You Cultivate, I Farm

Chapter 245: Assisting in its Demise

"Oh? A third-grade Green Jade Branch? Please, nephew, come forward and let us take a look together."

Lu Xuan's interest was piqued. He had seen this third-grade Green Jade Branch in a scripture in the Scripture Pavilion, extremely rare and with no corresponding spiritual species available for exchange within the Heavenly Sword Sect.

A gloomy-looking youth took out a strangely-shaped tree branch from his storage bag.

The tree trunk was slender, deep green in color, with coral-like fine branches at the top, resembling light green jade, exuding a crystalline texture.

Lu Xuan, with sharp eyes, noticed many almost invisible cracks on the jade-like fine branches, easily overlooked by the naked eye.

The cracks were extremely subtle, with a natural and inconspicuous extension, unlike something caused by external force.

"May I ask, nephew, how long has this Green Jade Branch been in this condition?" Lu Xuan inquired curiously.

"Not more than three days. The specifics are not clear; I only discovered it by chance today," replied the gloomy youth indifferently.

Lu Xuan nodded and continued examining the third-grade Green Jade Branch in his hand, thoughts churning in his mind.

"What could be the cause? From the trend of the cracks, the possibility of external force is minimal. The focus should be on internal factors."

"What could be the situation? Invasion of sinister aura? Unknown insects? Or is it simply self-destructive tendencies?"

"Do you, Master, see where the problem lies?" The gloomy youth grew impatient and asked urgently.

"Not yet. Allow me to take another look," Lu Xuan replied calmly.

Lu Xuan continued to carefully inspect the third-grade Green Jade Branch in his hand. After half a moment, he and other outer disciples attracted to the scene remained helpless. The suggested methods were only superficial solutions, unable to find the root cause.

"If Master cannot find the problem, why not stop here? I'll go find other Masters for help later," the young man said with a hint of skepticism.

"May I plant this Green Jade Branch again?" Lu Xuan calmly asked the gloomy youth.

In a dilemma, Lu Xuan planned to use his precise understanding of the growth status of spiritual plants to try planting it again and see what the cause might be.

"No need for unnecessary actions, Master."

"I have a strong affinity for growing spiritual plants. I can roughly sense the emotions and needs of the plants."

"After planting the Green Jade Branch, I can make a rough judgment based on various spiritual plant techniques."

"As long as it doesn't harm the Green Jade Branch," the young man hesitated for a moment, thinking Lu Xuan's words were somewhat unbelievable, but ultimately agreed.

"Nephew, rest assured. I guarantee not to worsen the damage to the spiritual plant."

With the owner's permission, Lu Xuan found an open space, used earth-attracting technique, and planted the Green Jade Branch into the spiritual field.

Among the many outer disciples who came to attend the class, quite a few gathered to see how Lu Xuan would solve the problem.

The root of the Green Jade Branch was perfectly placed in a crack.

Lu Xuan cast a spiritual rain technique, and strands of spiritual rain infiltrated the root and branches of the Green Jade Branch.

With his mind concentrated, detailed information about the Green Jade Branch appeared in his mind.

【Green Jade Branch, a third-grade spiritual plant, rare and precious. It needs to absorb the essence of jade during its growth process. When mature, it can be used to refine talismans, pendants, and jade scrolls for exorcism.】

【Life force is declining. Due to the hidden woodworms parasitizing inside, the life force of the spiritual plant is declining. If this continues, the jade at the top may slowly disintegrate.】

"Woodworms? What are they?"

Discovering the issue, Lu Xuan felt relieved.

However, he had never heard of the hidden woodworms inside the spiritual plant. Out of curiosity, he gathered his spiritual sense inside the spiritual plant.

Perhaps encountering the essence of the hidden woodworm itself, soon information about the hidden woodworm flashed through his mind.

【Hidden Woodworm, a third-grade exotic insect with low attack power among similar insects. It has a strong stealth ability and can cleverly and naturally integrate with spiritual plants.】

【It can form a symbiotic relationship with certain spiritual plants, growing together. It can also parasitize in other spiritual plants, slowly draining their life force.】

【It can be lured out using wood-based magical tools and talismans.】

"Being able to merge with spiritual plants explains why it was difficult to detect."

"Symbiosis... parasitism..."

Lu Xuan sighed. Suddenly, a lightning-like idea struck his mind.

"The Green Jade Branch in front of me is obviously not the symbiotic target of the hidden woodworm. So, why are there traces of hidden woodworms inside the spiritual plant?"

"Perhaps someone deliberately placed hidden woodworms in the Green Jade Branch?"

The more Lu Xuan thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

The passive relationship between the hidden woodworm and the parasitized spiritual plant, combined with the short time the Green Jade Branch showed abnormality, led Lu Xuan to believe in this possibility.

"If someone intentionally placed hidden woodworms in the Green Jade Branch, what could be the purpose?"

"To create a disturbance?"

He had already imagined the subsequent scene.

As a spiritual plant instructor who came to teach at the Transmission Hall, he was helpless in the face of the Green Jade Branch's cracking phenomenon, and then it was solved by a relatively unknown Qi-refining cultivator.

With such an obvious contrast, it could likely affect his reputation in the field of spiritual plants.

"Who could be the mastermind?"

The first thought that came to Lu Xuan's mind was the three people in the blessed land. He rarely interacted with others, being kind to people, and the conflict with the three people over the Phoenix Wood was significant, making the possibility of others very small.

"Using the rare and elusive third-grade Green Jade Branch as bait, deliberately introducing almost undetectable hidden woodworms. When unable to solve it, reputation is ruined, and then using a specific magical tool to lure out the hidden woodworms inside the spiritual plant, the Green Jade Branch's waning life force can quickly recover."

"To come up with such a flawless plan in such a short half-day, it's truly not easy."

"Unfortunately, even with a thousand calculations, they didn't expect that I could perceive the trace of hidden woodworms."

Lu Xuan subtly smiled.

Being able to grasp the immediate status of spiritual plants allows one to see the abnormality of spiritual plants at a glance, thus finding a way to deal with it.

"If hidden woodworms are placed in a rare Green Jade Branch where a symbiotic relationship cannot be established, then there is no intention to preserve the spiritual plant."

"In that case, let me give you a hand."

"Aiding in the demise of the Green Jade Branch."

He held the spiritual plant Green Jade Branch in his hand, and a thread of fine green wood source energy surged out from the tip of his pinky, penetrating into the spiritual plant.

The green wood source energy contained a large amount of pure wood spirit energy, the favorite of most spiritual plants and creatures like hidden woodworms.

After the hidden woodworms in the Green Jade Branch absorbed it, their growth speed could be greatly accelerated, and they could integrate more closely and deeply with the spiritual plant, becoming inseparable.

With the intention of the person behind him to strike him first and then separate the hidden woodworms from the Green Jade Branch, Lu Xuan took decisive action, directly welding the two together, cutting off the possibility of separation.

"Nephew, after careful examination, there should be third-grade hidden woodworms hidden in the Green Jade Branch."

"However, it has been a long time, and the chronic illness is difficult to cure. It is afraid that it will be challenging to restore the spiritual plant to normal."

As soon as the words fell, a cracking sound came from the top of the Green Jade Branch, and the once barely visible cracks instantly became longer and more prominent.

---------------

Table of content- Next Chapter >>>

• You can also check out the other Novels I'm currently translating by clicking HERE.
• Your invaluable feedback and ratings mean the world to me. Please take a moment to rate this novel at Novelupdate.
• If you come across any mistakes within this chapter, kindly notify me in the comments below, so that I can make the necessary correction.