Chapter 578: Divided Attention, Neglect
Chapter 578: Divided Attention, Neglect
"I can use ten fourth-grade Earth Emperor Dates to feed those earth-attribute spirit beasts," Lu Chen thought after harvesting the dates.
With a thought, the rock-armored turtle, now a small hill of dark green and black, crawled out of the little lake, splattering black mud everywhere as it charged towards Lu Chen.
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Lu Chen propped his hand against the turtle's head, blocking its attempt to rub against him. "I have something good for you."
He took out one of the dates and tossed it to the turtle.
Despite its bulky appearance, the turtle was agile. It snapped its head out and caught the date, gulping it down in a few quick bites.
"Roar!"
It let out a low growl, and deep yellow spiritual light radiated from its body. Lu Chen's spiritual sense perceived that the dark green and black rocks on the turtle's shell had become even harder and more tightly packed, as if they had fused with its body.
After the turtle scurried back to the lake, Lu Chen summoned the two two-headed armadillos.
He felt the soil beneath his feet loosen as the armadillos poked their pointed snouts out. Their eight grayish-white eyes fixed on Lu Chen without blinking.
"Staying underground all the time isn't good either. You should come out and get some fresh air more often," Lu Chen said as he took out two Earth Emperor Dates and fed one to each armadillo.
"Hmm?"
He suddenly sensed that something was amiss.
After feeding them the dates, the heads that had tasted the fruit looked content, but the other heads gazed at Lu Chen with eager eyes, drooling a yellowish liquid from their mouths.
"I forgot they had two heads," Lu Chen sighed, chastising himself for not treating both heads equally. He should have fed both heads of each armadillo at the same time with dates of the same size.
"I don't have any more spirit fruits, so hurry back to your burrow," he said, waving his hand at the armadillos.
The armadillos reluctantly retreated into the spiritual soil, but not before scratching up a handful of the fifth-grade soil with their claws.
In the blink of an eye, only five of the ten Earth Emperor Dates remained. Lu Chen carefully stored them away for future use.
Time flew by in the cave mansion as Lu Chen dedicated himself to farming spiritual herbs. Before he knew it, another half a month had passed.
During this period, Lu Chen remained in the cave, immersing himself in cultivating spiritual plants without venturing outside.
Life in the Cave of Thunderfire and Mars was different from his time at the Celestial Sword Sect. At the sect, he had many fellow disciples he was acquainted with, and they would occasionally gather for social events. Here, he only knew a handful of people, and even then, their relationship was distant, so he spent most of his time alone.
However, Lu Chen had long adapted to this simple yet fulfilling life of farming.
As long as he could harvest those glowing orbs, he found endless joy in his work.
Another batch of spiritual plants in the spirit fields had matured.
In the area dedicated to the Hidden Energy Grass, thirty plants sourced from the Elixir Hall and three obtained from the Agriculture Hall in exchange for the sword imprint had reached full maturity.
Lu Chen carefully inspected each plant and selected over ten that were close to maturity. Using the green wood primal qi, he hastened their ripening process.
He had gradually developed a habit of drawing out the light orbs' rewards in succession, sometimes taking ten or even a hundred orbs from spiritual plants of lower grades, relishing the feeling of continuous rewards.
Aside from the ten plants used for seed condensation, the remaining twenty-three fully mature plants were carefully dug out from the spiritual soil by Lu Chen and placed into a jade box. They looked like ordinary weeds, but he knew their true value.
Simultaneously, the orbs exploded soundlessly, transforming into streams of light that surged into his body.
A torrent of thoughts flashed through his mind in quick succession.
Harvested a Third-Grade Cangyuan Grass, obtained a Third-Grade Foundation Establishment Pill.
Harvested a Third-Grade Cangyuan Grass, obtained a Third-Grade Spirit-Gathering Naling Caozhu.
Harvested...
One by one, the rewards materialized before Lu Chen or flooded into his sea of consciousness as information.
In that moment, brilliant treasures shone around him, and his mind was filled with countless newfound insights.
It felt as if, in just a few breaths, he had relived countless experiences of pill refinement, gaining a profound and crystal-clear understanding of the process of creating Foundation Establishment Pills.
"With five Foundation Establishment Pill formulas and the experience packages, I've taken another step forward from my initial minor accomplishment in pill refinement," Lu Chen marveled inwardly. "I should be able to achieve a major accomplishment after absorbing a few more."
In addition to the insights, the orbs also yielded ten Third-Grade Foundation Establishment Pills and eight Third-Grade Naling Caozhu.
"Although more Foundation Establishment Pills have been circulating in the Liuyang territory compared to when I was in the Celestial Sword Sect, these pills are still rare and precious, regardless of where you go," Lu Chen thought.
Earlier, when he had visited the Hailou branch of the Star-Plucking Tower Merchant Association, he had taken the opportunity to inquire about Foundation Establishment Pills and found that their prices far exceeded those of typical third-grade pills.
"Eight Naling Caozhu are also a nice supplement," he mused.
The Naling Caozhu could be used to feed Grass Puppets, replenish Greenwood Primal Qi, and, most crucially, accelerate the maturation of later-stage spirit plants when necessary—an extremely practical item.
Before leaving the Celestial Sword Sect for Black Star City, Lu Chen had used the Naling Caozhu to hasten the growth of several spirit plants, which had led to him obtaining precious treasures like the Peacock Mingwang Sword and the Nine-Headed Dragon Chart.
"I'll use the remaining ten Cangyuan Grass plants for seed condensation," he decided.
Previously, when he had exchanged spirit seeds at the Agricultural Hall, the sect had imposed a limit on the number of Cangyuan Grass seeds to prevent disciples from secretly refining Foundation Establishment Pills. As a result, Lu Chen had only obtained three seeds.
Unexpectedly, the sudden turn of events had led to him acquiring the thirty plants that had been entrusted to him by the Dan Hall, resulting in a substantial number of Cangyuan Grass seeds in a short period.
"I spent most of my spirit stones renting this Cave of Thunderfire and Mars, and now I only have a bunch of treasures that are difficult to liquidate," Lu Chen contemplated. "In the future, I can use Foundation Establishment Pills, Cleansing Pills, and the like to accumulate more spirit stones."
With the existence of pill formula experience packages, he had leapfrogged the experiences of countless pill refiners, attaining a level of proficiency that many might never achieve in their lifetimes.
Once he reached mastery in refining a particular pill, he could profit from it, and Lu Chen had already attained a minor accomplishment, and even a grandmaster level in refining several types of pills, with an astonishingly high success rate. He no longer had to worry about his supply of spirit stones.
"Unknowingly, I've not only become a modest spirit herbologist but also a sword genius and a pill-refining master," Lu Chen smiled to himself as he continued to inspect the various spirit plants in the spirit fields.
In the Yin Region, as soon as he opened the Illusory Extinction Five Elements Array, a gust of yin wind rushed towards him, howling within the confines of the array.
Lu Chen was concerned that the yin energy might escape and affect the spirit plants in the other areas of the spirit fields, so he had kept this particular spirit field sealed off with the array.
Stepping into the array, a giant, pale red meatball bounced over to Lu Chen, its thin layer of flesh resembling seaweed as it flailed about, revealing numerous tiny mouths nestled within.
Lu Chen quickly retrieved a large piece of stored demon beast meat from the Gluttonous Insect Pouch and tossed it to the Meat Spirit God.
(End of Chapter)
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