"Little Brother Lu, it's been a long time. How have you been?"
Zhang Hong greeted Lu Xuan with a hearty laugh.
"Thanks for your concern, Brother Zhang. Everything's fine. Instead, congratulations on your safe return from the wilderness."
Lu Xuan said with a smile.
"Haha, I got lucky, suffered only minor injuries, and luckily found some treasures."
"I came here to thank you, Little Brother Lu."
"My wife told me that you helped eradicate the pests that infested our spirit fields."
"And that little rascal, ever since he came back, he's been bragging about how he can now earn spirit stones and even plans to support the family with them!"
Thinking of Zhang Xiu Yuan's proud face, Zhang Hong laughed heartily.
"There's no need for formalities, Brother Zhang. You've helped me so much before, what I did is nothing in comparison."
"As for Little Yuan, he has saved me a lot of time and unnecessary troubles, so a little reward should be given."
"What can a child like him do!"
"To my surprise, Little Brother Lu, I thought you would just peacefully cultivate your spirit fields, but I didn't expect you to possess such swordsmanship skills."
"With it, you can beat many cultivators of the Third Layer of Qi Cultivation."
Zhang Hong exclaimed.
With the concealment method covering him, Lu Xuan was not worried that Zhang Hong would detect his true cultivation level.
"Our spirit field was among the first affected by the pest infestation, it almost cost me seven spirit stones to hire a Middle-Stage Qi Practitioner to solve it."
"In order to prevent this from happening again, I bit the bullet and purchased a first-grade sword technique. I didn't expect to progress so slowly in my spiritual power cultivation, but I found some talent in mastering the sword technique."
"I progressed quickly with the sword technique, and even reached a point where I could help others get rid of pests, so I thought of making some spirit stones by using it to cover its costs."
Lu Xuan made up a reason to explain how he used the Golden Sword Technique to solve the pest problem.
Zhang Hong believed him without any doubts.
The two chatted for a while, and naturally the conversation turned to Zhang Hong's experience of exploring the wilderness mystery this time.
"The Wang Clan's Array Mage broke two formations, according to the Middle-Stage Qi Practitioners who entered deeper into the secret land, this new secret land is not smaller than Linyang Market, and there are countless spirit plants and spirit medicines inside."
"We Loose Cultivators at the second and third stages of Qi cultivation only operated on the periphery, lacking the ability or qualification to enter the deeper parts of the wilderness."
"I followed a group of Loose Cultivators, collecting spirit plants and clearing out some low-level demon beasts."
"Even though there were senior cultivators from the Wang family defending at the front, it was said that the casualties were still considerable, about one-third."
"Our little squad was relatively lucky. We only encountered two dangerous situations. One time, while collecting spirit plants, we encountered a mutated plant. It was extremely aggressive and good at disguising itself, and two cultivators were unwittingly sacrificed."
"On another occasion, we encountered a peculiar demon beast, a spider with a human face. It was incredibly fast, and we couldn't see it clearly. One of the Loose Cultivators was cut in half by it. Thankfully, a high-tier Qi Cultivator arrived in time to eliminate it."
Thinking of these two encounters, Zhang Hong turned pale, showing a lingering fear. The shadow left by these events was not small.
Lu Xuan on one side listened with interest. After all, he didn't have to experience it personally, hearing the stories was quite entertaining.
"So, Little Brother Lu, are you interested in going? The opening of the new secret land has the biggest rewards and risks. After that, both will lessen."
"Of course, this is only known for the periphery of the wilderness, what's happening inside, I couldn't tell."
Seeing Lu Xuan's interested expression, Zhang Hong laughed and invited.
"No, thank you. With my low cultivation level and my lack of proficiency in combat, and without any magical talismans on hand, I'd better stay and continue being a Spirit Plant Master."
He said with a smile.
The spiritual power cultivation from the white light cluster was poorly accumulated, and the magical talismans and elixir brought by the light cluster were scant, so they were practically 'non-existent'.
Zhang Hong just casually mentioned it and then dropped the subject.
"By the way, Brother Zhang, did you acquire any unknown wild spiritual seeds during your trip to the Wilderness Mystery? If so, I can buy them with spirit stones,"
Lu Xuan deflected the topic and asked.
"Unknown wild spiritual seeds? Wild spiritual seeds are rare to begin with, let alone unknown species."
"I didn't come across any myself, but I heard that a loose cultivator discovered a wild spiritual seed in a desolate part of the Secret Land. I will check it out for you."
"Just keep in mind that the type of this spiritual seed is unknown, as is the cultivation method. If you want to cultivate it, Little Brother Lu, you might be taking on a significant risk. You could just be wasting your time and spirit stones."
Zhang Hong couldn't help but advise after hearing Lu Xuan's inquiry.
"I just want to try it out, not betting on a slim chance of success."
"If I fail, I can still gather some experience growing spiritual plants and widen my horizons."
Lu Xuan found an excuse to dodge the subject.
"All right! I will ask around for you!"
Zhang Hong nodded and said.
He was very efficient, and brought some good news two days later.
In the Zhang Family Courtyard.
He introduced Lu Xuan to a bald monk who was at the Third Layer of Qi Cultivation.
"This is Friend Long, very strong."
"This is Little Brother Lu. He has some talent in cultivating spirit plants. He would like to know more about the unknown spiritual seed in your possession."
Zhang Hong introduced Lu Xuan and the bald monk to each other, and quickly got to the point.
"This spiritual seed, I found it in a desolate area on the periphery of the Secret Land. At the time, I found more than ten wild spiritual seeds, and a deacon from the Wang Family rewarded me with one."
"I still haven't figured out exactly what species it is, but judging by the location where it was found, it should at least be First Grade."
"If Brother Lu wants it, you can take it for five spirit stones."
The bald monk spoke directly.
Lu Xuan took the spiritual seed from him and examined it closely.
The spiritual seed was shaped like a small fungus, dark red in color, with something resembling blood vessels visible on the surface. A viscous substance was slowly flowing through those vessels.
"Five spirit stones, that is not expensive. The price was the same when I obtained the Red Cloud Pine."
"However, by looking at the strange and peculiar spiritual seed, its rank and rarity definitely do not fall short of the Red Cloud Pine. If the exact species was known, the price would definitely have been much higher than the Red Cloud Pine."
Lu Xuan thought to himself and quickly made a decision.
"Friend Long, I'll take this spiritual seed."
"Brother Lu is very straightforward."
One handed over the spirit stones and the other gave the spiritual seed. Both showed faint smiles.
The bald monk was delighted that the unknown wild spiritual seed could bring him five spirit stones. Lu Xuan was glad to have another rare spirit plant in his spirit field.
And the white light clusters that come when the spiritual plant matures were even more important.
Back at home, he activated the Earth Pulling Technique, clearing a small spot in the spirit field and planting this dark red fungus.
Focusing his mind, detailed information about the spirit plant flashed through his brain.
"Dark Marrow Mushroom, a Second-Level spiritual plant. After maturing, it can be used to refine some body refinement elixirs or can be directly consumed to strengthen a cultivator's physique."
"It's a plant that grows in dark places. It doesn't need light or spirit rain, it only wants to stay in the dark, accompanied by rotting spirit wood."