Cultivation begins with planting techniques

The Spirit Herb Garden is different from other places.

The main workers were a group of Lingnong disciples.

Even though the innate steward was nowhere to be found, it did not hinder everyone's normal work in the slightest.

Normally, Steward Pan doesn't pay much attention to the affairs of this spirit herb garden. As long as he can fulfill his quota for the sect's tasks, everything is fine.

It's not easy for anyone to see him.

At most, people might find it slightly strange that Steward Pan hadn't come out of his cave for a while, but no one would think too much about it.

After all, after that unfamiliar innate cultivator came to visit, Steward Pan never showed his face in front of everyone again.

Life in the entire herb garden continued as peacefully and routinely as before.

Li Ye blended in with the crowd without showing any unusual behavior, so naturally no one would suspect that Deacon Pan's disappearance had anything to do with him.

Even if one is to have doubts, one should doubt the person who visited him in the first place!

It was even because Old Man Pan was suspected of going into seclusion and had disappeared without a trace, and even when the Lingnong disciples went to visit him, he did not respond.

Li Ye, a disciple of the Spirit Farm who had risen to the seventh level of the Gathering Yuan Realm after revealing his cultivation, had become second only to Steward Pan in the Spirit Herb Garden, and was now practically the person in charge of the Spirit Herb Garden.

If he doesn't get a response from Old Man Pan, he can usually get proper help from those who come to him with such problems.

The abilities he displayed were completely unlike those of a young man in his early twenties.

Even the old folks in the herb garden would feel inferior to him.

Li Ye didn't mind the trouble; he was going to take over the spirit herb garden after he broke through to the Innate Realm anyway.

Rather than disciplining these Lingnong disciples later, it's better to get things done now.

The trust accumulated from his previous guidance on cultivation and spiritual plant techniques quickly transformed into real prestige.

Suddenly, not only did Li Ye no longer need to put in any effort to plant the spiritual fields, but even more people came to help him plant trees.

Several months passed in this way.

The magical aura emanating from him subtly rose from the seventh level of the Gathering Yuan stage to the eighth level.

Such a rapid breakthrough directly shocked all the Lingnong disciples.

They even displayed a humility that was only shown when facing the sect's innate deacons.

Almost everyone believed that Li Ye had received a private gift from Steward Pan, which was why he was able to complete the promotion in a shorter time than before.

Some of them were speculating that Steward Pan's disappearance was probably because he had gone out of his way to find suitable evil energy for Li Ye!
But Li Ye never responded directly to these speculations, simply letting them guess.

This will also make it easier for him to advance in his cultivation in the future, and for the sect to have more flexibility in how to explain things after discovering that Old Man Pan has disappeared.

Everything proceeded smoothly and steadily.

Several months later, the malevolent energy that Li Ye had been nurturing in the pit he had set up in the forest finally came to fruition.

However, the finished product was slightly different from what Li Ye had originally envisioned.

"Hmm... how did it become a withered tree spirit?"

Li Ye looked at the dark brown, decaying aura drawn from the ground and his expression became somewhat strange.

The original purpose of the grand formation he had planned was simply to further nurture the condensed Azure Wood Fiend, thereby advancing its rank and laying a solid foundation for his body.

But this evolved into a withered tree evil spirit, clearly indicating that the evil energy underground had changed. After a moment's thought, he felt that it was probably still his own problem.

This stream of malevolent energy is inherently yin in nature.

To save trouble, they simply destroyed Old Man Pan's body and buried him on the spot to use him as fertilizer. However, even if only a small part of the death aura on this innate cultivator remained, it was still similar to the nature of evil energy, which inevitably affected the evil energy nurtured underground.

It's not impossible that the Green Wood Sha was nurtured into the Withered Wood Sha in this way.

But Li Ye's goal after advancing to the Innate Realm is the Longevity Sword Manual!

If one were to break through to the Innate Realm by refining the withered wood demon, the nature of that magical power would be incompatible with the cultivation method, making it quite difficult to switch cultivation paths!

"I originally planned to first master the Longevity Sword Manual before attempting to evolve from pure life to the realm of life and death, but now it seems I have no choice but to start now..."

Li Ye's eyes flickered, but he did not intend to give up on the Dry Wood Demon. Instead, he had a new idea.

This withered tree spirit, after being nurtured, and even influenced by the death intent of a pre-natal deacon, is at least of high quality. If one were to use it to refine one's magic power to break through to the pre-natal realm, it would naturally lay a solid foundation for him.

There's no reason to give up now.

On the contrary, he himself has already achieved considerable skill in the changes of the withering and flourishing of plants. If he can incorporate this into his sword techniques and develop his own unique sword manual, it would not be a bad thing.

At most, there will be some trouble when switching cultivation methods.

Even if this body cannot solve these problems, one can always try them in person.

With the [Level 4 Balance] attribute, he can even handle the Yin-Yang transformation at the Nascent Soul level. He should be able to balance the life-and-death changes involved in this mere innate cultivation technique!
Since the withered wood evil has already been formed and matured, there is no need to keep this formation that gathers wood energy and condenses evil energy.

Holding an ironwood staff, he walked through the forest, stopping and starting, occasionally tapping on some trees to adjust them.

Before long, the entire forest subtly changed, and the gathering and blocking force disappeared.

The remaining power underground immediately dissipated and rose, thus merging into the entire forest and returning to every tree, causing them to age slightly.

In just a few days, the traces of the evil energy that had once been condensed underground were completely gone.

"Now that the evil energy has been fully nurtured, I can break through to the Innate Realm at any time, but the timing isn't quite right yet. I can wait a little longer..."

Li Ye looked in the direction of Old Man Pan's residence and murmured to himself.

………………

As time went by, everyone got used to not seeing Old Man Pan anymore.

Even though some of them dedicate some of their energy to planting trees and tending to the spirit fields, it doesn't seem to affect their efficiency.

On the contrary, the fields of the families who received guidance improved even more.

Some people even thought that it wasn't such a bad thing that Old Man Pan was keeping a low profile.

This thought persisted until the innate steward of the Pill Hall came to collect their share. Only then, without seeing Steward Pan appear, did their bewilderment and curiosity fade away.

Regardless of how Steward Pan acted in previous years, he never dared to neglect the handover of sect missions. He would usually show up a day or two in advance to instruct the spirit farmers to harvest the spirit herbs.

Why is it that now that the day for delivering the elixir has arrived, there is still no sign of him?
Xia Fansong, Tian Lin, and the others looked at the Pill Hall steward who was standing in front of Steward Pan's cave without receiving a response, and fear crept onto their faces.

The steward of the medicine hall frowned. "What exactly is Old Pan doing...?"

He muttered to himself, then suddenly his expression changed, and he looked towards the valley near the edge of the herb garden. (End of Chapter)