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

After waiting a moment, the concentration of spiritual energy in the spirit field seemed to increase slightly.

Seeing this, Lu Qingchen let out a long breath.

After several days of struggling, I finally managed to get it done, albeit with some difficulty.

Although the effect is not as good as that set up by a proper array master, it is good enough.

He stood in the center of his private spiritual field, looking around.

The pale blue light shone faintly in the sunlight, and a faint sense of earth energy could be felt slowly rising beneath one's feet.

Two acres isn't a large plot of land, but it's his territory.

In the future, cultivating special spiritual plants will no longer require the same anxiety and secrecy as before.

However, he kept Senior Brother He's words in mind—this formation is only a low-grade first-level formation, good for protecting honest people but not for protecting petty people.

He carefully put the jade pendant away from his body, walked out of the spiritual field, and a protective light enveloped him from behind.

......

Sun Zhiyuan has been in a bad mood lately.

After his private spiritual field was built, Lu Qingchen's life at the manor became more and more secure.

Every morning before dawn, I go to the fields to water, weed, and loosen the soil, and I stay there all day.

That two acres of land, shrouded in a pale blue light, was like his precious treasure, and he never left it.

The tenant farmers gossiped among themselves, saying that Manager Lu was truly capable—several other plant growers had failed to cultivate that wasteland at the end of the estate, but he had managed to grow it successfully, and it was thriving.

Now that we've created our own spirit field, we're sure to be able to grow even better things in the future.

When these words reached Sun Zhiyuan's ears, his face remained expressionless, but his heart felt like it was weighed down by a stone.

He originally thought Lu Qingchen wouldn't last long.

A newcomer who had been a spiritual plant grower for less than half a year was assigned to that wasteland at the end of the village. He couldn't grow anything, failed the evaluation, and soon left on his own.

When the overseas assignment slots become available, Zhang Hongyi will have the opportunity to fill the vacancy.

But now? The wasteland has been cultivated, and a dedicated spirit field has been built. It seems they intend to stay in Qingmu Village for the long term.

He needs to think of a solution.

That night, Sun Zhiyuan sat alone in the room, thinking for a long time by the light of the oil lamp.

Directly targeting Lu Qingchen won't work—although the tenant farmer's spying incident didn't lead to him last time, Zhao Demao was clearly suspicious. If we send someone again and they get caught, someone might confess.

If we can't touch Lu Qingchen himself, then we'll touch his spiritual field.

After thinking about it for a few days, he came up with an idea.

He knew a rogue cultivator surnamed Qian who specialized in taming low-level spirit beasts.

There is a mythical beast called the "Groundhog," which is small in size but skilled at digging holes. It can burrow several feet underground and bypass formations from below.

These spirit beasts feed on the roots of spirit plants. If you put a few in, they can destroy the spirit plants in an entire field from the roots, and you won't even be able to tell from the surface.

By the time they discovered it, the spiritual plant was already beyond saving.

The key point is that this thing is wild, so who knows if it was released by someone?

Even if they investigate, they won't be able to trace it back to him.

Sun Zhiyuan's lips slowly curled up.

He decided to go find that rogue cultivator in a few days.

No rush. Lu Qingchen's spirit rice won't be harvested for another month. We'll wait until he's almost done before we start, so he'll have worked for nothing.

He blew out the oil lamp, lay down on the bed, and felt much better than he had a few days ago.

......

A few more days passed.

That evening, Zhao Demao instructed Wang Fu to inform all the spirit planters to attend a meeting in the main hall at 7:00 AM the next day.

The next morning, everyone had arrived.

Zhao Demao sat in the main seat, his expression more solemn than usual.

He held a document in his hand, placed it on the table, and glanced at the people present.

"Message from the sect."

He got straight to the point, "Recently, a disease called 'Gray Spot Corrosion Disease' has appeared in several farms under the sect's jurisdiction. It has been confirmed to have appeared in Cuiping Farm, Baiguo Farm, and Fenglin Farm."

Lu Qingchen's heart stirred.

Zhao Demao continued reading the contents of the document: "The symptoms of this disease are as follows: In the early stage, grayish-white spots appear on the leaves, with yellowing edges."

"In the middle stage, the spots expand and connect, the leaves wither, and the stems soften; in the later stage, the spiritual energy within the plant is completely eroded, and the entire plant dies."

He paused, then looked up: "It has moderate infectivity and spreads through soil, water, and farm tools."

"The sect is studying countermeasures and requires all villages to strengthen their defenses. There are three preventative measures: control the movement of people and reduce cross-field operations; farm tools must be cleaned after use; diseased plants must be isolated or destroyed immediately; and lime powder must be spread around the spirit fields."

The main room was quiet for a few moments.

Zhou Ming was the first to speak: "Master, is this disease... serious?"

"serious."

Zhao Demao said in a deep voice, "Thirty percent of the red-striped ginseng in Cuiping Manor has been infected with the disease, and twenty percent of the ginkgo seedlings in Baiguo Manor have also been affected. If the sect cannot come up with a prescription that is effective, this season's harvest will be greatly reduced."

Sun Zhiyuan frowned: "Will lime powder work?"

"It can suppress the spread, but it can't cure those who are already infected."

Zhao Demao said, "The key is early detection and early isolation. After you go back, patrol the fields several times a day and report any abnormalities immediately."

The crowd responded.

Zhao Demao gave a few more instructions and then the meeting adjourned.

As Lu Qingchen walked out of the main room, he was still thinking about the symptoms Zhao Demao had just described—grayish-white spots on the leaves, yellowing edges, and the erosion of spiritual energy.

Isn't this the same disease that Zhou Pingtian suffered from?

At that time, Ma Wenyuan took the samples back to study, saying that it would take time.

Lu Qingchen thought that after half a month, even if it couldn't be completely cured, it should at least be under control.

Unexpectedly, the disease was not suppressed, but instead spread to three villages.

Could it be that the Spirit Plant Hall also couldn't find a solution?

Lu Qingchen shook his head, suppressing the thought.

With so many experts in the Spirit Plant Hall, there must be a way.

This is none of his business.

He quickened his pace and headed towards the end of the village.

......

In the following days, Aoki-sou strengthened its defenses.

Following Zhao Demao's instructions, each of the spiritual planters cleaned their farm tools to reduce cross-pollination.

A layer of white lime powder was sprinkled on the ridges of the fields, making it look like frost from a distance.

Lu Qingchen did as instructed.

But he didn't take it too seriously. His field was at the very end of the village, some distance away from everyone else's fields, so it wouldn't be easy for diseases to spread there.

His mind was more focused on the batch of experimental spirit rice in his private spirit field.

With the array providing cover, he could finally conduct his spirit-pointing experiments without restraint.

He selected a small area in his private spiritual field as the subject of his experiment.

This batch of spirit rice had already undergone a spirit infusion during sowing, so its growth was already quite good.

Now, every three days, he uses three to five times the cultivation level of a regular spirit-infusion to perform a second, deeper spirit-infusion.

The results were beyond expectations.

On the third day, the leaf color deepened significantly, changing from light green to dark green.

On the seventh day, the stalks were a full circle thicker than those around them, the rice ears were fuller earlier, and the grains were a circle larger than those in the control group.

A faint spiritual light even appeared on the edge of the herb's leaves—a light even stronger than the batch grown on Panlong Peak.

The spiritual light emanating from the batch of spirit rice on Panlong Peak was faint and intermittent, almost imperceptible without close inspection.

The leaves of these few plants in front of me already have a faint sheen on their edges, shimmering slightly in the morning light.