Chapter 562

Several days later.

Qingli Swamp, Fei family.

The Fei family's ancestral grounds were a series of connected buildings, and one couldn't tell how deep they went.

In any case, as far as Fang Xing's perception was concerned, the formations and other defensive forces within those layers of courtyards were definitely much stronger than those of Paper Slave Valley.

After all, Paper Slave Valley nominally belonged to the Blood Shadow Sect, but in reality, it was the periphery of the periphery.

He rarely took off his animal skin clothes, changed into a normal green shirt, tidied up a bit, and appeared elegant and detached; at this moment, he was honestly following behind Old Man Lv.

"We'll go see the medicine garden steward first—Fei Cai. Steward Fei Cai is an expert at the seventh level of Qi Sensing."

Old Man Lv gave a word of advice before turning into a small courtyard.

He saw a woman who looked like a delicate girl from a good family coming to greet them, calling him grandfather; she must be the granddaughter who married into the Fei family.

Immediately, led by Old Man Lv's granddaughter, they took Fang Xing and Old Man Lv into another courtyard.

In the courtyard, a middle-aged man was refining Qi.

Strands of pitch-black evil energy circled around him, turning into a gust of evil wind.

"Seventh level of Qi Sensing—Evil Energy! It is the process of refining one's own aura into a special evil energy, causing the magic power to carry a trace of evil energy... Relying solely on one's own magic power, one can easily suppress cultivators at the early and middle stages of Qi Sensing without needing to use any spells or magic tools."

Fang Xing's heart stirred.

"Oh, it's Xiao Cui. You brought your grandfather here, why bring gifts?"

Xiao Cui stepped forward and said a few words, and Fei Cai smiled and accepted the gifts brought by Old Man Lv.

Fang Xing clearly saw a trace of heartache on Old Man Lv's face.

"These Five Friends of Floating Clouds, they have connections, but they are also truly poor..."

Thinking of Old Man Lv's expression when he was picking and choosing gifts earlier, Fang Xing couldn't help but have a trace of a smile in his heart.

"Hmm, Old Man Lv, if the spiritual planter you recommended can save the Long Wang Ginseng, that Land Reclamation Order will definitely not be lacking."

Fei Cai had also been overwhelmed by this matter recently, so he gave his guarantee.

"This... we don't know what will happen either, we can only take a look first."

Old Man Lv didn't dare to make any promises.

"You are called Fang Xing?"

Fei Cai looked at Fang Xing, carrying the pressure of a superior.

Unfortunately, in front of Fang Xing, it was like a joke.

"That is correct..."

He answered calmly.

"Are you confident in treating the spiritual plant?"

"I haven't seen it yet, so I have no confidence." Fang Xing spoke the truth.

"Hmm, at least you're not a braggart. Follow me!"

Fei Cai strode forward, leading Fang Xing and the others to the medicine garden.

This medicine garden was not large, located in a small valley, and there was even a hot spring eye.

"Nature's creation is truly wondrous..."

Seeing the terrain of this valley, Fang Xing couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

Along the way, there were many patrolling cultivators, but they all retreated after seeing Fei Cai.

Finally, Fei Cai led Fang Xing to the depths of the valley, where he saw a few old tree stumps inside a bamboo fence.

A bright green ginseng was faintly visible among many roots.

On its stems and leaves, there were spots of black.

"How is it?"

Fei Cai asked.

"It's somewhat similar to fire poison..."

Fang Xing was naturally gifted in the way of spiritual planting, so he deliberated before answering: "But what it really is, I need to look closer..."

"Hmm."

Fei Cai's expression was neither sad nor happy as he took out a token and waved it.

The bamboo fence automatically parted, revealing a path.

Fang Xing walked in and felt the plant essence, which was ten times richer than outside, and couldn't help but take a deep breath, his natural affinity talent activating accordingly.

He reached out, touched the leaves of the Long Wang Ginseng, and communicated with it, obtaining some vague information.

Then, Fang Xing walked out of the bamboo fence, already looking confident.

"How is it?"

Old Man Lv asked hurriedly, and even Fei Cai's hands behind his back tightened.

"I have not failed the mission..."

Fang Xing smiled.

"Really? The family has already invited several spiritual planters to look at it..."

Fei Cai was somewhat skeptical.

"They were just treating the symptoms, not the root cause..." Fang Xing didn't say much, just said: "They also saw that the spiritual plant had fire poison spots, so they prescribed cold-natured medicine, but some only helped for a moment, while others worsened the condition, right?"

"That is indeed the case." Fei Cai suddenly had a little more confidence in Fang Xing.

"Although this Long Wang Ginseng has fire spots, it is not poisoned by fire, but is producing fire poison itself... It's similar to a form of evolution, or rather, a means of self-protection."

Fang Xing continued.

"Self-protection? Could it be..." Fei Cai looked at the medicine garden: "Are there pests in the garden?"

"That is indeed the case."

Fang Xing also felt a bit lucky in his heart; Druids were good at communicating with plants and animals, and in this situation, they had an advantage over orthodox spiritual planters.

"Please, little friend, lend a hand; my Fei family will definitely reward you generously."

Fei Cai's expression was solemn.

"Easy, easy..."

Fang Xing came to an old tree stump, his Druid perception extending continuously, finding a few extremely weak lives.

Although insects had low intelligence, they were at least a bit higher than plants.

Simple commands like 'come here' and 'eat' could still be understood.

Rustle!

Rustle!

Not long after, Fei Cai saw strange ants crawling out from the ground.

He identified them and found that he didn't know the species of these ants at all.

"They seem to be 'Spirit-Eating Ants', the most common pests in spiritual fields, but they have mutated..."

Old Man Lv muttered.

Fang Xing took out a bamboo tube, drilled a small hole in it, and collected these mutated Spirit-Eating Ants inside.

"Alright... these ants like to gnaw on the roots of spiritual plants. The Long Wang Ginseng had already developed spirituality, and to protect itself, it increased its fire poison mutation... Now that the source of the irritation is gone, use some cold-natured medicine, and after a period of time, you will see the effect."

He stood up and clapped his hands.

"This... how many days will it take?"

Fei Cai was somewhat skeptical.

"Seven days will suffice..." Fang Xing sensed the state of the Long Wang Ginseng slightly, communicated with it, and made a judgment.

Without irritation, whether it's humans or plants, they all like to follow their original paths; this is path dependence, and no one would mutate for no reason.

"Since that's the case, why don't you two stay in the Fei family for a few more days?"

Fei Cai seemed very enthusiastic: "Old Man Lv, you can just spend more time with your granddaughter..."

Old Man Lv was clearly moved, but Fang Xing directly refused: "I have other matters."

"Fine, since that's the case, I won't keep you. After seven days, if the Long Wang Ginseng is fine... the Land Reclamation Order will naturally be delivered to your hands. If there is any deception..." Fei Cai's voice turned cold: "You should know the consequences."

"That goes without saying."

Fang Xing agreed immediately.

"Sigh... Brother Fang, why bother? That last sentence greatly offended Steward Fei Cai."

After walking out of the Fei family, Old Man Lv complained a bit.

It was just waiting a few more days, after all.

"I prefer the wilderness and nature... Besides, although these mutated Spirit-Eating Ants are very harmful to spiritual plants, they are not powerful themselves. How did they appear in the heavily guarded ginseng garden?"

Fang Xing played with the bamboo tube containing the mutated ants and asked in return.

"You mean... there's a traitor? Why?"

Old Man Lv was full of confusion, but suddenly thought of something, his whole body shook, looking mysterious, and no matter how much Fang Xing asked, he wouldn't open his mouth again.

Seeing this, Fang Xing didn't say anything more, just sneered in his heart:

"It seems that the treasures exchanged for this sixty-year Long Wang Ginseng liquid are highly likely related to breaking through the Dao foundation... This is a fundamental matter."

"Old Man Lv clearly thought of something and didn't dare to say it... he even seems to regret getting involved."

"But now that he's already in the game, wanting to withdraw? That's difficult..."

After parting with Old Man Lv, Fang Xing walked to an uninhabited place, suddenly spread his arms, transformed into an owl, grabbed the bamboo tube and his clothes, and flapped his wings to fly up.

This was his newly learned 【Wilderness Transformation】 form!

Facts proved that when one is weak, the ability to fly is crucial.

Among cultivators at the ninth level of Qi Sensing, if they don't rely on magic tools or talismans... only those at the eighth level of Qi Sensing, who have refined a breath of Heavenly Gang Qi, can fly by supporting themselves with their own Heavenly Gang Qi.

Even so, they cannot sustain it for long.

To truly fly with one's physical body, one must break through to the Dao foundation!

In the wilderness, a simple wooden house.

The owl landed and transformed into Fang Xing's figure.

He put on his animal skin clothes, first came to the side, looked at the oak seeds that were starting to sprout, nodded, picked up a gourd filled with monkey wine, and gulped down a mouthful.

"The Way of the Druid is nature..."

He looked at the surrounding scenery and couldn't help but smile: "Nature really makes me feel closer..."

After resting a bit and eating some berries and dried meat, Fang Xing then looked at his spoils of war this time.

"Mutated Spirit-Eating Ants?"

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly: "They look very similar... but the life essence I feel is not something ordinary pests can compare to... Little ones, I can feel the savagery and ferocity hidden deep in your bloodlines... That is the powerful bloodline belonging to the wilderness, belonging to the primeval era..."

Druids possess an animal domain, and learning to control beasts and insects is also very fast.

Now that he had finally obtained a group of exotic insects, Fang Xing felt he could go buy a few books on insect control to read; he should gain something from it.

After communicating with the little ants for a while and feeding them some food they liked, Fang Xing settled these mutated ants down and started reading and cultivating again...

Before he knew it, another seven days had passed.

Yunlai Market.

Fang Xing didn't immediately go to meet the Five Friends of Floating Clouds, but instead found the stall owner who sold him the oak seeds last time.

"Fellow Daoist is here? Come and see how this 'Green Spirit Bamboo' is?"

The gray-robed stall owner saw Fang Xing and immediately smiled, opening a jade box.

Inside the box was a section of bamboo, still with roots, and fresh soil on it.

Fang Xing perceived it and confirmed that the bamboo was full of vitality, so he nodded: "Not bad..."

This Green Spirit Bamboo was exactly what he had been looking for, finding it to be the most suitable plant to grow in the Qingli Swamp in the outer regions.

He had mentioned it slightly last time, and didn't expect the stall owner to have found it.