[Thanks for the castle. I hope this work will get gift just one more before June arrives. And here is the start of mass release as promised.]

...

.

With a single command.

The gathered Cultivators immediately raced against time, scattering to search.

The area around Butterfly Catching Spring, which had been somewhat crowded, suddenly became empty.

Since only individual contributions counted in the end, there was no such thing as forming teams.

Song Yan was in no rush to depart, pondering slightly in his heart.

Spiritual flowers and seeds should also possess a special Wood-type Spiritual Qi.

If he stored that Spiritual Qi into his Xuan E Bai Ling Covering Mask, would it slightly increase the efficiency of finding spiritual seeds?

The Cultivators participating in the valley tour were all in the Qi Refinement Stage; without any special means, most could only search by releasing their Divine Sense.

If the Xuan E Bai Ling Covering Mask could be of some use, he would have a slight advantage.

Song Yan walked forward slowly; there was a stone platform by Butterfly Catching Spring with some seeds placed on it.

These were the various spiritual seeds used for demonstration when the Linghua Valley Cultivator introduced the rules just now.

"Fellow Daoist, sorry to bother you."

He bowed and performed a salute: "May I take a closer look at these spiritual seeds?"

The Linghua Valley Cultivator saw that he was from the Cave Abyss Sect and immediately dared not neglect him.

"That is only natural."

As long as they were participating in the valley tour, this was permitted.

There were many types of seeds.

From common to rare.

The contributions obtained after they bloomed naturally varied.

What was troublesome was that the Xuan E Bai Ling Covering Mask could only store one type of Spiritual Qi.

If multiple types of aura were mixed, it would likely lose its effect.

With no other choice, he selected the type that was most abundant and had a moderate contribution value.

A touch of Spiritual Qi was quietly incorporated into the mask.

Just as he was about to leave, he noticed a blackened seed at the very end of the stone platform.

"Eh? Fellow Daoist, it seems you didn’t introduce this type of spiritual seed just now."

The Cultivator heard this and looked at what Song Yan was pointing at.

He then realized and explained: "Fellow Daoist, you may not know."

"This spiritual seed is called the moon-bearing ancient lotus, and it is not counted in the contribution points for this valley tour."

"Because there are not many of this type of spiritual seed, and they are from a very distant era."

"Although there is still a trace of vitality within them, it is no longer possible to stimulate their growth with simple spiritual power."

"In all these years of exploration by Linghua Valley, the methods to make this moon-bearing ancient lotus grow are few and far between."

"Moreover, because it is not natural growth, once it blooms, it quickly withers, its Spiritual Qi dissipates, and even a qiankun bag cannot seal it..."

Song Yan understood.

To put it simply, it wasn’t that there was no way to make this moon-bearing ancient lotus bloom.

It was just that the investment was too great, and it was difficult to preserve.

The spiritual plants grown from other spiritual seeds could be stored in large quantities for use in Alchemy, Artifact Refining, Talisman making, and array formation.

By comparison, this moon-bearing ancient lotus seemed somewhat like a chicken rib.

"When the mountain folk hid the spiritual seeds, a few scattered withered ancient lotus seeds were mixed in, so they were placed here for the Fellow Daoists to identify."

He nodded, asked no more, and turned to leave.

"..."

He walked out of Butterfly Catching Spring.

Activating the mask, the Spiritual Qi in the valley instantly blurred like ink staining paper.

"It really works..."

Previously, Song Yan had tested the effect of this mask, but that was back in the Sect.

The traces of various types of Spiritual Qi were messy, and the effect was not ideal.

But here, although there were influences from other vegetation and spiritual objects, the traces were very faint and did not affect his spirit-seeking.

Activating his spiritual power, he flew up to step on the rock wall and leaped several times towards the cliff on the far west side of Linghua Valley.

The ink traces shown by the mask indeed became heavier and heavier.

He saw three peach-pit-shaped seeds embedded in the crevices of the rock wall, but they were concealed by some kind of illusion, appearing as ordinary moss.

"This Linghua Valley is truly cunning; they actually hid several spiritual seeds together."

"It is destined that some Cultivators won’t be able to get them."

He formed his fingers into a sword shape, just about to seize them, when a crimson fire snake suddenly attacked from behind at an angle.

Song Yan dodged hurriedly and looked back.

He saw Cheng Yu walking out from the forest behind, smiling but not quite smiling.

"Fellow Daoist Cheng... what is the meaning of this?"

Cheng Yu smiled insincerely: "My apologies."

"I have been searching everywhere for flower seeds to no avail, and it just so happens that you have found something here..."

"Since we discovered them at the same time, why not... share some with me?"

The rules did indeed state that if two Cultivators discovered a spiritual seed at the same time, they could compete for it through a duel.

However, this valley tour event was primarily for recreation.

Song Yan subconsciously assumed that everyone would be harmonious and polite, yielding to one another.

He had forgotten that there was a reward like a top-grade Spiritual Artifact hanging in front of all the Cultivators.

"..."

Song Yan narrowed his eyes.

Before he could reply, crimson flames wrapped in heat waves swept over, and he lightly tapped his toes against the rock wall.

The fire snake brushed past his hem and slammed into the stone wall.

Blue smoke rose from the vines on the rock, and the three spiritual seeds were shaken loose and rolled down.

Cheng Yu flew closer, activated his spiritual power, and reached for the spiritual seeds.

Song Yan immediately formed a seal with his left hand, and Unmoored Boat turned into a stream of light, striking directly at Cheng Yu’s face.

Hum—

Where the edge passed, the sword hummed clearly.

"So fast..."

Cheng Yu’s pupils constricted, the jade plaque at his waist suddenly glowed with red light, condensing into a translucent fire shield in front of him.

Taking advantage of the momentum, he swept back three zhang, holding a Talisman between his fingers.

The Talisman burned out in an instant, turning into red light; more than ten fire arrows attacked from all directions, sealing off all of Song Yan’s retreat paths.

The heat waves distorted the air, and even the stone wall turned orange-red.

Not letting up after gaining the advantage, he moved his fingertips again, and the phantom of a longbow slowly appeared before him, with spiritual light condensing into arrows.

Cheng Yu snorted coldly, feeling satisfied in his heart.

Where did this cat or dog pop out from, to be so cared for by Junior Sister A Yun!

These fire arrow Talismans and Geng Metal Spiritual Arrows would naturally not be life-threatening, but making him suffer a little was enough.

"Hm?"

But he saw Song Yan neither dodging nor yielding; several white sword shadows separated from Unmoored Boat.

The sword light rose and fell, completely extinguishing the dozen or so fire arrows.

The current Song Yan was already intimately familiar with the Cloud Piercing Sword Move.

This was the benefit of specializing in one path.

Nowadays, he was often no longer restricted to the original sword forms, and could manipulate the sword shadows and sword radiance independently and flexibly.

The Geng Metal Spiritual Arrow was suddenly released, but Unmoored Boat’s tip precisely tapped onto it, and the spiritual power dissipated in an instant.

The white sword shadows attacked, circling around Cheng Yu.

Cheng Yu’s expression changed slightly; just as he was about to use another method, he suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

He saw that Unmoored Boat had somehow already circled to his rear.

Song Yan applied more spiritual power, gripped the air with one hand, and the vines rolled the three spiritual seeds back into his palm, which he then put into his qiankun bag.

It was almost in the blink of an eye.

The dust settled.

"Fellow Daoist Cheng, the scenery in this Linghua Valley is intoxicating; fighting and killing is so detrimental to the scenery."

Of course, he wouldn’t really kill him here.

Killing an Inner Sect Cultivator of the Sheyang Sect at the Flower Festival hosted by the Sheyang Sect?

Song Yan still wanted to live a few more years.

This person should be left for A Nian to deal with.

Anyway, he was a "Demonic Path" Cultivator.

"I concede."

"..."

Cheng Yu’s expression was gloomy, a flash of ferocity crossing his eyes.

But his expression changed, and he smiled warmly.

"Hehe, Fellow Daoist Song has such handsome sword-controlling skills..."

"My skills are inferior to yours, I admit defeat."

"We are here to enjoy the flowers; let us not harm our harmony."

Song Yan chuckled coldly: "...That is only natural."

He withdrew his Flying Sword.

Without being polite.

"Please."

"..."

Taking a deep look at him, Cheng Yu slowly retreated.

He disappeared into the dense forest.

Truly inexplicable.

Song Yan cursed inwardly; where did so many lunatics come from, ready to draw swords at the slightest provocation?

"Must let A Yun be on guard."

Such a relaxed and pleasant valley tour, wouldn’t it be better to be harmonious?

It should have been for playing and laughing, yet they even had to snatch spiritual seeds...

Truly...

"Eh?"

Muttering curses, he glanced back casually.

A black object caught his attention.

Perhaps it was in that rock crevice earlier, piled together with the three spiritual seeds, hidden deep inside.

He hadn’t noticed it at the time.

Under the shaking, it had rolled out together with them.

"A withered moon-bearing ancient lotus seed?"

Song Yan pinched it in his hand.

He examined it over and over for a while.

"Which slacking mountain folk stuffed so many spiritual seeds here so casually."

While toying with it, he continued searching in other places.

Except for that ancient sword, Song Yan had no interest in other prizes, but since the Cultivation Technique he practiced was not Wood-type, to be honest, he didn’t have much confidence in making it into the top three.

Collecting more spiritual seeds first would never be wrong.