Chapter 9 - Chapter 9: Maturation of the Yellow Sprout Grass

Though Zhang Mengyuan was sixty-eight, he still had worldly desires. Over the past ten years, he had married five concubines. Since he gave up on pursuing immortality at the age of thirty, he had married sixteen wives and concubines over thirty-odd years. All his wives were mortals, and they had given him fourteen children in total. Regrettably, most of these fourteen children had no spiritual roots—only one had spiritual roots, but their aptitude was even worse than Zhang Mengyuan's (a Four-Spiritual-Root cultivator).The older he got, the more Zhang Mengyuan doted on his children—especially his underage son who could cultivate. He became increasingly calculating over the years. Once a generous man, he had recently become as stingy as a miser.After putting away the Spirit Stones, Zhang Mengyuan began teaching Zhang Zhixuan his experience in cultivating spiritual fields. The twenty-odd mu of Jade Marrow Rice had been harvested over a month ago; after irrigation a few days earlier, they began plowing the fields that day. Under Zhang Mengyuan's guidance, Zhang Zhixuan wielded a hoe to turn over all twenty-odd mu of spiritual fields.The soil in these spiritual fields was rich in spiritual energy, hard as stone—so its air permeability was poor. Every once in a while, they needed to use hoes to turn the spiritual soil and break up large clods of hard earth, allowing air to penetrate the soil and reach the spiritual herbs.The hoe in Zhang Zhixuan's hand was no ordinary tool—it was a Low-Grade First-Rank magical artifact. In the mortal world, it would be a rare divine weapon, but in the hands of immortal cultivators, this level of artifact was only used as a hoe.As a Sixth Layer Qi Refining cultivator, Zhang Zhixuan had a strength of at least a thousand jin in each arm, and his stamina far exceeded that of mortals. He could plow at least five or six mu of spiritual fields in a day. Moreover, Zhang Mengyuan was not one to sit idle—his cultivation was even higher, at the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining. With his help, the two finished plowing all the spiritual fields in just two days.Time passed quickly, and over ten days went by in the blink of an eye. During these ten-odd days, Zhang Zhixuan had been diligently practicing the Spiritual Convergence and Rain Spell. Even with his good comprehension, he had no Water Spiritual Root, making it difficult to learn the spell. It took him over twenty days to barely cast it with the help of the ritual platform and formation flags—and even then, it took five or six hours per cast. Not only was his casting speed slow, but it also consumed a great deal of mana. Every time he successfully cast the Spiritual Convergence and Rain Spell, his mana was completely drained.Though the spiritual fields contained spiritual energy, it was far less abundant than on the mountain. It took at least three or four days to replenish his mana each time. Thus, Zhang Zhixuan could only cast the Spiritual Convergence and Rain Spell once every five days, and it took half a month to irrigate all the spiritual fields.In recent days, the Yellow Sprout Grass had begun to fully mature. This spiritual herb took five years to fully grow, and each mu of Second-Rank spiritual fields could only grow thirty to forty plants. Of the Zhang Clan's thirty mu of spiritual fields, only three were planted with Yellow Sprout Grass—totaling just over a hundred plants.Yellow Sprout Grass was a Middle-Grade Second-Rank spiritual herb, used to refine Middle-Grade Second-Rank Golden Sprout Pills. Whenever the Yellow Sprout Grass fully matured, the clan's alchemist would close the pill-refining pavilion in the market and come here to mass-produce Golden Sprout Pills on a large scale."Watch carefully—once golden sprouts emerge, it means the Yellow Sprout Grass is fully mature. This spiritual herb grows about three chi tall; when mature, a one-cun-long yellow jade sprout grows at the top. This sprout is the most precious part of the Yellow Sprout Grass, used to refine Golden Sprout Pills. Once the yellow sprouts emerge, you must pick them immediately. If more than an hour passes, the sprouts will wither, and the herb will be useless—five years of hard work will be wasted. Once picked, the yellow sprouts can be stored in sandalwood or jade containers for three days. Thus, whenever the Yellow Sprout Grass matures, the clan's alchemist will come in advance to refine the Yellow Sprout Grass into pills as quickly as possible. Once refined into Golden Sprout Pills, they can be stored for three years—then distributed to clan cultivators to enhance their mana, or taken to the market to exchange for Spirit Stones."Because he had received twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones from Zhang Zhixuan in advance, Zhang Mengyuan's attitude had improved in recent days, and he taught even more meticulously—carefully reminding Zhang Zhixuan of every detail that needed attention.Just as the two were using sandalwood boxes to collect the Yellow Sprout Grass, a Communication Jade Talisman slowly flew in. Zhang Mengyuan took it, read it carefully, and smiled at Zhang Zhixuan. "The Yellow Sprout Grass has just matured, and your Ninth Uncle and the others are already here."He set aside the sandalwood box and calmly opened the formation. Outside the formation, seven or eight cultivators had already arrived at the gate. The leading figure was older, looking about fifty or sixty years old; the rest were in their prime. The older cultivator had a higher cultivation base, exuding a faint aura of authority. The others had lower cultivation—even the best among them had just reached the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, far inferior to Zhang Zhixuan, who had just come down the mountain.The older cultivator was the clan's Fourth Elder, Zhang Mengquan—a High-Grade Second-Rank alchemist. Zhang Mengquan was also a Three-Spiritual-Root cultivator who had reached the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining over ten years ago. Regrettably, the clan had no ability to provide him with a Foundation Establishment Pill. Without a Foundation Establishment Pill to nurture his physical body and balance his true essence, attempting Foundation Establishment was extremely dangerous. For a Three-Spiritual-Root cultivator like him, the success rate of Foundation Establishment was less than 10%; if he failed, he would die immediately during the process. Zhang Mengquan was not a cultivator obsessed with the Dao—for years, he had dared not risk Foundation Establishment. Now he was sixty-five years old, his vitality had begun to decline, and even with a Foundation Establishment Pill, his chance of success was no more than 10%. He knew this well—having missed his best chance for Foundation Establishment, he had long given up hope.Behind him were not only apprentices from the market's pill-refining pavilion but also low-rank cultivators from Lushan County: the County Magistrate, the County Captain, the Chief Constable, and the City Patrol.Everyone entered the small courtyard together. The County Magistrate and others—who were usually high and mighty in Lushan County—busied themselves, carrying bundles of translucent wood from the carriages outside. This wood was golden all over, containing a trace of spiritual energy—clearly no ordinary material.Noticing Zhang Zhixuan staring at the wood, his Ninth Uncle Zhang Mengquan smiled and said, "This is Xuanyang Wood—a Low-Grade First-Rank material. The Zhu Family of Liu City has a large garden filled with this stuff; they produce a lot every year. It's quite cheap—three large bundles cost just one Low-Grade Spirit Stone. Our clan has no fire eyes for pill-refining or artifact-refining, so we can't use earth fire for pill-refining—we can only use this spiritual energy-containing wood instead. This stuff burns at a very high temperature; though it's not as good as earth fire or the true fire of Foundation Establishment cultivators, it's enough for refining low-rank spiritual pills."