Chapter 453: Max-Level Spirit Seed Enlightenment Art! |
“Half-human, half-dragon,” Jiang Chen mused, looking down at the sleeping infant. “And adorable.”
He gently stroked her tiny, pale-blue tail.
“Let’s call you Xu Linglong.”
Linglong. Exquisite.
It sounded completely human, yet perfectly mirrored the sound of “Spirit Dragon.”
It was a name that both concealed and honored her true identity.
From this day forward, the little anomaly resting in his arms had a name she would carry for the rest of her long life.
…
Days flowed on, gradually settling into a chaotic but predictable rhythm.
At night, he retreated to his personal space to feed and care for Linglong.
During the brief, fleeting moments when she was asleep, he buried himself in his cultivation techniques.
One evening, while sitting cross-legged near the ice lotus, he opened his system panel.
[Spirit Evolution Finger: Level 1]
Effect 1: Spirit Plant Mutation Rate +0.5%
[System Prompt: Consume 40 years of Lifespan to raise Spirit Evolution Finger to Level 9?]
Jiang Chen stared at the prompt, genuinely surprised.
“I have decades of farming experience and a max-level Spirit Finger as my foundation. And it still costs forty years to master this?”
It was a staggering cost.
But according to the principles of cultivation, time itself was the foundation of attainment.
If a technique required such an absurd amount of time to comprehend, it meant the truths hidden within were profoundly complex.
The Spirit Evolution Finger was not some ordinary mortal martial art. It was a genuine Earth-tier technique, one capable of remolding the innate spiritual nature of spirit plants.
He had the years to spare.
“All in,” Jiang Chen confirmed without hesitation.
In an instant, his consciousness was drawn into the profound void of sudden enlightenment.
Using his mastery of the foundational Spirit Finger as a stepping stone, his mind spent forty arduous years within that enlightenment, dissecting the Earth-tier technique, unraveling its structure, and rebuilding it to absolute perfection.
When he opened his eyes, the world looked different.
He could almost sense the hidden spiritual nature pulsing within the plants around him.
[Remaining Lifespan: 3166 years]
[Spirit Evolution Finger: Max Level]
Effect 1: Spirit Plant Mutation Rate +5%
Effect 2: Beneficial Mutation Probability +40%
Effect 3: Post-Mutation Survival Rate +50%
Effect 4: Special Mutation Probability +10%
Effect 5: Dual-Attribute Mutation Probability +5%
Effect 6: Triple-Attribute Mutation Probability +1%
Effect 7: Mutation Stability +50%
Effect 8: Spirit Qi Affinity +20%
Effect 9: Harmful Mutation Correction Probability +30%
Special Effect 1: Probability of mutated spirit plants passing traits to seeds +15%
Special Effect 2: If a spirit plant possesses 1 mutation, a second mutation will fuse seamlessly with the first.
Special Effect 3: The technique can channel Earth Vein Spirit Qi to reduce the plant defect rate by 25%.
Jiang Chen took a sharp breath, his eyes burning.
“Worth every single year.”
The basic chance of mutation had risen from a pitiful 0.1% to a full 5%.
In the past, obtaining even one mutated stalk from a single Mu of spirit field depended on luck. Now, across all thirty-two Mu, the number of mutated stalks would be far beyond what he had dared to imagine.
Furthermore, the chance of triggering dual-attribute or even triple-attribute fusions was no longer zero.
A single triple-attribute spirit crop could support his cultivation for a decade.
His breathing grew heavy.
He immediately stepped out of his personal space and stood before a dense field of Foundation Fortifying Abundant Soil Rice.
He raised his right hand.
The Golden Core within his Dantian spun rapidly, flooding his meridians with dense Five Elements spiritual power.
A brilliant emerald-green light ignited at the tip of his index finger.
Instead of targeting a single plant, Jiang Chen swept his finger across the horizon.
The green light burst outward, splitting into thousands of living, luminous vines that lashed across the entire Mu of spirit field.
The surrounding Spirit Qi in Red Leaf Valley violently converged, drawn in by the mighty pull of the max-level Earth-tier technique.
A wave of spiritual transformation swept across the rice field.
Given the 5% base chance, Jiang Chen did not have to wait long.
Within minutes, a stalk near the center of the field began to transform rapidly.
It shot up half a foot taller than its peers.
The thick stalk darkened, patterned with deep brown and emerald striations.
The leaves grew dense with tiny, velvety hairs that shimmered with a faint green luster.
Deep below the soil, the roots aggressively expanded, shooting out thousands of fine, hair-like tendrils.
The rice ears swelled, turning a rich, flawless ivory white.
Jiang Chen stepped into the mud and fixed his gaze upon the plant, letting the system identify it.
[Soil-Spirit Symbiotic Rice]
Spirit Qi: Abundant
Status: Healthy (No Damage, No Pests)
State: Ready for Harvest
Jiang Chen stroked his chin, his eyes gleaming.
“It actually forced an evolution into Soil-Spirit Symbiotic Rice.”
This was a highly sought-after, rare strain that normally required a Grade-3 Spirit Farm to survive.
Not only was the yield massive, but consuming it actively fortified a cultivator’s foundation.
The true value, however, lay in its root system.
Beneath the soil, the plants linked together, exchanging nutrients and Spirit Qi like a living net, practically ensuring that the next generation of seeds would inherit the mutation.
Thriving on his success, Jiang Chen moved to the second Mu.
He cast the Spirit Evolution Finger again.
This time, a stalk of standard Golden Spirit Rice answered the call.
The jade-colored husks darkened into a heavy, metallic gold laced with jagged red veins.
The edges of the leaves turned razor-sharp, glowing with a fierce golden-red light.
When Jiang Chen brushed his thumb against the ripened grains, he felt a distinct, stinging heat, as if touching the edge of a freshly forged blade.
“Molten Gold Spirit-Gathering Rice,” Jiang Chen breathed, instantly recognizing the legendary strain.
When a Metal Spirit Root cultivator consumed this rice, it did not merely replenish their spiritual power. It could temporarily lend their Qi a sharpness capable of piercing armor and protective spiritual light.
Furthermore, the husks could be ground down and used as a precious auxiliary material by artifact refiners, greatly increasing the success rate of forging Metal-attribute Magical Artifacts and Spirit Weapons.
It was infinitely more valuable than the Soil-Spirit Symbiotic Rice.
Jiang Chen stood at the edge of his fields, his blood running hot with excitement.
He still had thirty Mu left to go.
The possibilities were staggering.
He turned toward the fields containing the Five Elements Circulating Rice and raised his glowing finger.
“Waaah!”
The sharp, piercing wail echoed from his spatial ring.
Jiang Chen froze.
The green light on his fingertip sputtered and died.
He let out a long, defeated sigh, his shoulders slumping.
“Right. Duty calls.”
The fields were not going anywhere.
He vanished from the valley, materializing beside the ice lotus.
He picked up Linglong, popped the mouthpiece out, and skillfully fed her a stream of milk.
The routine was second nature now.
It was flawless.
Until he felt a sudden, intense chill spread across his chest.
Jiang Chen looked down.
The smile on his face died instantly.
“You… you could have given me a warning.”
His robes were engraved with self-cleaning and dust-repelling arrays.
But Linglong was half-dragon. Her bodily fluids were bitterly cold.
The urine did not soak into the fabric. The sudden plunge in temperature froze it solid in an instant, leaving a heavy block of yellow ice firmly stuck to his chest.
Thankfully, the freezing cold killed any odor.
Jiang Chen closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath.
“Endure it. In a few years, she should at least know not to do this.”
After cleaning up and settling the now-sleeping infant back into her lotus, Jiang Chen swapped his ruined robes for a fresh set and marched back out to the fields.
He resumed casting the Spirit Evolution Finger, moving methodically from Mu to Mu.
On the fifteenth Mu, the surrounding Spirit Qi violently warped.
A stalk of already-mutated Five Elements Circulating Rice underwent a second, overlapping mutation.
The entire stalk turned translucent, smooth as polished jade.
The chaotic, five-colored light normally present in the strain violently collapsed, refining into three distinct, intertwining streams of pure Gold, Blue, and Green light.
The leaves narrowed into razor-sharp blades.
The dew resting on the tips of the leaves crystallized into tri-colored gems.
Most shockingly, the plant began exhaling a thick, cyan-blue mist that blanketed a fifty-foot radius.
Every normal stalk of rice caught within the mist instantly stood taller, absorbing the surrounding Spirit Qi and swelling with vitality.
Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow, his heart hammering against his ribs.
“Is this a triple-attribute fusion?”
