Chapter 70: Becoming an Official Spiritual Plant Master
Under the push of spiritual power, the new spiritual plant before him grew rapidly, soon sprouting, flowering, and finally reaching full maturity. Gazing at the heavy rice ears, Gu Mo reached out and picked them.
The rice ears were still those of the Spirit Jade Rice, but compared to the ordinary ones, these had fused with Water Spirit Rice, making them appear fuller and infused with denser spiritual energy.
Gu Mo estimated that this new strain of Spirit Jade Rice could be classified as mid-grade Tier 1.
Losing a high-grade Tier 1 Water Spirit Rice to obtain a mid-grade Tier 1 Spirit Jade Rice was, without a doubt, a failed fusion.
However, as Gu Mo's work to qualify as an official Spiritual Plant Master, it was a success.
It was akin to an alchemist using high-grade herbs to refine a mid-grade pill. Although the refinement could be considered a failure, producing a mid-grade pill was sufficient proof that the alchemist had grasped the basics.
Next, Gu Mo only needed to register with the sect to become the third official Tier 1 Spiritual Plant Master of the Qinglu Sect.
At this moment, it had only been just over a month since the Elder Spiritual Plant Master's lecture. Gu Mo wasn't sure if this rapid progress would catch the elder's attention and earn him a spot as his disciple.
Gu Mo certainly coveted the Tier 2 spiritual fields on that elder's spiritual peak. With this in mind, Gu Mo immediately got up and headed for the Spiritual Plant Hall. He did not yet have the qualifications to request an audience with a Golden Core elder, so to register his status as a Spiritual Plant Master, he could only go to the hall.
Although he couldn't meet with a Golden Core elder, it was now quite easy for Gu Mo to request an audience with Zhao Qiancheng, the steward.
"Did you run into some difficulty?"
Zhao Qiancheng looked at Gu Mo and asked. Right now, Gu Mo was a prized member of the Spiritual Plant Hall and a lucky star for Zhao himself. Since Gu Mo had successfully cultivated the Water Spirit Rice, Zhao's reputation in the sect had skyrocketed, naturally earning him more resources as well.
"Steward Zhao, I've come to register as an official Spiritual Plant Master," Gu Mo said with a bow, explaining his purpose.
"What? You've become an official Spiritual Plant Master?"
Zhao Qiancheng was momentarily stunned by Gu Mo's words. The term Spiritual Plant Master still felt unfamiliar, but he quickly processed what Gu Mo meant. In a flash, he dashed in front of Gu Mo, his expression filled with disbelief.
It seemed like just over a month ago that Gu Mo had attended the Elder Spiritual Plant Master's lecture. To have mastered the basics in such a short time—this was unbelievably fast.
The two Spiritual Plant Masters who previously emerged from the hall had each taken at least two years to barely get started. Yet Gu Mo had done it in just a month.
"What proof do you have?" Zhao Qiancheng asked seriously.
Upon hearing this, Gu Mo presented the new spiritual plant he had fused. Though Zhao Qiancheng wasn't a Spiritual Plant Master, as the steward of the hall, he was highly skilled in spiritual agriculture.
At a glance, he recognized that the plant in Gu Mo's hand bore the traits of both the Water Spirit Rice and the Spirit Jade Rice. This ability to fuse two spiritual plants was indeed the hallmark of a Spiritual Plant Master.
"Excellent, excellent!"
With physical proof in hand, Gu Mo's qualification as an official Spiritual Plant Master was virtually guaranteed.
Without hesitation, Zhao Qiancheng quickly submitted this news along with Gu Mo's application to become an outer disciple. Originally, Zhao had planned to wait until Gu Mo had stabilized his Water Spirit Rice yield before submitting his application, but now that Gu Mo was officially recognized, there was no need to delay.
If Gu Mo had a better spiritual root aptitude, becoming an inner disciple wouldn't be out of the question.
To master the art of Spiritual Planting in just over a month—such talent held definite promise for advancing to Tier 2 as a Spiritual Plant Master. However, whether it was Tier 2 in planting, alchemy, or artifact crafting, all required a corresponding level of cultivation to support. Otherwise, how could one control Tier 2 spiritual plants?
Gu Mo's inferior spiritual root aptitude would be his greatest obstacle to reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.
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Elder Spiritual Plant Master's Abode
An elderly man, his hair speckled with gray but his energy still vigorous, was drinking tea with Qi Chunde in the mountaintop courtyard.
"Junior Brother Qi, how long do you think it will take to cultivate these spiritual plants?" The elder looked at Qi Chunde with anticipation.
In the Qinglu Sect, there was only one person who could address a Golden Core elder as Junior Brother—the current Sect Leader, Gao Yunrui.
"Sect Leader, though these plants are rare, shouldn't they still be available for purchase in the Immortal City? Why trouble me to hasten their growth?" Qi Chunde asked, puzzled. The Sect Leader had interrupted his seclusion just to help speed up the growth of some spiritual medicinal plants.
"You don't understand, Junior Brother. I sent people to the Immortal City to buy these herbs long ago, but it seems another group is also acquiring them—and faster than us. The herbs in the Immortal City have practically been snatched up, and it will take decades for the next batch to mature," Gao Yunrui said, helpless.
The Fangshi was the marketplace where cultivators traded, but when such markets expanded tens or hundreds of times over, they were called Immortal Cities, cities where cultivators gathered.
"Senior Brother, hastened herbs will differ slightly from naturally grown ones, and that might affect the success rate of refining the Nascent Soul Pill," Qi Chunde noted. He clearly understood the purpose behind the Sect Leader's request. In fact, this wasn't much of a secret among the sect's upper ranks.
Refining a Nascent Soul Pill required extensive preparations, impossible to conceal from others.
"But we're out of time," Gao Yunrui replied with a bitter smile. The Qinglu Sect's Nascent Soul Patriarch had perished, and over the years, Gao Yunrui had clearly felt the changes. For instance, some of Qinglu Sect's external resource points were gradually being encroached upon by other major sects. Everyone knew that Qinglu Sect had become a soft target, easy to bully.
If this continued, it wouldn't be long before someone made a direct move against Qinglu Sect. Although the sect was protected by a grand formation, without a Nascent Soul cultivator to oversee it, their position was still precarious.
As Sect Leader, Gao Yunrui had reached the peak of the Golden Core stage and was the only cultivator in the sect with a real chance of advancing to the Nascent Soul stage. After all, his position as Sect Leader was a testament to his exceptional talent among the previous generation's core disciples.
However, he had no confidence in directly attempting to break through to the Nascent Soul stage. If he were alone, he might take the risk. But as the Sect Leader of Qinglu Sect and its only hope for a Nascent Soul cultivator, he had to proceed cautiously.
If he failed, it could be centuries before Qinglu Sect produced another Nascent Soul cultivator, and it was clear the sect didn't have that kind of time.
Thus, he decided to mobilize the entire sect's resources to refine the Nascent Soul Pill.
The Tier 4 primary ingredients for the pill were already gathered, but there were issues with acquiring some Tier 3 supplementary materials. Some spiritual materials had been intercepted, clearly a targeted move against Qinglu Sect.
Knowing they couldn't purchase the necessary herbs from the Immortal City, Gao Yunrui had no choice but to ask Qi Chunde to hasten the growth of some materials. Given the urgency, Gao Yunrui had to pull Qi Chunde out of seclusion.
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