Chapter 005: Taming the Sacred Microbes, Spring Returns to Dead Earth

Gu Qingwei embedded the captured butchering knife firmly into the clay wall of the hut, scooped up the half-sack of contraband spirit fertilizer, and walked deep into the heart of the wasteland.

The old ox followed close behind like a miniature slate peak, its heavy hooves grinding the dry, cracked crust into powder.

Halting before a sheltered furrow in the center of the plot, Gu Qingwei set the sack down, drew the worn cleaver from his belt, dropped to one knee, and chopped forcefully down into the hardened ridge!

CLANG—!

A sharp ring of metal striking iron rang through the air.

A shower of sparks erupted from the notched blade, sending a jarring vibration up Gu Qingwei’s arm and numbing his wrist. Yet the blade had barely chipped away a few dry flakes of mud the size of fingernails.

Beneath the surface lay a calcified layer as hard as cast iron, from which acrid sulfur fumes rose, stinging the throat.

"Ten thousand years of alchemical slag have baked this dead soil into solid iron," the old ox rumbled, lowering its snout to sniff the earth. "This was once the central slag dump for the thirty-six primary fire wells of the Spirit Beast Division. Without the sect nobles' exorbitant Spirit-Melting Snow-Dissolving Powder to neutralize the poison, common farmers couldn't carve out half a furrow even with a mountain-splitting iron plow."

"That powder is a luxury for immortal lords," Gu Qingwei replied, rolling up his frayed sleeves to reveal lean, work-hardened forearms as he knelt beside the furrow. "We peasant men have our own craft to nourish the earth using the earth itself."

He pressed his fingers into a crack, crushing a pinch of the scorched earth between his fingertips. The dirt was as hard as gravel, bitter and metallic, holding a fierce, dormant heat.

Gu Qingwei closed his eyes and sank his awareness into the bronze talisman upon his chest.

The Myriad Transformations Seal grew pleasantly warm, expanding his microscopic sight. In his mind, the scorched earth magnified into view; the violent Crimson Fire Fiend-Qi choked the soil particles like an unbreakable web, smothering all life.

Yet deep within the narrow gaps of that dead net, countless faint red embers flickered like dying fireflies.

These were the native poison-devouring microbes that had barely survived in the wastes. They fed on minute traces of fiend-qi, but lacking organic botanical nourishment, they remained on the verge of desiccation.

Gu Qingwei opened the hemp sack, scattered two handfuls of the dark brown granules into the narrow trench opened by his blade, and slowly sprinkled it with morning dew gathered in an earthen jar.

A rich, heavy aroma of fermented botanicals bloomed through the air. To ordinary herbs, this raw slag was corrosive venom, but in Gu Qingwei's eyes, it was an unparalleled cradle rich in spiritual plant essence and beast marrow!

"Fight poison with poison; transmute the fiend into earth."

Gu Qingwei hovered his open palms above the moistened soil, and the bronze seal in his chest began to hum!

Strands of azure spirit-thread dove into the soil, forcefully commanding the dormant native microbes to converge upon the nutrient granules.

Yet suddenly, an unexpected crisis erupted!

The medicinal potency of the fertilizer was fiercely concentrated. The starved microbes, suddenly overwhelmed by such colossal vitality, threw their cellular circulation into chaos. In an instant, they unleashed a violent spiritual surge, prematurely detonating the subterranean fire fiend trapped in the bedrock!

POP!

A sharp backlash stabbed into Gu Qingwei’s sea of consciousness like a red-hot iron spike!

"Ugh..."

Gu Qingwei groaned, his body convulsing as darkness rushed before his eyes, his skull splitting with blinding pain.

The first attempt had collapsed in chaos!

"Boy, do not force it!" The ox’s eyes widened, stepping forward in alarm.

"I am fine! Stay back!"

Gu Qingwei bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, using the sharp copper tang of blood to clear his spinning mind.

His expression turned colder than frost, his ten fingers digging even deeper into the icy ridge.

"The balance was broken... The fertilizer was too fiery, the microbes too ravenous. Pouring oil onto a fire will only result in an inferno."

Analyzing the failure in a flash, he looked toward a shaded hollow where decaying cold mud and withered rushes had accumulated over decades. That chilly, alkaline mire possessed a heavy, cooling nature—a natural earthen buffer!

Gu Qingwei scooped up several handfuls of the cold mud, crumbled it, and blended it thoroughly into the furrow.

"Again!"

The bronze talisman flared once more, sending his spiritual sense into the soil a second time. Using the cold mud as a protective buffer, he guided the microbes to feed with measured restraint.

Yet just as fusion neared its critical balance, an ancient pocket of subterranean fire trapped deep within the earth burst through the crust, incinerating the newly formed mycelial threads in a burst of sulfurous heat!

BOOM!

His sea of consciousness shuddered once more!

A mouthful of sweet, metallic blood surged up his throat, trickling from the corner of his mouth and his right nostril, staining the front of his faded hemp robe.

His dantian churned violently, his meridians aching as if torn.

Beside him, the old ox bellowed in distress, its eyes brimming with heartache.

Gu Qingwei wiped the blood with his sleeve. But within his clear eyes, there was not a shred of despair—only a blinding, brilliant resolve:

"It isn't that the fire fiend rejects the microbes... It's that the fire in the mud lacks the wood-vitality required to guide water back to the source!"

At that moment, the five-element meridians within his body engaged at full power.

Water, fire, wood, metal, and earth—five subtle streams of qi flowed from his pores into the dirt, using subtle wood to draw water, and thick earth to cushion the fire, forcefully erecting a microscopic five-element circulation loop within the deep mud!

Yet just as the loop took form, the core microbe that had absorbed the five-element qi began to vibrate violently. The azure membrane around its body flickered erratically, showing terrifying signs of an imminent rupture!

An extreme crisis!

If it collapsed now, not only would his mind suffer permanent trauma, but the entire sack of precious fertilizer would be burned to ashes!

Gu Qingwei gritted his teeth until they cracked, his mind enduring pain like a thousand needles. Forcing his trembling fingers to remain steady, he squeezed out the absolute final wisp of spiritual sense, and at the razor's edge of elemental collapse, infused a pristine thread of cool Kan-Water qi into the scorching fire!

HUMMM—!

The azure light around the microbe coalesced in an instant, and the violent tremors vanished!

A magnificent mother-strain of the sacred microbe—glowing with an archaic, mottled bronze luster—finally took deep, unshakable root in the depths of the earth!

It no longer fought the fire fiend. Instead, like a leviathan drinking from the sea, it swallowed the raging crimson niter around it, digesting the virulent toxins and releasing a gentle, warm, extraordinarily pure earth-vitality back into the soil!

The taming had succeeded!

This was the miracle of the Eastern peasant Dao—the Poison-Devouring Spirit-Drawing Sacred Microbes!

Whoosh—

Guided by this mother-strain and nourished by the spirit fertilizer, countless slate-blue mycelial threads spread silently through the cracked, dry earth like spring roots piercing the winter thaw.

A visible tide of vitality unfurled under the morning sun.

The calcified, iron-hard furrows coated in white alkali began to soften like snow meeting spring warmth, the menacing crimson fiend-qi dissolving away.

In less than half a shichen, centered on Gu Qingwei, an entire third of an acre was transformed into deep black, glistening, fertile Black Spirit Loam!

The pungent sulfur stench vanished without a trace, replaced by the rich, mellow fragrance of newly awakened earth.

“A spark of subtle fire delves into the deep mud;
Ten thousand mysteries align within an inch of soil.
Say not the toxic fiend holds no purpose;
Before spring thunder rolls, the tender grass already knows.”

The old ox gazed down at the black earth beneath its hooves, rich with pulsing life. It stomped down gently; its heavy hoof sank softly into the loamy soil, warm earth-qi rising against its horn-plated skin.

A look of deep, ancient awe surfaced in the beast’s weathered eyes as it murmured:

"This old one has lived for centuries. I have seen spirit medicines fertilize valleys, and subterranean fire incinerate mountains. But to make toxic earth breathe out life on its own... that is a wonder I have rarely seen."

Gu Qingwei slowly pushed himself up. His dantian was empty, and the bronze light of the talisman had dimmed slightly.

Yet his spine remained as straight and proud as green bamboo.

He reached down, cupping a handful of the warm black soil. It was fine and dark—clumping when pressed, crumbling into soft crumbs when released.

Yet the moment his fingers felt the moisture of the soil, his mind shuddered!

Through the newly opened conduits of this third of an acre, his microscopic perception plunged three fathoms down into the bedrock.

There, deep within the fissures of the frozen ancient stone, he captured the faint yet extraordinarily resilient pulse of an icy underground water vein, rising and falling in sync with the heartbeat of the earth!

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! If you're enjoying Gu Qingwei and the old Kui-ox's journey to turn toxic wasteland into an immortal harvest, please consider hitting that Follow button and leaving a Rating/Review. Every favorite and rating helps this humble barren ridge grow more than you know!