Chapter 557: Coiled Dragon Spirit Rice

Pure Nine Lotus Lanterns: 、、、、、、、、、

The Flower Kingdom is located in the southern part of the Eastern Wilds. It enjoys spring-like weather all year round, with a pleasant climate. Although it is a mountainous region, large rivers flow in from the Cloud Dream Lake area, ensuring abundant rainfall. This makes it highly suitable for cultivating various spiritual plants and medicinal herbs.

When the Eastern Wilds were first developed in ancient times, cultivators from the Starcraft Dao Sect also participated. After the successful development, they chose this area to cultivate suitable spiritual rice and herbs. However, due to the extremely long distance, no elders or cultivators from the Starcraft Dao Sect were willing to permanently guard the region. Consequently, this area was eventually left to be managed by local Eastern Wilds forces. The Starcraft Dao Sect would then dispatch trade caravans during each harvest to collect the majority of the resources.

Among these resources, the most renowned is the third-tier Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice. This spiritual rice is considered a treasure for body-tempering cultivators. Long-term consumption not only purifies the body and enhances vital energy but also nourishes the divine sense, earning it the reputation as the foremost spiritual rice in the Eastern Wilds. During each harvest, it is fiercely contended for by all the major sects in the Eastern Wilds.

The Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice is sown across 10,000 acres of third-tier spiritual fields in the Flower Kingdom's sole central plain. This scale was achieved thanks to the Starcraft Dao Sect, which, in the past, dispersed a fourth-tier spiritual vein into the area. Although the Rejuvenation Valley is nominally the ruler of the Flower Kingdom, all forces in the Eastern Wilds know that they merely manage the Flower Kingdom on behalf of the Starcraft Dao Sect.

The Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice matures once every twenty years, yielding a hundred catties per acre. As long as there is ample rainfall and spiritual energy, and no disasters like locust plagues, the Rejuvenation Valley can guarantee an annual output of 50,000 catties of Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice. Of this, the Starcraft Dao Sect takes seven-tenths, leaving the remaining three-tenths for the Rejuvenation Valley. Furthermore, the Rejuvenation Valley is only permitted to sell its three-tenths within the Eastern Wilds. This is because Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice is also one of the excellent commodities of the Great Starcraft Merchant Guild, which aims to maintain exclusive ownership in the Eastern Lands.

Yet, even with just three-tenths, the Rejuvenation Valley earns a considerable profit annually. With Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice priced at one high-grade spiritual stone per ten catties, the annual revenue totals 1,500 high-grade spiritual stones. After deducting cultivation costs and spiritual field maintenance, the Rejuvenation Valley profits three to four hundred high-grade spiritual stones annually from the Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice.

“You hold a monopoly, yet your prices are reasonable. The Rejuvenation Valley must have an excellent reputation in the Eastern Wilds,” Chen Mobai remarked.

Before reaching the Core Formation stage, Chen Mobai was famously a homebody within his sect, never diverting his attention from cultivation and advancement. Thus, this was the first time he had learned such detailed information about Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice. Upon hearing this, Ye Bogui merely offered an awkward smile, neither answering nor refuting.

“Sect Master,” Gu Yan transmitted to Chen Mobai, “when the Five Elements Sect had just split, the Rejuvenation Valley increased the price of Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice by three to four times. Afterwards, Ancestor Zhou and others began purchasing Golden Cloud Rice and Fire Crystal Rice from Eastern Yi instead. It was only when the Great Starcraft Merchant Guild personally intervened to sell Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice that the Rejuvenation Valley's prices were forced down, stabilizing ever since.” Gu Yan secretly relayed this confidential information to Chen Mobai.

She hailed from a cultivation family in the Rain Kingdom, also skilled in cultivating spiritual rice. She had a profound impression of this historically famous Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice dumping incident in the Eastern Wilds. This was because the Rejuvenation Valley's behavior was so unscrupulous that even the Starcraft Dao Sect couldn't tolerate it.

After the suppression by Ancestor Hunyuan, Yan Shaoyin had been unrestrained for a long time. When the Five Elements Sect split, he hiked the prices of medicinal pills sold to both factions by several times. However, the Divine Wood Sect and the Five Elements Sect later preferred to spend time traveling to Eastern Yi and Eastern Wu to purchase necessary medicinal pills and spiritual rice rather than buying from the Rejuvenation Valley. Only then was Yan Shaoyin's momentum suppressed.

Furthermore, being at the pinnacle of alchemy in the Eastern Wilds, the medicinal pills produced by the Rejuvenation Valley were always the most expensive, priced beyond the reach of most rogue cultivators. Therefore, the Rejuvenation Valley's reputation within the Eastern Wilds' cultivation world was, in fact, rather negative. However, Yan Shaoyin maintained excellent control over one aspect: the quality of the medicinal pills produced by the Rejuvenation Valley was indeed the best of its kind in the entire Eastern Wilds. The Rejuvenation Valley firmly upheld the reputation of producing 'good medicinal pills.' This was also the fundamental pillar upon which their great Eastern Wilds sect stood.

Along the way, Chen Mobai and Ye Bogui had a light discussion about various aspects of alchemy. Ye Bogui was surprised by how knowledgeable Chen Mobai was about alchemy; some of his questions required Ye Bogui, a third-tier alchemist, to ponder for a long time just to comprehend. As for providing answers, that was even more impossible.

“Sect Master Chen is truly learned and versatile,” Ye Bogui said, “I am ashamed of my shallow knowledge.” Cultivators in the Sky River Realm highly admired versatility. After their conversation, Ye Bogui believed that Sect Master Chen's attainments in alchemy were also considerable, at least not inferior to his own as a third-tier alchemist.

But little did he know that all of Chen Mobai's alchemy knowledge came from what he learned in high school, along with what he absorbed by being around his good friends, Wang Xingyu and Qing Nü. This knowledge formed the foundation of alchemy in the Immortal Sect, and also the bedrock of the entire Immortal Sect's system of spiritual medicines and elixirs. Although Chen Mobai couldn't personally concoct pills, his understanding of the alchemy system undoubtedly surpassed Ye Bogui's, and perhaps even Yan Shaoyin's.

This was because alchemists in the Sky River Realm were trained by repeatedly concocting pills, gaining experience through trial and error, and growing through continuous practical failures. Their understanding of alchemy was limited to the specific pill formulas they specialized in. If they were to switch to a different pill formula and start anew, most would fail several times before gaining enough experience to succeed. This was unlike the Immortal Sect, where all alchemy techniques had been formalized into universal fundamentals. The refinement of each medicine involved re-arranging and combining these basic techniques, supplemented by various specialized equipment and artifacts developed specifically for alchemy, as well as spiritual essences for purifying medicinal toxins. This had minimized the chances of accidental failure during pill concoction. Therefore, in the Immortal Sect, when an alchemist undertook concoction, success was almost guaranteed.

If the Rejuvenation Valley possessed only this level of capability, then Yan Shaoyin might not be qualified to refine the three spiritual medicines for Nascent Soul formation. Chen Mobai thought to himself after conversing with Ye Bogui.

As the foremost alchemy sect in the Eastern Wilds, the Rejuvenation Valley boasted not only Yan Shaoyin, a fourth-tier alchemist, but also Ye Bogui, one of the top third-tier alchemists. He often oversaw the refinement of Foundation Establishment Pills, and even Zeng Woyou of the Divine Wood Sect was less renowned than him. However, after Chen Mobai subtly probed his alchemy skills, he was greatly disappointed. This third-tier alchemist from the Eastern Wilds, in terms of foundational alchemy knowledge, was probably inferior to a second-tier alchemist from the Immortal Sect.

This was understandable, however, as to become a third-tier alchemist in the Immortal Sect, one had to master the principles of most third-tier medicines, whereas here, knowing just one was sufficient. For example, Chen Mobai himself had yet to pass the Immortal Sect's third-tier Talisman Master assessment because he didn't know many third-tier talismans. Of course, people in the Immortal Sect believed that Chen Mobai simply lacked the time to take the assessment. After all, with his potential to reach the Soul Transformation stage, becoming a third-tier Talisman Master would be effortless for him.

Yet, Yan Shaoyin was already the best alchemist in the Eastern Wilds, and even among the fourth-tier alchemists in Eastern Yi and Eastern Wu, he was considered an outstanding figure. If even he couldn't refine the three spiritual medicines for Nascent Soul formation, then Chen Mobai might have to seek solutions from the Immortal Sect. He couldn't possibly abduct Qing Nü, could he? Suddenly, this thought flashed through Chen Mobai's mind. Although Qing Nü was currently only at the Foundation Establishment stage, given her Celestial Spiritual Root aptitude, reaching Core Formation was only a matter of time. Moreover, she had no lingering attachments in the Immortal Sect... Lost in thought, Chen Mobai shook his head, feeling a bit whimsical. It was simply impossible.

“Sect Master Chen, we’ve arrived!”

By this point, they had teleported to the central area of the Flower Kingdom. Ye Bogui led them outwards. Stepping out of the teleportation array, a fresh scent of rice immediately wafted over them. Looking around, they saw plump rice grains, each the size of a pinky finger, on every stalk. Faintly visible on the husks were swirling dragon patterns. This must be the third-tier Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice!

Driven by an instinctive love for farming, Chen Mobai couldn't resist walking into the rice fields, squatting down to observe. Under the observation of his Void-piercing Spiritual Eyes, he saw the free spiritual energy and water vapor in the air transforming into wisps of spiritual mist. These were absorbed by the spiritual rice through the dragon patterns on its husks. Each time a pattern glowed, it indicated that the spiritual plant had completed a cycle of breathing and exhaling.

“May I touch it?” Chen Mobai turned and asked Ye Bogui, who was following behind, and another Rejuvenation Valley cultivator who was greeting them. Both men looked utterly surprised, clearly not expecting a distinguished Core Formation cultivator to ask permission from Foundation Establishment cultivators like themselves. Even if he had simply pulled out a stalk, they wouldn't have dared to utter a word.

“Of course, Sect Master Chen, feel free.”

After receiving permission, Chen Mobai nodded. As the top graduate in agronomy from the Martial Artifact Dao Academy, Chen Mobai held deep respect for every spiritual plant. This was because it was highly possible that a single weed in the experimental field might be a junior or senior’s final assignment. If one were to accidentally step on it and kill it, that student could glare at you with vengeful eyes until you graduated. Although this was the Sky River Realm, Chen Mobai's habits developed during his agronomy studies at the academy remained unchanged. He even took out a pair of thin white gloves from his storage pouch and put them on.

After reaching out and touching a stalk of the Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice, he used a spiritual plant resonance spell from the Immortal Sect to sense the plant’s growth conditions. Although it was not as effective as Zhuo Ming's Myriad Spirit Connection, under the enhancement of Chen Mobai's Core Formation stage cultivation, he still perceived some information. The earth energy absorbed by the Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice stalks seemed different from ordinary earth energy, filled with another kind of dense power. When this combined with the spiritual mist absorbed by the dragon patterns on the husks, it condensed into the purest elemental energy, nourishing each spiritual rice grain for robust growth and maturation.

“Is this type of earth energy unique to the Flower Kingdom? Or was it cultivated by the Starcraft Dao Sect through array formations?” Chen Mobai personally leaned towards the first conjecture. After all, the Starcraft Dao Sect had specifically requested the Flower Kingdom's territory after the Eastern Wilds were first opened up. It must be that this place possessed some special characteristics, making it highly suitable for the growth of Coiling Dragon Spiritual Rice. But to know the true facts, he would need to ask an expert.

Chen Mobai sensed two Core Formation auras approaching from not far away and couldn't help but stand up.

“Sect Master Chen, it was supposed to be your visit, yet we unexpectedly had you come all the way to the Flower Kingdom. We are truly sorry,” said a lean old man with grayish-white hair. Chen Mobai had never met Yan Shaoyin, but he knew this person must be him. Beside him stood a robust, ruddy-faced old man wearing the distinctive silver-gray Starcraft Daoist robe, clearly Yu Shuji of the Starcraft Dao Sect.

“Not at all,” Chen Mobai replied. “Preventing locust plagues is everyone's responsibility in the Eastern Wilds. Rather, it is Master Yan and Master Yu who have worked hard. Please don't hesitate to mention anything you need help with.”

As soon as Chen Mobai spoke these words, the atmosphere immediately livened up. After all, the Divine Wood Sect was now the foremost power in the Eastern Wilds. In recent years, their campaigns against Trembling Mountain Peak, their killing of the Southern Profound Sect's Core Formation cultivator, and their slaying of Nan Shidao from Mount Liujia had spread their fearsome reputation far and wide, even beyond the Eastern Wilds to other realms. Although the Starcraft Dao Sect was not afraid, as businessmen, they always prioritized harmony for wealth. If a conflict truly arose with the Divine Wood Sect because of the Rejuvenation Valley, Yu Shuji, as the Vice President of the Great Starcraft Merchant Guild responsible for the Eastern Wilds, would undoubtedly bear the responsibility. Therefore, Chen Mobai's friendly demeanor made him the most pleased.

“Sect Master Chen is a young prodigy,” Yu Shuji proactively responded. “When I was in Eastern Peak, my disciples told me you were a dragon among men. Seeing you today, it is indeed true.” With Yu Shuji's proactive response, Chen Mobai immediately engaged him in conversation. Upon asking, he learned that Lou Xuelong and Qu Xiuxian, with whom he had interacted at the auction house in the past, were actually Yu Shuji's disciples.

“What a coincidence,” Chen Mobai said. “Are those two virtuous nephews here?”

“Xuelong failed his Core Formation and is still recuperating within the sect,” Yu Shuji replied. “Xiuxian, however, came with me and is currently directing the Rejuvenation Valley's people to scout for and capture earth spirit locusts, striving not to miss a single one.”

Chen Mobai and Yu Shuji conversed joyfully, while Yan Shaoyin on the side felt somewhat uneasy. The most advantageous outcome for the Rejuvenation Valley would naturally be for the Divine Wood Sect and the Starcraft Dao Sect to clash. In such a scenario, to secure the spiritual rice and medicinal herbs from the Flower Kingdom in the Eastern Wilds, the Starcraft Dao Sect would inevitably provide stronger support to the Rejuvenation Valley. Yan Shaoyin might even be able to leverage this to obtain items related to Nascent Soul formation, even if not miraculous elixirs, then at least some insights into forming a Nascent Soul.

However, this Sect Master Chen of the Divine Wood Sect, despite his youth, was even more refined and tactful in his dealings than an old man like him. He didn't seem at all like the unparalleled sword dao genius who had achieved fame at a young age! Shouldn't sword cultivators be straightforward and unyielding, preferring to break rather than bend?

After observing from the side and seeing Chen Mobai and Yu Shuji conversing with increasing cheer, Yan Shaoyin could only interject to prevent his sect's greatest backer from being swayed by the Divine Wood Sect. However, after a while of discussion, Yan Shaoyin was shocked to discover that his knowledge of spiritual plants somewhat lagged behind the insights of these two. Yu Shuji was a renowned fourth-tier spiritual plant master, so it was understandable that Yan Shaoyin was not his equal. But how could Sect Master Chen of the Divine Wood Sect, who was clearly famous in the Eastern Wilds for his sword dao talent, also possess such profound attainments in spiritual plants?

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