Born with immortal seed

Chapter 362 The Mantle of the Sword
"The former patriarch of the Fang clan of Hongye seems to have met me once, but he must have passed away long ago... Every sip and every bite has a reason. If the Fang clan chooses to report this to the sect, this matter may become an opportunity for their family to rise."

Bai Zichen lifted Ma Ruoxi, and a sword flashed across the sky, flying towards Red Leaf Valley.

The Hongye Fang clan now has only a few dozen cultivators left. Most importantly, all the clan members who are at the late stage of Qi Refining are over sixty years old, and there is not a single young one left.

Without the income from Silver Needle Spirit Tea, such a family will only decline further.

“Master, that’s where the Silver Needle Tea Tree is…”

It was the first time Ma Ruoxi had experienced the speed of a fourth-tier flying sword, and she felt a little dizzy after landing.

The defensive formation above Red Leaf Valley was no different from a blank sheet of paper to Bai Zichen; the sword light pierced through it without even triggering any alarm.

Whether it was because the speed was too fast to react to, or to save spirit stones, the array's warning function was turned off.

Two vigorous tea trees grow side by side, their gnarled branches intertwined with leaves, their roots resembling dragons.

"Such vigorous vitality! The two tea trees do not compete for each other's spiritual energy, but instead complement each other, forming a very unique ecosystem."

Bai Zichen reached out and placed his hand on the silver needle tea tree, immediately sensing the condition of the two tea trees.

Although he is not a formal plant master, he is superior to even high-level plant masters in some aspects thanks to his two major plant-assisted techniques, the Yi Mu Qing Shen Technique and the Tai Yi Qing Cang Ling Jue.

Just like listening to the internal state of a spiritual plant, this is a skill that only a fourth-level spiritual plant master possesses, but he can do the same thing with the help of the Taiyi Azure Spiritual Technique.

These two silver needle tea trees, which had just been upgraded not long ago, were in a state that could fully withstand the Taiyi Azure Spirit Technique, and were attempting to upgrade again.

"The growing environment has limited the tea tree. If it had grown in a third-tier spiritual land, it would have become a second-tier top-grade spiritual plant a hundred years earlier."

Red Leaf Valley is just a common second-tier low-grade spiritual vein, and can only supply a limited amount of spiritual energy.

These two silver needle tea trees have grown for hundreds of years and have finally adapted to this environment, accumulating a profound cultural heritage.

“Removing the third-tier spiritual vein now would damage the unique ecological environment, and it would take an unknown amount of time for it to reform… It would be better to take a gamble in Red Leaf Valley. Once it becomes a third-tier spiritual plant, its vitality will greatly increase, and the difficulty of transplanting will actually be reduced.”

Without much thought, Bai Zichen decided the fate of the two silver needle tea trees.

Only now did the cultivators from the Fang family finally arrive.

"Senior, that's our Fang family's ancestral tea tree, you can't touch it!"

A frail old man, leaning on a cane, collapsed to the ground and shouted hoarsely.

Other members of the Fang family were no exception; they cried out to heaven and earth, banging their heads on the ground.

They couldn't recognize the young man in front of the tea tree, but they had learned Ma Ruoxi's identity a few days ago. Not daring to offend him, they could only feign weakness and beg for his help.

"Stop making noise, you're disturbing Master!"

A cold glint flashed across Ma Ruoxi's face. With a wave of her hand, several waves of water rolled up and bound all the members of the Fang family, throwing them far away to the side.

The strongest cultivator was an elderly and frail Qi Refining Grand Perfection cultivator. The Fang family's strength was truly insufficient in front of Ma Ruoxi, who was in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

"Qinghua Changle, Dongji Miaoyan..."

Bai Zichen concentrated for a moment, then his ten fingers flew out swiftly, striking the two tea trees almost simultaneously.

Two points of rich emerald light merged into the tea tree, directly awakening all the energy accumulated within the spiritual plant, and an ancient aura rose up.

The entire tea tree was enveloped in a bluish light, its gnarled branches and leaves rustling. This lasted for about fifteen minutes before the tea tree suddenly shuddered and began to grow upwards.

The original leaves turned yellow and fell off, but new buds and branches grew out, and the main branches were twice as thick as before.

The unusual growth phenomenon lasted for a full half hour.

"Both plants actually succeeded in advancing to the next level. The power of the Taiyi Azure Spirit Technique to help plants grow faster is truly domineering... There were many failures before, which seems to be due to insufficient accumulation of Sacred Sound Bamboo on Thunder Cliff and the short planting time."

Bai Zichen never expected that both tea trees would be successful.

This perfectly confirms what he said earlier: the Fang family of Hongye missed an opportunity to rise to power.

The difference between yin and yang means that the value of two third-grade low-quality silver needle tea trees will be a qualitative leap compared to the value of a second-grade tree.

Tier 3 spiritual tea is a luxury for Foundation Establishment cultivators; only Core Formation cultivators can drink it daily.

Anything associated with a high-level cultivator will never be cheap.

As long as the Silver Needle Spirit Tea can restore the consciousness of a Core Formation cultivator, regardless of the degree of effectiveness, a 50% profit would be enough for the Red Leaf Fang Clan to rise again.

With spiritual stones flowing in like water, it wouldn't be difficult for the family to cultivate one or two Foundation Establishment cultivators, and they might even have the chance to become one of the top-ranked cultivation families in Black Mountain.

Currently, all of this has nothing to do with the Fang family.

Bai Zichen broke off a tender sprout and placed it under his tongue. The astonishingly bitter taste spread throughout his body, giving him a jolt.

With a sudden burst of energy, my mind seemed to become much clearer and more alert.

"After the upgrade, the effects of Silver Needle Spirit Tea have also increased?"

This was an unexpected delight. It couldn't compare to the Enlightenment Tea, but drinking it over the years could subtly enhance one's understanding to some extent.

When given to Foundation Establishment cultivators, it becomes a powerful aid in their breakthrough of bottlenecks.

"Instruct the Spirit Plant Hall to take good care of it and not make any mistakes... After ten years, when the tea tree is stable, transplant it to a third-tier spiritual vein. If the Spirit Plant Hall cannot do a good job, go to the Shennong Sect to invite a high-level spirit plant master."

If Tier 3 Silver Needle Spirit Tea is transferred to a suitable spiritual vein, the annual output of spirit tea can at least double, and the quality will also be better.

However, when choosing a sacred site, one must do a lot of work. There are many intricacies involved, including the soil, water quality, temperature, and even the properties of spiritual energy. It is not necessarily true that the higher the grade of the sacred site, the better.

Transplanting plants from land that has been growing for hundreds of years to other places is also a massive undertaking.

If one is not careful, the spiritual plant will not only suffer a great loss of vitality, but may also wither and die directly.

Bai Zichen was afraid that Lingzhitang would try to show off, so he specifically instructed that it was better to leave such matters to professionals.

In the Spirit Plant Hall of the Qingfeng Sect, there isn't even a third-tier Spirit Plant Master. If these two rare Yin-Yang Silver Needle Tea Trees are really killed, it will affect Master Bai's enjoyment of the Spirit Tea.

"Yes, I'll have Lingzhi Hall double its manpower to ensure there are no mishaps."

Ma Ruoxi is now the resident elder of the Spirit Beast Hall. Even without other identities, the Spirit Plant Hall would not refuse her face.

With the added prestige of being a direct disciple of the White Ancestor, he will undoubtedly become a pivotal figure in the sect.

The current sect leader is her senior brother, so they will all do her a favor.

Bai Zichen thought for a moment, then took out another set of array flags and waved them around the Silver Needle Tea Tree.

"This is the core of the array plate for this set of second-tier array flags. Keep it in your hand to prevent any villains from deliberately sabotaging it after we leave."

Bai Zichen isn't very good at formations, but Zhou Suqing is enough.

When he asked for the Soul-Capturing Banner last time, he saw this simple array flag that was easy to set up and took a set with Zhou Suqing.

Such array flags have questionable defensive capabilities and can be breached by just a few Foundation Establishment cultivators.

It also has many advantages, such as the fact that the formation no longer requires a formation master to set up, making it convenient and quick, and the formation can be set up instantly.

The refining cost is low, at most only one-third of that of a normal formation.

This is very appropriate to use in this situation.

After tossing the array core to Ma Ruoxi, Bai Zichen continued, "I will stay on Thunder Cliff for another ten days. If you have any questions or need guidance on your cultivation, please feel free to ask. I will answer them all."

"Thank you Master!"

Ma Ruoxi was overjoyed. It was already very rare for a Core Formation cultivator who was in the process of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage to take ten days or half a month to answer questions and provide guidance.

How much you can gain depends on your individual talent and comprehension.

From beginning to end, Bai Zichen never once looked at the Fang clan members.

If you do something wrong, you have to bear the consequences.

According to the laws of the Qingfeng Sect, the ownership of these two silver needle tea trees will remain with the sect for the next hundred years, and the sect has the right to transplant them.

If the Fang family of Hongye has any objections a hundred years from now, they can propose to transplant the tea trees back again.

Alternatively, they can simply accept 50% of the spirit tea production each year, as is the case; they won't be blamed for that.

When Bai Zichen was teaching Ma Ruoxi, he discovered that this girl had amazing comprehension in addition to her water and stone spirit body.

According to the results of the Nine Yang Divine Fire Mirror, the sword technique taught to her was mastered in just three days, with each move showing considerable skill and structure.

This piqued Bai Zichen's interest, and he not only taught her swordsmanship but also broke down and explained the essence of swordsmanship to her.

Among his disciples, Tong Huan was most passionate about swordsmanship, but he spent decades proving that diligence cannot always compensate for lack of talent.

I've put a lot of effort into kendo, but I just can't seem to get the hang of it.

It wasn't until later, when he switched to the Heavenly Question Sword Technique, using his beliefs as his sword and not focusing on variations in moves, that he finally got on the right path and achieved some success.

The second disciple, Li Guizhen, was also drawn to the stories of sword cultivators traversing the heavens and earth, cutting down enemies across thousands of miles with their swords, which led him to travel thousands of miles to Black Mountain to become a disciple.

He realized it much faster than Tong Huan, after all, his talent for lightning magic could not be hidden and was almost overflowing.

As for Huo Feiyan, needless to say, her understanding of flying swords was limited to simply wielding a flying sword and slashing straight at you.

So, it turns out that none of the top swordsmen in the Liang Kingdom had a disciple who could inherit his swordsmanship.

Ma Ruoxi's unexpectedly remarkable talent in swordsmanship surprised him, and he was gratified that his swordsmanship finally had a chance to be passed on.

"The path from technique to enlightenment is too long. I will demonstrate the subtleties of sword energy and thunderous sound, and you will experience the true meaning within yourself."

For Bai Zichen, with his level of swordsmanship, to go back and teach a beginner swordsmanship again would be like cooking a chicken in an ox-cauldron.

Sword light surged, accompanied by thunderous sounds, tearing through the air.

Seeing that Ma Ruoxi had grasped the concept, he then taught her the Star Luo Sword Technique.

This sword technique is extremely profound. Once unleashed, the sword light is vast and endless, obscure and complex, capable of generating countless variations.

Only those who are naturally quick-witted and have exceptional comprehension of swordsmanship can learn it.

Just like Tong Huan, who initially practiced the Star Luo Sword Technique and memorized tens of thousands of variations, it was still just a drop in the ocean.

Bai Zichen didn't care whether Ma Ruoxi could accept it in a short time, and just taught her everything at once.

(End of this chapter)