He became more and more dejected. Reluctantly, he returned to the spirit field. He had no other choice. Yet, a place like that was not fit to be called a spirit field. How would it produce spirit herbs? Even if he tried to plant normal crops there, they probably wouldn't grow.

Because of this, Zuo Shuming felt like he let Lonemoon down.The guilt was killing him. He bowed respectfully to Lonemoon and said, "I'm sorry, Brother Lonemoon. It's my fau… Eh?" Before he could finish speaking, he saw that the weeds that had initially grown even taller than him were now gone. Instead, the soil had been turned out and the smell of fresh soil filled the air. "This soil… It's better now. Brother Lonemoon, you…"

(⊙_⊙)

So quickly? Wasn't the soil dry and hard just a moment ago? Wasn't it supposed to be extremely hard to grow crops here?

"Mm." Lonemoon casually got to his feet and nodded. "I've already planted the seeds. Come, come, come. Let's talk about training." He needed to advance even more quickly than he was doing right now.

"Huh? Ah!" Zuo Shuming was confused. He was still stunned by how quickly Lonemoon turned this soil around.

"What are you exclaiming about!" Lonemoon scanned him from head to toe and said solemnly, "Given your cultivation, how can you expect to improve without training? You can't delay things like your training. Why are you not grabbing the chance to learn as much as you can now?"

"Oh… Oh, alright?" Zuo Shuming was visibly shaken. He completely forgot what he had been asking about. Instinctively, he sat down and began to absorb spirit Qi into his own body. He was not sure whether he was mistaken, but he felt like the spirit Qi in the surroundings was much thicker now than it was when they first arrived here. In fact, there seemed to be more spirit Qi here than there was at the main peak. Automatically, his body became primed for training.

Brother Lonemoon was right. No matter what happened with the spirit field, his main priority was to improve his own skills. Once he was stronger, he would no longer have to worry about being bullied by others. In order to complete the sect's tasks well, he had to train hard.

But he guessed that even if he did clear this land from the beginning, it would still not be able to produce any crops. He would put in his 110 percent into growing the crops. If he really did not manage to produce the 50 stalks of spirit herbs in the end, he would accept sole responsibility for it.

Having made up his mind, he finally focused all his energy on training. Yet, what happened next caused all of his plans to be messed up. Even he became a little confused. At first, he thought that it would be good if a land like that could produce just 10 stalks of spirit herbs. Yet, the very next day, he realized that there were green seedlings covering the originally barren land. Every stalk carried with it spirit Qi. It was indeed spirit herbs growing out of the ground. And there were far more than just 50 stalks.

His heart was overjoyed. This was a miracle. There were so many crops! As long as they took care of them properly, he would be able to meet the designated number of spirit herbs they were required to hand in. It was a pity that his teammate, Lonemoon, had something else in mind.

"Brother Lonemoon, I didn't think they would turn into seedlings so quickly. The spirit Qi in the morning is especially thick. These spirit herbs will require more water. Let's go get some immediately."

"No need for that," Lonemoon responded.

Zuo Shuming stared blankly at him. "But w-"

Before he could finish speaking, everything around them turned dark. A gray cloud floated over, and suddenly, it began to drizzle. Soon after, the spirit herbs became drenched.

Zuo Shuming: "…" This was too much of a coincidence, isn't it!

But there were downsides to the rain as well.

"If it rains too heavily, the spirit herbs' stalk might not be able to take the water pressure. Let's dig a pit for the water to be drained out."

"There's no need," Lonemoon said again.

Indeed, the rain stopped immediately. The gray clouds cleared up. It was as if the clouds had come just to water the plants.

Zuo Shuming: "…"

(⊙_⊙)

The weirdest thing was that this did not just happen once or twice. Instead, things continued to develop so that Zuo Shuming began to doubt his own senses.

"Brother Lonemoon, the seedlings are growing. I think we need to add fertilizers. Let's go and get some ashes."

"There's no need."

A huge gust of wind blew past the field. A huge load of dust flew across the sky and landed on the spirit field, forming a layer of ash belonging to old wood and leaves."

Zuo Shuming: "…" How was that possible!

Σ(°△°

)

"Brother Lonemoon, the seedlings will attract many different types of insects. Shall I go to Senior Brother to get some pesticide?"

"There's no need."

There was the sound of birds chirping. A huge spirit bird landed on the field and began to look intently around for insects to eat.

Zuo Shuming: "…" Holy s.h.i.+t!

∑q

゚Д゚

p

He suddenly felt like there was no need for him to do anything in order for the spirit herbs to grow. These were not their spirit herbs - it was the heavens'!

○

̄

_=3

The spirit herbs in the spirit field grew bigger and bigger before their very eyes. As time went by, there were even more of them. The two of them became increasingly excited. Until… They began to look strange!

"Brother Lonemoon, that's a second-grade two-leaf fragrant herb, right? Why are there four leaves on it? That's so weird!"

"Brother Lonemoon, that's a Transparent Lotus, right? I recall that they're supposed to be third-grade herbs. Why are they fourth-grade ones now?"

"Brother Lonemoon, is that the Purple Ginseng? Look at its leaves. Why do they look as if they're a thousand years old?"

"Senior Brother Lonemoon, that stalk…"

By right, spirit herbs rarely mutated in such ways. Some people who grew spirit herbs all their lives still would not be able to witness such things in their lifetimes. Yet, on closer inspection, all of the spirit herbs in the field were mutated in some way - they were either more advanced or deformed. They could not find a single spirit herb that was normal. All around, the spirit Qi filled the air. It was almost as if the spirit herbs were mutating on purpose in order to fit in.

"Calm down!" Lonemoon patted him on the shoulder. "Just get used to it."

"…" How can you get used to things like that?

"Alright, let's quickly train! I'm going to teach you some simple sword techniques today!" Lonemoon quickly changed the topic.

The moment he finished speaking, Zuo Shuming's face drained of color. "Are they really simple?"

"Of course! It's basic!"

"…" Zuo Shuming instinctively stroked his own bruised face. That's exactly what Lonemoon said a few days ago.

For some reason, from the day that they began planting the spirit herbs, Lonemoon had become extremely interested in Zuo Shuming's cultivation level. Each day, he would either force him to train, or teach him a different technique. It was almost as if he did not want Zuo Shuming to rest even for awhile. He explained techniques, sorcery and spells non-stop. If one time was not enough, he would repeat himself several times… before he started hitting Zuo Shuming.

-_-

Yet, Zuo Shuming felt bad speaking up about it. After all, Lonemoon was doing this out of the goodness of his heart. What's more, he really was of a much higher cultivation than Zuo Shuming was just a few days ago. All Zuo Shuming could do was grit his teeth and learn well. Although they were not concerned about planting spirit herbs anymore, he felt even busier. Each day, he would pick up a new spell or two, or improve techniques that he already knew.

Even so, he felt like Lonemoon was despising him more and more as time went by. He could almost read it on his face: You are the worst student I have ever taught.

Zuo Shuming had nearly forgotten that he was there primarily to plant spirit herbs and not to train. In fact, he felt like he was putting his life on the line to train.

On the few occasions when he recalled his primary task, he would say, "Brother Lonemoon these spirit herbs-"

"What spirit herbs? You can't even learn a simple water-repelling spell. How dare you talk about other things? Quick, train!"

"Alright… Alright."

Why did he feel like Lonemoon was more of a master than a friend?

THe good thing was his cultivation level was increasing rapidly. Within two short months, he advanced from the seventh stage to the tenth stage of Qi Refinement. He could even faintly feel himself approaching a breakthrough.

Lonemoon, who had been teaching him for three months "…" Suddenly, I miss Fatty, who jumped through the stages rapidly.