Chapter 12
Chapter 12: Giving the Fire Qilin Lotus a Hard Slap
The sudden attack snapped Qian Qi into a cold sweat. Luckily, she’d been on guard. She yanked up her hoe and caught the incoming root-vine whip head-on.
The impact was vicious.
The skinny girl went flying like a tossed rag doll, arcing through the air before gravity remembered it hated her.
Qian Qi blinked mid-flight. “Huh?”
Then she landed hard on her butt.
She stared at the lotus root whipping around like it owned the sky and squeaked, voice cracking, “How is it this strong?!”
And it wasn’t just strong. The root was darker than the books described, almost twice as long and thick, and worst of all—
The suppressant didn’t work.
Had she raised it too well, so it mutated and got stronger?
But she’d been eating and sleeping great lately too. She was basically Qian Qi 2.0 now.
So why was she the one getting launched?
System Panel: [Your second skill. Forgot?]
Qian Qi blinked, tried to remember, and her expression instantly went black.
Second Skill: Miracle Hand. Magic plants planted by awakeners gain higher yield and higher mutation level.
Higher mutation level meant higher danger.
She felt her soul leave her body for a full second.
“This is going to kill me,” she croaked. “I’m just a weak girl! Why would you give me a skill with a cursed side effect?!”
System Panel: [Don’t be sad. Higher mutation level means Fire Qilin Fruit will be more effective, too.]
System Panel: [The Fire Qilin Fruit on this Fire Qilin Lotus can sell for at least 30,000 yuan!]
Qian Qi’s eyes lit like someone had flipped a switch.
Instantly, she decided mutation wasn’t that scary after all.
“Okay,” she said, coughing and sitting up straighter. “Then how do I deal with it?”
Baking soda solution wasn’t working anymore. How was she supposed to safely take the Fire Qilin Fruit?
System Panel: [Analysis Technique.]
Qian Qi’s eyelid twitched. “I can only use Analysis Technique three times a day!”
She pointed accusingly at the waving root. “A mutated Fire Qilin Lotus wants me to waste one of my precious scans on it?”
System Panel: [^_^ Analyze it or don’t.]
Qian Qi narrowed her eyes. “Is it… mocking me?”
Could she let that slide?
Absolutely not.
She turned, mixed a tube of high-concentration sodium bicarbonate solution, and—just in case—sprinkled a fistful of baking-soda granules straight over the soil like she was seasoning a dish.
Sodium bicarbonate—baking soda—was usually a food additive. Sometimes medicine. Too much could make your stomach rebel and send you sprinting for a bathroom.
The textbook never explained why it suppressed the Fire Qilin Lotus’s root aggression, but Qian Qi had theories. Maybe the solution messed with the plant’s “appetite.”
Or maybe it made the roots “soft,” so they couldn’t whip properly.
I mean… baking soda made steamed buns fluffy, so… sure. Why not.
Lost in her own nonsense, she lifted her hoe and stepped cautiously into the plot.
No attack.
She stomped once.
Still nothing.
And because she apparently had a death wish, she leaned in and slapped the Fire Qilin Lotus.
…
She really was begging to get hit.
But the roots didn’t strike. Not even a twitch. Only then did Qian Qi finally relax. She crouched and gently touched the Fire Qilin Fruit.
The newly formed fruit was bright red and glassy, a thin sheen of dew clinging to its skin. Her professional instincts screamed to peel a bit and take a sample—just a tiny one—
She forced herself to stop.
Mess up the appearance and it wouldn’t sell for 30,000.
She opened her lightbrain and contacted Li Shu Yun. Half an hour later, Li Shu Yun came sprinting up the mountain, panting like she’d tried to outrun her own shock.
The moment she saw the three Fire Qilin Fruit hanging on the plant, she froze.
“…What?”
What was going on?
It actually worked?
Li Shu Yun felt like the world tilted under her feet. To figure out Qian Qi’s cultivation method, she’d practically lived beside this plot every day. She’d even tanned her pretty fair face darker.
But Qian Qi hadn’t shown up even once.
Meanwhile, the Fire Qilin Lotus had grown straighter and healthier by the day—and today it had borne fruit. Three of them.
Could Fire Qilin Lotus really bear fruit if you just left it alone?
Impossible. Li Shu Yun rejected the idea immediately. When her grandfather researched it, leaving it unattended only led to wilting disease and certain death. Qian Qi couldn’t have “free-ranged” it.
Then how else did you explain it?
A slacker screwup grew a top-grade Fire Qilin Lotus in seven days, and even broke the fruit-count limit by producing three beautiful Fire Qilin Fruit.
“Junior Qian Qi,” Li Shu Yun said, staring like a starving wolf, “how did you grow this?”
Qian Qi waved both hands, eyes drifting innocently toward the sky. “No idea. Maybe I just got lucky?”
“Like hell.” Li Shu Yun didn’t buy a single syllable. A few days ago, Qian Qi had looked completely confident—now she was acting clueless?
Still, Li Shu Yun understood the stakes. Fire Qilin Fruit sold for a fortune. If it could be mass-produced, the profit would be ridiculous.
That made the planting method priceless. It was normal for Qian Qi to keep it secret.
But if Li Shu Yun tried to investigate… she’d already secretly tested the soil. Ordinary fertile dirt. Nothing special. The fertilizer ratios didn’t add up, no matter how she recalculated.
She inhaled, forcing calm. “Junior Qian Qi. Tell me the truth. Can you really grow Fire Qilin Lotus?”
Qian Qi’s grin faded. She nodded.
Li Shu Yun sucked in a sharp breath. “I knew it. This is huge. Will you share the method? I can guarantee you’ll get your diploma. And if you want planting rights, I can help you apply!”
Qian Qi rubbed her chin.
A diploma? She could earn that herself. No need to trade away a secret.
As for planting rights… she’d checked. If she passed the Magic Plant Research Institute’s A-rank planting exam, she could buy Fire Qilin Lotus planting rights with a few tens of thousands.
But the bigger issue was people.
Sooner or later, word would spread that she could grow this thing. Qian Qi didn’t underestimate how rotten humans could get. What if someone kidnapped her, forced the secret out of her, and then… cleaned up the loose end?
Then there’d be a body.
Would she go to jail?
She was young! She still had a whole, bright future—
Li Shu Yun watched her cycle through deep thought and panic like a spinning wheel. Finally, Qian Qi spoke.
“Forget the diploma and planting rights. But… in a week, I might consider selling you the method.”
She smiled sweetly—so sweet it was suspicious. “Senior Li, if you really want it, prepare enough money first.”
“How much?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” Qian Qi said. “Ask again in a week.”
Then she pointed at the fruit, eyes shining. “Oh, right. These Fire Qilin Fruit can sell for at least 30,000 each. I’ll take two, you take one. You sell them for me—no problem, right?”
“Of course,” Li Shu Yun said immediately.
She’d only used her status to get one Fire Qilin Lotus seed. Now she was walking away with a top-quality Fire Qilin Fruit and a real shot at buying the true planting method. Any way she calculated it, she’d hit the jackpot.
As Qian Qi walked off, Li Shu Yun opened her lightbrain and dialed her grandfather.
“Hello? Yun Yun?” an elderly man in white appeared on the screen. “What is it?”
“Grandfather,” Li Shu Yun said, nearly tripping over her own words, “I think I found the correct method for growing Fire Qilin Lotus!”
She rushed through the story, then turned the camera to the plot. “Do you see this? Three Fire Qilin Fruit. And the quality is more than three times better than the ones you cultivate!”
On the screen, the old man’s eyes widened until they looked ready to fall out.
“This—!” he gasped, staring at the plant. “Your academy produced someone like this? Which student? Lin Qi? Xu Fei?”
Lin Qi and Xu Fei were outstanding fourth-years already reserved by the Magic Plant Research Institute as graduation trainees. If they passed the trial period, they’d become official researchers. If anyone could crack Fire Qilin Lotus cultivation, Li Hong Sheng could only think of those two.
“Is it one of them?” Li Hong Sheng demanded, voice shaking with excitement.