Chapter 17

Chunchou naturally knew nothing about Xie Youyou’s situation.

At the time, he had only known that the four younger siblings had been taken away by the largest sect on Guiyuan Continent—the Guiyuan Sword Sect.

Such a great sect—how could it possibly be unreliable?

Thus, he had wholeheartedly planned to go to Guiyuan City to seek out the Guiyuan Sect.

However, Liu Ting’er, who had been reborn, knew the truth all too well. The flying treasure ship that had traveled from the mortal-immortal realm to the cultivation world had encountered an attack.

Xie Fusheng and Xie Yaoyao had not fallen from the ship. But Xie Changnian and Xie Youyou had unfortunately fallen and vanished without a trace.

Xie Fusheng and Xie Yaoyao are relatively easy to be found. As for Xie Youyou and Xie Changnian… this elder brother of the Xie family would likely have to search for a very long time.

Even so, Liu Ting’er had no intention of telling Chunchou any of this. Once she spoke, her secret of rebirth would no longer be a secret—how could she possibly explain it? Moreover, she still wanted the treasure in Xie Xiao Wu’s hands.

In this life, she only needed to protect herself and find a way to kill the person who had destroyed their entire town. That would be enough.

The beast tide raged. The entire city was sealed.

Yet Chunchou and Ling Wuji quietly settled into a rhythm of domestic life.

Though Chunchou worried about the siblings who carried precious treasures, the Guiyuan Sword Sect was, after all, a major sect. The four of them could look after one another; surely they would not fare too badly.

More importantly, Guiyuan Sword Sect was far away. Even if he wished to travel there, he would first have to remain in Canglan City for a year, obtain an identity jade token, and only then qualify to enter Guiyuan City.

No matter how anxious or frustrated he felt, there was nothing he could do for now.

So he set the matter aside.

Each morning, Chunchou rose early to feed the chickens and pigs. Fortunately, two kinds of spirit vegetables in the back courtyard were favorites of the spirit chickens and pigs, and they grew extremely quickly. Together with the feed stored in his spatial talismans, it was more than sufficient.

After that, he would busy himself in the spirit herb garden—cultivating, casting the Growth Technique, cultivating again, casting it again—three full cycles before stopping.

Then he practiced the basic body-tempering technique in the front yard.

Only after all this would he have breakfast with Ling Wuji.

After the meal, the two would go up to the rooftop together, chat for a while, observe the outside situation, and then return to the first floor. Each would sit on a meditation cushion and cultivate. Occasionally, while Chunchou cultivated, Ling Wuji would draw spatial talismans—until sunset, when they would dine again.

When the moon hung high, Chunchou would return to the rooftop, tending to the three spirit plants there beneath moonlight and the glow of night-pearls, and reading the cultivation manuals Ling Wuji had purchased.

As for Ling Wuji, he began each morning by drawing talismans and cultivating. When he saw Chunchou practicing body-tempering, he would go to the kitchen on the first floor to prepare breakfast.

After breakfast, they cultivated together on the rooftop. At dinner, Ling Wuji no longer cooked; instead, they ate the food stored in their storage space.

Evenings were Ling Wuji’s favorite time of day.

He could read—while occasionally glancing at Chunchou seated nearby.

At night, perhaps due to experiences from his previous life, Chunchou preferred sleeping more whenever there was nothing urgent. After one round of cultivation, he would lie down.

Ling Wuji, however, had little attachment to sleep. Aware that their financial foundation was not particularly strong, he slept only every other day. On the nights he stayed awake, he devoted himself to studying talismans and cultivating.

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

Chunchou’s spirit chickens and spirit pigs had all grown up!

After carefully studying the husbandry manual the vendor had given him, Chunchou realized they were growing at twice the normal rate.

The spirit herbs in the garden were also growing exceptionally fast, vibrant with life.

Even the three pots on the rooftop thrived. Chunchou felt that by the time the lockdown ended, the Marrow-Cleansing Grass could likely be sold.

Meanwhile, Ling Wuji’s cultivation had risen from the fifth layer of Qi Refining to the seventh layer.

A faint worry lingered on Ling Wuji’s face.

When Chunchou noticed, he smiled. “Isn’t cultivating quickly a good thing? And we’re in the cultivation world now—the spiritual energy here is far more abundant than in the mortal realm. Advancing is only natural.”

Only then did Ling Wuji smile slightly. “Indeed. The spiritual energy is different, after all.”

Chunchou studied him closely and saw that a trace of concern remained. He knew what Ling Wuji was thinking—his top-grade single ice spiritual root would inevitably allow him to cultivate far faster than Chunchou’s mixed spiritual roots. Ling Wuji might even be considering suppressing his own cultivation speed.

But Chunchou had no intention of allowing that.

His eyes rolled mischievously as he said with a grin, “The other day, while I was out, I heard people discussing a pair of Dao companions whose cultivation speeds differed. They didn’t know what to do, so someone offered them advice…”

Ling Wuji frowned slightly and listened attentively.

“They suggested the two practice dual cultivation often. If they choose a suitable dual cultivation method and practice frequently—well, their cultivation levels may still differ, but not by too much.”

Ling Wuji pondered. After a moment, he said, “In that case, with the spiritual energy of this realm, Chunchou’s Foundation Establishment should not be difficult. But forming a Golden Core… may be more challenging. If I form mine first, then Chunchou could extract supplementation from me.”

Chunchou had expected him to say “dual cultivation.” Instead, he used the term “extract supplementation.”

He immediately burst into coughing, his face flushing red.

Ling Wuji hurried over, patting his back soothingly, amusement flickering in his eyes. “What’s wrong with that? You keep saying ‘dual cultivation,’ yet you object to ‘supplementation’? And if you are the one extracting from me—this husband would gladly oblige.”

Chunchou: “…”

He had clearly underestimated how thick-skinned this man was.

“I will not extract from you!”

With that declaration, he stormed off, cheeks burning.

He needed to read more spiritual plant manuals and learn more spells!

Ling Wuji chuckled softly.

Supplementation might be rejected—but Chunchou hadn’t refused dual cultivation.

The bridal chamber. Dual cultivation.

He very much looked forward to it.

When Chunchou returned to his room, his face was still slightly red.

Dual cultivation, supplementation—those matters could wait until after Foundation Establishment!

For now, he should focus on learning more spells.

After the beast tide ended, he would work in the City Lord’s Manor’s spirit herb garden, so he had recently been studying plant-nurturing techniques.

At present, he knew only one wood-element spell: the Growth Technique. For some reason, that single spell alone had been sufficient so far—but the more he could learn, the better.

For example, the three basic spirit-plant techniques described in the manual he now held:

Raincloud Technique, Gengjin Technique, and Growth Promoting Technique.

The Raincloud Technique was a water-element spell used to irrigate large areas of spirit plants and aid their growth.

The Gengjin Technique was a metal-element spell with strong offensive power, used for large-scale pest detection and extermination.

The Growth Promoting Technique differed from the Growth Acceleration Technique by only one word. The Growth Technique consumed large amounts of spiritual power to double a plant’s growth speed. The Growth Promoting Technique, however, required far less spiritual energy—its function was merely to promote growth at a steady pace, rather than dramatically increase it.

When Chunchou had still been in the mortal-immortal realm, his cultivation level had been low and the surrounding spiritual energy thin. His Growth Technique had never been used to its full extent; in practice, it had functioned more like this so-called Growth Promotion Technique.

Back then, he had never even heard of a “Growth Promotion Technique.” Now he reasoned that perhaps such a spell was unsuitable in a realm with sparse spiritual energy. Instead, an incomplete Growth Technique had been more practical there.

All three of these spells were extremely useful to him.

Now that his spiritual herbs and plants were thriving and he had nearly finished reading the books Ling Wuji had bought, he began spending large amounts of time each evening studying the three techniques.

In the mortal-immortal realm, he had only been able to cultivate wood-element spells. But after arriving in the cultivation world, where spiritual energy was abundant, Chunchou gradually began sensing spiritual energy of other attributes as well.

He had a feeling that although he could not yet learn high-level spells of those other elements, these simple plant-nurturing techniques would not be beyond him.

And that proved true.

That very night, he memorized the incantations and hand seals for all three spells and could use them, albeit barely.

By the third day, he was standing in his small herb garden, casting the Raincloud Technique, Gengjin Technique, and Growth Promotion Technique one after another.

However, he was only at the sixth layer of Qi Refining. After casting all three spells once, he clearly felt that more than half the spiritual power in his body had been drained.

Chunchou: “…”

He truly felt as though his body had been hollowed out.

Still, the spells saved him a great deal of effort.

For example, he no longer needed to water or remove pests by hand.

He also came up with some convenient tricks.

He could first draw enough water to irrigate the entire herb garden and set it aside, then cast the Raincloud Technique—this way, it would not consume much of his spiritual power.

Next, he rummaged through the spiritual plant seeds he had brought from the mortal-immortal realm and nurtured several pest-repelling herbs. He planted them along the edges of the garden, greatly reducing the number of insects. After that, he only needed to cast the Gengjin Technique once every three days.

As for the Growth Promotion Technique, it was far simpler than the Growth Technique.

Chunchou gradually understood: these three spells were essential for spiritual plant cultivators managing large herb gardens. But for a small garden like his, certain spells—such as Growth Acceleration—could be replaced by the more powerful Growth Technique.

Even after figuring out these shortcuts, he still cast each of the three spells once per day on both his herb garden and the three plants on the rooftop. Afterward, he relied mostly on the Growth Technique to hasten their development, hoping to mature them quickly so they could be exchanged for spirit stones to support cultivation.

Three months passed in this way.

Perhaps because they repeatedly exhausted their spiritual power, cultivated, and repeated the cycle, both Chunchou and Ling Wuji advanced in cultivation.

Chunchou reached the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

Ling Wuji advanced to the eighth.

Of course, their progress was also due to the fact that they consumed spiritual food daily and cultivated within a Spirit-Gathering Array formed with spirit stones.

Now, however, they had fewer than one hundred spirit stones remaining.

Chunchou said, “We can’t touch these for now.”

By all logic, three months should have been enough for the beast tide to end. Yet it was still ongoing.

Whenever he deactivated the sound-isolating array, he could still hear countless demon beasts rushing past—the pounding of hooves, savage roars, and sometimes the final shrieks of something being devoured.

His expression grew complicated.

Ling Wuji clasped his hand. “What is it?”

Chunchou said quietly, “I was just thinking… this cultivation world truly is far more terrifying than the mortal-immortal realm. At least there, as long as you didn’t venture deep into the demon forests, ordinary life wasn’t so dangerous.”

They had barely emerged from the teleportation array before facing pursuit and attempted assassination. Now, they called this “self-isolation,” waiting for the beast tide to pass—but in truth, they were simply hiding to avoid being killed.

If the beast tide lasted long enough and households ran out of spirit stones to power their defensive arrays, the outcome for many residents of Canglan City would be hard to predict.

Ling Wuji opened his mouth to comfort him, but before he could speak, Chunchou’s tone lightened again.

“Fortunately, Fusheng and the others were taken together by the Guiyuan Sword Sect. No matter what, the four of them are in the same sect—they can look after each other. Once they grow a few years older, they’ll form their own little group within the sect.”

A faint smile curved his lips.

But in his heart, he wondered—

If that were true, how had Fusheng and Yaoyao eventually become the Great Demon Lord and Great Demon Lady?

He truly wished he could see them sooner.

He truly wished all four of them would be well.

If nothing else—

At least they must all stay alive.

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