The Dao Sovereign of Shennong

Huang Tao had pulled out handfuls of his own hair, yet he still couldn't figure out why the Soul Calming Herb wasn't blooming. Could it really be a diseased plant?

With no other choice, he decided to switch to another one.

He couldn't afford to waste an entire night—after all, the exam only lasted four days and three nights!

Supporting himself on shaky legs, Huang Tao trudged toward the seedling area. Along the way, he spotted his friend Ma Wu hurrying in the same direction, his expression anxious.

"Brother Ma? What brings you here?"

"Huh? Brother Huang?" Ma Wu, who had accompanied Huang Tao earlier that day, was surprised to see Huang Tao leaving his own plot. "I ended up picking a bad plant. I've been working on it for three or four hours, but it just won't bear any fruit. Sigh!"

"What? The same thing happened to me!" Huang Tao was stunned.

Ma Wu suddenly felt a bit better—at least he wasn't the only one suffering from bad luck!

"Brother Huang, let's go pick something new together. It's already past midnight, and we don't have much time left."

"Let's go!"

There were quite a few clerks coming to pick new seedlings or seeds. However, none of them thought much of the situation. After all, it wasn't uncommon for things to go wrong in cultivation—who hadn't accidentally killed a plant or two? Moreover, most of them had chosen difficult plants to begin with.

So, when Zhao Xing first activated Earth Vein Consolidation, most people didn't suspect a thing.

Were there people capable of noticing, though?

Yes, there were.

For example, Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze, both of whom were at the third level of Essence Gathering and close to Zhao Xing. With their keen observation and proximity, they were able to detect that something was off.

Zhao Xing had anticipated this possibility, so he carefully controlled the amount of energy he siphoned from these two neighbors.

"I can't let the experts catch on too soon. I need to control the pace. However, the areas where these two are planted are rich in energy, and their energy is more refined when they cast spells. Even if I siphon less from them, I'm still getting more than from others."

Against the weaker clerks, Zhao Xing was ruthless, taking away eight or nine parts out of ten.

With the experts, he was more cautious, slowly draining them like a blunt knife cutting meat, boiling the frog slowly.

"Earth Vein Consolidation is difficult to learn and master, but that doesn't mean no one else knows the technique."

"But I haven't felt anyone siphoning energy from me, so it looks like there's no second sneaky operator around here."

The weaker clerks couldn't recognize what was happening, and the stronger ones hadn't caught on yet.

Though some confused murmurs arose in the night, everything was proceeding according to Zhao Xing's plan.

As time passed, the energy accumulated, and finally, the Diamond Bamboo at the center of the spell began to stir.

At the first quarter of the Chou hour (1:00 AM), the tip of the bamboo shoot broke through the soil, emitting a faint golden glow.

Seeing this, Zhao Xing immediately summoned a small dark cloud to water the bamboo, aiding its growth.

At the second quarter of the Chou hour, the Diamond Bamboo continued to grow, its outer leaves thickening, and it shot up to half a meter in height.

At the third quarter, the bamboo's height doubled, reaching one meter, and its first node appeared—a clear sign that it had moved out of the seedling stage.

By the fourth quarter, the second bamboo node emerged, and the Diamond Bamboo had fully entered its growth phase.

From this point on, it grew with unstoppable momentum.

As the saying goes, "like bamboo after a rainstorm," it grew rapidly and with force.

Although the Diamond Bamboo was a high-grade second-rank plant, it was still bamboo. With the abundant energy provided by Earth Vein Consolidation, plenty of nutrients, and ideal growing conditions, it began to explode in growth.

The first bamboo node had appeared at just one meter in height, but within a quarter of an hour, the second node had emerged, and the bamboo shot up to four meters tall!

Soon, the outer leaves began shedding, and the bamboo began growing two nodes every quarter-hour, visibly rising higher.

By the end of the Yin hour (around 3:00 to 5:00 AM), all twenty Diamond Bamboo plants stood over fifty meters tall, with trunks over 30 centimeters in diameter!

The entire bamboo forest glowed with a golden hue, even the leaves and branches were golden.

Twenty Diamond Bamboo trees, tall and lush, had transformed the area into a golden bamboo forest!

When the first light of dawn broke, the golden bamboo gleamed brilliantly in the morning sun, catching everyone's attention.

"Huh? Such huge bamboo!"

"What's going on? How did so much bamboo grow overnight?"

"They're so tall! Even though there are only twenty of them, it looks like a whole bamboo grove!"

"They're golden... so beautiful. What species are they?"

"Completely golden, over fifty meters tall... Could they be second-rank top-grade Diamond Bamboo?"

"What? Second-rank top-grade? And twenty of them all at once?"

"Whose territory is that?"

"It's Zhao Xing from the Huai-Liu Courtyard who planted them!"

All the clerks in the assessment area were buzzing with excitement.

It was impossible not to notice—those fifty-meter-tall bamboo plants stood out so much that every clerk could see them. Ignoring them was simply impossible.

"Did they really mature overnight?" Li Chengfeng, watching from the west, frowned as he looked at the figure standing in the golden bamboo forest. "Bamboo has a natural growth advantage, but this is absurd."

Seeing the golden bamboo forest, Li Chengfeng felt a vague sense of being surpassed.

"How did he do it?" Zong Shichang was dumbfounded. "Second-rank top-grade Diamond Bamboo—even growing one would be difficult, let alone twenty!"

"I don't know." Li Chengfeng shook his head. "Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze are closer to him. Maybe they know something. Why don't you go ask them?"

Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze were equally bewildered.

They had sensed something unusual but had no concrete idea of what Zhao Xing had done. His Cloud Summoning had masked the crucial moments of the growth phase, and it wasn't until morning that the full extent of the results was revealed.

Not only had the Diamond Bamboo matured, but the Green Vine had also spread across the ground.

Judging by the results of these two plants alone, Zhao Xing was far ahead of everyone else!

By comparison, Wen Nanxing and Xiao Ze's progress seemed lackluster.

Wen Nanxing had been cultivating four different plants, all second-rank, with two top-grade, one mid-grade, and one low-grade.

The low-grade plant had already reached maturity, but the mid-grade one was progressing slowly and was still in the growth phase.

As for the top-grade plant, the Seven-Star Flower, it hadn't even begun to bud.

"My top-grade plant hasn't even entered the growth phase, and he's already matured so many top-grade plants?" Wen Nanxing's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise.

"Something's wrong, very wrong!"

Tang Wanchun furrowed his brow, calculating the results of his student Xiao Ze's spellwork and the growth rate of the plants.

At last, he was struck with realization and stood up, staring intently at the blue plant growing in the mud.

"Something's not right! By now, Xiao Ze's Ice Lotus should have sprouted its fourth leaf, but why are there still only two?"

Next to him, another official, who was Wen Nanxing's teacher, Pang Yuan, also had a thoughtful expression. "Wen Nanxing's spell effectiveness has also been significantly reduced."

"And ever since midnight, there's been a constant stream of clerks going back and forth to the seedling area to replant. Many of them have killed their plants."

Tang Wanchun added, "One or two cases would be understandable, but this many?"

"There's only one explanation—the earth's energy is being disturbed!"

The two men exchanged glances and couldn't help but exclaim at the same time, "Earth Vein Consolidation!"

Hearing this, Chen Shijie chuckled softly. "Why are you two gentlemen so anxious? Are you thinking of warning your students?"

Tang Wanchun and Pang Yuan quickly cupped their hands. "We wouldn't dare. It's just surprising that a clerk is capable of casting Earth Vein Consolidation."

Chen Shijie waved his hand with a smile. "Then sit back and enjoy the show. Let's see how this all plays out."