48: Chapter 48 Cultivating Spirit Plants

This had been another one of his habits over the recent period.

Searching for potentially useful items among these "waste products."

The 'Evergreen Plant Truth Scripture' recorded a vast amount of auxiliary tools needed for cultivating Spiritual Plants; some could be crafted himself, while others required existing Materials to be modified.

His movements suddenly stopped.

At the very bottom of the pile of miscellaneous items lay a wooden box about half a foot square. The surface of the box was covered in cracks, and its corners were scorched black—clearly the product of a failed attempt at Artifact Refining.

However, the material of the box body itself was extraordinary.

It was a type of Spiritual Plant material called "Spirit Nourishing Wood." Although not ranked, it had the effect of stabilizing Spiritual Qi and nurturing seeds.

He calmly pulled out the wooden box.

Together with a few other fragments that also appeared useless but actually contained a small amount of value as Spiritual Materials, he registered it in the "To Be Scrapped" ledger.

Then, he carried them back to the corner of the storeroom.

That was the area where he stored "items to be processed," and no one would check it closely.

After finishing this, it was already the Si hour.

Li Changsheng sat on the threshold of the storeroom, gazing at the distant spiritual peaks shrouded in clouds and mist, silently calculating in his heart.

Since inheriting the 'Evergreen Plant Truth Scripture,' he had long since digested the introductory portion.

The core essence of this Cultivation Technique had three aspects: First is "Foundation Cultivation," using Spiritual Qi to nourish one's own body and solidify the foundation; second is "Plant Spirit," establishing a connection with Spiritual Plants and borrowing the Qi of the Spiritual Plants to nourish oneself; third is "Dao Nurturing," using Spiritual Plants as a medium to perceive the Dao of the vitality of heaven and earth.

The three complemented each other.

If he could master the first two, his cultivation speed could increase several times over.

However, the problem also lay here.

Although the 'Evergreen Plant Truth Scripture' was a top-tier Wood-element Cultivation Technique, it was extremely dependent on "resources."

Foundation Cultivation required the assistance of Medicinal Pills, Plant Spirit required the accompaniment of high-quality Spiritual Plants, and Dao Nurturing required a treasure land filled with Spiritual Qi and teeming with vitality.

And he, Li Changsheng, a Named Disciple of the General Affairs Hall, had a monthly stipend of five Low-Grade Spirit Stones and three qi gathering pills.

These resources were barely enough to maintain even the most basic cultivation, let alone support the practice of the 'Evergreen Plant Truth Scripture.'

"Resources..."

He gazed into the distance, muttering to himself.

In the world of cultivation, "Wealth, Companions, Technique, Land" all referred to resources.

Aptitude is the threshold, and resources are the ladder.

Without resources, even the best Aptitude would make it difficult to take a single step.

Now that his own Aptitude had quietly improved, all problems were concentrated on resources.

Over this past month, he had planned in many ways, but the effects were minimal.

And whenever he thought of Zhao Yan's arrogant face, and that sentence, "Trash should have the self-awareness of trash."

His fingernails had unknowingly dug into his palms.

He took a deep breath, suppressing that surge of irritation.

"Cultivation is like planting a tree; only when the roots are deep can the leaves be lush."

Uncle-Master Fang's words were still in his ears. Impatience at this moment would not help.

He needed a path, a way to obtain more resources within this General Affairs Hall, where Spiritual Qi was thin and resources were scarce.

Spiritual Plants.

The method of cultivating Spiritual Plants recorded in the 'Evergreen Plant Truth Scripture' might just be that path.

The Sect had its own spiritual fields, governed by Baicao Hall and the Spiritual Plant Peak, used to Cultivate various Spirit Medicines and Spiritual Materials.

The Spiritual Plants produced by those spiritual fields were partly supplied for the Sect's Alchemy, and partly distributed to Disciples according to their contributions.

As a Disciple of the General Affairs Hall like him, he was originally unrelated to the spiritual fields.

However, there are always exceptions to everything.

Li Changsheng lowered his head, looking at the wooden box in his hand that was covered in cracks.

Spirit Nourishing Wood, although damaged, could still be barely used with a little repair.

If he could collect some remaining Spiritual Materials from the waste, perhaps he could...

He stood up, his gaze sweeping over the mountain of miscellaneous items in the storeroom.

Among these "waste products" eliminated by the various peaks, how much undiscovered "residual heat" was hidden?

Damaged fragments of Magical Artifacts often had trace amounts of Spiritual Materials left; scrapped Formation Plates might still have a few intact array lines; discarded Spiritual Plant culture dishes might still be usable for cultivating low-grade spiritual seeds...

In the eyes of others, this was a trash heap.

In his eyes, this was an uncultivated treasure land.

That afternoon, Li Changsheng applied to Deacon Liu for the "right to organize independently" the miscellaneous storeroom under the pretext of "organizing the storeroom and classifying waste for subsequent disposal."

Deacon Liu was busy checking the account books sent by the various peaks and waved his hand without even raising his head.

"Do as you please, just don't delay proper business."

This was the "benefit" of the General Affairs Hall.

No one paid attention, no one asked.

As long as the most basic errands were completed, you could do whatever you wanted with the remaining time.

From that day on, Li Changsheng's daily routine added an item.

Every day after finishing work at the You hour, he did not rush back to his living quarters.

Instead, he stayed in the storeroom, and by the dim light, he sifted through the mountain of waste one by one.

Under the sensing of Spiritual Qi, it was clear at a glance which remains still had a faint aura of Spiritual Materials.

From the damaged Flying Sword fragments, he scraped off the residual "Iron Essence" powder from the blade;

From the discarded Pill Furnace residue, he sifted out the unburned crumbs of "fire-gathering charcoal";

From the scrapped Talisman brushes, he removed the embedded "Soul-Calming Jade" granules from the brush handles;

Even the filthy culture dishes were carefully cleaned and checked to see if they could still hold spiritual soil.

Each harvest was minimal, but day by day, he had accumulated a small pile.

On the seventh day, he discovered a real surprise at the very bottom of a pile of semi-decayed miscellaneous items.

A pottery jar.

The mouth of the jar was sealed with a Talisman that had already lost its effect, and inside the jar was about half a catty of black soil.

Spirit Soil.

Although it was just the most basic "Black Loam," the Spiritual Qi it contained had mostly dissipated.

But it was still more suitable for cultivating Spiritual Plants than ordinary soil.

He didn't know which Disciple had discarded this; perhaps they had failed at planting back then and discarded it here along with the jar.

Li Changsheng held the pottery jar, revealing a rare smile.

Heaven does not cut off all paths.

In the following days, he began to prepare.

To repair the wooden box, he needed to nourish the cracks with Wood-element Spiritual Qi, supplemented by "Soul-Calming Jade" powder to blend, making the cracks slowly heal.

Every day, using the methods recorded in the 'Evergreen Plant Truth Scripture,' he spent half an hour treating the wooden box. Although the progress was slow, the cracks were indeed shrinking bit by bit.

Collecting spiritual seeds required finding another way.

He went to the Scripture Pavilion to consult texts, found several low-grade Spiritual Plants suitable for growing in areas with thin Spiritual Qi, and noted their characteristics.

Then, he took the opportunity of delivering waste to various peaks to keep an eye on the wild Spiritual Plants growing along the way, looking for opportunities to harvest mature seeds.

The most time-consuming part was preparing the Spirit Soil.

Half a catty of Black Loam was too little and needed to be mixed with ordinary soil to dilute it.

He collected humus from the shady side of the mountain col, sifted out the Impurities, mixed it with the Black Loam in proportion, then added the trace amounts of "fire-gathering charcoal" powder sifted from the waste Pill Furnace residue, and stirred it repeatedly with gentle Wood-element Spiritual Qi to make it fuse.

All of this was done in the dead of night, unnoticed by anyone.

Deep inside the miscellaneous storeroom, that dim oil lamp often stayed lit until the Zi hour.

On the eighteenth day.

Li Changsheng sat cross-legged in the corner of the storeroom, with the repaired wooden box placed in front of him.

The cracks had basically healed; although traces remained, it could now barely lock in Spiritual Qi.

Inside the wooden box was the Spirit Soil he had prepared, and in the center of the soil, three rice-grain-sized, grayish-brown seeds were buried.

"Spirit Nourishing Grass" seeds.

These were what he had discovered seven days ago in a hidden rock crevice at the back of the mountain.

Spirit Nourishing Grass was a wild herb that didn't even count as being ranked.

Its only function was to absorb and store a small amount of free-roaming Spiritual Qi, often used as "bottom-layer" vegetation for low-grade spiritual fields.

Its seeds were small and hard, extremely difficult to germinate, and required continuous nurturing for over a month before it was possible for them to break through the soil.

But for Li Changsheng at this moment, this was the only Spiritual Plant seed he could obtain.