Plant VS Cultivation

Chapter 171 – Arrival at Shennong Valley

Although the Grand Yan Sword Sect was relatively close to Shennong Valley, that proximity was only in comparison to other sects. In truth, it still took Gu Mo several days of travel to get there.

"No wonder it's one of the top sects—what a majestic sight."

From afar, Gu Mo gazed at the colossal ancient tree that seemed to blot out the sky and sun. He was awestruck—not just by the sheer size of the tree, but by the immense power it harbored within.

That tree was one of Shennong Valley's core foundations: a fifth-grade spiritual tree that enveloped the entire valley within its range.

It also served as the heart of Shennong Valley's protective formation.

Of course, each of the five top righteous and demonic sects had their own defining trump cards. Without such aces up their sleeves, it would be impossible to stand at the pinnacle of the Heavenly Origin Realm.

Amazed, Gu Mo continued forward until a faint green barrier of light appeared before him. This was the edge of the tree's aura and marked the boundary of Shennong Valley's territory. Passing through this barrier would mean stepping into the valley proper.

However, this light curtain wasn't formed by the valley's main protective array. It was merely a perimeter alert barrier, designed to detect intruders.

Once this perimeter detected an outsider crossing the threshold, Shennong Valley would react swiftly. For visiting cultivators, this barrier served as the first checkpoint.

Though Gu Mo had already formally become Qi Chunde's disciple, he hadn't yet entered Shennong Valley nor received a disciple token. As such, crossing the barrier would trigger the alert.

Qi Chunde's identity token wasn't meant to deactivate the barrier—its purpose was solely to verify Gu Mo's identity to the valley's higher-ups.

Otherwise, if an outsider could simply use a stolen disciple token to walk in undetected, it would be an egregious loophole that no major sect would allow.

At this moment, Gu Mo had two options: he could deliberately trigger the alert to summon someone from Shennong Valley and gain entry that way, or he could wait outside and hope a disciple would arrive to escort him in.

"Junior Brother Qi!"

Just as Gu Mo was weighing his options, a surprised voice called out.

Startled, Gu Mo instinctively looked around, but there was no one nearby. A moment later, realization struck: the voice was addressing him.

"You're not Junior Brother Qi—who are you? And why do you have his identity token?!"

Before Gu Mo could react, a middle-aged man in a green Daoist robe appeared in front of him. The overwhelming presence of a late-stage Core Formation cultivator locked tightly onto Gu Mo.

Any sudden move from him would surely provoke a thunderous strike.

Qi Chunde's token ending up in the hands of an unfamiliar Core Formation cultivator instantly put Wei Yang on high alert.

He had sensed the token's aura and, seeing that the newcomer was also a Core Formation cultivator, had assumed Qi Chunde had returned.

"Junior Gu Mo greets Martial Uncle."

Upon hearing the man refer to Qi Chunde as "Junior Brother," Gu Mo immediately realized this must be his Martial Uncle. He bowed respectfully and handed over the identity token.

"M-Martial Uncle?"

Wei Yang was taken aback. A Core Formation cultivator calling him "Martial Uncle"? That was almost unheard of. Usually, only Foundation Establishment or Qi Condensation juniors used that title with him. When had he ever had a junior this strong?

"Qi Chunde is my master," Gu Mo said, nodding.

He briefly recounted the events that had led him here—something he had already mentally prepared for beforehand—so his explanation was clear and orderly.

Wei Yang felt like his brain was short-circuiting. Qi Chunde had been missing for so many years, and now it turned out he had traveled to the Qinghe Immortal Realm and taken a disciple there?

And not just any disciple—one who was unexpectedly powerful. Although Gu Mo was only newly advanced to Core Formation, the aura he gave off didn't feel any weaker than Qi Chunde's had been.

Wei Yang could sense Gu Mo's cultivation clearly, as Gu Mo wasn't making any effort to conceal it. After all, his purpose in coming to Shennong Valley was to receive the next stage of his sect's inheritance—he had no reason to suppress his strength.

"Come with me. I'll take you to see our grandmaster."

Wei Yang rubbed his temples. The pure Qingmu Sutra aura radiating from Gu Mo's body wasn't something that could be faked. This young Core Formation cultivator was very likely truly Qi Chunde's disciple.

As for how to verify it—he'd take him to see his own master. He had just discovered that Qi Chunde's identity token contained a hidden message, one that only their master could unlock.

"Martial Uncle Wei, has Master returned?" Gu Mo asked as he followed Wei Yang into Shennong Valley.

"No," Wei Yang shook his head. "If not for you, I wouldn't even know what had become of him."

"But don't worry—your master may not be all that in terms of power, but his ability to stay alive is top-notch," he added with a laugh upon noticing Gu Mo's worried expression.

Qi Chunde had once been among the top talents of Shennong Valley. However, he had gone down a rabbit hole with his cultivation, refusing to follow conventional techniques and choosing instead to experiment and innovate.

This had caused his progress to stall. For example, although Wei Yang was technically Qi Chunde's senior, the latter had quickly caught up and even surpassed him not long after joining the sect.

That is, until Qi Chunde veered off course with his unconventional methods, and his meteoric rise abruptly came to a halt. Now Wei Yang was a late-stage Core Formation cultivator, while Qi Chunde, before his disappearance, had only been at the early stage—Wei Yang had already overtaken him.

Still, Wei Yang had to admit: Qi Chunde's experimental method was incredibly effective for staying alive. Their master had also equipped him with various life-saving treasures. As long as he didn't run into a Nascent Soul powerhouse, Qi Chunde's safety likely wasn't a major concern.

Gu Mo nodded at his reassurance. After all, Wei Yang clearly knew his master far better than he did.

It was rare for a disciple to know so little about their master—but Gu Mo's situation was unique. After formally becoming Qi Chunde's disciple, a series of accidents had separated them, and they had never met again since.

As a result, all of Gu Mo's cultivation up to this point had been through his own effort. The Qungmu Sutra included many of Qi Chunde's annotations, but that was no substitute for personal instruction.

Fortunately, Gu Mo's cultivation relied on solar essence rather than spiritual energy, giving him the time and energy to dive deep into the scriptures. And if something didn't make sense? He'd just brute-force it with more solar essence.

In fact, Gu Mo's entire Foundation Establishment phase had been steamrolled using his Gold Core-grade strength. With his body and soul both at Core Formation level, Foundation-level cultivation posed no challenge at all.

Any other cultivator without a master's guidance would likely have been stuck at a bottleneck long ago.

But Gu Mo was different. Bottlenecks? What bottlenecks? With the might of Gold Core–grade essence, bottlenecks at the Foundation Establishment stage weren't even worth mentioning.

Wei Yang flew swiftly with Gu Mo in tow, and along the way, Gu Mo was treated to a true feast for the eyes. Shennong Valley truly lived up to its reputation as the foremost sect for spiritual plant cultivators—everywhere he looked were vast stretches of spiritual farmland.

Fields of spirit rice, spirit herbs, and rare materials stretched out as far as the eye could see, dazzling Gu Mo with their sheer abundance. Of course, what caught his attention most were the fourth-grade spirit fields near the ancient tree.

Beneath Shennong Valley lay a powerful fifth-grade spiritual vein. After being refined and regulated by the fifth-grade tree, this vein nourished countless spirit fields of varying grades.

It was no exaggeration to say that in terms of maximizing spiritual vein utilization, Shennong Valley was unrivaled among the six top sects of the righteous and demonic paths.

"Heh, what you're seeing here isn't even the full extent of our foundation," Wei Yang said with a smile, noticing the awe in Gu Mo's eyes.

As for the full extent of Shennong Valley's heritage—that would have to wait until Gu Mo officially became a disciple of the sect.

"We're here. This is the territory of our lineage," Wei Yang said as they landed on one of the massive branches of the fifth-grade ancient tree.

The entire sect was centered around this colossal spiritual tree. With so much land turned into farmland, one might wonder—where did Shennong Valley's disciples live?

The answer: on the tree itself.

This enormous fifth-grade tree was so massive that a single leaf could be over a hundred zhang wide—large enough to build an entire cultivation residence atop it. As for spiritual energy needed for cultivation? That was no concern. Every leaf of the tree naturally channeled spiritual energy for absorption.

The tree absorbed energy from the spiritual vein, refined and purified it, and then delivered it to every leaf—allowing the disciples of Shennong Valley to draw on it directly.

This built-in filtration made spiritual energy absorption far more efficient. In this aspect alone, Shennong Valley far outclassed the other sects.

This was the foundation of a truly top-tier sect—nurturing its disciples' cultivation with a fifth-grade spiritual plant.

What's more, the spiritual energy concentration in each leaf could be adjusted based on the disciple's cultivation level. The highest intensity could even reach the equivalent of a fifth-grade spiritual vein.

Following Wei Yang, Gu Mo looked up—only to realize that what he had assumed were branches were wide enough to be roads. The branches were so thick and vast that they resembled highways leading to the individual giant leaves.

On this single branch alone, Gu Mo roughly estimated there were over a thousand leaves. Many had courtyards on them, clearly serving as residences.

That meant their lineage was quite large.

From what Wei Yang had told him, in Shennong Valley, any Nascent Soul–stage cultivator had the right to establish their own lineage and claim a branch of the ancient tree.

It was similar to how, in other sects, a powerful cultivator would be granted their own mountain peak—except here, they got a tree branch.

Each lineage within Shennong Valley had its own specialization.

Some cultivated battle-type spirit plants. Others focused on medicinal herbs, spirit rice, or even specialized in alchemy, artifact forging, formation arts, or talisman crafting.

Being a top sect meant having not just one specialty but also a comprehensive set of supporting skills. Alchemy, forging, and other auxiliary disciplines had to be developed enough to ensure the sect wasn't at the mercy of others.

The branch Gu Mo was entering belonged to a lineage that specialized in cultivating medicinal herbs—particularly certain rare and unique varieties.

"Your grandmaster is in right now. I'll take you to him," Wei Yang said after reading a message from a transmission jade slip, a smile appearing on his face.

"Alright!" Gu Mo nodded. Though calm on the surface, he felt a twinge of nervousness. This grandmaster was a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

Walking down a tree branch as wide as a highway, Wei Yang led Gu Mo to one of the leaves. While the leaf was similar in size to the others, the spiritual energy flowing through it was equivalent to that of a fourth-grade spiritual vein.

Atop this richly charged leaf was a simple courtyard. Outside the small yard, Gu Mo saw an adorable little girl with a flower blooming from the top of her head, lying in the sun.

"Little Wei, are you here to play with big sister?" the girl said excitedly, scampering over.

At that moment, Gu Mo sensed an astonishing aura—this childlike figure was a peak third-rank demon… a plant-type spirit demon, no less.

Third-rank plant spirits were uncommon, but those that could assume human form at that level were exceptionally rare. Which meant this girl's original form was no ordinary plant.

But then again, this was Shennong Valley—the realm's top sect in spiritual plant cultivation. Having a humanoid peak third-rank spirit plant here didn't seem all that strange.

"Sister Xiaohua, I've brought Junior Brother Qi's disciple to meet Master," Wei Yang said, bowing.

Despite her small stature and somewhat dazed expression, this girl had an incredibly high seniority. She was the senior-most disciple of their lineage. Wei Yang's master had discovered her as an unknown spiritual plant in an ancient ruin and, after centuries of careful nurturing, she had eventually taken human form.

"Oh, Little Qi's disciple? He hasn't come to play with me in so long," Xiaohua said. Her gaze shifted to Gu Mo, and she suddenly leaned in close to sniff him. Her large eyes lit up instantly.

"Martial Nephew, you smell so good!"

Her expression was full of excitement. Gu Mo's cultivation was powered entirely by solar essence, and the energy within his body carried the aura of the sun—something clearly attractive to spirit plants.

"…What's going on?" Wei Yang looked at Gu Mo in confusion. This was the first time he had ever seen Sister Xiaohua behave this way.

He took a deep sniff himself—but couldn't detect any particular fragrance.

Gu Mo looked helpless. He knew exactly why the little girl was reacting this way—but hadn't expected her nose to be so sensitive.

Of course, this was partly his own fault. If he had been using his aura-concealing technique, the solar essence within him wouldn't have been so easily sensed. But right now, he was running without concealment, which let the scent bleed into the air.

"Could it be… you possess a special wood-type spiritual root?"

A gentle voice suddenly rang out.

An old farmer appeared in front of Gu Mo, studying him with curious eyes.

As a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, there were few things left in the world that could surprise Hou Chunyu. But this was one of them.

After all, in all these years, he had never once seen Xiaohua take such an interest in any cultivator.

(Show your support and read more chapters on my Patreon: [email protected]/psychopet. Thank you for your support!)