Chapter 59: Stimulating the Vines

Thus, Fang Yun stood by the spirit field and opened his panel.

Name: Fang Yun

Cultivation: Qi Refinement Level 3

Mana: 39

Life Essence: 930

Spells: Earth Power Technique (Proficient 79%) Spiritual Rain Technique (Proficient 99%) Growth Technique (Familiar 23%) Metal Qi Technique (Beginner 19%)

Plant Control: Vines (5)

Spiritual Pets: Spiritual Insect (1)

His life essence had increased by three hundred again, and his other spells had improved somewhat after recent usage.

The most significant progress was in the Spiritual Rain Technique.

Although the Earth Power Technique was the first spell he practiced, the Spiritual Rain Technique had surpassed it.

He was close to reaching the next stage.

As for mana consumption, Fang Yun wasn't too concerned.

Sometimes, he would absorb spiritual energy to recover, and if he didn't have time, he wouldn't rush it.

After all, there was no need to keep his mana at full capacity while on the mountain.

Having completed the harvesting of the spiritual rice, Fang Yun emptied all the soil in the spirit field to replenish the soil needed for the vines.

As for the next planting of spiritual rice, he could go north to get new soil.

After resting for a few days and recovering some mana, Fang Yun began to stimulate the vines.

He chose one of the vines and, with a thought, transferred the life essence from his dantian to his hand.

He then directed it through his palm into the vine.

Fang Yun dared not let the life essence flow too quickly, fearing that something might go wrong during the stimulation process.

As the life essence slowly flowed into the vine, it began to grow faster.

The soft spikes gradually hardened, and the surface began to toughen.

The root system underground started to grow wildly, and the branches above the surface became thicker and longer.

Moreover, during the stimulation process, Fang Yun noticed that the vines didn't consume as much of the ordinary energy and spiritual energy from the soil as the spiritual rice did during its growth.

It seemed that their growth energy was mainly provided by the life essence.

At the same time, Fang Yun's awareness of the internal situation of the vine became clearer and clearer.

Gradually, he surpassed the previous generation of vines, observing various details of the vine's internal structure, including the flow of energy, and eventually he could even see the composition of the plant cells within the vine.

Watching these cells rapidly divide and mature under the influence of the green life essence, it wasn't long before the entire vine reached maturity.

The vine grew to over ten meters long, about as thick as an adult's thigh, with sharp spikes measuring several centimeters covering its branches.

Fang Yun had an idea and swung the vine fiercely against a rock outside the land. With a loud bang, the rock cracked in several places.

The spikes struck the stone, creating small pits.

Seeing the vine completely unharmed, Fang Yun was quite satisfied. He could imagine that if this were to hit a person, it would be quite impressive.

However, thinking about the cultivators he faced, he felt this power still fell short.

He needed to cultivate it further.

So, Fang Yun continued to infuse life essence into the other vines.

He spent another 80 points of life essence to bring the remaining four vines to maturity.

Although these five vines had been carefully selected, they might have exhibited some mutations due to the stimulation of life essence.

By the time they matured, they showed significant differences from the previous generation of vines.

Some were sturdier, some longer, and some harder.

Others had sharper and more robust spikes.

Fang Yun was pleased with these mutations, seeing them as steps towards greater strength.

Longer vines represented an expanded attack range, thicker vines indicated greater power, harder vines meant they were less prone to damage, and stronger spikes meant more significant harm to enemies.

To be honest, Fang Yun desired to have these traits in his vines.

However, it was not easy to obtain all these traits in a single vine.

Even though he could see the cells of the vine, he could not see the genes, making it impossible to combine these traits through genetic combinations.

To achieve a vine with such characteristics, he would have to resort to grafting.

While he couldn't guarantee success, there was at least some hope.

Alternatively, he could wait until these vines matured completely and then selectively plant their seeds again.

This had been his plan all along.

However, this method had a drawback; it allowed for only linear selection and not parallel selection.

For instance, if he chose seeds from a sturdier vine, he would have to pursue that path consistently, making it impossible to seek other traits.

This meant the resulting vines would not be exactly what he wanted.

However, using grafting opened up more possibilities.

If he used grafting, the vines that had already matured would not be suitable.

He could only use those that were still in their seedling stage or just entering their growth phase.

Therefore, Fang Yun had to seek out the vines he had previously abandoned.

Fortunately, he hadn't eradicated those vines; otherwise, he would have wasted even more time.

After glancing at the five vines that had now reached maturity, he decided not to worry about them any longer.

He would quietly wait for them to mature.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, he decided to experiment with the idea he had just formed.

Accompanied by Fang Kangseng, who had just finished his lessons, Fang Yun headed toward the area where the vines had been planted.

In this life and the previous one, Fang Yun had never taught anyone.

He didn't know how to teach.

So, he could only let Fang Kangseng follow him around, teaching him whatever came to mind.

This way, apart from cultivation, what he could learn would depend on his abilities and opportunities.

Upon arriving at the planting site, Fang Yun assessed the vines that had just grown to less than a meter tall.

He considered the characteristics he needed and began selecting among the vines.

This time, Fang Yun didn't intentionally eliminate those with a violent aura.

Such traits could be gradually removed in later cultivation or perhaps left as they were.

What mattered most now was selecting the characteristics he desired; those violent emotions weren't as important at the moment.

However, since these vines hadn't been nurtured by life essence, Fang Yun's awareness of them was limited.

Finding vines that matched his needs through these simple sensations would not be easy.

It seemed he had no choice but to spend some life essence.

Looking at his remaining 800 points of life essence, Fang Yun felt a pang of heartache.

Fortunately, the life essence he had invested in the five vines should yield returns; otherwise, his distress would have been even greater.