31: Chapter 31 The spiritual plants matured, and the harvest was plentiful.

As the first light of dawn broke, a flash of gold erupted from the Medicinal Field.

It was not the reflection of the sun, nor the spiritual radiance of glowing runes, but a light truly arching out from the soil—three Spiritual Plants with roots entwined in golden threads, their leaves gleaming with the translucent luster of amber, dew hanging from their tips, each drop like it was wrapped in molten sun.

Chen Wuwang opened his eyes.

He had sat in meditation for seven days without blinking once. His mechanical prosthetic eye had scanned the darkness for seven full nights, data streams flowing like a river, missing not a single fluctuation. At this moment, a string of red text jumped out at the edge of his vision: [Spiritual Qi peak has exceeded the threshold, crystallization complete, vital signs stable].

He stood up, his boot soles grinding over the scorched earth as he walked toward the three Spiritual Plants. His pace was not fast, but every step landed on a node of the Spirit Array, as if he were calibrating the pulse of the earth with his soles.

His dagger unsheathed by half an inch, the tip lightly lifting a leaf. The texture was hard yet resilient, like a fusion of some new alloy and living tissue. He pressed with his fingertip, and fine cracks appeared on the leaf surface, with golden light seeping out along the fissures, yet it did not dissipate, instead being rapidly absorbed back by the root System.

"It's alive," he said in a low voice, "and… it knows how to recycle."

Rapid footsteps came from behind; Elder Lin almost lunged over, clutching a portable distillation device in his hands, his fingers trembling so much he could barely steady the instrument's interface. He crouched down, removed a small sample of the leaf tip, inserted it into the detection port, and stared fixedly at the screen.

The reading flickered: 97.3%... 98.1%... 99.0%... Finally, it settled—99.07%.

The old man raised his head abruptly, his face crinkled, his eyes red-rimmed, his voice cracking: "Family Head… it really worked! This purity… it's ten times stronger than the old methods! I've grown medicinal herbs my whole life, and I've never seen a Spiritual Plant that can harmonize Spiritual Qi by itself! It… it's like a breathing Pill Furnace!"

Chen Wuwang did not smile, nor did he respond. He stared at the three Spiritual Plants, watching their leaves sway slightly as if responding to some invisible beat. He knew this was not luck; it was the System's "Spiritual Energy Control System" truly running successfully—automated cultivation, closed-loop feedback, energy reuse, full-link verification successful.

This was the first step of scientific cultivation.

Elder Lin was still excited, his hands shaking as he reached to touch the roots of the second plant: "If we use this to refine 'Concentration Pill', one will be worth ten of the past! We can try it on a small scale first, find a few old Family members…"

"Stop." Chen Wuwang raised his hand, his tone resolute.

Elder Lin froze, his hand suspended in mid-air.

"We don't have time to test slowly." Chen Wuwang turned and walked toward the console at the edge of the Medicinal Field, the metal tabletop reflecting his cold, stern profile, "The first batch, full-scale production. I want the entire Eastern Wasteland to know that the Chen Family can not only grow, but also mass-produce."

Elder Lin opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but swallowed it back. He knew the Family Head never made aimless decisions. But this step was too drastic—mutated Spiritual Plants had never been mass-produced; if something went wrong, it wouldn't just be a waste of resources, but could also attract covetous eyes from all sides, or even… bring disaster.

But he did not argue further.

For over thirty years, this was the first time he had seen someone able to twist the Dao of pills and machines together to charge forward. The young man before him, who three years ago was still a madman covered in blood taking over as Family Head, was now as steady as an iron monument.

"…I will prepare the cultivation chamber right away." Elder Lin lowered his head, his voice deepening, "The second batch of seeds has already been prepared according to the parameters you provided, twenty-four plants, divided into three temperature-controlled groups."

"No, forty-eight plants." Chen Wuwang tapped the table, his fingertips leaving faint marks on the metal, "Add a control group, remove the spiritual energy reflux module, and see how much the purity differs."

Elder Lin's heart jolted. He wanted to use failure as a comparison? Too ruthless. But also… too precise.

"Do you trust the System?" he couldn't help but ask.

Chen Wuwang did not answer. He stared at the three golden-veined Spiritual Plants in the center of the Medicinal Field, his eyes as deep as a well.

After a moment, he said in a low voice: "I do not believe in destiny, I do not believe in Bloodlines, and I do not believe in those high and lofty 'Daos'. I only believe in—data that can run successfully."

As he finished speaking, he raised his right hand and tapped three times on the table with three fingers, the rhythm short and clear: three short and one long.

That was his habit when thinking, and also the signal for the System's notifications to arrive.

He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again, his gaze as sharp as a knife.

"System." He ordered in a low voice, his voice pressed extremely low, yet every word was like a hammer, "Activate heavenly secret instruction—'Chen Family trades with major clans, acquires Spirit Stone mineral vein'!"

The air did not change, the wind did not stop, and the Spiritual Plants in the Medicinal Field did not react.

But the corners of Chen Wuwang's mouth curled slightly.

He knew the instruction had been issued. Next, he just had to wait for the results to land.

Elder Lin did not hear that sentence, but he saw the Family Head's expression—that wild joy beneath the calm, like a volcano buried under an ice sheet, just waiting for an opening to erupt.

"I'll go adjust the cultivation chamber." He turned hurriedly, crouched by the medicinal ridge, opened the control panel, and quickly entered the parameters with his fingers. He knew that after this round, the Chen Family's Medicinal Field would no longer be a Medicinal Field, but a production line.

Chen Wuwang stood before the console, not speaking again. He took out a Jade Slip and quickly recorded all the data from this cultivation: Spiritual Qi intake curve, crystallization rate, energy loss ratio, self-repair response time… every number was the cornerstone for the next step.

In the distance, the morning mist gradually dispersed, and the outlines of the mountain shadows became clear. Outside the Medicinal Field, several spiritual senses that had been spying last night had long since retreated, leaving no more movement. Those eyes hidden in the dark were either admitting defeat, or… waiting for a bigger flaw.

But they did not know that Chen Wuwang did not care at all whether they were watching or not.

What he cared about was—whether it could be replicated.

Whether he could turn this one success into a hundred, a thousand; whether he could let every member of the Chen Family no longer rely on the heavens for food, no longer kneel and beg for spiritual rain, no longer have their throats choked by major clans cutting off their supply of medicinal materials.

He put away the Jade Slip and cast his gaze into the distance.

The direction of the Artifact Refining Workshop.

There was Chen Tiezhu, there was the assembly line that wasn't running perfectly yet, and there were twenty mecha skeletons waiting to be assembled. The Medicinal Field had just fired the first shot, and that side had to immediately follow suit.

He took a step, preparing to leave.

Just then, the Spirit Array under his feet trembled slightly.

It was not an alarm, not a loss of control, but a kind of… "Synchronization Complete" feedback.

He lowered his head, and his mechanical prosthetic eye refreshed a line of small text: [Automated cultivation program first cycle complete, System stability 100%, suggest starting second cycle].

Chen Wuwang's footsteps paused, and he turned back to look at the three golden-veined Spiritual Plants.

Their leaves were slowly closing, as if in dormancy, and also as if gathering strength.

He knew this was just the beginning.

The real storm was still to come.

He lifted his foot and stepped out of the Medicinal Field exit, his pace firm, his back straight as a spear.

Behind him, Elder Lin crouched in front of the cultivation chamber, his fingers sliding rapidly across the control panel, muttering to himself: "Forty-eight plants… temperature control level three, spiritual energy reflux enabled at sixty percent… if this explodes, my old bones won't be able to pay for it…"

But in his eyes, there was a glimmer of light.

That was the first time in decades he had seen hope take root.

Chen Wuwang walked ten steps and suddenly stopped.

He did not turn back, only calmly dropped one sentence: "Elder Lin."

"Yes!"

"For the next batch, I want to see the purity exceed 99.5%."

"…Yes!"

The wind whipped up his robe hem, and his silver-white hair carved a cold arc in the morning light.

He took a step and did not stop again.

The Medicinal Field quieted down, leaving only the low hum of the cultivation chamber starting up and the sound of the Spiritual Plant roots gently squirming in the soil.

Like spring, had arrived.