Chapter 27: Something in the Soil

The rain began shortly before dawn.

It wasn’t heavy. Blackstone rarely received enough rain for that.

A thin curtain fell across the wasteland, darkening the road and tapping softly against the roof of Wandering Cloud Tavern.

Lin Yuan woke to the sound.

He dressed and headed downstairs.

The dining hall was empty. Outside, the courtyard stones were wet, while several Ironhoof Beasts belonging to overnight guests rested quietly inside the stable.

Lin Yuan stepped beneath the edge of the roof.

Since the Territory Core had advanced Blackstone’s spiritual environment from Barren to Faint, spiritual Qi had become a steady presence throughout the territory.

This morning, however, something else caught his attention.

Green.

Near the old well, beside the crooked tree, two narrow leaves had pushed through a crack in the soil.

Lin Yuan walked over and crouched.

A plant.

There was nothing impressive about it.

Anywhere else, he probably wouldn’t have looked twice.

But this was Blackstone.

The soil was hard and poor. Rain was uncommon, and most of the wasteland supported little more than scattered weeds.

Lin Yuan touched the damp soil beside the sprout.

A faint trace of spiritual Qi lingered within it.

Footsteps approached behind him.

Su Mei stopped beside the well.

"What are you looking at?"

Lin Yuan pointed.

She stared down.

"A plant?"

"Yes."

Su Mei glanced at him before crouching.

A moment later, her expression changed.

"The soil has Qi."

"A little."

She touched the ground farther from the sprout.

There was still a trace there.

Su Mei stood and looked around the courtyard.

"Was this here yesterday?"

"I don’t think so."

"The rain?"

"Maybe."

Lin Yuan looked at the tiny leaves again.

Rain could explain why a seed had sprouted.

It didn’t explain the trace of spiritual Qi inside the plant.

A voice called from inside the tavern.

Su Mei turned toward the door.

"Customers are awake."

Lin Yuan stood.

The plant wasn’t going anywhere.

Hopefully.

The rain ended before noon.

By afternoon, sunlight had returned to Blackstone, and the wet road was already beginning to dry.

Lin Yuan didn’t spend the day searching for plants. There were customers to serve, and one sprout wasn’t enough reason to abandon the tavern.

Over the next few days, however, he began noticing changes.

The first sprout survived.

Two more appeared near the courtyard wall.

A thin patch of grass emerged where rainwater had collected beside the road.

Farther from the buildings, the signs were less obvious, but occasional green shoots had begun appearing between the rocks.

None looked valuable.

That wasn’t what interested him.

The territory now maintained a weak but stable spiritual environment.

Apparently, cultivators weren’t the only things benefiting from it.

On the fourth morning, Lin Yuan carried a bucket from the well and poured a little water around the first sprout.

Su Mei saw him from the tavern entrance.

"You really are raising it."

"I’m testing something."

"What?"

"Whether it survives."

Su Mei looked at the wet soil.

"You’re helping it survive."

Lin Yuan considered that.

"Then I’m testing whether it survives with water."

Su Mei turned away.

He heard her laugh as she went inside.

Lin Yuan looked down.

The sprout now had four leaves.

Whatever it was, Blackstone hadn’t killed it yet.

That alone was worth noticing.

The answer came that afternoon.

An older cultivator had stayed at Wandering Cloud Tavern the previous night.

His robes were faded from travel, and an old storage bag hung at his waist. During breakfast, he’d complained about a damaged stretch of the western road and the price of beast feed.

After lunch, he walked toward the stable.

Then stopped beside the well.

He crouched.

Lin Yuan noticed from the tavern entrance.

The man examined the plant for several moments before calling out.

"Owner."

Lin Yuan crossed the courtyard.

The cultivator pointed at the four leaves.

"You planting Stoneleaf Grass?"

"No."

The man looked up.

"It grew by itself?"

"After the rain."

"Huh."

"You know it?"

"Of course."

The cultivator stood and brushed dust from his knees.

"Stoneleaf Grass. Common stuff."

"Spiritual herb?"

The man laughed.

"Calling it a spiritual herb would make actual spiritual herbs angry."

Lin Yuan waited for him to continue.

"It absorbs a little spiritual Qi, but that’s about it. You’ll find it in plenty of places with weak spiritual environments."

Lin Yuan looked at the plant.

"Could it grow here before?"

The cultivator glanced toward the wasteland beyond the courtyard wall.

"Blackstone?"

"Yes."

"Not easily."

He crouched again and pressed two fingers against the soil.

"This ground isn’t good, but there’s spiritual Qi in it."

"I noticed."

The cultivator looked up.

"Then why ask me?"

"I didn’t know the plant."

"Fair."

Lin Yuan glanced toward the smaller shoots near the wall.

"If Stoneleaf Grass can grow, what else could?"

"Here?"

"Here."

The man considered the question.

"Hardy plants. Some common medicinal herbs, maybe, if you have enough water and take care of them."

"What about actual spiritual herbs?"

"Depends on the herb."

The cultivator shook his head.

"Anything that needs rich spiritual soil would probably die here."

Lin Yuan wasn’t surprised.

Blackstone had only advanced from Barren to Faint. One environmental improvement wasn’t going to turn the wasteland into fertile spiritual farmland.

The man looked around again.

"If the spiritual Qi becomes denser in the future, that could change."

"How much do you know about growing them?"

"Not much."

The answer came quickly.

"My brother is a spiritual farmer. I’ve listened to him complain about crops for years."

That explained it.

The cultivator pointed toward the Stoneleaf Grass.

"But this one is simple. If it appeared naturally, the environment here is at least good enough for plants that need a little spiritual Qi."

That was the answer Lin Yuan wanted.

"Thanks."

The man nodded toward the tavern.

"Does that earn me cheaper dinner?"

"No."

"Worth asking."

He continued toward the stable.

Lin Yuan remained beside the well.

Stoneleaf Grass.

Common.

Nearly worthless.

Yet it had appeared naturally in Blackstone.

That mattered more than its price.

That evening, Lin Yuan walked east along the road.

He passed Qiao’s General Goods, where two cultivators stood inside examining talismans, and continued until the voices around the tavern faded behind him.

The wasteland looked much as it always had.

Dry earth stretched between scattered stones and low rises.

But now there were small interruptions.

A few patches of green.

Lin Yuan crouched beside one.

He couldn’t tell whether the shoots were Stoneleaf Grass or something else.

It didn’t matter.

He placed his palm against the ground.

Spiritual Qi was there.

Weak, but steady.

Until now, Lin Yuan had measured the environmental advancement mostly through cultivation.

Now the change was appearing in the land itself.

He stood and looked across Blackstone.

Water was still limited.

The soil was still poor.

He knew almost nothing about growing spiritual herbs.

A few patches of grass didn’t solve any of those problems.

But they proved the wasteland wasn’t fixed.

If its spiritual environment could improve once, it could improve again.

And as the environment changed, so would the things the land could support.

Lin Yuan didn’t need to turn that possibility into a plan tonight.

It was enough to know the possibility existed.

He returned to the tavern as the last sunlight disappeared.

After closing, Lin Yuan cultivated as usual.

Spiritual Qi gathered steadily around him, drawn inward by the tavern’s Minor Qi Gathering.

As he circulated his technique, his thoughts briefly returned to the patches of green outside.

The same Qi supporting his cultivation was also settling into the land beneath Blackstone.

Its effects weren’t immediate.

The Core had changed the environment some time ago, and only now was Lin Yuan beginning to see the result.

He finished another circulation.

His Qi Refining Nine cultivation continued its steady progress.

There was no breakthrough.

He hadn’t expected one.

When Lin Yuan opened his eyes, the tavern had gone quiet.

He ended his cultivation and rested.

The next morning, Lin Yuan went to the well before breakfast.

The Stoneleaf Grass was still there.

Four small leaves spread beneath the crooked tree, each carrying a drop of morning moisture.

Lin Yuan crouched and examined it.

Common enough that most cultivators wouldn’t bother picking it.

He left it where it was.

If something this ordinary could now take root in Blackstone, he wanted to see what would grow here next.