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Chapter 18: The Use of Iron Wire Vine
Chapter 18: The Use of Iron Wire Vine
Early the next morning, Chu Ning rose and had his breakfast before heading out to the fields where the spirit rice was grown.
After weeding with the Cleansing Art, he made his way to the superior spirit field where the Ink Spirit Bamboo was cultivated.
Greenwood Eternal Spring Art (Lower Tier Yellow Rank), Second Layer (17/900)
Before beginning his cultivation, Chu Ning checked on the progress of his second layer of the Greenwood Eternal Spring Art.
Just as he had thought, despite his diligent training lately, he couldn't achieve a proficiency increase of 1 point per day because he needed to meditate to restore his spiritual power after using the Hastening Art.
Now, after 21 days, his proficiency in the second layer had only reached 17.
Without hesitation, Chu Ning selected a patch of Ink Spirit Bamboo shoots within range and channeled his spiritual power, executing the hand seals to cast the Green Spring Flourish Art.
After repeating this process several times, he chose a spot to sit and wait for the Green Spring Flourish Art to take effect on the bamboo.
Based on his experience from the past three months, he found that cultivating the Greenwood Eternal Spring Art half a shichen (a unit of time, approximately one hour) after casting the Green Spring Flourish Art yielded the best results.
So, after half a shichen, Chu Ning immediately began his cultivation, crossing his legs and settling into a meditative state.
The markedly different speed at which he absorbed spiritual energy immediately filled him with a sense of satisfaction.
He continually urged his cultivation technique, absorbing the spiritual energy transmitted from the tips of the bamboo shoots.
After cultivating for a full one and a half shichen, Chu Ning finally concluded his practice.
First, he checked the results of his training.
Greenwood Eternal Spring Art (Lower Tier Yellow Rank), Second Layer (18/900)
His proficiency had increased by 1 point.
As expected, cultivating with the assistance of the Green Spring Flourish Art yielded better results.
Normally, it would take a whole day to increase his proficiency by 1 point, but now he had gained 1 point from a single session of cultivation.
"If I add morning and evening training sessions, I can increase my proficiency by 2 to 3 points per day.
That's twice to thrice the previous speed, which means I can complete the second layer's mid-stage of Qi Refinement in about a year to a year and a half."
Chu Ning's heart was reassured by this calculation.
He glanced at the Ink Spirit Bamboo in front of him and once again performed the Green Spring Flourish Art.
These bamboo shoots would be an important source of income for him in a few months, so he had to make sure they thrived.
Using the Green Spring Flourish Art on them daily was essential.
The effect of the Greenwood Eternal Spring Art he had cast earlier had already been absorbed, so now he replenished it.
After casting the Green Spring Flourish Art and sensing the vibrant vitality of the bamboo shoots, Chu Ning finally left, content.
After lunch, Chu Ning didn't return to the spirit fields. Instead, he went to the mountain behind the courtyard.
In the past twenty days, he had focused solely on planting the Red Spirit Rice and Ink Spirit Bamboo, suppressing the urge to practice the Bramble Art and the Vine Armor Art.
Now, he could finally give them a try.
In theory, the Bramble Art could be used with any plant through the manipulation of spiritual power, but naturally, the best option was to use vines.
Chu Ning had already observed that there was a type of plant called Iron Wire Vine on the mountain behind the courtyard that was ideal for this purpose.
Although it didn't have thorns, its resilience made it perfect for practicing the Bramble Art.
During this period, although Chu Ning hadn't had the time to practice, he had long since memorized the incantations and hand seals.
Chu Ning ventured into the mountain and found a spot where Iron Wire Vines grew.
The vines weren't thick, resembling grayish-black iron wires, and the leaves were small but lush. Some of the mature vines even bore purple flowers.
Chu Ning stood next to the vines and glanced at a nearby tree, swiftly performing the hand seals before pointing at it.
A vine shot out with a "whoosh," racing towards the tree.
"Pat!"
The next moment, it fell straight down.
Chu Ning shook his head. He had just lost control of his spiritual power for a moment, causing the spell to fail.
He took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and began casting the spell again.
The vine flew up once more, wrapping around the tree under Chu Ning's command. It was about the size of a bowl.
Chu Ning performed the hand seals again, and visible thorns sprouted from the vine, which coiled tighter and tighter, its sharp thorns piercing into the tree.
Once the vine had bound its target, Chu Ning no longer needed to manipulate it with his spiritual power.
At this point, he walked up to the tree, unable to resist his curiosity.
No wonder mortals held cultivators in such awe. Even a basic, intermediate-level attack spell could be so deadly.
As he contemplated this, Chu Ning performed the hand seals once more.
The thorns on the Iron Wire Vine instantly vanished, and the vine loosened, quickly retracting from the tree and returning to its original state.
However, the tree now bore deep, furrowed marks from the vine's grip.
Seeing this, Chu Ning turned to another vine and began casting his spell.
After practicing the Bramble Art for a while, he moved on to the Vine Armor Art.
Unlike the Bramble Art, the Vine Armor Art did not rely on plants but instead used one's spiritual power to create a protective shield akin to a vine armor around the body.
And because of this, the caster needed to constantly maintain it with their spiritual power.
Also, as a basic, intermediate-level wood-attribute spell, the Tigerwood Spirit Body's talent came into play, and after a few attempts, Chu Ning was able to execute it.
However, due to the excessive consumption of spiritual power from practicing the Bramble Art earlier, he could only maintain the Vine Armor Art for a short while.
With one offensive and one defensive spell under his belt, the next step was obvious: to diligently cultivate, shortening the casting time and increasing the power of his spells.
As dusk approached, Chu Ning prepared to leave.
But just as he took a step, he paused, his eyes falling on the Iron Wire Vine, a thought occurring to him.
Why not plant this vine in his own courtyard? The Iron Wire Vine was also a spirit plant and even had medicinal properties, serving as an ingredient in some pills.
It was only because it was so easy to grow and exceedingly common that it was overlooked and rarely cultivated.
However, for Chu Ning, it presented a different opportunity.
The vine, when in bloom, would add a decorative touch to his courtyard walls.
Moreover, in case of emergencies, he could cast the Bramble Art right in his yard.
And most importantly, he might be able to use the Green Spring Flourish Art on this vine and cultivate morning and night within his courtyard.
The sect generally discouraged disciples from staying in the wild spirit fields at night, as their patrols did not cover those areas after dark.
There was always the risk of encountering rogue cultivators or even demonic beasts, and being alone increased that risk.
Chu Ning had previously considered using the Green Spring Flourish Art to enhance his night cultivation speed.
However, spirit plants were not easy to cultivate, and not all of them were as resilient as the Iron Wire Vine.
Most spirit plants had specific requirements for the soil in which they grew.
With this thought, Chu Ning's perception of the ordinary Iron Wire Vine changed for the better.
Instead of digging up the vines already growing on the ground, which would be of inferior quality, he spent some time searching the mountain for a better specimen.
He finally located a vine with dark purple flowers, from which he collected seeds and brought them back to his courtyard.
Planting was a simple task for Chu Ning.
With a single incantation, he stimulated the seeds, and once they had all sprouted, he planted the Iron Wire Vines along the inner walls of his courtyard.
Then, he cast the Green Spring Flourish Art on each vine in batches.
Testing his cultivation, Chu Ning once again experienced the amplifying effect of the Green Spring Flourish Art.
However, the Iron Wire Vine did not possess the same high quality as the Ink Spirit Bamboo, and so the amplifying effect was less noticeable.
Nevertheless, Chu Ning tried cultivating in the evening and again the next morning, and he found that with two sessions, he could increase his proficiency by about 1 point. This was still considerably faster than before.
With this additional cultivation in his courtyard, along with his daily session at the Ink Spirit Bamboo spirit field, he could now guarantee an increase of 2 proficiency points per day, leaving him with ample time to practice his spells.
And so, in the following days, Chu Ning tended to the Ink Spirit Bamboo and Red Spirit Rice while also cultivating the Bramble Art, Vine Armor Art, and the other spells he had yet to master: the Cleansing Art, Blade Art, Sweet Rain Art, and Repulse Art.
During this period, he also visited the Transmission Room again and learned two new basic spells: the Fireball Art and the Aura-Sensing Art.
Even with their private spirit fields, Chu Ning and the others could still visit the Transmission Room to learn new techniques and gain insights into spellcasting, although the frequency of their visits decreased from once every half month to once a month.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, another month had passed. It had now been half a year since Chu Ning joined the Green Creek Sect.
One morning, as Chu Ning prepared to leave his courtyard for the spirit field, he heard someone calling his name from outside.
"Chu Ning!"
(End of Chapter)
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