Chapter 305: Spring Sowing

Days filled with tasks pass exceptionally quickly.

With Zhuang Jialan's help, Chen Mobai quickly mastered the drawing of the three second-tier talismans for his exam.

In addition, there was more good news: Zhuang Jialan agreed to join the student council.

Without him even needing to ask, Hua Zijing's eyes lit up when she saw Zhuang Jialan, and she enthusiastically began helping her adapt.

Zhuang Jialan felt somewhat overwhelmed by the attention.

She naturally knew Hua Zijing, who was undeniably the student council's second-in-command, regardless of whether Zuo Qiushi or Chen Mobai held the presidency.

That such a distinguished vice-president and head of the secretarial department would take the time to personally mentor her, a newcomer, and do so with such dedication, spoke volumes about Chen Mobai's influence.

After a period of mentorship, Hua Zijing commented that while Zhuang Jialan wasn't as efficient as herself, she had high plasticity, great potential for improvement, and strong learning abilities.

Upon hearing Hua Zijing's assessment, Chen Mobai didn't dwell on any deeper meanings; he simply nodded in satisfaction. With one less thing on his mind, he could now focus on managing the spring rice planting in the Skyriver Realm.

“Master, these are the rice seeds selected last year.”

Zhuo Ming, wearing a straw hat, took several bags of plump rice seeds from the storage pouch at her waist.

They were now at the foot of Mount Xiaonan, in the core ten-mu spiritual field where the earth-vein spiritual energy was most abundant. Here, stalks of jade bamboo grew robustly.

Whenever a new segment grew on the jade bamboo, Zhuo Ming would use a small cutting knife to make an incision, then seal carefully selected Jade Bud spiritual rice seeds inside.

After ten years of cultivation, when the jade bamboo matured and the time was right, they could use a sickle to cut off the uppermost bamboo segment, which would be filled with fragrant second-tier spiritual rice.

Once all the segments of an entire jade bamboo were harvested, it signified the maturation of one cycle of Jade Bamboo spiritual rice.

It would then be time to plant the second cycle.

Every spring, these jade bamboos, specially cultivated to nourish the spiritual rice, would grow a new segment. Chen Mobai had specifically come down the mountain today for this very task.

Besides Zhuo Ming, Luo Yixuan had also come along.

She had even changed into a coarse linen shirt suitable for farming, with the cuffs and pant legs tied up with red ribbons. She wore straw sandals, held a small crescent-shaped sickle in her fair right hand, and also wore a straw hat on her head, imitating Zhuo Ming's method of planting.

Although her movements seemed clumsy to Chen Mobai, as her teacher, he was very satisfied with her attitude.

Observing Luo Yixuan clumsily following Zhuo Ming's every step, Chen Mobai, who was also busy cutting bamboo openings and sealing spiritual rice, nodded slightly.

The cultivators in the Skyriver Realm possessed a drive that students from the Immortal Sects lacked.

This was likely because they all understood how difficult it was to obtain opportunities for cultivation, and thus cherished them immensely.

After five or six days, once the master and his two disciples had sealed the carefully selected, premium Jade Bud spiritual rice seeds into all the newly grown segments of jade bamboo, Chen Mobai sensed that Zhuo Ming's cultivation had seemingly advanced further.

The Earth Mother Art was indeed very suitable for her.

“Xuan'er, for the next month, use the Rain-Summoning Art I taught you to irrigate these ten mu of spiritual fields.”

Luo Yixuan nodded obediently, then shyly admitted that she had never used the Rain-Summoning Art before and feared she might not do well, thus delaying the growth of Mount Xiaonan's most precious ten mu of spiritual rice.

“It's fine. If you don't understand something, ask Ming'er. She has great talent in spiritual plant cultivation, having inherited one or two tenths of my knowledge in this area. Taking care of this Jade Bamboo spiritual rice should be no problem for her.”

“Senior Sister is amazing! This is our Divine Wood Sect's only second-tier spiritual rice. Once these ten mu of spiritual rice mature, Senior Sister will be a second-tier spiritual plant cultivator.”

Luo Yixuan said, her face full of admiration, to Zhuo Ming beside her. The latter, embarrassed by the praise, waved her hands repeatedly, stating it was merely a matter of practice making perfect.

“Since I happen to have some free time today, both of you can ask any questions you have regarding your cultivation.”

By the spiritual field, Chen Mobai chose a rock and sat down. His two disciples stood to his left and right, each bringing up the confusions they had encountered in their cultivation during this period.

As Luo Yixuan had already reached the perfected ninth layer of Qi Condensation, her only confusion was regarding Foundation Establishment, so she didn't have many questions. However, she still managed to string together a few to make her presence known.

On the other hand, Zhuo Ming had more questions about spiritual plant cultivation than about her own spiritual practice.

“Master, I feel that the cultivation method for this Jade Bamboo spiritual rice might be incomplete. Are the other twenty-plus types of spiritual rice you've had me cultivate meant to address this?”

Chen Mobai was somewhat surprised that Zhuo Ming could raise this question.

This child was indeed naturally suited for farming.

“Precisely. I am very pleased that you've noticed this. Later, take my token to the Transmission Department and read all the available information on Jade Bamboo spiritual rice.”

Chen Mobai had actually discovered long ago that the Divine Wood Sect's only second-tier spiritual rice cultivation method had significant flaws.

The mature rice seeds in the Immortal Sect were directly sown and irrigated; they absorbed earth qi naturally as they grew, and after sprouting from the soil, their young shoots could absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, along with the essence of the sun and moon.

During the maturation process of the rice seeds, spiritual plant cultivators only needed to regularly irrigate, fertilize, and monitor for pests. There was no need for cumbersome and troublesome procedures like first planting golden-edged jade bamboo, waiting for it to mature, and then sealing the rice seeds within.

As a core Foundation Establishment elder of the Divine Wood Sect, Chen Mobai could naturally access all secret scrolls related to "Jade Bamboo spiritual rice" within the sect with ease.

This cultivation method for second-tier spiritual rice was acquired by Zhou Shengqing at great expense during an auction hosted by a major trade association, which he encountered while traveling outside the Eastern Wilderness, back when the Five Elements Sect had not yet split.

In the Skyriver Realm, there were two ways to trade spiritual plant cultivation methods.

One was licensing, and the other was outright purchase.

The former was exemplified by the third-tier Coiled Dragon spiritual rice from the Rejuvenation Valley, where they purchased seeds annually from the Star Sky Grand Commercial Association. This fee served as a licensing fee, granting them exclusive rights to cultivate and sell the rice within the Eastern Wilderness.

The other method, outright purchase, was how the Divine Wood Sect acquired the Jade Bamboo spiritual rice. This was originally a secret inheritance method from a sect within the Eastern Yi region, and it would not have been put up for auction had their sect's Foundation Establishment ancestor not been severely injured and needed spiritual medicine for recovery.

When Zhou Shengqing brought this inheritance back to the sect, he was even praised by the then-living Grand Ancestor Hunyuan.

According to the inheritance of this Jade Bamboo spiritual rice, if a third-tier spiritual bamboo could be found, it might be possible to elevate ordinary Jade Bud spiritual rice to the third-tier as well.

The value of third-tier spiritual rice would be completely different.

Based on experience in the Skyriver Realm, Golden Core Perfected Ones who wished to form their Nascent Soul simply recognized that a strong qi and blood physique could increase their success rate to a certain extent.

Only spiritual rice of the third tier and above could benefit Golden Core Perfected Ones.

Mount Xiaonan served as the testing ground for elevating Jade Bamboo spiritual rice to the third tier. Unfortunately, this method of cultivating spiritual rice was overly cumbersome, and it took a full ten years for each cycle to mature.

By the third cycle of experimentation, Grand Ancestor Hunyuan passed away.

Then the Five Elements Sect split, and after that, Zhou Shengqing became busy with secluded cultivation, striving to break through to the perfected Golden Core stage, leaving him no time to attend to this matter.

It wasn't until Chen Mobai successfully established his Foundation and chose Mount Xiaonan as his cultivation ground that the matter was revisited.

Sect Master Meng Hong naturally knew the origins of the Jade Bamboo spiritual rice and was also aware that Chen Mobai, a genius, enjoyed farming in addition to practicing swordsmanship. Therefore, he provided Chen Mobai with all the sect's experimental data on cultivating third-tier spiritual rice.

However, this portion of the data was incomplete.

Originally, to cultivate third-tier Jade Bamboo spiritual rice, spiritual plant cultivators from the Earth, Water, and Wood meridians of the Five Elements Sect opened up sixty mu of spiritual fields for cultivation on Mount Xiaonan in the Giant Wood Ridge.

Later, when the major event of the sect's split occurred, the spiritual plant cultivators from the three meridians naturally served their own masters. The Divine Wood Sect's records were compiled from memory by their own lineage's spiritual plant cultivators, preserved for inheritance.

It was said that at the time, they had indeed successfully cultivated two stalks of third-tier Jade Bamboo spiritual rice, but it was unknown whether this was accidental or if a key technique had truly been mastered. Furthermore, this secret technique was held by the core spiritual plant cultivators of the Earth meridian, and the Divine Wood Sect did not possess it.

It was precisely for this reason that the Divine Wood Sect had no interest in elevating Jade Bamboo spiritual rice to the third tier, as they knew it would consume vast resources with no guarantee of success.

The spiritual plant inheritance for second-tier Jade Bamboo spiritual rice was also accessible to Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Only the secret scrolls pertaining to third-tier spiritual rice were carefully preserved in the Transmission Department. As Chen Mobai was considered a future core figure of the Divine Wood Sect, it was naturally easy for him to view this information.

However, Sect Master Meng Hong still specifically cautioned him.

He advised him to prioritize sword practice. While third-tier spiritual rice was important, the sect had ample spiritual stones and could still purchase Coiled Dragon spiritual rice for the two Golden Core Grand Ancestors. He absolutely must not delay his most crucial cultivation for this.

Chen Mobai was somewhat touched by this.

At the very least, Sect Master Meng Hong genuinely regarded him as a future pillar of the Divine Wood Sect, and the treatment he received was no worse than that of Meng Hong's own disciples.

Because of this, Chen Mobai set a small goal for himself.

He resolved to utilize his farming talent for the Divine Wood Sect, ensuring that everyone in the sect could partake in second-tier spiritual rice.

It was precisely for this reason that Chen Mobai applied himself diligently to his agricultural studies over the past two years.

Lin Wenkang, the agricultural studies teacher at the Dance Weapon Dao Academy, was exceedingly pleased with this and imparted all his knowledge without reservation. He believed that Chen Mobai could become a leading figure in the Immortal Sect's agricultural studies in the future.

After Chen Mobai finished reading the Divine Wood Sect's treasured third-tier spiritual rice data and combined it with the extensive knowledge from the Immortal Sect, he understood the complete ideology behind the Jade Bamboo spiritual rice cultivation inheritance.

The spiritual plant cultivator who originally created Jade Bamboo spiritual rice was a genius.

The seeds for Jade Bamboo spiritual rice were actually first-tier Jade Bud spiritual rice, a type of spiritual rice considered the most widely sown and technologically mature in the Skyriver Realm.

The Seven Great Sects of the Eastern Wilderness, and even various cultivation families and minor sects across the region, had extensive experience in cultivating Jade Bud spiritual rice, yielding considerable harvests each year.

However, this spiritual rice had a flaw: it could not withstand second-tier earth-vein spiritual energy.

In other words, it could only be sown in first-tier spiritual fields.

The innovator behind Jade Bamboo spiritual rice had a sudden inspiration: whether it was possible to filter the second-tier earth-vein spiritual energy to make it tolerable for Jade Bud spiritual rice, thereby allowing it to advance in tier.

After decades of grafting and sowing experiments, Jade Bamboo spiritual rice was finally created.

After the second-tier earth-vein spiritual energy was absorbed and transformed by the jade bamboo, it would become extremely pure and docile.

The rice seeds sealed within the jade bamboo segments, under the infusion of bamboo dew and bamboo spiritual essence, would undergo remarkable changes, upgrading into second-tier spiritual rice after ten years of nurturing.

According to this theory, if a third-tier spiritual bamboo suitable for Jade Bud spiritual rice could be found, it would indeed be possible to cultivate third-tier Jade Bamboo spiritual rice.

It was no wonder Grand Ancestor Hunyuan was pleased that Zhou Shengqing was able to acquire this spiritual plant inheritance.

However, from the perspective of the Immortal Sects, this was indeed a misguided path.

To cultivate Jade Bamboo spiritual rice, it first required the expenditure of earth qi and spiritual energy to nourish the jade bamboo's growth. After the spiritual rice seeds were sealed within, they would further absorb the essence of the jade bamboo. After these two transformations, the energy consumed was one and a half times that of the Immortal Sect's second-tier spiritual rice, and the maturation period was also excessively long.

For spiritual plant cultivators in the Immortal Sects, who meticulously cultivated every inch of land and spiritual energy, Jade Bamboo spiritual rice was naturally a misguided path.

After discovering this, Chen Mobai specifically consulted Lin Wenkang, the agricultural studies teacher at the Dao Academy, who proposed several methods.

These included softening earth qi, staggered maturation, and improving the rice seeds.

However, to solve this problem once and for all, the best method was naturally to improve the rice seeds.

This involved cross-breeding Jade Bud spiritual rice with another type of spiritual rice that could withstand second-tier earth qi. After several rounds of practical cultivation and nurturing of the combined seeds, the most suitable, plumpest, and most vital seeds would be selected.

The process and methods were simple. With Chen Mobai's top-tier agricultural foundation at the Dao Academy, he could write a complete thesis and methodology for improving rice seeds even without Lin Wenkang's help.

However, the most difficult, tedious, and complicated part was the subsequent practical cultivation and nurturing step.

To obtain accurate and extensive experimental data and samples and to determine the most suitable variety, it was naturally best to have as many types of hybrid rice seeds as possible.

During this process, there could be no shortage of people to oversee and record data.

The more planting, the more spiritual fields were needed, and the more spiritual plant cultivators, the better.

Unfortunately, the Dao Academy's experimental fields were filled with more precious third and fourth-tier herbs, leaving only a small plot for spiritual rice. Chen Mobai's ambitious hope of utilizing the agricultural class's power to improve rice seeds could not be realized.

Settling for the next best option, he could only conduct experiments on Mount Xiaonan.

Fortunately, Zhuo Ming proved highly capable; he only had to explain the knowledge of rice seed cross-breeding and cultivation once, and she already understood it clearly.

Since the major trade associations in the Skyriver Realm placed great importance on supervising high-tier spiritual rice, Chen Mobai's choice for cross-breeding with Jade Bud spiritual rice was preferably local varieties from the Eastern Wilderness.

After Chen Mobai took control of Mount Xiaonan, he had been regularly posting tasks at the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion under his own name for the past two years, acquiring various types of spiritual rice seeds.

Leveraging the sect's resources, besides the core ten mu cultivated with Jade Bamboo spiritual rice using the standard method, he arranged for Zhuo Ming to plant the acquired spiritual rice varieties in the remaining fifty mu.

These spiritual rice varieties ranged from high to low grades; some matured in half a year, some in a year, and others in two or three years.

Last year, the Jade Bamboo spiritual rice Chen Mobai used for brewing second-tier spiritual wine was the product of cross-breeding it with a first-tier superior rice seed called Treasured Ginseng spiritual rice. Coupled with second-tier yeast from his hometown and the fermented fusion of hundreds of medicinal herbs from the Hundred Herbs Pill and Spirit Nourishing Soup, he was incredibly lucky to accidentally succeed in producing two jars.