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

"good."

Lu Qingchen picked up a piece of meat and chewed it slowly. "The spirit rice we planted is growing well. Elder Sun has also given us some pointers. We should be able to pass the test."

"Old Master Sun?" Qian Wanliang put down his chopsticks. "Which Old Master Sun?"

Zhao Ming replied sourly, "Which Old Sun could it be? The one from Panlong Peak, of course."

"It's that one..." Qian Wanliang's eyes lit up. "I heard he has a really strange temper and doesn't really talk to people. You actually got him to give you pointers?"

"well enough."

Lu Qingchen smiled and said, "Maybe it's because my land is right below his herb garden. We see each other all the time, so I just casually gave him a few pointers."

"You're really lucky."

Qian Wanliang looked on with envy, "Having a senior to guide us is much better than figuring things out on our own."

Lu Qingchen didn't reply, but just lowered his head and ate his rice.

Luck? Maybe.

Zhao Ming lowered his head and ate his rice, his envy impossible to hide.

He also chose to cultivate spiritual plants, but his plot of land had many stones and poor soil quality, so his spiritual rice grew sparsely, which made him sigh every day.

Lu Qingchen is much better off; not only is he on Panlong Peak, but he also receives personal guidance from Elder Sun—it's infuriating to compare people like that.

The group then shared their recent situations.

Zhao Ming's situation with spiritual plants wasn't going well either. His land was full of rocks and had poor soil quality, so the spiritual rice was growing sparsely, which made him sigh every day.

Qian Wanliang did find his footing in the Talisman Hall. Although the talismans he drew were crooked and uneven, at least they were usable.

After finishing their meal, the group dispersed and returned to their rooms to continue their practice.

Lu Qingchen sat cross-legged on the bed, focusing his inner vision on his dantian.

During this period, he did not neglect his spiritual practice.

Every day, after working in the fields, he would sit cross-legged on the ridge and circulate the "Azure Wood Spirit-Nourishing Technique" to condense pure energy using the vitality of the spiritual rice.

The spirit rice grew stronger and stronger, and the vitality it exuded was much richer than before. Cultivating in the field was much more effective than cultivating indoors.

As evening approached, the vitality of the spiritual rice weakened. Back in his room, he did not slack off and continued to circulate his cultivation technique to consolidate the day's harvest little by little.

After a while, his cultivation speed became slightly faster than when he first started.

The pure energy in my dantian has now accumulated to twenty-eight strands, eight more than last month.

Five of them were condensed bit by bit by myself, while the remaining three were directly infused with the cultivation power transformed from the Dao Stele.

It wasn't much, but it saved a lot of effort.

As for his spiritual root and spiritual body, he has used the cultivation power of the Dao Stele to nourish them during this period.

Every now and then, a wisp of light is drawn from the pearl and seeps into the depths of the spiritual root, removing impurities and nourishing the spiritual body.

Although there were some slight changes compared to last time—the meridians seemed to be a little wider and the spiritual energy flowed more smoothly—the changes were still not obvious. The spiritual root was still a low-grade five-elemental root, and the spiritual body was still incomplete.

But Lu Qingchen wasn't in a hurry. Improving one's spiritual root is not something that can be done overnight. Being able to feel the changes meant that the path was correct.

Once the spirit rice is harvested and I pass the assessment, I will officially become a spirit plant grower. My life will settle down, and I can slowly accumulate cultivation points, grinding them down little by little.

He regained his composure, closed his eyes, and began his cultivation for the evening.

……

In the blink of an eye, another half month has passed, and the rice has entered the heading stage.

Every day, Lu Qingchen would go to the fields to inspect the fields, watering, weeding, and catching insects, his days as regular as a pendulum.

Old Sun still hadn't returned, and the gate to the herb garden remained locked. He had gone up the mountain several times to check, but the thatched hut was always empty.

Under Lu Qingchen's meticulous care, those few spirit rice plants that had been imbued with spiritual energy grew stronger and stronger, already showing a clear difference from the ordinary spirit rice around them.

That morning, as usual, he squatted by the field to check, and when his gaze swept over those few special spirit rice plants, he suddenly froze.

The rice ears were larger than usual, with fuller grains, hanging heavily and bending the stalks.

Even more strangely, there was a faint glimmer of light flowing on the leaves. Although it was extremely faint, it could be discerned upon close inspection, as if the surface of the leaves was coated with a thin film of light.

Lu Qingchen reached out and touched it; it felt warm to the touch, completely different from the coolness of ordinary leaves.

"Hiss! How could this happen..."

He squatted by the field, feeling both joy and trepidation.

The better the spiritual rice grew, the more it proved that the Dao Stele's spiritual power was indeed strong.

What's alarming is that this is just too eye-catching.

Ordinary jade rice wouldn't be like this.

The leaves were already glossy, but now they're even emitting a kind of spiritual light. Anyone who sees this knows something's wrong.

If Old Sun comes and sees this again, he'll definitely ask again.

He stood up, then squatted down again, looking at it repeatedly, his heart pounding.

Let's pull them out, it's too painful—we've nurtured them for so long, and they're almost ready for harvest.

Besides, Old Sun had already come to see them several times, and he knew exactly what those spirit rice plants looked like.

If he comes back and finds they're gone, and asks, "Where are those few rice plants that were growing well?", what will he say?

To say, "The disciple thought it was too conspicuous and so he pulled it out"? That would be like protesting too much.

Keeping it might cause trouble.

The inspiration grew clearer day by day, and in a few more days, even passersby might be able to tell that something was amiss.

Lu Qingchen scratched his head, pondering the matter over and over in his mind.

Finally, he realized that the reason these spirit rice plants grew like this wasn't entirely due to the infusion of spirit energy.

After Old Sun poured in that bag of spiritual fertilizer, the plant's growth clearly improved significantly, and the spiritual light on its leaves only appeared after that.

If you really ask, just blame it on Lingfei—Old Sun made it himself, so surely he wouldn't doubt his own skills, right?

Let's take it one step at a time.

He muttered something to himself, stood up, and patted the mud off his hands.

The rice has grown so big; we can't just pull it up.

If Old Sun asks, just say you don't know; it's not the first time you've pretended to be stupid.

He sat cross-legged on the edge of the field for a long time, using the vitality of the rice to condense a wisp of pure energy before stopping his practice and getting up.

Looking up at the mountain, the direction of the herb garden was quiet; Old Sun hadn't appeared for some time.

"Let's go up and take a look."

He dusted himself off and walked up the stone steps towards the mountain.

The gate to the No. 3 medicinal herb garden in Dingmao was still locked, and the thatched shed was empty; Old Sun still hadn't returned.

Lu Qingchen stood at the door for a while, then turned and went down the mountain.

......

After descending to the foot of the mountain and passing through a bamboo grove, the view opened up.

His sacred field was right in front of him, a lush green expanse where rice stalks swayed gently in the evening breeze.

Then he stopped.

A person was standing by the field.

A woman, wearing a grayish-blue short jacket commonly seen on spiritual plant farmers, with a dark apron tied around her waist, and mud splattered on her white feet.

Her long hair was tied up with a wooden hairpin, with a few stray strands hanging down beside her ears.

She was facing him sideways, slightly bent over, her gaze fixed on the rice paddies in the field, her expression focused, as if she were captivated by something.

Lu Qingchen was stunned for a moment.

This place is remote, and usually no one comes here except for Old Man Sun. How come a strange woman suddenly appears?