Chapter 3: Companion Little Wu Tian

"The medicinal bath used to strengthen clairvoyance is expensive, isn't it? My dad worked for nothing again this month." Su Jin said with furrowed little brows, looking gloomy.

"Mm-hmm, thirty-five spirit stones a set. But it can guarantee that tomorrow, when you cultivate the Cultivation Technique under the instructor's guidance, you'll be able to sense spiritual Qi in one go, smoothly absorb it, and produce the first wisp of magic power within your body. Sensing spiritual Qi on the first day of cultivation versus sensing it a few days later — the results are completely different.

And the higher your results, the more likely you are to receive rewards from the clan school. You might even earn back a few spirit stones to cover the cost of the medicinal bath for your dad."

"There are rewards at the clan school? The kind that give spirit stones?" Su Jin's eyes lit up the instant she heard that.

"There are. The top students in your class, or the top several in the entire grade, all get various rewards. Some rewards are spirit stones, some are spiritual items. In any case, it's all money." Su Jian noticed at once that Su Jin was sensitive about spirit stones, and immediately and slyly put together a motivation plan.

"Then I'm going to go soak in the medicinal bath." Su Jin immediately ran off.

The medicinal bath was already prepared; if she didn't soak in it, it would be wasted, so this time she had to soak properly, and strive to earn her dad back a few spirit stones tomorrow.

Su Jian watched Su Jin running with such enthusiasm and laughed along.

He thought, that's right, children should have this kind of positive attitude.

After finishing the medicinal bath, Su Jin soaked in another basin of clear water, then took out a small jade bottle containing the spiritual liquid her dad had prepared for her.

There were thirty drops in total inside.

Su Jin dripped a single drop into the small basin, just enough to turn the clear water slightly into spiritual water.

She also took out the little red ginseng seeds she'd received today. This packet of little seeds contained two hundred in total, and she carefully soaked them all into the small basin filled with spiritual spring water.

After waiting three or four days for the seeds to sprout, she would plant them in the spiritual field in the back courtyard.

The three-mu spiritual field in Su Jin's back courtyard — all its output belonged to the family.

This was related to how the Su clan had once exerted great effort to help the sect establish the Xiancheng beneath their feet. The Su family members who originally settled here all received courtyards like this, with a small spiritual field attached in the back.

Su Jin's great-great-grandfather had died in battle here back then, so his descendants received a courtyard with a three-mu spiritual field.

Before Su Jin's mother left, she deliberately set aside a small plot at the edge of the spiritual field for Su Jin. She planned to let her use it to complete classroom assignments after starting school.

After reviewing what she'd learned today, Su Jin was just about to go to sleep when she decided to go check on the seeds in the small basin once more.

This observation led Su Jin to discover that among a group of uniformly sized red ginseng seeds, there was one seed that was exceptionally thin and small — at least three or four times skinnier than the other plump seeds.

"Is this… a seed that was born underdeveloped?" Su Jin picked out that little seed.

Pinching the seed, she seemed to sense that this little fellow didn't have much vitality — unlike the other little seeds, which, after soaking in the spiritual spring water, were already stirring restlessly, wanting to sprout.

It seemed to want to keep sleeping.

Whether this fellow could sprout at all was now in question!

"That's not going to work." She'd only just brought the seeds home, and already one little medicinal seed was falling behind — how would she complete the classroom assignment then?

Su Jin thought for a moment, then decided to give the little seed some extra help.

She found an empty little flowerpot on the windowsill, then planted the little seed inside it. She snapped her fingers toward the little flowerpot, and a pale golden light immediately shot out from between her brows, landing on the flowerpot and forming a hemispherical light shield with a base diameter of three chi.

With this light shield covering it, Su Jin clearly sensed a certain little seed gradually transitioning from wanting to sleep to wanting to wake up.

Su Jin had a feeling that by tomorrow morning, the little seed would sprout.

Hehe, her Little Wu Tian was indeed a little treasure that could accelerate the growth of spiritual plants.

Ahem, Su Jin's mother possessed the bloodline of an ancient Wood-Witch. Witches were said to be ancient immortals of the human race who, in primordial times, blazed their own path of cultivation by observing heaven and earth.

In their world, many mythological stories circulated among the common folk, and many were related to Witches.

Later, for reasons unknown, the Witches vanished. But their bloodlines were passed down.

Su Jin's mother came from a certain Wood-Witch tribe deep in the mountains, and had married into the Su family through an alliance marriage.

Su Jin inherited her mother's bloodline, and from the moment of her birth, she was accompanied by this small space of the Wood-Witch lineage — which the Witch race called Little Wu Tian.

This kind of Little Wu Tian was said to only be born in descendants with a dense Witch bloodline. It was considered a gift bestowed upon their descendants by the Primordial Great Witches.

But the primordial era was separated from the present by far too much time.

The Little Wu Tian born to Witch descendants of the primordial era was said to have, from the moment of birth, a space of three or four mu, and a height of one or two zhang. How could it compare to the Little Wu Tian Su Jin had awakened — at birth, its base was only one chi in diameter, and its height was also one chi.

After nurturing it for six years, the base was only three chi in diameter, and the height was three chi.

When Su Jin had just learned to speak and to communicate with her mother, she showed her mother this little toy of hers.

It had made Su Jin's mother laugh out loud.

She truly hadn't expected her own child's companion Little Wu Tian to be so miniature.

You could say her bloodline wasn't dense, yet she'd given birth to a Little Wu Tian. You could say her bloodline was dense, yet her Little Wu Tian was so tiny.

Su Jin's mother thought it over from every angle, but in the end gave up the idea of taking the child back to her maiden home to let the clan's last Witch elder take a look.

Forget it — the Witch race had already completely declined. Her own daughter should walk the path of cultivation that was prevalent now.

Still, this was after all a companion treasure of the Wood-Witch lineage. This little shield, no matter where it was placed, as long as there was soil and spiritual plants were planted, could accelerate the growth and development of spiritual plants. And it could grow along with the child's growth. A small space that could be planted in and could grow — it counted as a pretty good treasure.

Having taken care of the little seed, Su Jin crawled into her little quilt and quickly fell asleep.

In her dream, a massive star shimmering with all manner of blue light drew closer and closer to her.

In her dream, she lay on a patch of green grass, blissfully enjoying the illumination of the great star as she drifted off to sleep.

No matter how tired or weary she was the day before.

As long as she slept sweetly, the next morning Su Jin would revive at full health, brimming with energy.

She even had a feeling that, sleeping under that illumination every day, she would become a little smarter each day.

However, when Su Jin fell asleep this time, a small accident occurred.

At some unknown moment, Little Wu Tian had also slipped into her dream, and had taken root right beside her.

Propping up a small golden shield, in that half-dreaming, half-waking state, Su Jin sensed that something seemed to be breaking through the soil within the ground beneath that shield?

Sleepiness welling up, Su Jin didn't bother investigating how Little Wu Tian had gotten in, and fell straight asleep.