In the blink of an eye, Su Yu has been in the medicinal garden for half a month.
He had completely memorized the booklet given by his master, Su Changyu, and also successfully cultivated the Spirit Accumulation Technique. Although his progress was slow, in these two weeks, his proficiency reached 4.1%.
His cultivation of the Body Refinement Techniques and Green Wood Formula also improved, growing faster than when he was at the Su family residence.
However, after reaching the third layer of the Body Refinement Techniques, the difficulty of advancing was greater than Su Yu had anticipated.
He expected that it would take him at least six months to break through to the fourth layer of the Body Refinement Techniques, rather than the two or three months he initially thought.
Of course, if he had more monster blood to aid him, the time required could be significantly reduced.
Luckily, after becoming a medicine farming disciple in the medicinal field, Su Yu's monthly earnings increased significantly. Along with the occasional attacks by earth rock rat monsters that get killed, he was able to trade for more monster blood here.
After half a month of leisure time, Su Yu began to learn the planting of spiritual medicine with Su Changyu and examine his understanding and comprehension of the properties of spiritual medicine.
A few days later, there was a trading fair at the medicinal manor.
At the trading fair, Su Yu saw Su Qingyi, whom he hadn't seen in half a year, and was surprised to find that Su Qingyi's cultivation level had reached the third level of the Qi Refinement Realm.
Breaking through from the first level of the Qi Refinement Realm to the third level in just over a year, this progress surprised Su Yu.
Although Su Qingyi was blessed with a mid-grade Spiritual Root, wasn't this progression a bit too fast?
Breaking through to the third layer of the Green Wood Formula would probably take him more than a year and a half.
Su Qingyi had a stall, and the immaturity he had half a year ago had faded a lot. He no longer looked like a pampered young master of a family. He also traded monster blood at his stall, which Su Yu needed.
When Su Qingyi saw Su Yu, he was not surprised. After asking what Su Yu needed, he laughed and said, "I also have second-grade mid-stage monster blood. Two pieces of low-grade Spirit Stones will get you five drops."
"Deal." Su Yu naturally wouldn't refuse. This price was a bargain.
Su Qingyi warmly said, "There will still be monsters appearing in the medicinal field from time to time. If you encounter any troubles you can't solve, you can find me."
"If you discover monster traces, you can also find me, we can share the profits."
Looking at Su Qingyi in this state, it seemed that he had already become accustomed to the environment of the cultivation world.
From him, Su Yu saw a bit of the template of the low-level cultivator boss NPC that he encountered when playing the cultivation game before.
After chatting for a while, Su Yu left the trading fair and returned to his room.
With his current cultivation at the third level of the Body Refinement Techniques, he can now refine one drop of second-grade mid-stage monster blood at a time.
While cultivating the Body Refinement Techniques, Su Yu thought of a point suggested by Su Qingyi: "Earth rock rat... I might be able to hunt them myself, earn some money and get some blood to cultivate the Body Refinement Techniques."
With the power of the third layer of his "Crocodile Demon 108 Physical Training Techniques", even if he encountered an earth rock rat on par with the fourth level of the Qi Refinement Realm, he wouldn't be afraid.
Moreover, he knew a method to kill earth rock rats without even lifting a finger.
In the early missions of the cultivation game he used to play, there was a task to trap and kill earth rock rats by using a special bait.
The bait, specifically made for earth rock rats, could lure them out. Once they ate the bait, the rats would faint and be easily slaughtered.
Su Yu wasn't sure whether other cultivation powerhouses knew about this method or not, but the members of the Su family, who haven't been in contact with spirit veins and earth rock rats, probably didn't.
"Blue Land Flower, rosemary, Shadow Cloud grass... and green wood oil, these are all common materials, which can be collected from the medicinal field." Su Yu thought to himself.
Upon deciding, he started to act.
After finishing the cultivation of the Body Refinement Techniques, Su Yu began to collect the ingredients for the bait.
It only cost him one low-grade Spirit Stone to gather the materials needed to make five portions of the bait.
Having simply ground the five ingredients into powder and placed them in a jade vial, Su Yu thought to himself, "I'll try again tonight."
There was still plenty of time, so he followed Su Changyu to the medicinal field to complete today's task.
With the technique of cultivating spiritual medicines, he was becoming aware of their growth state. By practicing and integrating the knowledge he had previously memorized, he was achieving a comprehensive understanding.
Seeing Su Yu grasp the art of nurturing spiritual medicine in such a short time, Su Changyu sighed, "Little Yu, you're the most talented person I've seen in all these years. None of your three senior brothers have managed to comprehend the art of nurturing spiritual medicine."
Su Yu quickly responded, "I was just lucky. Last year, I went with the Family Head to the Yunjian Sect to take the apprentice test. My comprehension score in the second round was below average."
"And I also have a lower-grade spiritual root. It took me over a year to breakthrough from the first stage to the second stage of the Qi Refinement Realm."
"Please, teacher, don't praise me anymore, or I'll lose my motivation to cultivate."
"You... alright." Su Changyu was momentarily taken aback by these words, then laughed heartily, refraining from repeating his earlier praise of Su Yu's talent.
However, he took Su Yu's potential far more seriously, letting him learn alongside him every day.
At night.
Su Yu arrived at a remote medicinal field and chose five spots to lay down some Spirit Rice mixed with beast-attracting powder, then moved away to wait quietly.
After more than six hours, late in the night, Su Yu checked and found that the beast-attracting powder had successfully lured two Earth Rock Rats.
One was less than a foot in size, merely a small beast at the 1st or 2nd stage of the Qi Refinement Realm. The other was nearly two feet in size, a mid-stage first rank magical beast.
"Win!" The sight of the large magical beast instantly delighted Su Yu.
He went over, grabbed its head, and twisted hard. Using the tremendous strength of the third level of the Crocodile Demon 108 Physical Training Techniques, he twisted its head a full rotation and ceased only when it had no breath left.
Having dealt with the larger Rock Rat, he slapped the smaller one, and with a muffled bang, the beast's head exploded.
Destroying the remaining three portions of Spirit Rice mixed with the beast-attracting powder, Su Yu quietly made his way back carrying two Earth Rock Rats.
Since the beast-attracting powder had a time limit of six hours, the remaining three portions were already useless. Destroying them ensured no one would discover what he'd done.
Back in his quarters, Su Yu skinned and drained the blood from the two Earth Rock Rats.
The essence blood of a magical beast is the blood from its heart, which is a concentration of its power and the essence of the beast's condensed strength. It is quite scarce.
From the small Rock Rat, Su Yu only obtained twenty-three drops of first stage early stage beastly essence blood.
He got more from the larger Rock Rat, forty-one drops of first stage mid-stage beastly essence blood.
The cost of one lower-grade Spirit Stone brought him materials worth roughly thirty lower-grade Spirit Stones.
"With all this beastly essence blood to assist in my cultivation, I might be able to breakthrough to the fourth stage of Body Refinement in just two or three months," Su Yu thought, pleased.
What pleased him even more was that the game task from his past life of luring and hunting Earth Rock Rats actually worked in real life.
Besides the proficiency panel, he now had an additional edge to survive in this cultivation world.
Of course, the success of the beast-attracting powder recipe was due to its easy composition.
Some of the other more unusual formulas he knew from the cultivation game of his past life, such as Alchemy and Artifact Refining, would probably need testing and refining.
Yet Su Yu was already content. Compared to others, he at least knew what the recipe of a dish was, the proportions needed, and what came next was just timing and temperature.
Moreover, beyond these formulas, the vast wealth lay in the other knowledge and task strategies he possessed.
"Let me save up some money to buy a suitable magic artifact." Su Yu felt pressing when he thought of the possibility of a first rank Spirit Vein lying beneath where the Earth Rock Rat had appeared. A low-grade magic artifact would cost at least several dozen lower-grade Spirit Stones.
Currently, he didn't have that much money, he needed to save up slowly.