Chapter 3755 — The Chief Steward of the Pill Hall

After all, the Spirit Jade Hall did produce spirit jade, but at least it still treated spirit jade as spirit jade, stationing heavy guards at every site. Here in the Spirit Herb Field, though, things were quite the opposite: spirit jade was strewn about like so many stones, and from the look of it the supervision was far from strict. No one here seemed to regard these spirit jades as anything precious at all. Their sole purpose for existing was to release spiritual energy in service of these spirit herbs—nothing more.

Beyond his surprise, however, Wei Zhao felt no greed. Given his circumstances, if he ever had the chance to come here, pocketing a few pieces of spirit jade would be a mere lift of the hand. But doing that sort of thing too often would inevitably lead to trouble.

If Wei Zhao wanted to earn a large amount of spirit jade in a short time, refining pills was clearly the faster route. A single top-grade Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pill, once sold, would fetch a thousand spirit jade—far more reliable than such petty pocket-picking.

Of course, if he truly meant to sell pills, he would have to appear under the identity of Lin Er, which still carried a fair amount of risk. Unless driven to it by necessity, the ever-cautious Wei Zhao would not do such a thing.

Moreover, even under a concealed identity like Lin Er's, it was impossible to keep frequently putting large quantities of pills on the market. That would certainly draw the attention of interested parties, and the loss would outweigh the gain.

What Wei Zhao needed to do was raise his rank—cultivate, and cultivate again—striving to earn the chance to go to the Middle Island as soon as possible and meet Zhang Lifeng.

After the newcomers had waited a while, the chief steward of the Spirit Herb Field finally arrived at his leisure: a middle-aged man whose every line was exceedingly soft, a softness made all the more pronounced by his manner and movements. In the parlance of the secular world, such a soft-featured man was, in fact, a sissy.

What slightly surprised Wei Zhao was that Xu Lingchong was nowhere to be seen this time. During the previous two trial stages, that young master had personally come to oversee the proceedings each time, all for the sake of doing Wei Zhao in.

It seemed that Li Zhengming's intelligence had been correct: Xu Lingchong, Meng Jueming, and the rest had temporarily given up on the idea of scheming against him directly. Instead they had chosen to advance by retreating, planning first to sound out his true strength and only then strike the killing blow.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Hu Yunfeng, the chief steward of the Spirit Herb Field ordered a box brought over. Then, in a voice so soft it made one's skin crawl, he began explaining to the newcomers the specific rules of this trial stage.

Still, grating as the sissy's voice was, it had one merit: he explained things thoroughly and precisely, at least allowing the newcomers to understand completely, with nothing left vague.

"Newcomers all, inside this box are forty kinds of spirit herb seeds, common and not so common. Oh, pardon me—the seeds are all still in the cultivation room. What's in here are merely the tags for you to draw."

"According to the rules of your newcomer trial, each of you must randomly draw at least ten kinds of spirit herb seeds from here, one seed of each kind. If you wish, you may even take all forty kinds. At the same time, I will give each of you a seed cultivation vessel to take back and plant and cultivate."

"In cultivating spirit herb seeds, apart from providing an environment suited to their habits, two things determine whether they can be successfully raised. First, you must ensure an ample supply of spiritual energy—this is the most basic requirement for their survival. Second, you must infuse them with true qi at set times each day to hasten their ripening. This not only makes up for any deficiency in the spiritual energy supply, but also greatly shortens their growth cycle. Otherwise, even if you toiled for years, you might never see them put down roots and sprout."

"Generally speaking, if all goes smoothly, in fifteen to twenty days they will grow into seedlings and survive. As for exactly how to infuse spirit herb seeds with true qi, I will later have a senior brother from the Spirit Herb Field who specializes in this matter demonstrate and explain it to you."

Experts at the Heavenly Dao level were different from the Heaven-Tier experts of old. At the Heavenly Dao and above, one could project true qi outward—which was also why Wei Zhao could force true qi out through other acupoints. If he could do it, so could others; it merely depended on whether they were willing to pay the price.

Wei Zhao might recover in an instant, but others who wasted their physical strength and true qi might need several days to recover—and once they overdrew their physical strength and true qi, they might even drop a rank.

So when they heard that they would also have to infuse true qi, most of the newcomers felt a pang of distress…

"One thing you must take note of: once you use true qi to hasten a spirit herb seed's ripening, you must ensure an adequate supply of true qi every day from then until it takes root, sprouts, and is thoroughly established. Otherwise, because its growth mechanism has been artificially altered, it will wither and die very quickly, just as if it lacked spiritual energy."

"Of course, the survival rate of spirit herb seeds is not high, and withering is entirely normal. In fact, even the disciples of the Pill Hall cannot guarantee a hundred percent success. For you newcomers, successfully cultivating five spirit herb seedlings out of ten seeds would already count as a rather good result."

"Your score in this trial stage will be calculated according to the number of spirit herb seeds that survive. Within the three-month trial period, each successfully cultivated spirit herb seedling earns you three points, while failures incur no penalty. But do not think this means you should choose as many spirit herb seeds as possible. Because before that, for every spirit herb seed you take away now, one point will first be deducted."

"That is to say, if you take away all forty spirit herb seeds now, forty points will first be deducted. If within the next three months you fail to cultivate more than fourteen spirit herb seedlings, then in this trial stage you will not only gain no points—you will actually have points deducted from the total you worked so hard to earn in the previous two stages."

"However, if you have the skill to cultivate all forty spirit herb seedlings, then you will directly receive one hundred twenty points. Even after deducting the earlier forty points, you would still net eighty points. Tempting, is it not?"

"Unfortunately, that is impossible. Even the best spirit herb cultivator here in the Spirit Herb Field cannot get all forty spirit herb seeds to survive within three months. So I advise you to be realistic and act according to your means. Otherwise, having points deducted would be a loss that far outweighs the gain."

"Well then, you may now begin drawing lots to select your own seeds. Newcomers all, do your best."

Once the sissy chief steward had finished speaking, Hu Yunfeng signaled the steward senior brothers of each of the Three-Tiered Pavilion's branches to organize the newcomers into queues for the drawing. They began with the Soaring Heavens Pavilion, while the Azure Cloud Pavilion, as was customary, brought up the rear.