My Portable Spirit Farm: Rise of the Humble Servant

Chapter 164: Enhancing Wisdom?

“Ignorant brat!”

The Ancient Tree’s voice cut through Chen Ping’s hesitation, dripping with impatience and arrogance.

“You worry too much! If ordinary mortal wood or common roots lost their heart, they would indeed perish. But I am an Innate Spirit Root, a being favored by the very creation of Heaven and Earth. How can you compare me to such trash?”

“I possess three Origin Tree Hearts. Giving you one merely costs me a millennium of accumulated cultivation. Given time, I can condense another. Take it and consume it! Do not delay!”

Chen Ping relaxed slightly, a trace of admiration rising in his heart.

Despite its explosive temper and mood swings, this old tree was impeccably honest. Even after being manipulated into a corner, forced to hand over the “greatest opportunity” by its own rules, it still honored the deal. It even explained the mechanics to put him at ease.

In the treacherous, dog-eat-dog world of Cultivation, such credibility was rarer than a phoenix feather.

“So that is the case. This junior’s knowledge was shallow.”

Chen Ping’s concerns faded, but his cautious nature forced one last question.

“Dare I ask, Senior… what are the specific effects of this Tree Heart? Are there any… taboos? Or precautions I must take?”

He had to be sure. He didn’t want to swallow some “fierce tiger medicine” that required a specific constitution, only to explode into a bloody mist because he wasn’t prepared.

The Qingyun Ancient Tree seemed utterly defeated by Chen Ping’s gingerly, step-by-step attitude.

In its long life, it had never met a Foundation Establishment cultivator so afraid of death, yet so daring in his schemes.

And yet, the Tree was the one being held by the nose.

The grand, archaic voice thundered again.

“This is the condensation of my Primal Wisdom! Consuming it opens your spiritual intellect, clarifies your Spirit, and illuminates your Dao. As for taboos? Hmph! This is a Spiritual Essence of Heaven and Earth, not a poison! Just eat it! Why so many questions?”

“Your temperament… enough! Consume it and silence yourself!”

With the guarantee of safety—and the confirmation that it enhanced wisdom—Chen Ping finally moved.

He reached out, gingerly touching the suspended, pale cyan crystal.

The moment his fingertip brushed the warm, smooth surface, the anomaly occurred.

The fist-sized, solid crystal instantly liquefied. It turned into a viscous, cool cyan fluid.

As if possessing a life of its own, it coiled around Chen Ping’s finger with astonishing speed. Before he could react, the stream of light shot directly into his mouth.

There was no need to swallow. The liquid melted instantly, transforming into a clear, frigid torrent that swept through his entire body.

The torrent converged, rushing madly toward the Sea of Consciousness between his eyebrows.

BOOM!

Chen Ping felt as if his skull had been flushed by a pristine spring. It was like a window, covered in dust for decades, being suddenly wiped clean.

An unprecedented clarity flooded his consciousness.

It wasn’t a surge of power. It wasn’t a rise in cultivation base.

It was… optimization.

First, his memory became terrifyingly sharp.

Every confusion he had ever encountered in his cultivation, every fleeting inspiration he had ignored, every imperceptible stagnation in his technique…

An invisible hand retrieved them from the depths of his mind, displaying them in high-definition detail.

He could vividly “see” the flow of Spiritual Energy in his Meridians from years ago. He saw a specific node where a microscopic deviation in angle had reduced his efficiency by half a percent.

Problems that had once plagued him, requiring days of meditation to solve, now unraveled automatically. The answers floated to the surface, simple and obvious.

Why didn’t I realize it was this simple before?

Second, his processing speed became inhuman.

Distracting thoughts were swept away like dust. His mind was as still as a mirror lake.

When faced with a problem, his mind instantly branched into a decision tree. Possibilities. Pros and cons. Costs. Gains. Optimal paths.

They arranged themselves automatically, presenting the perfect solution in a split second.

The hesitation of “should I?” or “is it worth it?” vanished. All that remained was the precise judgment of “how to do it better” and “how to maximize efficiency.”

Third, he felt a subtle resonance with the Dao.

Could it be called the “Dao”?

Let’s call it that for now.

It wasn’t a sudden inheritance of a divine technique. It was a fundamental, instinctive comprehension of the Evergreen Art he was cultivating. He understood the essence of energy circulation on a level that words could not capture.

The logic of the world seemed to simplify in his eyes.

Time blurred. He was immersed in a state of Absolute Rationality and Absolute Clarity.

He didn’t know how long it lasted. Hours? Days?

The cooling sensation receded like a tide.

Chen Ping jolted awake, breaking free from the mysterious state.

He blinked and looked around.

The giant ink-green tree still towered above him. The spirit grass still glowed.

Nothing had changed.

He instinctively cast his Inner Sight.

His Dantian’s Sea of Qi hadn’t grown. He was still at early Foundation Establishment.

His Meridians and bones hadn’t been tempered.

His physical state was identical to before.

“This…”

Chen Ping’s face twisted in confusion.

“Wisdom enhancement? I feel… exactly the same?”

He recalled the state he was just in. Yes, his memory was clearer. His thinking was faster.

But… what was the use?

His cultivation hadn’t risen. His combat power hadn’t changed. Does thinking a little faster about problems count as a legendary “Fated Chance”?

This reward felt… trivial.

Unwilling to give up, he circulated the Evergreen Art. The speed and intensity of the Spiritual Energy in his Meridians were no different from before.

He tried recalling an obscure Puppet Scripture he had read but never mastered. He understood the difficult parts a bit better now, sure, but he was still far from total mastery.

“I spent a precious Innate Spirit Root Tree Heart… just to make my brain spin a little faster?”

Chen Ping felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He felt cheated.

This “upgrade” was intangible. It was far less practical than a Dharma Treasure or a free level-up.

Just as Chen Ping was silently calculating the disappointing value of this “Greatest Opportunity,” feeling quite let down…