BLOODLINE TEMPERING: Transforming From Worm To Dragon

Chapter 33: Burial Root

The rest of the disciples swiftly made their way into the Spiritual Garden, with Chen Tu and Qin Lei taking the lead. This pair of junior and senior brothers had already planned it out yesterday to make haste toward the furthest field.

With only ten fields worth of Burial Roots all over this Spiritual Garden, the disciples had no choice but to share them evenly. Five of the fields will naturally have one extra disciple sharing them.

Of course, having less competition doesn't mean it'll be better, in this case, like today.

It was no secret that searching to dig out a Burial Root would take a quarter to half an hour. Furthermore, this timing was based on the speed of an experienced gatherer. And at the same time, this assumed that the Spiritual Herb has matured.

If they weren't, the entire process, from removing to filling the soil back, would take a little over half an hour. Based on their standard of ten working hours, that would equal going through twenty Spiritual Plants.

It was considered a notable achievement for those who harvested an average of ten Burial Roots in these ten hours. And based on the reward of two Contribution Tokens for each root, that's equal to twenty tokens earned in a day.

Of course, some could perform better, and some worst. But in some way, it was still a lucrative paying assignment. Even if they couldn't perform well this time, a minimum of two to three roots is still possible, which is still more than their daily income.

After getting into the tenth field, Chen Tu and Qin Lei went to their chosen row and started.

There are ten Spiritual Plants in one row and a hundred plants in total in a field. If all of them were matured plants, the yield could reach around a hundred and twenty roots.

But before starting, Chen Tu would have to inspect the plant to locate a few obvious characteristics. Without these signs on the Spiritual Herbs, the possibility of digging out a Burial Root is very unlikely.

Those characteristics were dying leaves, cracked soil, and fruits. It was advisable to only go for the earth after noticing these signs to prevent damaging the root before their maturity.

But at the same time, there's always a variable here. Although having those signs means an increased chance of finding a matured Burial Root, the success rate wasn't at one hundred percent.

And thanks to these characteristics, Chen Tu hit the wall twice from going through three Spiritual Plants. Two of them had all the signs on them. But weirdly, they hardly reach the needed maturity to be harvested.

As for the third, it narrowly passes the maturity grade Chen Tu needed.

(Weird... I've ensured the plant I went for had all three characteristics, but why did I still fail?)

The two failures made Chen Tu scratches his head for a while before checking on Qin Lei. And to his surprise, his senior brother is doing much better than he imagined. Qin Lei already had three roots placed aside on the ground.

Unlike Chen Tu, Qin Lei is on his way to dig the soil around the fourth plant. From the look of it, this one should also be successful.

(How weird... Senior brother Qin is inspecting the plant using the same method I did, but why does our result differ? Did I understand something wrongly?)

Chen Tu couldn't help but knock his head twice. And using the same trick again, he went for the fourth plant, only to come across another immature Burial Root. When Chen Tu replaced the soil back into the hole he had opened, Qin Lei was already moving on from his fifth plant.

The feeling of something wrong made Chen Tu sit down and circulate the Sun and Moon Condensation Art to regain his concentration on the surrounding. Although there was nothing wrong with him, Chen Tu was still feeling disturbed.

Shortly after circulating his Spiritual Gathering Art, Chen Tu notices something odd. Some Spiritual Energy seemed to grow sentience and voluntarily gathered above a few nearby plants.

This kind of sight is not something everyone can do after reaching a certain cultivation level. To achieve something like this, one must have a particularly keen sense of Spiritual Energy.

Thanks to the Sun and Moon Condensation Art, Chen Tu could have the same ability, but only temporarily. Still, this is enough to allow Chen Tu to discover the differences among the Spiritual Plants.

He had no idea at first, but the plant from which Chen Tu successfully harvested a Burial Root gave him an obvious tip.

It was one of the Spiritual Plants with richer Spiritual Energy surrounding them.

(Could it be... That only plants that reach their maturity could unintentionally make the Spiritual Energy gather around them?)

Chen Tu's hypothesis seems to be somewhat accurate. From the look of it, the mature Spiritual Plant is doing much better in absorbing the Spiritual Energy in the surroundings to nourish the fruits.

Afraid that his sensitivity towards the Spiritual Energy would dwindle, Chen Tu quickly moved around and tied a string on the matured Spiritual Plants before working on them.

Afterward, his result suddenly got much better. Each Spiritual Plant he went for was fully matured. And each time when he successfully pulled the Burial Root out, it will quickly undergo a dehydration process.

It was hard to believe that a Burial Root about the size of a pinky finger comes from a root about the size of a r****h. Perhaps, this explains why the senior advised them to harvest the herb carefully and avoid wounding them.

Only now, Chen Tu understands this step was necessary to prevent the medicinal efficacy from escaping through the wounds.

At the end of the day, Chen Tu returned to the office with fourteen Burial Roots. At first, he might be slower than Qin Lei, but Chen Tu still harvested two more roots than the latter.

"Heh... Not too shabby for a beginner." Elder Wei Xuan chuckled when he saw Chen Tu and Qin Lei coming from the Spiritual Garden. As an expert in the Golden Core Layer, how difficult was it for him to see how many roots they got?

But the elder obviously had something else in his mind as he smiled.