Chapter 36: Progress of the Growth Technique Experiment

Days passed, and the rice used for the experiment gradually entered the filling stage.

As he watched the grains become plump little by little, Fang Yun's worries gradually eased.

It seemed that his previous guess was correct; without affecting the pollination of the rice, even with the application of the Growth Technique, it did not hinder the rice from entering the mature stage normally.

As for how much he would ultimately harvest, it would depend on the final results.

Fang Yun also went to check on the weeds he had previously planted and found that their growth status was also quite smooth.

Perhaps due to the shared characteristics of being weeds, these weeds grew exceptionally lush under the dual blessings of rich nutrients and spiritual energy.

There were no other uncontrolled weeds competing for the growth environment, so their growth status was the least of Fang Yun's worries.

However, even though these weeds grew quickly, they still needed more than ten days to fully mature.

In comparison, the rice using the Growth Technique matured much faster.

Fang Yun initially intended to use the Growth Technique on these weeds.

However, considering that although he had seen some hope in his experiment, it had not been a complete success, he decided to wait a bit longer.

He felt it would be more prudent to fully understand all the details of using the Growth Technique before attempting to accelerate the growth of these weeds.

As time passed, Fang Yun focused daily on the spirit rice, while spending the rest of his time closely watching the rice grains that were about to mature.

After entering the filling stage, the rice gradually began to mature under the warm sunlight.

The rice heads turned yellow and drooped heavily.

However, with the gradual maturation of the rice, Fang Yun also noticed some issues.

These rice grains ultimately did not compare to those that grew normally and naturally.

Although there were plump grains among the rice heads, many of them were merely empty husks.

In other words, the Growth Technique still had some negative effects on the growth of these rice grains.

Perhaps there are some critical aspects of the rice's growth process that cannot be directly accelerated using the Growth Technique.

However, Fang Yun had not yet definitively identified which specific aspects they were.

But since the rice was already mature, Fang Yun no longer hesitated and directly began harvesting it.

As he swung his sickle, rice stalks were cut down one after another.

At the same time, Fang Yun clearly sensed some weak, cool energy converging toward him.

Though this energy was quite faint, Fang Yun, who was particularly familiar with life energy, certainly would not mistake it.

With the mature rice, along with the harvest of this life energy, Fang Yun's experiment was actually a success overall, though it had not reached a particularly perfect level.

The remaining unresolved issues would be something Fang Yun planned to slowly explore in future experiments.

Then, Fang Yun turned his attention to the nearby land with the yellow soybeans, as well as the medicinal herbs on the other side and the weeds in the far corner.

Since the preliminary experiment with the Growth Technique had reached a certain level of success, he naturally needed to continue using it to accelerate the growth of these crops to quickly gather more life energy.

After all, Fang Yun was currently in great need of such precious life energy.

However, when deciding to use the Growth Technique, Fang Yun had to carefully consider the cost-effectiveness.

According to the current conversion relationship between magical power and life energy, it should be about 1:1.

If it were during a breakthrough in cultivation, the consumption of life energy would be even higher.

After all, during a breakthrough, it's not only about the increase in magical power, but also breaking through certain barriers, all of which consume energy.

Using the Growth Technique consumes about two points of magical power, and the Ground Strength Technique has a similar consumption.

The Spirit Rain Technique consumes about four points of magical power.

This means that a first-layer Qi Cultivation spell consumes two points of magical power, while a second-layer Qi Cultivation spell consumes four points.

Thus, considering the cost-effectiveness alone, using these spells on the yellow soybeans and weeds seemed somewhat unwarranted.

Even if a Growth Technique were applied, allowing these hundreds of acres of soybeans to fully mature would yield only one point of life energy.

It really wasn't necessary.

Moreover, a single use of the Growth Technique would likely not be enough to fully mature a hundred acres of soybeans, which would require more consumption.

Of course, with life energy in short supply, while magical power can be restored through spiritual energy, it's also feasible to restore life energy by using a certain amount of magical power to accelerate the growth of crops.

With this consideration, Fang Yun could not solely think about cost-effectiveness; as long as the ratio wasn't overly exaggerated, conversions were possible.

Thus, after careful consideration, Fang Yun believed he could apply the spells to the medicinal herbs, then convert them into a certain amount of life energy.

Just right, those medicinal herbs had also been planted for some time, and after using the Growth Technique, they could all be harvested.

The growth cycle of these medicinal herbs is relatively long, and in his current plan, it's not suitable for Fang Yun to engage in long-term cultivation.

After gathering this batch of medicinal herbs, Fang Yun planned to temporarily stop their cultivation.

He would reconsider whether to continue planting once he had a new plan.

After settling these thoughts, Fang Yun approached the medicinal herb field, reciting the incantation and forming hand seals, causing his magical power to circulate as a green energy gathered in his hands.

Then, he directed this energy into the medicinal herb field, focusing intently on spreading this green energy as much as possible.

The green energy continued to spread until it covered about one-third of the medicinal herb field.

Then, in the medicinal herb field, those herbs that primarily grew through rhizomes began to crazily absorb the nutrients from the field and grew at an astonishing speed.

By the time the green energy was depleted, this part of the medicinal herb field had undergone tremendous changes.

Fang Yun took a glance and didn't rush to harvest these herbs.

Instead, he continued to use the Growth Technique on the remaining herbs two more times.

As the effects of the Growth Technique gradually faded, Fang Yun looked at the transformed medicinal herb field, took a deep breath, and picked up a hoe to start working.

Logically, these herbs should be harvested with care; however, Fang Yun was the only one present, and he only needed the life energy.

He wasn't particularly concerned about the quality and integrity of the herbs themselves, so the harvesting process was naturally a bit rough.

After spending a full two days, Fang Yun finally harvested all the herbs.

At the same time, he also gained 10 points of life energy, which was ten times more than that from ordinary crops but still significantly less than from the spirit rice.

So overall, Fang Yun didn't find anything particularly surprising.

Moreover, he had invested a significant amount of time and effort in this medicinal herb field.

When considering the previous use of the Spirit Rain Technique and the Ground Strength Technique to promote the growth of the herbs, along with the magical power consumed by the Growth Technique,

it turned out that Fang Yun had actually incurred quite a loss during this process of planting and harvesting medicinal herbs.