Li Changsheng took a moment to think, then he grabbed a withered, green bamboo. With a slight tug, he plucked it out from the ground. It was not that Li Changsheng had superhuman strength, but the bamboo's roots were completely withered and did not hold a single drop of water.
"As I thought, during the gestation process, the Nature Faerie's embryo will forcibly absorb the Plant Essence in its surroundings, turning the nearby bamboos into its nourishment. That's why other than the bamboo tree that's conceiving the Nature Faerie, the other bamboos in the area have all wilted. And things might still get worse. Without enough Plant Essence, the Nature Faerie could die!"
When he reached this conclusion, Li Changsheng's expression hardened. The birth of the Nature Faerie was an extremely harsh process. During its gestation phase, it had to absorb copious amounts of Plant Essence. If it did not get enough, a miscarriage might occur.
Even if a miracle happened and it was successfully born, there could very possibly be some form of congenital deficiency, and its size and three stats would be inferior to that of a normal Nature Faerie.
In a book that Li Changsheng had read about Nature Faeries, he remembered there were several methods to save a Nature Faerie's embryo. The simplest method was to fertilize the surrounding land by increasing the nutrients and richness of the land with fertilizers such as plant ash, manure, pond mud, et cetera.
However, this method required a lengthy time. It was very difficult to provide a large amount of Plant Essence in a short time, and it could only delay the deterioration at most.
"Since one way won't work, let's try a three-pronged approach!" Li Changsheng rubbed his chin and made his decision.
He first took out a small pouch that contained a pile of colorful demon cores. He had accumulated these demon cores over the past few years, all of which were low-tier demon cores.
Quickly, Li Changsheng picked out the green demon cores which represented the Wood element. He did not have an abundance of them—he had only five Wood demon cores in total.
Wood demon cores were the energy source of Wood Faeries. According to the level of the demon core, it contained a decent amount of Plant Essence.
Without hesitation, Li Changsheng dumped all the Wood demon cores on the roots of the green bamboo that was incubating the Nature Faerie.
At the moment of contact, the five Wood demon cores started morphing, emitting a faint dark green glow that was continuously absorbed by the green bamboo, and finally became nutrients for the Nature Faerie.
Like rain after a drought, the Nature Faerie embryo absorbed it greedily, and the color of the demon cores started to fade visibly.
With this absorption speed, it would take half a day at most for the Wood demon cores' energy to be completely depleted.
"It's not enough, far from enough! The low-tier demon cores have too little energy!"
Li Changsheng shook his head. After covering the demon cores with soil, he immediately left the bamboo forest with Ai Xi.
There were thousands of servants in the Li Manor. Even though Li Changsheng did not have a personal maid, he still had two servants under his name.
Even though the two servants were puzzled when they were approached, they obeyed Li Changsheng's orders, and quickly dropped their present work and went about collecting various fertilizers for the young master.
There was plenty of ready-made fertilizer in the Li Manor. Manure and plant ash were easy to collect. Pond mud, on the other hand, was a lot more troublesome to procure, but that did not stop them.
"Thank you for your hard work, take these as your rewards! Also, don't tell anyone about this. If you do, don't blame me for being unpleasant, understood?"
To prevent the news from being leaked and overheard by people with nefarious intentions, Li Changsheng rewarded his servants and also gave them a severe warning.
As a preventive measure, Li Changsheng did not consider asking his servants to apply the fertilizer. Instead, he instructed them to hide the fertilizer in a corner of the courtyard.
When dusk came, Li Changsheng donned a disguise. He dressed up as a servant and carried the fertilizer on a long carrying pole. With Ai Xi on the lookout, he managed to stay out of sight and sneaked into the bamboo forest.
"Ai Xi, stand guard here. If you notice any movements, remember to alert me with your roars!"
On the outskirts of the bamboo forest, Li Changsheng deliberately asked Ai Xi to stay put. The Nature Faerie was extremely valuable. If someone else found out about it, they might try to reap the fruit of his efforts.
Soon, Li Changsheng arrived at the depths of the bamboo forest. He put down the fertilizer but did not apply it immediately. Under the dim glow of the moonlight, he plucked all the withered bamboos. Then, he took some of the healthier ones from nearby and planted them there.
The process may seem simple, but it was unnecessarily troublesome, especially since he could not make too much noise lest he attracted the attention of the nearby patrolling teams.
Ai Xi hid around the outskirts of the bamboo forest, its ears perked up, straining to listen to the movements of its surroundings. It was prepared to raise the alarm at any moment.
Time passed by. The moon dipped beneath the sky as the Sun rose to take its place. After a night of hard work, Li Changsheng had finished tidying up the surrounding land. The transplanted green bamboos had also been fertilized and were able to keep providing nutrients for the Nature Faerie.
Sigh~
After settling everything, Li Changsheng flopped onto the ground. He was covered head to toe in dirt, and there were even a few scrapes on his hands.
Li Changsheng had gone through a rough ordeal in the darkness.
However, the results were undoubtedly gratifying. Under the delicate care of Li Changsheng, the malnourished, yellow upper half of the green bamboo that was incubating the Nature Faerie had been completely restored. Their emerald green shade gave a soothing feeling.
After letting out a sigh of relief, Li Changsheng released his omniscience and checked the Nature Faerie's status.
[Demon Name]: Nature Faerie (Gestation Stage)
[Demon Level]: None
[Demon Class]: Low-class Warrior
[Demon Grade]: Unknown {The more Plant Essence absorbed, the greater the possibility of grade improvement.}
[Demon Bloodline]: Elemental Energy (Unknown)
[Demon Type]: Wood
[Demon Condition]: Healthy
[Demon Weakness]: Fire
Compared to yesterday, there were changes to the Nature Faerie's state. Its condition had changed from malnourished to healthy. At this rate, a healthy Nature Sprite would be gestated.
After recollecting his omniscience, Li Changsheng walked up to the green bamboo and overturned the pile of dirt, revealing the five demon cores that had almost turned completely white.
"That was fast!" Li Changsheng gasped. Judging by the color of the demon cores, they would run out of energy any second now. In a few moments, they would be completely exhausted.
"The more Plant Essence it absorbs, the higher the possibility of grade improvement!"
When he thought about the note in the { } brackets, Li Changsheng could not help but hesitate. If he was content with an ordinary Nature Faerie, he would not need to do anything. However, if he wanted to obtain a higher grade Nature Faerie, he would have to invest a hefty amount of Wood demon cores.
Li Changsheng did not want to give up, but a Nature Faerie was a big deal. He was thinking of buying or trading a large number of Wood demon cores from someone else, but he was worried he would arouse the suspicion of some crafty individuals.
Most importantly, Li Changsheng had limited financial resources. Even if he had used all his money to buy the Wood demon cores, he was worried that it might still be insufficient to raise the Nature Faerie's grade.
Of course, there was another option, which was to get a loan. However, firstly, he did not have many friends or relatives, and secondly, he did not have anything suitable that could be used as collateral. If he wanted to borrow a large number of Wood demon cores for free, the only person who came to mind was his second uncle.
Although his second uncle was rather lazy and rarely participated in clan affairs, he was very powerful. His status could be compared to the clan elders, and he was wealthy, of course.
After making his decision, Li Changsheng returned to the courtyard and met with Li Haoqiong.
By the pond in the small courtyard, Li Haoqiong was sitting on a low stool with his back leaning against a willow tree. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was sleeping.
As he walked up to Li Haoqiong, Li Changsheng was wary and on guard. He whispered, "Second Uncle!"
"Whoever you are, I won't forgive anyone who disturbs my sleep!" Li Haoqiong squinted and stood up abruptly. His awakening was no ordinary horror; not caring who it was who stood before him, he launched a fist at Li Changsheng's face without hesitation.
"Not the face!" Li Changsheng seemed to have expected the attack and squatted on the ground with his hands covering his face. What greeted him was a relentless onslaught from Li Haoqiong.
After a while, Li Haoqiong finally stopped moving. Then, he looked at Li Changsheng with a confused expression, which quickly changed into a look of dawning comprehension.
"Ah, it's Changsheng!"
"That hurts! I just knew this would happen. Second Uncle, I have reason to believe that you are jealous that I am more handsome than you, and you want to destroy my handsome face to drag my charm to the same level as yours. Then, you will finally defeat me with your extensive flirting experience as the deciding factor. I never expected that you were that kind of person!"
Li Changsheng clutched the back of his head. He had ten thousand reasons to believe that Li Haoqiong was envious of his handsome face.
"Hey, hey, there's no such thing! Alright, from the looks of it, there must be something you need from me? Shh, don't tell me, let me guess!"
Li Haoqiong waved his hands airily as if implying that his earlier actions were not deliberate, then he quickly switched the topic.
Whether it was deliberate or not, only he would know.
"Second Uncle, don't switch the topic!"
Li Changsheng did not speak anymore, but glared at Li Haoqiong, feeling goosebumps.
Ignoring Li Changsheng's complaints, Li Haoqiong turned around and said cheerfully, "My guess is that you've found a Nature Faerie that is being gestated, and you've come to borrow resources from me to increase its grade?"