Chapter 19: First-Rank Spirit Planter

Two months later.

Qin Ming stood beneath a large tree near the spirit fields.

He looked up, sizing up an earth-yellow beehive in the tree, fully as large as a pot lid.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz~~"

Tens of thousands of bees, densely packed, danced ceaselessly around the hive.

The sight made one's scalp go numb.

Each bee was as large as a little finger, snow-white throughout, bearing two pairs of wings, while its tail featured a nearly transparent stinger hiding a venom so potent it was difficult to guard against.

Without careful observation, it was truly hard to detect.

These were the Four-Winged Frost Bees unique to the Cloud Desolate Great Marsh; although they possessed no ranked status, their sheer numbers were overwhelming.

If attacked by a swarm, the toxicity of their tail stingers could even briefly paralyze a cultivator's circulation of magic power.

Of course.

Qin Ming now had nothing to fear from these insects.

He was merely observing where the queen bee was located, to facilitate casting the 'Bee Controlling Art'.

As long as he controlled the queen bee, he could issue commands to the swarm.

"Found it!"

Qin Ming's eyes lit up.

He formed a strange hand seal with his fingers and struck it toward the interior of the hive's lower right corner.

The 'Bee Controlling Art' entry in his sea of consciousness was consumed.

A frost bee, more than five times larger than an ordinary bee, was sleeping.

Suddenly, it felt a wave of dizziness surge through its mind.

A hint of bewilderment appeared in its eyes.

Qin Ming had successfully cast the technique, and joy flashed across his face.

He could clearly sense that he had established some inexplicable connection with that frost bee queen.

Immediately, Qin Ming issued a command to the queen bee.

The swarm in the tree suddenly flew out of the hive one after another, heading toward the three mu of spirit fields where Qin Ming had planted the Yin Cong Flowers.

"It really works!"

Qin Ming was overjoyed.

He immediately gave the frost bee queen another instruction, ordering the swarm to pollinate the Yin Cong Flowers.

Very quickly.

The frost bee swarm became busy within the three mu of Yin Cong Flower spirit fields.

Qin Ming looked at the spirit fields and nodded with satisfaction.

Originally, Alchemist Su had only required him to successfully keep one-tenth of them alive.

Now, the survival rate had reached a terrifying ninety percent.

Moreover, once this seven-day flowering period and pollination concluded, the quality of the spirit herbs would surely not be poor.

On this point, Qin Ming was quite confident.

Within the three mu of Yin Cong Flower spirit fields, each mu contained roughly a hundred mature plants, totaling about three hundred Yin Cong Flowers that could be harvested.

If calculated according to the price of five spirit stones per plant that Alchemist Su had offered him at the time, it would already amount to nearly a thousand spirit stones.

Qin Ming pondered that perhaps he should develop in the direction of planting spirit herbs and medicinal ingredients.

Seven days later.

After seven consecutive days of pollination had ended.

The Yin Cong Flowers emitted a rich, fragrant aroma; they were ready for harvest.

Qin Ming sent a message talisman to Alchemist Su.

Before long.

Alchemist Su, clad in white robes, arrived at a leisurely pace, carrying a small bamboo basket on his back.

But when he saw the scene of three mu of blooming Yin Cong Flowers, the expression on his face became quite remarkable.

"Did you... grow all these?!" Alchemist Su pointed at the spirit fields, looking at Qin Ming, his tone filled with disbelief.

Qin Ming chuckled, "Luck! It was purely luck that I managed to grow them."

Alchemist Su glared at him, "Who are you trying to fool? Lucky enough to succeed with continuous pollination for seven straight days?"

Having said that, he carefully picked a Yin Cong Flower and began to examine it closely.

"Mm, not bad; the quality of this Yin Cong Flower is superior, suitable for use in medicine and pill refining."

Then, Alchemist Su turned his head, sizing Qin Ming up and down, and said slowly, "I truly couldn't tell? Fellow Daoist Qin's talent for spirit planting is so high." "Working here as a spirit farmer is indeed somewhat beneath your talents."

Qin Ming waved his hand, smiling bitterly, "Alchemist Su overpraises me; it was just good fortune."

"But in that case, with such a large quantity of Yin Cong Flowers, I will owe you a favor, neither big nor small," Alchemist Su finally said slowly.

"I do not like owing people favors."

"How about this: normally when I refine pills, I will allow you to observe from the side, but I will not teach you hand-in-hand; how much skill you can learn depends on yourself, what do you say?"

After thinking for a moment, Alchemist Su spoke earnestly to Qin Ming.

Upon hearing this, Qin Ming was instantly overjoyed.

He had worked hard for a whole year; wasn't this exactly the sentence he had been waiting for?! Qin Ming still could not forget the taste of those two Spirit Gathering Pills from Alchemist Su.

He even dreamed that one day he too could refine pills that would enhance his cultivation.

"Then I shall accept with thanks." Qin Ming cupped his fists and bowed to Master Su Dan in gratitude.

Subsequently, the two began harvesting the Yin Condensing Flowers.

"In total, we harvested three hundred and twenty Yin Condensing Flowers; as previously agreed, I take nine parts, you take one."

Master Su Dan immediately took thirty-two stalks from the bamboo basket and handed them to Qin Ming.

"Remember to seal these Yin Condensing Flowers in a jade box once you return, otherwise their medicinal properties will dissipate."

Qin Ming accepted the Yin Condensing Flowers and carefully stored them away.

Afterwards, Master Su Dan took his leave, telling Qin Ming that he would notify him via a message talisman when refining pills.

Qin Ming was in no hurry to depart.

Instead, he released that swarm of Four-Winged Frost Bees back to their original location.

After so many days of pollination, these Frost Bees showed no signs of fatigue; on the contrary, each one appeared extremely excited.

'This swarm of bees might prove useful for planting spiritual herbs someday; I'll leave them here for now and come back with a spirit beast bag another day.'

Two days later.

The spiritual rice within the spiritual fields had also fully ripened.

Elder Gu of the Spirit Feather Sect brought his disciples to collect the spiritual rice just as usual.

During this season, Qin Ming's Beast-Tooth Rice had completely matured.

Naturally, it had also become the primary focus of this spiritual rice collection.

Very quickly.

The four mu of Golden Spiritual Rice and one mu of Beast-Tooth Rice were all harvested.

Du Haifu took out a large measuring artifact to weigh the grain, then immediately said to Qin Ming, "In total, the harvest yields twelve dan and eighty jin of Golden Spiritual Rice."

"The harvest of Beast-Tooth Rice totals four dan and ten jin."

After reporting the figures, Du Haifu approached Qin Ming with a smile and said, "Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Qin; with the successful planting and harvest of Beast-Tooth Rice, from now on you may enjoy a fifty percent reduction on all spiritual rice taxes."

Qin Ming was also quite puzzled; Du Haifu, this local emperor among the spiritual farmers, had even changed how he addressed him this time.

He no longer called him "Little Qin," and for a moment, Qin Ming didn't quite react.

"I will still need Supervisor Du to look after me in the future," Qin Ming replied.

"Fellow Daoist Qin, this is an identity token for the Spirit Planter assessment; you may choose a time at your convenience to go to the Spirit Feather Sect's Office Hall station within Qingyang Market to complete the assessment." Du Haifu took out a wooden plaque and handed it to Qin Ming.

"Hehehe, let me congratulate Fellow Daoist Qin once again in advance on entering the ranks of a first-tier Spirit Planter."

Qin Ming took the wooden plaque and looked; his name was engraved on the front, while the back bore a pattern of a spiritual plant.

He examined it with his spiritual sense and saw that the plaque recorded his completion of planting the first-tier spiritual plant 'Beast-Tooth Rice'.

The spiritual plant knowledge assessment remained pending completion.

The people from the Spirit Feather Sect finished collecting the taxes and departed, taking away the spiritual farmers ranked at the bottom just as usual.

After paying the taxes, Qin Ming was left with over six hundred jin of Golden Spiritual Rice and two hundred and ten jin of Beast-Tooth Rice for this season.

For him, this was yet another substantial income.

"Little Qin, you promised, didn't you?"

"You owe me a drink at the Juxuan Pavilion."

"Let's go, let's go, let's go; celebrating your becoming a first-tier Spirit Planter."

Cai Laojiu bubbled over cheerfully, his heart filled with envy.

"Alright, my treat." Qin Ming was in a good mood; he gave an embarrassed smile and nodded.

It just so happened he also needed to visit Shopkeeper Liao to sell the spiritual rice and, while there, inquire about moving to reside in Qingyang Market.

Additionally, he needed to pay a visit to Fellow Daoist Ruan to obtain the final four layers of the 'Hundred Treasures Glazed Sutra'.

(End of Chapter)