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Chapter 176: The Mystical Peach of Illusion
Chapter 176: The Mystical Peach of Illusion
On this trip, Lu Chen only sold off about a hundred Spirit Glowgrass plants, earning him over four hundred spirit stones.
There weren't too many expenses, just some essential purchases of spirit fruits, spirit rice, demon beast meat, a few second-hand flying swords to feed his Sword Gourd, and a few auxiliary materials for the early-stage cultivation elixirs of the Tai Xu Hua Long manual.
He wandered around Jianmen Town and found only a handful of stalls selling spirit seeds, and those were varieties that Lu Chen was already familiar with. Upon inquiring, the prices were significantly higher than what he could get from the sect.
As for those spirit seeds that the sect didn't have or were completely unknown, he hadn't come across any this time around.
"Perhaps the only downside of being in the sect is that I can't easily scoop up bargains like I used to in Linyangfang City."
"After all, most sect disciples are well-versed and knowledgeable. What may be unfamiliar to ordinary cultivators could be common knowledge to them."
"Of course, while the probability is smaller, if something rare does show up, it's bound to be a good find, like that fourth-grade Hundred-Eyed Spectral Wood."
Lu Chen sighed and returned to his dwelling.
Upon learning that spirit plants could be improved through breeding, he decided to try his hand at enhancing the Spirit Glowgrass.
Even though Spirit Glowgrass was ungraded, Lu Chen had continued cultivating it because it could enhance his cultivation.
As his cultivation deepened, the other rewards from the Spirit Glowgrass were becoming less and less appealing, so he wanted to experiment with breeding to see if he could create a better variety.
He still had three hundred spirit seeds from his last refinement, and he took out a hundred of them, dividing them evenly into two groups.
He would work with fifty seeds each at the spirit seed stage, altering their storage conditions to induce changes and hopefully yield a positive mutation.
The remaining two hundred would be stimulated during their growth phase, exposed to a long-term special environment to encourage a successful mutation.
Since there were still several dozen Spirit Glowgrass plants from the previous batch that weren't fully mature yet, he would have to hold off on this part of the experiment until they were ready.
Of the hundred seeds, fifty were submerged in the cold spring water of his cave dwelling, while the other fifty were placed in a white jade box and put into the Elixir Furnace on very low heat.
Altering the five elemental environments was the most common way to induce variation in spirit seeds.
Lu Chen didn't yet have the capability to provide specialized spirit energy environments, spirit soil, or complex cultivation conditions.
The cave dwelling in Tianjian Sect had pure and rich spirit energy, but it was neutral and balanced without any unique qualities. The spirit soil was also of a common type suitable for most spirit plants, especially lower-grade ones.
After setting up the experiment, Lu Chen left the spirit seeds to develop on their own.
Over the next few days, he remained busy.
Because of his excellent inspection skills and fair prices, his reputation quickly spread among the cultivators in other waters of Qianlong Lake, who contacted him through Huang Yuan to examine their dragon-serpent giant pythons.
Lu Chen was happy to earn spirit stones and obtain dragon-serpent essence blood.
"I'm finally done. I never expected there to be so many dragon-serpent giant pythons and other demon beasts in Qianlong Lake."
Lu Chen shook his slightly sore arms, half amazed and half sighing, as he spoke to Huang Yuan.
In these few days, he had drawn blood from nearly a thousand dragon-serpent giant pythons.
Even if they were all low-grade, the sheer number of them was a testament to the depth of Tianjian Sect's foundations.
"You've worked hard these past few days, Lu Chen. You've basically inspected all the dragon-serpent giant pythons in Qianlong Lake. The other sect brothers will definitely remember this favor."
Huang Yuan smiled. He had only been responsible for introducing Lu Chen around and hadn't received any compensation himself, but he had gained a lot indirectly. By solving the hidden-scale fish problem in Qianlong Lake, he had also left a good impression on his fellow sect members.
"I should be thanking you, Brother Huang, for introducing me to them. Why don't you come to my small courtyard for a drink?"
The two men drank and chatted merrily for a long while.
After seeing Huang Yuan off, Lu Chen closed the courtyard gate, activated the formation, and stumbled inside, slightly tipsy.
"No wonder I felt a bit heavy while walking; it must be because of all these spirit stones..."
A small mountain of spirit stones appeared on the ground, their spiritual light swirling and dazzling.
Thanks to the information gap regarding the hidden-scale fish issue in Qianlong Lake, he had gained immensely.
He had acquired over two thousand spirit stones, making his current wealth unprecedented. In total, he now possessed more than four thousand spirit stones.
Additionally, he had obtained nearly a thousand vials of essence blood from the giant pythons, to the point where he had to keep large-capacity containers in his storage bag to hold the essence blood of the same python species.
This prevented any embarrassment that might have arisen from drawing blood with nowhere to store it.
"With so much essence blood, if I had enough materials, I could even create a medicinal bath for cultivation," Lu Chen thought indulgently.
Suddenly wealthy, his mindset had naturally shifted. Now, his thoughts were consumed with spending.
And so, the next day, after cultivating his spirit fields and spirit plants, he made his way to the Agricultural Hall.
"Brother Lu, it's been a while since I last saw you!" The elderly farmer cultivator, whom Lu Chen had met a few times before, greeted him warmly and offered him spirit tea and fruits, his manner somewhat fawning.
No wonder he was acting this way. Although Lu Chen's cultivation was average, in the farmer's eyes, his future was limitless.
He possessed an incredibly terrifying talent for spirit plants, and even as a Qi Refining cultivator, he had already attempted to cultivate several third-grade spirit plants.
While cultivating spirit plants might be considered a minor path, if one excelled at it, it was no different from excelling in pill concoction or artifact refinement.
Given Lu Chen's talent in this field, it was possible that many years later, he might become the farmer's superior.
Moreover, Lu Chen had already caught the eye of the Hall Master of the Agricultural Hall, who had personally gifted him two Sword Grass spirit seeds, indicating a tendency to nurture him into the core group of spirit plant cultivators in Tianjian Sect.
"Brother, there's no need to be so formal," Lu Chen said with a smile.
"It's only natural, it's natural," the farmer cultivator said. "By the way, Brother Lu, how are the Sword Grass spirit seeds that the Hall Master gave you doing? I hope they're growing well."
"Everything is going smoothly, and their growth might even be slightly better than the first Sword Grass," Lu Chen replied humbly, comparing the differences between the Sword Grass plants.
"In those few days, the Hall Master often thought about those two Sword Grass plants!" The farmer cultivator rubbed his hands together, his face creasing with a smile.
"Brother, I came here this time to exchange for a few spirit plants. Ideally, I'd like to use spirit stones for the exchange, and I prefer spirit fruits. The grade should be no lower than second-grade," Lu Chen said, getting to the point.
He now had the idea of cultivating second-grade spirit plants on a large scale, and he leaned more towards spirit fruits.
First, spirit fruits usually bore a certain number of fruits, unlike most other spirit plants that produced single fruits or single stalks, thus allowing him to generate more light spheres.
Second, the cultivated spirit fruits could better help him curry favor with the White Luan and its companions.
As for the grade, there was no need to mention it; first-grade spirit plants were basically useless to him.
"Let me see... for spirit plants that can be exchanged for spirit stones, not lower than second-grade, and prioritizing spirit fruits..." The farmer cultivator pondered for a moment, then opened a jade catalog.
"There aren't many spirit plants that can be exchanged for spirit stones. I remember there's a third-grade spirit fruit, but its cultivation conditions are a bit unique," he said.
"That's the one I want—the third-grade Mystical Peach of Illusion," Lu Chen said, his eyes fixed on the page of the jade catalog.
A captivating peach tree appeared before Lu Chen's eyes.
The peach tree had pink leaves, a pinkish-white trunk, and was surrounded by a faint red mist. Over ten reddish-peach fruits hung among the leaves, alluring and enchanting.
(End of Chapter)
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