novelapdf Chapter 25 Breakthrough
Chapter 25 Breakthrough
That night.
The weather outside was clear, with a bright moon and few stars.
Zhao Cheng'an's study was converted into a simple workshop. A large worktable was placed near the window, with some odds and ends and heavy reference books piled up on both sides.
An expensive whale oil lamp emitted a bright white light, illuminating the entire room as if it were daytime.
Zhao Cheng'an held a gold-threaded talisman brush used to inscribe talismans in one hand, and the Qingwei Mirror with its patterns was placed in front of him.
The Azure Microscopic Mirror works somewhat like a microscope, requiring spirit stones to activate. At this moment, as a continuous stream of spiritual energy is poured into it, the complex internal structure of the spirit rice is clearly displayed on the mirror's surface.
Zhao Cheng'an currently has two types of spiritual rice as the parent material.
The first type is the green sprout spirit rice obtained from the Imperial Academy, and the other is wild spirit rice that was accidentally bought from the market at the foot of the mountain.
The wild spirit rice possesses three attributes: "survival in dire straits," "spiritual energy dissipation," and "disaster resistance." After more than half a year of study and research, Zhao Cheng'an has determined the specific structure of the runes corresponding to these three characteristics.
The three runes they correspond to are the Hibernation Rune, the Scattering Spirit Rune, and the Solidification Rune.
Zhao Cheng'an had previously synthesized the first version of hybrid spirit rice. Although that spirit rice could be cultivated on relatively barren land, it faced two fatal problems.
The first problem is its poor disaster resistance. If it encounters natural disasters or pests, it is easy to experience large-scale yield reductions, and even complete crop failure often occurs.
Another problem is that the spiritual energy contained within is relatively thin, only about one-third the level of the Taixue Spirit Rice.
Zhao Cheng'an's first task is to solve the yield problem, ensuring that the hybrid spirit rice can be cultivated on a large scale and stably. Then, he can gradually increase the concentration of spiritual energy contained in the spirit rice.
His ultimate goal is to make hybrid rice reach or even surpass the quality of Taixue Lingmi.
Although Zhao Cheng'an's talent was second only to Chen Heng among the students of the Seven Kingdoms' Imperial Academy, he was utterly mediocre in the entire East Sea region.
Moreover, he has a huge disadvantage: he started learning late and has a short period of cultivation.
Therefore, in order to achieve good results in the future Daoist court assessment and forge a path forward, in addition to putting in more effort than ordinary people, he also needs better resources.
As the saying goes, the four most crucial factors for spiritual practice are wealth, companions, Dharma, and environment.
There's a reason why "wealth" is ranked first.
It's not a problem if you have poor spiritual root aptitude; what's worrisome is having neither aptitude nor resources.
Therefore, synthesizing high-quality Lingmi rice has always been the direction Zhao Chengan has been striving for.
At this moment, Zhao Cheng'an meticulously observed the rune structure displayed on the mirror, pondering to himself.
"The 'survival' modifier only solves the problem of ensuring the survival of the spirit rice. However, to achieve a stable harvest, the 'disaster resistance' modifier must be inherited into the hybrid spirit rice."
"However, this raises another issue. As a low-level spiritual plant, hybrid spiritual rice has very limited rune domains. Therefore, the only solution is to fuse the two corresponding runes."
"Merging the same type of spirit rice will not increase the capacity of the rune domain."
"Based on this characteristic, I can use the Golden Silk Rune Brush to destroy the remaining two redundant runes, leaving only the properties I need. Then I can use the Qiankun Cauldron to synthesize them. In this way, perhaps a single coupled rune can express two different properties simultaneously."
"This is the true way to use the Qiankun Cauldron."
"While it's uncertain whether it will actually succeed, it's worth a try."
As Zhao Cheng'an gently stroked the wild spirit rice with his golden talisman brush, two of the talismanic structures were precisely destroyed, leaving only one positive entry intact.
The first entry preserved in the Lingmi was "PUBG".
The other entry for the rice that was preserved was "disaster relief".
Looking at the results of the test, Zhao Chengan was excited, but then the weariness from working tirelessly for many days overwhelmed him.
He mustered his strength and downed a cup of strong tea that was placed beside him in one gulp.
A glimmer of light appeared in his eyes, which were covered in dark circles.
"Now is the time to witness a miracle."
"Qiankun Cauldron, let me see your limits."
Zhao Cheng'an thought to himself.
With a thought, he summoned the phantom of the Qiankun Cauldron again and put both portions of prepared spirit rice into it.
[In synthesis in progress, 72 hours remaining.]
"The first step is finally complete."
Seeing this, Zhao Cheng'an breathed a long sigh of relief. Now, it was just a matter of patiently waiting for the result.
……
After leaving the studio, Zhao Chengan returned to his bedroom on the second floor.
Although he was extremely tired, Zhao Chengan did not lie down to rest.
He walked to the bed, sat cross-legged, faced the sky with his palms facing upwards, and adopted the posture of breathing exercises to continue circulating the "Yi Wood Facing the Sun Scripture" to improve his cultivation.
Meditation can also restore some energy. However, because it requires some mental effort to maintain the operation of the runes within the body, the overall rest efficiency is not as good as direct sleep.
However, Zhao Cheng'an had long been accustomed to this kind of schedule.
Moreover, he learned from his conversation with Lingwei that there are supposedly some specially made immortal caves in the Floating Scale Cave Heaven, where time flows at a different speed than outside.
It is said that one day on Earth is equivalent to one year in Heaven.
Within those time-extending formations, the cultivators inside can work for more than forty-eight hours a day.
However, such formations are extremely expensive to maintain, and only top-tier lineages have the resources to maintain them for extended periods.
Thinking of this, Zhao Cheng'an couldn't help but feel a pang of envy. This further strengthened his resolve to pass the examination for a superior Daoist lineage.
Get rid of the jumbled thoughts in your mind.
Zhao Cheng'an's mind sank.
He could clearly see that the four runes in his dantian were rising and falling and rotating in a regular pattern.
Two different colors of spiritual energy, crimson and cyan, gathered from all around, continuously transforming into Zhao Cheng'an's own cultivation.
With the sunrise pattern successfully inscribed, Zhao Cheng'an's fire-elemental spiritual root could finally come into play. His overall cultivation speed increased by about 30% compared to before.
Two different types of spiritual energy sometimes separated and sometimes converged within Zhao Cheng'an's body, endlessly regenerating.
And so, the whole night passed quickly.
The next day arrived, early in the morning.
As dawn broke, the loud crowing of roosters echoed from the surrounding mountains and forests.
Rays of dawn's red light streamed through the window, bathing Zhao Cheng'an in a golden glow. His face and hair were imbued with a serene and sacred aura.
Zhao Cheng'an slowly opened his eyes.
But at that moment, his shoulders trembled slightly, and then an undisguised joy appeared on his face.
Just as he was about to end his cultivation, the spiritual energy he had gathered did not dissipate. Instead, it was as if he was being pulled in by an invisible vortex, with a large amount of spiritual energy surging in from all around.
The absorption efficiency was even three points faster than when cultivating in the Spirit Gathering Array.
This immense spiritual energy propelled Zhao Cheng'an's aura to rise steadily.
This was clearly a sign that his cultivation was about to break through.