https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-91-Flying-Magical-Artifacts-and-Illusion-Transformation-Spells/12549182/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-93-The-Iron-Stem-Orchid-s-Abnormality/12549188/
Chapter 92: Iron Stem Orchid and the Iron Orchid Fruit
Chapter 92: Iron Stem Orchid and the Iron Orchid Fruit
After the Illusionary Transformation Spell was auctioned off, Chu Ning lost interest in the remaining items.
Without further ado, he stood up and left the room.
Outside, he found the attendant and spent 200 low-grade spirit stones to purchase the Thousand Beast Portrait.
After waiting briefly for Lin Changqing, who still hadn't come down, Chu Ning decided to browse the Cloud Sea Pavilion.
Chu Ning's current focus was on talisman-making and planting, so he naturally paid more attention to these two categories.
In the talisman-selling area, he spotted some upper-tier elementary and even intermediate talismans.
However, Chu Ning had no need for them at the moment.
He perused the selection of elementary middle-grade talismans, which indeed boasted a wide variety.
Yet, when it came to talisman quality, they couldn't compare to the ones he crafted himself.
This fact brought a hint of pride to Chu Ning's heart.
In terms of quality, no one could surpass his talismans.
In the end, he only purchased ten boxes of talisman ink and nothing else.
Moving on to the spiritual plant sales area, Chu Ning's eyes lit up.
Within the Cloud Sea Pavilion, there were quite a few spiritual plants that he had only seen in He Changyou's jade slips but had never encountered before.
He carefully examined them.
As he strolled along, Chu Ning paused before a foot-tall spiritual plant with slender leaves.
Immediately, an attendant approached and began introducing it.
"Fellow Daoist, this is the Iron Stem Orchid. It was introduced to our Cloud Sea Pavilion from another mountain range.
This spiritual plant can be directly used as an ingredient in medicinal pills. It is one of the best auxiliary medicinal materials for refining pills that strengthen the body and enhance qi and blood.
If someone is willing to cultivate it carefully and devote time to it, there is a certain probability that it will bear the Iron Orchid Fruit.
The Iron Orchid Fruit is an excellent spiritual medicine for tempering the body."
Chu Ning's expression remained unchanged despite the attendant's enthusiastic description.
The Nine Transformations Body Refining Technique he practiced was different from conventional body tempering techniques, and it didn't rely heavily on external aids for tempering.
Thus, he didn't pay much attention to the alleged effects of the Iron Orchid Fruit.
However, Chu Ning had learned about this spiritual plant from He Changyou's jade slips, and its other characteristic piqued his interest.
The attendant continued with the introduction.
"Of course, the Iron Stem Orchid requires a large amount of spiritual energy for its cultivation.
Although it absorbs spiritual energy quickly, if placed in a location with insufficient spiritual energy, the cultivation time will be very long.
Moreover, whether or not it bears the Iron Orchid Fruit is entirely a matter of probability, and currently, no method has been discovered to aid in its fruiting.
This is something we need to make clear to Fellow Daoist."
Chu Ning nodded slightly, already aware of these facts.
The reason he had stopped at this plant was because of its high spiritual energy absorption.
In his backyard, he needed spiritual plants that absorbed a lot of spiritual energy quickly.
The more spiritual energy these plants absorbed, the more beneficial they would be to his practice of the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art and the Green Wood Immortal Technique.
He had been thinking of planting some spiritual plants in one of the two backyards of his residence in Yanjifang to aid his cultivation of the Green Wood Immortal Technique.
However, the few types of seeds he had brought from the sect weren't very suitable.
The Green Spirit Fruit he was currently growing could only be considered barely adequate.
After all, normally, the faster and larger the spiritual plant absorbed spiritual energy, the more precious it was.
Additionally, higher-quality spiritual plants often had stricter requirements, such as wider spacing for cultivation.
Since the Iron Stem Orchid might or might not bear the Iron Orchid Fruit, its price wouldn't be too high.
Chu Ning noticed that it was priced at 20 spirit stones per plant here.
Moreover, Chu Ning had read in the jade slip that the Iron Stem Orchid could be grown quite densely.
Of course, the corresponding trade-off would be a decrease in quality.
However, this wasn't a significant concern for Chu Ning.
Chu Ning immediately asked the attendant, "How many of these Iron Stem Orchids do you have here?"
The attendant was slightly taken aback but quickly replied, "We have around 50 plants."
"50 plants," Chu Ning calculated in his mind. "Then I'll take them all. Can we discuss the price?"
"You want to buy all 50 Iron Stem Orchids?" The attendant's eyes lit up, and after a moment's thought, he said, "If you're buying all 50, I can apply to the Pavilion for a discounted price of 19 spirit stones per plant.
With that, the attendant quickly left.
Before long, he returned with two large jade boxes.
"Fellow Daoist, all 50 Iron Stem Orchids have been placed in these two jade boxes. If you plan to use them for medicinal purposes, you can store them here for an extended period without issue. However, if you intend to plant them, you must do so within ten days; otherwise, their chances of survival are slim."
Chu Ning nodded to indicate his understanding and took the two jade boxes, handing over 950 spirit stones in return.
The attendant accepted the payment, maintaining a smile on his face.
"If you manage to grow Iron Orchid Fruits from these Iron Stem Orchids, Fellow Daoist, you can bring them to Cloud Sea Pavilion for a high price. We offer competitive rates for various treasures..."
Chu Ning gave a noncommittal nod.
He didn't know if Cloud Sea Pavilion's offered prices were truly competitive, but he knew their selling prices weren't cheap.
In just half a day, he had spent over 2,800 spirit stones.
With the recent success of his talisman sales, his stash of spirit stones had diminished considerably.
Without further delay, Chu Ning decided to head downstairs to wait for Lin Changqing.
Soon, the auction dispersed, and numerous Qi Refining cultivators left the venue.
Chu Ning waited for about an hour before Lin Changqing finally descended from the upper floor.
Despite his typically stoic expression, there was a hint of a smile in his eyes, indicating that he had made some valuable acquisitions.
Upon seeing Chu Ning, Lin Changqing casually asked, "Did you get everything you needed?"
"Yes!" Chu Ning replied.
Lin Changqing didn't inquire further and simply nodded, "Let's head back, then."
He didn't question Chu Ning about his purchases at the auction, and on their return journey, he allowed Chu Ning to ride on his flying boat once more.
After another long while, the duo returned to Yanjifang.
Lin Changqing dropped Chu Ning off outside the store and then departed.
Chu Ning reentered the store and immediately went to check on the back courtyard. Seeing that Ling Xiaobai was still sound asleep, he felt relieved.
Ling Xiaobai opened her eyes briefly to glance at Chu Ning before resuming her slumber.
Unbothered by her behavior, Chu Ning began examining the items he had purchased from Cloud Sea Pavilion.
First, he turned his attention to the Chase Wind Shuttle, the most expensive flight artifact he had ever bought.
Measuring about five feet in length, with pointed ends and a maximum width of about two and a half feet, it provided ample space for standing or sitting.
Although it was a bit pricey, the thought of flying through the skies without relying on the Wind Riding Technique filled Chu Ning with anticipation.
"I'll give it a test run tomorrow when I go to the spirit field," he mused.
For now, he set aside the jade slip containing the Illusionary Transformation Spell and instead focused on the two jade boxes filled with Iron Stem Orchids.
At 20 spirit stones per plant, these were by far the most expensive spiritual plants Chu Ning had ever cultivated.
Typically, this spiritual herb wasn't grown in large quantities like ordinary spiritual plants due to its medicinal value.
However, to Chu Ning, who was focused on cultivation, it held the same significance as any other spiritual plant at the moment.
Chu Ning found a spacious area and carefully removed each Iron Stem Orchid from the boxes, planting them one by one.
He planted them densely, leaving just enough space for him to sit cross-legged in the center of a circle with a radius of less than two zhang.
The outer ring was filled with two layers of the 50 Iron Stem Orchids.
Once all the orchids were in place, Chu Ning performed a hand seal and cast the Sweet Rain Technique.
Although he still couldn't cast this basic technique instantly, it served its purpose.
Immediately after, he cast the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art, enveloping the 50 Iron Stem Orchids.
The orchids showed no reaction to the first casting, so Chu Ning continued.
He cast the technique repeatedly, a total of thirty times, before finally stopping.
A pleased expression appeared on his face as he gazed at the Iron Stem Orchids.
Previously, he had only heard about their high spiritual energy absorption requirements, but now he had a more concrete understanding.
These Iron Stem Orchids absorbed spiritual energy even more voraciously than the Blood Mahogany trees from the assessment in Sector Three.
However, due to their thick trunks and wide-spreading branches, Blood Mahogany trees required ample spacing when cultivated.
In his backyard, Chu Ning could only plant about two of them.
But now, the tiny Iron Stem Orchids could absorb so much spiritual energy with the aid of the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art, and it both surprised and delighted him.
After a few more days, when the Iron Stem Orchids grew to their normal size, Chu Ning would use them to aid his cultivation. He could imagine that the results would definitely surpass those of other spiritual plants he had tried before.
At that moment, Ling Xiaobai was awakened by the sound of Chu Ning's spellcasting.
She looked at the Iron Stem Orchids and let out a soft "whine."
Chu Ning paused at the sound and only realized what Ling Xiaobai wanted when she conveyed her desire to eat through their spiritual connection.
He smiled and asked, "Do you want to eat the fruit that grows on this Iron Stem Orchid?"
Ling Xiaobai whined again in response.
Chu Ning shook his head with a smile, "I want it to bear fruit first. The key is for it to actually produce fruit."
Whether it was from He Changyou's jade slip or the attendant at Cloud Sea Pavilion, both sources mentioned that the Iron Orchid Fruit was a matter of probability.
If it were possible to increase the chances of fruiting by improving the quality of the plant, Chu Ning would have absolute confidence in his Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.
But with such random and unpredictable events, Chu Ning could only hope that he was a child of good fortune.
Upon hearing Chu Ning's words, Ling Xiaobai blinked her adorable eyes and started circling the ring of Iron Stem Orchids.
Then, to Chu Ning's astonishment, she lifted her leg and...
urinated.
"I was planning to cultivate in that spot. Couldn't you hold it and go somewhere else? Even peeing on the magnolia fruit would be better than here."
Chu Ning gaped at Ling Xiaobai, exasperated, but she merely whined at him in response.
Then, she walked away nonchalantly and lay down again, ready to resume her nap.
"I hope your pee doesn't harm these spiritual plants," Chu Ning sigthed, shaking his head helplessly. He decided to ignore her and left the backyard.
Chu Ning started a fire to cook, boiling a pot of spirit rice while examining the jade slip he had purchased from Cloud Sea Pavilion earlier—the one containing the Thousand Beast Portrait.
As expected, it contained a wealth of information about various demonic beasts and spiritual beasts.
There were not only textual descriptions but also vivid illustrations, bringing the beasts to life.
Since he was primarily interested in finding information about Ling Xiaobai, Chu Ning browsed through the contents swiftly.
However, after perusing the entire jade slip, he felt a twinge of disappointment and set it down.
While the Thousand Beast Portrait did provide extensive information about spiritual beasts and demonic beasts, Chu Ning found no mention of anything related to Ling Xiaobai throughout the entire slip.
"But this jade slip does contain a lot of information about the classifications of spiritual beasts and demonic beasts."
Chu Ning held the jade slip thoughtfully.
According to the slip, there wasn't a clear distinction between spiritual beasts and demonic beasts in the current cultivation world.
Cultivators tended to refer to the beasts they nurtured as spiritual beasts, while those that roamed wild were called demonic beasts.
However, in ancient times, only those beasts born with the heavens and earth, possessing unique divine abilities, were called spiritual beasts.
And these spiritual beasts, as they grew, almost always reached the sixth rank and above.
The classification of spiritual beasts and demonic beasts corresponded to the level of a Golden Core cultivator.
But even if they were sixth rank or higher, without special talents, they would still be considered demonic beasts.
However, as the number of heavenly spiritual beasts diminished over time, the terminology gradually changed.
And those spiritual beasts with unique divine abilities were now referred to as ancient spiritual beasts in the current cultivation world.
Apart from the introductions to spiritual beasts and demonic beasts, the Thousand Beast Portrait also included detailed information about various demonic beasts.
It gave Chu Ning a comprehensive understanding of demonic beasts for the first time.
Although the demonic beasts mentioned in the portrait were mostly below the fifth rank, with only a small number at the sixth rank, Chu Ning felt that the 200 spirit stones he had spent were well worth it.
He was only slightly disappointed that he hadn't found any information about Ling Xiaobai.
Fortunately, Ling Xiaobai had been staying with him for a day or two, and Chu Ning hadn't noticed any significant drawbacks, so he didn't feel too anxious about it.
In the future, he would look for opportunities to find more advanced books about spiritual beasts and demonic beasts.
Chu Ning had a feeling that Ling Xiaobai was no ordinary beast, despite her low current rank.
It was a mystery.
(End of Chapter)
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