Chapter 4: Shopkeeper Liao

The matter of the spirit-rice tax had finally come to an end.

For the time being, Qin Ming no longer had to worry about being sent to the front lines.

"This time I must break through to the third layer of Qi Refining!"

In a quiet little cabin.

Qin Ming sat on a straw-woven cushion on the bed, eyes slightly closed, gathering his focus, a low-grade spirit stone in his hand, its spiritual luster rapidly fading.

In an instant.

The spiritual energy within the spirit stone was gradually absorbed by him.

Qin Ming opened his eyes, his expression somewhat unsightly.

With only a light squeeze, the spirit stone in his hand crumbled into a pile of powder.

"Sigh, cultivating with spirit stones is a complete waste for me."

"A bit extravagant."

In the Immortal Realm, the ambient spiritual energy between heaven and earth, as well as the spiritual energy within spirit stones, are all essentially wild.

Chaotic and mixed, low-level cultivators cannot directly control them.

To convert them into one's own magic power, one must absorb them through a cultivator's spiritual root, combined with the constant circulation of cultivation techniques.

Taming the external spiritual energy and transforming it into one's own magic power.

And the quality of one's spiritual root directly affects the efficiency of this absorption and transformation.

Qin Ming shook his head.

"Talisman leaves are still the best."

The 'Faint Magic Power' within the talisman leaves did not need to be absorbed and refined through a spiritual root; he could use it directly.

This time, he prepared to use two 'Faint Magic Power' talisman leaves to attempt a breakthrough.

"Two 'Faint Magic Power' talisman leaves are equivalent to half a year of bitter cultivation for me."

He calmed his mind and qi, banishing all distracting thoughts.

With a single thought from Qin Ming, the first 'Faint Magic Power' talisman leaf was used up.

Even though Qin Ming was used to it, when the magic power came flooding in like a tide, it still caught him somewhat off guard.

Under the guidance of his 'Evergreen Art', the surging magic power began to circulate through his body in a full cycle.

Flowing ceaselessly, endlessly returning to the dantian.

The 'Evergreen Art' was passed down from Qin Ming's cultivation clan; it wasn't any advanced technique, belonging to the common, run-of-the-mill variety.

Its main focus was health preservation—long and steady qi circulation, mediocre power, and cultivation progress as slow as a tortoise.

But it had its merits: once this technique was cultivated to an advanced realm, it possessed a certain life-extending effect.

Cultivating it as a primary technique granted slightly more lifespan and magic power than cultivators of the same realm.

If one switched to another technique midway, this effect would be void.

This actually suited Qin Ming's temperament quite well.

'Farm the fields, tend the herbs, soothe the spirit and nurture the qi, return to the embrace of nature—isn't that quite nice?'

'Why must one fight and kill, contend and snatch, only to end up with nothing in the end, sigh…'

But even so.

Over these past years, Qin Ming had come to have a different take on this.

The resources of the entire Immortal Realm were that limited.

Resources such as techniques, artifacts, spiritual materials, and pills were all controlled by those famous sects.

Major sects and powerful cultivators got the meat; "loose cultivators" struggled even to get the soup, only able to eke out a living in the cracks.

Unless one were a heaven-defying genius.

If not, without climbing higher, it was hard to advance even an inch on the path of immortality.

Even a cultivation sect like the Lingyu Gate did not hesitate to mobilize the entire sect's strength, 跨越 unimaginable distances, traveling thousands of miles to come here for pioneering development.

Wasn't it all for cultivation resources? ……

Qin Ming used up one 'Faint Magic Power' talisman leaf.

Yet the faintly loosening bottleneck still showed no response.

His brows knit tightly, his expression solemn.

With a ruthless resolve, he continued to use up the remaining 'Faint Magic Power' talisman leaf.

After a long while.

Two consecutive 'Faint Magic Power' talisman leaves were exhausted.

Yet there was still no breakthrough.

"Sigh, this is the gap in aptitude and talent!"

"Peak of the second layer of Qi Refining."

Qin Ming was still a little short of the third layer of Qi Refining.

"If it were someone else, counting the magic power provided by the previous 'Faint Magic Power' talisman leaves, they would probably have broken through long ago."

However, Qin Ming was not discouraged by this.

If it were as before, cultivating step by step, who knew when there would be any movement.

Compared to before, the current situation was already much better.

Although his cultivation had not broken through this time, his qi sea and dantian had indeed expanded quite a bit.

The magic power within his body had also increased by a third compared to before.

Moreover, he was now just one final kick away; it was only a matter of enduring a little more time.

'This can't go on like this, I need to adjust my thinking.'

'Once I cultivate the Beast Fang Rice, perhaps I can try a Body Tempering technique first?' 'At the very least, it would strengthen my ability to protect myself.'

'But given my current spirit-planting level, to grow Beast Fang Rice, I'll probably have to combine it with the "Ripening" entry; otherwise, whether I can succeed is hard to say.'

'If it fails and I waste the Beast Fang Rice mother seed, the loss would outweigh the gain.'

Qin Ming deliberated at length.

He already had a plan in mind.

He ended his cultivation, got up, and cooked.

After finishing breakfast.

Qin Ming went out and once again arrived at Qingyang Market.

Juxuan Pavilion.

It was still that shop located in the center of the market; besides the restaurant operating on the first and second floors, the floors above carried on many other businesses as well.

Anyone able to operate at such a location must have decent backing.

The shopkeeper's surname was Liao; upon seeing Qin Ming, he put on a standard professional smile.

Qin Ming also got straight to the point. He patted his storage pouch, and two large bags of spirit rice appeared on the ground before him.

Shopkeeper Liao was quite surprised that Qin Ming could produce so much spirit rice in one go.

A full bag more than last time.

As he knew, the tax rate Lingyu Sect levied on these spirit farmers was seventy percent; by that calculation, it basically meant that this young spirit farmer before him had harvested at least eight shi-plus of spirit rice this season.

Enough to prove the other party's spirit-planting level.

Only those relatively seasoned spirit farmers could achieve such a high yield.

Otherwise, it would mean exceptional talent and attainments in the path of spirit planting.

If it were the latter, perhaps there was a chance he could advance to become a first-rank Spirit Planter in the future.

The shop assistants finished inspecting and weighing.

Shopkeeper Liao's face showed a warm smile, and at the same time, in his heart he slightly raised his assessment of Qin Ming's standing as a low-rank spirit farmer.

"A total of two hundred and twenty jin of Golden Spirit Rice."

"Fellow Daoist Qin, same as always, here are forty-four spirit stones."

"Is there anything you'd like to purchase at our shop?"

"Our shop is fully stocked; whatever you need, we can satisfy one or two of them."

Qin Ming was already prepared.

He took out a drawing from his bosom, on which was sketched a small bell design, then handed it to Shopkeeper Liao and said: "I'd like to custom-order a small bell like this; let's see if it's possible."

"Of course, Fellow Daoist Qin; this must be a specially made spirit bell for casting the Beast-Driving Art, right?"

"Our pavilion has its own dedicated refining workshop, and we happen to have one in stock."

"A lower-grade magic artifact, the Beast Roar Bell, at a friendly price of ten spirit stones."

A palm-sized spirit bell materialized in Shopkeeper Liao's hand; he handed it to Qin Ming with a smile and introduced: "When used together with the Beast-Driving Art, it will automatically shrink and enlarge."

"So cheap?"

This price was somewhat beyond his expectations; he had originally prepared to bleed heavily.

"Hehe, Fellow Daoist Qin may not know this, but the key to the Beast-Driving Art lies in mastery of the spell itself; this bell is merely an auxiliary tool."

"Let me remind Fellow Daoist Qin, the Beast-Driving Art is extremely difficult to practice."

"Many cultivators from Lingyu Sect's battle camp have previously ordered this item, but only a very few have completely mastered it."

Qin Ming understood what he meant.

Put bluntly, nobody bought it.

If one failed to master the spell, the specially made spirit bell would become a mere ornament, wasting spirit stones for nothing—a terrible loss.

But for Qin Ming, there was no such thing as being unable to master it. He paid ten spirit stones, took the spirit bell, and then asked a question.

"Do you have any pills that can boost cultivation at the Qi Refining stage?"

Qin Ming still hadn't given up on the matter of not having broken through to the third layer of Qi Refining.

"Yes, please step up to the third floor."

A moment later.

Qin Ming walked out of the shop with an expression as usual.

He had forty spirit stones on him but couldn't spend them.

Because the pills that boosted cultivation on the third floor were priced at a minimum of sixty spirit stones to start. Shopkeeper Liao enthusiastically saw Qin Ming out of the shop.

……

On the way back.

Qin Ming stopped by the overseer Du Haifu's place along the way, preparing to rent one more mu of spirit field.

With his current cultivation, his energy was limited; five or six mu of land was already his limit.

"Oh, Little Qin is here?"

"You're a step too late."

"Just a moment ago, all the spirit fields on the mountain were completely rented out!" Du Haifu took a sip of tea and unhurriedly delivered this news to him.

!!!

Qin Ming secretly pondered.

"Not good! Just as I expected."

"Next year, everyone will probably be fighting desperately over spirit rice yields."

(End of this chapter)