Chapter 3759 — Where His Confidence Lies

What they did not know was that Wei Zhao not only intended to take the spirit-herb seeds of those two, but afterward would also collect the seeds of Zhong Yongliang and Li Zhengming, the two inside men, and cultivate them all together.

Zhong Yongliang had fifteen, Li Zhengming ten, Xiao Che ten, Qiao Hongcai ten, and adding Wei Zhao's own forty, that made a full eighty-five spirit-herb seeds!

Setting aside these new disciples of the Three-Tiered Pavilion, even if one took the most skilled spirit-herb cultivator in the entire herb garden, the one most versed in raising seeds, and told him to cultivate all of them within a mere three months, he would likely faint on the spot.

What kind of joke was this! To cultivate a full eighty-five spirit-herb seeds, and within three months, even in the spirit-herb garden where spirit qi was abundant and one need not worry about the spirit qi supply, simply feeding them true qi every day to force them to ripeness would wring a man dry as a husk!

Yet Wei Zhao was utterly confident and certain of it. After all, the jade-pendant space, his most relied-upon asset, was nothing short of a heaven-sent cheat for handling this sort of task.

In terms of spirit qi, the spirit qi density of the jade-pendant space annihilated any cave dwelling in an instant. Even the spirit-herb garden before him, where countless spirit jades had been piled up until the spirit qi was extraordinarily thick, still fell far short when set against the jade-pendant space.

In terms of true qi, Wei Zhao, replenished by the spirit qi of the jade-pendant space, could pour true qi into those spirit-herb seeds at full force all day long without the slightest problem. Even if he were injured later in the fourth stage of the assessment, it would not matter; once he recovered swiftly, there would be none of the true-qi depletion others feared.

After all, when it came down to it, all Wei Zhao had to do was serve as a conduit between the jade-pendant space and the spirit-herb seeds. The rate at which his true qi was replenished far exceeded the rate at which it was consumed, so naturally he was nothing like the others, who after excessive depletion had to toil bitterly for days before recovering, and might even risk dropping a level.

What was more, Wei Zhao had an even more reliable method that required no effort at all!

"Rest assured, there's no problem. I can guarantee the survival rate," Wei Zhao said with a confident smile.

"Well then, I trust Leader Wei Zhao." Qiao Hongcai immediately raised both hands in support. Having witnessed so many of Wei Zhao's miraculous performances, he now regarded Wei Zhao with something close to blind worship. Since Leader Wei Zhao was not acting on a momentary whim, it meant he must have his reasons, and following him was surely the right move!

Matters having come this far, Xiao Che, though still somewhat worried that Wei Zhao might push his true qi to the point of severe exhaustion, could only choose to trust him. "All right, I understand."

Yet although both his miserable senior brother and Xiao Che had guessed that Wei Zhao would not dare do such a thing without solid grounds, none of the three showed the slightest inclination to probe into what that grounding might be. After all, however close they were, some matters that likely touched on personal secrets were better left unasked and unheard.

If the three of them had any need to know, Wei Zhao's character meant he would have told them of his own accord rather than hide it away. If they asked now and Wei Zhao could not conveniently answer, it would only create awkwardness—and they knew well enough to keep that measure of discretion.

Do not ask what should not be asked, do not listen to what should not be heard—this was the most basic principle of conduct among cultivators. After all, their private affairs often involved their very lives and fortunes, far more critical than the privacy of ordinary people.

After Wei Zhao, all the new disciples of the Three-Tiered Pavilion finished collecting their seeds, and then each was issued a vessel made specifically for cultivating spirit-herb seeds.

Wei Zhao observed for a while and found that although this cultivation vessel could not actively supply spirit qi, it had the effect of drawing in the spirit qi of the surrounding space, much like how ordinary plants, through their extensive root systems, could absorb moisture from deep within the soil in all directions, ensuring a certain supply of water even when growing in arid regions lacking moisture.

This specialized cultivation vessel clearly had a similar effect in drawing in spirit qi, but it had one limitation: each vessel could plant at most ten spirit-herb seeds at a time.

Plant more than that, and because they would be too close together, too densely packed, they would viciously compete with one another for spirit qi. Then no matter how rich the spirit qi outside, it was highly likely that some seeds in the middle would wither and die from insufficient spirit qi.

Thus those new disciples who had received a dozen or even twenty spirit-herb seeds could only cultivate them in batches. Fortunately, the survival and cultivation cycle for spirit-herb seeds was generally fifteen to twenty days, and this assessment period lasted a full three months—enough not only for two batches, but even for three or four batches with room to spare.

In fact, because they had to guarantee not only sufficient spirit qi but also a continuous supply of ample true qi to every seed, the vast majority of new disciples had already decided to divide the spirit-herb seeds on hand into three or four batches, cultivating only three or four seeds per batch.

That way they could give them focused care and ensure an adequate supply of both spirit qi and true qi, at least guaranteeing that they could meet the seeds' basic needs as far as these two hard requirements were concerned.

But while the other new disciples had such concerns, Wei Zhao did not, because he had no intention of using the cultivation vessels provided by the spirit-herb garden at all.

He planned, once he returned, to simply fetch some soil into the jade-pendant space and then transplant all eighty-five spirit-herb seeds—his own and those of Xiao Che and the others—into the jade-pendant space in one go.

No need to worry about insufficient spirit qi, no need to worry about insufficient true qi—the jade-pendant space was, to Wei Zhao, a natural cultivation vessel for spirit-herb seeds, and a genuine divine artifact at that.

Thus, barring any mishap, within the next twenty days all eighty-five seeds should be fully cultivated.

Though he could not claim a hundred percent guarantee that every one would take root, sprout, and grow into seedlings, with a god-tier cheat like the jade-pendant space, even a fool could tell the survival rate would be far higher than that of the other new disciples, and securing another high score would be no problem at all.

Still, the assessment score and the like were, in Wei Zhao's eyes, merely incidental. The only thing he cared about right now was the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass seed he had just obtained. So long as he could cultivate that one, it mattered little to him even if every other spirit-herb seed died outright.