Chapter 16

The cluster of rice stalks suddenly bent outward, clearly trying to avoid him. He casually drew a circle and finally managed to catch five or six of them, his palm feeling a clear force of struggle.

"Accept your fate!" Liu Xiaolou muttered fiercely in his heart, and his right-hand sickle cut into them.

Two of the rice ears suddenly bent down, their awns pricking Liu Xiaolou's wrists directly. Most were blocked by the cowhide, leaving a few shallow cracks, but a few pricked Liu Xiaolou's hand directly. Even with his cultivation at Qi Refinement Stage 3, it hurt enough to make him shudder. Although he didn't see blood, it was still very uncomfortable.

"Go to hell!" Liu Xiaolou gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain, injected true qi into the sickle, and slashed inward fiercely, cutting this cluster of rice ears down and throwing them into the basket.

Sensing a huge threat, the surrounding spirit rice rose in common hatred and took the initiative to attack Liu Xiaolou. They bent and shrank back one by one, and after accumulating enough force, they suddenly pricked toward Liu Xiaolou. For a time, Liu Xiaolou was pricked by the awns all over his body below the waist. Many awns pierced through his clothes and pricked his skin, then remained on the fabric.

The Three Mystical Scriptures focused on the balance of yin and yang and the cultivation of both internal and external, so the toughness and hardness of his skin were a notch higher than cultivators of the same realm, and he did not fear the pricking of the awns. But that pain was unavoidable, forcing him to jump out and catch his breath after harvesting a few handfuls.

After working busily for more than an hour, more than one mu of rice ears around him had been harvested. The stalks that had lost their ears were declared dead and hung down powerlessly.

Taking advantage of his rest, Liu Xiaolou looked up at the surrounding mountain peaks. After a moment of observation, he confirmed that the headman had already left, and there was no one else on the mountains. Moreover, because of the segmentation and isolation of the dense forest, the eyes of other helper cultivators were blocked, and no one was paying attention to him.

So he pulled his sleeve up a section, revealing the Illusory Fragrance Tendon wrapped around his arm.

How could the sect's signature skill be easily exposed?

This fragrance tendon was soft yet tough, tight yet dense, comparable to a magic treasure. Although it was only three feet long, it was enough to save him some effort.

With a flick of his wrist, the end of the fragrance tendon whipped out from his wrist, penetrated into the rice field, looped around three or five rice ears from the roots, and the end wrapped tightly several times, binding them firmly. These few rice ears immediately began to shake and struggle desperately, the ears pricking fiercely toward Liu Xiaolou.

Unfortunately, they were a bit too far away, and the awns could not prick Liu Xiaolou, so it was all in vain.

Liu Xiaolou injected true qi into the Illusory Fragrance Tendon and pulled inward fiercely, immediately pulling these rice ears up by the roots and throwing them onto the field ridge.

By following this method, harvesting spirit rice became much simpler, and he did not have to endure the pain of being pricked by the awns.

Liu Xiaolou squatted on the side, constantly flicking the fragrance tendon, injecting true qi, and pulling the rice up by the roots cluster by cluster. It took less than an hour to finish harvesting this spirit field.

After these spirit rice plants were pulled up by the roots, the roots withered one after another, and the rice ears rolled around on the ground, but they no longer had their previous fierce energy. It was much easier to pick the ears at this time.

The yield of spirit rice was not high; each rice ear contained only about ten grains of spirit rice, each wrapped in a thick gray husk. He gathered the rice ears harvested from this one point three mu of land into a pile, used true qi to whip up a strong wind to blow them, took a sack from his basket to pack them, and weighed them in his hand; it was about forty catties. The exact amount would only be known after weighing.

Liu Xiaolou pressed on, clearing three more spirit fields before dark and harvesting about two hundred catties of spirit rice.

He ate two dry rations with the clear water of the Upper Goose Creek, sat cross-legged for half an hour to restore his true qi, and arrived at the fifth spirit field. He stuck several torches on the edge of the field ridge and continued to fight through the night by the light of the torches.

Working continuously like this for a day, he cleared fifteen or sixteen mu of spirit fields and harvested several hundred catties of spirit rice.

Liu Xiaolou divided these spirit rice grains equally into five bags, buried one bag in a secret place, and carried the remaining four bags with a homemade shoulder pole to the manor to report for duty.

The manor's granary was lit with lanterns and torches, and the helpers were lining up to hand in their grain. When it was Liu Xiaolou's turn, he carried his shoulder pole into the granary. The base of the wall was piled full of bulging sacks, and the ground was scattered with spilled spirit rice. The headman and the accountant were guarding a basket, collecting grain and keeping accounts.

Liu Xiaolou stepped forward and poured the spirit rice from the bag into the basket. He did not stop even when it was level with the rim, pouring in quite a bit more until it formed a small peak before stopping.

This was the rule.

The headman reached out, grabbed a handful of spirit rice to look at, nodded with satisfaction, and stirred it several times. Finding no sand or stones, he kicked the wooden basket with his foot. The peaked spirit rice immediately spilled out quite a bit, rolling on the ground. His kick was quite skillful, kicking the spirit rice in the basket until it was level with the rim, as if it had been precisely measured, and then he shouted loudly: "Fifty catties!"

The granary servant on duty stepped forward, poured this basket of spirit rice into a sack, and carried it to the corner of the wall to stack it neatly.

Then came the next basket, the next kick, the next fifty catties...

After six baskets, the remaining thirteen catties were weighed with a small scale.

The accountant nearby clicked his abacus loudly, reporting the numbers continuously, and finally delivered the verdict: "Three hundred and thirteen catties, six taels, six qian; we'll round off the six qian!"

After writing it in the account book, he let Liu Xiaolou take a glance, and after confirmation, he had him press his thumbprint.

Liu Xiaolou confirmed that the bag he had buried contained less than eighty catties.

The entire harvesting period for spirit rice was only about nine days. Once the season passed, the rice ears would wither, and the spirit rice inside would lose a large amount of spiritual power. The remaining spirit rice would then have no spiritual efficacy and might even spoil, making it impossible to use even as ordinary food.

Therefore, the harvesting period was very tense. In the last few days, even the headman, the accountant, and the Zang clan members in the manor went down to the fields to rush the harvest desperately, and the entire manor was filled with a tense atmosphere.

But Liu Xiaolou could use the Illusory Fragrance Tendon to harvest, saving a lot of effort. One day before the end of the harvesting period, he had completed the vast majority of his tasks, with only the last three point seven mu of spirit fields left.

By this day, figures were moving in the forest one after another. Liu Xiaolou knew that these were cultivators who had finished their work and were scouting around. Some cultivators had slightly higher cultivation or spells that were more suitable for harvesting, so they worked faster. After clearing their own assigned fields early, they would take advantage of the remaining free time to look for opportunities on the land assigned to others.

Before long, someone indeed came out of the forest and asked Liu Xiaolou with a smile if he needed help: "Little brother, I'll only charge you ten catties per mu, how about it?"

"No need." Liu Xiaolou refused on the spot.

"It's only the last day; if you can't finish harvesting, you'll have to pay a heavy compensation, hehe."

"This is my last field; I can finish it. Please go elsewhere, brother."

The visitor shook his head with a smile, entered the dense forest, and disappeared.