Jiang Yan was quite patient, explaining all the major and minor precautions until dusk, when she began to prepare food.
Although Chen Si had long been starving, he patiently listened until she finished speaking before they both entered the kitchen and began to get busy.
He had never done these things before, so when Jiang Yan left, he would need to do them himself. Thus, he diligently learned by her side.
Although he was once a Golden Core True Person, he was now a tiger fallen into the plains, and many things required learning. He could not disdain these tasks because of his former status.
After dinner, Chen Si went to the courtyard.
"Chen Zhen, you will stay in the east wing room. You are not allowed to approach other rooms without my permission, understand?" Jiang Yan's originally cloudy eyes suddenly sharpened, and she spoke in a stern tone.
"Yes, Senior Jiang," Chen Si cupped his fists, maintaining a humble demeanor from beginning to end.
"Mm!" Jiang Yan hummed in acknowledgment, then returned to her room and closed her eyes.
Chen Si breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she was an old woman; if she had been a younger female Cultivator, she might have driven him out of the courtyard.
Entering the room and closing the door, Chen Si sat down on the bed and began to carefully examine the condition of his body.
After a long while, he sighed, saying that the damage to his Dao Foundation was more severe than he had imagined.
Without Cultivating, his body was almost unable to absorb external Spiritual Qi. This was due to the extremely low affinity for wood-elemental Spiritual Qi.
"Divine Sense Cultivation Techniques are probably hard to find. I'll first find an ordinary wood-elemental Cultivation Technique to Cultivate and recover a bit of my strength, then seek out a Divine Sense Cultivation Technique."
He now possessed a Golden Core Divine Sense but was empty-handed. He could still use his Divine Sense to overwhelm Foundation Establishment cultivators, but if he encountered a Golden Core True Person, he would be at their mercy.
Only after Cultivating a Divine Sense Cultivation Technique would he possess a means of self-preservation in front of a Golden Core True Person.
Therefore, he needed to hide in the city and act discreetly.
Having made up his mind, he slept in his clothes.
The next day.
After a night of rest, Chen Si's spirits were much better, so he got up early and began to inspect the Tea Garden.
"nurturing spiritual tea: First-grade, low-tier;"
"Spiritual Power: 2;"
"Can be infused, can be plundered."
Chen Si stood at the very bottom of the Tea Garden, looking at a new tea plant in the corner. He used his investigation skill and obtained the above information.
"Should I try plundering it?"
"This one's spiritual power is too low. I'll find one that's a bit higher."
He didn't know what changes would occur to this nurturing spiritual tea after its spiritual power was plundered, so he naturally had to be cautious.
Soon, he found a first-grade, low-tier spiritual tea with 4 points of spiritual power and used the plunder skill.
"Plunder 1 point of spiritual power. Continue plundering?"
"No!" Chen Si stopped after a small taste.
Carefully observing the spiritual tea that had 1 point of spiritual power plundered, its leaves were just a little wilted, with no significant change.
His Divine Sense sank into his Sea of Consciousness.
Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root (Wood).
Grade: 1 (0 / 1000);
Spiritual Power: 1;
Skills: 1. Investigation; 2. Plunder; 3. Infusion; 4. Transformation.
Indeed, after plundering 1 point of spiritual power, the spiritual power in the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root's information increased by 1 point.
After a moment of contemplation, Chen Si walked to the outermost tea tree that previously only had 2 points of spiritual power and used the infusion skill, injecting the newly obtained spiritual power into it.
The information of this tea tree immediately changed.
"nurturing spiritual tea: First-grade, low-tier;"
"Spiritual Power: 3;"
"Can be infused, can be plundered."
After being infused with one point of spiritual power, this tea tree seemed to have grown a little, and its leaves became even greener. Its growth seemed to have been completed in an instant.
Chen Si experimented twice more, and after roughly understanding all four skills, he stopped. A drop of spiritual liquid appeared in his hand, which he flicked into his mouth.
As he expected, when a drop of spiritual liquid entered his body, his body only absorbed a tiny bit, and ninety-nine percent of the Spiritual Qi dissipated.
His Divine Sense detected that Jiang Yan had already left the small courtyard, so he walked along the path towards her.
"Good morning, Senior Jiang!" Chen Si bowed deeply.
"What are you looking at?" Jiang Yan asked, looking towards the Tea Garden.
"I inspected the Tea Garden," Chen Si replied.
Jiang Yan nodded and didn't say much more. She threw over a book, saying, "These are some precautions for planting nurturing spiritual tea. There are also some of my annotations inside; read them carefully."
"Yes, thank you for the book, Senior!" Chen Si humbly bowed again.
Perhaps because of his exceptional politeness, the indifference on Jiang Yan's face receded slightly. She nodded slightly and walked towards the Tea Garden.
After she left, Chen Si returned to the small courtyard, sat down at the stone table in a corner of the courtyard, and began to read the book he had just received.
In this manner, three months passed.
Chen Si had long mastered the knowledge of planting tea trees. With the enhancement of his powerful Divine Sense, even the slightest problem with a tea tree would be detected by him.
During this time, he occasionally acted to plunder spiritual power.
This allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of the four skills of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root.
Based on his observations, after a nurturing spiritual tea tree had 1 point of spiritual power plundered, it needed nearly a month to recover.
If a tea tree originally had 2 points of spiritual power and he wanted to increase it by 1 point without infusion, it would take a considerably long time, measured in years. This was his calculation based on observing the growth of the tea tree's spiritual power with his Divine Sense.
Two months ago, he had taken over all the work in this Tea Garden, and after observing for a few days, Jiang Yan had completely let go.
Their interactions were quite harmonious.
In this way, another two months passed, and Chen Si had completely established himself here.
This morning, after Jiang Yan finished inspecting the Tea Garden, she stood in the courtyard, looking at everything within, her expression a mix of melancholy and reluctance.
"Good morning, Senior Jiang!" Chen Si pushed open his door and walked out.
"Good morning!" Jiang Yan turned around, looked at him, nodded, and said, "I will be leaving here today. From now on, this Tea Garden will be entirely entrusted to your care."
Several days ago, Jiang Yan had already begun harvesting her two spiritual fields.
Chen Si had anticipated this and was not surprised. He cupped his hands and said, "Yes, please rest assured, Senior."
"In the Spirit Medicine Garden, I've left you a Spiritual Plant. Consider it my farewell gift to you." Jiang Yan raised her hand and waved, and a jade token was thrown out by her, supported by spiritual power, floating in front of Chen Si. "This is the Formation control token. You can use it by dripping blood on it. It's also entrusted to you."
"Yes!" Chen Si took the jade token and bowed again.
Jiang Yan waved her hand and stepped towards the courtyard gate.
The protective Formation had already opened a passage when she gave the control token to Chen Si. She descended the mountain without stopping.
After she left, Chen Si did not drip blood on the token as she had suggested. Instead, he enveloped it with his Divine Sense and instantly refined it.
"Next, it's time for me to show what I can do."
"First, let's see what Jiang Yan left for me!"