Crow Immortal
Chapter 16: Mystic Heart Fruit

Hearing Sun Kang's words, Han Yu thought to himself that Senior Brother Sun was indeed warm-hearted and trustworthy. 

"Not necessary for now, Senior Brother Sun. When I came today, I didn't find any Spirit-Stealing Mice in the spirit fields." 

"Perhaps they've already left. Let's hope they don't return, otherwise with your and Li Quan's situation, dealing with those beasts would be truly difficult," Sun Kang remarked. 

Han Yu hesitated slightly before asking, "Senior Brother Sun, I've been feeling my cultivation progress slowing recently and wanted to find something to aid my practice... Do you know where I might look?" 

Sun Kang couldn't help but laugh. "Junior Brother Han, every worker disciple has thought about this question at some point. When cultivation slows down, when daily hardships yield little progress, and without spirit rice to support us, who hasn't dreamed of obtaining spiritual herbs to boost their cultivation and enter the outer sect in one leap?" 

"But those who actually achieve this wish are few and far between." 

"Take me for example - if I knew where to find spiritual herbs that could help me break through to Qi Refining third or even fourth layer, wouldn't I be guarding that spot day and night?" 

"It's just that our Wangu Valley is already an immortal cultivation sect, and among the five sects of the Southern Region, we place the most emphasis on spiritual herbs and plants. The sect has thoroughly searched the areas around us for all types of spiritual herbs without missing anything. Trying to find spiritual herbs on your own to improve your cultivation is harder than finding hair on a bald man's head!" 

Hearing this, Han Yu suddenly understood - no wonder his crows had only found two spirit fruits after days of searching. It turned out Wangu Valley had already conducted specialized searches. For a worker disciple to coincidentally pick spirit fruits by relying solely on their own abilities was nearly impossible. 

"Then Senior Brother Sun, are there any common spiritual herbs near our Wangu Valley?" 

Han Yu asked again, making Sun Kang chuckle. "I knew you wouldn't give up so easily!" 

"To be honest, every worker disciple has had this fantasy before, including me." 

"I've embarrassed myself before Senior Brother." 

Sun Kang waved his hand. "No matter. Since I've almost reached my spiritual root absorption limit in today's cultivation, I'll tell you about several common spirit fruits you might encounter." 

This "absorption limit" was something Han Yu had gradually come to understand recently. 

The difference between spiritual roots lay precisely here. A slightly inferior spiritual root didn't just mean slower absorption of spiritual energy and reduced effects when circulating cultivation techniques - even the effects of consuming spiritual herbs and pills would be noticeably worse. 

Even with equal spiritual energy and equally abundant resources, better spiritual roots could contain more spiritual energy and cultivate faster, while worse ones could hold less. 

This was determined by one's innate cultivation aptitude and was nearly impossible to change. 

Of course, in most cases, worker disciples didn't reach their absorption limit - they were usually short on cultivation resources. 

For someone like Sun Kang who had some savings and could take advantage of the spiritual energy before the Green Sprout Spirit Rice matured, this rare period of being "full" and reaching the absorption limit only came once a year. 

Next, Sun Kang shared his knowledge of spiritual herbs with Han Yu based on his several years of experience in the sect and numerous visits to the market district. 

"For us worker disciples, apart from the Green Sprout Spirit Rice we grow, the spiritual herbs we might encounter are mostly at the Qi Refining level. Things like Jade Root Grass, Yellow Star Fruit, and Origin Spirit Mushroom... they're all quite helpful for improving our cultivation." 

"Oh, there's also Spirit Blood Vine. It's not very useful for our cultivation, but extremely beneficial for mortals. Just a small section can make their qi and blood overflow, allowing them to lift hundreds of pounds. Eating a bit more might actually burst them to death." 

"So they call it Snake Blood Vine and claim it's highly poisonous." 

Sun Kang cheerfully shared these anecdotes with Han Yu. 

As Han Yu listened, he memorized all this information while noting there was no mention of the blue spirit fruit he had obtained. 

"Senior Brother Sun, are there any others?" 

After some thought, Sun Kang recalled three more spiritual items: "There's also Crimson Heart Bamboo - its interior is like red iron and quite hard, used as refining material. Then there's the banana leaves commonly used by our outer sect disciples, harvested from the sect's spirit banana trees and refined, then exchanged by disciples using merit points as flying tools." 

"Oh, I once saw a kind of fruit at the market that looked like blue jade, about the size of a finger. I heard it's called Mystic Heart Fruit - it can clear one's mind and is beneficial for practicing spells, alchemy, talisman-making, and artifact forging. Its effect on increasing cultivation is similar to the Origin Spirit Mushroom." 

Hearing this, Han Yu felt a flicker of joy in his heart. 

The color and size matched - the spirit fruit his crows had brought back was actually called Mystic Heart Fruit! 

"Can these spirit fruits be eaten directly?" 

"Eating them directly is a bit wasteful. If we worker disciples really get the chance to obtain spiritual herbs or items, exchanging them for spirit rice at the market district to cultivate gradually is the most valuable method." 

Han Yu thought to himself: In that case, wouldn't it be even better for me to "gradually" consume the Mystic Heart Fruits? 

With this thought, he became eager to try. 

After chatting a bit more with Sun Kang and asking some additional questions, Han Yu returned to his stone house in the spirit fields. 

The two crows were still sound asleep in their little nest under the bed. 

Han Yu took out the blue, crystal-clear Mystic Heart Fruit, surrounded by spiritual energy and emitting a fragrant aroma. Just a slight sniff cleared his mind. 

With two Mystic Heart Fruits, Han Yu swallowed one whole, immediately feeling the fruit melt in his mouth like a stream of cool water rushing straight to his dantian. 

At the same time, his mind felt as if placed in a clear spring, becoming unprecedentedly light and agile. 

It truly was the Mystic Heart Fruit! The cultivation boost from this spirit fruit was many times greater than that from spirit rice balls! 

Han Yu immediately began cycling his energy. After three full cycles, he felt he had reached today's spiritual root absorption limit, with obvious growth in the spiritual seed within his dantian - but the medicinal power from the Mystic Heart Fruit still remained in his body, slowly dissipating. 

Han Yu could still cultivate for two more days using the Mystic Heart Fruit's power. 

So this was how it worked. If Han Yu didn't have more Mystic Heart Fruits, the optimal cultivation effect from one fruit would only last three days - truly far inferior to exchanging it for spirit rice to accumulate progress gradually over time. 

Fortunately, Han Yu didn't need to consider this problem. Since he still had one Mystic Heart Fruit in hand, he could ensure an endless supply for himself! 

The only slight flaw was that his four-element spiritual root aptitude was indeed too poor, with daily limits on spiritual energy and medicinal power absorption. Han Yu could only push his cultivation as far as possible while improving himself through other means. 

The Mystic Heart Fruit had another benefit - it aided in practicing spells, artifact forging, alchemy, and talisman-making. 

Han Yu tried practicing Wind Riding and Water Control while his mind was clear. 

After practicing, he was even more pleasantly surprised. 

Originally thinking these two spells were just for making work in the spirit fields more convenient, as he gradually mastered them through practice, Han Yu began to appreciate the wonder of spells. 

Though basic, if applied properly, these two spells weren't limited to just farming spirit fields. 

From morning until afternoon, Han Yu practiced continuously. Bringing two fingers together and circulating spiritual breath from his dantian, he commanded: 

"Go!" 

A fierce wind arose within the house. 

Then waving his fingers like a sword, the wind instantly calmed. 

Just as he was about to practice his Water Control technique once more, footsteps sounded outside. 

"Kid!" 

Old Taoist Li had returned.