Chapter 1: Minor Official of the Court of the Minister of Agriculture

The fifteenth year of Jingxin, late May, eastern outskirts of Gucheng.

Under a blazing sun, sweat pouring down like rain, Zhao Xing bent at the waist and pushed rice seedlings into the paddy.

With every seedling he planted, a row of small numbers popped up beside him.

【Successfully planted one seedling, Basic Cultivation Art proficiency +1】

【Successfully planted one seedling, Basic Cultivation Art proficiency +1】

【Successfully planted one seedling, Basic Cultivation Art proficiency +1】

……

【Basic Cultivation Art has reached max level. You have comprehended the beginner spell 'Thriving Growth'】

【Thriving Growth: Beginner Spell】

【Progress: (1/9999)】

【Effect: Accelerates nutrient absorption, shortens the time for plants to reach maturity.】

After planting for another quarter of an hour, Zhao Xing was drenched in sweat, so he went up to Tian Geng to replenish his fluids.

Yet the sun was vicious, and the burning restlessness in his heart refused to settle.

So he pointed a finger at the sky.

"Hum~"

A streak of Jin Guang shot from his fingertip and dissipated about three or four meters above his head.

Immediately after, a mass of grey-white cloud mist appeared, hovering above his head.

【You have cast the spell 'Drifting Cloud'. This casting triggered a Fortune Blessing, doubling its effectiveness. Drifting Cloud, ten meters.】

【Beginner spell 'Drifting Cloud' proficiency +2】

"Phew, much better now."

The cloud mist blocked the sun like a parasol, shrouding Zhao Xing in shade.

Wherever Zhao Xing walked, the cloud above his head followed.

The eastern outskirts of Gu County were government public fields, managed by the Court of the Minister of Agriculture; part of the officials' food, clothing, and supplies came from here.

With Grain in Ear approaching, minor officials like Zhao Xing from the Court of the Minister of Agriculture were everywhere on the eastern outskirts.

Because if you don't plant at Grain in Ear, planting later is useless.

Moreover, the harvest of the public fields affected not only meals but also whether they could be promoted this year — from unranked minor officials to full-fledged Agricultural Officials. The treatment between the two could be said to be worlds apart.

Ever since transmigrating here a year ago, he had discovered he seemed to be in an early version of that mysterious game — in his previous life it had appeared on Earth just as abruptly, with no name, only an entrance; inside was like a real world, with extremely high freedom and realism, causing a massive sensation.

This was the era of Emperor Jing of the Great Zhou, the prime of the dynasty; the overall environment was relatively stable, and compared to later versions, the safety factor was almost the highest.

The upside was that spiritual energy had not yet fully revived, combat power wasn't outrageously high, and there wouldn't be situations where some great being waved a hand and slaughtered a city.

After all, he was no longer a player — the panel didn't say he could resurrect.

The downside was that it was too stable, and his starting identity was ordinary; finding opportunities as an NPC within the early stable social order was relatively difficult.

"In my previous life, it only took two or three days to change jobs. Now I've spent nearly half a year and still see no hope."

"The starting identity they gave me was pretty average too — an orphan from a charity house to start, later adopted into a wealthy family, still nothing special."

"I heard some players in my previous life were lucky and were born straight into the households of Wang Hou, generals, or ministers…"

"Enough thinking, I'll rest a moment and then push harder. Whether I can complete the job-change quest this year mostly depends on how this plot of land performs."

Zhao Xing found a haystack, gathered some rice straw, and was about to rest while waiting for his Yuan Qi to recover.

But he ran into a young man in a standard-issue single-layer robe and a straw hat, beckoning to him from a haystack ahead: "Brother Zhao, over here."

Zhao Xing changed direction and walked briskly toward him: "Ziyu, you're here to rest too?"

Chen Ziyu, also one of the minor officials of the Court of the Minister of Agriculture — over the year since transmigrating, Zhao Xing was closest to him.

Their relationship was both colleagues and classmates, because at this stage the focus wasn't on working but on studying, striving to reach shore as soon as possible and no longer have to do this mud-legged labor.

Beside him lay another youth named Qian Dong, also a familiar face.

Chen Ziyu, a blade of grass in his mouth, greeted him warmly: "Just got here a moment ago. Brother, just borrow my cloud to cool off, don't waste another bit of Yuan Qi."

"Alright."

Nodding, Zhao Xing dispersed the cloud above his head and lay down beside Chen Ziyu.

The moment he lay down, he heard the other complain: "It's only just Beginning of Summer, yet the weather in Gucheng is already this hot. On the eastern outskirts, even the bigger trees have all been chopped down by the my lord of the Court of the Minister of Agriculture. If you want shade, you have to cast a spell yourself."

Zhao Xing laughed: "This is also a form of training."

"Want it cooler? That's easy, watch mine." Qian Dong tossed aside the straw hat he'd been fanning himself with, struck a pose, and pointed diagonally at the sky: "Wind, come!"

Chen Ziyu looked rather astonished: "Brother Qian, you've already learned 'Summon Wind'?"

Qian Dong grinned mischievously, then picked up the straw hat and fanned Chen Ziyu with it: "See? Isn't it here now?"

Only then did he realize he'd been tricked by this fellow, so he grabbed a handful of dry grass and tickled Qian Dong's neck:

"You little Qian Dong, how dare you trick me! If you don't fan me for a quarter of an hour, I'm not done with you!"

"Ah, stop tickling, Ziyu, calm down, I'll fan you, alright?"

"……"

As the two laughed and played, the cloud above their heads swayed along with them. Watching this scene, Zhao Xing couldn't help feeling a bit speechless.

Can you two not be so flirtatious on a hot day?

Just as he was about to speak, Qian Dong said first: "Alright, if you don't stop, Brother Zhao will scold us again for being useless and unstudious, with no proper bearing."

Zhao Xing said lazily: "Don't stop, you two keep going. Best if you fight, beat each other half to death — fewer people competing with me for the Agricultural Official post, my chances of reaching shore this year would be even better."

"Brother's being passive-aggressive again…"

After resting for a quarter of an hour, Zhao Xing felt his Yuan Qi gradually recovering and planned to doze a little longer before continuing his great job-change plan.

But just then the cloud above his head suddenly dispersed, and a piercing glare of light suddenly shone onto his eyelids.

"What's wrong, Ziyu? You didn't even say a word before pulling back the clouds…" Qian Dong was still grumbling. Zhao Xing, however, propped himself up on one elbow, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked ahead.

A mass of dark clouds, nearly a thousand meters across, rolled slowly forward from the front. Standing atop a mound beneath those clouds was a tall, slender figure.

The 【Moving Clouds】 spell is mutually exclusive — it was precisely this person who had crashed through and absorbed Chen Ziyu's 【Moving Clouds】.

Suddenly cut off mid-cast, Chen Ziyu's body trembled slightly; due to the backlash, his primeval qi had suffered minor damage.

"That hypocrite Li Chengfeng again! Damn him!" Chen Ziyu glared furiously at the figure on the mound ahead.

Why call him a hypocrite?

Because Li Chengfeng's voice, amplified by the 【Rising Wind】 spell, spread out in all directions.

"Fellow colleagues, you may rest beneath my clouds and mist. In a moment there will also be a light rain, to wash the dust from you all."

It wasn't only Chen Ziyu's spell that had been scattered — quite a number of other people were affected as well.

Yet he had won over the majority of them, saving them the expenditure of primeval qi, and many clapped and praised him for it, saying Li Chengfeng had the bearing of a true gentleman.

"This guy pulls some up and tramples others down — truly disgusting! In daily life he loves to show himself off, completely ignoring how others feel. Once I went to reason with him, and bystanders actually said I was petty and jealous of his reputation as a gentleman… Me, jealous of him? Pfft!" Chen Ziyu spat bitterly.

Qian Dong also shook his head: "If he were truly a gentleman, that would be one thing, but he comes from a great clan yet only ever associates with sons of wealthy families — one face in public, another behind their backs. He hasn't even become an official Agricultural Officer yet, and already he carries himself like a superior. Truly sickening. If next year he becomes our superior, who knows how he'll torment those beneath him… sigh…"

Zhao Xing agreed with the other two as well, and could only pat them both on the shoulder to comfort them: "I don't like the sight of him either, but complaining is useless — strength is what matters most. Work hard, and one day we'll slap that smug look off his face."