11.Let's guess the flower!_1
After triple checking, Song He understood from the still immature consciousness of this plant spirit that the reason it needed to absorb so much spirit Qi was in order to evolve.
If the spirit Qi were insufficient, the evolution might not be able to proceed normally.
Then, it would only be an ordinary Wood Gourd.
This was something Song He could not accept.
He would definitely regret it for a very long time if he wasted the precious opportunity for the Spirit Plant to advance, an opportunity that might only come once in a thousand years.
Even though he had been all set to relax in his rocking chair and take it easy, Song He immediately became restless. He anxiously paced back and forth, carefully contemplating a way to quickly earn some Spirit Stones.
He really hadn't imagined that he could be this lucky...is it evolving already?
Isn't this a bit too fast?
It was both shocking and delightful.
According to the Wood Gourd's words, it would need roughly five hundred Wood spirit stones to evolve. After that, it could slowly absorb the earth vein's spirit Qi to grow.
"Five hundred stones, my original self worked so hard for so long and only managed to save up just over three hundred Spirit Stones. To come up with five hundred all at once..."
He never thought that after his transmigration, he would still have to face the embarrassment of being broke.
"The Spirit Enhancing Lotus still needs more than ten days to mature, and that thing probably won't sell for much. The prospects for Moistening Spirit Grass and Golden Jade Water Tree are even more uncertain.
It seems I have no choice but to take a gamble..."
Although Song He himself never had much faith in gambling and even found it hard to accept, given the circumstances, he had no choice but to take a gamble.
From his memories, he knew of a special form of entertainment within the sect.
It was called "Flower Guessing."
This entertainment activity originated from a remarkably wondrous Spirit Flower, named the Daynight Flower. Simply infuse spirit Qi into this flower's seed, and it could sprout from seed to bloom in just a moment.
At the moment of blooming, it would emit ten times the spirit Qi that was infused into it, and as the number of petals varied, the purity of the spirit Qi would also increase.
Utterly miraculous.
The number of petals on the Daynight Flower ranged from one to nine.
This was a number predestined from the start with the seed.
It was so unique that even Jindan cultivators within the sect could not tell how many petals a Daynight Flower seed would produce.
Flower Guessing, Flower Guessing—it's all about guessing how many petals it will have when it blooms.
One petal naturally meant a loss, three petals a small profit of twice the amount, and from six petals on, each additional petal doubled the Spirit Stones.
And the most special nine-petalled one was said to return a hundred times the Spirit Stones.
Of course, generally speaking, seeing three petals was already exceedingly rare, six petals and above even rarer, and nine petals... it's said they've only appeared about twice.
Out of tens of thousands of seeds, you might not even see a three-petal Daynight Flower.
But when Song He first transmigrated and sought doctors and medicine everywhere to treat his Spirit Plant, he inadvertently glimpsed a seed.
It was just a fleeting glance and he didn't pay much attention to it.
After all, he was really busy at the time, and the cultivator holding the seed walked away quickly, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
But the panel clearly displayed which Daynight Flower seed it was.
So for him... Flower Guessing was like having a cheat.
"I'm a honest person by nature, but for you, I can only engage in risky ventures," he muttered to the Wood Gourd.
It seemed to understand that he was about to take some risks, and within the fluctuations of its consciousness, there was a sense of comfort and gratitude. It even imparted a bit more to his already replenished Divine Sense.
Yes!
That was exactly the effect he was after.
Song He always felt as if he were training a plant, which immediately gave him a slight sense of guilt, but that guilt disappeared in less than a moment.
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Anyway, he had indeed spoken the truth; he was going to take a bit of a risk after all.
However, he had already decided that when the time came, he would just find a crowded spot and join the other brothers in guessing. Standing out on his own was something he would absolutely not do.
...
Deciding to set off immediately, Song He instructed the Wood Gourd not to expose its spiritual nature indiscriminately and then left the cave. With just over a dozen Spirit Stones in hand, he headed to a place within the sect called Xiao Le Peak.
Compared to other peaks that were vast but sparsely populated, this one was noticeably more crowded, with streets paved in white jade and lined with shops of various sizes, each with a different sign.
These signs bore names such as "Elixir Pavilion," "Spirit Herb Pavilion," "Spirit Beast Pavilion," and "Teleportation Palace"—all official stores of the Spiritual Leaf Sect.
Besides,
there were also many cultivators setting up stalls on the spot, laying out "flowerpots" in front of them, which contained fully-grown Spirit Plants or simply seeds of Spirit Plants.
Spiritual Beasts were also abundant, including tigers, wolves, eagles... In short, animals that one would have seen in zoos or movies in his previous life were commonplace here.
The bustling scene was like an otherworldly version of a "flower and plant market."
But unlike the suffocating smell of a flower and plant market, the air here was filled with the refreshing fragrance of plants, and the spirit Qi they released mingled together, truly intoxicating.
'It's really lively here; neither the original host nor I have ever been to a place like this before.'
Walking down the street, Song He restrained his desire to look around aimlessly and followed the map he remembered in his head, heading straight to a house built of white jade.
This house was located in the center of the Xiao Le Peak "flower and plant market," with no guards at the entrance, but there was a steady stream of cultivators coming and going.
As soon as he entered, before he could take a good look around, he heard sounds of astonishment—
"It has six petals!"
"Senior Brother's eyesight is truly impressive!"
"It's no wonder it's Senior Brother Meng!"
The ample spirit Qi already present in the air suddenly surged, accompanied by flashes of brilliant light.
Song He first looked around before turning his attention to the source of the noises.
He discovered that the interior and exterior of the house were worlds apart. Once inside, the space expanded exponentially.
In this vast space, illuminated by Moonlight Stones, jade tables were set up. Each jade table held a delicate jade flowerpot, with the same peculiar flowers of gold and silver colors growing within.
The stems and leaves of the flowers were silver, but the flowers they bore were dazzling gold, like the Sun. When they bloomed, streaks of golden light shimmered from the petals.
The rich spirit Qi, along with the brilliant light, scattered in all directions.
It was truly a sight to behold.
The cultivators were gathered around the tables, with expressions of joy or sorrow.
The joyful ones had flowers with at least two petals on their tables; those with sorrow had merely a single, pitiful petal on their flowers.
The source of the astonished voices was where the most cultivators were gathered. On that jade table, holding only one flowerpot, grew a Daynight Flower with six blossoming petals.
The flower was no taller than an inch.
Yet it grew exceedingly proud, its six golden petals gleaming brightly, with creamy spirit Qi enveloping it like clouds.
It was like the Sun cradled in white clouds.
One could say that its emitted spirit Qi and golden light nearly covered the entire space, making it at that moment shine as brightly and splendidly as the Sun.
It was the most dazzling one there.
Song He felt an urge to absorb this spirit Qi himself.
This was despite the presence of a cultivator who was using a gourd-shaped magic artifact to absorb its spirit Qi, taking in the majority of it. Otherwise, one could only imagine how abundant the spirit Qi in this place would have been.
'Such a magical flower, but how exactly does one guess here? If only I had an acquaintance…'
Song He pondered inwardly, looking left and right, until his gaze fell upon a certain spot. His eyes lit up, and he made his way over there without delay.
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