Spirit Plant Entry: Immortality Begins with Farming

Back inside, Chen Yuan pondered the conclusion.

"The Perilla Grass underwent a fire attribute mutation on the seventh day, gaining a weak fire spiritual energy. The mutation conditions are speculated to be a special environmental stimulus, fire attribute ore, and the Spirit Rain Technique. The probability of this attribute appearing is one in three, approximately 33%..."

He paused for a moment after thinking about this.

A 33% probability is not low.

If this pattern holds true, he could easily cultivate mutated spiritual herbs in bulk to obtain their attributes, whether for his own use or to sell them—it would be a viable path.

Chen Yuan rubbed his temples and looked out the window.

The night was deep, and most of the lights in the shantytown had been turned off, except for Widow Li's house, where the lights were still on. Two shadowy figures were projected onto the window paper, overlapping and swaying slightly.

He looked away and blew out the oil lamp.

In the darkness, Chen Yuan's eyes shone with an astonishing light.

Silent all night.

The next morning, Chen Yuan went to the market.

Qingyang Market is divided into inner and outer areas. The outer area is a gathering place for independent cultivators. The streets are narrow, the shops are simple, and they sell low-end goods.

The inner area is much more orderly, with bluestone paving and formal shops run by the Flying Feather Sect on both sides, offering a full range of elixirs, magical artifacts, and cultivation techniques, all at much higher prices.

Chen Yuan wandered around the outer district and finally walked into a small shop called Baicaotang.

The shop is small, with various dried herbs displayed on the shelves, and the air is filled with a mixed medicinal aroma.

The shopkeeper was a thin, middle-aged man who was engrossed in fiddling with an abacus. Seeing someone enter, he didn't even look up: "What do you want?"

"Shopkeeper, do you buy spirit herbs?"

"I'll take it, but I'll check its quality." The middle-aged man then looked up and sized up Chen Yuan. "Qi Refining Level 2... You're growing yellow sprout rice, aren't you? We don't buy that stuff."

Chen Yuan took out a cloth bag from his pocket and carefully opened it.

The perilla plant was revealed, its leaves tinged with a faint red; it was the mutated fire-attribute plant.

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up. He reached out and picked up the mutated plant, bringing it to his nose to smell it: "Fire elemental energy... a mutated species? Where did you get this?"

"We grew them ourselves," Chen Yuan said vaguely.

"Your own?" The shopkeeper glanced at him again, his eyes now scrutinizing him. "Mutating perilla grass isn't easy; it requires a specific fire-attribute environment. Your yard..."

"I got it by chance," Chen Yuan interrupted him. "Would the shopkeeper accept it?"

"Take it." The shopkeeper put down the spirit herb, pondered for a moment, and said, "Ordinary perilla grass, one stalk and half a spirit stone. This mutated one... two spirit stones, how about that?"

Chen Yuan quickly made a mental calculation.

A single ordinary perilla seed is only worth a few spirit stones, but the three seedlings I bought for half a spirit stone can now be sold for half a spirit stone each, more than doubling in value.

The mutated one is even more valuable, worth two spirit stones, enough for me to save up for a month.

But Chen Yuan remained calm and said, "Shopkeeper, fire-attribute mutants are not common. There are many fellow cultivators in the market who practice the 'Blazing Sun Technique.' The fire spiritual energy in this herb is pure. Directly absorbing it is equivalent to three days of hard cultivation. Three spirit stones, no bargaining."

The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes and looked Chen Yuan over again.

After a moment, he laughed: "Kid, you're pretty good at business. Okay, three dollars it is, but if you ever have any more of these mutants in the future, remember to bring them to me first."

"must."

The transaction was completed, and Chen Yuan walked out of Baicaotang with three spirit stones in his pocket.

The sun shines on my body, feeling warm and cozy.

He touched the spirit stone in his arms and felt a sense of abundance for the first time in five years.

On his way back to the shantytown, Chen Yuan ran into Old Zhao.

The old man was squatting at his doorstep, puffing on his pipe, his face looking rather pale.

Seeing Chen Yuan approach, he waved and said, "Hey kid, come sit down."

Chen Yuan walked over and sat down on the small stool that Old Zhao had handed him.

"I heard that Fan the Skinflint overcharged you by a pound of rice yesterday?" Old Zhao exhaled a puff of smoke.

Chen Yuan nodded: "Yes."

"That son of a bitch..." Old Zhao cursed, then lowered his voice, "You'd better be careful lately. I heard that the sect is really sending people to the front lines to reclaim wasteland. This time it's not ten, it's twenty."

Chen Yuan's heart tightened: "Is the information reliable?"

"He told me that I have a distant nephew who works on patrol."

Old Zhao sighed, "Things aren't peaceful at the front. They say they've discovered some kind of cave, and the sect wants to send people to investigate. We Spirit Farmers are the perfect cannon fodder."

Cave dwelling...

Chen Yuan had heard such rumors. A thousand years ago, the Southern Wilderness was the territory of a major sect, but it declined for some unknown reason, leaving behind many ruins.

Occasionally, a cultivator might stumble into it and gain an opportunity to soar to the heavens, but most would die inside, leaving no trace of their remains.

"How are the rankings calculated?" Chen Yuan asked.

Old Zhao tapped his pipe. "Based on the annual harvest, your harvest in the first two quarters this year was just average. If the third quarter doesn't improve, it's dangerous."

Chen Yuan remained silent.

His three mu of spiritual fields yielded a total of 150 jin of yellow sprout rice in the first two seasons, ranking in the middle to lower range among more than 300 spiritual farmers.

If he still weighs 80 pounds in the third season, his overall ranking will likely drop to the bottom.

"What suggestions does Mr. Zhao have?"

Old Zhao glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, and then said:

"I have a traditional method that can temporarily increase the yield of spirit rice, but it damages the soil. After using it, that land will not be able to grow anything for three years."

Chen Yuan frowned: "What method?"

"Water it with the blood of demonic beasts." Old Zhao's voice was even lower:

"There's a demon-hunting team at the east end of the market. They often sell demon blood cheaply. Buy some, dilute it with water, and water the roots of your spirit rice. It will stimulate growth and increase yield by 30%. However, the quality of the spirit rice will decrease, and the land will be ruined."

Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Chen Yuan immediately understood the cost of this method: the spirit field was rented, and if the land was abandoned, the Flying Feather Sect would not let him off the hook.

Moreover, the lower quality of the rice would fetch a lower price, which would be difficult to explain to Fan Datong.

"Thank you, Mr. Zhao. I'll think about it some more."

Old Zhao nodded and said no more. In this shantytown, everyone has their own way of living, and he could only touch on the subject to the point.

Back in his own yard, Chen Yuan closed the door and sat at the table, lost in thought.

The perilla plants outside the window swayed gently in the breeze. The fire-attribute mutated one had already been sold, and the remaining two were still lush and green.

He stared at it for a long time, then suddenly got up, walked to the edge of the vegetable garden, and squatted down.

When you press your hand on the soil, you can feel a faint flow of spiritual energy.

What if Whispering uses terms to enhance Spirit Rice?

Once the idea appeared, it grew wildly like weeds.

The description for Golden Thread Grass is "weak spiritual energy," while that for Perilla Grass is "weak fire spiritual energy."

What about spirit rice? Yellow sprout rice is also a plant, so it should have an entry for it too.

But after observing the spirit field for so long, he didn't find a single spirit rice plant with any inscription.

"Is it because the conditions aren't right? Or... is mutation necessary?"

Chen Yuan recalled the golden thread grass, which grew on the edge of the spirit field and was constantly watered by spirit rain, and had just undergone a mutation.

The yellow sprout rice in the spiritual field is watered by spiritual rain every day, but the routine is too regular and lacks stimulation.

You need to create mutations yourself.

Just like stimulating the perilla plant with fire-attribute ore.