Chapter 31: Bone Powder to Nurture the Medicine King

Fang Zheng was quite interested in this matter.

During the days on the Road to Immortality, Fang Zheng had been busy resurrecting the Lunar Emperor, which is why this had slipped his mind. Otherwise, he would have definitely tried using bone meal on the plants within the Laws Barrier to see what would grow if he could accelerate their growth.

In Creative Mode, although any block can be destroyed instantly, gathering tools like pickaxes cannot collect items properly. Even trying to break plants with bare hands to obtain unknown seeds is impossible in Creative Mode. Even if one wanted to try farming with dirt blocks, there were no relevant spirit herb seeds available. While it is possible to obtain liquids using iron buckets and bottles, that is the extent of it. TNT explosions can yield block drops, but using them on plants does not guarantee success. The same applies to using pistons to break them.

Using a water bucket to wash them away also posed a problem. In Minecraft, ordinary weeds are destroyed directly by water flow, with a very low chance of dropping seeds—and the seeds dropped are not necessarily those of the weeds themselves. Fang Zheng was not yet sure how the plants in this world were categorized by Minecraft’s item logic. If they were similar to Minecraft trees, it would be difficult to obtain seeds via TNT, and pistons would be unable to push them. If they were similar to flower patches, they could potentially be obtained via TNT, but the drop rate would not be 100%. If they were classified as weeds, he could forget about obtaining them entirely.

As of now, Fang Zheng could not be certain if he could return to this cultivation world at will, so he dared not switch to Survival Mode to attempt item collection. Otherwise, even if they were classified as weeds or leaves, he could obtain them with a tool enchanted with Silk Touch. But that was still too dangerous. After all, the destructive power displayed by these cultivators was truly astonishing. Even if he were to accidentally brush against a stray shockwave, his meager health points in Survival Mode would likely be depleted instantly. Once his health hit zero, while Fang Zheng believed he would respawn, the location was unpredictable. It was impossible to say whether he would return to the respawn point set in this world or be sent back to the Minecraft world.

Although the command console offered a shortcut to set a spawn point—theoretically allowing for one that didn’t rely on a bed—this raised another issue. Fang Zheng didn't know much, but he understood a little bit about relativity. In the Minecraft world, space-time is closer to the absolute, smooth view of early relativity; the overall space-time coordinates are fixed and can be precisely described with three numerical coordinates. Thus, they can be precisely manipulated via teleportation commands. However, in this cultivation world, Fang Zheng had clearly observed phenomena like redshift and blueshift, and had seen the cosmic starry sky.

This implied that this world was more likely to resemble the relative space-time view described by general relativity. In such a relative space-time, three coordinate axes are insufficient to perfectly describe all points. If a spawn point were set, which standard would it follow? Would it be fixed in a fictional, absolute coordinate system, or would it change alongside the relative space-time of this world? This was a headache-inducing problem and the reason why Fang Zheng dared not use coordinate teleportation commands. If the coordinates he entered did not exist in the relative space-time of this cultivation world, the numbers might become something akin to imaginary numbers. It would be fine if the teleportation simply failed, but if it succeeded and sent him to an imaginary space that only existed in mathematical theory, it was hard to say if he could ever teleport back out.

Furthermore, while his healing potions and golden apples were useful to these cultivators, the amount of health they restored to a cultivator in this world was pitifully small. After all, a healing potion restores only a few hearts of health, whereas these cultivators possess health pools that are astronomical—millions, billions, or even trillions of hearts. Relying on these potions to heal them would be an arduous and tedious task.

However, if he could use bone meal to accelerate the growth of the spirit herbs and pills indigenous to this world, that would be incredibly useful.

"Didn't Taiyin say that there is something called an Undying Medicine in this world, and that there are only a few dozen in the entire universe, making them extremely precious?"

"If bone meal works, I can just accelerate the growth of some Undying Medicines later."

Thinking this, Fang Zheng opened his inventory, selected the bone meal, and used it on a solitary Nine-Nether Dark-Sun Bone-Shedding Ganoderma growing on the cliff. With a gentle wave of his hand, green pixelated star particles instantly appeared around the Ganoderma.

The spirit herb, which should have taken thousands of years to absorb massive amounts of Yin-Sha energy and the essence of the sun and moon to reach maturity... in the next frame, to the shock of Jiang Tingting, a Great Power in the second stage of the Sendai realm, it shot upward without any intermediate growth phase. It was as if this weren't growth at all, but rather a direct replacement of its original state with a more mature one.

"It really works! Bone meal doesn't have a 'heal' setting; it has a 75% chance to directly force the next stage of growth!"

"It seems that the noble percentage chance is quite useful. Even these spirit herbs with extremely long growth cycles can be directly pushed to the next stage."

In a few short moments, Fang Zheng waved his hand repeatedly, using the bone meal. The Ganoderma before him grew several sizes in thin air, then suddenly withered. Then, two new, smaller Nine-Nether Dark-Sun Bone-Shedding Ganodermas sprouted beside it. Fang Zheng was slightly puzzled. "Huh? Is this like using too much fertilizer—did I burn the roots, or did it die of old age?"

Fang Zheng seemed to realize something. "Although I can use bone meal, I need to control the frequency to avoid killing the spirit herbs."

"No..." Jiang Tingting remained silent in her shock for a moment. She waved her hand, and her divine power formed an invisible giant palm, carefully plucking the withered Ganoderma. Holding the withered, wood-like fungus, she flicked her finger lightly, and the withered exterior crumbled into ash, leaving behind a small inner core of reddish gold, shaped like a tiny jade Ruyi scepter.

The reddish-gold core emanated a soft, vibrant glow like the morning sun, accompanied by a faint, refreshing fragrance.

Taking a slight breath, a trace of pure, vital Yang energy entwined with a hint of Minor Yin energy was absorbed into Jiang Tingting's body, making even a Great Power of her caliber feel refreshed. The incredibly powerful Lunar energy within her seemed soothed by this wisp of Yang and Minor Yin, becoming even more supple and smooth. Instinctively craving this energy, Jiang Tingting knew that if she were to refine this core, she would gain immense benefits.

Savoring the elegant medicinal scent, she snapped out of her trance. With a flip of her palm, an exquisite treasure box carved from Divine Source appeared, and she placed the jade-like core inside to prevent the medicinal essence from dissipating. She then respectfully offered the box to Fang Zheng with both hands. Fang Zheng shook his head. "It's yours."

After accepting it, Jiang Tingting looked at Fang Zheng with complex eyes and said, "Senior, according to ancient records, when the Nine-Nether Dark-Sun Bone-Shedding Ganoderma matures, the accumulated thousands of years of Yin and death energy reverse—Yin turns to Yang, death turns to life. It sheds all impurities, transforming through the change of Yin-Yang and life-death into the purest Yang energy and vitality, accompanied by a portion of gentle Minor Yin energy."

"The probability of successful transformation is extremely low, but once successful, it becomes a Medicine King more precious than anything short of an Undying Medicine. It can cleanse the marrow, alter one's natural talent, extend the life of a dying physical body or soul, or lay the most solid foundation for a peerless genius."

"According to the Jiang family's ancient books, this is even a crucial auxiliary ingredient for the legendary Nine-Turn Golden Pill that can make one an immortal on the spot."

"Senior..." Jiang Tingting paused her explanation, watching Fang Zheng's actions, and murmured as if questioning reality, "Can you even create something like this at will, Senior Fang?"

*Swish, swish, swish...*

While Jiang Tingting was explaining, Fang Zheng had been continuously using bone meal. In just over twenty seconds, the Nine-Nether Dark-Sun Bone-Shedding Ganoderma, which kept maturing and scattering its own spores to propagate, had crowded the cliffside in a dense patch, numbering in the hundreds.

This top-tier Medicine King, which normally required a region rich in spiritual energy and the support of an entire Yin-Sha earth vein for thousands of years to produce a single specimen, was now growing like mushrooms in a forest after rain, ripe for the picking. Because they were so crowded, the withered outer shells of the hundreds of mature specimens were crushed, and the exposed reddish-gold jade Ruyi cores erupted with a rich, intoxicating medicinal fragrance.

The medicinal power diffused past the protective barrier, causing the plants in the forest near the cliff to grow with an explosive, supernatural vitality, as if the "Advent of the Tree World" had been cast. Various rare beasts were sent into a frenzy.

Seeing a massive, ten-meter-tall wild elephant jump off the cliff while howling, Fang Zheng finally turned his square head and asked, "Huh? What did you say? I wasn't paying attention."

Looking at the jade-like cores scattered everywhere, Jiang Tingting, who had never lacked for spiritual herbs in her years of cultivation, felt a pang of heartache. Taking a deep breath, she exerted a bit of her aura to suppress the chaos outside, then said calmly, "It's nothing."

Looking at the cliff packed to the brim with jade Ruyi-shaped fungi, Fang Zheng nodded. "Hmm, it seems the bone meal is indeed useful. You can have these."

Fang Zheng pondered.

"What should I try next?"

"Right!" Fang Zheng suddenly remembered. "Didn't you say there was an unhatched Cold Flood Dragon egg in the cold pool at the bottom of this mountain range?"