Chapter 35: Researching the Growth Technique Again

He had said what he needed to say; as long as they could complete their tasks, he wouldn't say anything further. However, if they did try to escape and he discovered it, there wouldn't be anything more to discuss.

The Black Widow lowered her head deeply, knowing that her words held no credibility at this moment. As a pirate, it was indeed difficult for her to have any credibility. However, she genuinely had no thoughts of escape. 

The number of pirate forces on the sea was too many. Even though she was an innate martial artist with four others under her command, such strength was still precarious on the sea. 

This was because there were simply too many powerful people and creatures in the world. Any random cultivator or demon beast could bring about a catastrophe for their pirate organization.

If it weren't for the inability to survive, how could the Black Widow willingly make a living on the sea? When she surrendered, part of the reason was indeed due to Fang Yun's overwhelming strength. 

However, it was undeniable that the Black Widow had some thoughts of aligning herself with Fang Yun. After all, he seemed too young to have easily killed another cultivator, Qingmu Shangren. One could imagine how great Fang Yun's potential was. In such a situation, if she could serve under Fang Yun, it would be a rare opportunity for her.

Under the influence of this thought process, the Black Widow naturally had no intentions of defecting. Fang Yun was unaware of her thoughts of allegiance. 

Since the Black Widow had given her assurance, he didn't want to waste any more time; after all, he had a lot to deal with on the mountain, and he didn't want the crops there to have any issues because of the situation below.

Thus, after Fang Yun asked Fang Lin to prepare enough tools, he let the Black Widow and the other innate martial artists lead several thousand pirates toward the eastern part of the southern plains. Accompanying them were the Fang family's guard team and Fang Zhou. Their main task was to supervise these pirates and prevent any attempts to escape.

While these guards might not be able to handle those innate martial artists, they could certainly keep an eye on the other pirates. 

After assigning these matters, Fang Yun returned to the town, briefly spoke with the other elders, and then went back up the mountain. The elders understood that Fang Yun, as a cultivator, had too many matters to attend to, so they didn't delay him further.

Back on the mountain, in addition to the daily management of the spiritual rice, Fang Yun resumed his research on the Growth Technique.

The Growth Technique is incredibly important for someone like me, who is dedicated to farming.

Since my magical power has fully recovered, I naturally cannot delay any longer.

However, this time, Fang Yun did not use the spirit rice as the experimental subject.

Although he still had some spirit rice left uneaten, using it as an experimental subject felt somewhat extravagant.

In contrast, the crops in the canyon are far less valuable than the spirit rice.

Using them as experimental subjects wouldn't make Fang Yun feel regret, even if they all failed.

It just so happens that he didn't plan on planting rice at this time.

The leftover rice seeds would be perfect for experimenting with the Growth Technique.

Thus, Fang Yun went to the rice field in the canyon.

Since he had no intention of planting rice, he hadn't managed it during this time.

The weeds that had just been cleared had now grown back.

Fang Yun could only clear a small area again for the Growth Technique experiment.

After cleaning the weeds, Fang Yun used the Ground Strength Technique, along with the Spirit Rain Technique.

He added a large amount of ordinary energy and some spiritual energy to the land.

Once done, Fang Yun scattered the prepared rice seeds over this patch of rice field.

Then, he recited the incantation and followed with hand seals, causing the magical power in his body to rotate in a specific pattern.

An inexplicable wave of energy radiated into the air, and the wood spiritual energy in the air began to gather on Fang Yun's hand seals.

It then struck the piece of land in front of him.

As the green light spread across the land, the rice seeds began to take root and sprout rapidly, growing taller in a flash.

In the blink of an eye, the rice in front of him had grown to its limit and quickly produced rice heads, turning yellow.

Before the green light faded, all the rice on this land had completed its growth.

Seeing this scene, Fang Yun could only shake his head helplessly.

He didn't even need to look closely to know that the rice heads contained only husks.

This meant that the rice had not entered the filling stage after producing rice heads, maturing directly instead.

In this experiment, Fang Yun ultimately faced failure once again.

However, at this moment, he roughly understood the reason for his failure.

Because whether ordinary rice or spirit rice, they both need pollination shortly after producing rice heads.

Only after pollination can rice enter its mature stage.

Yet under the influence of the Growth Technique, this process was greatly accelerated, leading to rice that had not completed pollination, and thus no grains formed.

Of course, aside from this aspect, the final maturation of rice also requires sunlight.

After he accelerated this process, the sunlight was certainly greatly reduced, which ultimately affected the rice's maturity.

If he wanted the rice to mature without being affected, while also using the Growth Technique to speed up the rice's growth,

the best method would be to stop using the Growth Technique before the rice enters the mature stage.

After discovering the cause of his experimental failure, Fang Yun immediately thought of a new method.

However, whether it would succeed still required another experiment.

Thus, Fang Yun cleaned the waterway in front of him completely and then used the Ground Strength Technique and Spirit Rain Technique to replenish the nutrients in this land.

After replanting the rice seeds, Fang Yun once again applied the Growth Technique.

The wood spiritual energy gathered in his hands once more and then fell into the land ahead.

Affected by the wood spiritual energy, the rice seeds began to crazily absorb the energy and spiritual energy from the land, growing rapidly.

Fang Yun watched the rapidly growing rice closely, and when they reached their maximum height, even before producing rice heads, he dispelled the Growth Technique.

With the disappearance of the green light over the land, the growth of the rice began to stop.

Fang Yun looked at the rice that had just started producing rice heads and breathed a sigh of relief.

Next, he would let the rice grow naturally; he just didn't know if the grains would eventually form under the influence of the Growth Technique.