Speaking of which, the second stage of the activity is to make flowers bloom using Spiritual Qi.

Wouldn’t Cultivators who Cultivate Wood-element Cultivation Techniques have a great advantage then...?"

Playing with the withered seed in his hand, Song Yan’s thoughts drifted.

"Since I haven’t found a new spirit seed yet, why not try this moon-bearing ancient lotus first?"

The people of Linghua Valley said that this moon-bearing ancient lotus seed was basically beyond saving with Spiritual Qi.

However, he had only intended to familiarize himself with it in advance anyway.

He didn’t even stop, walking at a leisurely pace.

A wisp of Spiritual Qi slowly injected into the shriveled seed from his fingertip.

This Spiritual Qi was like a mud ox entering the sea; as soon as it was introduced, it vanished without a trace.

"It truly has no effect whatsoever..."

Spiritual Qi surged around him, and he continued to increase the input of Spiritual Qi.

Still, it had no effect at all.

This withered black spirit seed was as if it had completely died, completely still.

The Spiritual Qi introduced into it dissipated almost instantly.

However, Song Yan could already vaguely sense what the Cultivators of Linghua Valley had mentioned: "only a trace of vitality remains."

That trace of vitality was incredibly weak.

The surrounding Death Qi solidified, tightly encasing that sporadic breath of life.

In fact, the principle of using Spiritual Qi to urge spirit plants was not much different from many Wood-element Dao Technique.

After several attempts, he had understood the trick.

At the same time, he had indeed pronounced a death sentence on this moon-bearing ancient lotus spirit seed.

"Perhaps due to the unique structure of the seed, the decay spread from the outside in, and the location of that trace of vitality had a gap with its surroundings, thus being ’sealed’ within it."

He secretly guessed in his heart, just about to discard the spirit seed, when he suddenly withdrew his hand.

"..."

All along, Song Yan had wanted to try an idea.

That was it.

What was the essential difference between the Sword Qi evolved from the Dao of the Sword seed and ordinary Spiritual Qi?

Earlier, while exploring Lin Qinglong’s Immortal Cave together, he had a sudden thought to inject Sword Qi instead of Spiritual Qi.

But at that time, he was worried about causing trouble and making a wasted trip, and he couldn’t fight so many people by himself.

Now, he could give it a try.

Using Sword Qi to make flowers bloom?

Song Yan himself found it absurd.

However, it was a useless item anyway.

Sword Qi circulated on his fingertip, and a tiny, frosty white glow cautiously entered the dark seed shell.

However, as soon as that sharp aura touched the withered parts around the seed kernel, it pierced through, cutting a small opening in the withered seed.

Then, like the Spiritual Qi before it, it melted away without a trace.

"..."

As expected.

It failed.

He wasn’t disappointed; the spirit seed was already dead anyway.

However, from the opening that was cut, he did sense a familiar aura.

Spirit objects decaying... He thoughtfully rubbed the wrinkled marks on the surface of the seed shell.

Suddenly, he remembered something.

In the world within the painting, wind and thunder on the cliff.

Under the wind and thunder, withered wood sprouts.

"..."

Song Yan’s five fingers gently curled, and a swirling Sword Qi slowly emerged in his palm.

The Sword Qi became increasingly solid, and golden lightning arcs suddenly clung to the white sword shadow.

When the Sword Qi re-entered the spirit seed... a sudden change occurred!

The originally dark seed shell, under the illumination of the lightning, faintly revealed dense, spiderweb-like patterns.

Layers of Death Qi were torn open by the Sword Qi, creating several cracks.

Like spring water melting ice.

"!"

Song Yan was startled and stood rooted to the spot.

Although somewhat inexplicable, he still cautiously urged the Sword Qi.

That trace of dormant vitality, guided by the Sword Qi and wind-thunder, surged out along the veins.

Within a few breaths, the ink-colored outer shell actually faded into a texture like white jade, and a green sprout tremblingly pushed open the seed shell.

"So fast?"

Immediately, an even crazier idea flashed through his mind.

What if the vitality of this ancient lotus before him was also like a fleeting moment, as the Linghua Valley Cultivators said... then why not... With a flick of two fingers, the surrounding plant Spiritual Qi gathered like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, concentrating within the small spirit seed in his palm.

At the same time, the Sword Qi from the Zhen Dao Sword Mansion also poured out.

The tender sprout grew rapidly, and the Spiritual Qi in the valley surged forth, catching Song Yan somewhat off guard!

Fortunately, it didn’t last too long; in a blink of an eye, it transformed into a lotus stem a foot high, and a lotus flower as bright as the moon slowly bloomed amidst the lightning.

At the heart of the lotus, a pure moonlight condensed, gently lifting a lotus seed.

"..."

Song Yan stood frozen, staring at the lotus flower in his hand, lost in thought.

Just as he was wondering, the ancient lotus’s Spiritual Qi suddenly began to collapse and dissipate, and the bright petals started to decay and wither.

Not daring to delay, he quickly tapped his fingertip, drawing the lotus seed into his palm.

After a moment of contemplation, he flicked his finger, conjuring flames to burn the withered and rotten lotus flower to ashes.

"Truly strange."

He wasn’t sure what the exact reason was, but the lotus seed in his palm was indeed alive.

The Spiritual Qi within it was very weak, but he could feel its surging and majestic vitality.

"...I forgot to ask earlier what the use of this ancient lotus was."

Who would have thought that his casual attempt would turn out like this?

The ancient lotus born from the withered seed still couldn’t be preserved, but he did get a living lotus seed.

What if this lotus seed could grow a living ancient lotus?

"If I had known there would be such a commotion, I would have brought it back to the small courtyard to try."

He released his Divine Sense, searching around, and fortunately didn’t sense any other people’s auras.

After a moment of thought, he decided not to inform Linghua Valley about this matter.

The reasoning behind it was unclear even to himself, let alone explaining it to outsiders.

He collected his thoughts slightly.

The miraculous lotus was merely an unexpected pleasant surprise.

For now, getting that ancient sword was the main priority.

He found a place with dense traces of Spiritual Qi and quickly departed... Half an hour later.

The sound of flower bells rang from the direction of Butterfly Catching Spring.

The flower bells only rang three times, with only the time it takes to brew a cup of tea between the first and third rings.

If all three flower bells rang and the Cultivator had not returned to the spring, they would no longer be able to participate in the Flower Blooming Gathering.

The Cultivators returned one after another.

The Flower Blooming Gathering quickly began.

Since that inexplicable Cheng Yu, Song Yan hadn’t encountered any other strange people, and relying on the Xuan E Bai Ling Covering Mask, he had collected about eight or nine spirit seeds.

As for his Senior Brother Lu Ziye, he didn’t know what methods he used, but he amassed over thirty flower seeds!

Combined with his exquisite Wood-element Dao Technique, he must have secured first place.

Lu Ziye casually pointed to the pile of spirit seeds almost forming a mountain in front of him. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Junior Brother Song, want to compare?"

Song Yan waved his hand: "No, no."

Although the Flower Blooming Gathering didn’t just compare the number of spirit seeds found in the first round, it was clear that Lu Ziye’s strength was enough to allow him to freely choose the spirit seeds with more points.

In the end, it was indeed no surprise.

Lu Ziye won first place.

The second place seemed to be a female Cultivator from Bei Ya Mountain.

Song Yan initially wanted to try if Sword Qi could be used to promote the growth of ordinary spirit seeds, but he unexpectedly cut one of them in half, drawing exclamations of wonder from many surrounding Cultivators.

Fortunately, he had enough spirit seeds to spare.

In the end, by putting in his full effort, he narrowly secured third place without any major mishaps.

And Cheng Yu, who had boasted in front of Sheng Yun, only got fifth place.

It seemed his luck was average.

An ancient and simple Flying Sword was taken out from the qiankun bag that Linghua Valley Cultivators specifically used to store rewards.

Upon receiving the Flying Sword,

the liangyi pearl began to hum softly.