As dawn began to break, Wei Yuefu smoothly completed the refinement of the Spirit Field. The entire process went without a hitch, completely free of turbulence.
Afterward, he situated the Spirit Field atop the spirit vein.
It could not be placed anywhere else; it had to accompany the spirit vein, or else it would revert into ordinary soil.
Without the spirit vein's two effects, the ambient spiritual energy concentration would never meet the required threshold.
With the Spirit Field in place, Wei Yuefu could assign a Yellow Turban Strongman specifically to farm for him.
Crops grown in the Spirit Field were bound to be far superior to those from ordinary soil.
Yet the pleasant surprises did not stop there. He discovered that once the Spirit Field settled upon the spirit vein, the two combined to produce a third, derivative heaven-and-earth marvel.
[Spirit Garden]
[Grade: Micro (Derivative: Spirit Vein + Spirit Field)]
[Single-Breath Origin Flow: Soil fertility does not diminish; no fallowing or crop rotation required.]
[Four Seasons Acceleration: Shortens growth cycles; may induce beneficial mutations.]
[Concealed Wind, Gathered Qi: Spiritual energy within the garden does not leak.]
Beside the Spirit Garden's grade was the word "Derivative."
Having refined both heaven-and-earth marvels, Wei Yuefu naturally understood the effects of this third marvel as well.
The first effect was plain and unadorned, allowing the Spirit Field to run all year round without a break.
Four Seasons Acceleration was also quite good—it shortened growth cycles and offered a chance of triggering beneficial mutations.
The former was decent enough, but the probability of the latter was abysmally low, practically nothing more than a bonus afterthought.
Perhaps it would improve once the Spiritual Energy Revival deepened or the Spirit Garden's grade increased.
The last effect addressed the cosmic circulation: spiritual energy within the area naturally flowed and circulated, and this effect ensured that the energy inside the Spirit Field remained abundant without dispersing.
Still, as a third-party marvel, it had a drawback: it could only exist while both the spirit vein and the Spirit Field were present.
The moment they were separated or relocated, it would dissipate on its own.
Furthermore, it had a specific bias; the Spirit Garden entirely bolstered the Spirit Field and provided virtually no benefit to the spirit vein.
Once placed, the Spirit Field gained a surrounding wattle fence, looking quite crude.
Normally, however, a Spirit Field was just a tiny patch of soil with nothing on it at all.
Then there was the fact that... "Micro" differed from "Micro."
A Micro spirit vein was far larger than a Micro Spirit Field.
That was only natural, of course; otherwise, how could a spirit vein support other heaven-and-earth marvels?
One could only say it was truly worthy of being the very first heaven-and-earth marvel gifted to him—it was indeed the most essential.
It would be great if its grade could be raised, but... he estimated he would need at least a few more heaven-and-earth marvels to make that happen.
It was not just an issue of quantity; the world itself and the current stage of the Spiritual Energy Revival likely could not bear anything higher yet.
"Old Yuan, come inside for a moment," Wei Yuefu called out.
When Yuan Jingting stepped inside and saw a fenced-in plot of soil had appeared in the courtyard before Wei Yuefu's bedroom, his expression turned rather strange.
As an old steward, however, he never asked what should not be asked, nor spoke of what should not be mentioned.
"My lord, what are your instructions?" Yuan Jingting promptly asked.
"Go buy some seeds of ginseng, fleeceflower root, and lingzhi for me," Wei Yuefu said.
"Yes, my lord. I will have someone attend to it at once." Yuan Jingting accepted the order and hurried away.
It went without saying that the seeds were meant to be planted in this newly appeared fenced plot.
Wei Yuefu, meanwhile, was pondering a question: should he contact the Ministry of Works to have his Baron of Qingpu County Estate renovated?
The original residence was well suited for living and pleasure, but looking at it now, corresponding renovations were necessary if he wanted to continue developing.
If the system could grant a spirit vein and a spirit field, it could certainly grant things like spirit springs or spirit groves down the line.
The problem was that if he tried to remodel it himself, he lacked the craftsmanship.
A minor fix would be fine.
What Wei Yuefu had in mind was a major reconstruction, which required reporting to the Ministry of Works.
Otherwise, it would be illegal. In ordinary times, he might have slipped by, but Li Chongzhao was currently watching him like a hawk, just waiting to catch him in a violation.
If he really went through official Ministry of Works channels, it would ultimately require the Emperor of Great Xuan's approval; the back-and-forth alone would easily take half a year.
Then procuring materials and beginning construction would take at least another half-year.
At his current pace, he would have no need for the Ministry of Works after a year; who knew how many heaven-and-earth treasures he would have amassed by then?
Not to mention that completing the build would take at least two to three years. Wei Yuefu had gone through it before; it wasn't as if his Baron of Qingpu County Estate had sprouted from the ground on its own.
Pulling strings would certainly speed things up, but there was still the Crown Prince glaring covetously from the shadows.
Therefore, he had to deal with the Crown Prince first.
There were currently two solutions: get rid of the Crown Prince, or seek out the Emperor of Great Xuan under the guise of asking for mediation while actually lodging a complaint.
The former... was better set aside for now.
The latter was quite viable. After all, the Crown Prince had gotten impatient this time, skipping any preamble and making a direct move against him.
To say the least, Wei Yuefu guessed that the Emperor of Great Xuan also needed food rich in spiritual energy to boost his strength.
Among the emperor's Dao Seeds, there had to be ones like his own Essence, Qi, and Spirit Caps.
That series of Dao Seeds only raised caps; it could not directly increase one's current power.
Even if others possessed them, who would spend precious Dao Seed points on those specific nodes?
Especially at this stage, when the three core attributes did not yet trigger qualitative transformations.
Wei Yuefu had martial arts spells to raise his stats, but other Qi Refiners most likely lacked such convenient means.
In that case, these spiritual energy resources became crucial.
Of course, they also possessed heaven-and-earth marvels, which might make up the difference.
Yet as supporting assets, the Emperor of Great Xuan would naturally keep a tight grip on them rather than yielding them to the Crown Prince.
Even in worlds without extraordinary powers, emperors and crown princes could be political enemies, let alone in the Great Xuan Dynasty.
Yuan Jingting soon returned with the seeds Wei Yuefu had requested.
After dismissing him, Wei Yuefu first cast Bright Hall Force before summoning a Yellow Turban Strongman.
This immediately boosted all of the Yellow Turban Strongman's capabilities by sixty percent.
Compared to the previous strongmen, having gained one point of intelligence after allocating points into Intelligence, this one was visibly a sliver more agile.
Wei Yuefu ran a brief test, and the result was still artificial idiocy.
It seemed a single point of intelligence was not enough to trigger a qualitative leap; it merely made the construct slightly more nimble.
Wei Yuefu handed the seeds to the Yellow Turban Strongman and issued the corresponding commands.
The strongman took them and began huffing and puffing away at the labor.
Normally, Wei Yuefu would not need to worry about the rest.
However, since it involved two heaven-and-earth marvels—the Spirit Field and the Spirit Garden—Wei Yuefu remained uneasy, so he stayed and watched until the planting was finished.
Once the work was done, the Yellow Turban Strongman entered standby mode.
This strongman would henceforth remain stationed in the Spirit Field, while another un-upgraded Yellow Turban Strongman continued farming outside so as not to arouse suspicion.
"It seems there aren't any major issues," Wei Yuefu murmured, nodding. "Still, I'll need to keep a close eye on it."
After that, Wei Yuefu moved a chair into the courtyard and set about handling his official paperwork right there.
After all, he had accomplished nothing yesterday except refining the Vermilion Fruit.
Once he had handled most of his duties, he finally opened Tianya Pavilion to see what new developments had arisen.
For instance, what new members and posts had appeared, and which fool had dragged everyone down by failing their mission...
Chapter 50