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Chen Qing took out his flute, "Senior Brother Zhou, to be honest, I've been studying music recently."
Zhou Ke responded, "Junior Brother, is your mind really this unfocused?"
I'm talking to you about cultivating the Grass Spirit Gu, and you're talking about music with me?
Chen Qing laughed heartily, well, it's just that the materials for promoting our family's Grass Treasure, Brother Wang's place really has some great finds!
After paying a membership fee of a hundred Spirit Stones, only chatting with our dear Brother Wang can soothe the wounds in my heart.
Chen Qing said, "I've been discussing music with Fellow Daoist Wang Ye recently. Speaking of my Brother Wang, I could talk about him endlessly!"
...
After discussing music for an hour, the main door opened, and out walked a young man who seemed around thirty.
This person wasn't extraordinarily handsome, but wearing luxurious clothes, he appeared somewhat graceful.
Chen Qing silently cursed him for being all showy.
No matter how you looked at him, he was just off-putting.
As soon as Xiao Zhong stepped out, the cultivators on the water pavilion all stood up together, "Greetings, Senior Brother Xiao!"
Xiao Zhong smiled, "Everyone, please be seated. All of you have come from afar; apologies if my hospitality is lacking."
Everyone praised the sumptuous hospitality of Xiao Zhong.
Xiao Zhong continued, "Today's first matter is to welcome our new member, Junior Brother Chen!"
Chen Qing stood up, "Fellow Daoists, I am Chen Qing from Cold Wave Cave on Wuyou Mountain."
Xiao Zhong said, "This is Junior Brother Chen, who recently acquired a Grass Spirit Gu and is already able to manage eight acres of Gu Spirit Grass in one day."
"Among us, that's quite an achievement, so everyone should get to know him more."
Chen Qing clasped his hands towards everyone, "Lucky, just lucky."
They say colleagues are rivals, are you trying to create enmity for me by praising me like this?
Is this stirring up resentment for myself?
Xiao Zhong walked up to Chen Qing, warmly introducing him to the fellow cultivators attending the meeting.
Once Chen Qing sat back down, Xiao Zhong made arrangements, "Well, everyone should now exchange cultivation insights."
Chen Qing listened to the discussions around him and began to understand.
According to their explanation, cultivating the Grass Spirit Gu was essentially about serendipity.
Enhancing quality was generally the same as other Gu insects, continually trying different materials methodically until the Grass Spirit Gu's quality could no longer be improved.
And this was where it got the hardest.
Because when the Grass Spirit Gu reached this stage, it was about to transform.
Which was exactly where Chen Qing's Grass Spirit Gu was now, at the quality of Ninth Transformation.
Once a Gu insect reached Ninth Transformation, it could undergo Butterfly Transformation.
This step was exceedingly difficult, requiring luck and resources.
Once the Grass Spirit Gu advanced, it would transform into a butterfly, substantially enhancing its quality, ability, and gaining unique abilities.
And this was known as its "trait."
Xiao Zhong's Grass Spirit Butterfly could significantly boost the quality of aquatic Spirit Plants, which explained why Xiao Zhong had a lotus pond in his yard.
Some might say that through meticulous research or asking other Daoists, one could also learn these details, making the membership fee seem unworthy.
The crucial point was, Xiao Zhong had a notebook.
This notebook recorded the materials fellow cultivators used to enhance their Grass Spirit Gu's quality!
If cultivating the Grass Spirit Gu before felt like searching for a needle in a haystack, with this notebook, there was at least a general direction.
It narrowed the range of cultivation materials.
This notebook was the crucial part valued at a hundred Spirit Stones.
Of course, it only catered to quality improvement.
As for the materials needed for Butterfly Transformation, that was all nonsense.
When cultivating the quality, one might deduce the materials one at a time through trial, but the materials for transformation were different.
Several different materials might be needed for the advancement!
It was possible that you fed the Gu insect a hundred kinds of materials, and it only needed three of those.
Likely, they themselves didn't exactly know what specific materials were needed.
As a formal member who paid the membership fee, Chen Qing was also allocated a notebook.
When opened, it listed the names of the materials each cultivator used for their Grass Spirit Gu's growth.
At the end, there was a list arranged statistically based on probability from high to low.
The most cherished by everyone was precisely this list.
And among them, surprisingly, the highest-ranked was natural enhancement!
As much as twenty percent!
That is to say, twenty percent of the enhancements relied solely on luck.
For instance, a Gu insect might unintentionally eat something while tending the Spiritual Field and improve itself.
As for the rest, none managed to reach ten percent.
They listed more than thirty types of materials, ranked from high probability to low:
Ocher Yellow Essence, earth yellow, Withered Skin, Wood Drying, Spirit Wood Liquid, yellow jellyfish, Sky Blue Leaf...
As for how to achieve Butterfly Transformation and the materials for advancement, none were mentioned here.
Chen Qing glanced around, seeing everyone engrossed in studying the notebook meticulously; their eyes lit up whenever they spotted some special materials.
"Fellow Daoists, I have a bold hypothesis!"
"Do you think feeding it mica would be useful?"
As discussions grew increasingly intense, Chen Qing felt somewhat out of place.
It was as if they were still discussing the problem-solving process, while he already knew the answer.
Such a sensation was downright monotonous.
Zhou Ke got more excited, gesticulating wildly, "How did I forget about the Spirit Wood Heart?"
"Junior Brother Chen, do you think using the Spirit Wood Heart will have extraordinary effects?"
Chen Qing glanced at the Grass Spirit Gu in Zhou Ke's hand.
Goodness, it actually required fire copper!
Brother, your Grass Spirit Gu is a bit unusual!
"I notice most of the materials needed for the Grass Spirit Gu are earth, water, and wood attributes; the Spirit Wood Heart might be useful."
Brother, grieve no more; you'll probably never figure it out until you die.
Zhou Ke said, "By the way, Junior Brother Chen, why don't you join our discussion?"
Chen Qing just found them noisy.
"Maybe it's because my Grass Spirit Gu was already on the verge of transformation when it was first contracted?"
Suddenly, the four people sitting at this table fell silent.
Zhou Ke pondered, "Now that you mention it, indeed, it seems that being able to manage around eight acres means it's on the brink of advancing."
Once he said this, the four became even more silent.
They had painstakingly spent thousands, even tens of thousands, of Spirit Stones cultivating to this stage, while his was nearly ready for advancement when first contracted!
Sensing the increasingly muted atmosphere, Chen Qing found their table increasingly estranged from the entire environment.
During the silence, Xiao Zhong's child suddenly approached and softly whispered in Chen Qing's ear, "After the meeting concludes, my master invites you inside for a talk."
In the evening, Xiao Zhong shared some insights on cultivating the Grass Spirit Gu.
Mostly, it involved possible cultivation routes for the Grass Spirit Gu.
However, they were merely possibilities.
After rambling on for an hour, Chen Qing didn't pay much attention, and before long, it was late at night.
As everyone dispersed, Chen Qing drank a cup of spirit wine, then a child arrived.
"Master Chen, my master invites you inside for a talk."
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