Spirit Plant Entry: Immortality Begins with Farming

Feiyu Sect Sutra Repository.

The wooden door to the third floor of the library closed silently behind us, shutting out the light and noise from the outside world.

Chen Yuan stopped in his tracks.

It wasn't the rows of bookshelves I had imagined.

Before me lay a spacious terrace, with waist-high wooden railings on three sides. Beyond the railings, the sea of ​​clouds surged, and the sunlight was filtered into a soft amber hue, flowing onto the dark brown floor.

When the wind blows, it brings a delicate, clear sound to the copper bells on the eaves.

"What, you thought it would be a room full of bamboo slips piled up to the rafters?"

Mu Shoujing's voice came from the east side of the terrace.

He sat behind a large rattan tea table, pouring water into a ceramic cup from an iron kettle.

Steam rose, blurring half of his face. Bai Zhi knelt quietly beside the mat, holding a plain white porcelain jar in her hands. When Chen Yuan looked over, she blinked gently.

"This disciple wouldn't dare," Chen Yuan said, quickly stepping forward and stopping opposite the tea table. "But this scenery..."

"The Flying Feather Sect has been established for seven hundred years. When the patriarchs of each generation expanded the sect, they all liked to carve caves and build pavilions outside the mountains." Mu Shoujing pushed a cup of tea in front of him. "This third floor of the library was originally embedded in the cliff on the east side of Guanyun Peak. Three hundred years ago, a certain patriarch found it stuffy inside, so he simply demolished the east wall and turned it into a terrace."

He pointed to the rolling clouds outside the railing: "Look, isn't it more comfortable than being cooped up in a pile of books?"

Chen Yuan picked up the teacup. The water temperature seeped into his palm through the ceramic wall, making it slightly hot.

"Yes." He lowered his eyes and took a sip. The tea was very weak, but after swallowing, a sweet aftertaste lingered in his throat.

"Sit down." Mu Shoujing picked up a cup herself, but didn't drink. She just stared at the few tender leaves floating in the cup. "Wang Mo hasn't bothered you again?"

"Since that day, no one from the Deacon Hall has been seen."

"He wouldn't dare." Mu Shoujing chuckled, setting down his teacup with a crisp clinking sound. "The head of the Discipline Hall is surnamed Jiang, named Tianzheng. People with the character 'Zheng' in their names are often the most concerned with the word 'rules.' Since I've accepted you as my last disciple according to the sect's rules, even if he has a thousand or a hundred suspicions, he'll have to put them aside for now."

Chen Yuan didn't reply, but just took another sip of tea.

"However," Mu Shoujing changed the subject, "you still need to be careful when you move around Medicine Valley in the future. Wasn't that Zhang kid from the Array Court loitering around your plot number seventy-three a few days ago?"

Chen Yuan's fingertips tightened almost imperceptibly.

"Yes."

"The bet isn't over, and some people aren't satisfied yet." Mu Shoujing leaned forward, elbows resting on her knees, her gaze piercing like awls. "Su Wanqing can protect you for a while, but not forever. She herself is now—"

He suddenly fell silent and turned to look outside the railing.

Beyond the sea of ​​clouds, a streak of azure light broke through the clouds at great speed, landing on the edge of the terrace in the blink of an eye.

As the light faded, Su Wanqing's slender figure was revealed. She held a jade box in her hand, the lid of which was not closed, and a few red and gold grass leaves could be vaguely seen inside.

It is a mutated Edelweiss.

"Elder Mu." Su Wanqing nodded slightly, her gaze lingering on Chen Yuan for a moment before shifting away. "I've brought what you requested."

"Put it there." Mu Shoujing didn't get up, but simply raised her chin to indicate the empty space on the tea table. "How does it look?"

"The spirit-gathering effect is stable, and the infectious properties have not subsided." Su Wanqing put down the jade box and tapped her fingertips lightly on the edge of the box. "But when the second-generation seeds are planted, the plants that grow are no different from ordinary fireweed. That mutation... seems to only be passed on in the direct branches of the mother plant."

"Interesting." Mu Shoujing finally got up, walked to the jade box, and bent down to examine it closely.

He picked up a plant with two fingers and examined the fine golden veins flowing between the leaves against the light. "It's like some kind of mark, rather than a real change in the plant's origin."

He suddenly turned to look at Chen Yuan.

"How did you do that?"

There was a moment of silence on the terrace.

The wind whipped up clouds and foam, which clung to the railing and dampened Chen Yuan's sleeves. He put down his teacup, the ceramic base hitting the wooden board with a dull thud.

"I simply tended to it using the usual methods," he said calmly. "I watered it with the spiritual spring water from the Medicine Valley and applied bone powder mixed from the Beast Garden. If there's anything special about it... perhaps it's because I spent those few days squatting by the field pondering the Yin Soul Flower, and my body became tainted with the Yin energy of the earth?"

"Yin Sha Earth Qi?" Mu Shoujing raised an eyebrow, brought the Firefly Grass close to his nose and sniffed it, then shook his head. "It doesn't seem like it. This grass exudes a kind of... restless energy that's too vigorous."

He tossed the blade of grass back into the jade box and clapped his hands.

"Alright, the mutation of plants is inherently unpredictable. I'll keep this box of herbs. Wanqing, your contribution will be recorded in the Hall of Merit."

Su Wanqing lowered her eyes: "Yes."

She didn't linger. She glanced at Chen Yuan one last time, then turned and vanished in a streak of green light.

A crack was torn open in the sea of ​​clouds, and it took a long time for it to slowly heal.

After Mu Shoujing sat back down at the tea table, he didn't touch the tea again. He stared at Chen Yuan and suddenly smiled.

Why are you so nervous?

Chen Yuan's back tensed instantly.

"disciple……"

"Your fingers," Mu Shoujing interrupted him, pointing to his hands resting on his knees. "Every time you lie, your right index finger unconsciously scratches the side of your thumb. Just now, when you were talking about 'yin energy,' you scratched it three times."

Chen Yuan lowered his head.

His right index finger was pressed against the base of his thumb, his nail digging deep into the flesh. He abruptly released his finger, leaving a pale crescent-shaped mark.

"Master, you are wise." He heard his voice sound a little hoarse.

"I'm not interrogating you." Mu Shoujing leaned back in her chair, relaxing her posture, but her gaze remained fixed on Chen Yuan's face. "Everyone has secrets. You have them, Su Wanqing has them, Wang Mo has them, even Jiang Tianzheng—do you really think he's selfless?"

He paused, then changed the subject.

"The method you used to treat Wu Xiaoshuan that day, was it something you figured out on your own?"

Chen Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

coming.

"Yes." He steadied his voice, "I didn't think much about it at the time. I just felt that the Yin energy in his body was entrenched in his heart meridian, and ordinary spiritual energy could not drive it away. So I tried to twist my spiritual power into a rope and forcefully drive it in."

"Twist into one rope?" Mu Shoujing leaned forward slightly. "Explain in more detail."

"It's like..." Chen Yuan made a twisting motion with his hands, "Normally, spiritual energy flows naturally along the meridians. But in that urgent situation, I drew all my spiritual energy back, pressed it into my dantian, and then suddenly thrust it upwards—"

He paused, observing Mu Shoujing's expression.

The other person's face remained expressionless; they simply raised their chin and said, "Continue."

"When it rushed out, the spiritual energy itself... twisted up." Chen Yuan carefully chose his words, "like a drill, or like an awl. After breaking through the Yin Sha Qi, that twisting force continued to turn inside a few more times, dispersing the remaining foul energy."

Mu Shoujing remained silent for a moment.

"After spiritual energy leaves the body, one can still control its form and changes," he said slowly. "This is not a skill that one should have at the Qi Refining stage."

"I didn't think that much at the time," Chen Yuan said, lowering his eyes. "I just wanted to save people."

"I want to save people." Mu Shoujing repeated, then suddenly smiled. "That's good. In the end, how many people who cultivate immortality can't even utter the words 'I want to save people'?"

He got up, walked to the railing, turned his back to Chen Yuan, and looked out at the endless sea of ​​clouds.

"Your method is essentially about controlling Qi with your spirit." The voice drifted over on the wind. "Only when one's spiritual sense is strong enough can one precisely control spiritual energy separated from the body. Ordinary cultivators only reach the mid-Foundation Establishment stage before they can even get close to that."

Chen Yuan did not respond.

"However, you did it." Mu Shoujing turned around, sunlight shining from behind him, casting shadows on his face. "There are two possibilities. First, you were born with extraordinary spiritual sense. Second, the cultivation method you practice has something special about it."

He walked back to the tea table and sat down again.

"Give me a hand."

Chen Yuan extended his right hand as instructed.

Mu Shoujing placed three fingers on his wrist to check his pulse.

Chen Yuan held his breath, feeling a gentle yet irresistible spiritual energy probing into his meridians, like a slender snake swimming towards his limbs and bones.

The spiritual energy paused for a moment around his dantian, then gently tapped.

Chen Yuan immediately activated the Long Breath Technique, suppressing the warm five-colored star power within his dantian deep inside, releasing only the outermost layer of the cultivated green wood spiritual energy.

The two forces separated as soon as they touched, and Mu Shoujing's spiritual energy circulated within his body before slowly withdrawing.

"The Long Breath Technique." Mu Shoujing withdrew his hand. "The most basic wood-elemental technique of the outer sect of the Flying Feather Sect. It is moderate and peaceful, but nothing particularly special."

He looked up at Chen Yuan: "Did you experience any unusual sensations while you were cultivating?"

"Sometimes..." Chen Yuan paused, "the spiritual energy will accelerate on its own when it reaches certain junctures."

Which checkpoints?

"Right shoulder." Chen Yuan pressed his hand below his shoulder blade. "A year ago, while gathering herbs in the mountains behind the shantytown, I was scratched by an iron-clawed lynx. Although the tendons and bones have healed, I always feel stiff and sluggish when it's rainy. The other day, while cultivating, my spiritual energy passed through this area and suddenly rushed past it on its own. After that, the stiffness disappeared."

Mu Shoujing stared at him for a few moments.

"Spiritual energy has a nourishing effect, which makes sense in breaking through old wounds and blockages," he said slowly. "But the methods you used to treat Wu Xiaoshuan that day were more than just 'nourishing'."

The only sound on the terrace was the wind.

Chen Yuan heard his heart pounding like a drum. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but Mu Shoujing raised her hand instead.

"I won't ask what you've been practicing." The Nascent Soul elder's voice was calm. "On the path of cultivation, who hasn't had some fortuitous encounters? But Chen Yuan—"

He leaned forward, his gaze pressing down on me like a physical object.

"You need to understand that there are some things you can't protect right now. The methods you displayed in public that day were seen by Jiang Tianzheng, Wang Mo, the Array Academy, the Alchemy Room, the Hall of Affairs, and countless other eyes. They're not taking any action against you now because you bear the title of my 'closed-door disciple.'"

With each word he spoke, Chen Yuan's face paled a little more.

"But how long can this title protect you?" Mu Shoujing's voice was extremely low. "A year? Two years? By the time you've failed to reach the Foundation Establishment stage, by the time I go into seclusion or travel—how many people will want to 'invite' you there to ask you where your 'twisting rope' technique came from?"

Chen Yuan's throat tightened.

"Master..."

"I'm not trying to scare you." Mu Shoujing leaned back in his chair. "In the Discipline Hall dungeon, there are plenty of ways to 'examine' you. Extracting your soul and refining your spirit is the least of your worries. There are plenty of ways to make you talk without taking your life—after all, a living adventure is far more valuable than a dead corpse."

The wind whipped up clouds and sprayed them onto the terrace, wetting Chen Yuan's hair.

He knelt upright and bowed his head.

"Please enlighten me, Master."

"Get up." Mu Shoujing waved his hand. "From today onwards, you may come to the third floor of the library at any time."

Chen Yuan suddenly looked up.

"But you can't take these things out of here, nor can you tell anyone about them," Mu Shoujing said, enunciating each word clearly. "I will teach you how to solidify your foundation and develop true supernatural abilities that you can show to others."

He paused.

"From now on, you must tell me immediately if you experience any unusual phenomena or confusion in your cultivation. You must not conceal anything or act on your own."

Chen Yuan took a deep breath and bowed his head again.

"Your disciple obeys."

"Get up." Mu Shoujing picked up the iron kettle and refilled the already cold teacup with water. "Today, I'll teach you the first lesson."

He put down the pot and raised his finger to make a vague stroke in the air.

A wisp of azure spiritual energy overflowed from his fingertip, condensing into a ball of light the size of a pigeon egg.

The spiritual energy within the sphere circulates, subtly forming a simple cosmic cycle.

"Look carefully." Mu Shoujing's voice was calm. "What you call 'twisting the rope' is essentially using divine sense to forcibly distort the trajectory of spiritual energy. This method is fierce and swift, but it consumes a great deal of energy and can easily damage the meridians."

He flicked his fingertips lightly.

The ball of light floated toward Chen Yuan and hovered three feet in front of him.

"Try to touch it with your spiritual power—in the most ordinary way, don't twist it."

Chen Yuan closed his eyes and concentrated.

Within his dantian, the azure wood spiritual energy cultivated through the Long Breath Technique was slowly drawn out, flowing along his meridians to his fingertips. He opened his eyes and reached out a finger towards the sphere of light—

Just as they were about to touch, the suppressed power of the five-colored stars deep within his body suddenly stirred spontaneously.

It wasn't an attack; it was more like... the elation of being drawn to something of the same origin.

Chen Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and he forcibly suppressed the restlessness. The spiritual energy of the green wood at his fingertips gently touched the surface of the light sphere, like a pebble thrown into still water, creating ripples.

"It's too scattered." Mu Shoujing shook his head. "Your current spiritual power is like a wisp of mist. Mist can wet clothes, but it can't penetrate cowhide."

He raised his hand and the ball of light flew back into his palm.

"To solidify spiritual energy, you can't just force it." He clenched his fist, and the ball of light slowly deformed in his palm, stretching from a perfect circle to gradually condensing into a three-inch-long cyan needle of energy. "Instead, you must first 'understand' it."

"understand?"

"Hmm." Mu Shoujing released his grip, the Qi needle hovering in the air. "Spiritual energy is like water, it has its own nature. If you force it, it will rebound; if you go with it, it will obey. Try it—don't think about 'controlling' it, first 'feel' the flow of spiritual energy in your body, its varying speed and intensity."

Chen Yuan closed his eyes.

This time, he didn't rush to mobilize his spiritual power. He immersed his consciousness into his body, feeling the rhythm of the green wood spiritual energy flowing through his meridians as the Long Breath Technique circulated throughout his body.

It originates from the dantian, and flows gently like a spring stream.

As it reached my arm, the speed gradually increased, like a summer rain.

When it reaches your fingertips, it already carries an outward momentum.

He suddenly understood what Mu Shoujing meant.

Open your eyes and extend your finger.

This time, he didn't "activate" his spiritual power; he simply gently "supported" it as it naturally flowed to his fingertips, like going with the flow.

A wisp of azure spiritual energy overflowed from her fingertip, slowly swirling in the air and gradually condensing into a thin strand of energy. Although it was not as solid as Mu Shoujing's energy needle, it was no longer a scattered mist.

"It's starting to look good." Mu Shoujing removed his qi needles. "Remember this feeling. Practice for one hour each morning and evening, but don't overdo it."

He got up and walked to a row of sandalwood bookshelves on the inner side of the terrace.

"You can browse all the books on this floor. But those three shelves at the east end," he pointed to the deepest part, where the light was dim and the bookshelves were a darker color than elsewhere, "contain the cultivation manuals of past masters. Most of the techniques recorded in them are dangerous, and you are not allowed to touch them until you have reached the Foundation Establishment stage."

Chen Yuan stood up and replied, "Yes."

"Bai Zhi, stay here." Mu Shoujing pulled an ancient book made of animal hide from the bookshelf without turning her head. "Go find a corner to read and leave before sunset."

Bai Zhi nodded quietly, walked to the tea table, sat down, and began to tidy up the cups and saucers.

Chen Yuan bowed and stepped aside, walking to a bookshelf by the window on the west side. He casually picked up a book, "A Study of Strange Tales of Spiritual Plants in the Southern Wilderness." He opened it, his gaze falling on the words, but his mind was still preoccupied with the conversation he had just had.

Twist the rope.

understand.

Feelings.

He looked up and gazed at Mu Shoujing's retreating figure.

The elder, who was in the late stage of the Golden Core realm, was leaning against the bookshelf, flipping through ancient books. His profile was bathed in the soft glow of the sunlight.