Journey Towards Dao

“Can anyone tell me what a Spirit Plant is?”

A powerful voice resonated from an amiable old man standing tall at the front of the lecture hall. His lengthy white hair and drooping beard grazed his black robes, which slightly dragged on the tile floors as he slowly paced the stage, clasping his hands behind his back amidst the gazes of five-hundred Outer Sect Disciples.

The audience of disciples was almost fully composed of practitioners, some younger than ten but none older than the age twenty-five, all considering how to best answer a question they came here seeking the answer to.

Auslen and the others were sitting within the middle of the hall. Fortunately, the floors were generously sloped, so they had no trouble seeing the lecturer clearly. Nathaniel, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have trouble seeing anything, as he was currently drooling on his desk between Auslen and Mia.

Having no interest in waking the boy, who thankfully napped in silence, Auslen turned away and focused on the lecturer up front.

They had all seen the lecture schedule from their Sect Handbook, so everyone was already aware that this old man was Outer Sect Elder Josiah, belonging to the Spirit Botanist Association.

The old man offered once more, “Anyone?”

Hesitant whispers spread throughout the disciples before a young girl raised her hand.

The Elder Josiah smiled as he pointed, “The girl in the back, go ahead.”

“It’s a plant that had Profound Qi transferred to it!”

Elder Josiah’s smile remained, but he shook his head while saying, “Yes, one of the primary features of a Spirit Plant is that it has Profound Qi, but that alone does not define a true Spirit Plant.

“However, plants that merely hold Profound Qi are still useful for Alchemists and are often involved in the creation of low level Elixirs. These plants are widely known as Pseudo Spirit Plants.

“Does anyone else have an educated guess?”

Auslen himself had no clue, since he had yet to absorb the information provided by his father in the jade slips.

He felt that it would be more appropriate to understand the topic of Spirit Botany from a beginner's perspective so that he could have a more accurate frame of reference for what he should and should not know, in the case that he needed to discuss Spirit Plants with anyone else at some point.

So he continued to sit back in silence, waiting for the next child to speak.

After the earlier correction, it took a few moments for another hand to rise.

Elder Josiah waved his wide sleeve in the raised hand’s direction in permittance.

“Is it a plant that cultivated Profound Qi on its own?”

“No. Although that is quite a rare occurrence within nature, it is still the rough equivalent of a Pseudo Spirit Plant.”

Elder Josiah looked around the now silent hall before asking, “One last guess?”

As soon as he finished his question, a hand belonging to a young boy shot up into the air.

Auslen’s brows raised a bit, eyes shifting towards his left to see Tarek confidently raising his hand.

Elder Josiah's eyes crinkled and he nodded in Tarek’s direction.

Tarek answered, “A Spirit Plant is a Demon.”

At Tarek’s short answer, murmurs erupted amongst the disciples, many of which turned to gaze in the boy’s direction with frowning expressions. Beside Tarek, Mia seemed particularly affected, eyes widening as slight signs of terror appeared on her chubby face.

Even Auslen looked towards Tarek questioningly, as this information was not contained within the introductory books he had read.

“Settle down, everyone. Settle down.”

Although Elder Josiah never raised his voice, Auslen could hear an elusive, yet strangely present quality in the old man’s tone that traveled throughout the lecture hall in an invisible wave. He even felt the sound swirling within his ears mysteriously, causing him to relax certain areas of his body that were unwittingly tense.

Whatever the old man did, it seemed to magically calm the growing emotions within all of the aggravated young disciples.

Elder Josiah looked thoughtfully at Tarek before he spoke once more.

“Yes. Spirit Plants are, in essence, Demons”

He raised his pale hand authoritatively, silencing the returning commotion.

“However, among all of their contrasting attributes, there is one major difference between Demonic Plants and Spirit Plants.

“Demonic Plants gain sentience upon breakthrough to the Lesser Demon realm and awakening their Bloodlines. However, Lesser Spirit Plants remain insentient, even after the awakening of their Bloodlines, causing them to be just as harmless as any other plant that you may pass by. Of course, some remain quite dangerous even with their lack of consciousness, but for the purposes of this lecture, that is neither here nor there.

“Unfortunately, we will not be breaking down all the differentiations between Demonic Plants and Spirit Plants, as of yet.

"Well then, now that everyone understands the basic definition of a Spirit Plant, let's take a step backwards, because today’s beginner lecture will strictly focus on Pseudo Spirit Plants. Allow me to show all of you a clear example.”

In the next moment, a tall, three-legged table appeared beside the old man. And sitting atop the table was a hemispherical clay pot containing a single red rose.

He raised his long finger to point down from above the bright petals. Then, the tip of his finger began to glow with a soft white light.

Auslen leaned forward slightly, along with many others in the audience, as he gazed at the luminescent strand of Profound Qi slowly flowing out of Elder Josiah’s index finger before witnessing it disintegrating into a shimmering rain of mist. This mist then fell delicately onto the rose, gradually seeping into the scarlet petals.

After another few breaths, the rose began to tremble as the mist fully disappeared. It even appeared to wither a bit.

The old man raised his other hand, which was now holding onto a tiny glass Elixir bottle, and drizzled a couple droplets of the light green liquid onto the surrounding soil.

Soon, Auslen noticed that the flower finally ceased its trembling, plumping back up until it looked not too much different from before. Perhaps, it seemed to be somewhat taller than previously, but not by much.

Gesturing towards the rose, Elder Josiah continued, “In front of you is a freshly advanced Pseudo Spirit Plant. During its advancement process, I presented three of the main steps involved in Spirit Botany.”

He raised his index finger towards the class, another strand of Profound Qi wriggling out of the fingertip before slowly flying around the old man’s tall figure.

The Elder continued, “The first step that you witnessed, if you were paying close enough attention, was the extraction of an entire strand of Profound Qi from my own Dantian. It is supremely difficult for a plant to naturally refine Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi into Profound Qi, under normal circumstances. Therefore, it is the Spirit Botanist’s job to supply the Profound Qi for the plant.”

After the strand inserted itself back into the wrinkled finger, waves of unpleasant expressions and displeased murmurs spread through the seated practitioners, but the old man continued as if the reaction was expected.

“The second step was the dispersion of my Profound Qi strand into a mist-like substance, allowing the Profound Qi to easily penetrate and integrate within the flower. As of now, this plant can be considered among the weakest of Pseudo Spirit Plant, regardless of its relative uselessness. This step requires a Spirit Plant Cultivation Method, which you can purchase with Merit Points from the Sect.

“And the final step was the nourishing of this newly advanced Pseudo Spirit Plant with High Energy Fertilizer, which is a type of low tier Elixir also exchangeable from the sect.

"I can see many of your faces already frowning up from way down here, but luckily, none of you have to any need to worry. Nourishing Pseudo Spirit Plants after their advancements is a far more efficient process than you all are certainly familiar with as of now. One bottle of this Fertilizer is enough to promote most Pseudo Spirit Plants all the way to the Peak of their realm.

“Does anyone have any questions regarding the process they just saw or on Spirit Botany in general?”

An older female near the front immediately raised her hand before being allowed to speak.

“But practitioners can’t extend Soul Force outside the body. Since that’s true, how can we complete even the first step of Profound Qi extraction?”

“You cannot!”

Auslen looked down at the man in subtle annoyance as the surrounding children erupted once more.

This man is blatantly talking in circles. Maybe I should have just used the damn jade slips father gave me earlier…

The Elder seemed to draw amusement from their collective confusion and only chose to continue after the audience quieted down.

“Practitioners can’t manually extract Profound Qi from their own bodies, so they must rely on an outside force! The primary method is with the assistance of a specialized Spell Formation. Spell Formations are important for any cultivation-related profession, so you would be wise to begin learning your glyphs and inscription techniques.

“However, there are other, more obscure approaches used to get around the issue of Profound Qi extraction, of which will have to be detailed at another time, in another lecture. Any other questions?”

“Can we raise Lesser Spirit Plants as practitioners?”

“Raise your hand next time. And the answer to your question is no, you cannot. Next question? Yes, you may ask your question.”

“Can anyone become a Spirit Botanist?”

Elder Josiah answered, “It depends. Spirit Botany has its own set of requirements, just as any other profession you may encounter within the Sect. However, if a cultivator fails to meet those requirements but is willing to compromise, it is still very feasible for them to support their cultivation needs with Spirit Botany.

“To be clear, any cultivator or practitioner has the ability to successfully raise a Pseudo Spirit Plant to its Peak state, and it is a wonderful way to gain some extra Merit Points here and there, so long as you do not mind giving up some Profound Qi. The Sect is always in need of supplies, and that includes Pseudo Spirit Plants.

“Once we graduate to Lesser Spirit Plants, Wood or Water Elemental Affinities become the gold standard, as cultivators with these Affinities can raise Spirit Plants with any Bloodline.

“Cultivators lacking these Affinities can still raise Spirit Plants, however, they can only select those with Bloodlines that complement their Elemental Affinity. If they attempt to forcefully raise incompatible Spirit Plants, the Spirit Plant will break down from the inside, causing all of the previously stored Profound Qi to leak out until the Spirit Plant’s cultivation is wasted.

“Regardless, that is something you have no need to worry about at the moment, because only Foundation Establishment cultivators can raise Lesser Spirit Plants. Any other questions?”

…

The question and answer session continued within the lecture hall while Auslen sunk into his own thoughts.

He had already known of the Elemental Affinity requirements belonging to the Spirit Botanist Profession, but what he was still unclear of was the “Bloodlines” mentioned several times.

Come to think of it, the wolf-type Demon also mentioned something of Ancient Bloodlines. It sucks that I couldn't find anything within the Royal Library on the subject.

Most of the high-level knowledge within the Royal Library had been restricted from Auslen and Aiden, so many details about cultivation, Demons, and the like were still unclear for him.

Yet another subject I need to research.

It seems like I’m going to have to use those jade slips as soon as possible. Hopefully my questions will be sufficiently answered by then…

A tired whisper interrupted his thoughts.

“Auslen, can we go home now?”

Auslen glanced sideways at Nathaniel, who was rubbing his eyes with small fists, before looking around the lecture hall to see the majority of the nearby disciples standing from their seats. After swiveling his gaze to the front, he realized that the Elder originally positioned on the front stage was nowhere to be found.

Laughing to himself for failing to notice the lecture’s end, Auslen patted Nathaniel’s brown hair before he lifted himself from his seat with a light stretch.

“Yeah, let's go back.”