Chapter 17: Blood Leech Rice

The incident of Fellow Daoist Long's demise.

Like a layer of gloom, it hung over the shantytown, refusing to dissipate for a long time.

For several consecutive days, every household nearby kept their gates tightly shut; the alleys lacked their usual bustle, appearing cold and desolate.

At night, no one dared to venture out.

Although the Spirit Feather Sect had increased the frequency of patrols, the tenants still only dared to travel in groups.

Qin Ming was no different; when going to work in the spirit fields, he also went along with the crowd.

During these days, the spirit fields were actually much safer than the outside world.

The reason was that over these past few days, Elder Gu had personally led disciples to patrol around the spirit fields.

Every three days, Elder Gu's massive dharma boat would hover above the spirit fields for half a day.

This put Qin Ming's mind at ease considerably.

It seemed the Spirit Feather Sect did not wish for any further incidents within the spirit fields.

After all, this concerned the supply lines to the front-line war camps.

They had no choice but to take it seriously.

Inside the three mu of Yin Cong Flower spirit fields.

Qin Ming had already used the 'Accelerate Maturation' attribute.

Two days later.

Emerald green seedlings sprouted.

With a nervous heart, Qin Ming gazed into the spirit fields.

Three golden, radiant attributes stood out clearly before his eyes!

【Name】: Yin Cong Flower 【Attribute】: Bee Controlling Art (Maturity 2%)

【Name】: Yin Cong Flower 【Attribute】: Accelerate Maturation x5 (Maturity 3%)

【Name】: Yin Cong Flower 【Attribute】: Bloodline Reversion x1 (Maturity 1%)

"Holy crap!"

Qin Ming stared at the attributes within the spirit fields with an expression of disbelief, taking a long while to come back to his senses.

"This is what they call true luck!"

"Hahaha!"

"One shot, one kill!"

He laughed aloud joyfully within the spirit fields.

【Bee Controlling Art】: A spirit plant technique; casting this spell can guide spirit bees to pollinate spirit plants.

【Bloodline Reversion】: After use, it allows the spirit plant to evolve into the form of its immediate ancestor.

Although the 'Quality Improvement' attribute had not refreshed.

Instead, a far more sharp one had appeared.

Qin Ming immediately took out a spirit plant book and flipped it open; this book was the "Record of Spirit Plant Marvels" written by the legendary spirit plant master of a generation, 'Shi Yenong'.

It recorded not only a catalog of some rare exotic flowers and grasses in the Immortal Realm, but also included many introductions regarding the origins of spirit herbs and spirit plants.

Among them was information concerning Beast Tooth Rice.

The ancestor of Beast Tooth Rice was a first-grade top-tier spirit plant—

Xue Huang Mi!

It was merely a hair's breadth away from reaching the level of a second-grade spirit plant!

One could imagine its degree of rarity.

Xue Huang Mi, shaped like a blood leech with grains red as blood, thus earned its name.

Its effect consisted of a single, simple line: After consumption, it can greatly enhance a cultivator's qi and blood! Caution: Those whose qi and blood have not yet condensed must use with extreme care!

This spirit rice was not only an object body-refining cultivators dreamed of, but also a sacred treasure for cultivating blood-path techniques, something one could encounter but never seek.

According to records in the book, hundreds of years ago, this Xue Huang Mi had already become nearly extinct in the Immortal Realm.

Only in a few uninhabited regions could one occasionally discover a few stalks.

The growth conditions for Xue Huang Mi were extremely harsh, even more so than Beast Tooth Rice; it required long-term irrigation with demonic beast essence blood and also needed sufficient spiritual energy to be maintained.

The maturation period often required ten years.

The older the vintage, the more powerful the effect of enhancing qi and blood it contained.

Qin Ming stood motionless, staring blankly at the 'Bloodline Reversion' attribute, secretly sighing with emotion: 'Master Su is truly my benefactor'.

However, he currently lacked the 'Accelerate Maturation' attribute and could only wait for a new season of Golden Spirit Rice to refresh it.

Amidst eager waiting and looking around.

Three months passed.

Perhaps Qin Ming truly had luck bestowed upon him.

Within the Golden Spirit Rice spirit fields, he once again harvested an 'Accelerate Maturation' attribute.

Now, all that remained missing was demonic beast essence blood.

"Where am I going to get it?"

Resting his chin on his hand, Qin Ming pondered continuously, pacing back and forth in the room. 'Hunting demonic beasts is impossible.'

'Can't risk it even a little bit.'

'Can't be impulsive even a little bit.'

After thinking it over, he ultimately decided to spend spirit stones to purchase it.

Although the price was exorbitant, if he could grow Xue Huang Mi, it would all be worth it.

Two days later.

Qin Ming went to the beast meat shop in Qingyang Market and spent exactly one hundred and fifty spirit stones to buy ten jin of first-tier beast essence blood.

"This should be enough, right?"

Next, he used the 'accelerated premium' trait refreshed from the spirit field of Golden Spirit Rice to quietly accelerate the maturation of those three Yin Ning Flowers that possessed traits.

In Qin Ming's sea of consciousness, two green and one blue trait leaves instantly appeared.

"To be able to cause spirit plants to exhibit atavism, it truly lives up to being a blue trait," Qin Ming praised.

To ensure absolute safety.

Qin Ming went to Juxuan Pavilion again and spent over one hundred spirit stones with Shopkeeper Liao to purchase a set of small-scale concealment arrays.

This time, he was going all in not just with spirit stones, but with his traits as well.

He planned to use even the 'Advanced Spirit Rain Art'.

Good steel must naturally be used on the edge of a blade.

With all preparations complete.

Qin Ming first began accelerating the premium Beast Tooth Rice.

Once this batch of Beast Tooth Rice began to sprout, Qin Ming applied the 'Bloodline Atavism' trait to it.

In an instant.

The spirit plants before Qin Ming's eyes began to grow wildly, and several hundred eerie plants appeared before him.

Furthermore, a golden trait was refreshed: 【Name】: Xue Huang Mi 【Trait】: Abundant Qi and Blood (Maturity 30%).

The original spirit rice leaves of the Beast Tooth Rice all withered and fell, growing stalks like small bamboo joints, and bearing long, crimson spirit grains shaped like blood leeches.

Qin Ming pressed on in one breath, continuing to apply the 'accelerated premium' trait to them.

Xue Huang Mi truly deserved its reputation as a top-grade first-tier spirit plant.

Qin Ming consecutively used three 'accelerated premium' traits before finally maturing this batch of Xue Huang Mi completely to a ten-year vintage.

Afterwards.

He also used up the 'Advanced Spirit Rain Art' trait, coordinating it with beast essence blood to irrigate these Xue Huang Mi.

As soon as the Advanced Spirit Rain Art was cast, more than half of the magic power within Qin Ming's body was instantly drained.

"As expected, this is a spirit plant spell that can only be cast by those in the middle to late stages of Qi Condensation." Gritting his teeth, Qin Ming even used two 'Weak Magic Power' traits in succession.

Boom!

A dark cloud mass gathered in the mid-air, forming a vortex shape, within which lightning flashed and thunder roared.

This was still with Qin Ming deliberately shrinking the spell's range; if cast outdoors, the momentum would likely be far greater than this.

Fortunately, Shopkeeper Liao's concealment array had an unexpectedly good hiding effect, completely obscuring the situation within his courtyard.

Unless a high-level cultivator deliberately investigated, it would be very difficult to discover the secrets within.

With this, Qin Ming breathed a sigh of relief and felt much more at ease.

The Xue Huang Mi spirit plants, upon encountering the spirit rain formed from beast essence blood, actually began to wriggle eerily towards the rain one after another.

It was as if they had come alive, frantically absorbing the essence blood.

The exterior of the Xue Huang Mi spirit grains began to emit a bloody mist that coiled and refused to dissipate.

Under the effect of the Advanced Spirit Rain Art, the spiritual energy in the nearby air was instantly drained, transforming into powerful fertilizer to nourish these several hundred spirit plants.

At the branching points of the Xue Huang Mi, surprisingly, abundant spirit ears formed once again!

Qin Ming also did not forget to take this rare opportunity to comprehend the spellcasting insights of the Advanced Spirit Rain Art.

His Intermediate Spirit Rain Art was already immensely proficient; next was to touch the threshold of the Advanced Spirit Rain Art.

A little over half a month later.

Under Qin Ming's careful irrigation without sleep or rest.

All the Xue Huang Mi had matured!

All the traits in Qin Ming's sea of consciousness were consumed, leaving only: Bee Taming Art, Weak Qi and Blood x2, Abundant Qi and Blood x1, after harvesting the spirit rice.

Qin Ming carefully and meticulously cleared and covered all traces of planting within the courtyard.

This thing absolutely could not be discovered by others.

After doing all this.

Looking at the Xue Huang Mi in his storage bag with his spiritual sense, Qin Ming's heart was filled with intense excitement.

He licked his lips, smiled slightly, and said:

"Next, I shall taste this legendary Xue Huang Mi and see just what it tastes like?"

(End of Chapter)