Cultivating Immortality Starts with Planting Techniques

"So it's finally starting to show results?!" 

Li Ye looked at the system notification, a bit surprised and delighted. 

He subconsciously turned to glance at the Sunfire flower he had just tended to. 

From its state, it did appear slightly better than the others. 

Yet all 250 of these initial Sunfire flowers were personally cared for by him, and at least in the early stages, there shouldn't be much difference in their growth conditions. 

Now that the first one had yielded feedback, the others should soon follow. 

"Unfortunately, I've already been taking care of the other 750 for quite some time now, and they haven't even given a single bit of experience feedback. Who knows how long I'll have to wait…" 

Shaking his head, Li Ye refocused and began tending to the next flower. 

He went one by one, and by the time he was done, he'd received feedback about a dozen more times. 

Before leaving the spiritual field, Li Ye carefully dusted off the dirt from his hands, shaking it gently back into the soil. His movements were cautious, and he even checked himself over again to make sure he hadn't unknowingly taken any of the dirt with him. 

After all, this second-tier spiritual field's soil had been personally mixed by Elder Ji using Red Sun Soil. If the elder thought he was trying to steal it, wouldn't that be a huge misunderstanding? 

"Hm… The Sunfire flowers are growing well. Each one looks vibrant and full of life. Not a single one shows signs of withering. Compared to the batch I planted myself back then, these are far better…" 

"Li Ye, you've done an excellent job!" 

Elder Ji Qing had somehow appeared beside the field without Li Ye noticing. Seeing the vibrant flowers, he gave genuine praise. 

Li Ye immediately bowed respectfully. 

"I'm just doing my duty, Elder. Your praise is too generous." 

"No need to be so formal. Since you've handled things so well, I'll naturally reward you!" 

Elder Ji waved his hand dismissively, his eyes scanning Li Ye with a playful smile. 

"You've finally pushed through with your accumulated blood and energy. Based on the timing, it seems you reached the first level of Elephant Armor Technique a bit faster than normal…" 

"You're not afraid to invest resources, are you?" 

His tone was a bit odd, almost as if he believed Li Ye had gone all-in on body cultivation for some ulterior motive. 

Li Ye calmly replied: 

"I was born with a weak body, and after suffering a serious injury, my vitality deteriorated even more. I just don't want to go through that kind of pain again. That's why I committed to cultivating my body." 

"If it gives me even a little more power to protect myself, the resources are worth it!" 

"Hahahaha! Well said!" 

Elder Ji suddenly laughed heartily and slapped Li Ye on the shoulder. 

The force was so strong that even though Li Ye had already begun mastering body cultivation, half his body went numb from the impact. 

After laughing, the towering man withdrew his hand and shook his head with a touch of regret. 

"You've got a decent temperament. It's a shame your talent is lacking. Not only do you have a low-grade spiritual root, but it's an earth-wood attribute too. Mismatched with my core cultivation method. Your physical condition is barely passable at best. It's hard to say how far you'll go in the future…" 

"If your aptitude were even a little better, I might've considered taking you as a disciple!" 

Over the past few days, Ji Qing had watched Li Ye closely. 

He had solid skills in spiritual plant care, a calm and patient demeanor, clean hands, and a bit of cunning too. 

During the competition, he'd been both diplomatic and ruthless when needed. 

If only his aptitude were a notch better, Ji Qing would've already had him kneeling and acknowledging a master! 

The elder didn't care much about how his brutally honest words landed. 

To Li Ye, it felt like he'd been stabbed repeatedly in the heart. 

Ouch. That stung. 

What was the meaning of this? Where's the reward he mentioned? 

Not wanting to take me as a disciple is fine I wasn't that interested to begin with… 

But to stand there and just tear me down without giving anything in return? 

Though Li Ye kept a calm expression, his heart was already bleeding. 

If it were about anything else, he might have brushed it off but calling him talentless? 

That was something he couldn't stand! 

Still, the tightly controlled look on his face made Ji Qing feel a bit of sympathy. 

"Indeed, I won't take you as a disciple, but I'm not going to leave you empty-handed either!" 

His tone shifted, and after a moment's hesitation, he pulled out a jade slip and handed it to Li Ye. 

"This contains my cultivation insights from the Qi Refining stage. You can study it for reference." 

Li Ye received the jade slip with joy and immediately bowed deeply. 

"Thank you for your generosity, Elder! I'll do everything I can to continue caring for these spiritual plants!" 

"Good… If by the time the Sunfire flowers mature, more than 900 of them are still thriving, I'll reward you again!" 

Satisfied with Li Ye's reaction, Ji Qing nodded, gave a final reminder, and turned to leave. 

Only after he disappeared into the main hall did Li Ye let out a soft sigh, his expression a little complicated. 

"Talent, huh…" 

....... 

"Elder Ji is truly generous!" 

As he flipped through the jade slip in his hand, Li Ye couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. 

He had already tossed aside any bitterness about Elder Ji calling his aptitude poor! 

The contents of the slip included not only various problems Elder Ji had encountered while cultivating from the Qi Refining stage to Foundation Establishment, along with their corresponding solutions... 

But also a wide range of cultivation techniques, covering both spiritual power and body refinement. 

Just by skimming through it briefly, many of the lingering doubts Li Ye had been holding were answered he gained a lot from it. 

Toward the end, there was even a section recording some of Elder Ji's insights and experiences while breaking through to Foundation Establishment! 

As Li Ye read through that part, his face showed a hint of surprise. 

Even someone as physically strong as Elder Ji had found it extremely difficult to endure the violent influx of spiritual energy during the breakthrough he described the sensation as if his meridians were on the verge of bursting. 

In hindsight, Ji Qing concluded that it was due to a lack of mental fortitude; his divine sense hadn't developed enough to match the transformation of his spiritual power, leaving him unable to fully control the overwhelming surge. 

In the end, he had to rely on his physical body to endure until both his magical power and divine sense completed their transformation before gradually gaining control over the spiritual energy. 

"Magical power and physical strength determine the limit of what one can endure during the breakthrough, but it's the mind that determines whether the breakthrough goes smoothly…" 

Li Ye pondered deeply. 

After merging with the memories of his predecessor, his spiritual sense wasn't bad. He was relatively sensitive to external forces, and his alchemy practice had helped temper his mind to some extent… 

But even so, it still seemed lacking. 

"The problem is, techniques to enhance the mind are extremely rare. I asked Niu Ba about it in the library, but he said nothing like that existed on the floors he could access… Even if the sect has such techniques, there's no way I'd be able to get my hands on them!" 

"To be safe, I need to have no weak links among body, magic, and spirit that's the best way to maximize my odds during Foundation Establishment…" 

"But if I can't find any mental cultivation techniques, then I'll have to follow Elder Ji's example and push my body and magical power to their peak to brace for the breakthrough…" 

..... 

A few more days passed. 

Under Li Ye's careful care, all 250 of the Sunfire flowers he initially tended had provided spiritual essence feedback. 

In the end, he had gathered two full portions of Sunfire Essence! 

But as the excitement wore off, a realization suddenly struck him 

He didn't have any good way to use these two portions of essence! 

Directly refining them was out of the question they didn't match his attributes. 

If he tried to forcefully absorb them, the pure yang fire energy might ignite his wood-attribute magical power from within and cause him to self-destruct! 

The only viable option would be to refine them into pills, but that would require some of the top-tier first-grade yang-type pills just to be worthy of using such an ingredient! 

And at present, he neither had the recipe nor the alchemy skills to pull that off. 

All he could do was fantasize about it. 

So what was he supposed to just stash it away for now? 

He fell into thought for a moment, and then a previous idea surfaced in his mind. 

Gritting his teeth, Li Ye made his way toward the talisman-making room. 

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