Chapter 96: Still the Same Old Iron Crab
Chapter 96: Still the Same Old Iron Crab
"I'm finally home."
Lu Chen stood in front of the gate of his courtyard, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
"Fortunately, there are still kind people in the cultivation world who brought me back to Fang City."
After encountering the first three cultivators, he met two more groups, all of whom were enthusiastic and insisted on giving him their storage bags.
It was only on the fourth encounter with two cultivators that they agreed to take Lu Chen back to Linyang Fangshi.
Without the Iron-feathered Eagle of the second grade, the journey back was much slower, and it took Lu Chen and his companions four to five days to reach the city.
With a creak, the gate opened, and a familiar spiritual aura wafted from the courtyard, causing Lu Chen to take a deep breath and feel a sense of peace.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, you're finally back," came a familiar voice from a short distance away.
Lu Chen turned to see Wu Wenjing standing at the gate, his drunken eyes blurry as he sized up Lu Chen.
"I heard you went to that new secret realm. I was worried I'd lost a drinking buddy! I'm glad you're back safe and sound." The elderly man said with a smile.
"I had no choice. When the Wang family cultivators invited me, I couldn't refuse," Lu Chen said helplessly.
"Indeed, there was a little accident in the secret realm, but fortunately, we made it back safely."
"Right, Fellow Daoist Wu, while I was away, has anyone come by my courtyard?"
Wu Wenjing shook his head to clear his thoughts and pondered for a moment.
"There was a young man with the surname Zhang who came by to look for you, and the old manager of Hundred Grass Hall also came by almost every day. Other than that, I haven't seen anyone else."
"Alright, thank you, Fellow Daoist Wu. I'll come by after I tidy up to have a drink with you," Lu Chen said, his mind conjuring up images of Zhang Xiuyuan and He Guanshi.
Without resting, Lu Chen made his way to the spirit field.
The spirit field was filled with mist.
The Grass Puppet sensed an intrusion and turned its large gray head to look.
Upon sensing Lu Chen's aura, it froze in place, paused for a few breaths, and then continued its patrol, its steps seemingly lighter than before.
Lu Chen scanned the entire spirit field and, satisfied that everything was in order, made his way to the spirit spring pond.
In the crystal clear spring pond, each of the four first-grade Iron Crab younglings occupied a corner, blowing bubbles.
After more than ten days without food, Lu Chen noticed that the Iron Crabs' abdomens had flattened considerably.
The most mischievous one, with its eyes protruding from its head, sensed Lu Chen's upper body leaning over and raised its pair of large, dark green claws high, snapping them like scissors in a defiant display.
"Good, you're still the same old iron crab, not a bit changed," Lu Chen said, reassured by the Iron Crab youngling's challenging attitude.
In the center of the spirit spring pond, the Pure Snow Lotus, surrounded by a high wall of mud and stone, had quietly grown a jade-like lotus pod over the past ten days, within which the outline of a lotus seed could be faintly seen.
"This is an unexpected delight," Lu Chen said, his mind focusing on the Pure Snow Lotus as he noticed that the progress bar below was almost full, with only a small section remaining.
In the spirit field, Lu Chen had harvested all the Spirit Glowgrass before he left. He had also placed the third-grade Mirage Smoke Fruit and the Flood Dragon Vine into his bag, so apart from the first-grade Pure Snow Lotus, there were only three second-grade Clearwonder Spiritual Tea plants and five Copperbone Bamboo shoots.
In addition, there were four sickly second-grade spirit plants that he had acquired previously in a corner.
After tending to the spirit plants briefly, Lu Chen opened the Sheng Sheng bag, and the cloud-stepping lynx leaped out, its thick paws landing firmly on the ground.
"Roar..."
It stretched its limbs and let out a soft growl.
During this trip to the secret realm, it had spent most of its time inside the bag, and its joints were almost rusted stiff.
Lu Chen also took out the Mirage Smoke Fruit and the Flood Dragon Vine from the bag.
Despite being inside for so long, both plants still retained most of their vitality.
He replanted them in the spirit field and focused his attention on these two third-grade spirit plants.
The Mirage Smoke Fruit rapidly secreted white smoke, expanding and enveloping the misty spirit fruit within.
As for the Flood Dragon Vine, Lu Chen sensed its strong desire for serpent blood through their connection and quickly took out the Greenwater Python Blood, pouring a generous amount onto the black vines.
The vines eagerly absorbed the red and green mixture, and soon, the once-withered vines came back to life, slithering like a poisonous snake. The surface of the vines displayed a red and green pattern, adding to their exotic and strange appearance.
After tending to his spirit plants, Lu Chen returned to his house to take stock of his gains from this trip.
Although they had encountered unexpected dangers on their way to the secret realm to help the Wang family distinguish the entangled spirit plants, the harvest was abundant.
One of the most significant rewards was the five Ghost-faced Stone Mushrooms that had entered a dormant state.
Obtaining five third-grade spirit plants at once was a great boon, although they still needed to be awakened by refining and crushing the residual malevolent ghostly resentment within them.
The appearance and cultivation method of the Ghost-faced Stone Mushrooms exuded an aura of evil, but Lu Chen didn't seem to mind.
After trying to feed it spirit fruits and discovering its true nature, he was intrigued, and given the chance, he would even consider trying to raise a little evil beast.
Additionally, he had obtained several dozen pre-treated Dragon Whiskers Grass, among which there might be many variant strains. At the same time, he needed to separate the abnormal whiskers from the regular Dragon Whiskers Grass.
Lu Chen already had a method to completely identify and separate them, and he could quickly select the normal ones.
Second-grade spirit plants could be exchanged for a considerable number of spirit stones.
In terms of spirit stones, he had earned one hundred from the Wang family as partial payment, over two hundred from Li Jianfeng's storage bag, and another two hundred from the other cultivators, bringing his total wealth to just over one thousand spirit stones.
Furthermore, he had acquired two second-grade magical artifacts, several storage bags, first-grade talismans of various types, first-grade pills, a pile of low-grade demon beast materials, spirit grasses, and medicines.
There was also that peculiar sword sheath that seemed to be attracted to the Xuntian Thunder Sword Pill within his body, and it had remained quiet for the past few days.
However, the fact that it had been pursued by both an aberrant evil beast and a cultivator in the early stages of foundation establishment meant that it was likely an extraordinary treasure.
Lastly, there was the so-called Qingyun Token given to him by the cold female cultivator, which would allow him to join the Tianjian Sect more conveniently.
"No wonder so many loose cultivators are eager to explore secret realms and compete with others for opportunities; the potential gains are indeed enormous."
"However, there are also considerable risks involved. There's the intrusion of evil beasts, their pursuit, and the schemes of other cultivators. One wrong step, and you might find yourself in a perilous situation."
"It's better to just quietly cultivate my spirit plants."
Lu Chen couldn't help but sigh.
(End of Chapter)
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