Chapter 29: Momentum Like a Bamboo Splitting Through

Huang Tao had already yanked out a huge clump of his own hair, yet still couldn't figure out why the Soul-Calming Incense just refused to bloom. Could it really be a sickly seed?

No way around it then—time to switch to another one.

Can't just waste this night for nothing; the assessment only lasts four days and three nights in total!

Huang Tao braced himself up and trudged with difficulty toward the seedling area. On the way, he spotted his buddy Ma Wu also heading in that direction, looking rather hurried.

"Brother Ma? What's this about…"

"Hm? Brother Huang?" Ma Wu was the one who had paired up with Huang Tao during the day. Seeing that Huang Tao wasn't cultivating on his own plot, he was also a bit puzzled. "I picked a sickly seed, worked at it for three or four hours, and it just stubbornly refuses to bear fruit. Sigh!"

"Huh? What a coincidence?" Huang Tao was stunned. "Me too!"

The moment Ma Wu heard that, he instantly felt much better—so it wasn't just him who was unlucky!

"Brother Huang, let's go pick together. It's already the middle of the night; if we wait any longer, there won't be enough time."

"Let's go!"

Quite a few people came to re-select seedlings or seeds, but none of them thought about it in any other direction. After all, this sort of thing wasn't rare—who hadn't killed a flower or plant before? Besides, when picking, everyone had chosen plants with some degree of difficulty.

So when Zhao Xing activated the first wave of Earth-Vein Comprehensive Yuan, most people didn't think along those lines.

But was there anyone who could figure it out and notice?

Yes, there was.

For instance, Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze, who were relatively close to Zhao Xing—both were at Gathering Yuan Stage Three, and being nearby, if they observed and compared carefully, they could still detect that the anomaly was man-made.

Zhao Xing had also thought of this point, so he controlled the absorption efficiency against these two neighbors.

"Can't let the experts notice too early—got to control the pace. Still, the spots these two are in have abundant yuan qi, and the yuan qi they emit when casting spells is even purer. Even with a reduced absorption ratio, they still give more than the others."

Against the newbies, he went all out, sucking fiercely—ten parts of yuan qi, taking eight or nine parts straight away.

Against these experts, Zhao Xing was cautious and careful, slicing off meat with a blunt knife, boiling the frog in warm water.

"Although Earth-Vein Comprehensive Yuan is hard to learn and hard to practice, there's no guarantee no one else knows this spell."

"But right now I don't feel anyone absorbing my yuan qi, so there probably isn't a second sneaky bastard around."

The noobs can't recognize it; the experts haven't noticed.

Although puzzled cries kept rising in the dark night, everything was unfolding just as Zhao Xing had anticipated.

As time went on, yuan qi gradually accumulated from little to much, and the Vajra Bamboo at the center of the spell finally began to show some movement.

At the first quarter of the Chou hour, the shoot tip of the Vajra Bamboo pushed open the surrounding soil, and a faint golden glow radiated out.

Seeing this, Zhao Xing immediately split off a dark cloud to irrigate the Vajra Bamboo, aiding its growth.

At the second quarter of the Chou hour, the Vajra Bamboo continued to grow; the patterns on its leaf sheaths thickened, and it rose to half a meter tall.

At the third quarter of the Chou hour, the Vajra Bamboo's height doubled, reaching one meter, and the first bamboo node appeared—a sign of breaking away from the seedling stage.

At the fourth quarter of the Chou hour, the Vajra Bamboo produced its second bamboo node, fully entering the growth stage.

Once it reached this point, there was no stopping it.

As the saying goes: bamboo shoots after the rain, momentum like a bamboo splitting through.

Although the Vajra Bamboo was of a high grade, it was still a bamboo. Having received a massive amount of yuan qi from Earth-Vein Comprehensive Yuan, ample nutrients, and a suitable growing space, it immediately began to erupt.

When the first bamboo node appeared, it was only one meter tall, but a quarter-hour later, with the second node, its height shot up to four meters!

After that, the wrapping leaf sheaths began to fall away, and it produced two new bamboo nodes almost every quarter-hour, growing taller at a speed visible to the naked eye!

By the end of the Yin hour, each of the twenty Vajra Bamboos stood over fifty meters tall, with a diameter exceeding 30 centimeters!

Its entire body was golden-yellow, even the leaves and branches the same color.

With twenty Vajra Bamboos in full leaf and lush branches, the place had become a golden bamboo forest!

When dawn broke and the light shone upon the golden bamboo grove, it glittered brilliantly, and everyone noticed the scene.

"Hm? What huge bamboo!"

"What's going on? How did so many bamboo appear overnight?"

"So tall—only twenty stalks, yet it looks like a whole bamboo forest!"

"Golden-yellow, truly beautiful. What variety is this?"

"Golden all over, over fifty meters tall—could it be the second-grade superior Vajra Bamboo?"

"What? Second-grade superior? And twenty of them at once?"

"Whose plot is that?"

"It was grown by Zhao Xing from the Huailiu Court!"

Within the assessment area, all the clerks buzzed with discussion.

They couldn't help but pay attention—at fifty meters tall, it was far too conspicuous, enough for every clerk on the field to see it. Hard not to notice.

"Cultivated to maturity in a single night?" Li Chengfeng on the west side frowned at the figure beneath the golden grove. "Although bamboo-type plants have a growth advantage, this is still far too exaggerated."

Seeing this golden bamboo forest, he vaguely felt a sense of crisis that he was about to be overtaken.

"How did he do it?" Zong Zong Shichang was utterly dumbfounded. "Vajra Bamboo is second-grade superior—forget twenty stalks, even one is hard to bring to fruition!"

"I don't know." Li Chengfeng shook his head. "Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze are nearby, they might know something. Brother Zong, want to go ask around?"

Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze, at this moment, were equally baffled.

Because they didn't know much either—Zhao Xing's Moving Clouds had concealed the activity of the growth stage, and it was only revealed to everyone once daylight came.

Not only the Vajra Bamboo, the Green Vine had also crawled all over the ground.

Judging from the cultivation results of just these two plants, Zhao Xing could currently be said to stand head and shoulders above the rest!

By comparison, the two of them had performed far worse.

Wen Nanxing had cultivated four kinds of plants: second-grade superior, upper, middle, and lower.

The second-grade lower plant had already entered the maturity stage, but the middle-grade one was still progressing slowly, still in the growth stage.

As for the second-grade superior 'Seven-Star Flower,' it hadn't even begun to bud yet.

"My second-grade superior specimen hasn't even entered its growth period yet, yet he's already cultivated so many mature second-grade superior specimens?" A flicker of surprise crossed Wen Nanxing's eyes.

"There's a problem, a big problem!"

Tang Wanchun's brows knit tightly as he counted on his fingers, calculating the spell-casting effects of his student Xiao Ze and the growth cycle of the cultivated plants.

When he finished his calculations, he started in sudden alarm, stood up, and stared intently at the blue plant in the mud.

"That's not right! By all rights Xiao Ze's Frost Lotus should have grown its fourth lotus leaf by now, so why does it only have two?"

The other official beside him also showed a thoughtful look; he was Wen Nanxing's teacher, Pang Yuan: "Wen Nanxing's spell-casting effects have also been greatly diminished."

"Moreover, since the zi hour, people have been frequently going to the seedling area and returning to replant; many people have killed their own plants."

Tang Wanchun said, "One or two would be fine, but how could so many people all have this kind of trouble?"

"There's only one possibility — the earth's vein primordial Qi has been affected!"

The two then exchanged a glance and could not help blurting out: "Earth's Vein Convergence!"

Chen Shijie heard this and gave a faint smile: "Why the urgency, my lords? Surely you're not thinking of stepping in to coach your own students?"

Tang Wanchun and Pang Yuan hurriedly cupped their fists: "We wouldn't dare, my lord. We simply didn't expect that among the clerks there would be someone capable of casting Earth's Vein Convergence."

Chen Shijie smiled and waved his hand: "Then sit down, and watch quietly as the situation unfolds."