Spirit Plant Entry: Immortality Begins with Farming

Bai Zhi gripped the sword, her hand still trembling.

It wasn't fear, but the shock of those triple stares hadn't completely faded. My mind felt like it was stuffed with a wad of cotton wool, both cold and hot, my thoughts a jumbled mess.

Chen Yuan walked over, but didn't touch her. He just shone the light bulb on her face.

"Eyes," he said.

Bai Zhi was taken aback: "What?"

"Your eyes," Chen Yuan stared at her pupils, "the color has changed."

Bai Zhi subconsciously raised her hand to touch the corner of her eye, but of course she couldn't feel anything. But Chen Yuan took out a palm-sized bronze mirror from his storage bag—the edges were worn and the mirror surface was cracked—and handed it to her.

Bai Zhi took it and looked at it.

The light from the illuminating beads reflected off the mirror, making it a little dazzling. But she could see clearly—

Her normally deep brown pupils now had a very faint, almost invisible ring of silver-blue around the edges. At first glance, one might mistake it for an optical illusion, but upon closer inspection, the ring of color was indeed present, and it flickered slightly with her breath.

Like the light of star-frost moss.

"Was it made with a sword?" Chen Yuan asked.

Bai Zhi put down the mirror and looked at the moss-covered sword in her hand. The sword, bluish-gray, lay quietly in her palm, showing no signs of distress.

"...I don't know." Her voice was a little hoarse, "but just now...I did 'see' a lot of things."

"What is it?"

"Past, present, future... it's all a jumbled mess." Bai Zhi shook her head, trying to shake off those afterimages. "But what's clearest is the present—I see you standing three zhang behind me, your hand on your storage bag. I see this cave, I see ahead..." She pointed into the depths of the mist ahead, "There's something there."

Chen Yuan looked in the direction she pointed.

The light from the illumination beads couldn't reach that far, and the fog, like a wall, completely swallowed up the latter half of the passage.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I can't see clearly." Bai Zhi frowned. "It's a large, dark shadow, curled up. Sleeping... but about to wake up."

She paused, then added:

"The sword spirit said that it's a mountain spirit. Once it fully awakens, it will crush us all."

Chen Yuan remained silent for two breaths.

Then he turned and walked toward the second shrine—the one where the jade slips were kept.

"Then don't wait for it to wake up," he said.

Bai Zhi followed.

The jade slip lay quietly in the stone niche, its yellowish jade texture riddled with cracks as fine as a spider web. It was tied with a red rope, the knots so intricate they were dizzying.

Chen Yuan didn't reach out; he just stared at him.

"What do you think this is?" he asked.

Bai Zhi also stared at the jade slip: "The sword spirit said it's waiting for its successor. This sword belongs to the Tianmu Sect, so this jade slip... is most likely one as well."

"Cultivation techniques?"

"Perhaps." Bai Zhi squatted down, not touching the jade slip, but just looking closely at the knot. "My master taught me some common sense about ancient sealing methods—this kind of knot is called the 'Three Lives Lock.' To untie it, you have to input three different powers at the same time. And it has to be in a specific order; if you make a mistake, the jade slip will self-destruct."

Chen Yuan also squatted down: "Which three?"

"I don't know." Bai Zhi shook her head. "The solution to each Three Lives Lock is different, and the person who sets it decides for themselves. But generally, they choose... well, three powers related to the inheritor's traits."

She looked at Chen Yuan: "Why don't you give it a try?"

Chen Yuan didn't move.

"This belongs to the Tianmu Sect," he said. "Since you took the sword, this jade slip should also be yours."

"But I don't know how to solve it—"

"I'll teach you," Chen Yuan interrupted her. "The silvery-white star can analyze the structure of matter, and I can see the flow of spiritual energy inside the knot. Follow my instructions and channel your power into it."

Bai Zhi was stunned: "...How did you lose?"

Chen Yuan reached out and hovered his hand half an inch above the jade slip. Silvery light seeped from his palm, like a fine spider web, gently covering the jade slip.

The cracks on the surface of the jade slip lit up under the silver light—not because they were glowing, but because extremely subtle spiritual energy was flowing inside the cracks, forming a complex network pattern along them.

Under the silver light, three different colored threads emerged inside the red rope: gold, blue, and white.

"Did you see that?" Chen Yuan asked.

Bai Zhi focused intently, the faint silver-blue light around the edge of her pupils flashing for a moment. Then she nodded: "I see. Three threads, intertwined."

"That's right." Chen Yuan pointed in the air, "The gold thread represents 'essence,' which is the power of the physical body's blood and qi. The blue thread represents 'qi,' which is spiritual power. The white thread represents 'spirit,' which is divine consciousness and mental power. The Three Lives Lock locks these three things."

He paused:

"The order of unraveling is... first spirit, then qi, and finally essence. That is, first use your divine sense to touch the white line, then pour spiritual power into the blue line, and finally drip a drop of blood onto the gold line."

Bai Zhi took a deep breath: "Shall I?"

"Hmm." Chen Yuan withdrew his hand. "You are the Sword Master, and the inheritance should be initiated by you."

Bai Zhi placed the moss-covered sword on the ground and wiped her hands on her clothes—her palms were covered in sweat.

Then she stretched out her finger and held it above the red string.

"First, divine sense..." she murmured, closing her eyes.

She activated the senses of plants and trees in her mind—but this time, she didn't let the senses spread, but instead condensed them into an extremely fine needle, carefully probing the white thread inside the red rope.

The moment of touch—

hum.

The white line "came to life," shuddering violently like a startled snake! A cold, pure surge of divine consciousness flowed back through Bai Zhi's senses and rushed into her sea of ​​consciousness!

"Ugh!" Bai Zhi groaned, but did not back down. Instead, she gritted her teeth and pushed more of her divine sense forward!

It's not confrontation, it's resonance.

She used the method the sword spirit had taught her—not simply "seeing," but touching with "feeling." She transmitted the warmth and intimacy she felt when she held the moss sword through her divine sense.

The white line's struggle weakened.

Then, it began to soften, like ice melting into water, flowing along the texture of the red rope, finally converging at a certain point in the knot, and disappearing with a soft "snap".

The first step has been solved.

Bai Zhi opened her eyes, took a breath, and had a thin layer of sweat on her forehead.

"Next is the blue thread," Chen Yuan said. "Infuse it with spiritual power. Don't use your full strength, 30% is enough."

Bai Zhi nodded, her fingers hovering in the air once more. This time, she mobilized the spiritual energy within her meridians—not her original gentle plant-based spiritual energy, but… imbued with the aura of the Green Moss Sword.

It was a very strange feeling. The sword beside her seemed to breathe like a living thing, each breath carrying a faint aura of sword energy. She mixed that sword energy into her spiritual power and gently infused it into the blue thread.

The blue line offered no resistance.

Instead, it was like rain after a long drought, greedily absorbing her spiritual power. After absorbing for about three breaths, the blue thread changed from blue to cyan-gold, and then with a "pop," it dissipated.

Two steps.

Bai Zhi looked at Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan took out a small jade bottle from his storage bag, uncorked it, and poured a drop of clear liquid onto his fingertip: "Reach out."

Bai Zhi extends her left index finger.

Chen Yuan rubbed the liquid on her fingertip—it felt cool to the touch, and then the skin there went slightly numb and lost sensation.

"Anesthesia," Chen Yuan explained, "so the blood draw won't hurt."

Then he used the tip of the probe to quickly prick Bai Zhi's fingertip.

A drop of blood seeped out, round and bright red, standing out starkly in the dim blue light.

"It drips onto the gold thread," Chen Yuan said.

Bai Zhi pressed the blood droplet onto the last gold thread of the red rope.

The moment blood touched the gold thread—

boom!

It wasn't a sound, it was a visual, that exploded directly into Bai Zhi's mind!

She saw an old man in white robes sitting atop the observatory, a blank jade slip spread out before him. The old man raised his hand, his fingertips writing on the jade slip—not with a pen, but with light. With each stroke, a luminous line appeared on the surface of the jade slip.

She didn't recognize a single character the old man wrote.

But she understood the gestures the old man wrote.

That's not writing, it's engraving. It's engraving a certain law of "seeing" into a jade slip.

As the last stroke fell, the old man looked up in Bai Zhi's direction—though separated by three thousand years of time and space, Bai Zhi felt that he was truly looking at her.

The old man smiled, a gentle smile, but there was no smile in his eyes, only a bottomless calm.

He said one thing.

The sound resounded directly in Bai Zhi's mind, each word like the tolling of a bell:

"To see the big picture from small details, and to understand the heart by observing the heavens."

Then the screen shattered.

The red rope automatically untied itself, slipped off the jade slip like a live snake, fell to the ground, and turned into a pool of dark red ash.

The jade slip has been opened.

Bai Zhi staggered a step, and Chen Yuan supported her.

"What did you see?" he asked.

"An old man..." Bai Zhi rubbed her temples, "He wrote on the jade slip... and said something to me."

"What did you say?"

"From small things one can know great things; by observing the heavens one can see the heart." Bai Zhi repeated.

Chen Yuan frowned: "What do you mean?"

"I don't know." Bai Zhi bent down and picked up the jade slip.

The jade slip felt warm and smooth to the touch, like the skin of a living creature. The cracks on its surface began to heal the moment she touched it—not truly healed, but rather a silvery-white light shone from within the cracks, connecting them into a complete network pattern.

And those lines, in Bai Zhi's eyes, were automatically translated into words she could understand.

It's not words, it's an image.

She "saw" the first line—

"The first level of the Eye Technique: Seeing the Subtle."

"Observe the veins to know the leaves, observe the leaves to know the tree, observe the tree to know the forest. All things have veins, and the veins are their destiny."

Below is a complex diagram of energy circulation: the flow of spiritual energy through the meridians around the eyes, coordinated with a specific breathing rhythm, and... the resonance of the sword.

Bai Zhi looked up at Chen Yuan: "This is a set of... eye techniques. Used in conjunction with swordsmanship."

Chen Yuan leaned closer to look at the jade slip, but all he saw was a piece of yellowish ancient jade with nothing on it.

"I can't see," he said.

"Only I can see it." Bai Zhi understood. "The inheritance is bound together."

She continued to "watch".

The contents of the jade slip are divided into three parts:

The first part is the cultivation method of "Seeing the Subtle" - how to use spiritual power to nourish the meridians of the eyes, how to open the "eye of seeing the subtle", and how to use these eyes to see the "patterns" of things.

The second part is swordsmanship—a set of swordsmanship with only three moves, the names of which are ridiculously simple: Thrust, Pick, Wipe. But each move is followed by dense annotations, explaining how to use the "eye of the minute" to see through the opponent's weaknesses, and then the sword moves with the eyes to strike with one blow.

The third part is... taboo.

Bai Zhi's expression changed upon seeing this.

"What's wrong?" Chen Yuan asked.

Bai Zhi pointed to the words that appeared on the jade slip: "It says... when you reach the third level of the Visionary Eye Technique, you will see 'things you shouldn't see.' It could be past resentments, fragments of the future, or even... the 'scars' of heaven and earth themselves. If your will is not strong, you will be backfired by what you see. At best, your divine sense will be damaged; at worst, your Dao heart will collapse."

Chen Yuan remained silent for a while.

"Are you still practicing?" he asked.

Bai Zhi didn't hesitate: "I'll practice."

Why?

"Because the sword spirit said that the mountain spirit is about to awaken." Bai Zhi looked into the depths of the cave. "If we don't want to die here, we have to become stronger. And this set of eye techniques and sword skills is the fastest way to become stronger that we can grasp right now."

She pressed the jade slip to her forehead.

The jade transformed into a stream of light and entered between her eyebrows.

Bai Zhi's body trembled, then she closed her eyes.

In her mind, the words, images, and energy pathways were etched like a brand. She could feel the meridians around her eyes starting to burn, as if fine needles were pricking them.

She began to guide spiritual energy according to the method.

The first attempt failed. The spiritual energy dissipated halfway through.

The second attempt also failed. The meridians were like a dried-up riverbed; the spiritual energy seeped through them as soon as it passed.

The third time, she gritted her teeth and gripped the moss-covered sword in her left hand. A warm, gentle aura emanated from the blade, as if encouraging her.

The spiritual energy began to circulate again.

This time, when the spiritual energy flowed to her eyes, the Green Moss Sword trembled slightly, and a gentle sword aura flowed into her body along the hilt, mixing into the spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy suddenly flowed smoothly.

Like a blocked river channel being broken open, it rushes forward with a thunderous roar, completing the first cycle of energy circulation in the meridians around the eyes, following the route recorded on the jade slip.

Bai Zhi opened her eyes.

The world is different now.

She looked at Chen Yuan—in her eyes, Chen Yuan was just Chen Yuan, a living, breathing person.

But now, she sees light emanating from Chen Yuan.

It wasn't real light, but the trajectory of flowing spiritual energy. A pale golden life essence shone steadily in his chest cavity, silvery-white star power swirled in his sea of ​​consciousness, and there was also a newly formed, azure vortex—the power to cleave clouds.

She could even see that the hidden injuries in Chen Yuan's meridians—like fine, black cracks—were being slowly repaired by the pale golden light.

She looked down at the ground.

The silvery-blue spiritual energy of the Star Frost Moss flowed along the ground like a thin mist, heading deeper into the cave. And each of the pebbles on the ground seemed to breathe slowly, inhaling and exhaling spiritual energy, transmitting information into the depths of the mountain.

She looked into the mist deep within the cave.

This time, she saw it—the fog wasn't uniform. In some places it was thick, in others thin. In the thicker areas, the spiritual energy stagnated, like a swamp. In the thinner areas, the spiritual energy flowed rapidly, like a river.

And at the end of this fog...

Bai Zhi's pupils suddenly contracted.

She saw the dark figure.

It was truly enormous, almost filling the entire depths of the cave. The dark figure was curled up, like a sleeping fetus, its surface covered by a thick, crystallized shell of spiritual energy. The shell pulsated slowly, and with each pulsation, the spiritual energy of the entire mountain trembled.

At the heart of the shadowy figure, there was a glimmer of dazzling gold.

That is... the core of the mountain spirit.

Bai Zhi could even see that around the golden light, there were fine, black "chains" wrapped around it—that was an array, a sealing array left by the Tianmu Sect, which was still working, but it was badly damaged and could break at any time.

"What did you see?" Chen Yuan asked.

Bai Zhi looked away and blinked. A stinging pain shot through her eyes, as if from overuse.

"The mountain spirit," she said, "is sleeping. But the seal is about to break."

"How much longer can we hold out?"

Bai Zhi estimated the speed of the spiritual energy flow and the extent of the seal damage.

"At most... three days."

Chen Yuan nodded: "That's enough."

"Enough of what?"

"Enough for you to learn the first level of the Pupil Technique, enough for me to recover from all my hidden injuries, enough for Lieyun's bones to harden." Chen Yuan turned around and walked back the way he came. "Then, we'll leave."

Bai Zhi chimed in, "Why not give it a try... against the mountain spirit?"

Chen Yuan stopped and turned to look at her: "You think you can beat her?"

Bai Zhi thought about the size of the dark figure she had just seen and honestly shook her head: "We can't beat it."

"Then what's the point of dealing with it?" Chen Yuan continued walking. "We've obtained the opportunity, but we also need to preserve our lives. When you've reached the third level of the Pupil Technique, and I've reached the Golden Core stage, and Lieyun has recovered to his full strength, then we'll come back and take a look."

Bai Zhi, carrying the moss-covered sword, jogged to catch up.

After walking a few steps, she suddenly said:

"Chen Yuan".

"Um?"

"Thank you."

Chen Yuan didn't turn around: "What are you thanking me for?"

"Thank you..." Bai Zhi thought for a moment, "You didn't stop me from taking the sword, you didn't snatch the jade slip, and you even helped me break the seal."

Chen Yuan remained silent for a while.

Then he said:

"You took the sword yourself, and you opened the jade slip yourself. I did nothing."

"But you're right next to me," Bai Zhi said. "With you here, I dare to reach out."

Chen Yuan paused for a moment.

Without saying a word, he continued walking forward.

But Bai Zhi noticed that the tips of his ears had turned slightly red.

The two walked one after the other through the dark blue passage, stepping over the carpet of star-frost moss, and headed towards the cave entrance.

Behind them, deep within the cave, the dark figure, fast asleep, unconsciously turned over.

The entire mountain trembled slightly.

Fine crystalline powder was falling from the cave ceiling.