Fairy, Please Forgive Me, I Never Meant to Impersonate Your Husband

Chapter 17: Planting the Spirit Field, Great Snow Blade Technique

Currently, there were five severely injured couriers in the relay station. Although they had been treated with Purple Sore Ointment, their recovery would still take time. Low-grade healing pills, however, were perfect for them.

Wu Yuan decided to give each of them one low-grade healing pill, delivering them personally. It was a gesture befitting a leader—a move to win their loyalty.

Since the armory required constant attention for equipment and pill inventory, and Supervisor Caiyu was already swamped with work, Wu Yuan decided to assign an assistant to the armory: Black Loach.

Though Black Loach was a combat courier, Wu Yuan had noticed his adaptability and quick thinking, making him a good candidate for the role.

After settling these matters, Wu Yuan took the farmer leader, Black Head, to the spirit field behind the relay station.

He tested it out—concentrating his thoughts within the spirit field allowed him to retrieve the three types of spirit herb seeds he had purchased from his private storage. The retrieval went smoothly.

The mountain celery root seeds alone numbered three thousand pieces, filling ten large sacks. Transporting them alone would have been a hassle.

“Three thousand mountain celery roots will cover one acre. The Qi Circulation Fruits and Jade Tiger Ginseng seeds—three hundred each—will share another acre. Remember to intercrop them. The Jade Tiger Ginseng will eventually grow beneath the Qi Circulation Fruit shrubs.”

Black Head acknowledged Wu Yuan’s instructions without question.

To be thorough, Black Head brought in a tall, lean farmer named Yu Chen, who had experience growing spirit herbs, to demonstrate his planting skills.

Though Yu Chen had never grown these three herbs before, Wu Yuan’s explanations helped him quickly get the hang of it. Seeing his competence, Wu Yuan felt assured that the planting could be left in his hands.

The three spirit herb seeds had been carefully selected based on Wu Yuan’s dream memories. Once matured, they would all be top-tier first-grade spirit herbs—practically first-grade supreme.

His goal wasn’t to maximize the spirit field’s unique trait of allowing first-grade plants to mature every two months. If that were the case, he might as well have planted Black Pearl Rice.

Even though Black Pearl Rice was only first-grade high-tier and didn’t fully utilize the field’s properties, its status as an exclusive specialty could potentially yield greater profits.

What Wu Yuan truly valued was a shared trait among mountain celery root, Qi Circulation Fruit, and Jade Tiger Ginseng—their ability to continue growing after maturity. The longer they grew, the higher their grade.

For example, mountain celery root naturally matured in the wild in a year and a half, becoming a first-grade supreme herb. If left to grow further:

Fifteen years would elevate it to second-grade low-tier.

Fifty years, second-grade mid-tier.

A hundred years, second-grade high-tier.

A hundred and fifty years, third-grade low-tier.

The same applied to Qi Circulation Fruit and Jade Tiger Ginseng.

Qi Circulation Fruit continued to grow after fruiting, with the mature fruits remaining on the plant.

Jade Tiger Ginseng bore a slight resemblance to ginseng from Earth, though its mature form wasn’t human-shaped but rather that of a white tiger. It also had the longest growth cycle among first-grade supreme herbs—three years, double that of mountain celery root.

No one would understand Wu Yuan’s vision for the spirit field yet. The truth would only be revealed when the relay station upgraded.

His plans were long-term. For a considerable time, these herbs would remain rooted in this field.

After instructing Yu Chen to plant all the seeds and report back immediately, Wu Yuan left for the Spirit Suppression Tower.

Soon after, his clone emerged from the tower, fully equipped:

A mid-grade Yuan artifact light armor set.

Low-grade Yuan artifact Featherstep Boots.

A folded high-grade Yuan artifact Alligator Tendon Divine Arm Bow fixed to its left arm.

A high-grade Yuan artifact long blade in its right hand.

A quiver of thirty low-grade Yuan artifact Alligator Scale Arrows on its back.

The clone practically gleamed—the gleam of gold coins.

Wu Yuan’s consciousness now resided within the clone, making “it” effectively “him.”

He controlled the clone outside the relay station, joining a monster-hunting team under the curious and envious gazes of the couriers.

The couriers found the clone somewhat unfamiliar, but they knew this person had an extremely close relationship with the boss—his trusted subordinate.

Now, with a full set of new gear—including the coveted Alligator Tendon Divine Arm Bow, which wasn’t even available in the temporary armory—this perception was further cemented.

None dared offend him. Instead, they took extra care around him.

Truthfully, Wu Yuan hadn’t wanted to outfit the clone so extravagantly, but testing its post-upgrade performance and ensuring its safety necessitated the best available equipment.

Had the clone’s cultivation met the minimum requirement, Wu Yuan would have even equipped it with the low-grade spirit artifact Silver Python Sword.

He maintained tight control over the clone at first but gradually withdrew his consciousness, allowing it to fight autonomously.

The results pleased him.

Even without his direct control, the clone could react swiftly to dangers based on experience. Its newly enhanced animal-like instincts allowed it to avoid threats instinctively. Unless faced with overwhelming force, its safety was largely assured.

During the hunt, the clone displayed a blade technique that left onlookers in awe.

Great Snow Blade Technique—an eight-move style. When executed, it resembled a blizzard, its killing intent as chilling as icy water. The moves could be used separately or chained together, even coordinated among multiple fighters for greater effect.

This was a battlefield martial art, typically taught only in village-level lord barracks. Though it ranked at the lowest tier of graded martial arts (twelfth-grade), the clone, at the peak of the Sinew-Tempering Realm, could barely perform it fully.

For now, this was the most suitable combat skill for the clone.

The other couriers watched in envy. To them, a complete martial art was practically legendary. Even if the Great Snow Blade Technique originated from a village-level lord’s barracks, that didn’t mean town-level residents could access it.

In reality, whether at the village, town, or even city level, commoners and drifters had few avenues to learn graded martial arts.

Most only knew fragments, pieced together into personalized combat skills. Many mercenaries relied on such patchwork techniques to scrape by.

Wu Yuan had the clone publicly demonstrate the blade technique not just to ingrain it into its instincts but also to show the couriers that their boss lacked nothing—loyalty to him would be rewarded.

This was another subtle way to reinforce their allegiance.

Unnoticed, the clone fought outside the relay station for a full standard day.

The couriers rotated shifts twice. At one point, danger struck again—a level-twenty Purple Fiend appeared.

However, this one had no lesser fiends accompanying it. Alone, it didn’t last long. The clone experimentally fired two Alligator Scale Arrows from the Divine Arm Bow, piercing its skull.

The Divine Arm Bow was indeed powerful. The money hadn’t been wasted.

A single Alligator Scale Arrow cost one silver. The bow itself? Forty silver. It was practically killing with coins.

Had Wu Yuan not considered Yuan artifacts as consumables, he might have mass-equipped them.

This brought up a key trait of Yuan artifacts:

They were crafted from materials infused with Yuan energy—often harvested from fiends or monstrous insects. Low-tier fiends yielded little, high-tier ones more.

Since these materials lacked spirituality, Yuan artifacts could only expend their inherent Yuan energy. Once depleted, they became semi-useless, retaining only basic physical properties without the enhanced attacks Yuan energy provided.

Maintenance could delay but not reverse this decay.

Hence, Wu Yuan initially saw Yuan artifacts as cost-ineffective—expensive yet doomed to break within six months of heavy use.

But seeing the clone kill a Purple Fiend with just two arrows (two silver coins for two gold coins, excluding the blood essence harvested) changed his perspective.

Used wisely, even costly Yuan artifacts could yield multiple returns.

“Blame my first dream memory for being so poor—it made me stingy in some ways,” he mused.

Still, he knew the couriers would eventually need Yuan weapons. As monsters grew stronger, mundane weapons would lose effectiveness, forced into retirement.

But this transition couldn’t be rushed. If the couriers grew accustomed to expensive Yuan artifacts without valuing them, even his gold reserves could be drained.

Experience had taught him this.

His dream memories held such lessons, so he’d rather enforce discipline early, fostering good habits—even if it seemed harsh.

(Though, deep down, it was still a bit stingy.)

The clone’s use required balance. Once combat had tempered its recently surged cultivation, Wu Yuan recalled it to the Spirit Suppression Tower to rest and refine the Reclining Buddha Stance.

Just then, Yu Chen reported that all seeds had been planted.

Wu Yuan hurried to inspect.

Pleased with the results, he rewarded Yu Chen with a Clear Miasma Pill.

Returning to the tower, he connected with the core suppression artifact—the Stone Tiger. A formation appeared above the spirit well, drawing in its recently produced spirit water along with ordinary well water.

The formation then shifted above the spirit field, releasing the mixed water as a fine, spirit-infused rain.

As the spiritual energy seeped into the soil, Wu Yuan could faintly sense the weak life forces beneath the Black Jade Spirit Earth stirring, growing vigorous as they absorbed the nourishing energy.