In the medicinal garden of the Infinite Dao Sect, Yang Shi was attentively listening to the plants.

Gradually, a satisfied look appeared on his face.

[Name: Yáng Shī (Meaning: Master Yang)

Position: Outer Elder (Alchemy Pavilion)

Cultivation: 5th Level of Foundation Establishment (Host’s Realm)

Position Skill: Heart of Nature

Affiliation Skill: Alchemy Affinity

Position Bonus: Accelerated Growth (4 uses per day)]

With the Heart of Nature, he didn’t literally hear the plants speaking, but he could sense their composition and needs in an extremely intimate way.

Over the past month, the entire sect’s land had been reorganized to achieve the best Feng Shui, which naturally included the medicinal garden.

With Yang Shi’s knowledge of plant needs, combined with Xuan Zhen’s understanding of formations — the Inner Elder of the Formation Pavilion — and Zheng Mo’s knowledge of Feng Shui, the final blueprint condensed the best medicinal garden that Founder-Tier resources could produce.

Feeling the plants’ growth, Aotian’s mind inside Yang Shi’s body made a quick calculation.

‘Considering just the environment, these Refiner-Tier herbs, which normally take ten years to mature, can mature here in just over a month… a hundredfold reduction, very good. Maybe, if I create some kind of “spiritual fertilizer,” I can accelerate it even further.’

He then walked to a different area, where he had planted the Founder-Tier seeds he had obtained since arriving in this world.

Unlike the Refiner-Tier area, where the soil was covered in sprouting stalks and leaves, the Founder-Tier area had only soil with seeds buried in it.

Yang Shi approached one of the mounds, placed his hand on it, and closed his eyes.

‘Hmm… Founder-Tier plants only received a tenfold acceleration in this environment. Normally, they take a hundred years to grow; now it only takes ten.’

Finally, he went to the innermost area of the medicinal garden. There, the mounds of soil were few and widely spaced, making the place seem desolate compared to the lush green Refiner-Tier field and the soil full of Founder-Tier mounds.

Aotian had simply not found many Core-Tier seeds throughout his entire adventure. Even after acquiring seeds from two Golden Core sects, he didn’t have more than ten. The desert was simply too poor in resources.

Shaking his head in resignation, Yang Shi crouched in front of one of the mounds and placed his hand on it.

‘The effect here is even lower. There’s no acceleration, but the environment is perfect. If left here, the plant will grow without issues. Just leave it for three hundred years, and it will definitely mature.’

Yang Shi cleaned his hand with spiritual energy and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

‘If it were a Nascent-Tier plant, would it be able to grow? Normally, spiritual plants depend on an environment with energy of their level to grow and can still die if the correct technique isn’t applied to assist them. But thanks to the excellent Feng Shui here, Core-Tier plants can reach their peak even if I do nothing. But maybe, because of this excellent Feng Shui, could a plant beyond the environment’s level grow, even if ten or a hundred times slower?’

After pondering, Aotian rolled his eyes inwardly at himself.

‘I don’t even know how many years a Nascent-Tier plant takes to grow. And one growing ten or even a hundred times slower… I’d probably have ascended to immortality before it matured. Anyway, it likely won’t grow; high-quality spiritual and elemental energy are too necessary for the ascension of any creature.’

He laughed inwardly at his own crazy ideas.

‘Anyway, in summary, the Feng Shui created here could only be considered Founder-Tier. When my outer elders reach the Golden Core, the effect of the next adjustment should increase the quality of growth by about tenfold, if it follows the pattern of all my abilities so far. Then, Refiner-Tier plants will grow like weeds in three days; Founder-Tier in one year; and Core-Tier in thirty years. Not ideal for me, but excellent for future disciples, even more so when I upgrade it in higher realms.’

Although satisfied, Aotian was not completely content. The growth speed wouldn’t keep up with his progress or the current disciples’.

‘My growth can only be sustained by already-existing resources.’

Yang Shi raised his head with a serious look, staring in the direction of one of the mid-continents.

‘A month has passed, and we haven’t been attacked because of taking over this region. I’ll wait another month, until after my marriage with Rihai, and if it seems certain that no powerful opponents will come, then I’ll be at ease to send Bao Wuji carrying an outer elder far away.’

His eyes narrowed with determination, but in truth, Aotian was excited.

Exploring a new and powerful continent without worrying about the death of his main body, Rihai, or the entire sect was something that thrilled him. It would just be an outer avatar living adventures, with no real risk of bringing trouble to the sect.

Shaking Yang Shi’s head, he put the matter aside and placed his hand back on the mound of soil, activating his rapid growth ability.

Since it was a Core-Tier herb, his ability suffered a tenfold reduction, as he was still in Foundation Establishment with that avatar.

Patterns composed of wood-element energy formed in his spiritual root, drawing in the surrounding elemental essence and channeling it into the plant, infusing it with an indescribable vitality.

Aotian still didn’t understand how that happened and could only observe, as even by cultivator standards, it seemed like magic.

One year… two years… ten years… fifty years.

The plant slowly sprouted from the soil and showed its little face to the world, but it was nothing more than a small stalk.

‘If it were a Founder-Tier plant, it would have grown five hundred years instead of just fifty. Too bad I didn’t increase Yang Shi’s cultivation to the 9th level with pills; then it would have been ninety years per use.’

He then used the remaining two charges on the plant, since he had spent one earlier on the sect’s Feng Shui, and it quickly advanced to one hundred and fifty years of age, turning into a large red flower still closed. But it would only bloom at three hundred years, when it reached maturity.

‘This Blood Tulip is the only ingredient for the Red Tiger Evolution Pill that I’ve found so far. Looks like, once again, I’ll have to rely on the mid-continents to meet the conditions to create this pill.’

Sighing, Yang Shi stood up and left the garden to take care of other tasks.

…

In the Heritage Pavilion, the elders devoured the contents of jade slips, racing to generate knowledge and close the gap in quantity.

In the Refinement Pavilion, the elders forged without rest, increasing their proficiency with the deficient Founder-Tier refinement manuals they had acquired in the world, creating practical experience to compensate for the lack of knowledge.

In the Alchemy Pavilion, techniques were tested. In the Formation Pavilion, formations were created and dismantled in various ways. In the Talisman Pavilion and the Sword Pavilion, different techniques acquired in the world were quickly applied and mastered, relying on their powerful foundations in the arts, generated from synthesized techniques from the previous realm, combined with their high cultivations, talents, and the number of minds working together.

It was like an automated assembly line, processing each piece, each one in its own area, until reaching a flawless final product at the end of the line.

With the gains from the Eternal Sovereign Domain, added to the frenzied clearing of tombs, more and more inheritances surfaced, and Aotian was slowly mastering them, advancing to obtain enough knowledge to synthesize Founder-Tier inheritances, which would finally suppress his urgent need for such inheritances.

And the first inheritance in which Aotian managed to reach the passing margin was Artifact Refinement, making his main body’s eyes shine.

Without hesitation, Tian Zhu, on his throne in the sect’s main hall, closed his eyes.

Energy formed mysterious patterns in his roots, and the knowledge in his mind began processing at high speed, discarding the useless and condensing the essential.

It was like a war of knowledge, where the strongest destroyed the weakest, absorbed their strength, and evolved, before facing the next adversary, until the king of knowledge stood atop a mountain of the defeated.

Finally, in his mental sea, a single extraordinary forging manual emerged.

Aotian took a deep breath, his main body trembling slightly as he felt the power of that manual. He was no amateur; after all, he had mastered hundreds of manuals of this art, and his experience and proficiency were far above what probably anyone on the entire continent could compare to.

With the new manual, if the best Core-Tier materials were used, combined with the skill of the Refinement Pavilion’s inner elder, which tripled the quality of the equipment forged, even if a Nascent-Tier equipment didn’t emerge, it would still be something beyond the Golden Core level.

‘In xianxias, an appropriate name for this would be something like… half-step Nascent-Tier artifact.’

Aotian thought with a small smile and a playful look in his main body, which was cultivating alone after saying goodbye to Rihai.

‘Unfortunately, I don’t have much Core-Tier material… Although I can synthesize some materials with Bao Wuji, it’s still too expensive and complicated. Few materials can evolve to a higher realm. Most are like plants — no matter how much they grow in maturity, they don’t ascend in realm or gain new spiritual properties.’

His face turned bitter as he remembered the current reality, and he couldn’t help scratching his head.

‘Haah… even with so many spirit stones, I still feel so poor. More and more, it seems I need to go to the better continents.’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep