The Rat Cultivator

Chapter 150: The Massive Spirit Mulberry Tree

Wu Yuan had set aside time each day to forge Spirit Copper Spears, rewarding the most meritorious rat demons.

Big Old Black, having watched the process for so long, eventually felt confident enough to try it himself. He would sneak leftover scraps of Spirit Copper and hammer away in secret. Surprisingly, after many failures, he actually succeeded in forging a crude but functional spear!

This success inflated Big Old Black’s ego to dangerous levels.

He strutted around the camp every day with his homemade spear, poking rocks, prodding trees, and generally being a nuisance. He became so pleased with himself that he once tried to show off in front of Bibo—and nearly poked the old catfish in the rear.

This gave Bibo the perfect excuse.

The beating was legendary. Bibo vented months of pent-up frustration on the chubby rat. Wu Yuan didn’t witness it personally, but Little Yellow reported that Big Old Black didn’t leave his burrow for three whole days.

However, Wu Yuan later heard from the Winged Tiger that Big Old Black’s favorite concubine was pregnant again. Calculating the timeline… she conceived precisely during his “recuperation.”

Clearly, he wasn’t injured that badly, Wu Yuan thought with a shake of his head.

Wu Yuan shifted his focus inward, his consciousness connecting tightly with the Blood-Binding Spirit Mulberry Tree.

Over the past few years, the tree’s roots had spread like a vast, subterranean web, extending throughout the entirety of Little Green Mountain. Growing this root system had cost a fortune in resources. The tree received devout offerings from every rat demon, and whenever Wu Yuan obtained a treasure, he always shared a portion with it.

He had even allowed its roots to tap directly into the outer layer of the Earth Vein—a risky move that could have destabilized the mountain’s foundation if mishandled. But the risk had paid off.

Previously, Wu Yuan had suppressed the tree’s growth to avoid attracting attention. Once, the tree had wanted to grow taller, but Wu Yuan refused. It had sulked for months, ignoring him completely.

But now? Wu Yuan feared no one in the Azure Spirit Mountain Range. The restrictions were lifted.

The Spirit Mulberry Tree had grown like a wild horse released from its stable.

It now stood a hundred zhang tall and over thirty zhang thick. Its sturdy trunk looked capable of holding up the sky. The canopy was a green ocean covering over three hundred li, shading the entire valley. Thick aerial roots hung from the branches, rooting into the ground to form new subsidiary trees, creating a forest from a single organism.

It was a magnificent sight—a true “One Tree Forest.”

However, this growth created a Feng Shui conflict. The “Treasure Basin” formation relied on the valley being an empty vessel to collect Qi. Now, a giant tree occupied the center.

Fortunately, Wu Yuan hadn’t detected any negative impact on the Spiritual Qi flow. He rationalized it simply: I just planted a Money Tree inside my Treasure Basin. It fits.

Wu Yuan, being a demanding boss, had plenty of complaints.

“You’re taking up too much space,” he had grumbled. “Don’t block my sunbathing spot. But don’t let the light be too harsh, either—make it gentle. And the air down here is too humid; I want a refreshing breeze.”

The Spirit Mulberry Tree’s limited consciousness had gone silent for a long time. Eventually, it left a mental message saying it was “entering seclusion” and cut the connection.

For a while, Wu Yuan had to manually control the growth, which exhausted him.

When the tree finally reconnected, its intelligence had jumped from “insect” to “small mouse.”

It immediately used its thick roots to lift its main trunk higher, clearing the valley floor. During the day, its leaves would angle precisely to filter the sunlight into a soft, golden glow. When the air grew stuffy, it commanded the Blood Jade Spirit Silkworms to flap their wings in unison, generating a gentle, cooling breeze.

It wasn’t that the tree couldn’t move its own branches—it just found it easier to outsource the labor to the silkworms. After all, the worms weren’t working hard enough anyway.

Wu Yuan was very pleased. The tree had learned to delegate.

In reality, for a First-Rank Middle-Grade spirit tree to reach this scale was a fantasy. A normal spirit wood would have advanced in grade long before reaching this size. Being so massive yet so low-grade was inefficient and conspicuous. In the outside cultivation world, it would have been chopped down for materials ages ago.

But Wu Yuan had a plan.

He was intentionally suppressing its grade while maximizing its volume. He wanted to make the “bottle” as big as possible before filling it.

Furthermore, the tree had perfectly mimicked Wu Yuan’s management style. It grew subsidiary trees to handle menial tasks—nurturing silkworms, bearing fruit, maintaining the Blood-Binding Mystic Silkworm Formation—while the main body focused solely on accumulating Spiritual Qi.

Wu Yuan gently stroked the rough bark of the massive root system.

“Actually, based on your accumulation, you could have advanced to High-Grade long ago,” Wu Yuan whispered softly. “But I forced you to keep expanding. Don’t blame me.”

“You’ve been wronged.”

“But this concerns our future.”

The leaves above rustled and shook, a soothing sound that conveyed unwavering loyalty. The tree understood. It would always support its King.