Chapter 14: Planting Task (Please add to favorites! Please keep reading!)

When Shaoheng finally gathered all her mana into the Yellow Sprout, it had accumulated enough to fill eleven furnaces.

After the foundation of the *Peiyuan Yangqi Jue* (Nurturing Essence and Cultivating Qi Art) was laid, auspicious cloud-like silver patterns emerged on the surface of her pure white Yellow Sprout, and her mana aura became even more mellow and profound.

Shaoheng opened her eyes and exhaled a breath of black, turbid air—the impurities from her muscles and bones expelled through her cultivation.

She looked up at the timing talisman hanging on the wall. These talismans were provided by the sect and, once properly calibrated, could accurately record the passage of time.

The content on it had changed from October 11th to October 14th.

"Three days. Without using spirit stones, I cultivated seven furnaces of mana," she muttered to herself.

Only after practicing the technique did Shaoheng truly understand that cultivation in the first realm, while seemingly about accumulating mana, was actually about nourishing the Yellow Sprout.

She had previously found it strange: if she cultivated three hundred furnaces of mana to reach the mid-stage of the first realm, would her cultivation level drop back to the early stage if she exhausted all her mana during a battle?

It wasn't until she practiced the *Peiyuan Yangqi Jue* and made further progress that Shaoheng suddenly saw the light.

Each furnace of mana cultivated was actually raising the capacity limit of the Yellow Sprout. Even if a cultivator exhausted their mana, as long as the Yellow Sprout remained undamaged, their realm would not change in the slightest. Furthermore, the exhausted mana could be quickly recovered because the capacity limit of the Yellow Sprout had been raised.

For example, after Shaoheng cultivated eleven furnaces of mana, her Yellow Sprout was visibly a small circle larger.

Only when a cultivator had cultivated nine hundred furnaces of mana, and the Yellow Sprout had become sufficiently tough and full, could they accumulate strength to burst forth, surging all their mana at once to strike the Jiang Palace and ascend to the second realm.

However, the task of widening the Yellow Sprout only became more difficult as one progressed, which meant that a cultivator's speed of cultivation would continuously slow down as their realm increased.

"Earlier, a single spirit stone added a furnace of mana to me in a short time... It seems that if I want to keep my cultivation speed from slowing down, resources are truly indispensable," Shaoheng said, rubbing her chin with her right hand.

She had originally intended to practice the basic spells in her manual after finishing the technique, but now she had something she wanted to verify even more.

Shaoheng rose from the meditation cushion, stretched her limbs, and pushed the door open to leave.

It was nearly the time of Frost's Descent; even though the sun was shining brightly, there was still a chill in the wind.

However, although the Zhenyi Yuan Sect's disciple robes were not magical artifacts, they were woven from high-quality golden jade silkworm silk, which was resistant to ordinary water and fire. Coupled with the circulation of mana in Shaoheng's body, it was enough to insulate her from the cold and heat.

She strode forward and soon arrived in front of a five-story building that was entirely cyan and white.

"What is your business at the Law Enforcement Pavilion?"

As she approached, one of the two gatekeeping disciples, a woman, asked.

"I see you haven't yet guided qi into your body, so you must be a newly entered outer disciple. If there is anything you don't understand, you can ask the lecturing elders directly; don't waste the first three months of lecture time."

Shaoheng smiled and said, "Thank you for the guidance, Senior Sister. I heard that we outer disciples must complete sect missions every year, and I was just curious, so I wanted to come and ask about them."

"I've been listening to the elders' lectures recently, and with hard work at night, I can already sense the existence of spiritual energy. Once I go back and put in more effort, I will definitely succeed."

Seeing that she was still young with a fresh, youthful face, the female disciple's voice softened a little.

"Missions are divided into three grades based on difficulty. There isn't actually a requirement for the number of missions per year, but you must obtain at least ten contribution points. As for you disciples who have been here for less than a year, you generally choose the lower-difficulty miscellaneous tasks. The mission wooden plaques are all hanging in the lobby on the first floor. You can go take a look yourself; it's good to plan ahead."

"Junior Sister, you can look carefully for planting tasks. These tasks are simple, and you can usually have some spiritual plants left over to sell for spirit stones. However, because they are very popular among the disciples, there might not be any left now."

Shaoheng nodded in acknowledgment, took out her disciple token, handed it over for inspection, and walked into the hall.

Following the direction the female disciple had pointed out, she soon arrived at a circular exhibition hall where many outer disciples were walking about.

Hundreds of wooden plaques were suspended in the air. Shaoheng reached out and took one.

[Second-grade mission · Alchemist Seeking Herbs: Collect three stalks of the first-grade treasure herb 'Wind-Descending Grass' from Baicui Mountain. Reward: 10 contribution points.]

"Wind-Descending Grass? Never heard of it." Shaoheng shook her head, let go, and the plaque floated back into the air.

"I'll have to find time later to look at books related to various treasure herbs in the cultivation world. Otherwise, if I leave the sect and actually encounter some heaven-sent treasures, I won't even recognize them."

She looked around and discovered that although the wooden plaques were generally brownish-yellow, the plating on the edges differed, coming in white, silver, and gold.

Shaoheng immediately guessed that this plating represented the grade of the mission. She took down three more to check, and sure enough, that was the case.

She let go of two and kept the white wooden plaque.

"This mission? My luck is actually quite good; I hit the mark on my first try."

[Third-grade mission · Planting Spirit Rice: White Jade Spirit Rice matures every four months. Disciples must collect three catties of rice seeds and one mu of spirit field. Within half a year, submit three hundred catties of spirit rice to be used for the inner sect's spirit meals. Reward: 3 contribution points. The remainder can be kept by the disciple. Failure requires compensation of one spirit stone, and you cannot accept planting tasks for five years.]

Shaoheng thought of the Spirit Rain Spell, Earth-Breaking Art, and Object-Controlling Art contained in her manual, all of which could be used to help plant spirit rice.

If she really took on this mission, she could practice her spells at the same time.

"Three catties of White Jade Spirit Rice for one spirit stone—although the price might not be exact, I can use it for an estimate. That means three hundred catties of rice is worth one hundred spirit stones, which is almost all the resources I can receive in a year. The more I grow, the more spirit stones I earn."

Just as Shaoheng was about to find the disciple in charge to accept the mission, a voice suddenly rang in her ear.

"Junior Sister, you look like you just joined. You should be obediently listening to the elders' lectures and guiding qi into your body as soon as possible; don't be overly ambitious. Give the mission plaque to me."

Shaoheng turned her head to see a young man wearing a jade crown.

He was seven feet tall, handsome, and looked to be sixteen or seventeen years old, looking down at her from a position of superiority.

She channeled mana into her eyes to observe the mana fluctuations on the male cultivator. Although he was much stronger than her, he should still be in the early stage of the first realm.

Shaoheng gripped the wooden plaque tightly and replied with her head held high, "I won't give it to you."

The male disciple, whose name was Xia Huan, furrowed his brows upon hearing this and said impatiently, "You don't even have mana; you can't cast a single spell. You should know that spirit rice planting requires the Spirit Rain Spell to successfully sprout. Keeping it in your hands is just wasting a great opportunity for others."

Xia Huan had asked a senior brother he knew to keep an eye out for planting tasks while working at the Law Enforcement Pavilion, and he had just received the news not long ago.

If he could gather these three contribution points, he would just meet the sect's annual mission assessment standard.

He had only been delayed by something and arrived a little late, never expecting that this newly joined female disciple would beat him to it.

As Xia Huan spoke, he had already reached out in front of Shaoheng, intending to grab the plaque.

She gripped the plaque tightly in her right hand, pulled it behind her back, and simultaneously slashed her left palm fiercely at the hand reaching toward her.

"Hiss," Xia Huan gasped in pain.

Shaoheng stepped back two paces, raised her eyebrows, and scolded, "Is this mission your biological child? You just reach out and take it. The plaque is in my hand, so this mission belongs to me!"