A single low-grade Spirit Peach Tree could yield forty to fifty fruits a year—worth over two hundred spirit stones annually.Given that such a tree could live for centuries, it was a fortune that would last generations.If the one before him truly advanced into a proper Spirit Peach Tree, it could transform the Chen Clan's entire financial outlook.
"Such a pity…" Chen Nianzhi sighed—then suddenly froze as a thought struck him.
"The Hongmeng Violet Qi."
That wisp of primordial essence within his body—the power that had once improved his spiritual roots—possessed miraculous creative properties. Perhaps… it could induce the tree's transformation.
Yet he hesitated. The Violet Qi of Creation was painfully rare.Ten years of relentless cultivation had yielded only a mouth and a half's worth of that precious energy.
"I once hoped to use it again to refine my aptitude," he murmured. "But the Hongmeng Qi seems to work only once. Now it sits idle, gathering dust within me. Perhaps it would be better to use it to evolve this tree—to let it nourish my cultivation in turn."
Decision made, Chen Nianzhi exhaled a slow breath. A thread of radiant violet mist flowed from his lips, weaving toward the peach tree.
The instant the tree absorbed it, the change was visible.
Its trunk thickened; the branches stretched heavenward, crowned with denser leaves and blossoms gleaming like crystal.A surge of gentle spiritual pressure pulsed through the air, and the fragrance of the flowers deepened into a sweet, dreamlike perfume.
"A spirit root…" he whispered, eyes brightening. "It truly advanced—a first-rank Spirit Peach Tree!"
Delight surged in his chest, followed swiftly by a pang of loss.Ten years of patient practice—gone in a single breath.Now only half a wisp of Hongmeng Qi remained. To gather another would take five or six years at least.
Still, the trade felt worth it.
With the Spirit Peach Tree now guarding the center of the island's aura, Chen Nianzhi built a bamboo hut beside it and began the painstaking process of cultivating the spirit fields.
Opening such fields required precision and care—tilling the soil, laying Spirit-Gathering Formations, and finally infusing the land with the Nurturing Spirit Art. Only then would the ground accept spiritual seeds.
It took him two full days to carve out three acres of land and another seven or eight to anchor the gathering formation.The Nurturing Spirit Art was a top-grade first-rank spell suited for cultivators of water, wood, or earth roots, but it consumed vast quantities of true essence.Even at his seventh level of Qi Refinement, Chen Nianzhi could cast it only three times in succession before resting.
In total, he performed it more than thirty times before the land truly pulsed with life.
The spirit vein beneath Linghu Isle could sustain only three acres of farmland—any more, and the aura would thin too far to feed the fish or his own cultivation.
He could, in theory, use spirit stones to supplement the aura, but that would require a thousand stones per acre, a sum the impoverished clan could never spare.
By the time he finished, it was late in the third month.He spent three more days planting two acres of Spirit Rice and one acre of spiritual herbs.
When the last seed sank into the glowing soil, he exhaled and smiled faintly.
"At last… it's done."
Each acre of Spirit Rice produced about twenty spirit stones in value per year—fifty stones total for the two.The herbs were a longer investment: he had planted thirty species, some that would mature in ten years, others that might need centuries.
Spirit herbs were the lifeblood of higher-realm cultivation, rare and precious beyond measure.Only a few years earlier, the clan's own gardens on Qingyuan Mountain had produced a single stalk of Azure Origin Ganoderma, which the patriarch used to refine a top-grade second-rank pill—the very elixir that had carried him to the seventh stage of Foundation Establishment.
Now, with his fields sown, Chen Nianzhi finally allowed himself to rest.From now on, he would only need to nourish the soil with the Nurturing Spirit Art and cast Spirit Rain every half-month.The rest of his time could be devoted to cultivation.
Two Months Later
Time slipped quietly by, marked only by dawn meditations and the scent of peach blossoms.Two months later, after finishing his morning practice, Chen Nianzhi took a leaf-shaped skiff and glided over the still waters of the lake to check on the Azure Spirit Fish.
After an hour of careful counting, he frowned.
"Two are missing."
He counted again—still short. The fish usually swam tightly behind their Fish King, a late-stage Qi Refinement beast. With such protection, the younglings rarely strayed.
For any to go missing meant something was wrong.
"Could a beast have slipped in?""The lake's been purged three times since the patriarch took it. No strong demons should remain… unless something migrated here."
He weighed the thought of returning to Qingyuan Mountain for help, but dismissed it.Only two juveniles were gone—the intruder couldn't be too powerful.The Fish King, though gentle, was no weakling. Whatever dared steal its young must be small and cunning. Something he could handle alone.
He resolved to find it.
All that day, he searched the reeds and the shadowed coves of the lake, but as the sun dipped below the mountains, he found nothing.At dusk, he returned to the island, determined to try again at dawn.
The next morning, after completing his Hongmeng Qi refinement, he set out once more.A quick scan of the fish confirmed his unease: two more were missing—the smallest of the brood.
Four gone in total.
Each mature fish was worth five spirit stones. Four lost meant twenty stones gone—twice the annual pay of a late-stage cultivator.Even if the clan wouldn't punish him, the thought filled him with shame and anger.
"Damn creature," he muttered through clenched teeth. "Don't let me find you."
With a flick of his sleeve, he cast Water-Avoidance Technique and slipped beneath the surface, following the school in silence.
That day passed uneventfully. No attacks came.But Chen Nianzhi's resolve only hardened. He refused to return to shore, drifting with the fish through the night, hidden within the lake's currents.
At dawn, movement stirred in the reeds.
From the corner of his eye, he caught a flicker of motion—a creature gliding out from the shallows, sleek and cautious, moving directly toward the unsuspecting fish.
Chen Nianzhi's eyes narrowed.
"A Purple-Feathered Goose?"
A rare, cunning avian demon, infamous for preying on spirit fish.And this one, it seemed, had chosen the wrong lake.