The Path to Immortality: Starting with the Growth of Bubble Fruits from the Ground

Old Wang nodded smugly, then shook his head: "Yes and no. To be precise, they are another group of people in the sect, from the same master-disciple lineage."

He put down his teacup, pointed to himself, and then pointed in the direction of the Fallen Flower Mountains: "Me, my grandson, Steward Liu, and even Elder Qin. We are all of the same lineage, master and disciple."

Zhou Mu remained silent for a long time. Although he didn't know much about the sect, he had a general understanding of the current situation within the sect by combining the historical knowledge he had learned in his previous life.

It's nothing more than a factional struggle. If you offend one faction, you have no choice but to side with another faction to protect yourself.

However, Zhou Mu comes from a family background, and in the eyes of his master and apprentice, he is most likely a traitor.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered the seeds he had obtained from Elder Qin.

"Old Wang, what exactly are those seeds?"

Old Wang glanced at him and grinned, "You finally remembered to ask."

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After returning from Lao Wang's place, Zhou Mu sat by the bed for a long time, his mind filled with a jumbled mess of thoughts.

However, Zhou Mu also gained a lot, and the pressure from the family alliance was reduced to some extent.

Old Wang clearly told Zhou Mu two things: first, as long as the two acres of first-grade medium-quality Huangjing rice could be harvested safely, Zhou Mu would catch the eye of Steward Liu, and he would not allow the family line to make trouble under his nose.

Secondly, the seed is actually a top-grade first-tier black jade ginseng seed, but the seed Elder Qin gave was half-dead. However, as long as it can be cultivated within a year, one can become a disciple of Elder Qin.

After analyzing the situation, Zhou Mu concluded that Steward Liu could only allow him to remain a spirit farmer, but if he became Elder Qin's disciple, his future path would be much smoother.

However, Zhou Mu had another idea, which was to improve his strength. Relying on anyone else was not as good as relying on himself. However, he needed time to develop, so for now he could only rely on the sect's rules to survive.

"Never mind, I'll think about it tomorrow."

Zhou Mu collapsed onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

He had been running around all day and was exhausted. If the Zhou family hadn't suddenly appeared and made him discuss things with Old Wang until midnight, he would have gone to sleep long ago.

The next morning, Zhou Mu went to the four mu of spiritual fields as usual and removed some of the weeds that had grown there.

Looking at the bubble fruits waiting for him to harvest on the seedlings, Zhou Mu smiled knowingly, and the gloom in his heart dissipated considerably.

"Zhou Mu".

When Zhou Mu returned to his residence, a figure peeked out from next door and called out to him.

"Who are you?"

This person was the new neighbor who appeared that night, and he looked a few years older than Zhou Mu.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Li Kui, and I was just transferred to Steward Liu's team a few days ago."

Li Kui had a rugged appearance and dark skin, but he was thin and looked like a skinny gorilla.

However, his cultivation level is one level higher than Zhou Mu's.

"You're a member of the Li family? What do you want?"

The Li family is also a Qi Refining family and has a long-standing friendship with the Zhou family. Their presence here at this time is obviously the work of the Zhou family.

Li Kui said coldly, "That's right, I'm a member of the Li family. As for what I want to do, you don't need to know. I just want to tell you that because of your disregard for the rules, many people have been implicated."

Zhou Mu was puzzled and asked, "Implicated? My surname is Zhou, what does it have to do with your Li family?"

"Just because you broke the rules, your share was divided among us, and it was given to the Zhou family, not your respective families."

At this point, Li Kui's face turned red with anger, and he stared at Zhou Mu with reddened eyes.

"You'd better figure it out yourself, or don't blame us for fighting you to the death."

Zhou Mu took a half step back, watching Li Kui warily, his magical power surging within him.

But Li Kui didn't make a move. He just coldly uttered a sentence and turned to go back into the house.

"Is this... collective punishment?"

Zhou Mu hadn't expected the family alliance to be so ruthless, pushing all the family members who served as menial laborers within the sect to his opposite side.

What's even more audacious is that these people filled in the gaps left by Zhou Mu for the Zhou family, essentially forcing the Zhou family to solve the problem themselves.

Zhou Mu could hardly imagine what the Zhou family would do in the face of this pressure; they might very well take action against him within the sect.

Just then, a sword light flashed from afar, and a black-robed man stood on the sword, his robes embroidered with the silver patterns of the sect's patrol guards.

As he passed over the two people's courtyard, he slowed down slightly for a moment, glancing down at Zhou Mu, but did not linger.

The sword light flashed by and disappeared at the end of the spirit field.

----------

Zhou Mu sat cross-legged in the room, took out a bottle of Qi Gathering Pills from his storage bag, poured out one, and swallowed it.

Faced with an imminent crisis, all Zhou Mu can do is improve his strength.

As Zhou Mu swallowed the pill, its medicinal power gradually spread, not only increasing the speed of his mana circulation but also slightly widening his meridians.

Zhou Mu activated his Green Wood Technique to refine the immense medicinal power and enhance his own magical strength.

A moment later, Zhou Mu opened his eyes, his face beaming with joy.

"This low-grade Qi Gathering Pill truly lives up to its reputation as the most suitable elixir for enhancing mana in the early stages of Qi Refining."

"The magical power boosted by this single pill is actually equivalent to the triple effect of the 'weak magical power' fruit."

"This bottle of Qi Gathering Pills is equivalent to three fruits. I wish I could eat them every day."

Zhou Mu greedily thought about it, but he also knew that the effects of the pill were incomparable to those of the bubble fruit. The most crucial point was that the refining time was twice as long, the efficacy was only 30%, and the pill poison needed to be refined, which would take even more time.

Moreover, it should not be taken in excess; a maximum of two pills per day is recommended, otherwise, excessive accumulation of erysipelas will cause problems.

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In the following months, Zhou Mu experienced both comfort and worry.

Besides tending to the spiritual field every day, he devoted himself to intensive cultivation. As he consumed all two bottles of pills, the magical power within his dantian increased day by day.

After this season's harvest, as long as Zhou Mu refines those bubble fruits that enhance cultivation, his cultivation level will be able to advance to the next level.

As for Zhou Mu's "Minor Cloud Rain Technique," although he failed to break through since using a fully-fledged fruit last time, he has been able to bring spiritual rain to the spiritual field every three days.

Zhou Mu was confident that he could break through to the Great Perfection level after using the other unharvested Great Perfection fruit.

"Once Manager Liu sees my two acres of Polygonatum rice and the advanced 'Minor Cloud Rain Technique,' I don't believe he won't help me resolve this problem with Li Kui."

Li Kui has been driving Zhou Mu crazy lately.

For the past month, whenever he encountered Zhou Mu, he would put on a pitiful act and earnestly persuade Zhou Mu to hand over his allowance.

Later, seeing that Zhou Mu was unresponsive, Li Kui would follow behind him whenever Zhou Mu went out, without saying a word, just staring intently at Zhou Mu with wide eyes.

Liu Kui's methods were quite despicable, but very effective, giving Zhou Mu a real headache.

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Time flies, and it's harvest time again.

"Xiao Zhou, you've done a really good job cultivating these few acres of land. Looks like you're going to be quite proud of yourself in three days."

Old Wang and Zhou Mu stood by the spirit field, and Old Wang praised with a smile.

Zhou Mu was in a good mood at the time, as many of his plans could only be implemented after this season's harvest.

There was no other way; he was simply too poor to even afford a nest of 'earth beasts' to loosen the soil for him. In addition, he needed pills, spiritual plant books, spiritual liquid for cultivating spiritual seeds, and so on, all of which required spending spirit stones or points.

Furthermore, Zhou Mu also wanted to purchase a body-refining technique and offensive and defensive magical artifacts to enhance his combat power.

Zhou Mu estimated that if he didn't hand over his quota this season, the Zhou family would most likely take action within the sect.

"Ninth Brother, I've come to see you again."

Just then, an annoying voice ruined Zhou Mu's rare good mood.

Zhou Mu turned his head and saw Zhou Ye walking towards him from a distance with his hands behind his back, while Li Kui followed half a step behind him.