Xia Ruofei still refused to believe that the Star Fern Thorn's soul essence would appear randomly. Therefore, he would memorize the appearance and characteristics of each Star Fern Thorn before using the array formation to burn it. Once the Star Fern Thorn's soul essence appeared, he would be able to compare it immediately.
These Star Fern Thorns looked like camel's thorns. If one didn't look carefully, they would all look the same. It was an impossible task for an ordinary person to memorize every detail of hundreds or thousands of Star Fern Thorns. Even the most powerful brain wouldn't be able to do it.
However, for a cultivator, especially one with powerful mental strength like Xia Ruofei, it wasn't a particularly difficult task. All it took was a little more effort.
When the Star Fern Thorn's soul essence dropped, Xia Ruofei's first thought wasn't that he had advanced the mission's progress. Instead, he immediately recalled the detailed characteristics of this Star Fern Thorn and compared it with all the Star Fern Thorns he had just memorized.
Although there weren't many samples, Xia Ruofei believed that he should be able to find out what was so special about this Star Fern Thorn.
Once he found this unique characteristic, Xia Ruofei would be able to follow the map and head straight for the Star Fern Thorn with this characteristic. He wouldn't have to use the array formation to burn every Star Fern Thorn he encountered to know if it would produce the Star Fern Thorn's soul essence.
This way, he would save a lot of time and greatly increase his efficiency.
Xia Ruofei felt that this should be the only way to complete the mission within the time limit. Otherwise, according to the probability, it would take a few hours to harvest a single Star Fern Thorn's soul essence. That would mean that he would have to search for dozens of hours without sleep to find all ten Star Fern Thorns' soul essences.
The mission set by that almighty being definitely couldn't be an impossible one.
It wasn't that Xia Ruofei hadn't considered the possibility of using an array formation with a larger range or a faster attack method to increase the efficiency of his attacks. This would allow him to kill as many Star Fern Thorns as possible within the time limit.
However, Xia Ruofei was confident that he had a lot of tricks up his sleeves among Golden Core cultivators. Even the large range flame array formation he had researched to deal with the Star Fern Thorn's girdle was basically the limit of a Golden Core cultivator. Any larger and it would be very difficult to control it.
Therefore, Xia Ruofei didn't think that the possibility of this was high.
He was more inclined to believe that the Star Fern Thorns that could produce soul essences would have some obvious or inconspicuous characteristics that were different from ordinary Star Fern Thorns. That was the only way to increase Star Fern Thorn.
Therefore, Xia Ruofei would rather waste a few seconds before using the formation to burn the Star Fern Thorn. He memorized the characteristics of the Star Fern Thorn in his mind before activating the formation.
Now, Xia Ruofei's seemingly time-wasting method had come in handy.
This was the last Star Fern Thorn that Xia Ruofei had burned with the array formation before he went to rest. Therefore, this was the time when he had the deepest impression of it. As long as he recalled it, all the details of this Star Fern Thorn would appear in front of his eyes.
Following that, Xia Ruofei compared every detail with the Star Fern Thorns that had caused him to be unable to harvest any soul essences.
With this comparison, Xia Ruofei really did find a few differences.
This Star Fern Thorn that had produced soul essences seemed to have a darker color on its rhizome, especially the thorns on its rhizome. The tip of the thorns was almost pure black, while the rest of the Star Fern Thorns were light gray.
This was the most obvious difference.
There were also some subtle differences. For example, the color of the leaves was slightly different, and the size and shape of the thorns seemed to be slightly different. However, these weren't particularly obvious, and Xia Ruofei remembered them all.
He didn't know if these were the true differences between the two Star Fern Thorns or normal deviations. After all, there weren't many samples, and the conclusion he obtained could only be used as a reference.
However, with this reference, Xia Ruofei had already gained a lot.
He quickly memorized all the characteristics he had observed. Then, he said to Ling Qingxue, "Qingxue! Let's keep up the good work! "
Ling Qingxue was also very excited. She nodded and said, "Yes! Good luck! We're one step closer to completing the mission! "
In fact, Ling Qingxue was also very clear that at their current speed, it was impossible to complete the mission no matter what. However, she was full of confidence in Xia Ruofei. This blind confidence made her feel no despair or helplessness from the impending failure. Instead, it filled her with motivation.
Xia Ruofei was anxious to verify the differences he had observed. He wanted to know if they were the key to distinguishing the two Star Fern Thorns. Therefore, he didn't stay there for long. He immediately rode the Qu Shuang Flying Sword and carried Ling Qingxue to another nearby Star Fern Thorn.
After a quick observation, Xia Ruofei discovered that this Star Fern Thorn was the same as most of the Star Fern Thorns he had burned. It was very ordinary. The few differences he found didn't match.
Therefore, Xia Ruofei directly circled around this Star Fern Thorn and ran to another Star Fern Thorn that was even further away.
This was the first time Ling Qingxue had seen Xia Ruofei not attack when encountering a Star Fern Thorn. Instead, he took a detour.
Logically speaking, with time being so tight, he should be burning as many Star Fern Thorns as possible. Even if the probability was very low, he should still use ordinary Star Fern Thorns to contribute to the denominator!
Ling Qingxue thought for a moment before her eyes lit up. She couldn't help but ask, "Ruofei, could it be that you can already distinguish which Star Fern Thorns will drop Soul Essences?"
Xia Ruofei was slightly taken aback when he heard this. Then, he chuckled and said, "My wife's brain works very quickly!"
"Really!" Ling Qingxue was overjoyed. "Aren't you too awesome? I think these Star Fern Thorns all look the same! "
Xia Ruofei smiled as he flew on his Sword Kinesis Flight. "I only have some ideas and discoveries. I haven't verified them yet. However, if I'm not wrong, that Star Fern Thorn definitely won't drop Soul Essences because it looks just like an ordinary Star Fern Thorn. There's nothing special about it!"
"Then let's keep looking. If we find a Star Fern Thorn that you think is special, won't we be able to verify your discovery?" Ling Qingxue said.
"Qingxue knows me best!" Xia Ruofei gave her a thumbs up. "That's exactly what I think!"
After that, Xia Ruofei didn't do anything. He just flew on his Curved Frost Flying Sword with Ling Qingxue in tow. Whenever they passed by a Star Fern Thorn, Xia Ruofei would stop and take a moment to observe it.
Most of the time, Xia Ruofei would shake his head in disappointment and continue flying on his Sword Kinesis Flight.
There were a few times when a glimmer of hope appeared in Xia Ruofei's eyes. He quickly set up a formation and activated it. Then, he would wait with Ling Qingxue at a safe distance outside the formation's range.
However, the results these few times weren't satisfactory. The Star Fern Thorns were quickly burned to ashes without any suspense. However, after they were burned, only ashes were left. There was no Soul Essence at all.
Even so, Xia Ruofei's expression was still calm.
This was because the Star Fern Thorns he found in the past few times only matched the characteristics that he found that weren't particularly obvious. Xia Ruofei wasn't sure if these characteristics were unique to the Star Fern Thorns that could drop Soul Essences. After several verifications, he finally confirmed that these characteristics weren't unique to the Star Fern Thorns, but could be found in all Star Fern Thorns.
This was because the biggest difference he found was the color of the roots, especially the color of the thorns. The roots and thorns that were the same color as the Star Fern Thorn that could drop Soul Essences hadn't appeared for the time being. Therefore, Xia Ruofei still had a lot of hope.
The rarer it was, the more likely it was. This was because the drop rate of the Star Fern Thorn's Soul Essence was very low. This meant that the Star Fern Thorns that could drop Soul Essences were also very rare.
The characteristics that weren't particularly obvious before had been eliminated after several verifications. This also allowed Xia Ruofei to target them more clearly.
Although Xia Ruofei didn't explain anything, Ling Qingxue quietly followed Xia Ruofei without asking anything.
In any case, no matter what Xia Ruofei did, whether he stopped setting up the formation to attack the Star Fern Thorns or just flew past them, it all made sense. Even after attacking the formation for a few minutes and finding nothing in the ashes, Ling Qingxue didn't lower her confidence in Xia Ruofei.
Xia Ruofei continued to fly with Ling Qingxue close to the ground on his sword. He specifically searched for the Star Fern Thorns with jet-black tips.
It had to be said that these Star Fern Thorns were very rare. They had searched hundreds and thousands of Star Fern Thorns, but so far, they hadn't found a single Star Fern Thorn with jet-black tips. The color of the roots wasn't as dark as the Star Fern Thorn that dropped Soul Essences.
Xia Ruofei's Sword Kinesis Flight was very fast, and he wasn't slow at identifying the Star Fern Thorns at all. He basically made a judgment with just a glance. Most of the time, he directly went around the Star Fern Thorn and went to the next one. Even so, he still spent more than half an hour and identified more than 1,500 Star Fern Thorns before his efforts paid off. He found a Star Fern Thorn with a darker root and jet-black tips!
Xia Ruofei's spirits were immediately lifted!
He didn't even have time to explain to Ling Qingxue. He directly jumped off the Qu Shuang Flying Sword with Ling Qingxue. Then, he immediately waved his hand and threw out the formation materials from more than 20 meters away.
Xia Ruofei had set up this formation over a thousand times. It could be said that he was very familiar with it. The formation was formed almost instantly.
Originally, the Star Fern Thorn didn't have any defensive reaction against inanimate objects like formation materials. Xia Ruofei's movements were extremely fast. Almost at the instant the formation was formed, a source crystal with more than half of its energy was accurately embedded in the core of the formation. Then, he cast a spell into the core of the formation, and the flame formation was immediately activated.
Even if the Star Fern Thorn reacted when he set up the formation, it was actually too late. This was because it only took two or three seconds for the raging flames to burn.
At this moment, the Star Fern Thorn suddenly reacted and began to frantically release thorns.
But it was too late.
The flames in the formation spread all at once and completely engulfed the Star Fern Thorn in a few breaths.
All that was left was to wait. Xia Ruofei was filled with anticipation and at the same time, somewhat nervous.
After all, this so-called characteristic was summed up by himself with limited samples. It was still unknown whether it was really unique to the Star Fern Thorn that could drop Spirit Essences.
If his judgment was correct, then it would be fine. If the Spirit Essences still didn't drop this time, then all his previous efforts would have been in vain. Next, he could only burn the Star Fern Thorns one by one and gamble on the probability.
Moreover, in order to find this Star Fern Thorn, he had wasted nearly an hour. Now, there were only about five hours left for the mission. There was no possibility of completing the mission no matter what.
The power of the formation was still very strong, so Xia Ruofei didn't have to wait for too long. In about one or two minutes, the Star Fern Thorn in the formation no longer had a trace of life. Xia Ruofei waited for a little while more before the Star Fern Thorn was completely burned to ashes.
Xia Ruofei eagerly walked over. First, he stopped the operation of the formation and put all the formation materials back into the Ring-Tu space. At the same time, he waved his palm, and the white ashes were immediately dispersed by the wind generated by his palm.
A black Star Fern Thorn Spirit Essence was exposed in front of Xia Ruofei and Ling Qingxue.
Ling Qingxue immediately cheered. "Ruofei! We really found the right one this time! "
Xia Ruofei's heart finally relaxed. Even though two Star Fern Thorn Spirit Essences couldn't guarantee that his judgment was correct, the probability was very high.
He didn't even try to collect the Star Fern Thorn Spirit Essence. Instead, he hugged Ling Qingxue and kissed Ling Qingxue heavily on the cheek. He said excitedly, "Qingxue! There's hope of completing the mission now! "
Ling Qingxue blushed and said coquettishly, "Hurry up and collect that Star Fern Thorn Spirit Essence! We still need six more! We have to hurry! "
Xia Ruofei immediately came back to his senses and said, "Yes, yes, yes! You're right! Time is very tight! We have to hurry! "
Xia Ruofei let go of Ling Qingxue and reached out to grab the Star Fern Thorn Spirit Essence.
When the Star Fern Thorn Spirit Essence entered his palm, he saw that the mission notification bar in his Sensory Mirror had updated. The mission progress had become 4/10.
"Let's go! Let's keep searching! "Xia Ruofei said decisively.
He took Ling Qingxue and jumped onto the Qu Shuang Flying Sword, which was floating to the side. They flew toward another nearby Star Fern Thorn at high speed.
What followed was another long search. Every time, Xia Ruofei would stop the Qu Shuang Flying Sword, full of hope. After a moment of observation, he would fly away with a look of disappointment.
After a long time, Xia Ruofei finally found another Starfern Thorn with obvious characteristics. After attacking it with the formation for a while, he obtained another Starfern Thorn's Soul Essence as expected.
The mission progress had been updated to 5/10.
There were only a little more than four hours left.
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