Chapter 135: Midnight Flower
As soon as Xiang Yu stepped into his spiritual sea, the soul infant rushed toward him, circling around with unmistakable joy. Its tiny form bobbed through the luminous currents, radiating childlike excitement at his arrival. He reached out, gently patting its tiny head.
"This time, I won’t be cultivating with you," he announced, his tone apologetic but firm.
The infant’s expression immediately crumpled, its previously jubilant features morphing into profound disappointment. The transformation was so dramatic that Xiang Yu felt an unexpected pang of guilt.
"I’m really sorry, but I have to do something else today," he explained, studying the infant’s crestfallen face. "You understand me, right?"
Xiang Yu reasoned that since they were fundamentally connected—the infant being essentially a manifestation of his own soul—it should comprehend his necessity. Still, he recognized that the soul wasn’t yet mature enough to properly process such nuance. It possessed understanding but lacked emotional development.
To his surprise, the infant’s expression shifted again, determination replacing disappointment. Its miniature features hardened with resolve, as if accepting a challenge.
"Just practice by yourself this time," Xiang Yu encouraged, "I’ll visit you later."
As his consciousness withdrew from the spiritual sea and returned to his physical form, Xiang Yu couldn’t suppress a deep sigh. Though the infant was literally a part of him, he still experienced an inexplicable sense of guilt at always leaving it alone.
In the next moment, he felt his mind experience points incrementing slowly. A smile tugged at his lips—it seemed the little guy was quite the hard worker. "Now it’s time for me to work hard as well," he thought, his gaze drifting to the boar floating aimlessly in the spirit spring beside him.
He swam through the luminous waters and carefully lifted the creature, its substantial weight barely registering against his enhanced strength. With deliberate movements, he carried the animal out of the spring and placed it on the dry stone floor of the cavern.
After his farmer experience had doubled for the first time, Xiang Yu had gained numerous insights into agricultural practices. He’d discovered that farming wasn’t limited to crop cultivation but encompassed animal husbandry as well. Though he hadn’t obtained specific methods for creating spirit beasts, he’d acquired fundamental knowledge about domestication and animal care.
Now he wanted to confirm one particular piece of information. Laying the boar on its back, his eyes widened in surprise. The creature’s belly displayed a deep blue coloration that contrasted starkly with its predominantly brownish hide. This unusual pigmentation hadn’t been present before.
Intrigued, he activated his fifth-grade appraisal ability:
[Name: Zero]
[Species: Wild Boar]
[Status: Poisoned (Qi-Poisoning)]
[Info: Subject zero of Xiang Yu’s spirit beast making experiment]
Xiang Yu was initially impressed by the enhanced capabilities of his fifth-grade appraisal. It had finally evolved into a genuine assessment tool. At this level, he suspected he could probably appraise other cultivators now—something he made a mental note to test later.
More importantly, the appraisal confirmed his growing suspicion. The boar wasn’t transforming into a spirit beast as he’d hoped—it was suffering from qi poisoning. According to the agricultural knowledge he’d gained, animals that remained in qi-rich environments without the natural ability to process spiritual energy were susceptible to this condition.
Qi poisoning occurred when spiritual energy attached itself to creatures unable to properly absorb it, resulting in meridian blockages. If left untreated, the condition could prove fatal.
While Xiang Yu now understood the diagnosis, his newly acquired knowledge didn’t extend to treatment protocols. The farming profession had taught him only identification fundamentals—the expected next step would be consulting a specialized veterinarian. But with no access to such experts, he decided to attempt treatment himself.
"After all," he thought with confidence, "how hard could it possibly be?"
...
Quite hard, apparently.
After numerous failed attempts, Xiang Yu stared at the ailing boar with mounting frustration. The creature’s condition was deteriorating despite his best efforts—its breathing had grown shallow, and the unnatural blue discoloration had spread beyond its belly, now creeping up its sides in vein-like patterns.
He’d tried everything he could conceive. The healing pills—even seventh-grade ones—had proven not only ineffective but actively harmful, their concentrated qi further aggravating the poisoning. In desperation, he’d even attempted a crude surgical intervention, making a small incision to release the excess energy, but quickly abandoned this approach when the boar’s distressed squeals echoed throughout the cavern.
Running his fingers through his hair, Xiang Yu mentally cataloged his previous failures.
Then, a moment of inspiration struck him. His eyes widened as he recalled a particular talisman blueprint stored in his memory—the qi dispersion talisman. This formation was designed to dissipate spiritual energy in an area, primarily used as protection against qi-emission attacks like fireballs and energy projectiles.
With renewed determination, Xiang Yu retrieved a blank talisman paper from his spatial ring. He settled into a cross-legged position, focusing intently on the complex patterns etched in his mind. Spiritual energy then started flowing from his spiritual sea through his meridians and into the paper.
The process took longer than anticipated—nearly five minutes of unbroken concentration. Sixth-grade talismans were significantly more complex than their lower-tier counterparts, requiring intricate layering of energy pathways and stability nodes.
"This should work," he murmured, carefully placing the talisman on the boar’s distended stomach.
With a stream of energy, he activated the talisman. A wave of dispersive force radiated outward in a ten-meter sphere, instantly thinning the qi density in the area. Xiang Yu felt the shift as the spiritual pressure around him temporarily diminished, creating a momentary vacuum before the natural energy began flowing back into the space.
He quickly examined the boar, hoping to see improvement. Initially, the blue discoloration seemed to fade slightly, and the animal’s breathing eased. But his satisfaction was short-lived. As the ambient qi naturally restored itself, the boar’s symptoms returned to their previous severity. The talisman had only affected the external energy, not the qi that had already penetrated the creature’s body.
"Of course," Xiang Yu sighed, understanding the limitation. "If a talisman could disperse internal qi, I could render even a Nascent Soul cultivator temporarily powerless just by slapping one on them."
Though the experiment had failed, it had sparked a new avenue of thought. Xiang Yu’s gaze drifted to the herbs growing near the spirit spring—specifically to several stalks of "Lightwell Flower," a seventh-grade herb he used for creating healing pills. The luminous plant pulsed with concentrated light energy, its properties focused on infusing bodies with restorative power.
The herb’s bright nature suddenly triggered a connection in his mind. With purposeful strides, Xiang Yu approached the plant, carefully selecting the most vibrant specimen. He placed his hand over the glowing blossom and activated an ability he hadn’t used in some time.
[Divine Ability: Yin-Yang Harmony]
The effect was immediate and dramatic. The brilliant flower withered before his eyes, its radiance dimming as darkness spread through its petals. The transformation progressed rapidly, the plant’s very nature inverting as yin energy overwhelmed its inherent yang properties.
Feeling the familiar drain on his consciousness, Xiang Yu quickly disabled the ability before it could render him unconscious. Even this brief activation had exacted a significant toll—his vision swam momentarily, and his limbs felt suddenly leaden.
After taking several deep breaths to stabilize himself, he examined the transformed herb in his palm. Where once a luminous bloom had radiated healing light, now rested a midnight-black flower that seemed to absorb the ambient glow around it.
Curious about his creation, Xiang Yu activated his appraisal ability:
[Name: Midnight Flower]
[Grade: 7th Grade]
[Effect: Energy absorption]
[Info: A rare special herb that’s formed when a Lightwell Flower bathes in yin energy for a long time.]