The Eternal Farmer: I Trade My Harvest for Immortality

As Jiang Chen channeled the Peeling Technique, tendrils of water-attributed Spirit Qi drilled into the Dragon Carp. The creature instantly thrashed in violent agony. Suspended in mid-air with nothing to leverage against, it could do nothing but endure the excruciating extraction.

Through his connection to the Spirit Qi, Jiang Chen sensed it latch onto something deep within the fish—a hidden essence radiating a faint, baleful aura.

The radiant golden sheen on the Dragon Carp’s scales visibly dimmed, completely extinguishing in the span of three breaths. Fine white spots mottled its once-vibrant red scales, leaving it looking sickly and hollowed out.

“Retract.”

Jiang Chen willed the water-attributed Spirit Qi back. It coalesced in front of him, condensing into a miniature bead of blood the size of a grain of rice. The droplet shimmered with a pale gold luster, harboring a microscopic black dot at its core.

At that exact moment, the Nine Transformations of the Wandering Dragon flared to life on its own. The technique pulsed with a ravenous, instinctual hunger for the drop of dragon-lineage essence blood.

Jiang Chen didn’t resist the urge. Calculating the immediate benefits, he decisively absorbed it.

Whoosh!

Guided by the cultivation method, the golden droplet shot straight into his body. Immediately, his attribute panel updated.

Nine Transformations of the Wandering Dragon: Dragon Carp Transformation

Effect 1: Free breathing underwater

Effect 2: Unrestricted movement underwater

Special Effect 1: Peeling Technique

Jiang Chen stroked his chin, his mind racing. So, by absorbing a trace of the Dragon Carp’s bloodline, I assimilate its innate abilities? If I want to master all nine transformations, I’ll need to hunt down eight more species with a dragon lineage!

The logistical difficulty of that requirement was staggering. So far, he had only encountered a handful of creatures possessing even a sliver of dragon blood. The first was the Dragon Carp, safely breeding in his personal space. The second was the Earth Dragon, a rare commodity he had only ever seen in the Loose Cultivator market. As for the Dragon-Transformed Meridian-Reversing Worm Mother… he immediately scrapped that idea. The risks far outweighed the benefits.

Furthermore, with Huang Yuanhua’s cave abode destroyed, his only lead on Earth Dragons had vanished.

Suddenly, a memory of Mystic Heart City flashed through his mind. “Flood dragons are dragons too!” he realized, his eyes brightening.

Zhao Qianyun’s residence was literally named the Suppress Flood Dragon Tower. Even the man’s private quarters featured a massive painting titled Canglan Sea Hunt Flood Dragon. The implication was obvious: Mystic Heart City—and by extension, the Canglan Sea—was teeming with flood dragons.

With the sheer volume of water demons and sea monsters in those waters, there had to be countless species harboring dragon bloodlines. However, he only had eight slots left. Every choice had to be meticulously calculated to maximize his combat efficiency and survival.

Recalling the apocalyptic bottleneck of breaking through with his Five Spirit Roots, Jiang Chen rubbed his temples. I can’t afford to pass up any opportunity to scale my power. But I have to be patient. I need to wait and see if the sect’s Elders can actually capture Rong Long.

Until that Human-Grade Golden Core threat was permanently neutralized, venturing out to Mystic Heart City was an unacceptable risk. He refused to operate while constantly looking over his shoulder.

The next second, Jiang Chen let himself drop. Clutching the weakened Dragon Carp, he plummeted from the air. With a soft plop, man and fish slipped beneath the surface of the water.

Surprisingly, his entry displaced almost no water. There was no violent splash, only the faintest of ripples.

Submerged, Jiang Chen released his grip. The Dragon Carp instantly bolted like a startled rabbit. Yet, stripped of its ancestral bloodline, its movements were sluggish and feeble. Its speed was a shadow of its former self, completely outclassed by its peers. It had been reduced to nothing more than an ordinary, oversized carp.

Watching it struggle, Jiang Chen made a pragmatic mental note. Don’t worry. You’re still useful. I won’t abandon you.

He shifted his focus to analyzing the practical effects of his first transformation. The unrestricted underwater movement was immediately apparent. Previously, even when augmenting his swimming with the Gentle Water Art, he could only double his base speed. Now, bolstered by the Dragon Carp Transformation, his aquatic mobility had tripled.

He darted through the water like a torpedo, easily overtaking the fleeing Dragon Carp. The fluid resistance around him had practically vanished. It felt less like swimming and more like outright water manipulation.

As for the underwater breathing, he had anticipated some grotesque physical mutation, like gills. Instead, he discovered that his pores had adapted. By passively absorbing ambient water Spirit Qi through his skin, his body synthesized a perfect, self-sustaining oxygen cycle.

He also noted the environmental variables: areas with active currents provided a higher oxygen yield, as did zones saturated with dense water Spirit Qi. After a brief period of rigorous testing, he fully mapped out his new physiological limits.

With a mere thought, he vanished from the water, reappearing inside the pitch-black confines of his cultivation chamber.

Nine transformations total. Nine distinct bloodlines to assimilate. His eyes gleamed in the dark. If I manage to hunt down a true fish-dragon, I might just unlock absolute hydrokinesis. If every transformation grants two unique effects, stacking all eighteen…

He drew in a sharp breath.

The sheer scaling potential of the technique made his scalp tingle. The Nine Transformations of the Wandering Dragon was no orthodox water-attributed manual. It bypassed traditional cultivation bottlenecks entirely, relying solely on the parasitic extraction of dragon bloodlines to force evolution.

Honestly, the methodology reeked of Demonic Cultivation.

…

The next day, Jiang Chen’s crew returned to the Inspiration Platform.

Ever since their wildly profitable debut, copycat stalls had sprouted up like weeds. However, the knock-offs were vastly inferior in both quality and variety. Discerning cultivators refused to waste their Spirit Stones on trash, ensuring Jiang Chen’s stall maintained an absolute monopoly on the foot traffic.

“Pleasure doing business! Enjoy your Ultimate Escort Survival Package!” Jiang Chen called out, pocketing the Spirit Stones from his latest mark. As he turned, he noticed a familiar figure hovering timidly by the edge of his stall. “You again?”

Ruo Qunshuang nervously pinched the hem of her robes, looking entirely out of place amidst the bustling market. “I… I didn’t know where else to go,” she admitted softly.

Jiang Chen scratched his head, evaluating her presence. Deciding she wasn’t a disruption to his sales, he kicked a wooden stool toward her and tossed over a massive slice of watermelon. “Sit. Eat your melon.”

Ruo Qunshuang caught it, offering a sheepish, hesitant smile. “How many Spirit Stones for this?”

Jiang Chen waved her off dismissively. “It’s a freebie. Don’t overthink it. My storage gourd is practically overflowing with the damn things.”

Ruo Qunshuang obediently took a seat. She took a small, polite bite of the melon, tilting her head as she watched him hustle. “I heard the others mentioning… you’re a Spirit Farmer?”

“That’s the day job, yeah,” Jiang Chen replied, organizing his inventory.

A trace of bitter nostalgia flickered in Ruo Qunshuang’s eyes. “No one at the Nine Curves Sect knew how to tend the earth. Every time my father traveled, he had to import massive shipments of sea rice just to keep us fed…”

Jiang Chen paused, his business instincts momentarily giving way to tactical curiosity. “What exactly happened to the Nine Curves Sect, anyway?”

At the question, the temperature around Ruo Qunshuang seemed to drop. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the watermelon rind, her voice trembling with a potent mix of terror and hatred. “I… I vaguely remember hearing something roaring. No, it wasn’t a roar. It was a wail. A horrific, deafening wail. Then the earth just shattered. Countless fissures ripped through the sect, and an endless sea of filthy, corrupted Spirit Water gushed out from the abyss!”

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow, filing that detail away. A wail?

After that outburst, Ruo Qunshuang retreated back into her shell of silence. She sat there like a hollow doll, lost in her trauma. Occasionally, she would take a mechanical bite of the watermelon, her eyes staring blankly into the distance.

Jiang Chen didn’t offer any comforting words; he simply went back to hawking his wares.

By mid-afternoon, the Spirit Cultivation Envoy token at Jiang Chen’s waist suddenly vibrated. He infused it with his divine sense.

“Elder Mu?”

“Are you available?” Elder Mu’s voice transmitted through the token.

“Do you need something?” Jiang Chen asked, his tone instantly shifting to professional alertness.

“It’s not me. The Field Master is looking for you.”

“Regarding what?”

“The Field Master says Rong Long has been captured!”

Jiang Chen’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. Just that morning, he had been calculating the odds of the sect actually tracking the rogue cultivator down. He hadn’t expected the threat to be neutralized before the sun even set.

Wasting no time, he barked an order at Lin An, tossing him the inventory ledger to take over the stall. Jiang Chen sprinted to the edge of the Inspiration Platform and summoned the Shattered Moon Flowing Frost. Stepping onto the blade, he tore through the sky, flying at maximum speed toward Zhu Fuxian’s Spirit Farm!