Spirit Plant Entry: Immortality Begins with Farming

When Chen Yuan entered Changchun territory for the second time, he paused in front of the wooden door.

He reached out and touched the vine reliefs on the door panel.

The wood grain is warm and smooth, and the carving is so exquisite that the veins on each leaf are clearly visible—but the touch from your fingertips is hard and stiff, like touching a stone.

Push open the door.

That desolate forest of spiritual plants still stands majestically.

The edelweiss trees, the perilla curtain, the green rice paddies, and the distant patch of ghost flowers that never bloom—everything is just as it was yesterday.

No, not exactly the same.

Chen Yuan walked to the edelweiss tree and looked up at its crimson leaves. Yesterday, the veins of the leaves had flowed with a magma-like red light, but today the light was dimmer, like charcoal that was about to burn out.

"You're here quite early."

Mu Shoujing's voice came from deep within the spiritual plant.

Today he was wearing a gray-white Taoist robe, carrying a jade pot, and watering a lotus plant.

"Master." Chen Yuan bowed.

"Hmm." Mu Shoujing finished watering, put down the pot, and sat down by the bluestone. "Let's begin. Today, we'll circulate your energy for nine cycles, and I'll see how your cultivation progresses."

Chen Yuan sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and concentrated.

The Long Breath Technique slowly began to circulate. The spiritual energy of the Long Spring Realm flowed in as gently as it had yesterday, flowing along the meridians.

This time, however, Chen Yuan was more cautious—he separated a very fine strand of the five-colored star power and mixed it with the green wood spiritual energy, circulating it together throughout the body.

Nothing happened on the first Sunday.

During the second cycle, halfway through its operation, the wisp of starlight suddenly paused.

It was as if it was hooked by something.

Chen Yuan's heart skipped a beat, but his expression remained unchanged as he continued to circulate his energy. He controlled the wisp of starlight power, guiding it slowly and obediently toward the pulling force—

Then it "disconnected".

It wasn't a real break, but a simulation of being absorbed and drawn away. Just as that wisp of star power was about to slip out of his control, Chen Yuan made it decompose on its own, transforming it into the purest life force, which flowed in a certain direction.

It flowed into... the root system of this edelweiss tree.

Chen Yuan opened his eyes.

"Why did it stop?" Mu Shoujing asked.

"It feels like... the spiritual energy is draining away a bit too quickly," Chen Yuan said cautiously, "much faster than when we were in the Medicine Valley."

"That's normal." Mu Shoujing smiled. "The spiritual energy in Changchun Realm is abundant. You absorb it quickly, but you also consume it quickly. It's like drinking water. You don't notice it when you sip it, but if you gulp it down, you'll need to expel it very quickly."

He stood up, walked to Chen Yuan's side, and reached out to press his hand lightly on Chen Yuan's head.

"Let me help you process this."

A gentle yet irresistible divine sense probed into Chen Yuan's body. Chen Yuan immediately contracted all the power of the five-colored stars into the deepest part of his dantian, leaving only the green wood spiritual energy cultivated from the Long Breath Technique on the outer layer.

Mu Shoujing's consciousness circulated through his meridians.

"Hmm, it's running smoothly, no blockages." He withdrew his hand. "It's just that the foundation is still a bit weak. If I practice here for a few more months, it should be solidified."

"A few months?" Chen Yuan looked up.

"What, you think it's too long?" Mu Shoujing walked back to the bluestone and sat down. "The path of cultivation is long, what are a few months? Your senior brothers and sisters used to be in seclusion here for three to five years."

Chen Yuan was silent for a moment, then asked, "They... also cultivated here?"

"They've all been here." Mu Shoujing gazed at the patch of ghostly flowers in the distance. "Liu Muyun loved that golden thread vine the most; he would sit under it and meditate every day. Zhao Hongyu liked to stay by the pool, saying the water vapor was good for her lungs. Sun Hai..."

He paused.

"Sun Hai is impatient and always complains that cultivation is too slow. He asks me every few days if I have a quick way to achieve it."

"And then?" Chen Yuan asked.

"And then?" Mu Shoujing smiled. "Later, they all reached the Foundation Establishment stage and went out to travel. Cultivators can't stay by their master's side forever."

He stood up and patted his robes.

"Keep practicing. I have some errands to run and will be back later."

After saying that, he walked towards the wooden door. The door opened, the figure disappeared, and then the door closed again.

Chen Yuan was the only one left in Changchun.

And there's this desolate forest of spiritual plants.

Chen Yuan did not immediately begin cultivating. He stood up, walked to the Firefly Grass tree, and placed his right hand on the trunk.

With a thought, the power of the five-colored stars surged from his palm and seeped into the tree bark.

He wanted to see what was wrong with the tree.

The power of the stars flowed and probed within the tree trunk. The tree's structure was normal—bark, phloem, xylem, pith—it had all the parts a plant should have.

The spiritual energy was frighteningly abundant, with pure fire-attribute spiritual power flowing through every inch of the wood.

but……

No entry.

Chen Yuan was stunned. He withdrew his star power and walked to a Qingyang rice plant to examine it again.

still none.

He tried them one by one, examining all kinds of spiritual plants, including the perilla curtain, the ghost flower bush, and the golden thread vine.

The result was the same—these incredibly majestic spiritual plants, though filled with vast amounts of spiritual energy, contained not a single entry.

It's like... an empty shell.

Chen Yuan walked back to the bluestone and sat down, staring at his palm. The Chaos Divine Crystal was quietly embedded in his flesh, its surface patterns slowly flowing.

He remembered the ability that the Five-Colored Stars had evolved into—Appraisal.

When the system was upgraded to the Star System, he could see the spirit plant entries more clearly, and even the attributes and effects of the entries.

But here, this ability fails.

Or perhaps these spiritual plants don't even have "entries" in the first place. They're like puppets sculpted from spiritual energy, all show and no substance.

Chen Yuan closed his eyes and focused his consciousness into his body.

Deep within his dantian, the power of the five-colored stars quietly resided. He tried to activate that power, extending it outwards—not for attack, but for perception.

The power of the stars seeped out from the pores like tentacles, spreading in all directions.

One zhang, two zhang, five zhang, ten zhang...

His perception range expanded. Chen Yuan "saw" more and more things—a dense network of roots underground, intertwined to form a vast and astonishing whole. The roots of all the spiritual plants were connected, ultimately converging in one direction.

Deep within the secret realm.

Chen Yuan opened his eyes and looked in that direction.

It was that patch of ghostly flowers.

He stood up and walked towards the flower bushes.

The black soil beneath my feet was soft and yielding almost no sound when I stepped on it. The closer I got to the flower bushes, the stronger the malevolent energy in the air became—but strangely, this malevolent energy was very "docile," like domesticated livestock, hovering quietly in the air, neither attacking nor spreading.

In the center of the flower bushes, there is a circular open space.

In the center of the open space stood a stone platform. The platform was engraved with dense array patterns, so intricate that Chen Yuan felt dizzy just from looking at them.

He stopped at the edge of the flowerbed and didn't go any further.

Because seven lamps floated around the stone platform.

They were not oil lamps, nor candlesticks, but seven fist-sized, floating orbs of azure light. The orbs rotated slowly, their light soft, but Chen Yuan could sense that each orb contained a faint yet resilient aura of divine soul.

Seven strands.

Chen Yuan counted them, and his heart sank.

He thought of his seven missing senior brothers and sisters.

"Have you seen enough?"

Mu Shoujing's voice suddenly came from behind.

Chen Yuan froze, then slowly turned around. Mu Shoujing had returned sometime earlier and was standing three steps behind him, her face expressionless.

"Master." Chen Yuan lowered his eyes.

"I told you to cultivate, what are you doing here?" Mu Shoujing walked to his side and also looked at the seven lamps.

"This disciple...is curious."

"Curious?" Mu Shoujing laughed. "Curiousness killed the cat, and it can also kill a cultivator."

He raised his hand and pointed to the seven lamps.

Do you know him?

Chen Yuan shook his head.

"This is a 'Soul Lamp'," Mu Shoujing said. "Before your senior brothers and sisters went on their travels, I had them leave a wisp of their soul in the lamp. As long as the lamp is there, they are there. When the lamp goes out..."

He didn't finish speaking.

But the meaning is obvious.

Looking at the seven quietly burning soul lamps, Chen Yuan suddenly asked, "How long have they been gone?"

"The longest is over eighty years, the shortest is thirty years," Mu Shoujing said calmly. "The soul lamps are still lit, which means they are still alive. It's just that they're enjoying themselves in some corner of the world, and have forgotten to come back to see their master."

He turned around and patted Chen Yuan on the shoulder.

"That's why apprentices are all ungrateful. Once they're grown up and have become independent, they fly away."

Chen Yuan did not respond.

"Let's go back to cultivate." Mu Shoujing walked towards the bluestone. "Let's add three more cycles today."

Chen Yuan followed behind him and sat down again by the bluestone. Before closing his eyes, he glanced at the seven soul lamps one last time.

The blue light cluster burned quietly, its glow soft.

Like seven pairs of eyes, watching him in the darkness.