Chapter 134: Torch Stump
Yuntian Immortal City, Southern District.
"Elder Lu, it seems you've already made your decision?" In a private room of a restaurant, Xu Guangquan looked at the old man before him with a faint smile.
"What I asked for?"
Lu Rong reached out expressionlessly.
At his words, Xu Guangquan handed over a bottle containing the Longevity Pill. After verifying that the pill was genuine, Lu Rong promptly signed his name on the contract before him.
Once he had signed, Lu Rong rose and left.
As he stepped out of the private room, he heard laughter from within. "Heh… Xu Guangquan, you want the Lu family's spirit field? Let's see if you actually have what it takes to swallow it." Lu Rong sneered coldly, his figure disappearing from the restaurant.
Though Lu Rong was an old man who had lived many years and feared death, he wasn't a fool. He clearly understood that marrying off Fang Jiaoyan wasn't Xu Guangquan's true aim—what he really wanted was the Lu family's Grade-2 top-tier spirit field.
Previously, Lu Rong had refused to sign out of concern that their family's foundation would be seized. But now, faced with Fang Jiaoyan's aggressive stance, he had no choice. Besides, that Grade-2 top-tier spirit field had supposedly been leased to a Spirit Plant Master.
Lu Rong was eager to see how Xu Guangquan planned to wrest the Lu family's spirit field from a Spirit Plant Master. In the cultivation world, no matter the profession, anyone who had achieved the title of "Master" was never easy to deal with.
Though the Xu family was indeed stronger than the Lu family, they weren't so strong that they could afford to offend a Spirit Plant Master.
It was precisely because he knew the field had been leased to a Spirit Plant Master that Lu Rong signed the contract with Xu Guangquan. He figured that once Xu Guangquan eliminated the obstacles to Lu Rong becoming clan leader and later discovered that the field was occupied by a Master, he'd love to see what kind of expression Xu Guangquan would have.
Would he still be able to laugh like he just had?
As for whether the Xu family would back off after learning that the field was in a Spirit Plant Master's hands—Lu Rong wasn't concerned in the slightest. He'd already signed the contract and taken the Longevity Pill. If they didn't act, what did that have to do with him? Getting a Longevity Pill for free was already a major win for Lu Rong.
So, if the Xu family didn't want to take a loss, they'd have to make a move—which meant they risked offending that Spirit Plant Master.
"That old bastard Lu Rong actually dared to trick me!" As expected, after returning, Xu Guangquan had just begun preparing to mobilize forces against the Lu family when he received some very bad news.
The Lu family's spirit field was reportedly leased to a Spirit Plant Master. Not long ago, when Fang Jiaoyan delivered supplies to the Immortal City, she had presented a batch of Grade-2 mid-grade Sword Bamboo.
Many people were aware of this— it wasn't exactly a secret. The only reason the Xu family learned of it late was because they weren't among the city's suppliers.
"Clan Leader, are we still going to the Lu family?" a senior member of the Xu family asked.
"Of course we are. Why wouldn't we? It's just a Spirit Plant Master," Xu Guangquan said through gritted teeth. He couldn't afford to waste that Longevity Pill, and the Lu family's Grade-2 top-tier spirit field was too important to the Xu clan.
If it had been a Master of Pill, Artifact, Array, or Talisman Arts, Xu Guangquan would've backed off without hesitation. Offending someone like that would be disastrous. Take a Talisman Master, for example—who knows what kind of powerful talismans they might have? If you offended one, a single devastating talisman could wipe them all out.
The same went for Array Masters—a powerful formation could be more than Xu Guangquan could handle. As for Alchemists and Blacksmiths, the principle was the same.
But this time, they were facing a Spirit Plant Master—less dangerous than the others. Once the Xu family seized that Grade-2 top-tier spirit field, their power would surge. By then, so what if they'd offended a Spirit Plant Master?
Still, Xu Guangquan wasn't foolish. While a Spirit Plant Master might not be as dangerous as the others, they couldn't be underestimated either. So, he planned to hire an external expert just in case.
While the Xu family was sharpening their blades, Gu Mo was harvesting new gains of his own. After days of expansion, a new plant icon had finally fully appeared on the vending machine interface.
Name: Torch Stump
Grade: Tier-1, Low Grade
Effect: Generates Fire
Planting Conditions: Tier-1 Spirit Field
Looking at the exceedingly brief description, Gu Mo shook his head. If he wanted to understand the Torch Stump's full effect, he'd have to test it personally.
At 200 units of Solar Essence, this plant set a new high for vending machine prices, surpassing even the Cherry Bomb. It was now the most expensive plant in Gu Mo's collection.
Fortunately, Gu Mo had a decent stockpile of Tier-1 Solar Essence. He fed 200 units into the vending machine, and soon, a single seed rolled out.
The icon showed a burning tree stump, yet the vending machine had issued a seed. Gu Mo couldn't help but wonder—would this seed really grow into a stump?
Still full of doubt, he left the Black Mist Space and found a spot in the spirit field to plant the seed. It quickly sprouted, but not into a stump as he'd imagined—instead, a full-grown tree emerged.
When the tree trunk reached a certain diameter, it was suddenly engulfed in flames. Before Gu Mo could react, the lush tree was reduced to a single burning stump.
"So that's how the Torch Stump is made..." Gu Mo murmured, stunned by what he'd just witnessed.
After the initial shock, his attention shifted to the flames burning atop the stump—this was clearly the core feature of the Torch Stump.
"Wait... is this Spirit Fire?" Upon closer inspection, Gu Mo quickly confirmed the nature of the flame.
In the cultivation world, fire came in many types. Aside from the most basic mortal fire, there was Spirit Fire, Earth Fire, Pill Fire, and others. Even rarer were the legendary Heavenly Fires, incredibly powerful and nearly impossible to find.
Each type of flame had its own distinct properties.
For example, Earth Fire, drawn from deep underground, was intense and heavy—ideal for refining artifacts. Pill Fire, ignited using a Golden Core cultivator's inner essence, was highly controllable and best suited for alchemy.
Spirit Fire, on the other hand, was formed by burning materials imbued with spiritual energy. It was the most commonly used flame in the cultivation world. Earth Fire required a specific location, and Pill Fire was limited to Golden Core cultivators.
But Spirit Fire? You just needed spiritual materials to ignite it. So, in the absence of Earth or Pill Fire, Spirit Fire was the go-to option for alchemists and smiths.
What surprised Gu Mo was that his Torch Stump didn't even require spiritual materials. Its roots absorbed spiritual energy from the earth on their own, keeping the flame alight.
This essentially gave Gu Mo a free furnace. For pill-making or forging, this could save him a fortune on fuel.
Of course, Gu Mo suspected that the Torch Stump's real purpose was to be paired with the Peashooter. But just how much of a boost would that provide?
To find out, Gu Mo returned to the vending machine in the Black Mist Space and purchased a Peashooter seed. He planted it beside the Torch Stump and then added a Tier-1 low-grade Wall-nut to serve as a target dummy.
With everything ready, he ordered the Peashooter to fire. A green energy pea shot out, passed through the flames of the Torch Stump, and instantly ignited into a blazing fireball.
"Boom!"
The fireball struck the Wall-nut's tough shell dead-on, blasting out a large crater.
"That much of a boost?!"
Gu Mo's eyes lit up. A combo of the Tier-1 low-grade Torch Stump and Peashooter had managed to break through two-thirds of the Wall-nut's thick defense. The destructive power was nearly equivalent to a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator's full-force strike.
If a lower-tier Grade 1 plant can already display such power, then what would happen if a top-tier Grade 2 Torchwood were paired with a top-tier Grade 2 Peashooter? Could that combination potentially pose a threat to even Pseudo-Core or Core Formation cultivators?
Even without a Grade 3 spiritual field, relying on just two top-tier Grade 2 plants to threaten cultivators at the Pseudo-Core or even Core Formation stage would mark a major leap in strength for Gu Mo.
While Cherry Bombs and Potato Mines at top-tier Grade 2 can also endanger Pseudo-Core and Core Formation cultivators, they are single-use plants, and each deployment comes at a high cost.
In contrast, Peashooters are a different story. As long as the spiritual energy within the field is sufficient, they can keep firing indefinitely.
And when empowered by Torchwood, every energy pea launched by the Peashooter can match the destructive power of a Cherry Bomb or Potato Mine.
It's no exaggeration to say that the emergence of Torchwood represents an epic upgrade for the Peashooter.
Beyond combat, Gu Mo has also experimented extensively with Torchwood and discovered many of its unique traits.
For example, feeding it Sun Essence temporarily boosts the firepower of its flames—effectively creating a short burst mode.
When activated, a short-burst Torchwood paired with a Peashooter can break through even same-tier Wall-nut defenses. The drawback is that this burst mode consumes a large amount of Sun Essence.
Currently, at the lower-tier Grade 1 level, this consumption is still manageable for Gu Mo. But if Torchwood is upgraded to top-tier Grade 2, the Sun Essence required to trigger this burst will no longer be a small amount.
Still, when used wisely, this burst mode could turn the tide of battle at a critical moment.
Gu Mo also tested Torchwood in non-combat scenarios such as cooking, alchemy, and forging.
And he had to admit—roasting meat with spiritual flame produced phenomenal results. Even ordinary beast meat, once grilled with the spiritual flame, would be infused with a hint of spiritual energy, turning it into a spiritual dish. If spiritual beast meat were used, the result would no doubt be even better.
As for alchemy and forging, the results were just as impressive. Of course, Gu Mo's attempts weren't actual alchemy or forging in the formal sense—he wasn't an alchemist or blacksmith. He was merely refining spiritual herbs and ores at a basic level.
Even so, the results exceeded expectations. Torchwood's flame was remarkably stable. Normally, when cultivators ignite spiritual fire using spiritual materials, the flame's consistency is affected by the quality of the materials, environmental factors, and more—causing fluctuations.
Such fluctuations require constant adjustments. If not addressed in time, they can easily lead to a drop in the quality of pills or magic tools being refined, or even complete failure in severe cases.
Torchwood, however, doesn't have this problem. Its flames are exceptionally steady, and Gu Mo can even adjust the intensity at will.
It's no exaggeration to say that using Torchwood for alchemy or forging yields twice the results with half the effort.
"Am I really going to have to take up alchemy or blacksmithing too?" Gu Mo mused with some hesitation. With such a powerful tool at hand, not making use of it felt like a waste.
After all, Torchwood can be upgraded. Its benefits at Grade 1 are already noticeable, but once it advances further, the advantages will only grow.
The most obvious perk is saving money. At Grade 1, spiritual flames require Grade 1 spiritual materials to ignite, which are still fairly affordable. But at Grade 2 or Grade 3, the cost of materials alone becomes a massive expense.
Of course, some cultivators don't rely on spiritual materials—they use their own Core Formation pill fire, ignited directly with their own core energy. But that comes with its own issues: a third-tier alchemist must not only expend core energy to sustain the flame but also divide their attention to control the refining process—dramatically increasing the difficulty.
However, if one had a Grade 3 Torchwood, this problem would be entirely solved.
A Torchwood that saves both money and effort—how could one not put it to good use? Not taking up alchemy or forging under such circumstances would be an outright waste.
After all, battles don't happen every day. In the meantime, Gu Mo could make full use of Torchwood's strengths to refine high-quality pills and artifacts at lower cost—turning this into a lucrative side profession.
When it comes to making money, few paths rival that of alchemists and blacksmiths. And Gu Mo had the time to branch out into another immortal craft.
The only problem was that he lacked formal training or inheritance in alchemy or blacksmithing. For now, he'd have his Pseudo-Core incarnation visit the Immortal City to see if any alchemical or forging inheritances were available for purchase.
In the meantime, Gu Mo was ready to upgrade Torchwood. With a Grade 3 Sunflower now available, his plant upgrading efficiency had significantly improved. Upgrading Torchwood to top-tier Grade 2 wouldn't take long.
Things remained peaceful on Gu Mo's end.
However, at the foot of the mountain, within the Lu Clan's territory, undercurrents were already beginning to stir. With the Xu family's backing, Lu Rong began pressuring Fang Jiaoyan, using the excuse that she had leased the clan's most vital spiritual fields to an outsider.
Many members of the Lu clan were puzzled by this accusation. After all, the fields were now being managed by a spiritual planting master, bringing in several times the usual income. Why would such a beneficial arrangement be grounds for impeachment?
Faced with their confused stares, Lu Rong remained utterly unfazed. The accusation was just a pretense. No matter how flimsy the reasoning, it didn't matter—what ultimately decided things was brute force. Of course, Lu Rong himself couldn't defeat Fang Jiaoyan, but this time, it wouldn't be him taking action—it would be the Xu family.
Once Xu Guangquan forcefully took Fang Jiaoyan as his wife and the two families announced their alliance, the Xu family would support Lu Rong in becoming the clan head, and in return, Lu Rong would open up the family's spiritual fields to shared access.
As for whether the Xu family could wrest those fields away from the spiritual planting master afterward—that was no longer Lu Rong's concern.
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