Chapter 82: Harvest, Progress, and Spirit Plant Atlas
Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Harvest, Progress, and Spirit Plant Atlas
One acre, two acres... As Chen Mo rapidly swung his sickle, the Spirit Rice in the fields fell in large swaths. The scorching sun hung high in the sky, and sweat had completely soaked his clothes.
Behind him, Kang sprinted wildly, constantly pecking at the scattered Spirit Rice on the ground. By now, its size was comparable to a normal human.
The blue [Sturdy] Talent provided a fifty percent boost to the individual. Applied to crop yields, this fifty percent increase was noticeable but not highly intuitive. However, when applied to Spiritual Birds, that fifty percent became an extremely exaggerated figure! It was like a person originally standing at 1.8 meters suddenly growing to 2.7 meters—a height that could no longer simply be described as a giant.
This was the case for Kang and the other three initial Spirit Chickens. With sturdy chests, explosive leg muscles, and impossibly sharp claws and beaks, they exuded a powerful sense of oppression just standing there. This was especially true for Kang; all that extra food had not gone to waste. Now, its strength was faintly brushing against the threshold of the Qi Refining First Layer!
Normally, whether Spiritual Birds or Spiritual Beasts, they were meant for Cultivators to consume. Eating them conditioned the body while nurturing the Dantian, converting Spiritual Qi, and even aiding in the formation of a Golden Core. Yet even the weakest Spirit Chicken was domesticated from Demon Beasts. Therefore, retaining a fraction of their bloodline or even experiencing atavism was not impossible.
Chen Mo had long abandoned the idea of selling Kang. Over the past two years, this highly intelligent, sturdy chicken had become his constant companion. Occasionally, when Cultivation grew tedious, he would sit back-to-back with it, contemplating life and pondering the future.
Of course, Kang definitely didn’t share these philosophical thoughts. Other than the times Chen Mo "needed" it, it spent the rest of its time circling the ten little hens, eagerly waiting for them to grow up so they could lay eggs for it! But Kang had forgotten just how terrifying it was now. A human-sized Spiritual Bird circling hens that barely reached its knees only terrified these Spirit Chickens that lacked Spiritual Wisdom, leaving them shivering in fear. Even so, Kang never tired of doing this. Perhaps it found a sense of conquest in it.
Chen Mo’s movements grew increasingly proficient, and within a single day, the seventeen acres of Spirit Fields were fully harvested. He spent another two days sifting the Spirit Rice, bagging the grain, and stacking everything neatly inside his Storage Space.
Whenever this time came around, Chen Mo would sigh in amazement at how correct his decision was to buy a Storage Ring as his first major purchase after striking it rich! If he didn’t have a Storage Ring, what would he do with all this Spirit Rice? Storing it in a large pit for a week or two would be fine, but if he had to store it for four or five months, or even half a year, it would likely just rot from the dampness!
And if he tried to sell it? Putting aside the fact that seven thousand catties was a massive amount, simply carting it to the Marketplace would attract huge trouble. It wasn’t even harvest season yet, so where did his grain come from? How was he supposed to explain that? But with a Storage Ring, as long as he stored the grain securely and waited to sell it at the Marketplace along with the year-end harvest, there would be absolutely no problems.
Drawing on his experience from the previous year, Chen Mo waited until dusk to set the mountain of straw ablaze. The plant ash was then scattered back across the Spirit Fields as fertilizer. After resting for two days, he plowed the soil, sowed the seeds, and watered the fields all in one go.
These Spirit Fields were situated over a Spirit Vein. As long as the Spirit Vein didn’t dry up, the nutrient consumption from planting Tier One Spirit Yellow Rice wouldn’t be enough to render the soil barren. Only that Mysterious Red Fruit would deplete the land like that. Chen Mo had made inquiries and learned that even typical herbs used in Alchemy didn’t have such an exhaustive effect.
He stayed busy for a consecutive week, during which he barely did any Cultivation. Only after planting the second batch of seeds for the year did Chen Mo resume his Cultivation!
[Name: Chen Mo]
[Professions: Spirit Plant Cultivator (Unlocked), Spirit Nurturer (Unlocked), Spirit Fisherman (Locked)...]
[Lifespan: 33/80]
[Cultivation: Qi Refining Third Layer]
[Cultivation Technique: Qi Cultivation Technique (259/300)]
[Spirit Root:]
[Metal Spirit Root (Tier One): 73/100]
[Magic:]
[Rainfall Technique (Minor Achievement): 492/800]
[Qi Crossing Technique (Minor Achievement): 33/800]
[Vitality Technique (Mastery): 281/400]
[Flaming Palm (Minor Achievement): 773/800]
[Geng Metal Finger (Great Success): 1/1600]
[Spirit Snake Body Technique (Minor Achievement): 639/800]
[Talents:]
[Spirit Plant Cultivator: Increased Production (Purple), Breeding (Purple), Rapid Maturation (Green)]
[Spirit Nurturer: Sturdy (Blue)]
Over the course of a year, although Chen Mo’s realm hadn’t changed, his experience points were steadily approaching the 300 milestone! With forty-one points remaining, it would take roughly three more months. By then, he would successfully break through and step squarely into the Qi Refining Middle Stage!
Such speed might be considered average in the Cyan Yang Sect, but for a Cultivator who had been eliminated and relegated to being a Spirit Plant Cultivator, it was nothing short of genius! Naturally, Chen Mo was well aware of his own advantages. He had to rely on farming to continuously accumulate wealth, which could then be converted into an increasing abundance of Cultivation Resources. He would use double, triple, or even ten times the resources to catch up to those Cultivators with peerless talent!
During this process, he also had to maintain unremitting daily Cultivation, enduring the coldness and loneliness. Otherwise, if he gave in to worldly desires upon gaining resources and spent his days loitering around the Fragrance Pavilion... With Chen Mo’s talent, he probably wouldn’t achieve Foundation Establishment even if he cultivated until his dying breath!
The sun set in the west.
After a hard day’s Cultivation, Chen Mo returned home. Kang had also successfully completed its mission, herding all the free-roaming Spiritual Birds back into the coop. Chen Mo read for a while, as was his custom, before resuming his Cultivation.
He had bought these books from the Marketplace. One of them was the Spirit Plant Atlas, an expensive tome that detailed the various types of Spirit Plants found within the Wuchi Country. Beyond the most basic Spirit Rice, the atlas included other Spirit Plants that required much more demanding planting methods and environments.
For instance, the Dragon Blood Grass, an essential medicinal ingredient for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill, had a growth cycle of about three to five years. In order for it to mature enough to be used in Alchemy, it had to be kept at a constant temperature at all times. This requirement remained the same throughout all four seasons.
Another example was the Blue Spirit Fruit. It took ten years to form a sapling, ten years to grow into a tree, ten years to bloom, and ten years to bear fruit. It absolutely had to be grown over a Tier Three Spirit Vein. The atlas didn’t record its specific uses, but its harsh planting conditions alone indicated that its fruit was definitively extraordinary! There were also Spirit Plants like Sword Wood and Poisonous Gu King Flower, which were used for Artifact Refining and formulating poisons!
That day, after flipping through the atlas, Chen Mo hadn’t hesitated to spend fifteen taels of Spiritual Sand to purchase it. The thick book was filled entirely with records of Spirit Plants he had never heard of before. It made Chen Mo realize just how vast and vibrant the Cultivation Realm truly was. The Spirit Yellow Rice he relied on so heavily now was merely the daily food for the disciples living across the one hundred and twelve Immortal Peaks of the Cyan Yang Sect! Only Loose Cultivators like them would actually consume Fasting Pills, which were only refined out of sheer necessity.
However, even though Chen Mo was still technically a Spirit Plant Cultivator, he was gradually breaking free from the shackles of this identity. At the very least, he ate Spirit Rice for his meals every day!