Chapter 40: Planting the Flowers of All Wonders

Lin Donglai moistened the Danwood ash with celestial dew, rolled the seeds of the Multitude Wonders Flower in it once, and then rolled them in a layer of spirit stone powder.

Repeating this process until they were the size of glutinous rice balls, Lin Donglai then applied the Sprouting Technique to each seed one by one.

The Sprouting Technique was indeed mysterious; seeds that would normally require three or four days of soaking in celestial dew to sprout would, with a single touch of green light from his fingertip, sprout and grow fine roots within just a few breaths.

Lin Donglai then handed them to Ning Feng.

The fields, having been scattered with spirit beast fertilizer, Danwood ash, and spirit stone powder, had already been deeply tilled once by Niu Fusheng and Li Yougen using the Spirit-Casting Earth-Shaking Technique.

Furthermore, a Sun-Gathering Array had been set up three days in advance to gather Yang energy. Every morning and evening, they were thoroughly watered with the Dew-Rain Casting Spell, and even the surface had been covered with a layer of spirit rice straw.

After planting the Multitude Wonders seeds, another layer of Root-Fixing Celestial Dew was immediately applied.

In this manner, out of the one hundred and twenty Multitude Wonders seeds, one hundred and twelve successfully sprouted. The remaining eight seeds lacked sufficient vitality; having been forcibly stimulated to sprout, they exhausted their life force and died before they could break through their shells.

Having finished this, Lin Donglai let out a long sigh. Although the Sprouting Technique utilized the seed's own vitality, it consumed a significant amount of spiritual power. Lin Donglai pretended to recover his spiritual power using spirit stones, but in reality, his Dao Seed could replenish it in a single breath. Consequently, Lin Donglai felt somewhat exhausted from the acting, rather than from the long hours of labor.

Xiao Yi, standing nearby, was overjoyed to see such a high success rate. He then said, "Junior Brother, I'll leave this in your hands. I had to borrow some spirit stones just to gather enough for this. Now I must head to Merit Peak to take on some tasks and earn spirit stones to pay off my debts."

Lin Donglai nodded. "Once the medicinal herbs mature, I will notify you, Senior Brother."

"Good. When the time comes and I've earned the spirit stones, I'll give you all the leftovers after deducting my initial costs."

"And there is also the help of the other disciples from the Spirit Field Valley; this is by no means my achievement alone."

Lin Donglai smiled and said, "Once you become an Alchemist and I become an official disciple of the Spirit Plant Hall, if such matters arise again, just come looking for me!"

"You truly are a talent, Junior Brother. It's a pity your spiritual root aptitude is a bit lacking. If you had a low-grade Four-Element Spiritual Root combined with this Jia-Wood Spirit Body and such talent for spirit plants, you would have a vast future ahead of you."

He left with a sigh, but Lin Donglai thought to himself: *Exactly, exactly. It's best if word gets out so more people know my spirit planting skills are excellent.*

Although Xiao Yi was not yet an Alchemist but merely an Alchemist Apprentice, once he passed the assessment, it would be like a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate. Those apprentices who lacked connections would find their own ways to fish for information.

This was precisely Lin Donglai's plan. To simply act as an old farmer, burying one's head in hard work for a lifetime, would make it difficult to rise.

It was better to find an unconventional path. It wasn't exactly underhanded; it was simply the nature of the sect's environment—disciples with low aptitude were like beasts of burden with little hope for advancement.

Lin Donglai certainly wouldn't dare compete with high-level spirit planters for alchemist resources; instead, complementing these alchemist apprentices was just the right balance.

At least during the early stages of Qi Refinement, it would provide him with sufficient resources.

With resources, he could directly purchase pre-refined Five-Element Essence, or even Yin-element cultivation methods without having to go through the Hall of Dharma Transmission.

Most importantly, since he was practicing cultivation, how could he live without a flying sword? When Lin Donglai fantasized about cultivation as a child, he imagined riding a sword through the sky, living with unrestrained freedom.

Even if he didn't have a flying sword, he was quite envious of the plantain fan held by the Fifth Elder of the Spirit Plant Hall.

Lin Donglai had inquired and learned that the plantain fan was crafted from a second-grade, low-rank spirit plant called the "Two-Polar Plantain Tree."

Through the work of a master blacksmith, it had been upgraded from second-grade low-rank to second-grade mid-rank.

It could fan out "Shaoyang Profound Qi" and "Taiyin Wondrous Qi." While not a pure combat treasure, its uses were infinite; it was a supreme spirit plant treasure. A single wave of the fan could alter the celestial spiritual atmosphere within a certain range and duration.

Even on the True Spirit Peak of the sect, where many rare spirit beasts existed, they would not mate unless the season was right. A wave of the Two-Polar Plantain Fan could simulate their mating season, allowing them to breed naturally.

Spirit plants provided not just medicinal herbs, but also such natural artifacts and treasures—though only the core disciples of the Spirit Plant Hall could access plants capable of producing such items.

With a single thought, Lin Donglai looked inward at the Heaven-Reaching Jianmu Spiritual Root Dao Seed. It had already taken root in this slightly barren, palm-sized blessed field. He whispered inwardly, "Dao Seed, oh Dao Seed! My immortal fate depends entirely on you!"

The root and sprout gave a slight tremor, transmitting a thought: [Craving Yin Qi].

What it craved was not mere Yin Qi, but Yin-element Five-Element Essence, refined through embryonic breathing.

Wuchen belongs to Yang Earth and requires Jichou Yin Earth. Renzi belongs to Yang Water and requires Guihai Yin Water. Jiayin belongs to Yang Wood and requires Yimao Yin Wood. Bingwu belongs to Yang Fire and requires Dingsi Yin Fire. Gengshen belongs to Yang Metal and requires Xinyou Yin Metal.

The ratio for this Yin-element Five-Elements was the same: Earth 5, Water 4, Wood 3, Fire 2, Metal 1.

Once this Yin-element combined with the Yang-element, they could be paired to evolve the changes of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. However... Lin Donglai felt as if something was missing.

The Five-Element Qi Gathering Manual involved collecting the Qi of the five elements during various hours of the day.

Theoretically, one could collect Qi during ten hours, but a day consists of twelve hours. If one truly wished to achieve perfection, the remaining two hours must surely have corresponding Qi-gathering techniques.

Perhaps this was the key to the Hunyuan Five-Element Sect being able to cultivate Hunyuan True Qi.

The two missing hours were the Wei hour and the Xu hour.

Lin Donglai noted this down, intending to ask any senior brothers or sisters practicing the Five-Element Qi Gathering Method if he encountered them.

However, Lin Donglai also had a faint suspicion: among the five elements, Earth is the mother. Perhaps these two hours involved cultivating Earth-element True Qi.

Or perhaps they involved additional Yin and Yang Qi. But Yin and Yang Qi were already present during the Zi and Wu hours when gathering Qi; moreover, this Five-Element manual already possessed Yin and Yang elements, having already been divided.

But this was not something Lin Donglai could determine solely by listening to lectures or by cross-referencing the Earth Immortal lineage.

Though he had joined an immortal sect, he lacked a "Master" to guide him. He did not know how the previous owner of the Dao Seed had obtained this treasure and soared to greatness so effortlessly...

Fortunately, he had not yet begun practicing the Yin-element cultivation method. Perhaps once he did, everything would fall into place naturally?

With every breath of the Jianmu Spiritual Root, void primordial Qi was converted into Yang-element spiritual Qi. As the Five-Element spiritual Qi circulated according to the manual, a portion of the Five-Element Essence fell into the blessed field to solidify its foundation, while another portion was absorbed by the Spiritual Root Dao Seed. This was then fed back to Lin Donglai, transforming into the purest Wood-attribute spiritual power—the flourishing Wood of the Five Elements, which was the very technique Lin Donglai displayed to the world: the Jia-Yin Life-Gathering Formula.