Chapter 25: One-Stage Spirit Cultivator

Two months later.

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

He looked up at a Tuhuangse beehive on the tree, as large as a pot lid.

“Buzzzzzzzz～～”

Tens of thousands of bees swarmed incessantly around the hive.

The sight made one’s scalp crawl.

Each bee was as big as a thumb, pure white, with two pairs of wings and a nearly transparent stinger at its rear, hiding a deadly poison hard to guard against.

Without careful observation, it would be nearly impossible to notice.

These were the four-winged Frost Bees unique to the Yunhuang Great Marsh; though not ranked, their sheer numbers made them formidable.

If attacked by the swarm, their stingers’ venom could briefly paralyze a cultivator’s magic power flow.

Of course.

Qin Ming now had no fear of these insects.

He was merely observing where the queen bee was, to better activate the “Bee Control Art.”

Once he controlled the queen, he could issue commands to the entire swarm.

“Found it!”

Qin Ming’s eyes lit up.

He formed a strange hand seal in his palm and shot it toward the lower-right interior of the hive.

He consumed the “Bee Control Art” entry in his spiritual sense.

A Frost Bee five times larger than the ordinary ones was sleeping.

Suddenly, it felt a wave of dizziness in its head.

Its eyes showed a flicker of confusion.

Qin Ming’s seal succeeded; his face brightened with delight.

He clearly felt a strange connection established between himself and the Frost Bee queen.

Immediately, Qin Ming issued a command to the queen.

The swarm above the tree suddenly burst from the hive and flew toward Qin Ming’s three mu of Yinning Flowers.

“It actually works!”

Qin Ming was overjoyed.

He immediately ordered the queen to have the swarm pollinate the Yinning Flowers.

Soon after,

the Frost Bee swarm busied itself across the three mu of Yinning Flowers.

Qin Ming nodded in satisfaction as he watched the field.

Originally, Master Su had only required him to successfully grow one-tenth of the crop.

Now the survival rate had reached a staggering ninety percent.

And once the seven-day flowering and pollination period ended, the quality of the spirit herbs would surely be excellent.

Qin Ming had full confidence in this.

Within the three mu of Yinning Flowers, each mu held roughly a hundred mature plants, totaling about three hundred plants.

At Master Su’s original price of five spirit stones per plant, that amounted to over a thousand spirit stones.

Qin Ming pondered whether he should shift toward cultivating spirit herbs and medicinal plants.

…

Seven days later.

The seven consecutive days of pollination were complete.

The Yinning Flowers emitted a rich, fragrant aroma—ready for harvest.

Qin Ming sent a message talisman to Master Su.

Not long after,

Master Su arrived in a white robe, calmly carrying a small bamboo basket.

But when he saw the scene of three mu of blooming Yinning Flowers, his expression turned utterly stunned.

“All of this… you grew?!” Master Su pointed at the field, staring at Qin Ming with disbelief.

Qin Ming chuckled, “Lucky! Pure luck—I just happened to grow them.”

Master Su glared at him. “Who are you fooling? Luck that succeeds in seven straight days of pollination?”

He then carefully plucked a single Yinning Flower and examined it closely.

“Hmm, excellent. High-quality Yinning Flower—suitable for medicinal elixirs.”

Master Su turned and studied Qin Ming, slowly saying, “I never would’ve guessed—Qin Dao You , your spirit cultivation talent is this high. Staying here as a spirit farmer is truly a waste.”

Qin Ming waved his hand, smiling wryly, “Master Su, you flatter me. It was just luck.”

“But now, with this much Yinning Flower, I owe you a considerable favor.” Master Su finally said.

“I don’t like owing people favors.”

“How about this: whenever I brew elixirs, you may observe beside me—but I won’t teach you step by step. How much you learn depends on you. What do you say?”

Master Su said seriously after a moment’s thought.

Qin Ming’s face lit up with joy.

He’d worked all year long for this very phrase! He still remembered the taste of Master Su’s two Spirit-Condensing Pills.

He even dreamed of one day brewing elixirs that could boost his own cultivation.

“Then I won’t refuse your kindness,” Qin Ming bowed and thanked Master Su.

The two then began harvesting the Yinning Flowers.

“Total harvest: three hundred and twenty Yinning Flowers. As agreed, nine for you, one for me.”

Master Su immediately took thirty-two plants from his basket and handed them to Qin Ming.

“Remember to store these Yinning Flowers in a jade box—otherwise their medicinal properties will leak away.”

Qin Ming accepted the plants and carefully stored them away.

Master Su then took his leave, telling Qin Ming he would notify him via message talisman when he brewed elixirs.

Qin Ming did not leave immediately.

Instead, he returned the swarm of four-winged Frost Bees to their original hive.

After so many days of pollination, the bees showed no fatigue—on the contrary, they seemed unusually excited.

“These bees might come in handy again for cultivating spirit herbs. I’ll leave them here for now—I’ll buy a spirit beast pouch later to retrieve them.”

…

Two days later.

The spirit rice in the field had fully matured.

Gu Zhishi from Spirit Feather Sect, accompanied by his disciples, arrived as usual to collect the spirit rice.

This season, Qin Ming’s Beast Tooth Rice had fully ripened.

Naturally, it became the focus of this year’s rice collection.

Soon after,

the four mu of Jinling Rice and one mu of Beast Tooth Rice were all harvested.

Du Haifu pulled out a large measuring vessel and weighed them, then said to Qin Ming: “Total harvest: twelve dan and eighty jin of Jinling Rice.”

“Total harvest: four dan and ten jin of Beast Tooth Rice.”

After announcing the numbers, Du Haifu smiled and stepped closer to Qin Ming. “Congratulations, Qin Dao You . Your Beast Tooth Rice cultivation is complete. From now on, you qualify for a fifty percent reduction in spirit rice taxes.”

Qin Ming was puzzled—Du Haifu, the local tyrant among spirit farmers, had suddenly changed how he addressed him.

He didn’t call him “Little Qin” anymore; Qin Ming was momentarily thrown off.

“I’ll need your continued care, Supervisor Du,” Qin Ming replied.

“Here is your One-Stage Spirit Cultivator Certification Token,” Du Haifu said, handing Qin Ming a wooden plaque. “You may choose your own time to report to the Spirit Feather Sect’s office in Qingyang Market to complete the assessment.”

“Hehe, let me extend my congratulations in advance—you’re now entering the ranks of One-Stage Spirit Cultivator.”

Qin Ming took the plaque and saw his name carved on the front, and a spirit plant pattern on the back.

He probed it with his spiritual sense and saw it recorded: “One-Stage Spirit Plant: Beast Tooth Rice—cultivation completed.”

Spirit Plant Knowledge Assessment—pending.

Spirit Feather Sect’s officials collected the taxes and departed as usual, taking away the lowest-ranking farmers.

After paying taxes, Qin Ming still had over six hundred jin of Jinling Rice and two hundred ten jin of Beast Tooth Rice left.

For him, this was another substantial income.

“Little Qin, you promised me, right?”

“You owe me a drink at Juxuan Pavilion.”

“Come on, let’s celebrate your promotion to One-Stage Spirit Cultivator!”

Cai Laojiu grinned and sidled up, seething with envy.

“Fine, I’ll treat you,” Qin Ming said, smiling wryly and nodding.

He also planned to visit Liao Shopkeeper to sell the spirit rice and inquire about moving into Qingyang Market.

Also, he needed to visit Ru Dao You to retrieve the final four levels of the “Hundred Treasures Glass Scripture.”

(End of chapter)