43: Chapter 43 The Growth of Thunderbugs and Spatial Changes

Time flowed quietly like a mountain stream; in the blink of an eye, it had already been three months since his return from the canyon.

Autumn was deepening, and the edges of the bamboo leaves on Emerald Bamboo Peak were tinged with a faint gold.

In the mornings, a thin layer of white frost would form on the blades of grass, shimmering with tiny glimmers under the rising sun.

Lin Xuan's life remained disciplined.

His cultivation had reached the Middle Stage of Qi Refining Level 2, his Thunder Flash Step and Palm Thunder were becoming increasingly proficient, and he was also wielding the startling thunder whip quite skillfully.

Every day, outside of his time to Cultivate, one of his most important tasks was to tend to the "residents" within the Spirit-Taming Tower Space.

This morning, after he finished his daily Cultivate, Lin Xuan did not get up immediately; instead, he sank his consciousness into the Spirit-Taming Tower Space.

The scene within the space was vastly different from three months ago.

The most obvious change was the size—the originally desolate sandy land that spanned four or five li had now expanded to nearly six li.

The gray fog at the edges had receded, revealing more monotonous yet solid sandy and rocky ground.

In Lin Xuan's perception, the concentration of Spiritual Qi in the central area had steadily reached more than four times that of ordinary areas outside.

And the core of this dense Spiritual Qi was that thunder-attracting vine.

The thunder-attracting vine was now over four feet tall, its main stem as thick as a thumb, and its entire body presented a warm, deep purple color.

Fifteen palm-sized leaves were spread out, and the purple light flowing through the veins was bright and steady, as if there were a life breathing within them.

What was most pleasantly surprising was that at the top of the vine, a rice-grain-sized, pale golden flower bud was slowly developing; although it was still a long way from blooming, this was undoubtedly a positive signal—the thunder-attracting vine was about to enter a new growth stage.

"Thunder-Attracting Fruit..." Lin Xuan recalled a vague record in some miscellaneous book.

If it could truly bear fruit, that would be a much more precious Dao spiritual object than the thunder-attracting vine itself.

Beneath the thunder-attracting vine was another core of the space: the Purple Lightning Glow Insect.

The little guy's changes were also very obvious.

Its body was no longer the pale purple from when he first acquired it, but had turned into a deep, dark purple, crystal clear, like a flying piece of amethyst.

The natural silver lightning patterns on its wings were clearer, and each time it flapped its wings, it would trail a faint purple light.

Its "Thunder Gathering" range had expanded from the initial ten-plus feet to nearly one zhang.

With it as the center, the Spiritual Qi within a radius of one zhang was being orderly gathered, combed, and purified, with an efficiency about 20% higher than three months ago.

Lin Xuan could clearly feel that the "Thunder Gathering" talent he shared had also gained a slight improvement because of this.

Although the magnitude was not large, the cumulative effect over time would be considerable.

"Time to feed it."

Lin Xuan withdrew from his internal view and took a small jade bottle from his bosom.

Inside was the juice of "lightning-struck grass" that he had purchased at a low price from the Qinglin Herb Garden using contribution points, mixed with a little bit of ground lightning-struck stone powder.

For the Thunder-Light Bug, this was an excellent "snack."

With a thought, the jade bottle disappeared and appeared beside the Thunder-Light Bug inside the space.

The Thunder-Light Bug sensed it immediately, happily vibrated its wings, flew to the mouth of the bottle, and extended its slender mouthparts into it to feed.

The purple light on its body flickered rhythmically as it fed, looking very content.

After feeding the Thunder-Light Bug, Lin Xuan turned his gaze to the other two little guys.

The Herb-Seeking Mouse was napping on a flat stone not far from the thunder-attracting vine.

Its dark purple fur was sleek and shiny, and under the long-term immersion in the space's Spiritual Qi, its resistance to lightning had significantly improved.

The most interesting thing was its "Spirit Energy Tracking" talent—a few days ago, Lin Xuan tried to let it sense a lightning-struck stone, and it locked onto the position almost instantly, faster and more accurately than when sensing spiritual objects of other attributes.

"It seems the environment really can change talent orientation." Lin Xuan smiled and fed it a few crumbs of ordinary Medicinal Pill that helped open spiritual apertures.

Finally, there was the Thunder-Patterned Pangolin.

This fellow had the slowest recovery, but also the greatest changes.

After three months of recuperation, combined with the efficacy of the life-nurturing powder and the nourishment of the space environment, its external injuries had completely healed, and even the shattered scales had grown back.

The newly grown scales were dark brown, and the natural dark golden lightning patterns on them were clearer and deeper than before the injury, with a faint trend of turning into deep gold.

Its favorite posture was lying at the base of the thunder-attracting vine, curled up directly beneath the Thunder-Light Bug.

That was the area with the purest and gentlest Spiritual Qi within the space.

Lin Xuan could feel that its [Thunder-Patterned Armor] talent had not only fully recovered, but its defensive power seemed to be a notch stronger than before the injury, with weak currents often flowing on the surface of the scales.

What worried Lin Xuan more was a vague "craving" transmitted by the Pangolin through the contract—it seemed very interested in the newly exposed, firmer sandy and rocky ground at the edge of the space, occasionally pawing at it, but soon giving up and returning to the side of the thunder-attracting vine.

"Does it want to dig a hole? Or did it sense something?" Lin Xuan was lost in thought.

He withdrew from his internal view and took out a few items from his Storage Pouch: a bag of ordinary soil (dug from the back mountain), a few fist-sized rocks, a small pinch of lightning-struck stone powder, and a small paper bag—inside were electric-grass seeds exchanged from the Qinglin Herb Garden.

Electric-grass was a type of First Grade Low Grade spiritual plant that loved thunder; its leaves were slender like needles, and after maturing, it would spontaneously attract weak lightning, making it one of the Materials for refining Low Grade thunder-attribute talisman paper.

Although its value was not high, it had the advantage of strong vitality.

Lin Xuan entered the space again and walked to a corner about two zhang away from the central area.

The ground here was relatively flat. He first spread out the ordinary soil, mixed in the lightning-struck stone powder, and then moved rocks to enclose a small "nursery."

Then, he carefully sprinkled the electric-grass seeds in two areas and gently covered them with a thin layer of soil.

After doing this, he stepped back a few paces and observed quietly.

At first, there was no change. But after about a quarter of an hour, he keenly noticed that in the area where the electric-grass seeds were sown, there was an extremely weak static induction on the soil surface, and tiny dust particles were slightly lifted.

"Electric-grass indeed has stronger adaptability." Lin Xuan nodded.

This was just a preliminary attempt. Whether it could germinate and grow would depend on what followed.

But he was not in a hurry; with the basic maintenance function of the Spirit-Taming Tower Space and the increasingly improving thunder-spirit environment, the possibility of success was great.

He looked at the space as a whole again.

Apart from the "prosperity" of the central area, the newly expanded areas at the edges also began to show extremely subtle changes.

The sandy and rocky ground was no longer completely flat; some imperceptible undulations appeared, as if the earth was slowly breathing and adjusting.

The entire space was transforming from a "storage place" that merely imprisoned and maintained living beings into a "micro-environment" that was beginning to take shape and possessed a unique ecology.

Although it was still very primitive, this transformation itself was of extraordinary significance.

Lin Xuan exited the space and pushed open the door of the Quiet Room.

The autumn sun was warm, casting mottled light and shadows through the bamboo leaves. A few yellow leaves had fallen on the stone table in the courtyard.

He walked into the courtyard, stretched his muscles and bones, felt the steadily growing Spiritual Qi within his body, and felt the Spiritual Qi attraction brought by the "Thunder Gathering" talent that was happening all the time.

He looked toward the western horizon again. In the direction of Thunderfall Ravine, the clouds seemed always thicker than elsewhere.

"Soon." Lin Xuan whispered to himself.

The accumulation of strength, the improvement of the environment, the collection of intelligence... everything was proceeding step by step.

He returned to the Quiet Room, sat cross-legged, and began a new day of Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art Cultivate.

Pale purple Spiritual Qi, under the traction of his talent, gathered in wisps.