Chapter 8: The Art of Concealment
Chapter 8: The Art of Concealment
As night fell, Lu Chen returned to his humble abode, his body slightly weary from the day's labor. Despite having a modest number of spirit herbs in his spiritual fields, he had his hands full with their meticulous care. Currently, he had eleven soon-to-be-mature Spirit Glowgrass, ten newly planted seedlings, two Eclipsing Moon Trees, and a Red Cloud Pine. The demanding nature of their cultivation, coupled with repeated castings of Spirit Rain and Earth Drawing techniques, had left him fatigued, despite his robust body refined by qi cultivation.
However, Lu Chen relished in this tiredness, as it was a small price to pay to witness the vibrant growth of his spiritual plants. After a simple dinner and a brief rest, he sat on his wooden bed and began circulating his cultivation art to restore his spiritual energy. The sudden surge in his cultivation level had left his inner qi flow a bit stagnant, and he needed to adjust and acclimate to the changes.
Suddenly, he noticed the array disc by his side glowing brightly. A miniature spiritual energy shield appeared on the disc, with faint ripples of light flickering at a specific location within the shield. Lu Chen's expression turned solemn as he committed the location of the light to memory. He let the Sword Qi Talisman slide into his left palm and abruptly stood up, making his way to the wall of dull grey stone. With a swift leap, he vaulted over it.
Lu Chen's sharp eyes spotted a small, wriggling shadow escaping swiftly into the distance. His anger flared at the sight of this tiny shadow attempting to infiltrate his spiritual fields. He would not let it get away so easily. His spiritual energy surged within him, and soon, a faint golden sword qi condensed, shimmering like a stream of light as it hurtled towards the tiny shadow.
The shadow seemed frozen by the sword intent, its speed drastically slowing, and it was cleaved into two by the golden sword qi. As the light faded, the surroundings plunged into darkness once more. Lu Chen, still clutching the Sword Qi Talisman, scanned the area warily. Assured that nothing else was amiss, he slowly exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
He approached the severed remains of the shadow and picked them up before returning to his courtyard. As he stepped back into the house, a greyish-black grass rope slithered towards him and tapped his knee, indicating that an external intruder had invaded his spiritual fields.
"I already took care of it. Your alertness is commendable," Lu Chen said, looking at the grass puppet that had just reminded him, a wry smile on his face.
In the dim candlelight, he examined the remnants of the small shadow in his hand. It was pitch-black, with wrinkles of varying depths covering its body, about as thick as a finger. He recognized it as the Black Bud Worm from the book he had browsed before, "Common Harmful Demon Insects and Their Solutions."
"You dare intrude again? Do you think my spiritual fields are your personal backyard?" Lu Chen muttered, his voice cold. He controlled the Sword Qi Talisman with the Metal-Gold Sword Technique, slicing the two segments of the Black Bud Worm into tiny pieces, before using the Fireball Technique to burn them to ashes, finally assuaging his anger.
"Thankfully, this protective array worked and blocked the Black Bud Worm's intrusion. Otherwise, the consequences would have been dire..." Lu Chen shuddered to think of the potential damage to his spiritual plants had they been infested with the worm's eggs, which would have surely affected his light sphere rewards. He was glad he had made the wise decision to spend a hefty sum on this second-hand array.
The appearance of the Black Bud Worm was but a small ripple in Lu Chen's otherwise peaceful farming life, and the following days passed without incident. He led a simple yet fulfilling life, tending to his spiritual plants with care using the Spirit Rain and Earth Drawing techniques and occasionally stimulating the Red Cloud Pine with fireballs. He rarely left his home during those days, with Zhang Hong's visit being the only exception.
Zhang Hong had come to bid him farewell before embarking on a journey with the Wang family cultivators and hundreds, if not thousands, of loose cultivators to explore and cultivate a newly discovered secret realm in the wilderness. He entrusted Lu Chen with the care of his family, asking him to look after them in his absence.
Out of the eight, three were of ordinary quality, and five were of good quality.
Among the eight white orbs of light that appeared, three rewarded him with cultivation, adding a year's worth of cultivation to Lu Xuan, significantly increasing the spiritual energy within his body.
As for the other five, two contained the Earth Drawing Technique and the Metal-Gold Sword Technique. With these experience packages, Lu Xuan's understanding of these techniques deepened, allowing him to cast them faster and with greater power.
The remaining three orbs yielded three talismans, all of which were first-grade. They were the Sword Qi Talisman to enhance speed, the Swift Talisman, and the defensive Earth Armor Talisman. Lu Xuan kept them all for future use.
After harvesting these eight mature Spirit Glowgrass plants, a large area of his spirit field became vacant. Lu Xuan carefully planted the remaining ten Spirit Glowgrass seeds, and soon, tender green sprouts emerged, trembling gently in the breeze.
The ten plants he had planted before had grown significantly. Each was now about three inches tall, with deep green leaves and glowing dots that became more prominent.
The last three Spirit Glowgrass plants didn't keep Lu Chen waiting too long. One day, after using the Spirit Rain Technique on each of them, the faint progress bars below the plants filled up completely.
As Lu Chen focused his mind, he discovered a pleasant surprise.
"Mature Spirit Glowgrass of Good Quality" 2
"Mature Spirit Glowgrass of Superior Quality"
"Finally, I've managed to cultivate a Superior Quality Spirit Glowgrass."
Lu Chen held the glowing grass, feeling a sense of relief.
Out of the twenty-four plants in total, with the careful cultivation using the Spirit Rain and Earth Drawing Techniques, he finally managed to produce one of Superior Quality.
Although the probability was minuscule, Lu Chen understood the reasons.
After all, the spiritual energy in his spirit fields was sparse, and he had only gained insight into the immediate state of the Spirit Glowgrass during its later stages, which didn't allow for much improvement in quality.
"To produce a large number of superior quality spirit plants, or even higher-grade perfect quality plants, at least two conditions need to be met."
"The concentration of spiritual energy and the meticulous cultivation of spirit seeds from the time of planting until maturity."
Lu Chen summarized.
In the spirit field, three white orbs of light flickered, attracting Lu Chen's attention.
"Harvested one Spirit Glowgrass, gained six months of cultivation."
Another cultivation reward. Lu Chen felt unmotivated to cultivate diligently with all these unexpected gains.
Lu Xuan sighed as he felt the surging spiritual energy appearing out of thin air within his body.
"Harvested one Spirit Glowgrass, obtained a first-grade Exorcising Evil Talisman."
A dark yellow talisman appeared in Lu Xuan's hand, with an evil spirit pattern in the center, restrained by two strange chains made of intricate lines.
"Exorcising Evil Talisman, a first-grade talisman, can be used to purify and drive away evil spirits and ghosts within a certain range. It's quite rare," a thought flashed through Lu Xuan's mind, and he carefully put away the Exorcising Evil Talisman, adorned with the evil spirit pattern.
The last white orb of light was from the Superior Quality Spirit Glowgrass. The quality of the spirit plant is one of the factors influencing the richness of the reward, and Lu Xuan had high expectations for it.
The orb of light transformed into countless specks of light that surged into Lu Xuan's mind, and a thought flashed through his mind as a cultivation art appeared in his sea of consciousness.
"The Art of Concealment. After cultivating this art, one can conceal their qi, cultivation, and possess quite remarkable stealth capabilities."
(End of Chapter)
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