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

Watching Zhou Ping's departing figure, Lu Qingchen shook his head helplessly.

He didn't want to be so conspicuous, but in order to pass the assessment and get a spot at the farm, he had no choice.

Although he deliberately controlled the amount of spirit essence used to prevent the effect from being too exaggerated, the effect of spirit essence was simply too good.

He observed the progress of others and originally planned to keep his ranking around third or fourth place—first place was too conspicuous and could easily cause trouble; top four would be enough, no need for first place.

If this trend continues, it may be impossible to control.

"We need to control this."

Lu Qingchen squatted by the field, looking at the lush green spiritual grass, and muttered to himself.

From that day on, Lu Qingchen reduced the amount of spiritual herbs he used each night, and the growth of the herbs slowed down noticeably.

A few days later, he lowered the yield a bit more until the growth of the spiritual herb remained in the top five.

This situation is just right now.

Not outstanding, not lagging behind, but steadily hovering in the top few places.

......

Half a month later, the growth of the medicinal herbs had shown a clear difference.

In Lu Qingchen's field, the leaves of the Qingyuan Spirit Grass were glossy and the stems were thick. They were neatly arranged in a row and were among the top five in terms of growth.

The Liu family's spiritual herb growers ranked first. Their herbs grew steadily without any weaknesses, proving they were the work of an experienced grower with eight years of experience.

Another plant grower surnamed Wang ranked second, and his plants were also growing well, with thick leaves and a well-developed root system.

Zhou Ping's ranking hovered around fifth place, which was right on the edge of the admission line—neither high nor low, making people very anxious.

He squatted by the field every day, watching and fertilizing with utmost care, but the crops just couldn't grow as well as the ones in front of him.

Every time he saw the lush green spiritual herbs in Lu Qingchen's field, he felt as if he had seen a ghost.

He, a formal spiritual plant grower who has been farming for three years, is actually no match for a newcomer who has just passed the assessment less than a month ago?

This left him feeling utterly helpless.

As for that Mr. Zhang, he's not bad either, ranking around sixth or seventh. The main problem is that his leaves lack luster and his plant height is not uniform.

The other experienced plant growers' herbs were growing in a mediocre way, with nothing particularly outstanding.

When the steward came to inspect, he stood by Lu Qingchen's field for a while, looked down at the roots of the spiritual herb, and then looked up at the color of the leaves. He didn't say anything, but he made a few notes in his notebook.

When the man surnamed Zhang passed by and saw the deacon's actions, his expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

He walked up to Lu Qingchen and lowered his voice, saying, "You brat, did you use some kind of secret technique?"

Lu Qingchen looked completely innocent: "No, it was just planted normally."

The Zhang family's spiritual plant expert stared at him for a few seconds, then turned and left without asking any further questions.

......

But the matter did not end there.

A few days later, Lu Qingchen was watering the fields when he suddenly heard footsteps behind him.

He turned around and saw a middle-aged cultivator he didn't recognize standing on the edge of the field. He was wearing the gray robe of an elder of the Spirit Plant Hall, with a serious expression, and two stewards behind him.

Lu Qingchen recognized him—Elder Meng, one of the six elders of the Spirit Plant Hall.

"You're Lu Qingchen?"

Elder Meng spoke, his voice not loud, but carrying an undeniable air of authority.

"This disciple is indeed Lu Qingchen." Lu Qingchen put down the water ladle and bowed.

"Someone reported that you used illegal growth-inducing drugs in the spirit field, violating the competition rules."

Elder Meng said expressionlessly, "I have been ordered by the Palace Master to investigate this matter."

Lu Qingchen's heart sank, but he showed no sign of it on his face: "This disciple did not cheat. Please investigate, Elder."

"Whether there was cheating or not, we'll only know after we investigate."

Elder Meng waved his hand.

The two disciples went into the field, squatted down, took soil and water samples from different locations, and cut a few leaves of the spiritual herb, putting them into different bags and labeling them.

The entire process was meticulous, as if they were handling some major case.

Lu Qingchen stood on the edge of the field, watching them work in their fields without saying a word.

His expression was calm, and he wasn't particularly flustered.

The Dao Stele is hidden in the deepest part of the sea of ​​consciousness, and can only be seen by those who have transcended the Heavenly Dao of this world. These tools for testing spiritual power cannot detect it at all.

As for the cultivation that seeps into the soil and spiritual herbs—it has long since merged with the spiritual energy of the herbs themselves. Not to mention the elders of the Spiritual Plant Hall, even if a Golden Core True Monarch came, he would not be able to distinguish which trace of spiritual energy came from the spiritual energy and which trace grew from the herbs themselves.

His only concern was that if this matter escalated, it would affect his performance in the competition.

But then I thought, the innocent are innocent, so let them investigate. It would save us trouble if they found out the truth.

Zhou Ping stood by the field, his face not looking too good. He wanted to say something but held back.

The man surnamed Zhang, who was cultivating plants, had no expression on his face, and it was impossible to tell what was going on.

The other plant growers stood at a distance, some whispering amongst themselves, others gloating.

Lu Qingchen glanced at those people, his expression unchanged.

Just a few days ago he was calling him "Junior Brother Lu," but today he's avoiding him like the plague, though he doesn't care.

The elder asked Lu Qingchen a few more questions—what fertilizer did he use, what water did he use, and whether he had used any illegal spiritual herbs.

Lu Qingchen answered each question clearly and calmly.

The elder nodded after listening.

......

The investigation results will take three days to come.

For the past three days, Lu Qingchen went to the fields to work as usual, watering, weeding, and loosening the soil, doing whatever he was supposed to do without any delay.

As for who reported him, Lu Qingchen didn't want to pay too much attention to it.

Zhou Ping asked him privately, "Did you actually...?"

"No," Lu Qingchen interrupted him. "I'm completely innocent."

Zhou Ping nodded: "I believe you."

On the second day of the investigation, the man surnamed Zhang actually came to find him.

That evening, the plant grower surnamed Zhang brought a bowl of spiritual tea to Lu Qingchen's field and comforted him, saying, "Don't worry too much. The innocent will be proven innocent. The test results will be back soon."

"I went through something similar when I first became a spiritual plant grower. After I found out the truth, everything was fine. You're young, you can take it."

Lu Qingchen accepted the spirit tea and thanked him.

After drinking the spiritual tea and chatting with him for a few minutes, Lu Qingchen continued working.

The plant grower surnamed Liu did tell him, "Don't worry too much," but his tone was somewhat reserved. After saying that, he hurriedly returned to his field, as if he was afraid of being seen talking to him.

The other experienced plant growers simply walked around him without even saying hello, as if he had something dirty on him.

The news spread quickly, and Shen Yao arrived soon after.

She was still covered in mud, clearly having rushed over from her field immediately after receiving the news.

She stood on the edge of the field, looked Lu Qingchen up and down, and frowned slightly: "I heard you were reported? What happened?"