Chapter 89: Ghost-Faced Stone Mushroom
Chapter 89: Ghost-Faced Stone Mushroom
Lu Chen had no intention of being the first to attempt harvesting the Dragon Whiskers Grass. Instead, he planned to observe and follow the crowd, only joining in after witnessing the more experienced spiritual herbologists take their turn and understanding the process better.
As he listened to the discussions, Lu Chen heard several spiritual herbologists brainstorming, their ideas flowing effortlessly. He drew parallels and made connections, unexpectedly gaining some insights of his own—a pleasant surprise.
Suddenly, he caught sight of something in the distance. A pile of Dragon Whiskers Grass seemed to come alive as a slender, dark red snake-like tendril shot out, striking at a nearby spiritual herbologist.
A crisp ding rang out as the tendril was blocked by a shield artifact, and a black flying sword swiftly sliced it in two.
Thanks to the spiritual herbologist's quick reaction, the anomaly caused by the mutated Dragon Whiskers Grass amounted to nothing more than a brief scare.
However, the incident left the herbologist cautious. He warily eyed the small pile of Dragon Whiskers Grass at his feet, half-expecting another sudden attack from the seemingly innocuous plants.
Half a period of time passed, and occasionally, a cultivator would be startled by the erratic movements of the mutated Dragon Whiskers Grass. Fortunately, everyone was on high alert, and the weakened state of the mutated grass meant that no casualties had occurred so far.
Yet, despite their combined expertise, the group of spiritual herbologists remained clueless about how to differentiate between the normal and mutated Dragon Whiskers Grass, nor had they made any progress in figuring out a safe extraction method.
"I wonder if we'll be able to find a way to distinguish and separate the normal Dragon Whiskers Grass from the mutated ones," Wang Ruhai remarked as he and Li Jianfeng stood atop a protruding boulder, their arms folded across their chests as they overlooked the group of spiritual herbologists below.
"Perhaps," Li Jianfeng replied nonchalantly.
"There's a good chance, considering these herbologists are among the best in Lin Yang City's marketplace. If they can't figure it out, then we may as well admit defeat," Wang Ruhai added.
"It would be a shame to waste so many second-grade spiritual herbs," Li Jianfeng nodded in agreement.
After waiting a while longer without any new developments, the elegant scholar, Wang Ruhai, stretched lazily and suggested, "Jianfeng, you stay here and keep an eye on them. I'll take a look around the area to see if I can find any spirit herbs or deal with any demonic beasts that might be lurking nearby."
"These spiritual herbologists are only at the intermediate stage of Qi Refinement, and they lack real-life combat experience. I doubt they'll stir up any trouble. One person guarding them should suffice," he concluded before soaring away on a golden flying sword.
After listening to the discussions and making his own observations, Lu Chen finally stepped forward to put his plan into action. He approached three strands of Dragon Whiskers Grass, his spiritual energy circulating as he prepared to attempt the harvest.
Extracting the Dragon Whiskers Grass wasn't particularly difficult. With his mastery of the Earth-Drawing Technique, Lu Chen could easily uproot the grass. In fact, most of the spiritual herbologists present were capable of doing so.
The real challenge lay in distinguishing between the normal and mutated grass and then separating the unknown entity within the normal Dragon Whiskers Grass.
Failure to differentiate meant that mixing the mutated grass with the normal ones could trigger a riotous attack, damaging the healthy spiritual herbs.
And if he couldn't separate the unknown entity, it would affect the quality and lower the value of the Dragon Whiskers Grass.
Lu Chen maintained his spiritual energy, expanding his spiritual sense to its maximum as he cautiously examined the three strands of grass before him.
Externally, the Dragon Whiskers Grass looked almost identical, with only subtle variations in length and width.
Using his spiritual sense, Lu Chen peered inside the grass and discovered numerous fine, grayish-white tendrils running through the entire length of each strand.
"Now, how do I tell which of these grayish-white tendrils are normal and which are mutated?" Lu Chen wondered, his guard up as he inspected each strand carefully. However, he found no anomalies.
"I wonder what would happen if I were to extract and replant this unknown entity?" A sudden idea popped into Lu Chen's mind. With great care, he employed the Earth-Drawing Technique to separate the roots and stems of the Dragon Whiskers Grass from the soil before carefully harvesting them.
He Ping, noticing Lu Xuan's strange actions, couldn't help but ask.
"Just conducting an experiment to prove a hypothesis," Lu Xuan replied, his attention focused on the newly planted Dragon Whiskers Grass.
Sure enough, a thought emerged in his mind.
Dragon Whiskers Grass, a second-grade spirit herb that grows in rocky environments. It can be used to refine healing pills after maturation.
During the mutation process, the tendrils within the spirit herb are undergoing a subtle transformation. When alternately stimulated by fire and ice-based techniques, the mutated tendrils will exhibit a slight reaction.
"So, it only reacts to both ice and fire... that's normal."
As the thought flashed through his mind, Lu Xuan had a sudden realization and marveled quietly.
He harvested the remaining strand of Dragon Whiskers Grass and replanted it into the fissure.
Another thought appeared.
Mutated Dragon Whiskers Grass, a second-grade spirit herb with a certain degree of aggressiveness. It excels at disguise and is nearly indistinguishable from normal Dragon Whiskers Grass.
"Found one that's mutated."
Lu Xuan held the silver-white short blade, on guard against a possible attack from the newly planted mutated Dragon Whiskers Grass.
"Its disguise is pretty good."
After waiting for a while, the mutated grass remained still, giving no indication of any impending assault, as if Lu Xuan had misjudged its nature.
"If you want to keep pretending, go ahead. I won't play along."
Lu Xuan moved to the side and squatted in front of a few strands of Dragon Whiskers Grass, pretending to be engrossed in studying them.
"So, I can only sense the real-time status and detailed information of a spirit herb if I plant it myself."
"Makes sense. The two spirit fields I rented in the market district aren't mine, so it's understandable that I can sense the condition of the Dragon Whiskers Grass I planted."
"But for spirit herbs that I plant midway like this, I suppose they won't produce light spheres as rewards, just like the diseased spirit herbs I encountered before and the four Blood Jade Ginseng plants I kept for seeds."
"I must personally plant the spirit seeds or seedlings, nurture them carefully, and harvest them promptly upon maturation to receive the light sphere rewards."
"However, being able to uncover the mystery within this Dragon Whiskers Grass is still quite a fortunate turn of events."
Lu Xuan mused, keeping his discovery to himself. Instead, he pretended to cast Spirit Rain Technique and Wood Birth Technique, appearing no different from the other spiritual herbologists around him.
During this time, whenever he discovered other plants, he would dig them out and casually replant them to learn about their details, but he did not come across any rare spirit herbs.
"What's this?"
Suddenly, he spotted a mushroom-shaped stone beneath a boulder.
The stone was grayish-white, hard in texture, with a wide top and a surface covered in strange patterns that, when combined, formed an eerie face, as if it were choosing its prey before striking.
"Should I plant it and see what happens?"
Intrigued by its mushroom-like shape and bizarre appearance, Lu Xuan decided to give it a try.
He employed the Earth-Drawing Technique, and the stone buried in the soil quietly split open, creating a fissure just large enough to accommodate the mushroom-shaped stone.
As he concentrated his attention on it, a thought emerged in his mind.
Lu Xuan suppressed his excitement and absorbed the information.
Ghost-Faced Stone Mushroom, a third-grade spirit herb. Upon maturation, it can enhance the cultivation speed of certain sinister arts. It feeds on vengeful spirits and is currently in a dormant state. To awaken it, one must use vengeful spirits that have been crushed and refined into a pill.
(End of Chapter)
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