Chapter 48: Partially Failed Crop Cultivation

Due to the large number of people, the soybean planting was completed in just a few days.

The remaining weed seed planting was much simpler; they only needed to scatter the seeds on other lands without requiring much technical skill.

Moreover, since these lands had not been cultivated for many years, the soil fertility was still decent.

During the first batch of planting, there was no need to add additional fertilizers.

This made the first planting much easier.

Next was the waiting for the seeds to sprout; then they would know if these seeds could gain the approval of the golden finger.

For the past few days, Fang Yun simply didn't return to the mountain since there were no other crops to plant there.

He might as well wait at the foot of the mountain.

Only after confirming whether these seeds sprouted and if they fell within the golden finger's effects could he return without worry.

A few days later, while staying in the town, Fang Yun received reports from his subordinates.

They said that the planted weed seeds had already begun to sprout.

Upon receiving the news, Fang Yun immediately headed to the eastern area.

He found that the land previously scattered with weed seeds had indeed sprouted some tender leaves. However, even as Fang Yun stood before the land, he didn't sense the emotional connection he typically received from plants.

This realization made his heart sink.

He took a deep breath and opened his panel.

Cultivation: Qi Refining Stage 3

Mana: 60

Vital Energy: 240

Spells: Earth Power Technique (Proficiency 55%), Spirit Rain Technique (Proficiency 59%), Growth Technique (Entry Level 99%), Metal Qi Technique (Entry Level 2%)

Controlled Plants: Vines (5)

Ignoring the numerical values on the panel, Fang Yun focused on the controlled plants section, which displayed only five vines.

There was no indication that the weeds were under his control.

This meant that the weeds in front of him weren't within the range of his golden finger's influence, so there would be no vital energy gain.

For Fang Yun, this was a heavy blow.

He glanced at the weeds in front of him, then at the nearby field where the soybeans hadn't sprouted yet.

He let out a slow breath.

Even though he found it hard to accept this fact, there was nothing he could do to change it.

It seemed that the golden finger's influence was limited to plants that he personally planted.

If that were the case, it would be much harder to gain large amounts of vital energy in the future.

"Clan leader, why do you look so upset?

Did something happen?"

Among the innate martial artists following Fang Yun, Fang Lin was the first to notice the change in his expression and quickly asked.

Fang Yun glanced back at him, then at Fang Zhou and the other pirate leaders standing nearby.

In the end, he shook his head without saying anything.

These matters were related to his golden finger, so there was no way Fang Yun would reveal them.

Waving his hand, he signaled for the group to stay behind.

Feeling down, Fang Yun walked into the land where the weeds were planted.

Just as he reached the center of the field, he suddenly sensed a faint emotional fluctuation.

This surprised him, lifting his spirits a little.

He lowered his head and looked around, trying to find the source of the emotion.

At that moment, he realized the emotional fluctuation was coming from the weeds on the ground.

This instantly revived Fang Yun's mood. He crouched down, gently touching the newly sprouted weeds, carefully sensing the emotions they conveyed.

After a while, he confirmed that these weeds did transmit emotions, but they were much weaker compared to the weeds he had planted in the canyon.

It was only because he had walked into the center of the field, where the surrounding weeds were transmitting their emotions from all directions, that he could detect the faint fluctuations.

Since these weeds had emotional fluctuations, they were still within the scope of his golden finger's influence.

But why were the emotions so weak, and why didn't they show up on the panel?

Standing up, Fang Yun rubbed his chin, quietly pondering the reason behind this phenomenon.

He thought about the differences and similarities between this batch of weeds and those planted in the canyon.

The similarity was that both sets of weed seeds were provided by him.

The difference was that in the canyon, he personally handled the entire planting process, while on this land, others had taken over the planting after he provided the seeds.

Could it be that this difference led to the current outcome?

How exactly did his golden finger determine which planting actions were done by him and which were done by others?

Was there some kind of intelligent being inside his golden finger monitoring everything?

Or was it based on some causal relationship to determine whether the planting actions were his?

Fang Yun stared at the reappearing panel, trying to figure out which possibility was more likely.

After thinking for a while, he realized that with his current strength, he couldn't confirm the reason behind this.

Regardless of the cause, Fang Yun was now sure that the more involved he was in the planting process, the stronger his ability to sense the plants' emotions.

Of course, aside from this factor, the quality of the crops also played a significant role.

If the strength of the emotional connection was used as the standard for judgment, did that mean the life energy he could harvest from this batch of crops would be far lower than expected?

If so, then honestly, there wasn't much point in putting too much effort into planting these ordinary crops.

After all, the process of nurturing those crops and obtaining seeds was quite troublesome and wasted a lot of time.

With this in mind, Fang Yun glanced at the land beneath his feet and then at the nearby field where the soybeans were planted.

He decided to wait a bit longer and see if anything changed once the soybeans sprouted.

So, he led the two clan elders and five pirate leaders back into the town.

A few days later, Fang Yun returned to the eastern fields.

By this time, the soybeans had begun to sprout, and the previously overgrown weeds had also grown significantly taller.

Fang Yun stood outside the field again, and he was now able to sense the emotions of these crops more clearly.

Noticing this, he felt a sense of relief.

After not being able to sense the emotions of the weeds and seeing no indication on the panel, he had lost hope for these crops.

But now, it seemed there was a glimmer of hope.

However, Fang Yun still couldn't afford to have too high expectations for these crops.