Chapter 114 - 113: Steward Li, Could It Be You Disdain Your Subordinate?

Chapter 114: Chapter 113: Steward Li, Could It Be You Disdain Your Subordinate?

Dong Xing and the other two watched as Li Changsheng erected three Spirit-locking Steles in a row in no more than A Cup of Tea’s Time.

Their initial apprehension immediately turned into high spirits.

’Steward Li has life-force, and so do we! The only difference is that his is a little brighter.’

The three of them, having not yet cultivated a Spirit Plant Mark, were completely unable to perceive the true gap between their abilities.

This led them to a mistaken belief.

’I could do that too!’

The group arrived at a Tier Two Low-grade Spiritual Land.

Fang Fan eagerly stepped forward and took the Talismanic Hoe. Following Li Changsheng’s instructions, he dug a deep pit. A dark green life-force flowed from his palm as he pressed it against the Spiritual Land.

The instant his palm touched the Spiritual Land, Fang Fan’s mind went blank for a second. He felt as if his consciousness was sinking into thick mud, sluggish and difficult to direct.

His life-force was draining away at an alarming rate, yet the spread of his consciousness was as slow as a turtle’s crawl.

"What’s going on?"

Fang Fan was stunned. "Why is this so hard..."

A hundred thoughts raced through his mind, but in the end, he could only surmise that a Tier Two Spiritual Land was fundamentally different from a Tier One.

But then he remembered that Li Changsheng had been the one to locate every Spiritual Vortex in all the Tier Two Spiritual Lands on the island, and his scalp began to tingle with dread.

’Is the gap between us really that huge...?’

In the eyes of the others, however,

Fang Fan had barely pressed his hand to the Spiritual Land when his stiff expression suddenly twisted into a grimace, and fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

After a few dozen breaths,

HUFF... HUFF...

Fang Fan finally managed to locate the Spiritual Vortex. He opened his eyes, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for breath.

After briefly regulating his breathing,

Fang Fan looked at the Spirit-Locking Talisman before him but didn’t reach out to take it. Bracing himself, he cupped his hands and said, "Lord Steward, I’ve used up too much of my life-force. I’m afraid I won’t be able to set this talisman." He quickly added, "I just need to absorb a little more life-force, and then I can do it."

Lan Cai Shen’s expression remained unchanged. He nodded, then looked at Dong Xing and Xu Li. "Which of you two will set the talisman?"

Dong Xing and Xu Li exchanged a look. Xu Li cupped his hands, took the talisman, and began to channel his life-force into it.

If Fang Fan’s life-force was a solid dark green, Xu Li’s was a slightly more translucent shade. There was a difference, but not a significant one.

Fang Fan told Xu Li the location of the Spiritual Vortex he’d found. Then, with a furtive glance at Li Changsheng, he hurried over to a large tree at the edge of the Spiritual Land.

As Xu Li began to channel his life-force, he, too, was startled.

To his senses, the Spirit-locking Stele felt like a bottomless abyss.

This made him feel rather insecure.

’Fang Fan exhausted his life-force just searching a Spiritual Vortex less than three square meters in size. Don’t tell me I won’t even be able to activate this Spirit-Locking Talisman after channeling all of my life-force!’

Fortunately, after he had channeled about a fifth of the life-force from his meridians into the Spirit-locking Stele, it finally, faintly, took on a greenish tint.

Phew...

Xu Li breathed a silent sigh of relief. With a flicker of his will, he urged the life-force from the meridian between his brows to surge even faster into the stele.

A moment later, runes began to flicker with spiritual light on the surface of the now entirely dark green stele.

By now, the deep bluish-green hue of Xu Li’s face had faded, and only a drop of life-force remained between his brows. But thankfully, the talismanic device was activated.

As the others watched,

Xu Li took the stele and pressed it down into the pit, toward the Spiritual Vortex.

HUMMM...

He felt the stele press against an invisible vortex. Before he could react, a massive force surged back. Caught off guard, the stele was sent flying from his hands.

It was about to smash him right in the face.

A pale arm shot out and caught the stele. Then, as he watched, it was gently pressed down into the pit.

A soft voice spoke.

"Don’t be careless."

Feeling the Spirit-Locking Talisman connect to the Spiritual Vortex, Xu Li froze for a moment before turning his head to look.

He saw Li Changsheng, his face obscured by a black veil, slowly rising to his feet.

Xu Li’s face flushed. He scrambled to his feet, cupping his hands. "Thank you, Lord Steward."

Li Changsheng waved his hand dismissively, feeling utterly speechless.

’He knew the three of them were deficient as Spirit Plant Masters, but he never imagined they’d be *this* pathetic!’

’Not only was the quality of their life-force terrible, but there was so little of it...’

’Suddenly, he no longer felt that the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land was short on Tier Two Spirit Fields. In fact, with over thirty mu of Tier Two Spirit Fields, he doubted the few of them could manage to plant everything.’

’He would definitely be responsible for the three mu of Tier Two Mid-grade and the one mu of Tier Two High-grade fields.’

’Oh, and his own three mu of Tier Two Low-grade Spirit Fields.’

’So the remaining thirty-two mu of Low-grade Spirit Fields would be left in the care of Dong Xing and the other two?’

’Considering their skill level, that was simply impossible.’

With this in mind, after telling Xu Li the location of the Spiritual Vortex in the next Spiritual Land,

Li Changsheng walked over to Lan Cai Shen and asked in a low voice, "Senior Brother, now that these Tier Two Spirit Fields are prepared, how should we go about planting them?"

Lan Cai Shen smiled. "Junior Brother, you’ll be responsible for the mid-grade and high-grade Spirit Fields. As for the remaining thirty-five mu of spir—"

COUGH COUGH.

Li Changsheng coughed pointedly. "Thirty-two mu..." he reminded him.

Lan Cai Shen paused, then it dawned on him. He had forgotten about the three mu of Spirit Field that had been granted to Li Changsheng.

He quickly nodded and smiled. "Right, right, thirty-two mu. The remaining thirty-two mu of Spirit Fields will be left to the three of them..."

Lan Cai Shen suddenly trailed off, freezing.

He had been so focused on the total number of Spirit Fields at the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land that he’d nearly forgotten the Utility Peak only had one true Spirit Plant Master.

The other three hadn’t even formed their Spirit Plant Marks.

Lan Cai Shen pondered for a moment, his gaze falling on Li Changsheng. He gave an embarrassed smile.

"Well... Junior Brother, you know the situation on the Utility Peak."

"When the time comes, we can only ask you to help out a bit more..."

Li Changsheng didn’t look surprised. He spread his hands helplessly. "But even if I absorb life-force nonstop every day, I still can’t manage that many mu of Spirit Fields..."

Hearing this, Lan Cai Shen also felt a headache coming on.

But what could be done? You can’t make bricks without straw.