Chen Ping crouched, grinding a pinch of the dark earth between his thumb and forefinger.

A familiar warmth and heaviness traveled up his fingertips, signaling the soil’s immense vitality. But as he scrutinized the grains, his brow furrowed.

“This purple tint isn’t just cosmetic,” he muttered. “Could it be… the upgrade didn’t just increase the acreage, but the efficacy of the land itself?”

The thought sent a jolt of adrenaline through him.

Once the idea took root, he couldn’t shake it. It demanded immediate verification.

He needed to test the Black Earth’s new limits.

This secret dimension was the foundation of his cultivation, his most critical asset. Understanding its precise mechanics was not optional—it was a necessity for his survival and rise.

For the control subject, he selected the Cold Star Grass. It was a basic spirit herb with a short, predictable growth cycle, making it the perfect candidate for comparative analysis.

After purchasing a fresh batch of seeds from the Marketplace, Chen Ping designated three distinct test plots on the newly formed land.

[Group One: Control]

Soil: New Black Earth (Purple Tint).

Irrigation: None.

[Group Two: Variable A]

Soil: New Black Earth (Purple Tint).

Irrigation: Tier 1 Spirit Spring Water (Standard Daily Dosage).

[Group Three: Variable B]

Soil: New Black Earth (Purple Tint).

Irrigation: Tier 2 Spirit Spring Water (Standard Daily Dosage).

For the next month, Chen Ping vanished from the public eye.

He halted all pill sales and paused his alchemy practice. Every spare moment was dedicated to the Jade Pendant space. Like a meticulous scholar, he recorded every minute change in the Cold Star Grass: leaf count, surface area, stem height, and pigment shifts.

He even used his Divine Sense to scan the internal structural density of the plants.

Precision was key. Only by quantifying the exact acceleration rate of the “Purple Black Earth” could he optimize his resource management strategy.

As the days blurred into weeks, the data began to diverge significantly.

One month later, inside the space:

[Analysis: Group One] The results were electrifying. The Cold Star Grass in the unirrigated plot had exploded in growth, far surpassing his conservative estimates. He had hoped for a twenty-fold increase. instead, the stalks were nearly half a foot tall, the leaves thick and dark, brimming with concentrated Qi.

Based on the medicinal potency, these one-month-old plants were chemically identical to wild herbs that had grown for two years.

“Twenty-four times speed,” Chen Ping whispered, his pulse quickening.

Before the upgrade, the Black Earth offered a twelve-fold acceleration. The purple tint had literally doubled the base efficiency.

A spirit herb requiring a decade to mature would now finish its cycle in five months—without a single drop of Spirit Spring water.

This alone was a game-changer, but the data from the other groups made him gasp.

[Analysis: Group Two] With the addition of Tier 1 Spirit Spring water, the growth became aggressive. The plants stood over a foot tall, their leaves oily and lustrous. The medicinal age clocked in at two and a half years.

“Thirty times speed.”

Chen Ping nodded, pleased. This was a significant jump from the previous capabilities, but it was within the realm of logic.

Then he looked at the third plot.

[Analysis: Group Three] This was the anomaly.

In the past, Chen Ping had tested Tier 2 Spirit Spring water on the old Black Earth, only to find it offered no advantage over Tier 1. The soil had seemingly hit a saturation point.

But now?

The Cold Star Grass here was nearly two feet tall. The stems were thick like timber, and the leaves possessed a translucent, crystalline quality, resembling exquisitely carved jadeite. The Qi radiating from them was so dense it formed a visible haze.

Chen Ping ran a diagnostic. The medicinal age was equivalent to three years and three months.

“Forty times…”

Chen Ping stared at the vibrant plants, his eyes wide.

Forty times acceleration.

A ten-year herb could be harvested in just three months.

“Incredible.” A rare grin broke across his face. “Simply incredible.”

The upgrade had removed the “cap” on the soil’s absorption rate. The Black Earth could finally process the higher energy density of Tier 2 water.

It was a massive victory.

He quickly made a mental note: Future irrigation will strictly use Tier 2 Spirit Spring water. The cost difference was negligible compared to the time saved.

To ensure his data wasn’t a fluke, Chen Ping spent the following days replicating the experiment with Spirit Gathering Grass and Moonlight Grass. The trends were consistent across all species.

Base (Purple Soil): ~24x speed.

+ Tier 1 Water: ~30x speed.

+ Tier 2 Water: ~40x speed.

There was one final variable to test.

Tier 3 Spirit Spring water.

Chen Ping’s stock was dangerously low, making every drop precious. He couldn’t afford a large-scale field test. Instead, he selected a single Red Ginseng seedling—a Tier 1 herb that showed age clearly through its root rings—for a micro-experiment.

He watered it daily with a single, diluted drop of Tier 3 water.

After one month, the Red Ginseng had produced two emerald-green leaves, their surfaces etched with distinct spiritual vein patterns.

Chen Ping analyzed the root development and spiritual density. The seedling had skipped its infancy entirely, displaying the potency of a four-year-old plant.

“Forty-eight times speed?”

Chen Ping sucked in a breath of cold air.

Just a few diluted drops had pushed the acceleration to nearly fifty times the natural rate.

What if he had an unlimited supply? What if he saturated the soil?

He rubbed his chin, eyes gleaming with greed, before forcefully suppressing the thought.

Be realistic.

Tier 3 Spirit Spring water was a luxury good. It cost one hundred Spirit Stones per catty. Compare that to Tier 2 water, which cost a single Spirit Stone per catty.

The price jump was a hundredfold, but the efficiency gain was only 20% (from 40x to 48x).

Economically, using Tier 3 water for common herbs was suicide. It would bankrupt him.

“However,” Chen Ping mused, “efficiency isn’t everything. Time is.”

For the Foundation Establishment Pill main ingredients, money was no object. Shortening their growth cycle even by a few days could mean the difference between life and death.

“The effect is undeniable. I need to secure a stable channel for Tier 3 water. Not for everything, but specifically for the Foundation Establishment crops.”

He had considered this before, but the test results solidified his resolve.

Even if he couldn’t bathe his entire garden in the stuff, his priority crops—the ones that would elevate him to the next realm—deserved the best resources available.

Chen Ping exhaled, calming his racing mind.

One step at a time. First, find the supply.