Uncle Nine: Scattering beans to create soldiers? I'm using plants and trees to create soldiers.

We're not far from reaching LV5.

Looking at the panel, Lin Xuan felt increasingly at ease.

The higher his basic cultivation skills are, the more efficient he is at tending to spiritual plants, and the better the quality of the crops.

For him now, this is the most fundamental speed of cultivation.

There can be no carelessness whatsoever!

The fields were planted and thoroughly watered, but Lin Xuan had no intention of wasting the remaining glutinous rice stalks used as a base.

A thought suddenly occurred to him.

The remaining rice stalks, stripped of their grains, instantly appeared in front of him from his system inventory.

Bundles were neatly piled up at the edge of the field, emitting a faint, dry, and refreshing fragrance unique to plants.

Lin Xuan sat down cross-legged on the spot and casually picked up a bundle of straw from beside him.

The withered yellow straw was quickly straightened between his slender fingers, making it even in length.

He skillfully pulled out two strong, thin straw ropes, first tying the shape of a human head at the top of the straw, then his fingers flew, quickly separating the shoulders, back, and waist, and finally tying the limbs tightly.

In the blink of an eye, a small grass figure the size of a palm appeared steadily in his hand.

The straw figure looked rather rough, with a round head, short and comical limbs, and only two loosely tied straw ropes around its chest and abdomen for support.

A system notification then sounded.

[Successfully created one straw man; Straw Soldier Proficiency +1]

Lin Xuan looked at the straw figure in his palm, and various memories of the straw soldiers surfaced in his mind.

Grassroots soldiers are a very important type of secret technique in Taoism.

In folk tradition, it is also known as the "straw man method" or "bean soldier and straw horse".

Tracing back further, it leads to the origins of great supernatural powers like turning beans into soldiers.

The core essence of this method lies in using plants, beans, grains, and paper offerings as a physical vessel to receive the practitioner's vital energy and spirit!

Or go even further, set up an altar and perform rituals to invite the soldiers and warriors on the altar, the guardian soldiers of the altar, and even detain the lonely ghosts and other spirits in the mountains and fields to reside in it, thereby driving them to patrol the mountain gate, explore the way to avoid danger, ward off disasters and suffer punishment, and participate in magical battles and fights!

The process of truly and completely crafting grass-root soldiers is much more complicated.

First, a straw figure must be made, and the proportions must conform to the principles of Yin and Yang.

Secondly, the practitioner uses extremely yang cinnabar, supplemented with the practitioner's fingertip blood, to mark the five sense organs and seven orifices on the face of the straw figure.

The straw figure must have a cavity specially left inside to hide the talisman!

After completing these steps, an incense table must be set up, incense and candles lit, and a sincere invocation made to the ancestral master and the spirits of the altar to perform the consecration and spirit-invoking ceremony.

Some elaborate lineages will even offer incense day and night to the straw effigy, allowing it to gradually absorb the incense and gain spiritual power, shedding its mortal form.

Only when the straw figure truly develops a spiritual nature can it be commanded and controlled at will.

The ones Lin Xuan is currently making are far from reaching that level; at best, they can only be considered practice pieces to familiarize himself with the techniques.

Since we don't plan to use it in actual combat for the time being, the production process is much more casual.

He casually placed the first straw figure he had made aside and continued to reach for more straw.

Lin Xuan's movements were fluid and graceful, and one small straw figure after another quickly took shape in his hands.

[Successfully created one straw man; Straw Soldier Proficiency +1]

[Successfully created one straw man; Straw Soldier Proficiency +2]

[Successfully created one straw man; Straw Soldier Proficiency +1]

......

The notification sound kept ringing.

As Lin Xuan's skill level increased, his movements became faster and faster.

At first, he had to carefully measure the length and thickness of the straw with his eyes; but later, as soon as his fingers touched the straw, he could instantly judge where to break it and where to tighten the straw rope, relying on muscle memory and intuition.

The straw figures, once made, were piled up in front of him, growing higher and higher, like a small mountain.

The first batch of straw figures were indeed crooked and uneven, some with big heads and small bodies, and some with arms of different lengths, looking like a group of defeated soldiers.

But later on, the straw figures he made gradually became more slender and well-proportioned, and the positions of the straw ropes became more and more precise, subtly revealing a strange sense of agility.

At one point, when Lin Xuan finished making another straw figure, the system's notification sound suddenly changed.

[Grassroots Soldier Proficiency Maxed Out!]

[The Grassroots Soldier has been upgraded to LV3!]

boom!

Just as the system voice finished speaking,

A vast and profound realization surged into Lin Xuan's mind like a sudden awakening.

His fingers suddenly stopped in mid-air, and he slowly closed his eyes.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, it was as if an old Taoist priest, who had been immersed in this path for decades, was teaching him step by step!

The complete and perfect internal structure of the straw man was rapidly dissected and unfolded in his mind...

Head, chest and abdomen, limbs, joints, talisman positions, qi pathways...

He finally realized that the placement of each strand of straw rope was not random!

Instead, it corresponds to the key point in the future flow of magical energy within the straw man's body!

If the rope is tied too tightly, the energy flow will be severed, causing a backlash from the spell!

If the grass is tied too loosely, its spiritual essence will leak out through the gaps, and the soul of the rampaging soldier will not be retained.

If a talisman is to be hidden in the chest or abdomen, a tiny "aperture" that can carry the energy must be cleverly left out during the weaving process.

Even the positions of the five sense organs and seven orifices must not be randomly selected.

The eyes are connected to the spiritual realm, the ears hear the decrees, the mouth receives the incantations, and the nose receives the incense.

One wrong step and the straw man becomes a useless piece of junk.

A moment later, Lin Xuan slowly opened his eyes.

A sharp glint flashed in his deep eyes.

The level 3 soldier allowed him to initially grasp the threshold of "taking form from Qi".

When he made the straw figure again, his technique was noticeably different.

As the straw is folded and turned, the proportions of the scarecrow's head and body become more harmonious.

He deliberately left a small cavity in his chest and abdomen, which would be perfect for hiding talismans in the future.

When the straw rope is wrapped around the limbs, several airway nodes are left open.

To the naked eye, the straw figures in the back look much more spirited than the pile in front.

By the time all the straw was used up, a small pile of straw figures had formed in front of Lin Xuan.

He selected ten of the finest pieces and set them aside.

These ten straw figures can be kept as spares.

Later, after adding cinnabar to the facial features and hiding a talisman in the abdomen, and then trying to consecrate and activate the spirit, perhaps it can be refined into a truly usable grass-root soldier.

As for the remaining rough practice pieces, keeping them won't be of much use.

Lin Xuan carried them to an open space next to the farmland.

With a gentle blow, sparks ignited the tinderbox.

He lit the bottommost straw.

"Crackling sound."

When dry grass comes into contact with fire, the flames quickly shoot upwards.

One by one, the crooked straw figures curled up in the flames, the straw ropes broke, their bodies collapsed, and finally turned into grayish-black dust.

Thick smoke drifted towards the corner of the courtyard on the night wind.

The aroma of burning straw mingled with the scent of earth from the backyard, adding a touch of warmth and life to the newly sown farmland.

Lin Xuan stood to the side, waiting for the fire to slowly die down.

After the last bit of red flame went out, only a pile of warm ashes remained on the ground.

He took a winnowing basket and carefully collected the ashes.

Afterwards, Lin Xuan carried a winnowing basket to the edge of the field and evenly sprinkled the wood ash into the furrows where Nayang glutinous rice had just been sown.

The grayish-white powder fell gently onto the damp soil, quickly absorbing the moisture from the ground and slowly spreading out along the soil layer, transforming into excellent nutrients to nourish new life.

Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, all things cycle and life goes on.

The system notification sound rang out again at just the right moment.

[Complete one effective fertilization, Basic Cultivation Skill Proficiency +2]

[Complete one effective fertilization, Basic Cultivation Skill Proficiency +2]

[Complete one effective fertilization, Basic Cultivation Skill Proficiency +2]

......

The quality of the glutinous rice bundles has been improved through a process called "enlightenment," which has also enhanced the quality of the straw.

Therefore, the "fertilizer" made from burning glutinous rice straw is of far superior quality to ordinary wood ash, which also increases the skill required for fertilization.

After fertilizing, Lin Xuan opened the control panel.

[Basic Cultivation Techniques]

Grade: Gray

[Level: Lv4]

[Proficiency: 135/500]

......

"Not bad~~ At this rate of using one fish for multiple purposes and recycling it, the basic breeding technique will soon be at full proficiency!"

Lin Xuan closed the control panel with satisfaction, picked up the scattered farm tools one by one, and put them back in their original places.

Afterwards, he went to the well to wash himself off, getting rid of the mud and sweat, and then walked briskly back to his room to sleep peacefully.