Chương 126: Chapter 125: The Plant Competition

Yang found the nearest end of one of the long rows and started walking it slowly, looking at what was on the tables. The first table held several large bamboos in ceramic pots, taller than his head. A senior brother stood beside them explaining to a small cluster of listeners.

"The Sword-Form Spirit Bamboo," the senior brother said proudly, as Yang paused at the table.

"I have been cultivating this strain for over one hundred and seventy years. The bamboo can be nurtured into a life-bound treasure. Not a weapon made from the wood, but a sword that bonds with the cultivator who tends it." Yang looked at the stalks. The grain was unusually regular, the surfaces faintly reflective in a way he had never seen on an ordinary bamboo.

"Like a flying sword?" Yang asked.

"No. A life bond treasure is far more intimate, a flying sword is most of the time just a tool. This sword will instead grow alongside you. The bond deepens over time. It is a partner on your cultivation journey rather than a simple tool." The senior brother produced a folded letter.

"Three tool refiners have also confirmed that high grade swords can be forged from the mature bamboo for cultivators who prefer a more conventional weapon or already have a life bond treasure." Life bond treasure. Yang had read the term before and set it aside as far beyond his current level. It still was, but the concept was compelling enough for Yang to linger for a moment before he moved on. The next table had a vine so dark green it was nearly black, coiled across a wooden frame in an unusually regular pattern.

The cultivator behind it was a quiet-looking senior sister who brightened when Yang stopped.

"Dragon Coil Vine," she said.

"When cultivated in a specific pattern it can be grown to form a natural formation. I have so far managed a simple qi barrier." She gestured to a section of vine coiled into a precise geometric shape inside the wooden frame.

"Once the vine is advanced enough to hold more complex formation structures, we would be able to form natural formations of all kinds. The possibilities are significant." A natural formation grown rather than drawn. Yang knew too little about formations to ask useful questions, so he complimented the entry and moved on. The third table held a small tree no taller than his knee.

Its trunk had the deep-grained texture of a tree that had been growing for centuries, and the qi radiating from it was dense enough to match trees many times its size.

"Bonsai Blue Fig Tree," the cultivator said, before Yang could ask.

"A full-grown spirit tree reduced through generations of careful root pruning. The qi of a mature specimen in a form compact enough to keep multiple of them in a small space, with all properties fully retained." Yang looked at it. Other disciples passing the table slowed briefly and moved on without much reaction. The concept was sound but it lacked the scope of the previous two entries. At the next table a group of disciples had gathered around something Yang could feel before he could see it.

A flat wooden tray held several large waxy leaves, deep green with gold veining, and the whole plant sat on the floor beside the table, too large and bulky to be displayed on the surface. Even from a step away there was something calming about the air around it.

"Buddha-Chanted Bodhi Plant," the presenting disciple said, watching Yang's face.

"Sutras have been chanted continuously in its presence through its entire growth cycle. The leaves carry meditative qi." Yang heard murmuring from the surrounding disciples, curious about how a Daoist cultivator had managed to raise a Buddhist plant to this quality. The cultivator's expression suggested it was not the first time the question had come up. It was only after he had passed several more tables that Yang realised he had started from the wrong end. He turned and looked back the way he had come.

The Golden Core entries had the depth of cultivators who had spent decades or in some cases over a century on a single project. The Dragon Coil Vine forming natural formations. The Sword-Form Bamboo with its tool refiner endorsements. The Bonsai Blue Fig Tree carrying a mature spirit tree's qi in miniature. Real scope and applications. Looking at the Foundation Establishment entries now, the difference was visible. Most were existing plants with minor alterations, many of them only cosmetic.

One table held a bamboo with hollow chambers tuned so wind produced specific musical notes. The Singing Wind Bamboo. It reminded Yang of the bell-shaped flowers he had listened to earlier on the peak. He paused at it briefly and then kept walking. Then he noticed the steam. A faint curl of pale pink rising from a small clay kettle at the end of a table surrounded by more people than any other Foundation Establishment entry he had passed. As he got closer he could smell something light and floral.

The cultivator was a senior sister with a comfortable ease to her manner. She had a tray of small cups in front of her.

"Would you like to try?" she said, as Yang reached the table. He took the cup she offered. The liquid was pale pink, almost translucent, and cool in a way he had not expected given the steam still rising from the kettle. Not just room temperature but actually cold, as though it had been stored in a refrigerator. He took a sip. The effect arrived immediately. The low-level tension in his shoulders he had not known he was carrying settled. The background noise of his own thoughts quieted.

The faint residual pressure from the morning's Heavenly Diversion session eased. It was like stepping into a cool room after a day under the sun. His mind felt clean and clear. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"What is this?" he asked, very curious.

"Pink Lotus Tea," she said, watching his expression with a smile.

"A tea I developed from a pink lotus strain I have been cultivating for six years. The calming effect is the main property."

"Senior Sister," Yang said, holding the cup carefully, "I really like this. I practice a cultivation technique that gives me daily headaches. I can feel this working on the pressure behind my eyes right now. Is it available to purchase?" She looked at him with fresh interest.

"Not yet. Still in the refinement stage. What kind of technique, if you do not mind sharing?"

"A soul cultivation technique. The headaches come from forcing qi through unconventional channels that have not fully widened yet. It is a process of several months."

"Interesting, that is a different kind of pressure from what the tea was designed for," she said, "but I am glad to know that the calming mechanism transfers".

"Would you like another cup?" she asked.

"Please." She poured it and Yang drank it slowly, paying attention. The clarity and calm it brought was real and sustained, not a singular effect that faded quickly but something that continued to settle as he finished the cup. He thought about the Heavenly Diversion, about the time that was lost to managing the headache before it peaked.

If the tea could extend the window of productive practice before the headache became disruptive it would be worth considerably more to him than most things he could buy with contribution points.

"Senior Sister," he said when he finished, "I would genuinely like to use this as a cultivation aid. I think it could help me practice longer before the headaches become unmanageable."

"Then take this." She reached under the table and placed a large cloth pouch in front of him.

"I want to know whether it works for that specific application. Come back and report. It is not for sale yet, but this is for research."

"Senior Sister, I cannot take your work without giving something in return."

"You would be doing me a favour," she said.

"I have been looking for test cases beyond simple stress. A soul cultivation technique with physical headaches as a documented symptom is exactly the kind of case I need information on, and considering the rarity of soul cultivators, how likely is it for me to come across one willing to test my tea?" Yang agreed and accepted the pouch with a bow.

"I will report back. My name is Chen Yang, outer sect."

"Li Mei Mei, Foundation Establishment, Qingfeng Peak," she said.

"One more thing to know: this tea cannot be brewed hot. It must be steeped in cold water. If you use hot water the active properties degrade entirely." That explained the temperature but not the steam.

"Cold water only," Yang said.

"But why the steam?"

"That is the result of the technique I use to make cold water. The steam itself carries some of the calming properties. Hot water destroys them before the tea even reaches you. I don't exactly know why yet""Is there a specific technique I should be using to create water? I only know Qi Dew watering technique and Spirit Spring Rain Technique" Yang asked.

"Yes, you should use it with Cool Breeze Watering Technique. I have tried over five dozen types of water techniques to see which one is most suitable to brew this tea in and Cool Breeze seemed to be the most effective. If you find one that works better pleaser make sure to share" Senior Sister Li Mei Mei said. Yang thanked the Senior Sister for the tea as he tucked the pouch in his sleeve beside the crystal vial and moved on to the next table.

He already knew two water techniques and was going to have to learn another one. With the way it was going, forget being a soul cultivator or alchemist he was going to become a water cultivator. The next notable table held an iron lotus growing in a bed of dark volcanic soil, its petals the colour of old metal, hard-edged and holding a faint warmth even at a distance.

"Volcanic-Tempered Iron Lotus," the cultivator said.

"Cultivated through its entire growth cycle in volcanic soil. The petals develop heat-tempered hardness and heat resistance. It has strong applications for tool refiners." Of all the Foundation Establishment entries Yang had seen, this and the Pink Lotus Tea were the most concretely useful. He spent a few minutes at the table and continued. The last table before the end of the row held an orchid with translucent petals that scattered the pavilion's light into small rainbows across the table surface.

Beautiful, and as far as Yang could determine, nothing else. He stood at the end of the row and looked back at the whole day. A crystal vial of spirit honey. A large pouch of Pink Lotus Tea. His knowledge of plant cultivation was too shallow to have drawn much technical understanding from what he had seen, but it had given him a clear view of the scope of plant cultivation. The Foundation Establishment entries had mostly been modest.

It was the Golden Core entries that showed where those same modest beginnings could lead after decades of dedicated work. The Dragon Coil Vine cultivator had once been someone who started with a slightly unusual plant and a theory. It would be interesting to see where these foundation establishment Senior Brother and Sisters end up after decades of cultivating plants. Yang was looking forward to it.

As he was immersed in his own wonderings he noticed a commotion near the front, an elder at the front of the pavilion used a voice amplification technique to get the attention of the disciples.

"Foundation Establishment division results. First place: Zhou Li, Volcanic-Tempered Iron Lotus for its use as a raw material in tool refinement. Second place: Fang Xiao, Stabilising Marrow Bloom, for its confirmed applications in alchemical pill stabilisation. Third place: Li Mei Mei, Pink Lotus Tea for its calming effects." Yang looked across the room toward Senior Sisters Li Mei Mei's table and saw her receiving the announcement with a composed expression that did not quite hide how pleased she was.

"Golden Core division. First place: Chen Kun, Dragon Coil Vine. Second place: Run Ze Sword-Form Spirit Bamboo. Third place: Wei Guang, Buddha-Chanted Bodhi Plant." The prizes followed the same structure as the alchemy competition: spirit stones, cultivation chamber hours, and treasures specific to the craft.

For plant cultivation the treasures included access to the beast peak for specialised fertiliser applications and, for the Golden Core winners, access to seeds and plants collected from recently acquired territory. The elder also announced that all participating cultivators were welcome to register their plants with the sect.

Any with potential alchemical or other types of applications would be assessed by the alchemy peak with full credit to the creator, and a percentage of any income generated would be returned to them. Yang looked at the table with the translucent orchid. It had not placed. He had assumed it was purely decorative. Looking at the cultivator now, still standing at their table with a patient expression, he reconsidered.

The sect's assessment offer meant plants with no application or rather plants with undiscovered applications had reason to enter. They were not necessarily here to win. They were here to get noticed by the right people. Not unlike himself. He took out Senior Brother Wu Nai's gold coin and thought his name. The coin warmed in his palm. He tucked it back in his sleeve and joined the stream of people making their way out of the pavilion. He had a feeling he would be coming back to Lingcao Peak.