Chapter 131 - Planting Lingzhi (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

By the time Ye Chen and Ye Moyuan returned to the valley, there was already a huge pile of Spirit Moon Trees outside the forest where they had discovered those Lingzhi mushrooms earlier. Ye Moyuan was inexplicably excited as he described vividly to those strong and young clansmen how terrifyingly powerful the Zephyr White Ape was. The clansmen became dumbstruck and stunned when they heard his recount of what had happened.

“Alright, get to work!” Ye Chen interrupted their idle chatter. “Divide yourselves into three groups. Each group should have seventeen people. The first group will get rid of the weeds in the forest. The second group will sort out these Spirit Moon Trees by cutting off the tree roots and removing the leaves before turning these into wood shavings and logs. As for the third group, you’ll be in charge of transporting the wood shavings and logs into the forest but you should also help the second group whenever you can.”

Although they did not know what Ye Chen was planning to do by giving them all these instructions, the clansmen soon got to work and could be seen moving around busily beside the forest.

Ye Changxuan and the other clan members were cultivating diligently so they did not notice what Ye Chen had been doing. Due to the thousand-year-old Flaming Serpent Berry he had eaten previously as well as the rich Celestial Chi in the valley, Ye Zhantian had already achieved a breakthrough into the Tenth Level after having cultivated for more than ten days. The others also showed great improvement in their Celestial Chi cultivation base but for them, such degree of improvement was far from enough. Hence, they carried on cultivating feverishly to attain a higher level.

After three days of hard work, the forest was scattered with plenty of wood shavings and logs from the Spirit Moon Trees. The entire forest was fenced up to prevent any clan members from entering. Once they had completed these tasks, Ye Moyuan and the clansmen went back to their duties.

“Uncle Moyuan, what’s Chief trying to do?” A few clan members looked very puzzled as they glanced at the forest some distance away.

“I’m not sure too. Could it be that Chief is trying to get more Lingzhi? In that case, Chief is mistaken. It’s not that easy to find Lingzhi. Previously, whenever I went hunting with our clansmen, we would always see an abundance of Spirit Moon Tree logs scattered all over the other forests yet we never find a lot of Lingzhi mushrooms growing on these logs,” Ye Moyuan muttered while shaking his head. ‘Putting tree logs in the forest to let Lingzhi grow them? This idea isn’t very unrealistic!’

“Well then, we’ve been working so hard for nothing?”

“Things like Lingzhi don’t have spores and will only grow by gathering World Celestial Chi.”

“Uncle Moyuan, you’ve said this many times.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Ye Moyuan asked with a chuckle. “I’ve become a foolish old person now. Lingzhi isn’t like medicinal herbs and can’t be planted. Rather than waiting for those Spirit Moon Trees to rot away so that Lingzhi would grow on them, we might as well plant some medicinal herbs. Perhaps we’d be able to reap some harvest.”

Despite his doubts, Ye Moyuan still took care of the forest according to Ye Chen’s instructions, which were to water those Spirit Moon Tree logs regularly during the first few days and thereafter, not entering the forest and guarding outside the forest.

A few days later, Ye Chen entered the forest. He could not be bothered to plant White-Fungi since it was too worthless. After all, a White-Fungus that was a few months old could only be used to exchange for one Chi-amassing Pill. There was not any higher tier Lingzhi stored in their clan’s treasury, so Ye Chen proceeded to look around in the space inside his armguard and found a huge box containing more than twenty types of Lingzhi mushrooms. Within this space inside the armguard, low-tier Lingzhi mushrooms like the White-Fungus could not be found. The lowest tier Lingzhi here was the Blood-Fungus. Besides the Blood-Fungus, he had also found the Black-Fungus, the Cloud Fragrance Fungus, the Flaming Cloud Fungus, and the Corpse Poison Fungus, the Snake Spit Fungus, and many other types of Lingzhi, all of which were much higher in tier than the Blood-Fungus.

These Lingzhi mushrooms were mostly hundreds of years old and were limited in quantity, so they had to be used sparingly. Before he learned alchemy, Ye Chen would never use any of these. After all, many Lingzhi mushrooms were poisonous and could not be eaten directly, so they could only be used for alchemy.

Ye Chen had been spending the past few days going through some of the notes and materials left behind by the original armguard owner. Thus, he had managed to gain a general understanding of each Lingzhi’s characteristics and optimal growing environment. These notes and materials were extremely valuable but only one piece of information was wrong. Like everyone else, the original armguard owner thought that Lingzhi was nurtured into being by Heaven and Earth and could not be planted as a crop!

The Black-Fungus could only grow in a harsh and dark environment, so Ye Chen eliminated this as an option right away. The Flaming Cloud Fungus could only survive near lava streams or lakes, so it had to be eliminated as well. It turned out that the Corpse Poison Fungus and the Snake Spit Fungus were also not suitable to be planted here, so Ye Chen finally narrowed his options down to three types of Lingzhi which were the Blood-Fungus, the Cloud Fragrance Fungus, and the Silver Moon Fungus. This forest provided a suitable growing environment for these three types of Lingzhi.

The Cloud Fragrance Fungus could be eaten directly and had similar effects as the Blood-Fungus, but its medicinal efficacy was ten times stronger than that of the Blood-Fungus, so it could most likely be sold at a good price. On the other hand, the Silver Moon Fungus was an extraordinarily rare item. Based on what Ye Chen knew, the Silver Moon Fungus was a rather uncommon plant species but was a great ingredient for alchemy. Even if a Silver Moon Fungus was just a few months old, it would still be considered an extremely precious item and even the Master Apothecary would value it as a rare item.