Chapter 43: Vicious Man
Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Vicious Man
"Ah?" Lan Ling clearly hadn’t expected such a scheme. Looking into Chen Mo’s eyes, for a moment, she wondered if his true goal all along was the Drunken Aphids in the fields.
In a flash, it dawned on her! Yes, his target was the Drunken Aphids. It was obvious that this was a test. Only by bringing him the bugs would he believe what she had just said...
At that moment, Chen Mo gently patted her back and said softly, "Go on."
Lan Ling slowly took a step back. Biting her lip, she looked at him and replied, "Alright!"
"Don’t worry, you’ll be given the Spiritual Sand."
She nodded vigorously, turned around, and headed straight for He Zhiping’s Spirit Field.
Watching her departing figure, the corners of Chen Mo’s mouth curled up as he stepped into his own Spirit Field. He formed a hand seal, and clouds gathered on the horizon. As the Rainfall Technique fell upon the field, his proficiency in the spell finally broke through the two-hundred mark.
After yesterday’s incident, he had essentially fallen out with Xiao Changhua. From now on, he wouldn’t—and couldn’t—cast rainfall on the other man’s Spirit Field anymore. Because of this, it was almost impossible to cultivate this Rainfall Spell to Minor Achievement before the autumn harvest at the end of the year.
However, Chen Mo wasn’t in a hurry. With the Qi Crossing Technique at his disposal, his margin for error had multiplied. Even if he suffered a total crop failure this year, he wouldn’t starve to death.
On the other side, it was unknown what Lan Ling had said to He Zhiping. Right now, the two of them were intimately picking up the corpses of the Drunken Aphids they had exterminated yesterday in the fields.
After finishing the watering, Chen Mo took out a meditation cushion and sat cross-legged. Clutching a Low Grade Spirit Stone in his hand, he began cultivating the Qi Cultivation Technique. Now that he was using a Spirit Stone, his cultivation speed was nearly twice as fast. It was already summer, the fourth month of the year, and his Qi Cultivation Technique had accumulated a hundred and five experience points. At this rate, within a month after the grain harvest, his realm would break through to the Qi Refining Third Layer!
One layer a year! Such a speed wouldn’t be considered slow, even on Purple Cloud Peak. Of course, even among the disciples of Purple Cloud Peak, unless they were paragons of talent like Li Shangxian or Si Yu, ordinary disciples in the Qi Refining Early Stage had no right to use Low Grade Spirit Stones for their cultivation!
At present, the Spiritual Qi within this Spirit Stone had been mostly depleted, and its luster was clearly not what it used to be. But even so, it was still beyond compare to Spiritual Sand!
Chen Mo worried about what would happen if he couldn’t afford one next year; after experiencing the rapid progress of using a Spirit Stone this year, would he even be able to go back to how things were?
Near noon.
After a busy day of work and a night of rest, Xiao Changhua walked out of his wooden cabin. He habitually went to cultivate in his Spirit Field, but what met his eyes was cracked, dry earth.
In an instant, rage surged into his heart!
"That damn bastard!"
He had forgotten that yesterday, he had completely fallen out with that lowly Spirit Plant Cultivator surnamed Chen. He had even entertained the thought of killing the man! But right now, his ten acres of Spirit Fields... no, the six or seven acres that remained... had no one to water them.
Managing Spirit Fields was a simple task, but it was incredibly time-consuming! A single watering session took well over an hour! In order to successfully break through to the Qi Refining Fourth Layer within two years and be accepted as a disciple of Purple Cloud Peak, Xiao Changhua was racing against time. He couldn’t afford to waste too much time on rainfall.
It was easy to adapt to luxury, but hard to return to frugality. Having to do these chores again now, Xiao Changhua was obviously very unaccustomed to it! He wrestled with himself for a long time before finally steeling his resolve, muttering viciously to himself, "Bowing my head to a dead man doesn’t count as bowing my head!"
Having prepared himself mentally, Xiao Changhua quickly walked over to Chen Mo’s Spirit Field. However, when he saw the other man’s lush green Spirit Rice seedlings showing not a single sign of damage, he secretly clenched his fists. The resentment in his heart grew a few degrees deeper!
Yet this tiny, subtle movement was still captured by Chen Mo. He had been somewhat puzzled by the other party’s return visit, right up until the man spoke up.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, yesterday’s incident was Xiao’s fault. I was anxious at the time and spoke out of turn. I beg for Fellow Daoist’s forgiveness."
As soon as these words were spoken, Chen Mo instantly understood the man’s intentions! That’s right, Xiao Changhua still wanted him to cast rainfall! But that fleeting trace of anger just now indicated that the other party wasn’t sincere at all.
Going by a normal person’s temperament, one would naturally make a sarcastic remark or sneer in mockery. But regardless of which action he took, although it might feel satisfying, it wouldn’t maximize his benefits! Since the other party had changed from a true villain to a blatant hypocrite, Chen Mo would just play along.
"Elder Xiao, what are you saying! Yesterday, I truly couldn’t spare the time."
"I understand, I understand."
Chen Mo slapped his forehead, looking somewhat vexed. "Ah! I almost forgot."
With that said, he immediately stood up and hurried straight toward Xiao Changhua’s Spirit Field. Without needing the other party to ask, his Rainfall Technique gained another four experience points.
On the other side, the cultivating Xiao Changhua nodded in satisfaction, thinking to himself that this kid was quite sensible and hadn’t forced him to waste his breath. It was obvious that Chen Mo still wanted to curry favor with him!
However, no matter how much Chen Mo tried to please him from now on, it was impossible to make up for the offenses he had already committed. He had disobeyed him and even forced him to take the initiative to bow his head.
Therefore, Chen Mo was definitely going to die!
Upon returning to his own Spirit Field, Chen Mo coincidentally ran into Lan Ling just as she arrived. She was pushing a small wheelbarrow, bringing over a full cart of Drunken Aphid corpses. Chen Mo glanced at it. After drying, that pile would probably weigh at least thirty catties! The amount was truly substantial.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, he... he agreed to be with me..." Lan Ling pushed the wheelbarrow to Chen Mo’s door and tipped it over, continuing, "What should I do now?"
Chen Mo casually took out a tael of Spiritual Sand and handed it to her. Taking advantage of the motion, he pinned her against the wall with his arm and said, "If that’s the case, your next step is to string him along as much as possible! Remember, you absolutely cannot let him cross the final line!"
When had Lan Ling ever seen such a scene? Being pinned against the wall by a man speaking such forceful words! She subconsciously nodded, momentarily unable to tell whether he was being truthful or not.
And right at that moment, a figure slowly approached.
Sensing that something was off, He Zhiping had followed her here, and he just so happened to witness the scene of Chen Mo pinning Lan Ling against the wall. Or rather, Chen Mo had intentionally done this for him to see!
A match made in hell. Let them tear each other apart.
"You!"
"Fellow Daoist He... Brother He, it’s not what you think!" Lan Ling panicked, completely caught off guard by Chen Mo’s sudden action. For a moment, she didn’t know how to handle the situation.
In a split second, her survival instincts kicked in, and she came up with a plan!
"It’s him! Yes, it’s him! He tricked me into bringing the Drunken Aphid corpses over, and... and he even gave me a tael of Spiritual Sand."
Having said that, Lan Ling ruthlessly cut her losses, directly shoving the Spiritual Sand she hadn’t even had the time to warm in her hands into He Zhiping’s grasp.
Lan Ling might not understand, but how could He Zhiping not understand? The reason he hadn’t said anything before was exactly because he feared someone would scheme for the bug corpses.
"One tael? He thinks he can buy this much with just one tael?"
He Zhiping instantly understood. It wasn’t that Lan Ling had betrayed him; rather, she had been used by Chen Mo.
SMACK!
He snorted coldly and threw the Spiritual Sand back at Chen Mo, moving to gather up the pile of freshly dumped bug corpses.
"Stop." Chen Mo’s face darkened. "The transaction has already been completed. Since when can you just back out of it whenever you please?"
"This belongs to me..."
BAM!
In the next second, a Flaming Palm no weaker than Wang Lixia’s slammed directly into the left side of He Zhiping’s chest!