Chapter 2: Harvest

Qin Ming stared fixedly at those three entries.

The golden characters flickered in and out of view.

After repeatedly confirming there was no mistake, he was so excited he went wild with joy!

A golden finger! This was absolutely his own golden finger!

Qin Ming had originally thought that, barring any accidents, his path of immortality would stop here for the rest of his life.

He never expected it to ignite hope within him once again!

Qin Ming suppressed his agitated feelings.

Neglecting to wash up, he carefully approached the three spirit rice plants and examined all the vegetation in the courtyard.

He discovered that only these three plants could display entries.

"Can I just harvest them directly?"

Qin Ming reached out and snapped the three spirit rice plants off at their roots.

As he stored the spirit rice, a beam of green light and two beams of white light flashed briefly from within the spirit grains before vanishing, subsequently transforming into three leaves that quietly appeared in his sea of consciousness.

The green leaf carried the 'Ripening' entry.

The white leaves carried two entries: 'Slight Magic Power' and 'Intermediate Spirit Rain Art Five Uses'.

With just a thought, he could use them immediately.

Qin Ming returned to his room and shut the door.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he focused his mind on one of the white leaves, and the 'Slight Magic Power' entry instantly disappeared.

In an instant.

A surge of magic power suddenly gushed forth within Qin Ming's dantian, startling him into quickly following the magic power circulation route of his family's inherited 'Long Spring Art' to guide and transform this wisp of power into Long Spring magic power.

"It clearly stated only 'slight magic power,' yet I never expected the contained power to be so abundant!"

After a long while.

Feeling the changes occurring within his dantian, a look of harvest joy spread across Qin Ming's face.

"The magic power in my dantian has grown somewhat, equivalent to three months of my usual bitter cultivation."

The bottleneck at the second layer of Qi Refining, where he had been stuck for a long time without any movement, now faintly showed signs of loosening.

If he could obtain a few more such entries, the third layer of Qi Refining would not be far! Even more surprising to him was that these entries could be stored directly in his sea of consciousness for use at any time, which was truly convenient.

'For entries like this 'Slight Magic Power' one just now, I must stock up on more whenever possible; they might even save my life in a critical moment!'

Qin Ming secretly made up his mind.

Having tasted success for the first time, his heart thrilled with excitement, and he couldn't wait to test the effects of the other two entries.

But he quickly suppressed that impulse again.

"Can't get carried away! Stay calm! Must stay calm!"

"I still need to follow my usual routine; with my current low strength, I cannot let others detect anything unusual; it's best to develop steadily."

Having thought this, Qin Ming got up, went to the kitchen, lit the fire, and began cooking, using precisely the spirit rice harvested yesterday.

Afterwards, he also stir-fried several exquisite side dishes.

In the past, after paying his taxes, Qin Ming would always take the remaining spirit rice to the market to sell, living frugally to exchange for some daily cultivation resources.

He could not bear to eat spirit rice more than a few times a month.

This spirit rice also contained spiritual energy; although not as abundant as the entries, it was still considered a relatively precious cultivation resource in the eyes of ordinary cultivators.

After finishing his meal.

Qin Ming took his spirit hoe and arrived at his spirit field at the usual time.

He wandered around for a while but discovered one thing.

That was, he had observed all the nearby spirit fields and plants.

Except for one spirit rice plant flashing within his own half-mu of unripe spirit rice, which carried a 'Slight Magic Power' entry.

None of the other plants displayed any entries at all!

In other words, entries only appeared on spirit plants he had personally cultivated.

Furthermore, the appearance of entries had a certain probability, and that probability was very low.

After all, within that half-mu spirit field, there were at least tens of thousands of spirit rice plants, yet only one entry appeared; the probability could be described as pitifully small.

For three plants with entries to appear all at once in his flower bed could be said to be his ancestors' graves emitting green smoke, a stroke of tremendous luck.

However, fortunately, he believed that as long as he kept planting, he would eventually trigger some entries.

Qin Ming's spirit field was located far back on the hillside; apart from himself, few people ever went there, and it was also shielded by a dense bamboo grove.

Usually, the spirit field overseer Du Haifu only appeared during tax collection; unless some major incident occurred, he rarely came here for inspections.

Yesterday the spirit farmers had all finished harvesting their spirit rice, so now no one was coming to the fields.

Qin Ming stared at the sole spirit rice plant in the field that carried an entry, widening his eyes to observe it carefully for most of the day.

He still could not distinguish what exactly made it different from the surrounding spirit rice plants.

It was truly baffling to him...

Seeing that no one was around, Qin Ming decided not to overthink it and resolved to use the other two entries.

Du Haifu's words yesterday had given him a strong sense of urgency.

He absolutely could not go to the front-line war camp just to die in vain.

With his current combat strength, he was definitely the weakest among the cannon fodder.

"Let's first try ripening this half-mu of spirit rice to see what effect it has."

Qin Ming took a deep breath, focused his mind, and used up 'Ripening' and one use of 'Intermediate Spirit Rain Art'.

The green leaf of 'Ripening' in his sea of consciousness disappeared accordingly, while 'Intermediate Spirit Rain Art' changed to reflect four remaining uses.

Qin Ming's hand formed a magic seal, and he pointed toward the sky above the half-acre of spirit rice! A mass of grey spirit clouds swiftly gathered overhead, and in no time had completely covered the half-acre spirit field.

Pitter-patter!

Spirit rain, carrying a ripening effect, kept pouring down.

"This Intermediate Spirit Rain Art really is worlds apart from the Low-Level Spirit Rain Art."

"The rainfall range and the spirit energy conversion effect have improved greatly. The key is that it can initially draw upon the energy of the spirit vein — they really can't be mentioned in the same breath."

Qin Ming carefully savored the sensations of casting the spell, cherishing such a rare opportunity.

He immersed his mind, contemplating the flow of magic power within the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art.

A long while passed.

A flash of insight rose in Qin Ming's heart — the difference lay in the mastery of his own magic power, and in the efficient use of spirit energy during casting.

The circulation of magic power during casting no longer had that sluggish, sticky feeling at all.

That Cai Laojiu also practiced for several years before he managed to elevate this Spirit Rain Art to the intermediate level.

This bout of spirit rain lasted a full incense stick's time before stopping.

Of course.

Qin Ming's magic power also bottomed out as a result…

His cultivation was still too low, after all.

His face was pale, his legs felt weak, his hands had no strength to even prop up a chicken, and he dropped his bottom onto the ground, wiping the fine sweat from his forehead.

A full incense stick's time! In the past, that was something he wouldn't even dare imagine — let alone with the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art.

"Heh-heh! I can maintain it for this long now too!"

"No more the old three-second trickle!"

At this moment, Qin Ming's confidence seemed to have returned to his side.

He rested for a while, then got up to go observe the rainfall's effects.

Only half a day had passed.

That half-acre of spirit rice had actually begun to grow wildly taller at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Just like those crazed plants in his dreams.

This growth rate kept up until the rice had grown to more than double its original height, only then did it begin to slow.

It was already on the verge of forming spirit rice ears.

"Hiss~ this speed… a bit…"

The ripening effect combined with the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art also startled Qin Ming into drawing in a sharp breath.

"This is still with that ripening-effect trait spread out across the entire half-acre." "If all of it were used on a single stalk of spirit rice, wouldn't it be ready for harvest right away?"

"Looks like a green-quality trait must be extremely rare — next time I'll have to use it sparingly."

As Qin Ming reflected on his luck, the trait on that stalk of spirit rice also underwent a change.

【Name】: Golden Spirit Rice 【Trait】: Weak Magic Power (Maturity 70%)

Judging by this pace, he estimated that by tomorrow morning he could come harvest the spirit rice.

Sure enough.

The next morning, when Qin Ming returned to the spirit field, that half-acre of spirit rice had already fully matured.

Not only that, the spirit rice yield from the half-acre had increased by roughly twenty percent compared to before.

Moreover, the spirit rice was of even better quality — every grain plump, crystalline and translucent, exuding an enticing spirit fragrance.

Worthy of being the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art — it could directly draw spirit energy from the spirit vein and transform it into rain, providing ample nourishment for the spirit plants.

What delighted him most was that the stalk of spirit rice bearing the 'Weak Magic Power' trait had already been converted into part of his cultivation.

Qin Ming felt utterly pleased inside, and began to look forward to the future.

……

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

During this period.

After tending his original three acres of spirit field, Qin Ming went to find Du Haifu to supervise, and leased two more acres of spirit field next to it.

After turning the soil, he planted spirit rice seedlings.

The Intermediate Spirit Rain Art trait was also used three times, with one final use remaining.

Qin Ming had also gradually picked up some insights into the knack of casting the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art.

He believed that as long as he practiced diligently from here on, it wouldn't take long before he could cast the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art on his own, even without the trait.

This was the difference between experiencing it firsthand and blindly practicing in the dark.

When Du Haifu saw him come to lease spirit fields, he kept praising the lad for finally seeing the light, and even put on an act of encouraging him for a bit.

He could hardly wait to lease out a few more plots — that way he could skim off a little more gravy for himself.

But how could he possibly know that Qin Ming's working so hard at farming was actually for the sake of grinding traits…

He'd been busy for the better part of half a month.

All five acres of spirit field had been pretty much worked over by him.

He was just waiting for the next harvest; what remained was the routine daily care and tending.

Qin Ming had finally found himself free.

Taking advantage of these two days, he planned to first sell off part of his spirit rice and purchase some cultivation supplies.

At present, there were two things he absolutely had to buy.

First, a storage pouch — it really was inconvenient lugging around big and small packs every time he went out.

Second, buy a sound-isolating formation array…

Qin Ming changed into a fresh set of clothes, shouldered the spirit rice, and headed out the door.

"Oh! Daoist Friend Qin, off to the market to sell spirit rice? Looks like a fine harvest!"

"How rare, Daoist Friend Qin."

The moment Qin Ming stepped out the door, plenty of neighbors greeted him as he passed.

Weaving through the tangled, winding alleys, he reached the main thoroughfare.

At that moment, two cultivators approached from the opposite direction—one man, one woman.

"Daoist Friend Long."

"Daoist Friend Qin."

Qin Ming hurriedly set down his sack and cupped his hands in a respectful greeting.

The cultivator surnamed Long before him was the only late Qi Refining great cultivator in their shantytown district—he had broken through to the eighth layer of Qi Refining several years ago.

As for the female cultivator beside him, she was Qin Ming's neighbor Li Yanli. Judging by how intimate the two looked, she had presumably latched onto his powerful thigh.

Public order around the shantytown district was far from peaceful, but over the years it was thanks to Daoist Friend Long's deterrent presence that the petty crooks in the area dared not cause trouble.

The Lingyu Sect's great land reclamation had drawn a flood of low-level cultivators here, and likewise plenty of bandit cultivators had appeared, eyeing the place.

Although the Lingyu Sect's enforcement teams patrolled outside, killings for treasure still happened from time to time.

Daoist Friend Long gave an "Mm," then took Li Yanli and left.

In their eyes, Qin Ming was nothing more than a low-level spirit farmer not worth a second glance.

Getting even a reply was only because they happened to be neighbors.

Qin Ming didn't take it to heart.

A late Qi Refining great cultivator having a bit of a proud, aloof air was perfectly normal.

Qin Ming watched the two head off in the other direction—looked like tonight would bring yet another "fierce battle."

He sighed inwardly, and immediately made buying a soundproofing formation array his top priority.

Before long, the massive archway of "Qingyang Market" came into view.

Inside the market, crowds surged like a weaving loom, and the cries of peddlers and street vendors rose one after another.

Following the main thoroughfare—

Qin Ming made straight for the very center of the market, and arrived at the back door of a shop.

After knocking a few times, someone came to open the door.

The person, seeing it was Qin Ming, asked him to wait a moment and went inside to call the Shopkeeper.

A short while later—

A middle-aged man in a white-based, gold-threaded, bright-red brocade robe was seen walking out from within.

The Shopkeeper's cultivation was at the sixth layer of Qi Refining, yet seeing a low-level cultivator like Qin Ming, he didn't slack off in the slightest, putting on a professional smile and welcoming him warmly.

"Here to sell spirit rice, I take it? Come, come, let's talk inside."

They entered the back courtyard.

Qin Ming set down the spirit rice, returned the courtesy, and said, "That's the lot—should be about a hundred jin or so."

The Shopkeeper nodded and ordered his men to inspect the spirit rice and weigh it.

"Golden Spirit Rice, one hundred and eight jin in total."

"I can purchase it at the market rate of one low-grade spirit stone per five jin. What do you think, Daoist Friend?"

"Deal."

Qin Ming nodded briskly—he had come here to sell spirit rice on occasion before.

This channel had actually been secretly introduced to him by Cai Laojiu.

Of course, one could also set up a stall inside the market, and earn a few more spirit stones that way, but it required paying a stall fee and the like—rather troublesome.

Better to stick with the safe and steady option here.

"If you have more spirit rice in the future, Daoist Friend, you may always bring it here to sell. No matter the amount, we'll take it."

The Shopkeeper took out twenty-one spirit stones and a few fragments of spirit crystal and paid them to Qin Ming.

"By the way, does your esteemed establishment have soundproofing formation arrays for sale?" Qin Ming didn't leave right away and asked.

"Naturally we do." The Shopkeeper gave a slight smile, slapped his storage pouch, and produced a set of simple formation arrays.

"Low-grade soundproofing formation array, priced at ten low-grade spirit stones."

Qin Ming gripped the spirit stones that hadn't even warmed in his hand yet, gritted his teeth, and said, "Can it be a bit cheaper? I'll also buy a storage pouch."

"Very well—soundproofing formation array ten spirit stones, storage pouch twelve spirit stones, I can knock off one, so twenty-one spirit stones in total."

The transaction was concluded.

He left the shop.

"Earn here, spend there—not a single coin makes it home," Qin Ming couldn't help sighing.

Afterwards, he went to nearby shops, bought some books on spirit plants and daily necessities, and hurried home.

This outing had cost a great deal, but Qin Ming was confident he would soon earn even more spirit stones.

……

(End of Chapter)