Chapter 59: Spirit Nurturer! Sturdy Talent and Memory Array
Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Spirit Nurturer! Sturdy Talent and Memory Array
Chen Mo had no way of knowing that Xiao Changhua’s corpse had been looted. At this moment, he had already returned to his small wooden cabin by the Spirit Fields.
In the span of four days, the place remained almost unchanged, except for the water level in the "Spirit Pool" by the door, which had dropped. Upon Chen Mo’s return, He Zhiping, who lived not far away, once again pushed open his door and cast a glance from a distance. It was unclear what was on his mind, but he soon turned back inside.
It was already late autumn. The small wooden cabin, unoccupied for several days, had taken on an extra chill. Chen Mo shivered and lit the stove in the corner. Once the temperature rose, the four little chicks huddled together finally stretched out.
Without opening the cage, Chen Mo grabbed a handful of husks—sifted from the Spirit Rice—from the grain bag in the corner and tossed them in. The four little chicks immediately swarmed over, pecking it all clean at a speed barely visible to the naked eye. Among them, that most energetic Spirit Chicken ate the fastest and the most!
Seeing them chirping eagerly for more, he realized he couldn’t just waste his twenty taels of Spiritual Sand. Thus, Chen Mo brought over a whole pile this time—at least one or two pounds. This would finally be enough for them to eat.
Of the four little chicks, three finished eating and moved to the side to rest and digest. The last one—the specific one Chen Mo had asked for—was actually still eating non-stop. Its stomach seemed like a bottomless pit. It didn’t stop until all the husks in the cage were gone, at which point it puffed up its chest and stared at him. Then, it pecked at the cage with its reddish beak and gestured toward the base of the wall, signaling Chen Mo for more.
"You can eat this much?" Chen Mo was somewhat surprised.
At this moment, he vaguely realized why the shopkeeper hadn’t refused when he asked for this particular chicken earlier, but instead had given him a meaningful look! So this was the problem! Yes, this little chick was more energetic than the others, but its appetite was simply overwhelming. As of right now, this chicken was eating almost as much as the other three combined!
Left with no choice, Chen Mo grabbed another handful and tossed it in. It wasn’t until this batch was finished that the energetic chicken finally stopped demanding more food.
After feeding them, Chen Mo finally had time to observe and ponder the changes to his interface:
[Name: Chen Mo]
[Class: Spirit Plant Cultivator (Unlocked), Spirit Nurturer (Unlocked), Spirit Fisherman (Locked)...]
[Lifespan: 32/80]
[Cultivation: Qi Refining Third Layer]
[Cultivation Technique: Qi Cultivation Technique (3/300)]
[Spirit Root:]
[Metal Spirit Root (Tier One): 73/100]
[Magic:]
[Rainfall Technique (Minor Achievement): 1/800]
[Qi Crossing Technique (Minor Achievement): 33/800]
[Flaming Palm (Minor Achievement): 122/800]
[Geng Metal Finger (Great Success): 1/1600]
[Spirit Snake Body Technique (Mastery): 45/400]
[Talent:]
[Spirit Plant Cultivator: Increased Production (Purple), Breeding (Purple), Rapid Maturation (Green)]
[Spirit Nurturer: Sturdy (Green)]
Sure enough! After raising Spiritual Birds, his second class—Spirit Nurturer—was successfully unlocked. Chen Mo focused his gaze on his newly awakened Talent.
[Sturdy (Green): All naturally born spirits have corresponding acupoints. Using Lively Magic to stretch their muscles and bones can promote growth. Combing and massaging Spiritual Birds every three days can increase their size by 20% (This Talent requires the Cultivation of a Lively-type Magic, reaching the Proficient Realm before it can be integrated).]
"Massaging? Combing?"
A string of question marks popped up in Chen Mo’s mind. He had thought that the Spirit Nurturer Talent might be similar to the Spirit Plant Cultivator’s, relying on some sort of Magic to achieve its corresponding effect. Integrating the [Sturdy] Talent into a [Lively] Magic made sense enough. But what in the world was this about combing and massaging Spiritual Birds? Didn’t he need time for Cultivation? Raising four of them right now was manageable, but what if he raised hundreds or thousands in the future? What would he do then? Would he have to drop everything else every day just to comb and massage these chicks, ducklings, and maybe even piglets?
Chen Mo shuddered at the thought. For a moment, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. However, complaints aside, the most urgent matter at hand was to buy a manual for a [Lively] Magic and start his Cultivation first. After all, he was still counting on these chicks to grow into Spiritual Birds so he could exchange them for Spiritual Sand! He was confident that the larger the Spiritual Birds grew, the higher the price they would fetch.
"Looks like I’ll have to make another trip to the Marketplace tomorrow!"
With the matter of the Spirit Nurturer settled for now, Chen Mo opened the sachet he had just looted from Xiao Changhua and dumped its contents onto the table. There was no need for a careful count; a single glance was enough to tell how much was there. Eight taels of Spiritual Sand, plus four Fasting Pills. This was the entire net worth of a Cultivator at the Qi Refining Third Layer! It wasn’t even as lucrative as last year’s Tribulation Cultivator! Chen Mo sighed, lamenting just how poorly the other party had been doing.
"That’s it?
"And with just this, he was acting all high and mighty in front of me every day?"
Chen Mo muttered to himself, considering a major headache resolved. However, another problem now presented itself. Now that Xiao Changhua was dead, what would happen to the ten acres of Spirit Fields he had contracted? If he were to approach Mr. Wei now, it would inevitably arouse suspicion. Why would he come asking for the contracted land immediately after someone died? Would they suspect he was the killer?
Of course, Chen Mo had no idea that someone had already wiped his slate clean for him. In truth, as long as he asked, those ten acres of Spirit Fields would definitely be his! Lacking this information, Chen Mo decided to play it safe. He would wait another month before taking any action. After all, it wasn’t the season for tilling and sowing yet.
Mixing Xiao Changhua’s entire fortune with his own Spiritual Sand, Chen Mo took out the *Tier One Spiritual Array Outline*, which contained the [Mountain Gazing and Shadow Retaining Skill] recorded on the back. He flipped straight to the last page and carefully studied this most fundamental Array.
The so-called [Mountain Gazing Shadow Retaining Array] was, to put it bluntly, a type of Illusion Array. It could retain the visual scene from within the Array. As long as one didn’t enter its interior or deliberately cast Deception-breaking Magic, everything would look perfectly normal from the outside. The reason this Array was considered foundational—so basic that one didn’t even need to apprentice under a Spirit Array Master and could buy it for just fifty taels of Spiritual Sand—was because its limitations were enormous. The moment someone entered its interior, the so-called Memory Array would instantly collapse on its own. It lacked any offensive or defensive capabilities whatsoever; this so-called Illusion Array could only fool ghosts.
However, while this Array might be useless to other Cultivators, to Chen Mo, in his current situation, it was nothing short of a godly skill! Once the image was retained, outsiders wouldn’t be able to see the changes taking place inside the Spirit Fields. As long as he guarded it well and prevented other Spirit Plant Cultivators from entering, no one would ever know how many ears of grain his Spirit Rice produced or how many harvests he yielded a year. Calling it a godly skill was no exaggeration at all!
Filled with excitement, Chen Mo began to meticulously study the Array. He read for nearly the entire night. It wasn’t until the little chicks in the cage opened their eyes and began chirping that he finally set the Array manual down. After grabbing a few handfuls of husks to feed the extremely energetic chicks, Chen Mo bundled up in his padded coat, pushed open the door, and left his home once again.
This time, his objective was much clearer!