After binding with a genius, I became an immortal by exploiting loopholes.

Lu Qingchen silently did some mental calculations—his original savings plus sect rewards totaled over five hundred spirit stones, four hundred of which were spent from his storage bag, and now another twenty or so had been spent, leaving him with just over one hundred spirit stones.

Spirit stones are something that comes in slowly but goes out quickly; they never last long.

He shook his head, stopped thinking about it, and put everything into his storage bag.

With a thought, the materials vanished into thin air and reappeared in that hazy, gray space.

Having storage bags is so convenient—before we got them, buying these materials would have required at least two or three trips to move them all, but now we can do it all in one trip without attracting attention.

By the time the shopping was finished, it was already late.

Lu Qingchen thought for a moment, then turned and walked towards Panlong Peak.

Old Sun was squatting on the edge of the field when he heard footsteps. He looked up, his gaze lingered on Lu Qingchen for a moment, then he hummed in agreement before looking down again to continue examining his spiritual herbs.

Lu Qingchen breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Old Sun's eyes remained the same as always, without any particular reaction.

The Concealing Spirit Technique can fool Elder Sun—at least the first level is effective.

"You're here?"

After a while, Old Sun put down the seedlings in his hand, stood up, and said, "Perfect timing. I've made some progress on those two potted plants of yours. Come and take a look."

He turned and walked deeper into the herb garden, with Lu Qingchen following behind.

On the stone platform, the two spiritual plants were placed side by side. The purple leaves of the one on the left appeared even deeper, and the gold veins looked as if they were embroidered with gold thread in the sunlight.

The dark green plant with silver-edged serrated edges on the right has grown taller since the last time I visited, and the silver-white serrations on the edges of its leaves are more pronounced, but otherwise it still looks quite ordinary.

Old Sun pointed to the pot on the left: "I have consulted many ancient books and compared them repeatedly. I can basically confirm that this plant is a variant of the Purple Leaf Spirit Sunflower."

Lu Qingchen was slightly taken aback.

He knew about the Purple Leaf Spirit Sunflower, a mid-grade first-level spiritual plant, and there were quite a few planted in the Spirit Plant Hall's herb garden.

This stuff is mainly used to extract dyes and make low-level talisman ink. It has a very low spiritual energy content and is of little use to cultivators.

"The spiritual energy content of ordinary purple-leaf spirit sunflower is very low, so it cannot be used directly to improve cultivation."

Old Sun seemed to have seen through his thoughts, pointing to the golden veins on the leaf.

"But this one is different. I measured the concentration of spiritual energy in its leaf veins, and it's more than four times that of a regular purple-leafed spiritual sunflower."

"Four times—this means that its leaves can be taken directly to enhance cultivation. I tried a small piece; the medicinal effect was mild, there was no erysipelas, and it can be taken for a long time."

"For disciples in the Qi Refining stage, this is already an invaluable aid to cultivation."

Elder Sun continued, his tone becoming more serious: "The value of a spiritual plant that can directly enhance cultivation is worlds apart from that of a spiritual plant that can only be used to extract dye."

"If we can figure out why it mutated, and apply this mutation to the spiritual plants that the sect cultivates in large quantities, even if the concentration of spiritual energy only increases by 10% or 20%, it will be a huge boost to the entire sect."

"Wait until it matures and produces seeds, and see if its offspring can maintain this characteristic. If they can, it will be a great achievement for you."

Lu Qingchen looked at the purple-leaved spiritual plant and slowly nodded.

"As for this pot—"

Old Sun turned to the dark green, silver-edged spiritual plant on his right and frowned.

"I can't tell. Its spiritual energy concentration is only slightly higher than that of ordinary spiritual plants. It looks quite ordinary, but my intuition tells me that this thing is not simple. I'll nurture it for a while longer and see."

Lu Qingchen looked at the dark green spiritual plant, and his heart stirred slightly.

Qingyun Sanren is a rogue cultivator at the Spirit Mansion Realm. The seed that he would specially seal in the iron box with a restriction could not possibly be just an ordinary mutated spiritual plant.

It's just not obvious yet.

He also carried five identical seeds in his arms; perhaps they would reveal the answer once they were planted.

"Elder Sun, I'm a little curious. You mentioned before that you've been studying spiritual plants for so many years. How many times have you encountered spiritual plants like this that you don't recognize?"

After a moment of silence, Elder Sun slowly said, "I have been a spiritual plant grower for over a hundred years and have seen and recognized countless spiritual plants."

"Aside from those early years when I was a novice and had limited experience, there have been no more than three times in recent years when I was completely unable to see through their true nature."

He turned around, looked at Lu Qingchen, and a glint of light flashed in his cloudy eyes: "You kid, you're really lucky, but there are some things in this world that can't be explained by luck alone."

Lu Qingchen's heart tightened slightly, but he didn't show it on his face. He just smiled and said, "This disciple also thinks that it's possible that spiritual beings have a stronger perception of spiritual plants than others."

Old Sun didn't reply, but gave him a meaningful look before turning away to continue fiddling with his spiritual herbs.

Lu Qingchen stayed in the herb garden for a while longer and asked a few questions, which Elder Sun answered one by one.

Before we knew it, night had fallen, and the twilight spread down from the mountaintop, turning the entire medicinal garden a dark gold.

Just as Lu Qingchen was about to take his leave, Old Man Sun said without looking up, "It's getting late, why don't you stay here tonight?"

Lu Qingchen paused, hesitating for a moment.

Although the protective field has been completed, the earth vein spirit embryo is still in the stone chamber in the valley. He will not feel at ease until the transplant is completed.

Moreover, Sun Han is alone guarding the manor's edge; if anything unusual happens, he might not be able to handle it.

Seeing that he didn't immediately agree, Old Sun looked up and glanced at him: "What's wrong? Is there something important?"

"no."

Lu Qingchen paused, "This disciple was just thinking of returning to Qingmu Manor as soon as possible, as there are still a few plots of spirit fields to be cultivated tomorrow—"

Before he could finish speaking, Old Sun snorted coldly, "You can't even spend one night with this old man? I was originally planning to discuss cultivation techniques with you, but since you're in such a hurry to leave, then forget it."

Upon hearing this, Lu Qingchen quickly apologized, "Elder Sun, what are you saying? I can return to Qingmu Manor anytime. The opportunity to discuss spiritual plants with you is not something that happens every day. I was just being rude. Please don't take it to heart."

He thought to himself that Sun Han was reliable and the spirit field was protected by a protective array, so he should be fine.

Besides, since Old Master Sun has already spoken, it would seem ungrateful to refuse again.

This old plant expert's centuries of experience, even a few casual words of advice, are far more valuable than any amount of self-study by him alone.

Seeing that he had changed his attitude, Old Sun's expression softened slightly. He snorted and let it go, then turned and walked into the house: "Come in."

That evening, the old man and the young man sat facing each other in a thatched shed in the medicinal herb garden.

The flame of the oil lamp flickered gently inside, casting two swaying shadows on the wall.

Perhaps Old Sun was in a good mood this time, as he rarely opened up like this.