21: Chapter 21 Accumulation and Planning (Part 2)

After saying goodbye to Chen Hao, Lin Xuan first went to the Alchemy room.

After accepting the task of sorting medicinal herbs, he needed to work here for two hours every afternoon.

The Alchemy room was located on the side of Emerald Bamboo Peak near the Qinglin Herb Garden, a three-story stone building where the air was perpetually filled with a faint scent of medicine and smoke.

The person in charge of sorting was a middle-aged female cultivator with a sallow complexion who rarely smiled.

Lin Xuan showed his wooden token, and the female cultivator simply nodded, leading him to a room piled high with various dried or preliminarily processed herbs.

She explained the sorting standards, the storage areas for various herbs, and the precautions, then said nothing more and went off to attend to her own business.

The work was tedious but required extremely high precision.

One needed to sort the mixed herbs by shape, scent, and color, while also removing those of poor quality or any mixed-in debris.

The slightest carelessness could affect subsequent Alchemy.

Yet, Lin Xuan was able to settle his mind. His familiarity with the "introduction to hundreds of herbs" came in handy now, and with his Divine Sense being sharper after his Breakthrough, his sorting was both fast and accurate.

Occasionally, when he encountered something he wasn't sure about, he would set it aside to ask the female cultivator later.

The female cultivator, initially indifferent, saw that Lin Xuan had a very low error rate and a serious attitude, so her expression softened slightly, and her answers became more detailed.

Two hours passed quickly.

Lin Xuan rubbed his slightly sore eyes, looking at the dozen or so baskets of neatly sorted herbs, feeling satisfied.

Three contribution points earned today.

Leaving the Alchemy room, the sun was already setting.

He did not return to his living quarters but headed straight for the "Black Bamboo Ravine" in the back mountain—he planned to take advantage of the early hour to complete part of the task of clearing the poisonous thorn vines today.

The Black Bamboo Ravine was located deep in the back mountain of Emerald Bamboo Peak, more remote and gloomy than the areas he had explored before.

Bamboo of a deep purple, almost black color grew in the ravine, hence the name Black Bamboo. The poisonous thorn vines were wrapped around these black bamboos or spread out from the crevices of the rocks along the ravine.

The vines were as thick as a wrist, their skin covered in dark green thorns, the tips of which faintly glimmered with a ghostly light.

They seemed to be able to sense living things approaching. When Lin Xuan stepped into the ravine entrance, the nearest few vines immediately rose up like venomous snakes, swaying slowly with their thorns aimed in his direction.

Lin Xuan did not rush in blindly. He stood where he was, channeling the "Earth Listening Technique" to perceive his surroundings.

Besides the wind blowing through the bamboo leaves and the gurgling of the ravine water, there was also the faint rustling sound of vines writhing and rubbing against each other.

There were quite a few of them, but they didn't seem to have a core of a transformed Tier 1 Yao Beast; they were just a group acting on instinct.

He drew his qingyun sword and pinched a sign with his left hand.

"Lightning Strike Technique!"

A pale purple bolt of electricity, more condensed and faster than before, shot out from his fingertips and precisely hit the middle section of the nearest vine.

"Crackle!"

The electricity exploded, the vine twitched violently, and the hit area instantly turned charred black, emitting blue smoke.

The vine, feeling pain, twisted wildly, causing the surrounding ones to become restless as well and lash out in Lin Xuan's direction.

Lin Xuan moved his feet, and under the enhancement of the "Wind Control Technique", his figure nimbly dodged the strikes of two vines. At the same time, he infused Thunder Spiritual Energy into the qingyun sword in his hand, causing the blade to glow faintly, and swung it to slash at another attacking vine.

"Swish!"

The blade edge, coated with Thunder Spiritual Energy, was far sharper than ordinary mortal iron. Coupled with the restraint of lightning against wood attributes, the vine was severed in one stroke, the cut surface charred black and oozing dark green juice.

Lin Xuan fought and retreated, leading the vines to a relatively open area to avoid being surrounded.

He was not greedy for merit; he targeted only one or two vines at a time, weakening them with long-range Lightning Strike Technique attacks before using the qingyun sword for close-quarters combat to sever them. His consumption of Thunder Spiritual Energy was low, but the effect was remarkable.

About half an hour later, more than twenty poisonous thorn vines that had spread out near the ravine entrance had been cleared away. The ground was a mess, covered in charred, broken vines and foul-smelling juice.

Lin Xuan panted slightly, sweat on his forehead, but his eyes were bright.

Although this battle was not intense, it was his first real combat since his Breakthrough, and he had gained new insights into the control of Spiritual Qi and the coordination of Spells and sword techniques.

The clearing task was basically completed; he only needed to come back tomorrow or the day after to clear the small number of vines growing in the deep rock crevices inside the ravine.

He took a Qi-Recovery Powder, adjusted his breath for a moment, and seeing that the sky was darkening, he did not go deeper and turned to leave the Black Bamboo Ravine.

When he returned to his small courtyard in Zone C of Emerald Bamboo Peak, twilight had already fallen.

After a simple dinner, Lin Xuan returned to the Quiet Room. He did not rest immediately but sat cross-legged, sinking his Divine Sense into his Sea of Consciousness to communicate with the spirit control tower.

The tower's shadow still floated eternally, but it seemed slightly more solid than before. With a thought, his consciousness entered the space inside the tower.

After reaching Level 1 Qi Refining, the space had indeed changed.

The original desolate sandy land of three or four miles in radius had expanded outward by about a mile, and the gray fog at the edges had receded.

Although it was still desolate, it felt much more spacious.

The most obvious change was in the central area. That thunder-attracting vine had sprouted another tender green leaf; it now had six or seven leaves, and the pale purple leaf veins were flowing with spiritual light, full of vitality.

With it as the center, within a radius of more than ten zhang on the sandy ground, the pale purple Thunder Spiritual Energy drifting in the air was clearly visible, with a concentration nearly twice that of the ordinary areas of Emerald Bamboo Peak in the outside world.

The Herb-Seeking Mouse was running happily near the thunder-attracting vine.

The purple luster at the roots of its grayish-brown fur was more obvious, its body seemed to have grown a size larger, and its black bean-like eyes were more lively.

Seeing Lin Xuan's consciousness manifest, it immediately scurried over and affectionately rubbed against his phantom image.

Lin Xuan noticed that in a corner of the space, a small area he had previously tried to pile up with waste materials and moist soil remained damp, and the few ordinary Low Grade Spirit Medicine (such as soul-calming flower and hemostatic grass) he had transplanted from the back mountain were actually growing quite well.

Although the Spiritual Qi in the space was dominated by lightning, these Spirit Medicine seemed to be able to adapt, just growing slowly.

"It seems the space has a basic maintenance effect on spirit plants, and can even simulate the environment to a certain extent."

Lin Xuan pondered, "If I can find suitable spirit plants in the Cloud Mist Valley in the future, perhaps I can try cultivating them here."

He withdrew from the Spirit-Taming Tower Space and returned to the Quiet Room.

The oil lamp was lit, and the dim yellow halo illuminated the tabletop.

He couldn't take the booklet Deacon Wu gave him out, but he had already memorized many key points in his mind.

He took out a piece of paper and, relying on his memory, recorded the key points for picking and processing cloud mist grass, water-condensing stone, wind bell flower, and mist heart orchid, as well as the warnings about the claw mark area on the map.

Especially that claw mark area... miasma, strange noises, electric light.

"The possibility of a lightning-attribute Yao Beast is high," Lin Xuan mused. "If its strength is not too great, perhaps I can gain some benefits from it. If it is too strong, I must stay away."

He carefully put away the paper he had recorded on and blew out the oil lamp.

The Quiet Room plunged into darkness, with only the starlight outside the window.

Sitting cross-legged, he began the daily mandatory "Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art".

The Thunder Spiritual Energy in his Dantian circulated slowly; the Cultivation was still slow, but every step was solid.

Today's harvest was bountiful: Deacon Wu's guidance and permission to consult notes, Chen Hao's map of friendship, the start of two new tasks, the initial test of actual combat, and the growth of the Spirit-Taming Tower Space.

Five months—time was tight, but the direction was becoming clear.

Cloud Mist Valley; he had to be fully prepared.

The work in the herb garden could not be lost; this was his Foundation. The extra tasks had to be completed; this was resource accumulation. Cultivation could not be relaxed; this was the root.

The road had to be walked step by step.

Lin Xuan closed his eyes, immersed in the profound nature of Spiritual Qi circulation.

The insect chirping outside the window gradually became sparse, the night grew deeper, and Emerald Bamboo Peak sank into a peaceful silence, with only the mountain wind passing through the bamboo forest, making a faint rustling sound, as if whispering of the impending waves.