Chapter 143

After dinner, Su Jin carried a food box to deliver meals to Su Qingniao and relieve her shift.

As she stepped outside, she heard crying not far away.

The crying seemed to come from the nearby spirit rice fields.

No need to ask—it must be a big loss, too much to bear.

Su Jin walked straight to the field’s edge and saw Su Qingniao lying sprawled on the ground, utterly drained.

Around her body lay a towering pile of her spoils.

Countless rabbits, rodents, insects, and snakes—truly a mountain of corpses.

“Tsk tsk, you really worked hard this afternoon?” Su Jin smiled.

“Ugh, I’m exhausted. Here, there’s a small bundle of spirit rice stalks over there—add that to the morning losses, and I lost twenty-nine plants today. Not bad, right? I asked around. Others lost even more.”

Luckily, tomorrow is the third day—we’ll finish our task.”

Everyone says if we lose few plants tonight, we still have a good chance of completing it.”

Su Qingniao was too tired to even get up.

She didn’t care about appearances—just lay there on the ground.

“Get up quickly, eat your dinner first, then go back and sleep. You’ll need to rise again in the middle of the night to cultivate,” Su Jin urged, tossing the bundle of stalks into Xiao Wu Tian.

All were Yanzhi spirit rice—this premium grain, she rarely got to eat normally.

Once she grows more in Xiao Wu Tian, she can enjoy Yanzhi spirit rice freely—eat as much as she wants.

Su Qingniao struggled to rise; her hands trembled intermittently as she ate.

Su Jin couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re laughing? I’m this broken! By the way, you really don’t need me to come help tonight? I saw several groups agreeing to rest now and return later to help,” Su Qingniao hurriedly asked.

“No, no need for you to come back,” Su Jin said. “If you come, you might drag me down and create gaps in my defense.”

Su Qingniao was left speechless.

Even though you’re right, it makes me sound like a waste!

“Fine, fine, I’ll go rest.”

After seeing Su Qingniao off, Su Jin released Xue Chi Luo again.

With Xue Chi Luo, whether above or below ground, no matter what it was, Su Jin didn’t need to look twice.

With nothing else to do, Su Jin began silently cultivating. Lately, she’d been cultivating so much!

And after several recent battles, she felt her mindset subtly shifting.

By midnight, her Yi Mu Chang Chun Gong naturally overflowed and broke through to the third level.

After breaking through, Su Jin herself was stunned.

She hadn’t even drunk a drop of her Wood Soul Liquid—and she’d broken through to Qi Refining third level nearly ten days early!

After breaking through Qi Refining third level with Yi Mu Chang Chun Gong, her sensitivity to surrounding spirit plants and ordinary herbs grew even sharper.

She knew that tonight, the spirit rice would ripen—and likely trigger a small beast surge and insect swarm.

She’d better bring her Whalebone Bow tomorrow. If anything unexpected happened, the bow would give her some room to act.

The next morning, as dawn barely broke, Su Qingniao arrived.

Su Jin hadn’t yet recalled Xue Chi Luo, so she let it follow her underground.

“Why are you here so early?”

“I came to check how you’re doing,” Su Qingniao said quickly.

“How am I? Same as always,” Su Jin replied.

“Then how many spirit rice plants did you lose last night?” Su Qingniao asked urgently.

“None at all,” Su Jin said.

“Impossible? I heard everyone lost heavily last night—some lost over a hundred plants,” Su Qingniao said.

“When I’m on watch, there’s no loss,” Su Jin said smugly.

Su Qingniao was speechless.

How on earth did Su Jin manage to protect every single plant—zero losses?

“Where’s breakfast?”

“Breakfast hasn’t arrived yet,” Su Qingniao said.

“Then go get it fast,” Su Jin urged. “After you eat, this patch is yours again.”

Su Qingniao suddenly felt immense pressure.

My partner hasn’t lost a single plant so far!

When Su Qingniao returned again, Su Jin received her own breakfast. After eating, Su Jin firmly abandoned the reluctant Su Qingniao and went back.

Su Jin was incredibly powerful—that was Su Qingniao’s deepest impression lately.

She thought and thought, couldn’t help but share her astonishment, and sent the news to Su Wuji and Su Cheng.

Su Qingniao: “Did you know? Su Jin lost zero spirit rice plants last night. She guarded six mu of fields and didn’t miss a single one! I’m shocked!”

Su Wuji: “Su Jin must’ve secretly broken through. She’s probably already reached Qi Refining third level!”

Su Cheng: “Su Jin definitely broke through again. Her breakthroughs are as easy as drinking water. This time, she either broke through to Qi Refining third level or Spirit Refining fourth level! I heard from my maternal grandmother that Su Jin’s mother, Lin Linghua, had great shamanic potential from childhood—highly valued by her tribe. If not for an accident that left her in a three-year coma and ruined her foundation, making her unable to ascend to Great Shaman, she never would’ve chosen to marry far away to our Immortal City.”

So Su Jin, like her mother, has the potential of a Great Shaman.”

In the witch tribe, a Great Shaman is equivalent to a Nascent Soul cultivator in our sect!

That means Su Jin has the potential to reach Nascent Soul!

Su Qingniao read Su Cheng’s message, her heart pounding wildly.

She thought: I’ve learned such a huge secret—will someone kill me to silence me?

Su Qingniao: “How do you know about Su Jin’s mother’s origins?”

Su Cheng: “My maternal grandmother is the head of internal intelligence for the Immortal City Intelligence Office.”

Su Qingniao: “My apologies, my apologies!” Su Qingniao was stunned—I had no idea my neighbor boy had such a terrifying connection!

My grandfather strongly recommended I join the clan school. Now I see it wasn’t just because he had a free slot for me. I didn’t understand his intentions back then—I thought it added burden to my mother and even sulked at him.

When I return home, I must sincerely apologize to him.

I truly should’ve joined the clan school—if not, how would I have met such bizarre classmates?

Buzz buzz—another swarm of insects flew over.

Su Qingniao quickly pushed aside her thoughts and focused on fighting the insects.

She had to give her all to protect more spirit rice.

At noon, Su Jin came to bring her lunch.

She found Su Qingniao had injured her arm.

How can a disabled person guard rice fields?

“Eat lunch and go back. I’ll guard this patch this afternoon and night.”

Su Qingniao’s eyes turned red.

“I ran into a wild boar this morning—got careless, and it smashed my arm.”