Chapter 25:
Plant Restoration
REALIZING ABRUPTLY what this looked like, the two of them yelped in surprise. Bailuo jumped to his feet and tidied his clothes. “Ahem, don’t misunderstand. Second Shixiong and I were…”
“Just sparring!”
“…Fighting over a drumstick!”
The two spoke at the same time, and the atmosphere grew even more awkward.
They glared at each other. Zimo picked up the drumstick from the ground and brushed the dirt off the leaf wrapper. As he passed by Mo Tianliao on his way out, he whispered, “Bailuo’s in a bad mood. Don’t provoke him further. He’ll bite.”
Smack! A clod of dirt hit Zimo squarely on the back of his head, making him stumble. Mo Tianliao expected Zimo to retaliate, but he used the forward momentum to dash off without once looking back.
Mo Tianliao turned to look at Bailuo, only to see him squatting by the bald Swordleaf Grass, looking at it worriedly.
Mo Tianliao noticed the bare stem. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Uh, someone ate these leaves, but without leaves, it will die soon.” Bailuo looked up pitifully at Mo Tianliao with wide eyes.
Mo Tianliao crouched beside him. “I’ve learned a new technique named Spring Revival. Want me to try?”
“It won’t work.” Bailuo shook his head. “This is an Earth-grade spiritual herb.”
Spiritual herbs and trees were classified into four grades: heaven, earth, black, and yellow. The higher the grade, the more valuable and the harder it was to cultivate. Heaven-grade ones were rare, like the Three Mulberry Soul-Condensing Fruit his own senior had found. Typically, an earth-grade spiritual herb was considered a high-level material.
Spring Revival couldn’t even save a yellow-grade spiritual herb, much less this earth-grade plant.
Mo Tianliao touched the Swordleaf Grass and channeled a wisp of wood energy, along with the regenerative power of the undying tree, into the spiritual herb. Soon enough, a tiny, inconspicuous sprout had emerged on the stem.
Mo Tianliao quickly retracted his hand. He had initially meant to find a spiritual herb to test out his power, but he really hadn’t been expecting the regenerative power to revive even a low-grade spiritual herb. He pursed his lips as he considered what to do next.
Bailuo, finally processing what had happened, grabbed the hem of his clothes. “You—” He’d been staring at this spiritual herb for a whole day, so he could make out even the slightest change. “What an amazing ability!” The normally quiet Bailuo sprang up in delight and pulled Mo Tianliao deeper into the garden.
Shockingly, this medicinal garden of rare spiritual herbs had many half-dead plants. Some had rotten fruits, some were missing half their leaves, and bizarrely enough, some even had broken roots.
“How in the world did this break?” Mo Tianliao held a broken root with a jagged end, feeling very puzzled indeed.
Bailuo instinctively shrank inward at the question. “Uh, it was b-bitten off.”
“Bitten?” Mo Tianliao was even more astonished now. The place was heavily guarded, with a protective barrier in place. Humans, birds, and beasts wouldn’t be able to enter. It couldn’t have been insects, could it?
Bailuo lowered his head and picked at the dirt. How did this junior manage to make him as nervous as his eldest senior always did? “Never mind that. Just see if you can fix it.”
Mo Tianliao fiddled with the broken root, a plan starting to form in his mind. “Shixiong, I assume this has to be kept secret from the others, including the sect leader, right?”
Bailuo’s head snapped up and he looked at him coolly.
“I’ve only just found out about this ability of mine today. If word got out, it’d cause trouble for me too.” Mo Tianliao patted Bailuo on the shoulder as if he hadn’t seen the murderous intent in his eyes. “How about this? We’re brothers, right? So we should keep each other’s secrets. If you don’t tell anyone, I’ll help you fix these plants. Deal?”
Bailuo nodded vigorously, touched. “Of course! We’re brothers!”
Mo Tianliao smiled. He now had leverage over Bailuo, and since the guy needed him to come regularly to restore the spiritual herbs, he definitely wouldn’t sell him out.
Holding the severed ends together, Mo Tianliao aligned the roots and channeled wood energy to stimulate the growth of tiny new roots. The severed ends didn’t reconnect, but the plant could survive now. But two plants in, Mo Tianliao broke out in a sweat, and his lips turned pale—signs of spiritual energy depletion. He gasped for breath. “Shixiong, my spiritual energy is exhausted. What if I come another day—”
“No worries, I have spiritual stones.” Unwilling to let him leave, Bailuo took out a handful of low-grade spiritual stones.
Mo Tianliao glanced at them and lowered his eyes. “Fine, but the spiritual energy from these low-grade spiritual stones isn’t pure, so the restoration effect won’t be as good.”
“Then we won’t use low-grade ones.” Bailuo took out another handful of glowing, evenly colored spiritual stones, each the size of a baby’s fist.
Different grades of spiritual stones had different purity and volume. Using high-grade spiritual stones was beneficial to the meridians, since there was less residue and thus less obstruction.
Marveling at how gullible Bailuo was, Mo Tianliao pocketed the spiritual stones so that he could take them out one by one as he needed them. As he absorbed spiritual energy from the spiritual stones, he channeled it to the plants. Once each stone was depleted, he would start absorbing from a new one, boosting his own spiritual power in the process. This was how Mo Tianliao had cultivated in his previous life—as an artificer, he’d had a never-ending supply of spiritual stones.
The two crouched in the medicinal garden restoring plants the whole day. They discovered that Mo Tianliao’s Spring Revival couldn’t speed up the growth of spiritual herbs or revive ones that were already dead; it could only increase their vitality.
Where his regenerative power revolved around undying life force, spring revival was all about rebirth.
“So, your technique shouldn’t be called Spring Revival but Perpetual Regeneration,” Bailuo suggested.
Mo Tianliao looked at Bailuo in surprise. But the guy was only saying it offhandedly, he realized. He smiled and bade him farewell, citing the late hour.
“Hey, wait!” Bailuo felt bad seeing Mo Tianliao’s pale face and passed him a basket of spiritual fruits. “Thank you very much for your help today. Take these and remember to visit often!”
Mo Tianliao looked at the fresh, juicy spiritual fruits. These weren’t precious medicinal materials; rather, they were fire-element spiritual fruits called Flamefruit, which not only contained pure fire spiritual energy but also tasted delicious.
In actuality Mo Tianliao had only used up half of the high-grade spiritual stones and pocketed the rest without any guilt, and that balance had more than made up for his fee today.
Mo Tianliao accepted the basket with a smile.
After returning to Qingning Palace, he meditated for a night to recover his spiritual energy before taking out the Three Mulberry Soul-Condensing Fruit.
He’d tested his skill on several damaged spiritual fruits yesterday and found that partially eaten fruit couldn’t be restored to its uneaten form, but fruit that was no longer fresh could become plump and juicy again. Holding a high-grade spiritual stone, he absorbed the spiritual energy through his left palm and channeled it into the wrinkled fruit through his right.
Depleted of its spiritual energy, the spiritual stone in his left hand disintegrated into gray powder. One high-grade spiritual stone wasn’t enough to restore a heaven-grade celestial fruit, of course, so Mo Tianliao quickly took out another without interrupting the flow of spiritual energy. It took three high-grade spiritual stones and all of Mo Tianliao’s spiritual energy to just barely restore the wrinkled fruit, making it plump and juicy. Now, the red fruit was almost transparent. Occasionally, a spiritual light glowed within, making it look like a superior fire crystal.
Mo Tianliao wiped the sweat from his brow and returned the Three Mulberry Soul-Condensing Fruit to the frost jade box. Making his way next door to look for his senior, he chanced upon several second-generation disciples.
“Are you looking for my shifu?” the ever gentle and enthusiastic Suheng asked. “I saw him heading to Qingning Palace earlier.”
Mo Tianliao nodded, guessing he’d gone there to look for their shizun. In that case, he could just deliver the fruit directly.
Qingning Palace appeared especially bright in the daylight. His stunning master in white lounged lazily on the plush couch, reading a book. Most high-level cultivators preferred jade slips that could convey information instantly, but he had to admit that the sight of this beautiful man holding a book was truly enchanting. His long hem trailed to the ground, and his bare feet rested on a tiger rug that accentuated their fairness, while his toes peeking through the fur were round and dainty, with a hint of pink.
Mo Tianliao stared, spellbound. He’d never imagined a man’s feet could be so attractive. He mentally swallowed his drool and approached, softly calling out, “Shizun…”
The tiger rug snapped its eyes open and stared at him with eyes as big as copper bells—it was alive!
✦ ✦ ✦
MINI EXTRA
Shizun’s Unique Taste in Choosing Disciples.
Woodworker: Why did Shizun take Shixiong as a disciple?
Eldest Shixiong: Obviously, because of my intelligence, exceptional aptitude, and adorable looks!
Shizun: It happened to be winter that day.
Woodworker: What has that got to do with anything?
Shizun: I needed a paw warmer.
Eldest Shixiong: QAQ