Chapter 443: Late Golden Immortal Produces Rice

After setting all this up, the Gathering Immortal Array was activated.

As for the hundred thousand upper-grade immortal crystals he had obtained, Ding Huan had no intention of taking them out.

Dense immortal spiritual energy swept over, and Ding Huan immediately saw these withered rice grains recover their vitality at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In just a single day, the previously withered and yellow immortal spirit rice had turned a lush green.

Ding Huan set his mind at ease; he knew that as long as he threw those hundred thousand immortal crystals in, these immortal spirit rice would grow even greener and stronger.

But Ding Huan had no such thought at all. He began circulating the Grand Cosmos Art to cultivate, while deliberately increasing his absorption of the five-element attribute laws.

The main purpose was to make the five-element rule attributes of the heaven-and-earth space clearer as the immortal spirit rice grew.

Because Ding Huan had set up a Concealing Immortal Array in his cultivation space, the immortal spiritual energy he absorbed formed whirlpools and a faint mist within the space, so the changes visible from outside were not obvious.

But the flowing immortal spiritual energy could be clearly felt even by someone who did not cultivate.

This was permitted within the Immortal Agriculture Department.

In the Immortal Agriculture Department, as long as you had the ability, your Gathering Immortal Array could absorb all the immortal spiritual energy from every single field if you wished.

Ding Huan had not cultivated freely and comfortably in a long time. Now that he had begun, his cultivation skyrocketed.

Immortal essence stacked again and again, his consciousness sea expanded layer upon layer, and within the Grand Dao Cosmos, Dao rhythms flowed while billions of laws rippled above the galaxy.

Ding Huan had only cultivated for three days, yet the immortal spirit rice in his space had already begun to sprout new ears.

A man in grey robes stood outside Ding Huan's protective array.

The man was of average build and ordinary looks, yet he carried the air of an immortal cultivator with a Daoist bone structure.

If Ding Huan had seen him, he would naturally have recognized him—this fellow was the very thief he had spotted at the bottom of the lake, the one draining the vitality of every spirit plant in the Immortal Agriculture Department.

He stared at Ding Huan's protective array, his face shifting between dark and light.

The Gathering Immortal Array Ding Huan had set up was clearly madly absorbing the heaven-and-earth immortal spiritual energy, and there was also a dense fluctuation of vitality within it.

It was evident that Ding Huan was not only cultivating, but had also replanted the immortal spirit rice.

What enraged him was that the vitality of this place was completely locked within the protective array, meaning he could not absorb even a drop of the vitality aura from the immortal spirit rice here.

How could he tolerate this?

He was just about to knock on Ding Huan's array restriction when he saw written on the huge array display screen:

"This official is currently devoting all efforts to planting immortal spirit rice. Any losses caused by anyone knocking on the array shall be borne entirely by the knocker."

The man's eyes flickered uncertainly; he had also noticed the monitoring array.

With a monitoring array, that meant the moment he knocked on the array, every single move he made would be recorded.

He knew the situation of the Immortal Agriculture Department better than anyone.

This concerned the appointment of the next Banner-Wielding Immortal of the Immortal Agriculture Department. Others could knock on the restriction, but he could not.

If he had even the slightest problem, the Banner-Wielding Immortal position would fall to another family.

"Lord Mi, you've been working hard lately." An abrupt voice jolted the man awake.

He turned his head and saw Shen Guan walking over. He quickly rearranged his expression into a smile and said, "So it's Steward Shen. Is there a newcomer here? It looks like someone is planting immortal spirit rice?

I remember telling you that planting immortal spirit rice now is a waste of spirit stones and rice seeds. Why is someone still planting it?"

Shen Guan glanced at the protective array Ding Huan had set up. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly heard an abrupt voice ring out:

"Detected someone preparing to knock on the restriction, disturbing this field's Immortal Plant Official's planting of immortal spirit grass. This person harbors ill intentions. Warning, warning…"

Both Shen Guan and the grey-robed man were stunned by this voice. Could it really do that?

Who sets up an immortal array and adds an array warning sound? Slapping on such a huge label?

Shen Guan instantly understood. He looked at the grey-robed man and said:

"Lord Mi, this is our newly recruited Immortal Plant Official. There are no more immortal spirit rice stalks here; he will dig them up and replant.

The new Immortal Plant Official has obtained the Banner-Wielding Immortal's permission to try planting immortal spirit rice using a new method. After all, no matter how bad it gets, it can't be worse than the current situation."

Shen Guan found it awkward to say that the newcomer was actually a scapegoat. To get someone to take the blame, one naturally had to let them do something first; otherwise, who would willingly bear that blame?

The man nodded: "I see. Then I won't need to go in and look."

Saying this, he turned and slowly left.

Watching Lord Mi's departing back, Shen Guan was also somewhat puzzled.

Immortal Physician Mi had come to handle the treatment of the withering immortal spirit rice here. He had been here for many days now; logically, checking just one field should have been enough.

Yet he wandered all over the place, sometimes staying here for several days at a stretch, even sealing himself inside arrays in some fields to inspect.

But up to now, he had found absolutely nothing.

……

The Left Surnamed Department's Prime Immortal Bu Yue had finally returned to the Prime Immortal Residence. Bu Yingyin rushed to her father's side the very first moment.

"Haha, little Yin, your cultivation seems to have improved quite nicely lately." Bu Yue was very fond of this youngest daughter of his.

Almost no matter what Bu Yingyin asked for, he would agree.

"Father, I've discovered an extraordinarily talented person. His understanding of the five-element Dao laws is simply penetrating to the core—you could even say his words become law…"

Bu Yingyin almost in one breath recounted Ding Huan's stunning performance in that class.

Bu Yue listened, utterly dumbfounded.

Not to mention an ordinary Dao law master, even a Great Emperor could not do what Ding Huan did.

Words becoming law—this was far more than mere talent; this was an absolute genius.

"Where is this person?" Bu Yue had just sat down, but immediately stood back up.

Such a person absolutely could not be left out in the open; he must be brought into the Prime Immortal Residence.

"Father, I've taken a liking to him." Bu Yingyin made no attempt to hide her fondness.

Bu Yue laughed heartily: "Good. If this person truly is as powerful as you say, then he shall be my Lord Bu Yue's live-in immortal son-in-law."

"But Father, he was driven away by the Academy Head of Pangu Dao Law Court, Ju Xinchan." Bu Yingyin's face still held anger.

Bu Yue asked in confusion, "Isn't that even better?"

Bu Bu Yingyin had no choice but to say, "After Ju Xinchan drove him away, she didn't even know where she herself went. Later, when we went to class, she said she'd find him—but after several days passed and we went back, she still hadn't found him."

"Although she compensated us with immortal crystals, what we lost wasn't just immortal crystals."

Bu Yue nodded: "No need to worry. As long as he's still within the Immortal Court, I can find him."

As he spoke, Bu Yue was already judging where Ding Huan might have gone.

But he wasn't worried—anyone he, Bu Yue, had targeted could run nowhere.

Bu Yue saw at a glance Ding Huan's importance; others weren't fools either.

After Emperor Jinhe heard Qin Zhinan's account and witnessed Qin Zhinan's demonstration of the Metal Principle's divine art, he immediately knew Ding Huan's cultivation method was anything but ordinary.

Even as an Immortal Emperor, he could not comprehend the Five Phases Principle so thoroughly—he could not only make listeners clearly grasp the patterns of the Five Phases Principle, but also instantly identify the weak points where its divine arts were triggered.

This was more than mere genius?

He had set out to find Ding Huan even earlier than Bu Yue; no matter what, he must bring Ding Huan to the Jinhe Palace.

……

Ding Huan didn't know several groups were searching for him; abundant immortal spiritual sources and this period of accumulation had let him easily break through to Jin Xian Level Seven.

The Great Cosmos Art, once sufficient immortal spiritual sources and foundational reserves were amassed, saw advancement become a natural, effortless process.

Having reached Jin Xian Level Seven, Ding Huan temporarily halted his cultivation.

According to his calculations, there were still several days left before the month ended. He didn't know how the immortal rice harvest would turn out—if it was poor, he'd have to flee.

Stepping out from the closed-off cultivation array, the sight before him filled Ding Huan with delight.

From afar to near, from pale green to light purple then deep purple, the dozens of immortal rice plants beside him had turned purple, faintly tinged with golden yellow.

According to the brief introduction in the immortal rice jade slip he'd obtained, pale green indicated inferior-grade immortal rice.

He had none of that.

Green was mid-grade, and it occupied half the field.

That meant the farther from him, the worse the quality of the immortal rice.

The dozens of immortal rice plants beside him were now deep purple, faintly streaked with golden yellow.

This was undoubtedly supreme-grade immortal rice.

The jade slip's introduction had stated that purple immortal rice was already supreme-grade.

This meant either he had grown immortal rice better than supreme-grade, or purple wasn't truly supreme-grade after all.

Ding Huan raised his hand and gathered the dozens of purple-tinged-with-gold immortal rice plants; after threshing, they weighed roughly twenty to thirty catties.

He then gathered all the light purple and purple rice—about nine hundred catties total.

The rest were green; the green harvest totaled over eight hundred catties.

Although the green rice appeared more abundant, the actual yield was lower.

That meant: the higher the quality of the immortal rice, the greater its yield.

Ding Huan estimated there were still three or four days left before the month ended.

Looking at the ridges where he'd harvested the immortal rice, Ding Huan swept his hand again, uprooting all the rice stalks and tossing them into one of his small worlds.

After this, he turned over all the soil again, then dissolved every root system.

Only after removing every trace of Dao resonance and spiritual aura did he finally relax.

He had to ensure that after he left, no one could tell how much immortal rice had been harvested here.

Pulling out an iron pot, Ding Huan decided to cook some purple immortal rice.

The freshly hulled purple rice smelled far more fragrant than the pale green variety.

As the purple rice neared completion, its aroma filled the entire space.

Ding Huan silently thought: if he hadn't set up the immortal array, this scent would surely have been detected long ago.

Earlier, Chen Guan had said a single grain of purple immortal rice could boost one's cultivation; now he'd cooked half a pot.

When the rice was done, Ding Huan saw each grain in the iron pot gleamed like purple amethyst, radiating an indescribable beauty.

He scooped up a spoonful and put it in his mouth.

The rice's clean fragrance exploded across his taste buds; Ding Huan closed his eyes and sensed a brand-new Life Principle—vast, surging heavenly and earthly primordial energy surged within him.

No wonder that guy had drained the life essence from the immortal rice—this life aura was simply irresistible…

Ding Huan unconsciously began activating his cultivation method, consuming the energy circulating within him.