8: Crescent Rice

It was not that he was not hardworking; improving one's understanding of a Cultivation Technique depended first on Comprehension Ability, and second on Opportunity.

Lin Yan possessed neither, so he could only rely on grinding away at it over time.

Some of the older Utility Disciples at the Spirit Herb Hall had, through the accumulation of days and years, raised their Azure Wood Technique to the Major Achievement level, greatly enhancing their effectiveness in catalyzing spirit plants and allowing them to harvest two seasons of Spirit Rice per year.

The next day, Lin Yan rose early as usual to patrol the fields, happily harvesting experience.

【spirit plant Name: Spirit Rice】

【growth progress: 74 / 100】

【Growth Status: Absorbing sunlight and dew, experience + 1】

...

【spirit plant Name: Spirit Rice】

【growth progress: 75 / 100】

【Growth Status: Absorbing trace amounts of Spiritual Qi, experience + 1】

...

"Huh, two more stalks of Mutated Spirit Rice have appeared..."

Lin Yan was surprised to discover that the probability of Spirit Rice mutating was even higher than he had expected.

【spirit plant Name: Spirit Rice】

【growth progress: 75 / 100】

【mutation progress: 1%】

【Growth Status: None】

...

【spirit plant Name: Spirit Rice】

【growth progress: 74 / 100】

【mutation progress: 1%】

【Growth Status: None】

Three days ago, he had checked the panel information for all the Spirit Rice and found three stalks of Mutated Spirit Rice.

Therefore, these two stalks of Spirit Rice could not have been missed before; they must have mutated within the last two days.

This indicated that the frequency of Spirit Rice mutation was far beyond what people generally understood.

It was just that no one had ever cultivated all the mutating Spirit Rice into true Mutated Spirit Rice.

Regrettably, although there were many mutating Spirit Rice, Lin Yan truly lacked the energy and resources to Cultivate them all.

"It's heartbreaking..."

As far as Lin Yan knew, every stalk of Mutated Spirit Rice was extremely valuable.

Ordinary Spirit Rice was a First-Order spirit plant, while Mutated Spirit Rice was generally a Second-Order Spiritual Plant.

The difference in Spiritual Qi between them was over tenfold, not to mention that higher-order Spirit Rice had other effects as well.

What was even rarer was that for this type of Mutated Spirit Rice that mutated from First-Order Spirit Rice, its growth time would not change.

For example, Crescent Rice was a relatively common type of Second-Order Spirit Rice.

If one planted Crescent Rice directly, it would require a Second-Order spirit field, and it would take ten years to harvest once.

However, Crescent Rice that mutated from the First-Order could grow in a First-Order spirit field and be harvested once a year.

If cultivated properly, harvesting twice a year was quite easy.

One had to know that whether it was Spirit Rice or Mutated Spirit Rice, they could be harvested repeatedly; they were not one-time crops, and the lifespan of the rice stalks was over ten years.

High-ranking Spirit-Plant Cultivators from the Spirit Herb Hall would collect Mutated Spirit Rice and transplant it into their own spirit fields.

Even more wonderfully, catalyzing high-order Spirit Rice and engaging in Dual Cultivation through resonance with the spirit plant yielded effects far surpassing those of ordinary Spirit Rice.

If one planted high-order Spirit Rice directly, due to its slow growth, the benefit to one's cultivation would also differ by more than tenfold!

Therefore, Mutated Spirit Rice was a very important cultivation resource for Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

The Spirit-Plant Cultivators of other branches of the Wood Lineage, such as the Spirit Medicine Hall and the Spirit Wood Hall, were the same.

In the following days, Lin Yan spent his mornings tending to the rice fields and his afternoons catalyzing the Spirit Rice.

The acre of spirit field became increasingly vibrant.

Standing on the field ridge, the air was filled with a warm, steaming sensation, mixed with the dampness of water vapor, the fresh fragrance of rice leaves, and that slightly sweet scent of milky sap, making one feel refreshed and relaxed.

Lin Yan's cultivation also improved steadily.

After Transmigration, he felt that his cultivation was becoming increasingly smooth, and his speed of Qi Condensation was much faster than before.

His insight into the Cultivation Technique, the Azure Wood Technique, also became increasingly profound.

The first stalk of Mutated Spirit Rice he discovered, under the dual support of catalysis and spirit fertilizer, saw its mutation speed advance by leaps and bounds.

Basically, it could increase its mutation progress by 10% every day.

The other two stalks of Mutated Spirit Rice that were watered with spirit fertilizer daily also had very gratifying progress, increasing their mutation progress by an average of 5% per day.

There were simply no resources to support the other Mutated Spirit Rice, so they could only rely on themselves.

The situations for these Spirit Rice stalks were all different.

Some ended without a result, the "mutation progress" entry on the panel simply disappearing, and they completely reverted to ordinary Spirit Rice.

Some had their mutation progress increase by a few points, then got stuck there, or even regressed in progress.

In short, relying on the Spirit Rice itself to complete the transformation was still too difficult; the probability was very low, one in ten thousand.

...

Ten days or so passed like this, and Lin Yan finally waited for his first harvest.

【spirit plant Name: Spirit Rice】

【growth progress: 90 / 100】

【mutation progress: 98%】

【Growth Status: None】

Before the sun had even risen, Lin Yan was already standing in his spirit field.

"This stalk of Spirit Rice will be able to completely finish mutating today!"

He was very excited.

In the past, he had always catalyzed the Spirit Rice in the afternoon, but today, Lin Yan truly couldn't wait to begin.

Lin Yan held his breath and focused, sitting cross-legged before the tall stalk of Spirit Rice.

He activated the "Vitality Condensing Technique," the Mind-Cultivation Technique for catalyzing used in the Azure Wood Technique, and the faint, pale green Spiritual Power within his Dantian was slowly driven, gathering in his palms.

As the technique deepened, he carefully transformed this Spiritual Power, which contained vitality, into a continuous gentle rain of spiritual energy, sprinkling it onto the rice stalk.

Compared to the first time he catalyzed Spirit Rice, Lin Yan was now much more skilled.

He cast aside distracting thoughts and immersed his entire mind in the process, as if he himself had become a stalk of Spirit Rice, feeling the rhythm of the earth's nourishment and the moisturizing of the rain and dew.

Cycle after cycle, wave after wave of cool, pure essence of vegetation fed back into his body.

It was in this state of resonance, where both self and object were forgotten, that the transformation quietly occurred.

The tip of this rice ear slowly bent, outlining an arc like a crescent moon, emitting a cool and soft glimmer in the morning light.

If Lin Yan were to open his eyes at this moment, he would discover that on the panel of this Spirit Rice, the mutation progress had already reached "100%"!

The transformation continued to deepen.

The grains of the Spirit Rice underwent visible changes; the tips of the grains were no longer pointing straight up, but under the influence of some special energy, they quietly bent, outlining an elegant crescent-shaped arc.

This was the typical characteristic of the common Second-Order Spiritual Plant, Crescent Rice.

The color of the rice husks also gradually transitioned from ordinary yellow-green to a warm, jade-like quality, and began to emit a unique, fresh, sweet scent mixed with the fragrance of honey and milk.

When the first ray of sunlight at dawn fell, the transformation was completely finished.

The originally ordinary stalk of Spirit Rice had now transformed into a true Crescent Rice.

The rice ears were each plump like jade pendants, curved like crescent moons, flowing with a lustrous sheen in the morning light, forming a sharp contrast with the ordinary Spirit Rice around it.

It was precisely at the moment when the Crescent Rice finally took form and fed back a pure essence of vegetation that Lin Yan also gained an ineffable insight.

He sat cross-legged beside the Mutated Spirit Rice that had transformed into Crescent Rice, his mind completely immersed in the mysterious state of resonance with the Crescent Rice.

As the resonance deepened, the complete trajectory of the Crescent Rice's growth appeared in Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness.

From the determination of breaking through the darkness when the seed sprouted, to the tenacity of the root system expanding in the soil during the tillering stage, and then to the mystery of transforming the essence of heaven and earth into plump grains during the grain-filling stage...

These images gave him a brand new understanding of the Mind-Cultivation Technique of the Azure Wood Technique.

In an instant, Lin Yan was struck by inspiration, and the previously obscure and difficult-to-understand incantations suddenly became clear.

At this moment, his Azure Wood Technique broke through directly from the Entry level to the Minor Achievement Realm.

The improvement in his understanding of the Cultivation Technique was quickly fed back into his cultivation.

The Spiritual Power in his meridians suddenly accelerated its flow, its volume expanded slightly, and it became more solid and emerald green.