Spirit Plant Entry: Immortality Begins with Farming

Thirty li outside the gate of Feiyu Sect lies Heishi Market.

It was called a market, but it was really just a dirt street about three hundred paces long, with dozens of low wooden shops crammed together on both sides. Faded signs hung at the entrances of the shops, with words like "elixirs," "talismans," and "magical implements" written crookedly on them.

The streets were bustling with people, mostly rogue cultivators in the early and middle stages of Qi Refining, as well as a few disciples dressed in the outer sect robes of the Flying Feather Sect.

Chen Yuan was wearing a gray cloth cloak, with the brim of his hat pulled low.

He had seventy low-grade spirit stones in his storage bag, but he only brought twenty with him today—eleven to buy materials and nine to keep in reserve.

It wasn't that he was stingy; it was a habit formed in the shantytown: not flaunting one's wealth.

Soul-suppressing wood is not hard to find.

He found it at "Old Wu's Materials Shop" at the end of the street. A three-foot-long, bowl-sized piece of charred black wood, with natural growth rings on its surface, felt cool to the touch and faintly exuded an eerie aura. It was indeed an old locust tree felled from a nearby yin vein, old enough to last.

"Five spirit stones." The shopkeeper was a thin old man with droopy eyelids and a missing front tooth.

Chen Yuan didn't haggle and handed over the spirit stones directly. The market price for such basic materials is transparent; haggling would only make one appear unprofessional.

The Yin-attracting talisman is a bit troublesome.

He visited three talisman shops, but they either didn't have any or only had one left. Finally, at "Liu's Talisman Shop" in the middle of the street, a fat shopkeeper pulled out a dusty wooden box from under the counter, opened it, and inside were ten neatly stacked yellow talismans.

The talisman paper was dark yellow, and the cinnabar-drawn runes had faded somewhat, with the edges slightly curled.

"Inventory, been sitting here for two years." The chubby shopkeeper rubbed his hands together. "Three for six spirit stones, not sold individually."

Chen Yuan picked up a talisman and probed it with spiritual energy—30% of the spiritual energy in the talisman had been lost, but the core rune structure was still intact, so it was still usable.

"Four pieces," he said.

"Five yuan and fifty cents." The fat shopkeeper shook his head. "I can't go any lower."

"Four yuan and fifty cents." Chen Yuan put the talisman back and turned to leave.

"Hey—four dollars and eighty cents! Take it for four dollars and eighty cents!" the fat shopkeeper hurriedly called out.

Chen Yuan stopped and turned around: "Four yuan and fifty cents, if you don't like it, then forget it."

The chubby shopkeeper said with a bitter face, "Alright, alright, four yuan and fifty cents. Young friend, you're really ruthless in your bargaining."

Chen Yuan paid the spirit stones and carefully put the three Yin-attracting talismans into his pocket.

All the materials were ready, eleven spirit stones in total, not a penny more.

He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave the market.

Just then, a familiar voice came from behind:

"Hey, isn't this Junior Brother Chen?"

Chen Yuan's body stiffened.

He slowly turned around.

Zhao San stood five steps away, a half-smile on his face.

He was accompanied by two other people—one was Senior Brother Zhang from the Array Academy yesterday, and the other was a short, weasel-faced young man wearing the Array Academy's gray robe with a silver stripe on the cuff, who was at the fifth level of Qi Refining.

"Senior Brother Zhao." Chen Yuan nodded, his voice calm.

"Here to buy materials?" Zhao San stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the cloth bag in Chen Yuan's hand—one end of the Soul-Suppressing Wood was sticking out. "Oh, Soul-Suppressing Wood? Yin-Attracting Talisman? Junior Brother Chen, you mean... you want to build the Yin-Shattering Array yourself?"

Chen Yuan remained silent.

"Interesting." Zhao San laughed. "You've only read books all day, and you dare to try and build a second-grade array? Junior Brother Chen, you've got some nerve."

Senior Brother Zhang also came over, glanced at what Chen Yuan was holding, and said indifferently, "The Soul-Suppressing Wood is not old enough, and the Yin-Attracting Talisman's spiritual power is being lost. If you use these trash materials to set up an array, the array won't last more than three days."

Chen Yuan remained silent.

He knew that saying anything at this point would be useless.

"Junior Brother Chen," Zhao San lowered his voice, "it's not too late for you to turn back. Forty spirit stones, Senior Brother Zhang will personally repair it for you, guaranteed. How about it?"

"No need," Chen Yuan said.

Zhao San's face darkened: "You won't listen to reason, so here you are. Fine, go ahead and do what you want. Wait until the formation backfires and the Yin energy explodes, then we'll see how you die."

After he finished speaking, he turned and left. Senior Brother Zhang and the short young man followed him.

Chen Yuan stood there, watching the three figures disappear around the street corner, then turned around and quickly left the market.

---

At the end of the You hour (5-7 PM), Chen Yuan returned to plot number seventy-three.

It was already dark, but the light shield of the medicine valley was on, bathing the entire valley in a soft, warm yellow light.

The ghost flower appeared even more sinister in the night, its black petals almost blending into the darkness, with only the pale white stamens gleaming faintly under the light.

Chen Yuan did not light the lamp.

Using the light from the protective shield, he spread the materials on the ground: a piece of soul-suppressing wood, three yin-attracting talismans, and ten inferior yin spirit stones.

Then, he sat down cross-legged, took out the book "An Introduction to Earth Veins and Array Formations" from his pocket, and turned to the page on "Temporary Array Plate Arrangement".

The illustration in the book is very simple: with the Soul-Suppressing Wood as the base, the Yin Spirit Stone as the eye, and the Yin Talisman as the network, a simple triangular array is formed on the ground to fill the gap in the Yin Sha Array.

He understands the principle.

But this was the first time I had actually done it.

Chen Yuan took a deep breath, picked up the Soul-Suppressing Wood, and walked to the west side of the plot—to the intact Evil-Suppressing Pillar.

As the book instructed, he first used his spiritual power to carve a circle three feet in diameter on the ground, then placed the Soul-Suppressing Wood upright in the center of the circle, pressed his hands against the wood, and slowly infused it with spiritual power.

The Soul-Suppressing Wood trembled slightly, and the dark brown patterns on its surface shone with a dim light.

Next up is the Yin Spirit Stone.

He took out ten inferior Yin Spirit Stones and arranged them into ten points around the circle according to the directions in the book.

Each time a stone is placed, it is activated with spiritual power to create a connection between the spirit stone and the soul-suppressing wood.

When they got to the eighth piece, a problem arose.

The eighth Yin Spirit Stone had a very weak spiritual energy reaction—at least 30% weaker than the previous seven.

Chen Yuan frowned, picked up the spirit stone and examined it closely. He found that there were several fine cracks on the surface of the spirit stone, and most of the yin energy inside had been lost.

It is a substandard product among inferior products.

He cursed under his breath, but there was no time to buy more. He could only bite the bullet and put the items on the table, then increase the amount of spiritual energy he poured in to forcibly activate it.

The spirit stone lit up, but its light was noticeably dimmer than the other seven.

He continued placing the ninth and tenth pieces.

After arranging everything, he began to paste the talismans for attracting evil spirits.

The first one was pasted on the top of the Soul-Suppressing Wood. The runes lit up, and the cinnabar patterns on the dark yellow talisman paper flowed with a faint light.

The second one is pasted in the middle of the Soul-Suppressing Wood.

The third one...

Chen Yuan's hand stopped in mid-air.

The third Yin-attracting talisman cracked open at the edge the moment he took it out of his pocket.

It wasn't him who did it—the talisman was too old; it already had hidden damage when it was taken out of the market, and it only cracked completely now.

Chen Yuan's face turned pale.

The three Yin-attracting talismans are the key to forming the "network"; without one, the formation structure is incomplete.

He stared at the crack, his mind racing with calculations.

The book says that the three Yin-attracting talismans form a triangular cycle to stabilize the Yin energy of the earth's veins. If one is missing, the cycle breaks, and the formation may become unstable, or it may... fail completely.

To gamble, or not to gamble?

The gamble failed, all the materials were wasted, and eleven spirit stones went down the drain.

If we stop gambling now, we can still keep the Soul-Suppressing Wood and the Yin Spirit Stone, but the Yin Soul Flower will surely die.

Chen Yuan looked at the dying ghost flower.

Looking at the festering sores spreading across the black petals.

I recalled Zhao San's mocking face.

I recalled Su Wanqing's words, "Take care of yourself."

Then, he gritted his teeth.

The third talisman for attracting yin spirits was pasted on.

The moment the talisman was pasted onto the bottom of the Soul-Suppressing Wood, the crack widened, and the entire talisman turned into ashes with a "whoosh".

The formation is not lit.

No, it wasn't that it didn't light up—it lit up for a moment, and then flickered like a candle in the wind.

The dim light on the Soul-Suppressing Wood flickered violently, and the light from the ten Yin Spirit Stones also dimmed. The circle carved by spiritual energy on the ground began to twist and disintegrate at its edges.

Chen Yuan's forehead was covered in sweat as he placed his hands on the Soul-Suppressing Wood and frantically poured spiritual power into it.

He wanted to stabilize the formation.

But it didn't work.

The spiritual energy vanished like mud into the sea, swallowed and shattered by the chaotic array structure. The Soul-Suppressing Wood began to tremble violently, its charred black patterns twisting and crawling as if they had come alive.

"Click."

A crisp sound.

It wasn't the Soul-Suppressing Wood, but the intact Evil-Suppressing Pillar next to it—the tiny crack at the base of the pillar from yesterday suddenly widened at this moment, spreading upwards like a spider web!

At the same time, the yin energy from the earth's veins beneath the plot seemed to have found an outlet, surging wildly towards the unstable temporary array plate!

Chen Yuan's expression changed drastically.

He tried to pull his hand away, but it felt like it was stuck to the Soul-Suppressing Wood—the formation was backfiring, draining his spiritual power and his life force!

Within my consciousness, the sapling of the term tree is issuing frantic warnings!

[Warning: The Yin energy of the earth's veins is out of control]

[Warning: Backlash from the formation is occurring]

[Warning: Life Force Drain]

Chen Yuan gritted his teeth, urging all his spiritual power to resist, while his consciousness sank into his sea of ​​consciousness, looking at the thirty-seven points of light.

What can be used?

【Slightly Resilient】—Temporarily enhances the body's defense, but this is physical defense. Is it effective against the backlash of Yin energy?

[Mild Growth Promoter] – Promotes growth and recovery from injuries. Is it effective on humans? He hadn't tried it.

[Blood Soak Technique] - This technique uses one's own blood to nourish a spiritual plant, at the cost of consuming that blood and reducing one's lifespan by three days. However, this is not a spiritual plant; it is a backlash from the formation.

【Blood Refinement Resonance】—Exclusive entry, only effective for Blood Ginseng.

No.

There isn't a single usable one.

Chen Yuan felt his life force rapidly draining away, like a water bag with a hole in it. His skin began to lose its color, his vision blurred, and his ears were ringing.

Am I going to die?

The thought flashed through his mind.

Then, he remembered the eight acres of land in the shantytown.

I remembered the Flamegrass I had just found, which carried a faint fire elemental aura.

He thought about the expected income of one thousand spirit stones three months later.

He remembered that he hadn't broken through to the fifth level of Qi Refining yet.

Not reconciled.

He suddenly opened his eyes and looked at the ghost flower.

The black petals swayed wildly in the raging tide of yin energy, and the pale light from the stamens resembled a candle that could be extinguished at any moment.

Then, Chen Yuan made a crazy decision.

He no longer resisted the backlash from the formation.

Instead, they actively opened up their meridians, allowing the yin energy of the earth's veins to flow into their bodies!

It's not about absorption, it's about guidance—directing all the yin energy flowing into the body towards the seedlings of words in the sea of ​​consciousness!

Can't you consume yin energy?

eat!

Give it to me!

The sapling trembled violently, all its roots thrashing wildly, like a wild beast that had been starving for three days seeing flesh and blood, desperately devouring the surging yin energy!

Repair progress: 56%...57%...58%...

It's rising incredibly fast.

But Chen Yuan's body was also withering away at a visible rate—his skin was shriveled, his eye sockets were sunken, and his hair had lost its luster.

He was trading his life for time.

We used our vitality to repair the saplings that were used for the entry.

A glimmer of hope.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths...

Ten breaths later, the temporary array plate finally stabilized—not because the array was complete, but because the Soul-Suppressing Wood could not withstand the erosion of Yin energy and broke in the middle with a "crack"!

The formation collapsed.

The earth's yin energy flows back.

The backlash has stopped.

Chen Yuan coughed up a mouthful of black blood and collapsed to the ground, like an empty shell.

He struggled to lift his head and look at the Ghost Flower.