Chapter 4 – DIY Grow Your Own Sword

Ren had found his way to the sect library first thing that morning. Mornings were not a quiet time for the sect as disciples of all ages hustled about their tasks. At the library, he went to the plants and medicinal herbs section and set about finding information about the sword grass.

Ren had flipped through countless scrolls, but somehow it was still entertaining. While he hadn’t found what he was looking for, he did find some of the herbs he had seen on market day but couldn’t identify then. There was so much to learn, but he had to force himself to set it aside for later since he was here on a mission.

He finally found a compendium that held a list of a large number of herbs and some more information on each. In it he found some other common names of the sword grass and its properties. Using that, he went into another section that held more books on nurturing spiritual plants and finally found an entry on the sword grass. The grass needed a windless environment with dry but qi-rich soil. It also needed an infusion of earth, wood, and metal qi. The book also advised not growing the plants in the same area repeatedly because they grew rapidly and the soil needed time to gather the qi and nutrients again.

He was almost ready to leave when he remembered that formations could be used to enhance herb growth and how his own family used to have such farms before they’d been sold off to cover debts. So he went to the section of the library that had scrolls on basic formations. Of course all the good books on formations would be in private hands, but it wasn’t like he could afford the formation flags for those anyway. The basic formations he read about could be set up using just feng shui or certain strategic placements of “array nodes,” which were just engraved runes on rocks. Some basic formations he decided to memorize were the qi gathering spiral, a basic security array, and illusion formation. They were extremely basic, but the benefit was they were free! With some careful planning, he figured he could implement them all. Maybe even together.

He stopped there. While it was all very interesting, he felt mentally drained, and it was well past midday. Armed with this knowledge, Ren headed home to begin his attempt at last. In the half plot of land that was bare but prepared, he built a scaffolding around each planned spot. He used branches and earth mixed with the weed grasses to create a short wall to block out the wind. The soil was already dry. He just needed to make sure he didn’t overwater it.

For the final touch, Ren decided to go all in on his gamble and took the 1 free qi pill he had received on entering the sect and dissolved it into a single cup of spring water. He carefully sprinkled a little on each spot and finally planted the two oblong seeds that somewhat resembled a sword in each spot. He carefully stowed the rest of the qi-enriched water. It would gradually dissipate but he would get a few days of use out of it.

As for the infusion of the 3 qi types, he would simply leave it up to chance. He thought he could maybe attract those qi types by meditating near them but then reasoned that doing so would only deprive the environment of those since he would be the one to absorb them. It was already getting dark by then, so Ren decided to continue the formation work tomorrow.

The next morning he began using the meditation methods described in his manual. He also began to learn the stances in preparation for when his sword grass was grown. Next he went hiking around the mountain looking for the appropriate rocks on which he could carve the formations. While taking breaks during this exhausting work, he tried to plan and imagine the completed formations. It took him all day to gather enough rocks even though he was now a stage 1 qi gathering realm cultivator.

The next 2 days were spent carefully monitoring the sword grass, tending the spirit vegetables, and carving the nodes of the formations. He failed in a lot of his first attempts. He didn’t have a good tool for carving and was certainly too poor now to afford one. He was managing with some of the farming tools. Still, after a while, he started to gain confidence and finished the first set of nodes for the qi gathering array.

It was a natural formation slightly enhanced by the runes and would slowly, over time, attract the qi from the environment to the center of the formation. He set it up around both his young seedlings, which had already broken through the earth. He began working the other 2 formations, which weren’t exactly vital to the growth of the current plants but would be useful in the future when he wanted to grow other plants, which, given his wood qi spirit roots, he was sure to do.

The security formation was mostly just an alarm that triggered when a foreign presence was detected. The book had warned him that the authorized personnel’s qi could only be fixed at setup. As for the illusion array, it raised a slight mist that blurred qi perception. Ren had tried to make sure that it wouldn’t have any effect on the sword grass since they needed dry soil but had found no assurance. So he carved the nodes but didn’t set it up right away. By then it was already the 7th day after planting when he got a shock in the morning.

One of the two sword grasses was showing signs of wilting. They had both reached over knee height by then, but one wasn’t looking as healthy. He went back to the library, desperately searching for ways to improve its health, but only found general advice regarding fertilizers and pesticides, not that he could afford it. He returned home to see the signs of decay had worsened. It looked like his two chances were down to one.

The next three days were spent trying to practice the breathing exercises and the sword stances and anxiously watching over the one remaining sword grass. He even spent more time at the library preparing for if even this attempt failed. To distract himself, he would read about other formations and plants. He even visited the Mission Hall to learn about earning sect contribution points and ways to exchange them for spirit stones.

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The Hall of Contribution was a bustling place. There were huge walls, which Ren realized were a much more advanced formation, that had posts about various tasks, from raising animals and growing herbs to beast-slaying tasks and searching for specific ingredients. The Heavenly Sword Sect controlled the vast eponymous mountain range. Only around a third was directly occupied by the sect, and the rest still held countless mysteries. From the chattering of disciples accepting tasks and turning them in to just standing around with friends, Ren learned a lot of random bits of information. He even went and talked to some of the more friendly-looking seniors.

“I heard senior Yu Gang had managed to be promoted to inner sect disciple for having turned in a treasure.” One said.

Another senior said, “Senior Chun Wei, who is held in high esteem, has been injured in a battle with something called a rock tiger. I hope he recovers, for he was just on the verge of breaking through to the foundation realm.

One senior trying to sound knowledgeable said, “There are indications that a treasure has appeared in the southern ranges.”