Plant VS Cultivation

Chapter 6: Abandoning Cultivation

Gu Mo discovered a new use for the Solar Essence—it could disperse the black mist within the Black Mist Space. Although each portion of Solar Essence could only clear a small amount of the mist, this discovery still thrilled him.

After all, his Solar Flower was obtained from the Black Mist Space. If he could disperse the mist, wouldn't he be able to find more Solar Flowers?

A single Solar Flower granted Gu Mo the cultivation speed of a lower-grade spiritual root cultivator. If he found two, his speed would approach that of a mid-grade spiritual root. With five Solar Flowers, his cultivation speed could rival that of an upper-grade spiritual root cultivator.

The thought excited Gu Mo immensely. He was tempted to use all the Solar Essence he gathered daily to clear the mist. However, reality reminded him that his top priority now was to advance his cultivation.

Only by reaching the Qi Refining stage and becoming a spiritual farmer could he utilize spiritual fields to grow Solar Flowers. Planting them in pots, as he was doing now, was merely a temporary solution.

Gu Mo could already sense the spiritual energy in the pot depleting bit by bit. Once it was exhausted, the Solar Flower, deprived of spiritual energy, would no longer be able to produce Solar Essence.

Fortunately, after becoming an official outer disciple, the sect provided him with three more spirit stones, allowing him to sustain himself for a while longer. But he needed to reach the Qi Refining stage before those spirit stones ran out.

Checking the time, Gu Mo set off toward the private dining room in the canteen where they had gathered last time. When he arrived, Yao Shifeng and the other three were already there, deep in discussion.

"Gu Mo, which peak are you planning to go to?" Yao Shifeng asked as soon as he saw him.

As outer disciples, they would eventually be assigned labor at various peaks, but for now, they still had some say in their choices.

"The Spirit Plant Hall," Gu Mo replied without hesitation.

All of Qinglu Sect's spiritual fields were managed by the Spirit Plant Hall. Since Gu Mo wanted to be a spiritual farmer, it was the natural choice.

His answer stunned the four of them. In the world of cultivation, the most sought-after skills were alchemy, artifact crafting, formations, and talismans. The four corresponding peaks were the most popular choices, not just for their prestige but also because learning any of these skills provided a solid foundation for the future.

Yao Shifeng and his friends had chosen these popular peaks: Hu Hai selected the Alchemy Peak, Wu Jinfeng chose the Artifact Peak, Chu Feifei opted for the Formation Peak, and Yao Shifeng himself picked the Talisman Peak.

In contrast, Gu Mo's choice of the Spirit Plant Hall was decidedly unpopular. After all, what future prospects could a spiritual farmer have?

"Since we're heading to different peaks, we can complement each other's strengths," Gu Mo said with a smile after learning about their choices.

"That's true!" Yao Shifeng nodded, not pressing further. Gu Mo had only been invited to join their group to make up numbers. He had barely managed to complete the Qi induction stage in time, and even among those with inferior spiritual roots, his aptitude was the worst. Choosing the path of a spiritual farmer, which offered little promise, meant Gu Mo wouldn't be of much help in the future.

If it had been someone else, Yao Shifeng might have tried to persuade them. But for Gu Mo, being a spiritual farmer was probably his best option. With his aptitude, the popular peaks likely wouldn't have accepted him anyway.

After discussing their future placements, the conversation shifted to the most important topic—cultivation. Wu Jinfeng immediately brought up the difficulties he had encountered that week. Yao Shifeng, leveraging his own cultivation insights, offered explanations. Hu Hai and Chu Feifei also raised their questions, all of which Yao Shifeng answered.

Gu Mo, however, remained silent. He hadn't encountered any problems thus far—thanks to the incredible power of the Solar Essence.

The issues Wu Jinfeng and the others faced primarily revolved around opening their meridians to complete the Minor Circulation. Successfully doing so depended on the amount of spiritual energy and the control over it.

The amount of spiritual energy depended on how much spiritual energy a cultivator refined daily. But Gu Mo directly absorbed Solar Essence without needing to refine it. Each portion of Solar Essence equated to two days of hard cultivation, giving him a spiritual energy accumulation rate comparable to a lower-grade spiritual root cultivator—far beyond what the others could achieve.

As for spiritual energy control, the purity of the energy from the Solar Essence made it extremely easy to manage.

This meant that as long as Gu Mo accumulated enough spiritual energy, he could directly open a Minor Circulation and step into the first level of Qi Refining without encountering any bottlenecks.

Even though he had no questions, Gu Mo still listened attentively to Yao Shifeng's explanations. He noticed that Yao Shifeng provided the most detailed responses to Wu Jinfeng's questions, as Wu Jinfeng had the best aptitude in the group after Yao Shifeng himself.

Naturally, Yao Shifeng would invest more in those with better potential, hoping to reap greater rewards in the future. As for someone like Gu Mo, even if he didn't ask a single question, Yao Shifeng wouldn't take the initiative to inquire.

That said, Yao Shifeng wasn't foolish enough to give Gu Mo the cold shoulder outright. Maintaining unity within their small group was still important, and there was no benefit in alienating him.

As night fell, their meeting concluded, and they agreed to reconvene in a week.

"Gu Mo, are you really set on joining the Spirit Plant Hall? There's no future in that," Hu Hai called out as Gu Mo was about to leave.

"Of course!" Gu Mo turned back, smiling. "I'll bring you some spirit rice when the time comes."

"Deal!" Seeing Gu Mo's determination, Hu Hai didn't press further, nodding before turning to leave.

Back in his small hut, Gu Mo retrieved the Solar Flower from the Black Mist Space. Unfortunately, it was already late, and he had missed another day's worth of Solar Essence.

However, the Solar Flower was too important to leave behind, so Gu Mo kept it with him whenever he went out.

With no Solar Essence available, Gu Mo could only rely on his own cultivation. This immediately highlighted the drawbacks of his inferior spiritual root—his cultivation speed was painfully slow.

Eventually, Gu Mo stopped cultivating. If he hadn't had the Solar Flower, he would have been forced to grind through the slow process. But with the Solar Flower, his cultivation speed rivaled that of a lower-grade spiritual root cultivator.

He realized he could completely abandon the inefficient self-cultivation process and rely solely on the Solar Essence. While this meant he'd lose the extra boost from combining personal cultivation with Solar Essence—dropping from triple speed to double speed—the trade-off was gaining a significant amount of free time.

It took him eight hours of hard cultivation just to match half the effect of a single portion of Solar Essence. It was more efficient to free up that time for other pursuits, such as learning spells. As a cultivator, it wasn't enough to just refine energy—mastering techniques was also essential.

While other outer disciples were focusing all their efforts on cultivation to quickly enter the Qi Refining stage, leaving spell training for later, Gu Mo could get a head start on spellcasting without falling behind in cultivation. After all, one portion of Solar Essence equaled two days of hard cultivation, giving him a speed advantage over other disciples with inferior spiritual roots.

With this in mind, Gu Mo didn't waste another moment. Ignoring the darkening sky, he got up and headed straight for the library, where numerous basic spells were stored—perfect for someone like him who hadn't yet entered the Qi Refining stage.

"You'll do!"

His eyes quickly scanned the shelves of beginner spells until he locked onto one. He grabbed the spell book and began studying it intently.