms gradually coming back to life.
He moved to the other side of the small courtyard's spirit field and performed the Earth Drawing Technique, causing the spirit soil to form tiny cracks.
Lu Chen placed the oddly shaped Thornbone into the cracks and then set a fresh skeleton, still stained with blood, beside it.
While preparing the protective formation, he had also purchased some fresh remains of top-grade magical beasts from the square in Jianmen Town to fulfill the Thornbone's need to absorb the essence from bones.
Not long after placing the skeleton, Lu Chen sensed a subtle change in the third-grade Thornbone due to the stimulation of the fresh remains.
Fine bone spurs, as thin as hair, were quietly generated on the disorderly elongated white bones, slowly piercing into the fresh skeleton and absorbing its essence.
As there was still the task of raising the Flood Dragons and Giant Pythons within the sect, Lu Chen did not want to linger in Jianmen Town for too long.
Seeing that the Ghost-faced Stone Mushrooms had awakened, he took out fifty intact vengeful souls from the Yanhou Bell and surrounded the Thornbone with the remains of magical beasts.
Looking at the small spirit field, he saw swirling gusts of yin wind and wandering vengeful souls, with a small mountain of bones piled up in the corner, creating an eerie and peculiar scene.
"Hmm..."
"Where's the cozy farming life I was promised? Why did my peaceful scene suddenly turn so... underworld-like?"
Lu Chen sighed, rubbing his forehead, before activating the formation.
He was relieved that Jianmen Town was located near the Celestial Sword Sect, and the cultivators here were not as mixed as those in the market towns, ensuring a certain level of safety for his small courtyard.
With these thoughts, Lu Chen passed through the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Jian Formation outside the Celestial Sword Sect and returned to his cave abode.
As soon as he opened the courtyard door, a light blue chubby bird about three feet tall plopped onto Lu Chen's shoulder.
"Hey, this little guy is growing up fast!"
Lu Chen's shoulder sank a little under the weight of the Wind Falcon chick, which had noticeably increased in size.
The Cloud-stepping Lynx lay lazily on the ground, its emerald green irises fixated on Lu Chen.
"Come, come, I've brought back delicious treats for you both."
Lu Chen quickly took out two portions of magical beast meat from his storage bag and placed them in front of the two beasts.
Taking advantage of their mealtime, Lu Chen made his way to the spirit field.
As far as the eye could see, the grass puppet was clumsily and slowly patrolling the spirit field, while numerous spirit herbs exuded vibrant vitality, emanating a vigorous upward force—a stark contrast to the small, gloomy spirit field in Jianmen Town.
"Now this is the right way to cultivate a spirit field..."
Lu Chen sighed softly, stepping into the spirit field to inspect the growth of the various spirit herbs.
(End of Chapter)
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