Hua Guzi was led into Ning Zhuo's Cave Mansion, feeling as if she was in a dream.
"I—I really got in?!" She stood still on the spot, her face filled with disbelief.
Ning Zhuo took the master's seat first and called out to Hua Guzi, "Daoist Fellow Hua, please take a seat."
Hua Guzi paused for a moment before choosing the position closest to Ning Zhuo and sat down.
Then, she leaned sideways, trying to get as close to Ning Zhuo as possible.
Ning Zhuo: ?!
At the same moment, he felt an overwhelming wave of ecstasy and infatuation from the depths of Hua Guzi's heart.
Scary!
Ning Zhuo instantly regretted letting Hua Guzi in. But there was no turning back; he had to grit his teeth and proceed.
He spoke indifferently, "Daoist Fellow Hua, to avoid future entanglements, today I shall accept the method of flower cultivation that you mentioned."
Hua Guzi sprang to her feet, floated over to Ning Zhuo with eager eyes, and hurriedly handed over a Jade Slip.
"Stop." Ning Zhuo swiftly raised his hand to prevent Hua Guzi from getting too close to him.
He channeled his mana and took the Jade Slip from Hua Guzi's hand.
Hua Guzi felt a surge of disappointment for not managing to touch Ning Zhuo's fingers.
"Okay." Ning Zhuo, looking at Hua Guzi who was within an arm's reach, always felt like she would pounce on him in the next moment.
If Hua Guzi harbored hostility, murderous intent, or battle intent, Ning Zhuo could easily deal with it.
However, Hua Guzi was exceedingly friendly towards Ning Zhuo.
This made it difficult for Ning Zhuo to handle the situation.
He was only sixteen, and such a person and trouble were a bit too thorny for him.
Ning Zhuo could only speak coldly with trepidation, "Alright, I have taken the item. You can go now."
"Leave just like that?!" Hua Guzi was extremely reluctant and found it very hard to part.
"Daoist Fellow Hua, please leave." Ning Zhuo's voice was ice-cold, and the smile on his face faded without a trace.
Hua Guzi's heart quivered intensely, and being rejected by Ning Zhuo like this made her feel a wave of exhilarating humiliation from the depths of her heart!
"Despicable, hateful, infuriating!"
"To treat me like this!! Not to take me seriously!!"
"Ning Zhuo, this guy…I, I, I…"
Hua Guzi was driven out of the Cave Mansion by Ning Zhuo.
Her eyes were bloodshot, filled with veins, and her entire body trembled slightly.
There was anger, hatred, and grievance, but also a bizarre, overwhelming sense of relief.
Soon, the feeling of relief became like a torrential flood, overpowering all the negative emotions.
She took one last look back at Ning Zhuo's Cave Mansion, let out a soft whimper with a blushing face, and floated away.
"She finally left." Ning Zhuo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, feeling somewhat parched.
He sat upright in the master's seat, closed his eyes to rest, and after stabilizing his breathing, his emotions finally calmed down.
He looked at the Jade Slip in his hand, feeling that this method of cultivating flowers was incredibly weighty!
Ning Zhuo projected his divine sense into the Jade Slip to explore.
Night Wander Grass.
The leaves were a deep green with edges emitting a pale purple glow, opening out like a sunflower. Each leaf was covered with tiny silver veins that emitted a faint luminescence under moonlight at night, scattering like stars upon the leaves.
Its stem was long and erect, with a smooth surface that gleamed a light purple. Below the stems, there were tiny silver scales that could reflect the faintest of lights.
During a specific period, it would bloom into small purple flowers, with petals so clear they seemed crystal, and at the heart of the flower was a deep blue crystal reminiscent of the night sky.
And this specific period was none other than the Ghost Festival.
During the festival, Ghost Gates around the world would open, allowing spirits from the Netherworld to roam freely in the Mortal World, seeking vengeance and settling grudges.
The gods of the Netherworld had to move quickly to stop and imprison these spirits looking to commit wrongdoings. Among them, the Night Patrol Deity played the lead role.
When the Night Patrol Deity grew weary, it would often rest on the Night Wander Grass to catch its breath and relieve its fatigue.
This was the origin of the Night Wander Grass's name.
To cultivate Night Wander Grass, one required a dark place rich in Yin Qi. As for Spiritual Energy, it had to be depleted during the day and abundant at night, with a very distinct difference between the two.
For fertilization, Night Dew, Star River Spirit Liquid, Night-Blooming Jasmine…
Night Wander Grass, Purple Smoke Orchid, Silver Butterfly Flower, Soul Essence Flower, Rosy Clouds Peach, Heart Burning Flower, Poison Flame Chrysanthemum—seven kinds of rare and exotic flowers and herbs.
Everything in the Jade Slip was the method to cultivate these seven types of rare and exotic flora. Each one was described in detail, and by following the steps methodically, one could manage to cultivate them. The practicality was very strong.
"Soul Essence Flower?"
Ning Zhuo's gaze paused slightly; he knew this flower.
Eleven years ago, outside Fire Persimmon Immortal City, there came a Demon Cultivator named Hua Qianhun.
He set up a situation by planting flowers in a valley nearby the city, allowing the flower sea to spread far and wide, creating rumors of exotic flowers coming into the world.
Many were drawn to the sea of flowers, their souls extracted and turned into fertilizer for the blooms. In the end, a mysterious flower did indeed emerge, known as the Soul Essence Flower. Hua Qianhun immediately plucked it and fled rapidly.
Ning Zhuo became interested and skipped several flowers in the middle, prioritizing the Soul Essence Flower.
The Jade Slip detailed the appearance of the Soul Essence Flower.
Its petals were semi-translucent, their color shifting with the light, ranging from crystal clear to a deep purple. It seemed as though souls flitted across each petal, with their ripples visible to the naked eye as the breeze passed.
The heart of the flower was a deep black and emitted a faint blue luminescence, like a pair of profound eyes piercing straight into one's heart.
The leaves were a gloomy green, imparting a chilling sense of terror.
Upon examining the soil requirements, Ning Zhuo indeed saw that the Soul Essence Flower needed to be planted in soil rich in Soul Breath. An ancient battlefield was the optimal choice.
However, countless beings had perished upon Fire Persimmon Mountain, and the soil there indeed met the requirements.
The waste product of the Soul Essence Flower was the soul itself, and it had to be a fresh one.
The specific planting location needed to be considered carefully, positioned where Yin and Yang converged, neither overly dark nor overly vibrant. The optimal spot was deep within a valley where the Yin Qi was heavier but could receive a moderate amount of sunlight.
Then there was the art of sacrifice.
The object of the sacrifice was the Soul Essence Flower, feeding it the essence of souls through sacrificial magic to promote its growth.
The Jade Slip also mentioned its effects.
The natural purification of external souls by the Soul Essence Flower could enhance one's soul foundation without any side effects.
Should one use it as a primary ingredient to create the Soul Essence Pill, the efficacy would be far superior to consuming the flower raw, at least thirty percent stronger.
After Ning Zhuo had perused the entire content of the Jade Slip, he found that the Rosy Clouds Peach had the highest market value. However, the most suitable for the Ning Clan branch family was the Poison Flame Chrysanthemum.
This chrysanthemum needed to be planted in intensely hot and fiery environments, with the best location situated at active volcanoes where fire poison permeated. Such places, where the flames raged year-round and the fire from the earth spewed forth, aided the Poison Flame Chrysanthemum in absorbing the power of the fire poison.
If the location was chosen well, there was no need to process the soil for planting the Poison Flame Chrysanthemum. But if it was even slightly inferior, the soil would need to be mixed with discarded soil derived from cooled volcanic magma, combined with centuries-old Fire Poison Rock Fragments and ash from millennia-old Flame Vine, crafted by the method of sacrificial refinement into Flame Poison Fire Evil Soil.
One could set up a Fiery Flame Poison Fire Array to concentrate the fire poison energy, enhancing the toxicity and the fire-attribute power of the Poison Flame Chrysanthemum.
The Jade Slip also contained detailed instructions on how to arrange the Fiery Flame Poison Fire Array.
For example, the Array Eye needed to be made of a top-grade fire-attribute Crystal Stone, which could attract intense flames.
Then there were the four fire gates, each with a Fire Spirit Lamp, the lamps eternally burning with Fire Essence, illuminating all directions.
And there were the eight poisonous positions, each housing a Fire Poison Copper Scale Snake to transform the fire poison energy.
During the growth stage of the Poison Flame Chrysanthemum, talismans could be appropriately drawn on the buds once they formed.
The talismans were called Poison Smoke Talisman, Fiery Flame Talisman. If the Poison Flame Chrysanthemum lacked toxicity, one would use the Poison Smoke Talisman to increase it. If its fire-attribute power was found lacking, then the Fiery Flame Talisman would be used to enhance its intensity.
The Jade Slip also included specific methods for drawing these talismans.
For instance, the Poison Smoke Talisman needed to be prepared with Red Blood Ink mixed with Fire Poison Insect Essence, to create a special talisman ink.
Similarly, for the Fiery Flame Talisman, it was best drawn under the blazing sun, absorbing the brilliance of the strong sunlight.
The Jade Slip recorded that if conditions allowed, one could also use Flame Poison Powder as fertilizer. This elixir was made with petals of the Poison Flame Chrysanthemum as the main ingredient, combined with the Flame Scorpion Heart, Fire Poison Lizard Gall, Red Spirit Grass, and other highly toxic medicinal materials.
It boasted four major effects: increasing toxicity, protecting the roots, strengthening the evil energy, and adding intensity.
The cultivation of Poison Flame Chrysanthemum required less water but could not go without it. When irrigating, one needed to use natural hot spring water that was not too cold but maintained high temperatures.
Throughout the growth process of the Poison Flame Chrysanthemum, it also had to be exposed to intense sunlight at intervals, absorbing the strong Yang energy to neutralize its Yin properties, in order to thrive and grow robustly.
...
Ning Zhuo studied it carefully and could not help feeling deeply impressed.
Cultivating Spirit Plants, colloquially known as planting, is one of the Cultivation Hundred Skills.
To do well in this field, one actually needs to be proficient in other areas as well. For instance, using elixir pills, setting up formations, and drawing talismans.
This shows that the Cultivation Hundred Skills are not isolated from each other but are interconnected. Each contains elements of the others, blending together.
It is only that one skill is primary and the others are supplementary, with a clear distinction between the primary and secondary.
Only Mechanical Techniques didn't differentiate between primary and secondary. The Cultivation Hundred Skills, and even the practice of cultivation itself, all merged into one in the form of Mechanical Artifacts.
Therefore, learning Mechanical Techniques is difficult and mastering them even more so. But once truly accomplished, the potential is vast, capable of encompassing all the Cultivation Hundred Skills and achieving Great Success!
Ning Zhuo had only a basic understanding of planting skills, and he was far from an expert, quite the outsider.
The Seven Flowers Cultivation Secret Book from Hua Guzi opened his eyes wide, and he wondered if the countless herbal cultivations of the Ten Thousand Medicine Sect were also like this.
Ning Zhuo could only grasp what was presented in these cultivation records, but not the underlying principles.
"I am still too superficial."
"The content is right before my eyes, yet I cannot deduce the reasons behind these methods."
"There's no end to learning; I still need to study more!"
Sighing, Ning Zhuo carefully put away the Seven Flowers Secret Record.
He had no intention of sending the Jade Slip back to the Ning Clan branch family via the courier station.
Too risky!
Such industrial secrets, akin to the goose that lays golden eggs, must be delivered personally.
Once the Poison Flame Chrysanthemum project was established, the Ning Clan branch family would have a continuous stream of new income.
For the whole branch family and for Ning Zhuo himself, it was a beneficial affair.