Plant VS Cultivation

Chapter 149: Inheriting the Alchemist's Legacy

In response to Gu Mo's inquiry, the young girl shook her head. Whether to prevent her escape as a sacrificial offering or for some other reason, she had no means of contacting the outside world. As a mere mortal, there was no way she could cross the sea alone and leave this place.

Still, if he just left her here without any help, she likely wouldn't survive long. While the island was relatively safe for Gu Mo, the same couldn't be said for a mortal. After the death of the Tier 3 giant lizard, its dissipated aura had begun attracting lower-ranked sea beasts.

After all, the island possessed a Tier 3 water vein—highly enticing to sea creatures.

Of course, most of the low-tier sea beasts had already been turned into seafood by Gu Mo. But to a mere mortal, even these low-ranked beasts were fatal threats.

"Forget it," Gu Mo sighed deeply, picking up the girl and carrying her to the lakeside. This area was still relatively safe—sea beasts wouldn't come near, and even if they did, the plant-based defense array's firepower would easily cover this ground.

"You'll stay here for now," he said, pointing to a small cabin by the lake. He had originally prepared it for himself, but after the water lotus leveled up, expanding its size and gaining the ability to house a cabin-like magical artifact, Gu Mo had moved to the heart of the lake instead, leaving this cabin unused.

Seeing the girl still dazed, Gu Mo thought for a moment and handed her a bottle of Fasting Pills and a beginner-level Qi Induction Manual. As a mortal, she had nothing else to do here. Giving her the manual would at least offer a chance to see whether she had the talent to cultivate.

Gu Mo could have just examined her spiritual roots directly to determine her potential, but that would ruin the suspense. Since it cost him nothing, he was curious to see whether this girl might bring him a surprise.

After all, life on this deserted island was starting to get a bit dull.

"Thank you for the immortal's grace!"

Finally recovering from the shock, the girl immediately knelt to the ground. She now realized she wouldn't be eaten by beasts and had actually encountered a kind immortal.

To her, the gift Gu Mo had casually offered was a life-altering opportunity.

After instructing her not to wander around, Gu Mo returned to his cabin in the lake. Now that the formation was active, the girl couldn't see what lay within the lake, only imagining it to be the abode of an immortal.

Back in his cabin, Gu Mo began contemplating his next steps. The girl's arrival had introduced a small change to his plans. Since there were inhabited islands nearby—and even cultivators—he figured it was time to start making contact.

He needed to scout out his current location and search for a way to reach Shennong Valley.

However, there was no rush. Gu Mo planned to wait until he broke through to the Core Formation stage before leaving. Only at that level would he be capable of crossing the perilous ocean.

With his plan set, Gu Mo took out the storage ring he had obtained from He Shaogang. For over a year, he'd been working to unravel its restrictive seal. Now, only the final layer remained. He was determined to break it today in one go.

He had high hopes for He Shaogang's collection.

Pop!

With a faint sound, the restriction on the ring was lifted. Gu Mo's spiritual sense flowed into it unhindered, revealing an abundance of treasures and rare items.

What caught his attention most was a small lamp—the soul lamp he had left behind in Qinglu Sect. It was this very lamp that had exposed his identity and forced him into exile.

Taking it out, Gu Mo crushed the soul lamp in his palm. With that, another vulnerability was eliminated.

He then began cataloging the contents of the storage ring: high-grade spirit stones, Tier 3 pills, Tier 3 talismans—each item sparkled in his eyes. Even if he couldn't make full use of the pills and talismans himself, he could still trade them for valuable resources.

Beyond these standard valuables, there were several sealed jade boxes. A quick probe revealed that they contained several Tier 4 spiritual herbs—key ingredients for crafting Nascent Soul Pills.

Apparently, even though He Shaogang was only at the early Core Formation stage, he had already started collecting materials for forming a Nascent Soul. Clearly, he had great confidence in his future.

As the heir to Fenghua Sect, he certainly had the means to back it up. Ordinary Core Formation cultivators wouldn't have the wealth to gather these kinds of resources.

Then there were several jade slips. Gu Mo picked one up and probed it with his spiritual sense, but found it blank. Most likely, this was a Fenghua Sect inheritance manual. Such core techniques were usually protected by restrictions that destroyed the slip if tampered with.

"What a pity."

Gu Mo set it aside. A cultivation technique from a Nascent Soul-level sect like Fenghua definitely wouldn't be weak. If he could study it, it might have proven useful in dealing with the sect in the future.

Fortunately, the storage ring contained more than one jade slip. Not all were core inheritance texts, and therefore not all were sealed. Gu Mo could easily read the unprotected ones.

Among them, he found a list of Qinglu Sect members who had defected under He Shaogang's influence. These traitors would need to be dealt with—betrayers were worse than enemies.

"Hm?"

He set that slip aside and picked up another. As he sent his spiritual sense into it, his eyes lit up. This one contained cultivation insights—not related to Fenghua Sect's core techniques, but to a secret art that Gu Mo had also practiced.

It was the Aura Concealment Technique. Gu Mo had originally obtained this technique from Fenghua Sect and had cultivated it to the Mastery level. However, he had hit a wall trying to reach the Perfected stage.

This jade slip, though, contained insights about reaching the perfected form—something that instantly reignited his progress. If he could master the perfected Aura Concealment Technique, perhaps he could even hide from soul lamp detection.

Setting the slip aside carefully, Gu Mo continued examining the rest. Through these slips, he learned many secrets of Fenghua Sect, although most were irrelevant to him for now.

"Another inheritance technique?"

He picked up one of the few remaining jade slips. As he probed it, he detected a restriction. He was about to put it down, assuming it to be another Fenghua Sect text, when he suddenly realized—the restriction wasn't Fenghua Sect's.

It was from Qinglu Sect.

This slip contained a Qinglu Sect inheritance, which made sense. He Shaogang had once been a personal disciple of Qinglu Sect's head. It wasn't surprising that he had access to their techniques.

As a Qinglu Sect core disciple himself, Gu Mo naturally knew how to bypass the seal.

Using a special method to unlock it, he discovered that this wasn't a cultivation technique—it was an alchemical inheritance.

And it wasn't just any alchemical technique—it was a Tier 4 inheritance, one of Qinglu Sect's core assets.

Even without Nascent Soul-level cultivators, Qinglu Sect dared to refine Tier 4 Nascent Soul Pills because they had this Tier 4 alchemy legacy. This legacy included the full formula for crafting Nascent Soul Pills.

To sabotage the sect's efforts, He Shaogang had taken on the secondary profession of alchemist and acquired this inheritance himself.

In fact, Qinglu Sect had Tier 4 inheritances not just in alchemy but also in artifact forging, formation arts, and talismans. These were the true foundations of the sect, even more so than their cultivation techniques.

This Tier 4 alchemy legacy came as a windfall to Gu Mo. Recently, he'd been trying to figure out how He Shaogang had discovered his identity. After some reflection, he concluded it was probably due to his identity as a spiritual planter, which had drawn unwanted attention.

Though He Shaogang was now dead, Gu Mo had learned his lesson. From now on, when dealing with others, he would present himself as an alchemist instead.

Coincidentally, he was already a competent Tier 1 alchemist. While that was still too low, the new inheritance would fill in the gaps and elevate him further.

Having finished cataloging the spoils from He Shaogang's storage ring, Gu Mo nodded in satisfaction. This was another lucrative haul—his once-empty coffers were brimming again.

Now, it was time to focus on cultivation and further study of wind escape, aura concealment, and alchemy.

Fortunately, Gu Mo didn't need to spend time on basic cultivation like others. Most cultivators invested nearly all their time just to raise their realm, leaving little room to study techniques or secret arts.

Only when one's cultivation was stuck would there be enough time to explore alternative paths.

Immersed in cultivation, time seemed to fly. It was no wonder cultivators often emerged from seclusion to find the world utterly changed.

Gu Mo was beginning to understand that feeling.

"Condense!"

He focused on the cauldron before him, forming a series of hand seals. With a final seal, the cauldron opened, releasing several red pills that floated into his hand.

"Tier 2 Scarlet Jade Pills—success!"

Sensing the properties of the pills, a smile formed on Gu Mo's face. Thanks to the Tier 4 alchemical inheritance, his skills had risen again—he was now officially a Tier 2 alchemist.

He owed this rapid progress to the Tier 3 torch-stump tree. Within the core of the Tier 3 lotus, he had placed a cabin that lacked other plants—so he'd transplanted the torch-stump tree there specifically for alchemical use.

Using a Tier 3 fire source to refine Tier 2 pills made the process feel effortless. Combined with his False Core-level spiritual sense and deep familiarity with herbs as a spiritual planter, he was able to produce Tier 2 pills quickly and reliably.

Plop. Plop.

"I know, you're important too," Gu Mo said, pushing away a fish-like head that nudged him. Since refining pills required herbs, and it wasn't worth growing low-tier ones in his precious lotus, he'd tasked Little Carp with hunting for sea herbs.

There were plenty in the ocean—possibly more than on land—thanks to the unique environment. It was just that harvesting them was much harder.

Now a Tier 2 spirit beast, Little Carp was largely immune to sea beasts under Tier 3. And with no Tier 3 sea beasts nearby, Gu Mo sent it out regularly to forage for herbs.

As payment, he rewarded it with solar essence—a deal that made Little Carp extremely motivated.

"Take these pills to the little girl," Gu Mo instructed.

Gu Mo handed the scarlet Jade Pills to Xiao Li. For him, these physique-enhancing pills were utterly useless—his body had already reached the Golden Core level through the cultivation of the Spirit-Forging Art. But for the girl by the lakeside, they made the perfect test subject to gauge the pills' effects. That girl, once offered up as a sacrifice, was now a Qi Refining stage cultivator.

Her swift initiation into cultivation—achieving the Qi Refining stage in just a few short months—could be attributed not only to her favorable environment, such as the lakeside's spiritual energy that rivaled a second-grade spiritual vein, and the occasional surplus pills Gu Mo refined and gave away, but more importantly, to her innate spiritual root talent.

To go from an ordinary mortal to a Qi Refining cultivator in mere months meant she had at least a mid-grade spiritual root. With such talent, it was shocking that she had been sent as a sacrificial offering. If only mortals had been present at the time, it might be understandable—after all, they wouldn't have been able to detect her aptitude. But there had been cultivators among that group.

If mortals couldn't tell, surely cultivators could?

Clearly, this girl came with baggage. Gu Mo could only sigh inwardly—sometimes trouble just has a way of knocking on your door.

Still, the current Gu Mo was no longer who he once was. No matter what kind of trouble it was, before absolute strength, it simply wasn't worth worrying about.

With his divine sense, Gu Mo watched the girl by the lake. Just then, a large ball of water splashed down on her, drenching her to the bone. The culprit was none other than Xiao Li.

At some point, Xiao Li had developed a fondness for teasing the girl with water balls. Well, "teasing" might not be quite right—this was more like playful mischief. The water spheres she conjured were drawn from the lake and brimming with spiritual energy. For the girl, each soaking was like a baptism, one that helped accelerate her cultivation.

At first, the girl had been uneasy about it. Now, she had grown accustomed to it—welcoming it, even. She understood that whenever the koi spirit by the immortal's side appeared, good fortune would surely follow.

Sure enough, moments later, several Scarlet-jade pills landed in the hands of the drenched girl.

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