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

The next morning, not long after Lu Qingchen got up, Wang Fu jogged over from the manor and said that the manor lord wanted him to go to the main hall.

Upon entering the main room, several spiritual plant growers were already there.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Zhao Demao put down the booklet in his hand and cleared his throat.

"I called everyone here today because the Spirit Plant Hall sent a message."

His expression was more serious than usual. "You all personally experienced the Soul-Eating Disease and have seen all the consequences."

"If it weren't for those few mutated spirit rice plants in Steward Lu's field, our Qingmu Manor's losses would have at least doubled. The sect's intention is that each manor should strengthen its prevention measures in the future, and not wait until the disease becomes serious before thinking about remedies."

He glanced at the people present and said, “All of you here are spiritual plant growers in the manor. In the future, if anything is wrong in the spiritual fields—if the leaves of the spiritual plants change color, develop spots, or turn yellow, or if the earth energy is abnormal or the spiritual energy is unstable—report it to us immediately, no matter how small or big it is.”

"If you're unsure, you can check with each other first, or you can come directly to me. With diseases, the sooner you detect them, the less harvest you'll lose."

Everyone readily agreed.

Lu Qingchen nodded in agreement: "Don't worry, Master, this disciple has remembered."

Zhao Demao gave a few more instructions on prevention details, and then dismissed everyone.

As Lu Qingchen walked out of the main room, he thought about Zhao Demao's words—strengthening prevention and early detection and reporting—which showed that the sect had indeed taken the lessons of this Spirit Corrosion Disease to heart.

However, even without these instructions, he would not miss any movement in the spirit field.

That night, after practicing the "Azure Wood Sword Technique" for a period of time, Lu Qingchen took advantage of the late hour to officially begin his training.

He had already chosen the location of the burial site—slightly east of the center of the Spirit Protection Field, closest to the Spirit-Guiding Jade, with the densest earth energy, and without conflicting with the array plate of the Guardian Array.

He was present the whole time when his senior brother buried the array plate. He remembered that the array plate was buried three feet underground in the center of the field, and it was safe to bury it one foot to the east.

He picked up the spirit hoe, took a deep breath, and brought it down with the first stroke.

The topsoil is relatively loose; a single shovel stroke can turn up a large chunk.

After digging to a depth of two feet, the soil became increasingly hard, with compacted clay and gravel at the bottom. The hoe made my hands go numb from the impact.

He gritted his teeth and dug again and again until dawn, when he had dug a three-foot-deep pit.

They continued digging for the next two nights.

The deeper you go, the harder it gets to dig. There are more and more loose stones, and some of the larger ones have to be carried out one by one by hand.

When he dug to a depth of five feet, he stopped and used a shovel to smooth the four walls as much as possible so that the bluestone slabs could be laid firmly.

After doing all this, he spread the remaining soil he had dug out evenly across the protective field, leveled it with a rake, and then watered it again.

The storage bag came in very handy at this time—dozens of stone slabs could be packed into the storage bag and moved into the Spirit Protection Field all at once.

He took out the bluestone slabs one by one and laid them on the bottom first.

After several late nights, the outline of the cave gradually took shape, and most of the bluestone slabs had been laid, with only a few remaining to seal the top.

That evening, Lu Qingchen had just returned from working in the spirit field when Zhou Ming came to his door carrying a bamboo basket.

"Manager Lu."

Zhou Ming stood at the door, his round face bearing his usual smile, but with a more solemn expression than usual.

He placed the bamboo basket on the table, lifted the cover, and inside were seven or eight grayish-brown spheres, each about the size of a goose egg, with a rough surface and a faint herbal smell.

"These are my own concoctions of nourishing fertilizer, specially made to fertilize newly reclaimed, poor-yielding fields."

"I apologized to you at the banquet last time, but just saying it isn't enough. This Lingfei Pill is a formula I came up with myself, specifically for nourishing newly cultivated, poor fields. I revised it several times before finalizing it."

"It's not anything particularly valuable, but it's better than the general-purpose fertilizer sold outside. It's more potent and durable. Your land has just recovered its soil moisture, so this is perfect for you."

Lu Qingchen looked at the spirit fat pills in the bamboo basket and remained silent for a moment.

Zhou Ming did mention compensation at the banquet last time, but he declined at the time, thinking that the matter was over.

Unexpectedly, the other party, who had been thinking about it for several days, still delivered the items.

"Senior Brother Zhou, you're too kind."

He declined twice, but Zhou Ming insisted on not taking it back.

Seeing this, Lu Qingchen had no choice but to accept it and thanked him.

The two chatted for a few more minutes at the door.

Zhou Ming looked at his clothes and shoes covered in mud, a hint of casual inquiry flashing in his eyes. He said as if it were a casual remark, "Manager Lu, you seem to have been quite busy lately. I rarely see you in the fields during the day, and the lights in your house stay on until late at night."

"Could it be that you've grown some new variety again? If there's something rare, you'd better let your senior brother see it."

Lu Qingchen smiled and shook his head: "Senior Brother Zhou is joking. Rare spiritual plants aren't like cabbages; they can't be cultivated easily."

"The spirit rice harvest was just finished a while ago, and I haven't been quite satisfied with the layout of the spirit protection field. These past few days, I've been taking advantage of the off-season to rearrange it, adjust the spirit-guiding array, and turn over the furrows again, which is why I've been a bit busy."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ming nodded, asked no further questions, exchanged a few more casual words, and then took his leave.

Lu Qingchen watched him walk away before putting the spirit fat pills from the bamboo basket into her storage bag.

The following night, Lu Qingchen continued working.

The last few bluestone slabs that sealed the top were embedded into the four walls, and the cracks were sealed with mud, turning the cave into a complete "stone box".

He buried the concealing jade in the soil above the entrance to the cave, infused it with spiritual power to activate it, and the surrounding air distorted slightly before returning to normal.

Finally, cover it with a movable bluestone slab and then cover it with soil level with the surrounding area.

The underground cave was now complete, and the protective spirit field looked no different from before.

The entrance to the burial pit was covered with a movable bluestone slab, which was then covered with soil, level with the surrounding soil.

Normally, they would plant spiritual plants on top as usual, and no one would know that something was hidden underneath.

......

On the third night after the cave was completed, Lu Qingchen went into the mountain alone.

He passed through the illusion array, entered the stone chamber, and stood before the spirit pool.

The earth vein spirit embryo still lay there quietly, its emerald light flickering.

The newly grown roots grew even thicker, and translucent filaments covered the edge of the spirit pool, like countless tiny tentacles.

Lu Qingchen squatted down by the spirit pool, not in a hurry to make a move.

He first scooped handfuls of spiritual liquid from the spiritual pool into a pre-prepared porcelain bottle, moving very gently, as if afraid of spilling a single drop.

The spiritual liquid is the essence accumulated by the earth vein spirit embryo over the years. Whether it can successfully adapt to the new environment after transplantation depends entirely on the buffering effect of this spiritual liquid.

When only a thin layer remained, the roots of the Ganoderma lucidum were fully exposed—dense, translucent filaments, some of which had already penetrated deep into the crevices of the rocks at the edge of the spirit pool.

He didn't force the issue.

Each of those roots is related to the vital energy of the embryo. Although they can grow back after being broken, the more roots are preserved, the faster the recovery after transplantation.