The Jade Rice was clearly still alive—vigorous and thriving.There wasn't a single sign of illness: no wilting, no withering, no decay.
It all seemed… wrong. Totally unlike what a disease should look like.
"Let's try 'Helping Sprouts Grow by Pulling'!"
A disciple of the Agriculture Academy stepped forward and activated a Farmer's Divine Ability.
This technique could stimulate the spiritual energy in the field, rapidly forcing the crops to mature at an accelerated pace.
Of course, this came at a cost: reduced yield and loss of spiritual vitality.
Under normal circumstances, the rice would just ripen early.
And sure enough, the Jade Rice began to mature quickly.
But right when it was about to fully ripen—the stalks suddenly began to wither—and within moments, their entire vitality vanished, disintegrating into powder and scattering on the wind.
"What… What just happened?"
The surrounding disciples were shocked, stunned into silence.
"Wait—something's not right."
Song Yingxing frowned.Just as the rice disintegrated, he had sensed a brief, sharp surge of spiritual energy—then it vanished, as if it had scattered into the environment.
But… something felt off.
Unable to shake the feeling, he approached another Jade Rice stalk and extended his divine sense into it.
"Spiritual energy normal.
Vitality normal.
Everything appears fine…"
Nothing seemed out of place. The rice plant looked completely healthy.
As a skilled agricultural cultivator, Song Yingxing was adept at spiritual diagnosis.
Usually, when a crop fell ill, it was because something had infected it—parasites, for example. That required probing the interior with divine sense and targeting the invader directly.
But this time, nothing. No worms, no corruption, no foreign life.
"No… this spiritual energy feels… wrong.
It's… alive.
Living spiritual energy…?"
Suddenly, Song Yingxing's expression drastically changed.
He tested several other stalks.
Each one the same: within the rice plant, the spiritual energy seemed to possess a faint, eerie consciousness—a will.
"The spiritual energy… it's become sentient.
That's why it's resisting being absorbed.
Worse—it's draining the plant's vitality to strengthen itself!"
Normally, crops absorbed spiritual qi to grow.
But now, the spiritual qi had gained will, and refused to be absorbed—instead, it consumed the plants from within, feeding on their life force to evolve its own intelligence.
From the outside, nothing looked wrong.
But once the plant was drained dry—it would collapse into ash and vanish.
"In simple terms...this spiritual energy is poisonous."
"No wonder it's spreading so fast.
The issue isn't with the crops themselves—It's with the Heaven and Earth spiritual veins."
Song Yingxing's face grew grim.
He had tried to strike at the sentient spiritual qi with his divine sense—but the moment he did, it would flee into the plant's tissues.
And worse, if he destroyed the spiritual qi, it would also kill the plant.
It was like fighting a cunning animal—sly and elusive.
"I must report this to the Holy King.
This is… beyond me."
The situation was far too strange, too dangerous.
The spirit qi had become an enemy—devouring the crops from within.
Meanwhile, at the Hydra Base…
In a secret location, a figure in a green robe spoke gleefully:
"I discovered something strange in a piece of chaotic primordial stone—
a creature called the Spiritborn Bug (通灵虫).
It has a unique ability:
it can imbue anything with consciousness—awaken spirituality in objects."
"I used it to infect the spiritual veins of Great Yi.
The result?
The spiritual energy has awakened."
For cultivators, this had no serious effect—they could still absorb and refine it.
But for plants like spirit rice and spiritual herbs?
It was disastrous.
"They can't refine the spiritual qi once it awakens.
Instead, the qi devours them."
Once the plants were drained, the sentient qi would return to the spiritual veins, further feeding the evolution of the veins themselves.
Once a Heaven and Earth spiritual vein became fully sentient—once it gained will—then it could flee, severing the supply of spiritual qi to entire cities.
"A realm without spiritual veins… is a realm with no resources.
Crops will fail.
Medicine won't grow.
And cities will slowly wither."
This was not a poison, per se.
But it was more devastating than any toxin.
"Even if Great Yi discovers the truth, what can they do?
This isn't poison—it's a natural phenomenon.
Living spiritual qi.
A natural evolution of the world itself."
The green-robed figure was ecstatic.
Even if Great Yi knew what was happening, they couldn't stop it.
Destroy the spiritual veins? Ridiculous.
That would be like amputating your own limbs.
"Excellent work."
The red-robed man laughed aloud.
"Now Great Yi will finally understand—they're not untouchable.
Hydra isn't to be trifled with."
He had waited a long time for this moment.
And this time, he believed—there was no solution.
At the Hall of Insight…
"What!? Living spiritual qi!?"
The news hit the court like a thunderclap.
One by one, the ministers' faces turned pale.
They were all cultivators—none of them fools.
They knew exactly what this meant.
"Your Majesty," Liu Bowen stepped forward,
"If what Dean Song reports is true, then this is far more dangerous than crop failure."
"Living spiritual qi will eventually lead to sentient spiritual veins.
And that… could lead to Dragonization—the transformation of a vein into a Heavenly Dragon.
Once that happens, the vein will fly away—and the region it leaves will become a barren wasteland."
The implications were catastrophic.
Heavenly Dragons weren't metaphors—they were real entities, birthed from the world itself.
"So… someone really doesn't want Great Yi to enjoy peace," Yi Tianxing said coldly.
"Such a massive operation—only Hydra or the Nine Heaven Dao Lords could pull it off.
And Hydra seems far more likely."
Regardless of who did it, the issue wasn't revenge—It was survival.
They had to deal with the crisis first.
"Spiritual qi becoming sentient is like…turning the air itself into an enemy."
Yi Tianxing's eyes gleamed with chilling clarity.
"And worse—it's already begun."
He could only imagine how many crops were already being drained.
"Your Majesty," said Jiang Ni, the Feng Shui Master,
"We must suppress the spiritual qi's emerging consciousness—
or it will grow beyond our control."
"If the veins fully awaken, they may become impossible to rein in."
But how to do that… was still unknown.
"My loyal ministers," Yi Tianxing asked,
"Does anyone have a plan to resolve this?"
The court fell silent.
This was something unprecedented—beyond all known precedent.
Then, Zhuge Liang stepped forward.
"Holy King, the National Fate True Dragon is the embodiment of Great Yi's will—
the will of all its people.
If we send it to patrol the realm,
its presence should be able to suppress these rebellious spiritual wills.
It may not solve the root issue,
but it can at least buy us time."