After sitting down, Li Xuan quickly drew the attention of the others.
But given that he was young—and more importantly, had just offended Lin Mo—nobody wanted to be the first to approach him. Instead, they broke into small groups, chatting amongst themselves and deliberately ignoring him.
Li Xuan, of course, couldn't care less. He quietly sat on a rock, finished off his dry steamed bun, and then made his way back to the flower field he was assigned to care for.
His patch of land was modest—just three acres—but every inch was planted with delicate varieties of orchids. These flowers were notoriously fussy, but Li Xuan had thrown himself into learning all he could about plant care. As a result, his orchid fields were the healthiest among them.
Gazing at the sea of blossoms, Li Xuan let out a small sigh. Then, from his thatched hut, he grabbed his hoe and strode into the field to get to work.
Most weeds in this world were Blue Silver Grass—an annoying fact, considering they were technically classified as spirit beasts. That made weeding a much more complicated and exhausting chore than you'd expect.
Li Xuan raised the hoe and brought it down with a solid crack! The Blue Silver Grass snapped in two at the stem.
He quickly got to digging, trying to remove the roots as well. This stuff was infamously resilient. Leave even a sliver of root behind, and it'd sprout back in a few days like nothing happened.
To his surprise, Li Xuan realized that ever since reaching level ten in spirit power, his strength and stamina had improved significantly. In the past, hacking at one of these stubborn weeds would leave him panting and sprawled in the dirt like a broken scarecrow. Now? He wasn't even sweating.
Gripping his hoe with renewed enthusiasm, he decided to take advantage of the cool morning and clear out the whole field.
By noon, the sun was blazing overhead.
Li Xuan wiped the sweat from his brow and looked up at the sky. "Just one morning and I've already cleared the whole area. No wonder spirit masters are so obsessed with leveling up," he chuckled, slinging the hoe over his shoulder and heading toward the nearby foothill.
The sun was scorching, and with the weeding finished, it was high time for a break.
After making sure no one else was around, Li Xuan sat down, scanned his surroundings once more, and then extended his hand.
With a faint pulse of spirit energy, the small green bottle appeared in his palm.
He was about to run an experiment. Now that he finally had a quiet moment, it was time to find out just what kind of ability his Martial Spirit really had.
He spotted a random weed nearby—not a Blue Silver Grass, just something ordinary—and focused on it.
Eyeing the small green bottle carefully, Li Xuan popped the cork with exaggerated caution, then tilted it ever so slightly.
A single drop of bright green liquid emerged and gently fell onto the leaf of the weed below.
The leaf absorbed it instantly, like a sponge drinking up water.
The next moment, a faint breeze suddenly blew past Li Xuan out of nowhere.
"…Was that… spirit energy?" Li Xuan's eyes widened. The wind carried a distinct wave of spirit power. It wasn't just a breeze—it was infused with power, and that power was flowing straight into the weed.
Before his eyes, the little plant began to grow.
And not just a little. It surged upward at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In seconds, it shot up to half a meter tall. A few minutes later, it had grown to a full meter before finally stopping.
The once-fragile leaves had become razor-sharp. The stalks were thick and sturdy, and the roots looked like they could anchor a small tree. This wasn't a weed anymore—it was a mutated monster of a plant.
Curious, Li Xuan reached out to touch one of the leaves—only to jerk his hand back instantly.
The leaf had sliced his finger open like a paper cutter from hell.
"…Did it just mutate?" Li Xuan stared in disbelief. He squeezed his finger to push out the dirty blood, and green-tinted spirit energy soon emerged, closing the wound with a faint glow.
The leaf was sharp enough to rival a steel blade. Fortunately, it wasn't poisonous.
After staring at the plant for a few more moments, Li Xuan made up his mind.
"This thing's too dangerous to keep around."
He raised his hoe high and brought it down hard on the base of the mutated plant.
Thunk!
The impact reverberated up his arms, leaving them numb. The hoe had only cut a few centimeters into the root, which by now was about as thick as his forearm. Clearly, getting rid of this overgrown weed wouldn't be easy.
Li Xuan shook out his hands and gritted his teeth. After a few more determined swings, he finally managed to chop it down.
As the plant toppled over, golden-yellow sparkles began to float up from the remains.
And then, before Li Xuan's stunned eyes, the glowing particles began to coalesce into a faint yellow spirit ring.
"What the hell?! I just created a spirit beast!" Li Xuan exclaimed, completely dumbfounded.
A hundred-year spirit beast, at that.
He stared blankly at the slowly rotating spirit ring in the air. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that one drop of green liquid could grow a hundred-year spirit beast.
An idea suddenly popped into his mind.
Now that his spirit power had reached level ten, all he needed to do was absorb a spirit ring and he'd officially become a real spirit master—with a soul skill and everything!
His Martial Spirit was a Lotus, a plant-type spirit. The spirit ring from this plant beast might not be high-end, but it was a decent match. Absorbing it would definitely give him a boost.
…Still, the thought only lingered in his mind for a second before he shook his head and dismissed it.
'Please', he scoffed internally, 'I've got the Heaven-Controlling Vial and a literal system. What kind of loser absorbs a hundred-year weed spirit ring? That'd be downright embarrassing.'
He left the spirit ring to hover in the air, knowing it would dissolve on its own after a while.
Li Xuan checked the bottle again—empty. Not even a drop of green liquid left.
"One drop, one hundred-year spirit beast… Looks like I've got my first ring covered," he said with a grin, turning the bottle over in his hand with admiration.
With just three days, he could grow a three-hundred-year spirit beast—nearly the upper limit for a first spirit ring. If he chose a compatible plant and grew it with the green liquid, he'd get a ring perfectly tailored to his Martial Spirit.
After playing with the bottle a bit longer, he absorbed it back into his body.
Then he returned to the flower field to finish cleaning up the rest of the Blue Silver Grass, bundling up the plants and their stubborn roots for transport.
As flower slaves, people like Li Xuan didn't receive coal or blankets in the winter. These dried weeds could be used as firewood or woven into makeshift bedding to keep warm.
The Blue Silver Grass from three acres wasn't much, so two trips were enough to haul everything back to his courtyard.
He spread the weeds out on the ground to dry and set them aside for winter.
As for the mutant weed, he stripped its deadly sharp leaves and laid them out to dry separately. Maybe they'd come in handy as makeshift tools or weapons.
With everything in order, Li Xuan finally returned to his small room.
Later in the afternoon, Lin Mo and his cronies would come by to inspect the fields. If they found any stray weeds, they'd use that as an excuse to punish the flower slaves.
But Li Xuan's patch was spotless.
Let them try to nitpick. He was ready.