Chapter 142: Chapter 141: Second Generation Hybrid Rice
“Senior Brother, why is the cultivation of spiritual plants considered as minor yet ranked alongside alchemy and artifact refining in the ‘Cultivation Hundred Skills,’ and also included in the second phase of the ‘Immortal Path Competition’?”
A naive young female cultivator from the Cloud Hidden Spirit Sect who seemed rather young asked while watching the competition.
“Junior Sister is both right and wrong… Although the cultivation of spiritual plants is a minor path, it is the foundation of all things. Spiritual food is derived from processed spiritual plants and our sect’s spiritual medicine also requires a large number of spiritual plant masters to cultivate, especially some rare spiritual medicines that are extremely difficult to nurture and require top-tier spiritual plant masters to care for…”
“So how is this cultivation of spiritual plants assessed? Growing a spiritual medicine takes at least decades, and even ordinary spiritual barley and rice need a year to grow. Are these cultivators supposed to stay there that long?”
In response to the naive junior sister’s question, some veterans who were regulars at the ‘Immortal Path Competition’ began to explain.
“Junior Sister might not know, but the field for this spiritual plant test is equipped with a ‘Natural Cycle Formation,’ set up by the Golden Core Island Masters. It can artificially mature the spiritual objects planted in that piece of land. One day within it amounts to one year of growth, which should suffice for these cultivators to see their planted items initially mature.”
“Then how are the points for each person judged?” the naive junior sister asked, curious like a child asking thousands of questions, but her cute and pretty demeanor made many male cultivators patiently explain.
“The total spiritual power contained in the harvested crops can be calculated using the Earth Spirit Scale by the elders. Points will be awarded based on the total amount of spiritual power they manage to cultivate within 10 days.”
These rules were more intricately known by the disciples from the Twelve Dynasties who had already prepared their strategies accordingly.
Selecting the skill of spiritual plant cultivation wasn’t uncommon, ranking just after the four major paths of artifact refining, alchemy, talisman, and array formation.
After all, it had the lowest barrier to entry, and there were some tricks one could employ.
“Huh? Senior Brother, how is that person taking out spirit seeds from his storage ring to sow… That’s unfair to the other challengers! Let’s go tell our master, this person is cheating!”
The junior sister, believing she had spotted a flaw, hurriedly wanted to make her contribution known.
The senior brothers shook their heads.
“There’s always such disciples who think that using rare seeds, they can grow high-scoring crops, but they all forgot one thing…”
“Our Cloud Hidden Spirit Sect encompasses all things, extracting tributes from the lower Twelve Dynasties; our seed bank includes seeds of almost all spiritual food, Spirit Fruits, and spiritual medicines. What good seed isn’t there?”
“This self-righteous guy is planting a Molten Rock Flower, a first-grade fire element spiritual medicine. Indeed, its yield is respectable, but… Recently, our sect’s seed bank has acquired a seed called Fire Essence Flower, which has higher medicinal effects than the Molten Rock Flower and produces even more under the same conditions, having completely replaced the latter.”
Listening, the junior sister nodded repeatedly, “I see… then those with profound knowledge can actually score quite well.”
“Exactly, my master used to say that the ‘Cultivation Hundred Skills’ is not just about who has higher cultivation or better magic, but more importantly about the accumulation of knowledge…”
“Those using their own seeds clearly lack sufficient knowledge of spiritual plants.”
“Of course, if you really can find a spirit seed that produces more than any in our sect’s seed bank, then you deserve a high score, and we would also incorporate this new high-yield seed into our collection.” Chapters first released on NovєlFіre.net
“There were indeed such seeds years ago, but the ‘Immortal Path Competition’ has been going on for hundreds of years and the good things from the Twelve Dynasties have almost all been unearthed by us, making it nearly impossible to appear now.”
The rules were well known to the cultivators who came to challenge.
Yang Genshuo was also aware of them.
Thus… During last year’s tribute, Yang Genshuo sent the second generation hybrid Spirit Rice bred by the Taoist to the Yang Family.
In the field planting trial that year, this second-generation hybrid Spirit Rice successfully blossomed and bore fruit, achieving a yield of 1500 kilograms per hectare at Spirit Lake Manor with a spiritual energy concentration of 6, directly surpassing the highest record by 400 kilograms!
Although it still couldn’t compare to the most advanced high-yield rice of modern times, it was already extremely rare in the Immortal Cultivation World.
Furthermore, he hadn’t seen any crop produce as much in either the Danai Dynasty or the Fierce Sun Dynasty.
The only drawback was… because this was an improvement of the genetic editing technique used on the first generation hybrid Spirit Rice by the Taoist, while it achieved high yields, it lost its hereditary traits.
Which is to say, this type of Spirit Rice couldn’t grow normally after being re-sown post-harvest; it could only be mass-produced in the Taoist’s lab using the first-generation hybrid Spirit Rice seeds, then given to the Yang Family for planting.
This was relatively inconvenient, as in a single day, the Taoist’s small lab couldn’t produce so many seeds.
So it was only used on a small scale, and currently, it wasn’t feasible to extend it to produce more crops for the Yang Family.
Moreover, because the Yang Family earned Spirit Stones through the sale of Grain Avoidance Cakes, their main focus was on cultivating the first-grade Spiritual Barley. Now, Taoist Yang was already developing the second-generation Spiritual Barley.
He was completely immersed in the development of new seeds, and now, except for getting a foot massage, no one could lure him out.
Yang Genshuo had also provided him with Spirit Water from Spirit Lake and soil with high Spiritual Energy Concentration from the Devil Wind Forest.
“Then let Taoist Yang help you with this second challenge!”
Yang Genshuo clenched his fists tightly, looking at Yang Fu with a face full of anticipation.
This was the only way he could achieve a good result in the second challenge.
Each contestant in the Spiritual Plant competition was allotted an acre of land, where they could plant any crop they desired. The crops would grow wildly under the activation of the Array.
Yang Fu sowed the second-generation Hybrid Spirit Rice and then cast the simplest Spiritual Rain Skill, causing it to sprout immediately.
Other cultivating planters looked around, observing others’ techniques, especially Yang Fu, who had been outstanding in the first challenge and was now the center of attention for everyone.
When they saw Yang Fu pull out a bag of ordinary-looking Spirit Rice seeds, many cultivators laughed.
“This person… is not to be feared.”
The disciples watching from the Cloud Hidden Spirit Sect also shook their heads.
“This one’s even worse than the one using the Molten Rock Flower… How much Spiritual Power can the lowest grade of Spirit Rice produce?”
“I had high hopes for Yang Fu after his audacious performance in the first challenge, but didn’t expect the Cultivation Hundred Skills to be so feeble…”
“These Spirit Rice seeds are everywhere, can he really grow something remarkable from them?”
“I think this man is good at competitive magic but knows nothing about the Cultivation Hundred Skills… perhaps his elders are too wealthy, never worrying about Spirit Stones, lacking in pragmatism.”
Some disciples skilled in Spiritual Plant Magic voiced out, garnering nods of agreement from others.
After sowing, Yang Fu started using various supporting Spiritual Plant Magic.
He cultivated the Five Elements Cultivation Technique and also had an advantage in Spiritual Plant Magic.
He could use Earth Element, Wood Element, and Water Element spells, providing Magical enhancement for the growth of the Spirit Plants.
“Fertile Soil Skill!”
“All Things Growth Skill!”
“Moisturizing Skill!”
The second-generation Spirit Rice grew wildly, frantically absorbing the surrounding Spiritual Energy!
In just one day, it bloomed and matured.
“Golden Spirit Sword Skill!”
Yang Fu formed a golden Sword Qi between his hands and harvested the matured Spirit Rice, his face revealing joy afterward.
This was the Cloud Hidden Spirit Sect where the spiritual energy concentration was extremely high!
The ordinary places have a Spiritual Energy Concentration of 20 points, far surpassing Spirit Lake Manor, fully unleashing the potential of the second-generation Hybrid Spirit Rice, reaching a staggering 2000 kilograms!
That exceeded Yang Genshuo’s expectations.
“Goodness! Is this what a treasure land is? Not only is the air sweet in the Cloud Hidden Spirit Sect, but the ground is also so fertile.”
At this moment, looking at the bundles of Spirit Rice piled up like a small mountain beside Yang Fu, everyone was astonished.
“Is this what an Immortal produced on just one acre of land?”