Boosted by two Upper Grade Qi Nourishing Pills every three days, Fang Yun's cultivation speed was now very fast.
By the end of the third month at the latest, he would reach the peak of the third level of Qi Refining.
Today, as usual, Fang Yun woke up and headed straight to his three-mu Spirit Field to tend to his Purple Corn.
Before he could even start, he noticed something was off with Tian Ruifeng.
"Senior Brother Tian, you look troubled. Did something happen?" Fang Yun asked, standing in the field.
Tian Ruifeng sighed. "There's a problem with the Mutated Purple Corn plant."
"What kind of problem?"
"Junior Brother Fang, come take a look."
"Alright."
When they reached the Mutated Purple Corn plant, Fang Yun's first impression was that it looked listless.
It seemed to be lacking something—most likely nutrients.
Possessing a two-star Planting Talent, Fang Yun had great confidence in his instincts when it came to growing plants.
"Senior Brother Tian, I think a little fertilizer would solve the problem."
"Fertilizer..."
Plants of the Spirit Rice variety rarely required it. To this day, Tian Ruifeng had never fertilized Purple Corn, nor had it ever been necessary.
Fertilizing a Purple Corn plant that didn't need it could cause it to grow only stalks and leaves, producing fewer kernels.
"Junior Brother Fang, are you sure it's a lack of fertilizer?" Having tended to Purple Corn for decades, Tian Ruifeng had never considered this possibility when the mutated plant ran into trouble.
"I think so. We can give it a try. If any other changes occur, we can deal with them promptly." As he spoke, Fang Yun reached into his Storage Pouch and grabbed a handful of something. "These are the dregs left over from my Alchemy. Even unprocessed, they can work as fertilizer."
The Spirit Field Institute collected these dregs.
The dregs produced from refining about forty batches of Qi Nourishing Pills could be exchanged for one Lower Grade Spirit Stone.
Whenever he accumulated a certain amount, Fang Yun would make a trip to the Spirit Field Institute.
"Alright. We'll start with the dregs, since their effect won't be too strong. If any problems arise, we can handle them quickly."
As Tian Ruifeng watched, Fang Yun applied more than half of the dregs in his hand to the Mutated Purple Corn plant.
He put the remaining dregs back into his Storage Pouch.
Fang Yun felt this amount of dregs was just right for fertilizer.
"Alright, Senior Brother Tian. It's all yours now."
Tian Ruifeng nodded. His full attention was now fixed on the fertilized Mutated Purple Corn plant.
Fang Yun, meanwhile, began to tend to his own three-mu of Purple Corn.
By the time he had finished meticulously tending to his three mu of Purple Corn, there was a result over on Tian Ruifeng's side.
"Junior Brother Fang, it really was a lack of fertilizer!"
With the dregs acting as fertilizer, the Mutated Purple Corn plant's condition began to change.
"It's good that we found the problem."
"Needing fertilizer after mutating... this isn't the kind of change I was hoping for." Even after discovering the cause, Tian Ruifeng wasn't particularly happy.
A plant's mutation could be for the better or for the worse.
Every Spirit Plant Master hoped for their plants to undergo a beneficial mutation. This would make the Spirit Plant more valuable, and it might even replace the original strain.
A detrimental mutation, on the other hand, lacked value and was destined to be discarded, never to be preserved.
"It's not harvest time yet, so the outcome isn't set in stone. If the kernels from this Mutated Purple Corn plant have better effects, or if the yield is higher and offsets the cost of fertilizer, it could still be a good mutation."
"Yes, let's hope so."
Fang Yun's words made Tian Ruifeng feel much better.
"It's a real shame you're not fully dedicated to growing Spirit Plants, Junior Brother."
"Alchemy suits me just fine, too."
With that, Fang Yun departed. He had to hurry to Dan Cloud Peak to rent a low-grade Alchemy Room and refine Qi Nourishing Pills.
Time flew by.
「Two months later.」
「In the Disciple Marketplace.」
"Junior Brother Fang, how has your Alchemy been lately?"
"It's going okay, Senior Sister."
"Junior Brother Fang, if you get the chance, you'll have to help me refine a few batches of pills."
"Haha, of course, of course. As long as the price is right."
Word of his Alchemy Talent had already started to spread throughout the Disciple Marketplace.
He came to the Disciple Marketplace several times a month to buy Alchemy Materials, which was how some of the senior brothers and sisters had come to know him.
Being able to continuously purchase materials meant one either had significant savings or had started turning a profit from Alchemy. Since Fang Yun was so young—not some disciple in his forties or fifties—his situation was clearly the latter.
The latter required a certain degree of Alchemy Talent. Without it, it would be difficult to break even, and he wouldn't be able to show up at the Disciple Marketplace so often to keep buying Spirit Medicine.
Fang Yun had no intention of hiding his talent.
He needed to have influence within the sect, and building that influence had to start somewhere.
Once he had a certain reputation, that should also increase his influence.
'This was his initial theory.'
And over the past three-plus months of refining pills, his theory had been proven correct.
[Celestial Cloud Sect]
Sect Level: 3
Sect Position: Outer Sect Disciple
Sect Influence: 2%
Seven days ago, the influence on his sect interface on the light screen had changed.
This one-percent increase in influence was a change that occurred as his fame grew. More and more Sect Disciples learned of him thanks to his burgeoning Alchemy Talent.
"If it isn't Junior Brother Fang! I harvested some Qi Nourishing Grass a few days ago. Interested in a few stalks, Junior Brother?"
"How much Qi Nourishing Grass do you have on hand, Senior Brother?" Fang Yun asked, walking right over.
This wasn't the same senior brother who owned the stall from before. That man's supply of Qi Nourishing Grass had sold out back in the first month, with Fang Yun himself having purchased most of it.
"Twenty stalks. One is good quality; the rest are inferior."
"I'll take them all. How about twenty-six Lower Grade Spirit Stones?"
His standard price was thirteen Lower Grade Spirit Stones for ten stalks of inferior-quality Qi Nourishing Grass. By offering twenty-six Spirit Stones for all twenty stalks—including the single good-quality one—he was essentially getting a discount. He was fairly certain the other party would accept.
"Deal. Twenty-six Lower Grade Spirit Stones it is." The senior brother took out all his Qi Nourishing Grass as he spoke. "Take a look, Junior Brother."
Now that he had a reputation, and since his offers weren't unreasonable, there was rarely any haggling involved in his transactions.
Having purchased new materials for refining Qi Nourishing Pills, Fang Yun headed to Dan Cloud Peak as usual.
Unlike his usual trips, however, this time he came to Dan Cloud Peak to purchase a specific type of pill.
A Qi Radiance Pill!
Qi Radiance Pills could help a Cultivator at the peak of the initial Qi Refining stage break through to the middle stage.
Fang Yun was not far from the peak of the third level of Qi Refining. He only needed to take and absorb one more Upper Grade Qi Nourishing Pill to reach it.
Before buying the Qi Radiance Pill, however, he decided to refine three batches of Qi Nourishing Pills first.
His current record for refining Qi Nourishing Pills was five pills from a single batch: two Upper Grade and three Lower Grade, with no Middle Grade pills.
Given the limitations of his Alchemy Materials, this was already his limit.