Chapter 111 – Tier-2 Spirit Field
"Foundation Establishment Pill"—a name that could make any Qi Refinement cultivator's heart race. For many stuck at the peak of the Qi Refinement stage, it represented hope—a chance to ascend to Foundation Establishment.
These pills were also strategic-grade elixirs coveted by major sects, for Foundation Establishment cultivators were the very backbone of any sect's power.
Due to its critical value, the spirit materials required to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill were equally prized.
This particular resource site under Qinglu Sect was no exception. Previously, as a Nascent Soul-grade sect, no one dared covet it. But ever since the fall of Qinglu Sect's Nascent Soul Patriarch, ambitious eyes had begun to turn toward it. That was why this site had been suffering from constant harassment.
Recalling the intelligence on this location, Gu Mo finally arrived before the low, rugged peak. Soon, an elderly white-haired cultivator hurried over with more than a dozen older disciples trailing behind.
"Greetings, True Disciple Gu!"
Wei Yuancai bowed respectfully. He had long been informed by the sect of a true disciple's impending arrival and had been waiting anxiously ever since.
"Greetings, Supervisor Wei," Gu Mo promptly returned the bow.
The white-haired elder before him was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Typically, those dispatched to guard such resource points were seniors nearing their natural lifespan, with no hope of further advancement.
Though these cultivators had exhausted their potential, they made up for it with rich experience and solid combat skills. And since they had no reason to enter extended secluded cultivation, they were well-suited to guard important sites.
It was extremely rare for a true disciple like Gu Mo to be stationed at a resource site.
After a brief exchange and verifying Gu Mo's identity, Wei Yuancai led him into the protective formation of the resource point.
"True Disciple Gu, these are the three most vital spirit plants here—Jade Dew Fruit Trees." Wei Yuancai got straight to the point and introduced the site's core resource.
Standing only as tall as a person, these unassuming trees radiated potent spiritual energy—genuine Tier-2 High-Grade spiritual plants.
Jade Dew Fruit Trees were classified as Tier-2 plants, but their specific quality level depended heavily on their age and how they were cultivated. The higher the grade of the tree, the better the fruit it produced—and the higher the quality of the Foundation Establishment Pills refined from them.
That the three trees here had reached high-grade Tier-2 spoke volumes about Qinglu Sect's investment and care.
No wonder so many were eyeing this site. With such premium-grade main ingredients, as long as the auxiliary materials weren't too poor, it was entirely possible to refine high-quality Foundation Establishment Pills.
The higher the grade of the pill, the greater the success rate in helping cultivators break through.
"Not bad," Gu Mo nodded with satisfaction.
As expected, these three core spirit plants were meticulously maintained. It was said that Elder Qi—a Tier-3 spiritual plant expert—had personally visited this site years ago and designed a custom cultivation plan for these very trees.
As a result, Gu Mo didn't need to worry about their upkeep.
What he was interested in was the spirit field surrounding them. The reason this modest mountain could support the growth of these Jade Dew Fruit Trees wasn't just due to its unique terrain—but more importantly, because it housed a mid-grade Tier-2 spiritual vein.
The tree roots had extended outward and wrapped around the vein, anchoring it in place and creating a natural spirit field.
Many high-grade spiritual plants had this innate ability—to reshape their environment to suit their own growth.
Spirit fields formed by such plants were among the best. As long as one avoided planting conflicting species, any spirit herbs planted within would receive a substantial boost. And for compatible plants, the benefits would be even greater.
After all, who knew the ideal environment for spiritual plants better than the plants themselves?
"Supervisor Wei, I need that spirit field," Gu Mo said, pointing at a one-mu plot within the mid-grade Tier-2 field.
Though the three Jade Dew Fruit Trees had claimed nearly ten mu of land, a small one-mu corner had been left unused.
Currently, that patch was growing several Tier-1 spirit plants—but using a Tier-2 mid-grade spirit field for Tier-1 crops was a colossal waste.
Unfortunately, Wei Yuancai and his fellow guards weren't spiritual farmers, let alone spiritual plant masters. They didn't have the skill to cultivate Tier-2 herbs, so they simply planted Tier-1s to make some use of the abundant energy.
Even then, those Tier-1 plants were in poor condition. The caretakers' full attention had always been on the three Jade Dew Fruit Trees, and the rest of the field had basically been left to fend for itself.
"Understood. I'll have the field cleared right away," Wei Yuancai agreed without hesitation.
As a true disciple, Gu Mo was now in charge here. Whatever he said, went. The only responsibility this site had was to deliver a quota of Jade Dew Fruits to the sect on time.
And even that quota hadn't been met for years. Each time harvest season came around, unknown cultivators would appear to ambush the sect's collection envoys.
Some even launched direct assaults on the resource site, hoping to breach its defenses and steal the goods. After all, the collection envoys were strong, but if an intruder broke into the site itself, they'd only have to face old, feeble defenders.
As long as they were given Yulu Fruits, those people wouldn't kill anyone, nor would they harm the Yulu Fruit trees. The stewards who came to collect the fruit could safely leave just by handing over a portion of them.
Faced with this situation, the Qinglu Sect chose to tolerate it. Each time, they would voluntarily offer up a share of the Yulu Fruits to settle things peacefully. With their strength now diminished, they could only use resources to avoid trouble. But those people had grown greedier, and it was getting harder for the Qinglu Sect to endure.
Sending Gu Mo, a core disciple, this time clearly reflected the Qinglu Sect's stance: those people needed to know when to stop. The sect might be weakened, but it wasn't dead. If they truly provoked Qinglu Sect's wrath, while the sect might not be able to destroy the factions backing those people, wiping out the individuals themselves wouldn't be a problem.
Having successfully secured ownership of that patch of Tier-2 spirit farmland, Gu Mo began its transformation. For someone like him, who had mastered all five spirit farming techniques, modifying a spirit field was a breeze.
He dug up the sparse spirit plants from the Tier-2 field and transplanted them into nearby Tier-1 plots. In addition to the Tier-2 field at the center of this resource point, there were several Tier-1 fields as well—these were formed due to the spiritual energy radiation from the core Tier-2 land.
However, those Tier-1 fields were all in a state of abandonment. Considering how Wei Yuan and the others managed to mess up growing Tier-1 plants in a Tier-2 field, expecting them to cultivate anything in Tier-1 land would probably result in total failure.
But Gu Mo could make use of them. Now that he had taken over Wei Yuan and the others' Tier-2 land and cut into their spirit plant yield, he would compensate by growing plants in the Tier-1 fields to make up for the loss.
After removing the plants from the Tier-2 field, Gu Mo raised his hand and cast a minor Flame Wave. The intense fire burned away all the weeds, turning them into fertilizer for the land.
Next, a thick earth dragon appeared and plowed the field anew. Before long, a perfectly groomed spirit field emerged.
Whoosh!
A gentle spiritual rain then began to fall, nourishing the land.
"Senior Brother Gu, are you... a spirit farmer?"
Wei Yuan stared in amazement at Gu Mo, whose movements as he cast spirit farming techniques were so smooth and practiced. He simply couldn't reconcile the image of a core disciple with that of a humble spirit farmer—it was like discovering the heir to a massive corporation secretly worked as a farmer.
"A Spirit Plant Master," Gu Mo corrected. That way, his upcoming display of all kinds of strange and exotic plants would be easier to explain. While he was going to conceal this field with an array soon, making it unlikely anyone would see what he planted, it was still wise to give them a heads-up just in case.
Moreover, Gu Mo hadn't forgotten his actual assignment here—to guard the place. When those looters showed up, his plants would inevitably be revealed in battle, so it was best to plant the idea early.
"I see!"
Wei Yuan nodded in understanding. Compared to a spirit farmer, the identity of a Spirit Plant Master clearly aligned better with Gu Mo's status as a core disciple.
After dismissing Wei Yuan and the others, Gu Mo took out his array disks. Illusion Array, Breath Concealment Array, Fortification Array—three different formations emerged and covered the roughly one-mu field completely.
Whew—
As the arrays activated, a mist enveloped the spirit field. Gu Mo let out a long breath as he gazed at the land before him. At long last, he had a Tier-2 spirit field of his own.
Without wasting time, Gu Mo took out a portable cabin artifact and placed it at the edge of the field. Then, he began planting the Sunflowers, Peashooters, and Potato Mines he had stored in his shadow space.
From then on, his goal was to upgrade all the Sunflowers to Tier-2. After all, now that he was in the Foundation Establishment stage, only refined Tier-2 Solar Essence could offer him a meaningful boost.
With the Tier-2 field, Tier-2 Sunflowers could directly generate complete Tier-2 Solar Essence. Using that to upgrade the remaining Tier-1 Sunflowers would cut down the time needed drastically.
Including his internal sect storage space, Gu Mo had two cultivation pots at his disposal. That meant he could upgrade two Sunflowers at a time. With 25 Tier-1 Sunflowers, it wouldn't take long for him to upgrade them all to Tier-2.
But even with 30 Sunflowers total, it still wasn't enough to satisfy Gu Mo's appetite. Expanding the number of Sunflowers was clearly necessary—his goal was to raise the count to 100.
As his strength increased, so did the Solar Essence required for his cultivation, plant purchases, and upgrades. That's why he needed to grow more Sunflowers to sustain his needs.
Why 100 and not more? It wasn't because Gu Mo had any particular concern. As long as the true secret of the Sunflowers wasn't exposed, it didn't matter if others saw them. After all, he was now a core disciple, a talented Spirit Plant Master backed by a Tier-3 elder. It wasn't unusual for someone like him to experiment with rare and exotic plants.
What limited the number of Sunflowers now was the field's quality and size. On this one-mu Tier-2 plot, Gu Mo had to plant not just Sunflowers but also Peashooters and other plants. One hundred Sunflowers was already pushing the limit—adding more would reduce space for the others.
Reducing the number of other plants would weaken his plant-based battle formation. Thankfully, this was a mid-grade Tier-2 field. If it were low-grade, the number of plants he could grow would be even fewer.
With the field's planting plan in place, Gu Mo now only had to follow a daily routine of planting the upgraded and purchased plants.
The rest of his time would be dedicated to his own cultivation—like switching over to the Qingmu sutra and studying that half-finished divine ability.
"Stay here and behave, alright?" Before returning to the cabin, Gu Mo released Little Carp. These days, even without water, Little Carp could move around freely. In fact, it now preferred areas rich in spiritual energy, since that was the equivalent of water to it.
Plop!
Feeling the dense spiritual energy in the air, Little Carp smacked its lips in delight and began swimming around happily. Soon, a dark cloud formed overhead—it was preparing to use its Light Rain Technique to water the field.
Bathed in spiritual rain, the Sunflowers and Peashooters swayed gently, clearly content.
After confirming everything was in order, Gu Mo returned to the cabin and took out the Qingmu Manual to begin his cultivation switch. Changing cultivation methods wasn't as difficult as one might imagine. As long as the new and old techniques didn't conflict, the process was fairly manageable.
The only real downside was having to start the new technique from scratch, which could be time-consuming. There were also bottlenecks during cultivation, but with his existing level and foundation, breaking through them wasn't too difficult.
Of course, that only applied to lower cultivation realms. For a Golden Core cultivator, switching methods would be a major ordeal—their core had been formed from the original technique. Switching would require dissolving the core and forming a new one with the new technique.
That came with a risk of failure—and not a small one. If the new core failed to form, that cultivator would lose their Golden Core status entirely.
For Nascent Soul cultivators, it would be even worse. They'd have to go through both Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages again, with an even higher risk of failure.
But for Gu Mo, the worst it meant was losing a bit of time. And switching to the Qingmu Manual would grant him a significant power boost. After all, a cultivator's technique was a critical part of their overall strength.
"Steward Wei, that core disciple hasn't shown himself for days now," one of the stationed Qi Refining disciples said quietly as they looked toward the mist-covered area.
"What's so strange about that?" Wei Yuan replied calmly. "If your cultivation could still improve, wouldn't you also choose to shut yourself in and focus on training?"
Hearing that, the stationed disciples all lowered their heads. It was precisely because their cultivation had stagnated that they'd been sent to guard this resource point.
"Alright, enough chatter. Get to work. The Yulu Fruits take five years to mature. This is the fourth year—critical for fruiting. This year will determine the harvest," Wei Yuan clapped his hands, urging them into action.
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