Chapter 11: Other Uses of Life Force

However, Fang Yun decided not to manage the medicinal herbs meticulously from that point on. After such a long period of hard work, it was time for a break. With his body fully recovered, the most important thing now was to focus on cultivation and practice that spell. Spending too much time managing the herbs would be counterproductive.

Similarly, planting crops in the valley would have to pause for the time being. Only after mastering the Ground Technique could he proceed with the next round of crop planting more smoothly and efficiently.

Fang Yun returned to his cave and devoted several days to intense meditation, relishing the wonderful sensation of spiritual energy flowing into his body and transforming into spiritual power. However, after about ten days, he felt that his training efficiency had diminished significantly. After several days of continuous practice, he had only slightly increased his spiritual power, and in the following days, he hadn't made any progress at all.

Fang Yun didn't know how much spiritual power was required to advance to Qi Training Level 2, but at this rate, it would take him a long time to break through. This was partly due to his body's aptitude and partly because the spiritual energy in the spring was too limited. No wonder those previous cultivators had stopped making progress once they reached Qi Training Level 2; they could only think of leaving the island to seek opportunities. Resources on the island were simply too scarce.

There wasn't much Fang Yun could do about this; he couldn't generate spiritual energy on his own and could only practice with the spiritual energy from the spring. He would consider other options after reaching Qi Training Level 2.

In the meantime, Fang Yun continued to diligently care for the spirit rice, hoping that once it matured, it would provide him with more life force to study its additional functions.

One day, after finishing his training, Fang Yun went to the spirit field as usual to observe the spirit rice carefully. As the time for the spirit rice to mature approached, he became increasingly anxious. He was very worried that the green beetles from before would return for another attack. Although those beetles didn't pose a direct threat to him, their sheer numbers made it quite challenging to eliminate them all before they could harm the spirit rice.

Therefore, besides his training, Fang Yun spent most of his time near the spirit field these past few days. Even when practicing the Ground Technique, he did it next to the spirit field.

After observing the spirit rice and seeing that they were growing well without any signs of pest damage, Fang Yun left the spirit field and moved to a nearby open area to practice the Ground Technique.

"Strong earth, rooted deep. Spirit breath surges, the earth veins return to heart…"

As Fang Yun chanted the incantation, the hand seals he formed changed continuously, and his spiritual power began to flow along a peculiar route within his body. Yellow light began to flicker from his hands. However, after just a moment, the yellow light extinguished.

Clearly, even the simplest spell was not something Fang Yun could easily master in just a few days. Nonetheless, he had mentally prepared for this.

Glancing at the unchanged panel, he realized that his Ground Technique had not yet reached the required standard. So, he calmed himself and continued to practice diligently.

After several attempts, his spiritual power quickly ran out. The spiritual power of Qi Training Level 1 was simply too limited, forcing Fang Yun to stop practicing.

Leaving the vicinity of the spirit field, he walked toward the cave, planning to absorb some spiritual energy to restore his power. However, at that moment, Fang Yun noticed the life force in his dantian and had a sudden thought.

He planned to experiment and see if this life force, which could restore his injuries, could also be used to replenish his spiritual power.

Thus, Fang Yun sat cross-legged and began refining the life force in his dantian using the little spiritual power he had left. He had originally thought this would be quite challenging, but as soon as his spiritual power came into contact with the life force, it rapidly expanded and instantly restored itself to its peak state, as if they were originally one and the same.

This left Fang Yun unable to react in time, and the life force in his panel dropped from two points to just one. This immediately caused him great distress. He had painstakingly cultivated that field for three months to accumulate those two points of life force. To see it used to restore spiritual power felt like such a waste.

If he had gone into the cave to refine the spiritual energy from the spring, although it would take longer, at least that energy was free, and he wouldn't feel heartbroken about using it. However, now that things had come to this point, there was nothing he could do, no matter how painful it was.

On the bright side, Fang Yun unexpectedly discovered another function of the life force: in addition to its healing properties, it could also restore spiritual power. This meant that in the future, when he had enough life force, his endurance would be much stronger than before. The only limitation was the quantity of life force available.

Moreover, if life force could be used to restore spiritual power, did that mean it could replace spiritual energy for cultivation? Fang Yun suddenly had this thought. If it could indeed replace spiritual energy, it would be immensely beneficial for his future cultivation journey. After all, the amount of spiritual energy in the spring was limited and could only support him to reach Qi Training Level 2 at most.

Fang Yun had originally planned that if he couldn't find a way, he would have to leave the island after reaching Qi Training Level 2. After all, there wasn't enough spiritual energy on the island for him to survive. However, if life force could replace spiritual energy for cultivation, he wouldn't have to worry about his cultivation resources in the short term. He also wouldn't need to leave the island.

After all, while there may not be much else on this island, the land area was quite vast. With enough land, he could plant a large number of crops. Even if the life force provided by the crops was limited, he could still obtain more life force than spiritual energy.

Thinking this way, Fang Yun could no longer afford to be cautious about the remaining life force in his dantian. He immediately continued refining, eager to find out whether life force could replace spiritual energy for cultivation.

As his spiritual power, now restored to peak condition, came into contact with the life force, the situation was just like before: his spiritual power quickly consumed the life force. After absorbing the life force, Fang Yun clearly felt a slight increase in his spiritual power.

Noticing the increase, he stood up with a beaming smile.