bookandnovel Chapter 87: So Generous!
Chapter 87: So Generous!
After several days of preparation and one day of setup, the "Battle of Reproduction" arrived as scheduled. In the inner courtyard of Courtyard No. 1, hundreds of trainees gathered in the spectator stands, while hundreds of full-time employees stood around them, greeting each other.
"Brother Jiang." Du Ziyue called out with a smile, and Li Si followed suit. Jiang Qiu smiled politely and greeted them as well.
Hearing the commotion, people around them craned their necks to look over, discussing the scene with a mixture of fear, admiration, and curiosity in their eyes. Whether they were familiar with the person or not, they were all talking about Jiang Qiu, and the lively atmosphere reached the podium.
There were four seats for the head examiner, with Wu Shan representing the Training Department as the chief examiner. He arranged for the other three to sit down: Sun, the group leader in a Zhongshan suit with a stern face, represented the Regulatory Bureau; and Liu, the amiable director, represented the Logistics Department.
Another burly man in black camouflage casually wiped away the fine snowflakes on the table. "Old Wu, I heard that this year's interns have produced a few geniuses, and Jiang Qiu even surpassed Old Wang's son and Director Jiang's daughter?"
"Instructor Lu An, Bai Shengqiang has many years of martial arts foundation, and Jiang Qiao's talent also needs to be accumulated and developed, so it's just that she hasn't stood out as much as Jiang Qiu for the time being," Wu Shan smiled, "but Jiang Qiu is indeed a genius."
"His journey is no less impressive than Lu Changming's, making him a rare genius. However..." Instructor Lu's eyes narrowed slightly, "The path of a spirit plant master demands the most innate talent, yet he hasn't even taken a master yet. How far can he go?"
"..." Wu Shan paused, unsure how to respond. Logically speaking, Jiang Qiu was a disciple of Director Jiang, but the lineage did not belong to the Jiang family and was not something that could be openly discussed. Therefore, the other party's words were somewhat tricky.
"Hehe, although Jiang Qiu hasn't formally become an apprentice, with the support of our Director Jiang, she might not be any worse than Lu Changming from the Merit Department in the future, right?" Director Liu interjected with a smile, "They both have double-superior or higher talents."
The Merit Department is responsible for managing the merit reward system and coordinating all frontline operations. Like the Logistics Department, it is one of the most important units in the Nine Plantations, and Lu Changming is currently affiliated with it.
Instructor Lu An remained noncommittal, saying, "Director Liu, Jiang Qiu is talented and with Director Jiang's attention, her future achievements will be considerable. However, every spirit plant master must go through frontline training and battles; who can predict the future?"
He crossed his arms over his chest, his large muscles bulging out the epaulets on his camouflage uniform. "I want to see if Jiang Qiu's self-developed cultivation path is suitable for the front lines, and see who is the strongest trainee in this cohort."
Director Liu smiled but didn't say anything.
Click. Team Leader Sun pressed the button on his pen and said coldly, "Everyone is here. We can announce the start of the 'Reproduction Competition'."
Wu Shan nodded. "Director Liu, where's Instructor Lu An?"
"Let's begin."
"start."
"Alright," he stood up, his voice booming, "I hereby declare the 'Battle of Reproduction' officially underway. No contestant may leave the arena before being eliminated. Now, unveil the [Earth-Binding Cage]!"
Wu Shan waved his right hand, and a tide of azure spiritual energy swept across the field. One after another, the evenly distributed vine cages on the field were dismantled, and the roots of each vine retracted into the soil, revealing more than a hundred resident spiritual plants at the same time.
The flowers, grasses, vines, and other spiritual plants swayed in the wind, seemingly ready to spring to life, quickly drawing lively discussions from the audience. Especially among the new employees watching for the first time, Li Si asked curiously, "Brother Du, why aren't they moving?"
"Most level 2 spiritual plants don't have the ability to fight outside the soil, but if you look closely, you'll find that their roots are intertwined beneath the soil. The battle has already begun, and the outcome is already decided." Du Ziyue stretched out his finger.
Li Si narrowed her eyes and suddenly saw a spirit plant resembling a "Wood Edge Flower" and half a meter tall suddenly wither and fall over. Dense roots and stems sprouted from the soil, dragging it into the ground and pulling it towards another spirit plant.
Gradually, the spiritual plant refined and devoured it, using it as nutrients to nourish itself. As a result, its main stem grew thicker and thicker, its branches and leaves became more and more abundant, and even the roots that served as weapons began to branch out into more segments.
"Lu Renyi has been eliminated and is not ranked."
"One high-grade [Spirit Cultivation Pill] can be provided as compensation!"
This shout was like a stone thrown into a lake, stirring up waves among the other spiritual plants, which then began to fight each other in a tangled mess.
Li Si was shocked. "Holy crap, the first person eliminated gets a level 2 pill worth 100,000? That's so generous!"
"Hehe, all the spirit plants stationed here have been enlightened by the [Reproduction Realm], which is equivalent to the root ancestors of the corresponding level 2 spirit plants. Their elimination in the 'Reproduction Competition' is not just about becoming nutrients."
Du Ziyue sighed, "Old Tian participated in the 'Reproduction Battle' more than ten times in his life. Each time, the spirit plants stationed there were refined by the strongest apprentices, so much so that when he cultivated similar spirit plants later, he was inherently three points weaker."
"Hiss, why is this happening?"
"Naturally, it's because level 2 spiritual plants have a pulse resonance. The first level 2 spiritual plant that is enlightened will breed offspring and form a pulse. They are a pulse that is passed down from generation to generation. No matter how many generations they breed or hybridize, their roots are connected. Unless they are enlightened again, that is, they are rebuilt."
Hearing this, Li Si felt a sense of awe. The spiritual plant she had painstakingly cultivated for many years was refined in an instant, and its offspring would also suffer a loss of potential. No wonder it could be compensated with such a high price.
But then he thought about it the other way around: if the battle went down to the last point and all the resident spiritual plants were refined into nutrients, his eyes lit up. "What would happen to Brother Jiang's [Wooden Golden Cage] if he won the strongest trainee position?"
"Brother Jiang... I don't know either. After all, Lao Tian said that the resident spiritual plants are different every year, and their potential fluctuates a lot," Du Ziyue hesitated for a moment. "But I heard that after Lu Changming won the title of strongest trainee, his potential underwent a qualitative change, and now the network he established on the front line can stand on its own."
Li Si seemed to understand, but couldn't hide the anticipation in her eyes. Then she heard the other person add enviously, "But compared to all that, the reward for becoming the strongest trainee this year is already very valuable: five Blessed Basin slots for three years, one high-grade spirit seed of your choice, and one high-grade spirit material exchange right!"
"So many amazing things that money can't buy..." he exclaimed repeatedly, his expectant gaze fixed on the center of the venue, where the unique [Wooden Cage] stood majestically, like a crane standing among chickens.
"Wait a minute, Brother Du, why are all the other spiritual plants fighting so fiercely, while Brother Jiang's resident spiritual plant isn't moving at all? If it were to have an unstable outburst like last month, it should be able to wipe out the entire field in one fell swoop, right?"
"Huh?" Du Ziyue was also taken aback, stroking his chin. "Yeah, why didn't Brother Jiang's [Wooden Cage] move...?"
He squinted and pondered for a while, then suddenly his eyelids twitched. "Something's not right. There's a problem with the ring of resident spiritual plants around its initial location. I heard from Old Tian that there's a type of second-generation hybrid spiritual plant that's good at suppressing the flow of spiritual energy. Their cultivators are planning to team up and trap it!"