Chapter 40: Blood Xue Chiluo Is Discovered

Why did Su Jin spend so much time pondering at home?

That was because Su Jin couldn't figure out what that little thing actually was, nor how it had gotten into the courtyard.

The courtyard where Su Jin and the others currently lived was a residential-style cave abode built in the same batch when Xiancheng was constructed back then.

Listen, it's a cave abode, not an ordinary residential courtyard.

Nor is it the simple array-equipped residential housing built later during the construction of the outer city.

And certainly not those illegal, dilapidated wooden shacks outside the city walls now.

So what exactly is the difference between these residential-style cave abodes, array-equipped residences, and dilapidated wooden shacks?

Simply put.

Residential-style cave abodes came about like this: when Xiancheng was built, to facilitate everyone's reasonable use of the spiritual veins, allowing every household to access spiritual energy without causing the veins to constantly decline due to large-scale development and usage.

Ahem, most importantly, to avoid unspeakable incidents caused by spiritual energy disputes, such as one family having spiritual energy while another, even after deploying a Spirit-Gathering Array, has none to absorb.

The array masters who forged Xiancheng specifically devised a method.

They converted all dwellings built upon the inner city's spiritual veins into individual, tiny spiritual energy nodes.

In this way, several nearby tiny nodes combined, along with a set of multi-functional composite arrays, could form a small cave abode-style structure.

Inside your own cave abode, you can only absorb your own spiritual energy. Even if a Spirit-Gathering Array is loaded, you can only absorb from your own patch.

If you absorb too much, the flow will cut off, and you must wait a period before it can recover.

If you absorb too much more, the main array on the spiritual vein might trigger an alarm. At that point, the patrol team could come to your door and invite you for tea.

These individual small cave abodes are finally connected via a massive array capable of covering the entire interior and exterior of Xiancheng, regulating the spiritual energy flow of all nodes. This allows for adjusting the distribution of spiritual energy everywhere so all cave abodes have energy available, while also blocking malicious usage and refusing destructive spiritual vein development.

So what exactly are the simple array-equipped residences built in the outer city?

In short, it involves driving array stakes into the ground.

These are civilian houses that maintain their own array operations by absorbing the spiritual energy continuously dissipating from the main spiritual vein through the array stakes.

Generally speaking, the array-equipped residences in the outer city are prepared by the cultivator elders of one's own clan for their mortal descendants who lack spiritual roots.

Although there is suspicion of mooching off Xiancheng's spiritual vein, this is permitted by Xiancheng itself; it is called the reasonable use of spiritual energy.

As for those dilapidated wooden shacks outside the city, the explanation is even simpler: people simply purchase array discs and install them in ordinary wooden houses within their rooms or courtyards. However, to activate these array discs, one must provide spirit stones oneself.

Whereas both residential-style cave abodes and array-equipped residences do not require one to provide spirit stones.

This residential-style cave abode of the Su family has a history exceeding one hundred years.

The Su family members almost inspect and maintain it every year. As soon as any damage is discovered, they repair it as quickly as possible.

The protective shield on the outer layer of the cave abode has never had any problems.

A standard cave abode protective shield does not block wind, nor rain, nor insect eggs and tiny insect larvae blown in by the wind.

However, anything slightly larger in size, exceeding the size of a pigeon egg, usually cannot get in.

So where exactly did that little thing come from?

"Huh? What?" Su Jin was stunned for a moment, then said, "Ah ah ah, I remember now, that is the Blood Xue Chiluo I raised."

"Blood... what?" Su Jin was dazed.

"Blood Xue Chiluo." Su Jin repeated it again.

"What kind of thing is Blood Xue Chiluo?" Su Jin was astonished. "Is it a demonic beast pet?"

"Not a pet, not a demonic beast! Big brother, have you heard of a Companion Wuling?" Su Jin said vaguely.

"Companion Wuling? You mean... that little thing is the Companion Wuling you raised?" Su Jin was greatly shocked.

"Companion Wuling, the kind raised by the Great Witches of ancient times? I thought those things had gone extinct long ago. Are those things recorded on stone tablets truly real?" Su Hua's small mouth gaped wide enough to drop a duck egg.

"It might exist, it probably hasn't gone extinct. It might just be uncommon. Anyway, I raised one." Su Jin blinked her eyes and said.

"Call it over so I can see it." Su Jin pondered for a moment, then immediately said.

The curiosity was simply unbearable.

Ancient Wuling, indeed.

Su Jin nodded, then began using soul power to search and summon Blood Xue Chiluo.

Not long after, a small white stalk with two emerald-green tiny leaves sprouted directly from the ground in front of her shoes.

"Blood Xue Chiluo, say hello to my big brother and my niece." Su Jin said.

The small seedling waved its leaves toward Su Jin and Su Hua.

Su Jin and Su Hua both drew in a sharp breath in unison.

It really exists. And it is a Wood-attribute Companion Wuling!

"This little seedling looks to be only one inch tall." Su Jin squatted down immediately, looking at the little seedling with a face full of wonder.

"Blood Xue Chiluo hasn't grown yet; it will grow larger later." Su Jin said.

"How did it come about? Did you pick it up from outside?" Su Jin asked again.

"No, it was born from a seed." Su Jin said.

"What kind of seed can give birth to Blood Xue Chiluo?" Su Jin's first reaction was that it was impossible.

If any random seed could give birth to an ancient Wuling, then he would go get one too.

"It was born from a seed issued as a school task. That batch of seeds totaled two hundred grains; one of them grew smaller than the other Blood Ginseng seeds. I worried it wouldn't sprout, so I put it into Little Wu Tian to raise; once it sprouted, it became Blood Xue Chiluo."

Su Jin pointed at Blood Xue Chiluo while explaining; Blood Xue Chiluo seemed to understand Su Jin's words and even actively waved its leaves to agree with her.

"Then what use does this thing have?" Su Jin asked again.

"It can loosen soil, eat insects, and also help the Red Ginseng seedlings grow quickly." Su Jin said.

"Wait, other seedlings can only wait to be eaten by insects; why can it eat insects?" Su Jin asked, confused.

"Because it is Blood Xue Chiluo." Su Jin said with an air of obviousness.

Blood Xue Chiluo simply can eat insects. As for why Blood Xue Chiluo can eat insects, how would she know?

It must have mutated.

Mother said that if there is any phenomenon one cannot understand, it must be a mutation.

Su Jian: "..."

"Can it water other spirit plants?" Su Hua asked curiously.

"No. It cannot water," Su Jin said, "but I can water."

"Don't say that. Just loosening the soil and removing pests is quite useful," Su Hua said. "Auntie, now that you have the Blood-Xue Chiluo, your annual school tasks will be much easier from now on."