It was midnight and there was a clear moon.
At the back of the valley, there was a hidden pathway. After a short walk through a shrub, the view ahead was a vast grassland with much flora and fauna.
When the sun rose, the view of the valley is clear. This surprised Minister Lin and Yu Qiuleng, but since they had already arrived, why not probe further?
The rice grains here were large as a pearl and shone under the moonlight.
There was also a fertile Jasper fruit tree. The deeper the colour, the stronger the medicinal effects of the Tuber Fleeceflower, and the ones here were purplish-black. There was also the Dragon Fruit Tree, Blue Star Grass, and many other common medicinal plants and food; it was as though the place had undergone a shocking transformation.
Of course, if people found out about this place, they would definitely take advantage of it.
Only in the legends would there be such a miraculous place!
And this type of place belonged to the Spirit Returning Sect.
If Fang Yuan had known about this place, he would scoff because only he knew that although this place was fertile, it was still not comparable to what was described in the legends.
"Master…"
Fang Yuan stood in front of an empty tombstone with sorrow upon him.
He was an orphan and was adopted by Master Wenxin. Master Wenxin was a highly talented and easy-going individual, who was an expert in botany and medicine.
Before his passing, he instructed Fang Yuan to cremate his body, scatter it across mountains, and if Fang Yuan ever wanted to pay his respects, erecting an empty tombstone would suffice.
After instructing Fang Yuan, Master Wenxin closed his eyes for the final time, and Fang Yuan had no choice but to journey alone. He guessed that his Master had too many enemies and was afraid that they would look for him even after his death, which was why he decided to cremate his body and erect the empty tombstone, so there was no way others could track Master Wenxin.
"I planted your favourite tea flowers… and the Nine Purple Grains have started to germinate…"
Fang Yuan continued to mumble to the empty tombstone, "Oh… and Minister Lin came to annul the marriage, but he sent us many gifts, including the Vermillion Jade Rice you mentioned. I shall plant it tonight!"
After his final prayers, Fang Yuan went to a specific empty plot of land.
The moon rose to the top and the moonlight was bright, making it rather visible.
With the aid of the moonlight, Fang Yuan used a hoe and carefully dug a hole and scattered the Vermillion Jade Rice in it.
"This Vermillion Jade Rice needs to be planted at night, the water needs to be directly from the sky, the spring water within the valley can barely be adequate. When first sowed, the soil has to be loosened every six hours, and it must be complemented with Still Fire Liquid…"
Fang Yuan mastered [Botany] under the guidance of Master Wenxin, but lacked hands-on practice.
Though it seemed effortless, his sweat trickled into the soil.
The spiritual plants were far more delicate than other types of plants, and therefore planting them requires more effort.
When Fang Yuan planted the last of them, the sun's brightness had already begun to shine through the horizon.
"Phew… Finally, it's done…"
Fang Yuan wiped his sweat and heaved a long sigh, "Since this is a spiritual plant, it should have advanced my [Botany]?"
Deep down in his heart, there was a secret.
From young, he would often enter a dream. In the dream, it was weird but felt real to the touch. Within the dream, he felt like he was experiencing another life.
Living in the secluded valley and rarely taking a step out, it was surprising that his actions were rather matured for his age, and wiser than normal.
Additionally, there was another bonus, or rather, a gift.
Accompanying Fang Yuan's thoughts, a sight only he can see appeared in front of him,
"Full name: Fang Yuan
Essence: 1
Spirit: 1
Magic: 1
Age: 18
Cultivation: None
Technique: None
Skills: [Medicine (Level 1)], [Botany (Level 2)]"
This dream-like game vision was Fang Yuan's biggest secret.
It also has a special function.
When he looked at 'Skill', more information popped out,
"[Medicine (Level 1)] - Can heal simple wounds, including mild wounds, and with the aid of medicinal plants can achieve even better results."
"[Botany (Level 2)] - Skilled botanist, can grow any simple plants to its fullest potential!"
So [Botany] was the reason behind the fertile mountains and valleys.
"Essence, Spirit and Magic should be inborn within one, while techniques and cultivation should be one's initiative, and lastly, skill is passive and requires assistance from others…"
After many years of thought, Fang Yuan understood his characteristics even more.
"The present-day me has similar physical qualities as a normal adult, but with skills…"
He already realised that within skills, there should be an attribute like experience which limited growth. Only through intense training and improving one's ability would the skill level be increased.
Take [Medicine] for an example. Even though Master Wenxin had unparalleled Medical skills, and could give focused guidance to Fang Yuan, but unfortunately Fang Yuan had limited subjects to practise his medical skills on, and he couldn't possibly use his Master as a subject. Due to the lack of hands-on practice, from the start till now he was still stuck at Level 1. Even so, he had earned Master Wenxin's praise and thought that he had achieved three-tenth of Master Wenxin's skill.
On the contrary, his [Botany] improved tremendously after Master Wenxin's passing as he had no more considerations. Through his intense training, he managed to attain Level 2 in [Botany], and the results were unparalleled.
Based on Fang Yuan's own guess, even Master Wenxin was not as skilful as himself in terms of botany.
After reaching Level 2, it seemed that his progress in [Botany] came to a halt, even though he planted numerous plants it was seemingly difficult to level up. After countless of uneventful tries, Fang Yuan decided to try out on spiritual plants and deity plants.
Since these plants were very rare, even Minister Lin himself had to wait for his daughter to be promoted in the Spirit Returning Sect before being able to acquire these plants as a form of a gift.
"Vermillion Jade Rice… even being the lowest grade of spiritual plants, but within the Spirit Returning Sect, I believe only a Grandmaster and his descendants can enjoy it…"
Fang Yuan heaved a sigh.
Minister Lin gave it to him as a present purely to make it up to him and had no thoughts of Fang Yuan having any achievements.
In fact, this was true. Without his [Botany], Fang Yuan wouldn't have wanted the spiritual plants.
However, if Minister Lin could help him attain a Level 2 in [Botany] with the aid of the spiritual plants, that was enough!
Now was the time to see the results!
Fang Yuan stared at the soil covering the Vermillion Jade Rice.
Accompanying the sunrise, a white light only visible to him appeared from the ground and slowly gathered around the 'Skill" segment of his information.
Behind the 'Botany', the 'Level 2' wordings became blurred, jumped and became 'Level 3'!
Level 3 [Botany]!
Fang Yuan rubbed his eyes, made sure that what he saw was true, smiled to himself and exclaimed, "Haha… Haha… I've succeeded!!!"
The reason behind is happiness was because the description for his [Botany] had changed,
"Botany (Level 3) - You are undoubtedly the professional in this field, harnessing unlimited potential, through your plants. There is a slight chance that they might evolve to have special traits!"
Slight chance or not doesn't matter to Fang Yuan, but this meant that one's own skill and ability could be improved through one's intense training!
Once this thought had been proven, it showed that Fang Yuan could achieve something in this world!
Afterall, it was just a normal [Botany] skill level advancement, but what entailed was unbelievable. Imagine other skills or even martial arts, what are the possibilities?
"Evolving into special traits?"
After calming down, Fang Yuan immediately explored his newfound ability.
"All those normal plants can grow to their fullest potential in my hands, maybe… these normal plants can evolve into spiritual plants?"
He mused for a little, and inside of him was excitement waiting to burst out. If his speculation was correct, then the news of his newfound skill must not go out.
Otherwise, he might be captured by other forces and be forced to undergo experiments like a guinea pig or might be a gardener for life.
"After confirming my new ability, should I be looking for a set of martial arts techniques…"
After calming down, Fang Yuan looked at his breakfast, feeling vexed.
Resources were plentiful within the valley, and the food he prepared for himself was exceptional.
The main course was a freshly caught barbequed fish, smoked till the outside was crispy and the inside tender, with no fishy smell. It melted in his mouth and the texture was extremely smooth.
His drink was pure mountain spring water, sweet to the taste and refreshing.
Other than that, there were nutritious Solomon's
He first dug into a cooked Solomon's Seal, then took a large bite from the barbequed fish, "Mmmm… Delicious! Delicious! I've heard that Spirit Returning Sect is the largest Sect within a 100 miles, I wonder how the atmosphere would be like, or how a Grandmaster would be? Thinking about it, I don't' even know how the outside world looks like! What a pity… Master did not leave behind any secret martial arts manual, isn't he a low-profile revered individual? How is it possible that he doesn't have any secret martial arts manual to pass down? This doesn't add up!"
After living in the secluded valley for eighteen years, Fang Yuan grew restless and wanted to see the outside world.
"Now I should unlock my own potential first… the outside world is interesting, but dangerous as well. Considering my small physique, I should quietly train first!"
After eating, he returned to his room feeling satisfied and slept soundly. Not long after, he entered into his dream.