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

Soon, half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and the day of the assessment arrived.

On the day of the assessment, nearly twenty spiritual plant practitioners gathered at the Spiritual Plant Hall examination hall.

Lu Qingchen glanced around and saw that most of the faces were unfamiliar; he only recognized Zhou Ping.

Zhou Ping sat down next to him and lowered his voice: "Nervous?"

"fine."

Zhou Ping smiled and said, "I'm nervous. If I don't pass the exam, I'll have to wait another year."

Soon, the test curls came out in a thick stack, more than a dozen pages long.

The topics cover a wide range of aspects, including soil, water sources, pests and diseases, fertilizers, plant characteristics, and regulations.

Lu Qingchen answered the questions calmly, one by one.

In recent days, he has read through almost every farming book he could find in the Lingzhi Hall library, memorizing all the key points.

He answered smoothly, with almost no pauses.

Zhou Ping wrote quickly beside him, glancing at Lu Qingchen's paper every now and then, secretly surprised—this kid was actually answering just as fast.

The written test ended quickly, and the results were released in less than a day.

Lu Qingchen ranked eighth in the written test, which was above average but not outstanding. However, he didn't care—as long as he passed the written test, farming was the main event.

Zhou Ping came in third place in the written test, while the first place went to an old plant farmer who had been farming for seven years.

"As long as you pass the written test, that's fine."

Lu Qingchen secretly calculated in his heart, "Farming is the key. As long as I can get into the top five in farming, I can get a spot for an overseas assignment!"

The farming assessment was conducted at the foot of Mingfa Peak, with twenty plots of spiritual land lined up in a row, half an acre for each person.

Twenty people drew lots to determine the plots of land, and Lu Qingchen drew plot number five.

The Spirit Plant Hall sent a steward to supervise and announced the rules: "Seeds will be distributed uniformly, fertilizers will be supplied uniformly, and water will be allocated uniformly. One month later, the plants will be scored based on yield and appearance, and the one with the highest score will win."

The deacon took out several packets of seeds from the cloth bag and distributed them to twenty people.

Lu Qingchen took it and saw that it was Qingyuan Spirit Grass.

The twenty people each received seeds and fertilizer and began to work.

Lu Qingchen didn't rush to get down to the ground. Instead, he squatted down and carefully examined his plot of land—soil, water source, sunlight—not overlooking any detail.

The soil is standard spiritual plant soil, dark in color, and can be formed into a ball when squeezed by hand, indicating that it contains a lot of organic matter.

The water source is drawn down from the mountain; the water is clear and has no odor.

The sunlight is also good; the plot faces south and gets several hours of sunshine a day.

The other dozen or so people had already started turning over the soil.

Lu Qingchen remained calm and followed the method taught by Master Sun: first loosening the soil, then making ridges, then fertilizing, and finally sowing the seeds.

......

For the past month, all twenty people have lived in temporary shacks next to the fields, living side by side and seeing each other all the time.

The Spirit Plant Hall assigned two deacons to take turns guarding the area, ostensibly for supervision, but mainly to prevent anyone from cheating.

During the day, everyone does their own thing, and at night they go back to their own houses. Occasionally, they will meet on the ridge of the field and chat for a few words.

"How long have you been farming?" A spiritual plant farmer in his thirties took the initiative to strike up a conversation with Lu Qingchen.

His surname is Zhang. He has been farming for seven years. He always speaks with a smile and seems very amiable.

"More than three months," Lu Qingchen said.

"You're lucky; you've just passed the assessment and are already eligible to participate in the selection."

The spirit plant expert surnamed Zhang smiled, his tone somewhat dismissive, clearly knowing that Lu Qingchen had used special connections to participate in this assessment.

"You dare to compete with us after only three months? Young man, you've got guts."

"We old-timers have been eyeing these farm assignments for ages. You're a newcomer, so consider this a chance to broaden your horizons."

Lu Qingchen smiled but didn't reply.

The other plant growers were also busy with their own tasks, occasionally glancing at him with scrutinizing eyes, as if they were looking at a newcomer who was not yet worthy of being their opponent.

Lu Qingchen ignored all of this and continued doing what he was supposed to do every day.

......

He watered, weeded, loosened the soil, and fertilized during the day, and he was busy at night as well.

Although the twenty people lived close by, they all went back to their own rooms and didn't care about each other.

The deacon only keeps an eye on whether anyone is causing trouble in the fields; he won't go inside the house to check.

Every night, once it was quiet outside, Lu Qingchen would sit up in bed and immerse his mind in his sea of ​​consciousness.

The light bead inside the stele had accumulated over the days and was now the size of an egg, radiating a warm golden glow.

He drew out a tiny wisp of his cultivation, extended his divine sense out the window, and carefully covered his spiritual field.

That wisp of cultivation, as fine as a hair, spread silently in the night, evenly seeping into the roots of every Qingyuan Spirit Grass.

Not much; each plant only received a tiny bit, so the change was barely noticeable.

But little by little, day after day, the root systems of these medicinal herbs will become more developed than those of others, their leaves will be shinier, and their resistance to diseases and pests will be stronger.

He didn't dare to use too many spiritual techniques; he just needed to be better than most people.

Being too eye-catching is actually not good.

On the first night, he spent about half an hour nourishing all the spiritual herbs on the entire plot of land.

The light bead shrank slightly, and the change was almost imperceptible.

He regained his composure and began cultivating.

He did it again the following night.

The third day, the fourth day... and so on, every night.

......

When they met in the fields during the day, the Zhang family would still chat with him for a few words, but his tone gradually became less casual than at the beginning.

"The medicinal herbs on your land are growing quite well."

One day, the plant grower surnamed Zhang stood on the edge of the field, looking at the lush green Qingyuan spiritual grass in Lu Qingchen's field, and frowned slightly.

"good."

Lu Qingchen smiled and said, "It's probably because the soil here is good."

The herbalist surnamed Zhang glanced at him, said nothing more, and turned back to his field.

But Lu Qingchen noticed that after he went back, he squatted by his field, dug up the soil to look at the roots, and then stood up to look at the color of the leaves, his brows furrowing even more.

The other spiritual plant husband, surnamed Liu, was also in his early thirties. He didn't talk much, but he was very efficient at his work.

His medicinal herbs have always grown well.

One day, he passed by Lu Qingchen's field, stopped and looked at him for a few seconds, then looked at Lu Qingchen with a scrutinizing gaze.

"You really only recently became a plant grower?" he asked.

"Yes," Lu Qingchen said. "I passed the 100-day assessment more than three months ago and just received the Spirit Plant Master Token a few days ago."

The man surnamed Liu remained silent for a while, then nodded and left.

He didn't say anything, but his expression clearly said: This kid is something else to have grown something like this in just over three months.

When Zhou Ping noticed the growth of the crops in Lu Qingchen's field, he remained silent for a long while.

"How...did you grow this?"

"It was taught by Master Sun," Lu Qingchen said.

Zhou Ping looked at Lu Qingchen, utterly disbelieving his explanation.

A newcomer who passed the assessment less than a month ago is growing spiritual herbs that are better than those grown by veterans who have been growing them for seven or eight years. This is not something that can be fooled by saying "Old Master Sun taught me".

But he sighed and didn't ask any further questions.

This was Lu Qingchen's secret, and he shouldn't pry too much into it.