Chapter 14

The next day, Lin Zhangqing practiced in the cultivation room. He sat cross-legged and began to circulate his energy. After a few cycles, he discovered that the cultivation effect was more than double what it had been before. This must be because his cultivation aptitude had improved after signing the contract with the Void Heaven-Piercing Willow.

At this rate, he might be able to reach the fourth layer of Qi Refining in just a year and a half.

Furthermore, there had been a huge change in his dantian. The spiritual energy in the dantian during the Qi Refining stage should be gaseous.

But now, ten percent of his dantian was filled with liquid mana, and the speed at which he could mobilize this liquid mana was very slow. The remaining ninety percent of the space was still gaseous spiritual energy, which he could mobilize normally without issue.

That's right, the liquid was mana. His grandfather had a Foundation Establishment cultivation base, and his dantian was filled with liquid mana, which is why Lin Zhangqing recognized it.

Lin Zhangqing guessed that this might be mana fed back from the Void Heaven-Piercing Willow taking root and sprouting. Because the status of a Heaven-Earth Spiritual Root was so high, it was equivalent to a second-stage existence from birth, which is why it fed back mana instead of spiritual energy.

Because the quality of mana and spiritual energy were different, they were clearly demarcated like this.

This meant that the Void Heaven-Piercing Willow was at least a second-stage existence, equivalent to the Foundation Establishment stage. Lin Zhangqing felt excited just thinking about it.

The Lin family only had three Foundation Establishment cultivators, and now there was one more, and no one else knew yet. He was so happy and excited. He tried hard to calm his mood.

Yesterday, Lin Zhangqing had already given the Void Heaven-Piercing Willow a name: Lin Changliu. With their minds connected, the Void Heaven-Piercing Willow did not object. From now on, it would officially be called Lin Changliu.

He wondered what the attack power of Lin Changliu, at the Foundation Establishment stage, was like? Just as he finished this thought...

The cultivation room where Lin Zhangqing was located was immediately pierced by roots. Every root was like a needle, and the floor of the cultivation room was covered in dense needle holes.

Lin Zhangqing was immediately stunned. He probed the depth of the needle holes; they were very deep, and he couldn't reach the bottom.

He was truly stupid. Lin Changliu's roots could even pierce through space; piercing the ground was even easier. He understood now. It turned out that Lin Changliu's roots were its attack weapons.

In his mind, he felt a faint sense of joy; Lin Zhangqing understood this was feedback from Lin Changliu.

He had to get used to Lin Changliu's existence in the future. If it did something like this suddenly, Lin Zhangqing wouldn't know how to explain the needle holes on the floor.

Lin Zhangqing tried to ask Lin Changliu in his mind if there was a way to fix it. Lin Changliu didn't react. Good grief, this was a classic case of "managing the killing but not the burial"!

Never mind, he would finish today's cultivation first. Cultivation must be done rain or shine; only with persistence would there be the best rewards. Fortunately, the Spirit Gathering Array wasn't pierced, so it seemed Lin Changliu still had a sense of proportion!

After finishing his cultivation, he went to find his grandfather and talked about the spirit fields. His grandfather agreed and said he would accompany Lin Zhangqing to look around for a suitable place.

He also mentioned the needle holes on the floor of the cultivation room. His grandfather said he knew and would take care of it, and that was the end of it.

Lin Zhangqing estimated that his grandfather naturally had some guesses after seeing it.

But Lin Zhangqing trusted his grandfather. Lin Zhangqing didn't want to live a reclusive life just for the sake of this space, and he didn't want to live in fear every time there was the slightest disturbance.

This was not the immortal Lin Zhangqing envisioned. The immortal Lin Zhangqing wanted to cultivate was one of affection and righteousness. He wanted to use this space to help his family walk higher and further on the path of cultivation.

Although he couldn't tell them now, when one day he could protect himself, he would let them know. Should he ask his grandfather where he could get a large amount of spirit items? Lin Changliu needed a massive amount of spiritual energy and spirit items to grow.

The problem was that he was only eleven years old; his grandfather and parents would definitely not agree to him leaving the ancestral mountain. Being young and having low cultivation, there was no possibility of them letting him go out to explore now.

For now, he could only collect more spirit seeds to plant in the space. He couldn't touch the family's spirit medicine garden or spirit plant garden, so he wondered if he could get some high-grade spirit herb and spirit plant seedlings from the Baicao Garden of his own lineage. He would wait until his spirit fields were ready! Having made up his mind, Lin Zhangqing walked toward the Baicao Garden to see if there was anything he could help with. His aunt was there today. After greeting her, he started wandering around the garden.

The Baicao Garden covered about fifty mu, and most of it contained first-grade spirit herbs. There were also a few spirit fruit trees: two spirit peach trees, two spirit jujube trees, one spirit apricot tree, and one spirit mulberry tree. These spirit trees were all first-grade mid-to-low-grade spirit plants.

These were not the peach trees planted in Lin Zhangqing's courtyard; the ones planted at home were only stained with a little spiritual energy and were still a distance away from advancing into first-grade low-grade spirit peach trees. The fruit Lin Zhangqing and his partners ate when they were young was this kind of non-graded fruit.

Basically, first-grade low-grade plants followed a cycle: one year to bloom, one year to bear fruit, one year for the fruit to grow and mature, and then one year for the spirit plant to rest before starting the cycle again.

First-grade mid-grade plants took two years to bloom, two years to bear fruit, two years for the fruit to mature, and two years for the plant to rest.

First-grade high-grade plants took three years, and so on. Fortunately, the Lin family had the inheritance of Spirit Plant Masters and could catalyze the growth of spirit herbs and spirit plants.

For example, a first-grade low-grade spirit peach tree had a cycle of four years, but by frequently using the Nourishing Origin Catalysis Technique, it could be shortened to about one year.

Each spirit peach tree could bear about a hundred spirit peaches. The spiritual energy contained was equivalent to one low-grade Qi Gathering Pill. A low-grade Qi Gathering Pill was worth 2 contribution points, but spirit peaches had no pill poison, so they were worth 3 contribution points each.

In the Baicao Garden, these six spirit fruit trees alone could earn 1,500 to 2,000 contribution points every year. Of course, some had to be kept for self-use. Adding the annual output of spirit herbs, let's calculate it as 1,000 contribution points. Therefore, the Baicao Garden was especially important to Lin Zhangqing's lineage.

If squeezed to the limit, it was possible to save up enough contribution points to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill every twelve to fifteen years. But this was impossible unless everyone stopped cultivating. Cultivators needed pills, spirit stones, and dharma artifacts to cultivate.

Moreover, his grandfather was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and the pills he used for cultivation would only be more expensive and require more resources. Therefore, the Baicao Garden was more about supporting the cultivation of Lin Zhangqing's lineage. As for the Foundation Establishment Pill, they would have to find another way.

Lin Zhangqing wandered around and didn't see anything that needed help. His aunt must have already taken care of everything.

Chuyi was also helping catch insects in the Hundred Herb Garden today; Chuwu and Chuliu must have gone to the family's spirit medicine garden with his grandfather.

Seeing Lin Zhangqing come over, Chuyi was incredibly excited, circling Lin Zhangqing with extreme affection. It even caught two insects to feed Lin Zhangqing. Lin Zhangqing told it that he didn't eat insects and that it should enjoy them itself.

Then he held Chuyi in his arms, gently stroking it and helping it tidy its feathers.

During this time, Lin Zhangqing had been busy stabilizing his cultivation and had cared a little less for Chuyi. Fortunately, he had hatched it himself and raised it from a young age.

Now Chuyi's wingspan was about 30 centimeters, and it would grow even larger in the future. Every day, it followed his grandfather or aunt to the spirit medicine garden or Hundred Herb Garden to catch insects. He didn't let it run around, and it would return on its own after it was full. It was exceptionally smart.

Chuyi was still too young now; Lin Zhangqing planned to wait until it was a bit bigger before broadening its range of activity, letting it move freely within the Nine Peaks Mountain range.

Birds were better off flying freely. As long as he told it not to harm the clansmen and not to crash into the mountain-protecting array, it would be fine. Chuyi was so smart, it would definitely understand.

(End of chapter)