Interstellar Farming: I Make Potions and Climb to the Top

From Leng Yue’s perspective, Ning Xuan approached, walking on a seven-colored radiance. A golden glow outlined her slender figure. Her black hair fluttered behind her shoulders, and her delicate eyes glittered like tempered, cold stars. When the mountain breeze lifted her wide, dark sleeves, it revealed a red, flowering branch coiled around her wrist.

With a flick of her hand, the red, flowering branch from her wrist fell to the ground. Upon landing, the small, delicate crimson seedling suddenly shot up, growing to over ten meters tall in an instant. Gnarled, black-red vines twisted like dragons, covered in black and red patterns. They were immensely thick and massive. Each branch resembled a snake flicking its tongue, and the main stalk was as thick as a grown man’s leg, its forked tips sprouting crescent-shaped poisonous thorns.

The black patterns on the vine’s surface shifted eerily, coalescing into ghostly faces at the tips. When this Ghost-faced Red Vine fully unfurled, the entire mountainside was enveloped in the scarlet mist it spewed.

The Devouring Spirit Flower let out a piercing shriek as its seven giant, ghostly blue flowers bloomed simultaneously. Ice-like poisonous stingers shot out from the pistils, but the moment they touched the Red Vine, they were corroded into green smoke by the surging crimson mist. The Ghost-faced Red Vine whipped out its thorny tendrils, spinning at high speed as they smashed toward the flowers’ pistils. The Devouring Spirit Flower didn’t dare to face the attack head-on and dodged frantically. The tendrils slammed into the mountain, shattering rock and sending sparks flying.

KRRRACK—

Three of the thickest vines coiled around the Devouring Spirit Flower’s main stem like giant pythons, constricting it tightly. As the thorns dug deep into the stalk, a dark green venom was furiously injected through its veins. The ghostly blue petals began to blacken and wither at a visible rate, but more flowering branches were erupting from the ground, trying to wrap around Ning Xuan’s ankles.

The hem of Ning Xuan’s gold-embroidered skirt billowed without any wind. She condensed a few beads of blood on her fingertips and flicked them at the vines. The Ghost-faced Red Vine instantly split into hundreds of smaller branches, each tip blooming with a blood-red ghost face. They tangled with the Devouring Spirit Flower’s branches, quickly forcing it into retreat. The cliff face was now crisscrossed with scorched marks, and the shockwaves from the two demon plants’ battle forced Leng Yue to back away step by step.

Seeing that it couldn’t win, the Devouring Spirit Flower immediately retreated into a crevice in the ground. The Ghost-faced Red Vine pressed its advantage, giving chase. A moment later, a cloud of red mist suddenly spewed from the crevice, releasing a cloyingly sweet fragrance.

"Oh no, Miss! That red mist is from the Devouring Spirit Flower Core erupting! It’s going to self-destruct!" Leng Yue was first surprised by the fragrance, then grew clearly panicked. ’He never imagined Ning Xuan could push the Devouring Spirit Flower to the point of self-destruction.’

Before his voice had faded, trees thirty meters away collapsed with a deafening crash. The thick trunks were shredded by shockwaves erupting from the ground before they could even hit the earth. Upon contact with the red mist, they instantly crystallized.

Ning Xuan also sensed the air filling with violent, unstable energy. A deep rumbling was already echoing from beneath the ground. Lin Mo grabbed Ning Xuan by the waist, summoned his Companion Spirit, the White Tiger, and shot into the air. A series of massive explosions erupted from deep within the earth, as if ten million great drums were being beaten at the planet’s core.

Dozens of black-red vines burst through the surface, staining even the sky black and red.

Ning Xuan and the Ghost-faced Red Vine were connected via Divine Thought. She could feel the vine’s mixed emotions of fear and excitement. While it sensed the danger, it also seemed to sense a great opportunity.

"Contractor, the core’s self-destruction has thrown the energy for miles around into chaos! It’s too dangerous here, I have to get you out!" Lin Mo’s voice was torn to shreds by the violent winds caused by the energy eruption. Ning Xuan didn’t answer, merely wrapping her arms silently around his waist.

The White Tiger threw its head back and let out an earth-shattering roar, the golden marking on its forehead shining brilliantly. Lin Mo traced a semicircle in the air, forming a pale cyan barrier—the Blue Flame White Tiger’s Talent Skill, King’s Guardian.

At his peak, with his SS-level spiritual power, the King’s Guardian barrier would be pure blue and could cover an area for miles. But now, suppressed to B-Level by the Secret Realm’s rules, the barrier’s range and strength were also reduced dozens of times over.

The sound of the ground cracking grew more frequent. The entire valley was torn apart like a piece of cloth, and a heart-stopping shattering sound came from deep within the earth’s veins. The land in a ten-li radius collapsed violently. The entire area shrouded by the red mist became a crystalline landscape. Turbulent flows of energy, carrying intense heat and violent winds, slammed into the Guardian Barrier. Lin Mo felt the impact, and a trickle of blood escaped the corner of his mouth.

Lin Mo maintained the Guardian Barrier, shielding Ning Xuan as he dodged and weaved through the crisscrossing torrents of turbulent energy.

Ning Xuan once again caught the cloyingly sweet scent. In her peripheral vision, she saw countless shattered fragments of the black-red vines slithering like snakes within the crevices below.

The vines were devouring the red mist seeping from the fissures, repairing their broken bodies and sprouting new leaves and branches.

A sudden pain shot through Ning Xuan’s palm. The Ghost-faced Red Vine’s seed there was glowing. Down in the crevices, the shattered pieces of vine began to reconnect. Thousands of vine fragments were reassembling themselves. Their black-red outer skin flaked off, revealing a new network of veins within.

Ning Xuan was shocked to realize that the vine seed in her palm was extending thousands of black threads, which pierced into her meridians. The Vine Silk was absorbing the energy from her body, while simultaneously returning some red energy to her.

"Contractor, what’s wrong?" Lin Mo asked worriedly, seeing her face turn pale.

Ning Xuan showed him the vine seed in her palm.

"It’s borrowing your energy to rebuild its foundation! Contractor, this is very dangerous." Although Lin Mo’s Level was suppressed, his perception and insight remained. He sensed the change in the energy around Ning Xuan and spoke with concern.

Lin Mo had a deep impression of this Exotic Plant inside Ning Xuan. When he first met her, she had been lying wrapped in black-red vines. The vines later vanished, and he had assumed she was being parasitized by the Exotic Plant. However, a check at the detection center revealed nothing abnormal, which had put his mind at ease.

After joining Ning Xuan’s side, he saw her use the vines when performing Alchemy. They were like capable assistants, able to follow her commands. Not only could they help Ning Xuan with Alchemy Potion, but they could also tie people up and help her fight.

But now, this Exotic Plant was absorbing Ning Xuan’s energy.

Ning Xuan patted Lin Mo to reassure him, then closed her eyes and sat cross-legged on the White Tiger’s back. She began to circulate the Guiding Spirit Scripture, refining the violent red energy that the Vine Silk was channeling into her. Although this red energy was wild, it was also exceptionally pure. Refining just a small amount would be enough to replenish her own lost energy.

Within the Shura Scene of the energy eruption, a closed loop had formed between three points: the self-destructing Devouring Spirit Flower, the Ghost-faced Red Vine which was immune to the flower’s devouring nature, and Ning Xuan herself.

The red mist produced by the Devouring Spirit Flower Core’s self-destruction was its life essence. It was originally supposed to seep back into the earth, nourish the main plant’s branches, and reform its core. However, the Ghost-faced Red Vine, which had been shredded by the violent energy, secretly devoured much of this mist to repair and strengthen itself. It even fed some of this energy back to Ning Xuan. At the same time, the Ghost-faced Red Vine, having just been torn apart by the Energy Field, was severely injured and needed Ning Xuan’s energy to rebuild its body.