115: Chapter 115 The substrate grows rapidly, and spirit fish gather.

The outer layer of the Seal-Breath Restriction in the Spirit Plant Garden was leaking Spiritual Qi.

Lu Changyuan followed behind Luo Qingcheng as they walked into the Thunder Bamboo Garden. Under the moonlight, the light-refracting layer of the Restriction, which used to be a very faint light cyan, had now turned into a nearly transparent bright cyan, looking like a layer of inflated gauze. The principle of the Seal-Breath Restriction was to compress the wood Spiritual Qi leaking from the thunder bamboo into a small area so outsiders wouldn't notice—but now, the concentration of wood Spiritual Qi inside was rising too quickly, and the Restriction's compression ability couldn't keep up, causing the excess Spiritual Qi to leak out through the micropores in the Restriction's outer layer.

"How much has leaked?" Lu Changyuan squatted down and reached out to touch the surface of the Restriction's outer layer. The touch at his fingertips was warm and moist—wood Spiritual Qi was warm by nature, and mixed with the cool water Spiritual Qi surrounding it, it left a subtle temperature difference on his skin.

"It started leaking tonight after nightfall. For the first half hour, it only leaked a few wisps—now, the amount leaking is three or four times more than when night first fell." Luo Qingcheng pointed her fingers at the Array Pattern nodes on the outer layer of the Restriction. "The Restriction itself is fine—it's just that I left too little design margin. I adjusted the Restriction based on the concentration of wood Spiritual Qi the thunder bamboo had at the time; I didn't expect it to grow so fast within a month."

She pushed a wisp of her Divine Sense into the inner layer of the Restriction. In her Divine Sense, the concentration of wood Spiritual Qi around the thunder bamboo felt like a pale cyan flame burning brighter and brighter.

"Come here and look."

Lu Changyuan walked over to the thunder bamboo. The devil-cleansing thunder bamboo was a section taller than it had been a month ago—it had grown from being below his knees to half a foot above his knees. The circles of dark golden thunder patterns on the bamboo stalk were denser—previously there was one every two inches, but now there was almost one every inch, and the patterns were deeper; running a hand over them, one could feel the extremely fine protrusions.

The tide sound spirit bamboo beside it hadn't grown taller—but the silver tide runes on its stalk were glowing; this time, they weren't flickering, but were glowing steadily. The silver light from the runes drifted in wisps across the mere two-foot distance between the two bamboos, drifting onto the culture sand at the roots of the thunder bamboo. The moment the silver light threads touched the sand surface, they seeped in—like water droplets seeping into dry soil.

"The tide sound spirit bamboo is breaking down tide water Spiritual Qi into wood Spiritual Qi to feed the thunder bamboo. A month ago, the conversion rate was very low—back then, the wood Spiritual Qi concentration around the thunder bamboo's roots only rose by forty percent. Now, the conversion rate is heading toward three times that." Luo Qingcheng moved her fingers away from the Array Pattern. "At this rate—by next month, the amount of Spiritual Qi leaking out will be more than double what it is tonight."

Chen Mo had been called over from the Trial Workshop by Su Qingli. He squatted at the roots of the thunder bamboo and picked up a piece of old sand that had just been replaced. He looked at it against the moonlight for a while.

The color of the old sand was even darker than the batch replaced last week—it had turned from dark gray to grayish-black, and the residual thunder pattern threads attached to the surface had gone from a few extremely fine wisps to a dense layer. He crushed the old sand granule with his fingers—the dark golden thunder pattern threads embedded in the fragments were nearly double the amount from last time.

"The quality of the old sand is still rising." Chen Mo held the crushed old sand in his palm to show Lu Changyuan. "A month ago, the residue in the old sand was very sparse—after crushing it, there were only a few wisps of dark gold. Now, after crushing it, my entire palm is covered. The faster the thunder bamboo grows, the more secretions its roots expel—these secretions seep into the culture sand, and the grade of the old sand rises accordingly."

"How much can the monthly production of old sand increase?"

"Based on the current growth of the thunder bamboo—the amount of old sand replaced next month can double." Chen Mo grabbed a handful of the newly replaced culture sand from the ground. "Previously, the amount of old sand replaced once a month was enough to prepare two hundred bottles of purification liquid. After doubling—it will be enough for four hundred bottles."

The last Bottleneck in the production capacity of the purification liquid—the monthly production of old sand—was resolved tonight by the accelerated growth of the thunder bamboo. The military contract required two hundred bottles, and the Jubao Pavilion civilian channels needed at least eighty bottles for the first three months—totaling a monthly supply of nearly three hundred bottles. The previous shortage, where the old sand was only enough for two hundred bottles, had now been filled with a surplus.

Chen Mo squatted beside the thunder bamboo and put the sample of the old sand replaced tonight into a sample bag. The cloth strip sewn onto the bag had the date and quality rating written on it—'Quality: Superior-Superior'. The previous highest rating was 'Superior'.

"Can this growth rate of the thunder bamboo be seen in Ye Zhe's observation records?"

"Yes. Ye Zhe just measured the height of the thunder bamboo yesterday—it was a small half-inch shorter than today. This means tonight's wave is the fastest growth." Chen Mo tied the sample bag tight. "Elder Tianji previously said that 'the tide sound spirit bamboo accelerates the purification speed of the devil-cleansing thunder bamboo by three times'—now it looks like that threefold increase is being realized. It wasn't visible in the first month, accelerated in the second month, and stabilized at three times in the third month."

"Is tonight the third month?"

"It's been exactly three months and a few days. When it was planted, it was—" Chen Mo calculated, "Early September. Now it is mid-December. Just over three months."

When the thunder bamboo was planted, it was just a live root saved from the scraps of Xingyan—its root system was extremely weak, and Ye Zhe had held it in his arms, protecting it all the way from Black Reef Island to Blue Moon Island. Three months later, it had grown to above his knees, and the old sand expelled from its roots could support five array cauldrons.

When Lu Changyuan came out of the Thunder Bamboo Garden, it was almost dawn. In the direction of the Outer Port, Leng Feng's communication talisman lit up—it was an urgent report. The flashing frequency was twice as fast as the timekeeping signals from the scheduled observation posts.

Leng Feng stood on the Pier of the Outer Port, one hand pressing on his sword hilt. Behind him, along the line of the port's Restriction, a row of islanders gathering to watch the commotion—some were holding lamps, and some had run out directly from their shacks wrapped in blankets.

"Young Lord—you should come and see this."

Leng Feng pointed toward the direction of the Starlight Coral mother branch outside the berth. The cold light of the coral had spread out nearly nine zhang; in the darkest hour before dawn, the nine-zhang-wide water area was illuminated by the cold light until it was transparent and clear to the bottom. On the reef at the bottom of the water, the branches of the coral mother branch extended outward layer by layer in the cold light—the tips of every newly grown branch were spitting out translucent tentacles thinner than a human hair.

In the clear water area, a school of fish was swimming in the light.

The fish bodies were about a palm long and silvery-white all over—the kind of silver that moonlight casts on the water surface. Each fish had a very faint moon-white vertical stripe on its spine, extending from the gill cover to the tail fin. When they swam in the cold light of the coral, the vertical stripes on their spines would flicker—the rhythm of the brightness was exactly the same as the flickering frequency of the coral's cold light.

"Silver-Scaled Moon Fish." Leng Feng opened the cavalry reconnaissance record—on it was a sketch of a Silver-Scaled Moon Fish, with its size and characteristics noted beside it. "Elder Tianji once mentioned in an introduction to substrates: when the Starlight Coral purifies a water area to a certain size, it will attract this kind of fish. The fish meat itself contains mild Spiritual Qi, and Mortals with a weak Physique can eat it to supplement their Qi—it's not used as a Spirit Pill, but as a daily nourishing food. In the Outer Sea Loose Cultivator markets, they are sold by the piece—one can sell for twenty or thirty Spirit Stones."

Lu Changyuan squatted at the edge of the Pier and looked down. The Silver-Scaled Moon Fish were swimming slowly in circles within the coral's cold light—about twenty of them, a not-so-small school. They formed a loose ring around the coral mother branch, some clinging to the reef wall to graze on the fine algae, others moving in and out to test the edge of the cold light.

The water quality was even clearer than before the school of fish arrived. Yesterday, one could see the reef two zhang down; today, one could see two and a half zhang.

"When did this school of fish arrive?"

"Half an hour ago. The coral's cold light is brightest when it's almost dawn—they suddenly appeared when the cold light was at its brightest. It's like they swam up from the Deep Water Zone following the cold light." Leng Feng turned the cavalry record to the previous page—half a month ago, when the Starlight Coral had spread to seven and a half zhang, there was a note in the record: 'Found a few krill gathering at the edge of the coral's cold light'. "Half a month ago it was krill—now it's spirit fish. The better the water quality, the more things it attracts."

"That fishing boat outside the Restriction—did you see it?"

"I saw it." Leng Feng tightened his grip on the sword hilt by an inch. "It came before dawn—lingering about three li outside the perimeter of the Restriction. The boat isn't big, an old Loose Cultivator fishing boat, with four or five people standing on the deck. They didn't dare to approach—but they've been using a telescope to look over here the whole time."

Lu Changyuan looked in the direction of Leng Feng's gaze. In the morning mist, two dilapidated fishing boats were drifting outside the edge of the Restriction. The hulls were patched with seven or eight wooden planks of different colors, and the sails on the masts were old—patch upon patch. The people on the deck held telescopes commonly used in the Spirit Plant Garden, the lens tubes reflecting a very faint white light in the morning mist.

"They are looking at the fish—not the coral."

"They also recognize the Silver-Scaled Moon Fish." Leng Feng closed the reconnaissance record. "Among the experienced sailors in the Outer Sea Loose Cultivator circles—many have seen the Silver-Scaled Moon Fish. This kind of fish has a nickname in the Outer Sea Loose Cultivator circles called 'Moonlight Silver'—meaning one can be exchanged for the price of a good bottle of wine. Twenty of them are circling around the coral at the same time—their eyes must be bleeding with envy."

More and more islanders were gathering on the Pier. Some were whispering— "I heard one of those fish can sell for several dozen Spirit Stones" "The Loose Cultivators wouldn't dare come in, right—we have a Restriction" "The Restriction can't stop small sampans from sneaking in from under the cold water layer."

Lu Changyuan stood up. The morning light pushed across the sea surface, washing the coral's cold light from a pure cold tone into a transition color that was half-warm and half-cold. The school of Silver-Scaled Moon Fish was still swimming slowly in the cold light—they didn't know that someone was watching.

Outside the Restriction, a third fishing boat appeared. The three old fishing boats lined up in the morning mist, less than half a li apart—they knew each other, but didn't get too close.

Leng Feng tightened his grip on the sword hilt by another inch.

"Young Lord—do you want me to take the Sword Ray Cavalry and circle out to drive those Loose Cultivators away?"

Lu Changyuan looked at the fishing boats in the distance. The Loose Cultivators on the boats were walking back and forth on the decks—some were furling sails, others were lowering small sampans. Their movements were very practiced, but no one dared to cross the Restriction line. They were waiting—waiting for others to try first, while they watched the results from behind.

"Why drive them away?" Lu Changyuan turned around. "What we lack most right now is cheap labor."