55: Cultivating body techniques

Ladle after ladle, he poured until the nearby spirit fields were thoroughly watered.

"This consumes way too much spirit fertilizer!" Lin Yan couldn't help but complain.

The mutated tuber was too deep, so to ensure it fully absorbed the spirit fertilizer, Lin Yan mixed another bucket and poured it all down.

"No wonder everyone says Spirit Potatoes are hard to mutate!" Lin Yan sighed involuntarily.

In truth, it wasn't that Spirit Potatoes didn't mutate, but that mutation was difficult to succeed.

First, the mutated tuber was too deep, the quality of the soil it contacted was lower, and it could not directly absorb the spirit fertilizer.

Furthermore, this was a partial mutation of the Spirit Potato, and almost no Cultivator would deliberately catalyze a specific part of a spirit plant.

For these various reasons, the Spirit Potato had been branded with the stereotype of being unable to mutate.

After applying the fertilizer, Lin Yan began the catalysis.

One had to admit, precisely catalyzing the tuber of a Spirit Potato was truly a technical job.

Because the tuber was underground.

Lin Yan spread his five fingers and covered the ground with his hand.

He cast the Azure Wood Technique, and strands of cyan spiritual power surged from his palm, diving into the ground like swimming green threads.

Qi Refining Cultivators lacked Divine Sense and could only rely on threads of spiritual power to sense the situation underground.

This process tested a Cultivator's level of control over spiritual power.

Fortunately, Lin Yan's Azure Wood Technique had long reached the Perfection level, and his control over spiritual power had reached the realm of subtlety.

As the spiritual power threads delved deeper, a round little ball soon appeared in Lin Yan's perception.

"This is the mutated tuber."

The so-called tuber was actually the fruit of the Spirit Potato, the part of the Spirit Potato used for eating.

He closed his eyes slightly, focusing all his attention on the cyan spiritual light at his fingertips.

His mind sank into the earth, quietly establishing a connection with the round Spirit Potato buried in the soil.

"Azure Wood Technique, Condense Qi and Vitality!"

As he activated the Mind-Cultivation Technique, in an instant, gentle Wood Spiritual Power seeped into the interior of the Spirit Potato like a trickling stream.

The Spirit Potato seemed to sense it; the veins beneath its skin glowed slightly, resonating with Lin Yan's spiritual power.

A vibrant force circulated within the Spirit Potato as it joyfully absorbed the Azure Wood Spiritual Power.

Before long, the round body of the Spirit Potato trembled slightly and expanded a little.

In the dark soil layer, a faint light shimmered on the skin of this Spirit Potato, emitting a fresh, sweet herbal scent.

Retracting his spiritual power, Lin Yan nodded with satisfaction; the Spirit Potato's panel information had changed.

【spirit plant Name: Spirit Potato Tuber】

【growth progress: 13 / 100】

【mutation progress: 6%】

【growth status: None】

...

Now that his cultivation had improved, catalyzing one Spirit Potato only took a moment.

Over the next few days, Lin Yan successively discovered some more mutated Spirit Potatoes.

All of them were partial mutations.

【spirit plant Name: Spirit Potato Tuber】

【growth progress: 12 / 100】

【mutation progress: 2%】

【growth status: Absorbing a small amount of spirit fertilizer, experience + 1】

...

This confirmed his hypothesis; the mutation probability of Spirit Potatoes was actually not low.

It was just that they were all partial mutations, making it difficult to successfully transform.

As he discovered more and more mutated Spirit Potatoes, he became increasingly conflicted.

This thing was too hard to Cultivate.

Catalysis was easy enough; Lin Yan could manage it.

The main issue was that it consumed too much spirit fertilizer.

One Spirit Stone could buy ten catties of spirit fertilizer granules, which could be mixed with spirit spring water to produce ten buckets of spirit fertilizer.

To fully irrigate one mutated Spirit Potato, it required consuming two buckets of spirit fertilizer at once.

Calculating it out, one Spirit Stone was only enough to fertilize five Spirit Potatoes.

He had now discovered over forty mutated Spirit Potatoes, and the number was still slowly increasing.

Every day when he opened his eyes, ten Spirit Stones were thrown away.

What kind of family could afford such extravagance!

"This is truly a headache!"

Lin Yan tried to dig away the soil layer above a mutated Spirit Potato, thinking this would save a lot of spirit fertilizer.

But soon, he discovered that this was not feasible.

First, the root system of the Spirit Potato was extremely complex; digging away the top layer of soil might destroy many of the Spirit Potato's fibrous roots.

Furthermore, Spirit Potatoes could gather earth qi; digging the soil would disrupt the earth qi gathered by the Spirit Potato, thereby affecting its growth.

This digging, while not causing the plants to die, directly caused three surrounding mutated Spirit Potatoes to stop mutating.

Lin Yan had no other options; his Spirit Stones had hit rock bottom.

But he did not intend to give up.

"I want to see what is going on with these Spirit Potatoes!" Lin Yan became stubborn.

Since his own Spirit Stones were spent, he borrowed from Lu Zhengfeng and the others to keep the spirit fertilizer supply going first.

...

Although the Spirit Potatoes were troublesome, his gains during this period were not small.

With the Perfection-level Azure Wood Technique, plus having enough spirit food every day and using Spirit Stones to assist his cultivation.

Lin Yan's cultivation speed increased extremely quickly.

In addition to his spiritual power cultivation, he also began to Cultivate the Eight Directions Sword Step to make up for his own shortcomings.

Under the Azure Blade Willow, tree shadows swayed, and the branches were like sharp blades carved from jade, trembling slightly in the breeze and emitting a faint "rustling" sound, as if whispering Sword Techniques.

【spirit plant Name: Azure Blade Willow】

【growth progress: 97 / 1000】

【spirit plant Characteristics: Slightly improves a Cultivator's Sword Dao Comprehension Ability, branches and leaves can be used as Artifact Refining Materials.】

【growth status: Continuous catalysis, experience + 1】

...

This tree was a special spirit plant related to the Sword Dao, which could help Cultivators comprehend the mysteries of the Sword Dao.

After several days of attempting, Lin Yan discovered that Cultivating under the Azure Blade Willow was also greatly beneficial for comprehending the Eight Directions Sword Step.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes slightly, and spiritual power slowly circulated around his body. Although he held no sword in his hand, it felt as if he were grasping an invisible sharp blade. The Mind-Cultivation Technique of the Eight Directions Sword Step appeared in his mind page by page, as if flipping through a book.

Suddenly, Lin Yan moved.

As his feet moved lightly, his figure swept across like a sword, rapidly changing positions.

Every step he took secretly aligned with the positions of heaven and earth, and as his figure flowed, it seemed as if sword shadows appeared beneath his feet.

The branches and leaves of the Azure Blade Willow faintly shimmered with cyan spiritual light, sprinkling down onto Lin Yan like a clear spring, seeping into him and cleansing his spiritual platform, making his Sword Dao comprehension increasingly clear.

At first, his steps were still a bit sluggish, but with the support of the Azure Blade Willow, he felt as if he were placed in a mountain of swords and a sea of swords; every step landed on a sword edge, yet he was as light as the wind.

He had come into contact with two types of spirit plants related to the Sword Dao.

One was Sword Grass, the other was the Azure Blade Willow.

Sword Grass contained Sword Qi and Sword Intent within it, resembling a sharp sword weapon.

But the feeling the Azure Blade Willow gave him was completely different; it possessed the sharpness of a sword, but also a kind of heaviness like a mountain or an abyss!

This also made him increasingly curious about the origins of the Azure Blade Willow.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

His figure flashed, a faint spiritual light shimmered beneath his feet, and in an instant, he took eight steps, his figure moving back and forth in place like a swimming Dragon.

Every change of direction was extremely precise, just like a swordsman dodging and shifting on the battlefield, avoiding the solid and striking the weak.

"Success!"

Lin Yan felt a surge of joy in his heart; he clearly felt that the Eight Directions Sword Step had already entered the introductory stage!

At this moment, his movement technique was several times more agile than before.

Whether dodging or lunging, he was more at ease, as agile as a Flying Sword.