https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-67-For-the-Century-Long-Legacy-of-the-Hundred-Grass-Hall/12543745/
Chapter 66: A Mere Inferior Spirit Plant
Chapter 66: A Mere Inferior Spirit Plant
"A tier-3 auxiliary treasure, the Immaculate Jade..."
Lu Chen held the transparent jade token in his hand, muttering to himself.
"I didn't expect a tier-1 Red Cloud Pine to produce a tier-3 treasure."
He was somewhat astonished. After all, while there didn't seem to be much difference between tiers 2 and 3, the distinction was actually qualitative.
Tier-2 treasures were still in the Qi Refining stage, mainly used by intermediate and advanced Qi Refining cultivators, whereas tier-3 treasures fell under the category of Foundation Establishment.
"I suppose a significant factor is perfect quality. However, the higher the grade of a spirit plant, the harder it is to obtain a perfectly mature one. I've been quite lucky this time; out of the five Red Cloud Pine cones, one turned out to be of perfect quality."
Lu Chen speculated.
The Immaculate Jade, despite being a tier-3 auxiliary treasure, possessed an extremely rare value.
Its ability to ward off and defend against demonic corruption was enough to incite frenzied competition amongst cultivators.
After all, the cultivation world was fraught with dangers, and the methods by which demons invaded cultivators were myriad and stealthy. But with this Immaculate Jade, one could, to a certain extent, ward off and resist even insidious demonic intrusions.
Not to mention, wearing the Immaculate Jade for extended periods could also slightly increase a cultivator's spiritual sense.
Spiritual sense, aside from naturally increasing during breakthroughs and advancements, had few known methods of enhancement, usually involving extremely rare and unique cultivation techniques, high-grade pills, or certain heavenly treasures.
Lately, Lu Chen had felt that the already unsafe market was seething with underlying currents. The continuous emergence of mutated cultivators, including the unfortunate poisoning of Wang Shan, a small-time leader in the Enforcement Hall, by demonic corruption, and the recent appearance of polluted aberrant insects and spirit plants, all pointed to a market riddled with problems.
These signs indicated that the market was becoming increasingly vulnerable, with more and more demonic cultivators and corrupt beings sucking it dry like leeches.
The appearance of the Immaculate Jade, at the very least, could help Lu Chen avoid such demonic plights and protect himself, leaving the rest to the larger families and factions within the market.
For now, cultivating spirit plants remained Lu Chen's top priority.
He fetched a thin red cord and hung the transparent jade token around his neck.
A cool and refreshing sensation emanated from his chest, keeping Lu Chen's mind clear and lucid. The invisible spiritual light emanating from the jade token dispelled the turbid aura around him.
With all five Red Cloud Pine cones harvested from the tier-1 Red Cloud Pine, the spirit plant had lost its efficacy.
As far as Lu Chen knew, spirit plants were generally divided into three types.
The first type matured only once and became useless afterward. This type was more common among low-tier spirit plants, such as the Spirit Glow Grass, the Moon Eroding Fruit, and the current Red Cloud Pine.
The second type had a certain growth limit, and within this limit, they would periodically produce spirit fruits, spirit leaves, and so on. Lu Chen guessed that the tier-2 Clearwonder Spirit Tea that he was currently cultivating belonged to this category.
The last type was the vintage spirit plants, which became more effective the older they grew. This type usually consisted of high-tier spirit plants.
Of course, the varieties of spirit plants were endless, and Lu Chen couldn't guarantee that there wouldn't be other types out there.
He placed the two Red Cloud Pine cones together with the other three, intending to find an opportunity to sell them.
The pine cones were imbued with abundant spiritual energy and had a peculiar and wonderful taste, especially appealing to female cultivators. Even the lowest-quality cone in Lu Chen's possession was of good quality, and he estimated that it would fetch a decent price.
In the following days, aside from tending to his spirit plants and caring for the Red-Whiskered Carp and the Cloud-Stepping Lynx, Lu Chen focused his attention on the Flood Dragon Vine and the Blood Spirit Leaf, which was gradually returning to normal.
A catty of Bishui Mang blood would probably last for over ten days.
Lu Chen estimated that this would still be somewhat pressurizing for Yu Jie's father. After all, although they possessed secret techniques for hunting serpentine beasts, they were only at the fifth layer of Qi Refinement, and continuously hunting a large number of second-rate beasts would not be an easy task.
Under Lu Chen's meticulous care, the Blood Spirit Leaf had mostly recovered, but there were scar-like marks on its wide leaves, making it look a bit unsightly.
It had already been close to maturity, so Lu Chen decided to harvest it. As expected, no white globes of light appeared.
The quality of the harvested Blood Spirit Leaf was inferior; it was the first time a spirit plant of such low quality had appeared in his spirit field.
Lu Chen didn't mind; after all, just being able to restore it to this state was already quite an achievement, and he hadn't spent too much effort or time cultivating it meticulously.
Having successfully restored the diseased Blood Spirit Leaf, Lu Chen placed it in his storage bag and eagerly made his way to the Hundred Herbs Hall.
There were about two to thirty spirit plant cultivators collaborating with the Hundred Herbs Hall, but they lacked Lu Chen's ability to monitor the condition of the spirit plants at all times. As a result, they could only react to issues passively, which naturally led to a higher number of diseased spirit plants.
As soon as he entered the Hundred Herbs Hall, he saw He Guanshi, the thin and elderly manager, counting spirit pills at the counter.
"Lu boy, your spirit plants in the spirit field didn't encounter any problems, did they?"
"Thank you for your concern, He Lao. Everything is normal, and none of the spirit plants in the spirit field show any signs of intrusion or pollution."
Hearing the concern in the elderly man's voice, Lu Chen felt a warmth in his heart.
"That's good to hear. What about those two diseased spirit plants, the Blood Jade Ginseng and the Blood Spirit Leaf? Have you made any progress in understanding them?"
Hearing Lu Chen's reply, He Guanshi heaved a sigh of relief and asked.
Lu Chen smiled but remained silent. He reached into his storage bag and took out a spirit plant.
"This is a newly matured spirit plant. I'd like you to appraise and price it for me."
"This is..."
The thin, elderly man's eyes narrowed as he examined the spirit plant before him.
Although the spirit plant was ugly in appearance and poor in quality, his vast experience allowed him to immediately identify it as a Blood Spirit Leaf.
From his understanding, Lu Chen was cultivating Spirit Glow Grass and Blood Jade Ginseng in collaboration with the Hundred Herbs Hall, so the conclusion was obvious.
"You really managed to restore that severely diseased Blood Spirit Leaf to normal?"
He was astonished. After all, the Hundred Herbs Hall had more than one spirit plant cultivator capable of cultivating third-rate spirit plants, but when faced with invaded and polluted spirit plants, they often found themselves helpless.
In fact, those two diseased spirit plants had been brought out because their conditions were rather severe, and despite several attempts, no improvements had been made.
Yet, Lu Chen, a freelance spirit plant cultivator, had managed to restore one of them to normal, which left him amazed.
"Ahem!"
He coughed lightly to cover up his loss of composure.
"This spirit plant has too many damaged areas, and the spiritual energy within it is lower than normal."
"Hmph, a mere inferior spirit plant. Fine, I'll reluctantly offer you twenty-five spirit stones for it!"
He pretended to be nonchalant, as if he didn't care for Lu Chen's triumphant expression.
"Haha, thank you, He Lao."
"I was thinking of collaborating with you, but since you look down on a mere inferior spirit plant, I guess we'll have to forget about it."
(End of Chapter)
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