You Cultivate, I Farm

Chapter 170

This was the method Lu Xuan believed most likely. Additionally, it could be due to the continuous traces of Hiding Scale Fish in the Thousand Dragon Lake, or perhaps due to artificial causes.

"There must be Hiding Scale Fish at the bottom of the lake that haven't parasitized the dragon beasts yet. But I'm just a caretaker with average strength. I can't enter the lake bottom to completely resolve this issue."

"I plan to report this to Senior Builder Master and let them decide how to deal with this problem," Huang Yuan said with a somewhat dejected tone.

"This is already the best method," Lu Xuan nodded in agreement.

The Thousand Dragon Lake harbored numerous dragon snakes and pythons, including third and fourth-tier entities. The lake bottom, where these creatures dwelled, was naturally extraordinary.

Moreover, the entire lake surface was protected by formations, resisting the intrusion of cultivators and the dragons into each other's territories. Entering the lake was not a simple matter.

Although Lu Xuan had a deep understanding of the Hiding Scale Fish, he had no way to deal with them in the depths of the lake. Besides, he didn't want to get involved.

After chatting for a bit, Lu Xuan returned to the lakeside, summoned a spirit crane, and flew back to his own cave.

After a brief interaction with the young wind falcon and cloud-stepping lynx, Lu Xuan eagerly returned indoors.

He closed the door, retrieved six or seven cloth bags from his storage pouch, consolidating all the spirit stones.

Then came the joyous time of counting spirit stones.

"Surprisingly, over five hundred spirit stones... much more than I had imagined," Lu Xuan exclaimed, looking at the pile of spirit stones on the table.

During the blood sampling process, if traces of the Hiding Scale Fish were found, the cultivators behind would tacitly increase Lu Xuan's examination fee. This meant the spirit stones he received were much higher than the price initially proposed.

"With over five hundred spirit stones, along with the remaining fourteen hundred from the purchase of demonic beast eyes and insect eggs, my assets once again reach the level of two thousand spirit stones."

Lu Xuan expressed his gratitude once again to the cultivators who made him draw blood for the dragon.

With a wave of his right hand, all the spirit stones on the table vanished in an instant.

"Next is the essence of the dragon's blood."

Lu Xuan had already anticipated this and knew the table couldn't hold it all, so he placed it directly on the ground.

Over two hundred bottles, plus his own, totaled over three hundred bottles of dragon's blood!

Moreover, considering the quantity of dragon vines had doubled, he secretly added at least half more, since he had the say in drawing the blood.

There was also the essence left from the mature dragon vines.

"Endless flowers, truly endless!" Lu Xuan felt secretly delighted.

To concoct the body tempering liquid required for practicing the "Transcendent Dragon Scroll," Lu Xuan still needed a few materials. He planned to buy them on his next trip to Sword Gate Town or exchange them during the Qingtan gathering.

He arrived at the spirit field and carefully examined the condition of each spirit plant, satisfying their most subtle growth needs.

In the area where the fourth-tier dragon vine was planted, after nurturing it with three types of insects for a while, a new shoot had grown. The grey shoot trembled slightly in the wind.

But beneath the spirit soil lay another mystery.

On the uneven surface of the seed, over ten cocoons of different shapes and colors had formed.

The hidden-wing cicada eggs, akin to white spirit rice, quietly hatched under the stimulation of the dragon vine. Eight hidden-wing cicada larvae lived in their respective cocoons.

The larvae were milky white, their wings tightly wrapped around their bodies, wriggling slowly inside the cocoons.

As for the two silver-threaded mantis larvae, their cocoons were different from the hidden-wing cicada larvae.

The hidden-wing cicada larvae's cocoons were arranged neatly, slender and white, resembling eight neatly arranged white jade coffins.

In contrast, the mantis cocoons seemed more crude, haphazardly constructed, with the figures of the mantises visible inside.

Sensing Lu Xuan's spiritual sense approaching, the two mantises shot out from their cocoons like arrows, appearing on the ground in an instant.

The "Insect Scriptures" recorded several insect manipulation methods. Lu Xuan had some understanding, establishing a connection with the mantises according to those methods. Hence, when they sensed Lu Xuan nearing, they had a certain reaction.

As for the first-tier black-armored insect eggs, due to their late placement, there were no signs of hatching yet. The entire egg had fused with the surface of the dragon vine, inseparable.

After observing the growth of the fourth-tier dragon vine, Lu Xuan inspected the entire spirit field to ensure the good growth of all spirit plants. Then, he went to the peak where the foundation-building female cultivator, Wenwan, resided.

He usually came here almost daily, taking care of the ordinary and mutated Burning Element Trees, conducting occasional tests and recording data.

He was already very familiar with the route, effortlessly arriving at the spirit field.

Although he already knew which mutated Burning Element Trees had failed, which ones were no different from ordinary ones, which had entered the exotic stage, and which had completely advanced to the third tier, he still had to do his best. At the very least, he couldn't let Wenwan suspect he was idle.

After completing the tests and recording the data, Lu Xuan arrived at Wenwan's small residence.

"Senior He, here are the experimental statistics I've compiled recently."

"I divided them into two groups: the normal group and the mutated group. They were subjected to identical conditions and various tests—heat resistance, cold resistance, absorption of spiritual energy, and so on."

"Although the time wasn't long, I've made some discoveries. Please review, Senior," Lu Xuan reported his experiments to Wenwan.

"Good, you've worked hard, Junior Lu," Wenwan, with a hint of a smile on her face, opened Lu Xuan's report.

Each group of data had Lu Xuan's valuation for each spirit plant under various aspects. For the Burning Element Trees in the normal group, Lu Xuan eventually obtained an average value.

Then, the performance of each mutated Burning Element Tree in every test was clearly recorded for comparison between the two groups.

Under each aspect, the values of the mutated Burning Element Trees differed significantly. Some were markedly higher than the average of the normal group, some were not much different, and others fell far below the average of the normal group.

Their respective performances aligned with Lu Xuan's previous findings.

The good ones were either exotic or had already advanced, the mediocre ones were those that didn't successfully mutate, and the bad ones were the failed attempts at reverse improvement.

Wenwan slowly browsed through the report in her hands, and as she went further, her smile grew wider.

"I've heard from Yao Qing that Junior Lu has many ingenious thoughts in the realm of spirit plants. Today, seeing it for myself, it's indeed true."

"Your so-called experimental report is quite interesting, simple, clear, and explicit. It's worthy of being promoted among all outer disciples," Wenwan remarked, finding Lu Xuan's report format quite innovative.

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